Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, nicotine-addicted, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz. This week, Buzz has a familiar villain in his sights. Oh, man, Buzz is so depissed©. No, that’s not a typo. It’s our own neologism, a combination of…
A hearing to determine if Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins committed prosecutorial misconduct was postponed today after Watkins refused to appear in court. The allegations were brought by attorneys of Al Hill III, who was charged with mortgage fraud by the DA’s office shortly before a legal dispute with…
Soon, travelers stranded at DFW Airport be forced to pretzel themselves on uncomfortable seats or sneak away to an isolated corner of carpet for a few minutes of shuteye. That’s because the airport is getting nap rooms. The rooms — more accurately, a nap hotel — are planned by Minute…
In the early hours of November 16, 2012, Leroy Dukes was making his nightly rounds as part of the nighttime custodial crew cleaning American First National Bank in Arlington when he glanced inside one of the trash cans behind the teller counter. There, according to a criminal complaint filed recently…
It was intended as a creative way of showing seventh grade history students at Schrade Middle School in Rowlett how cowboys would corral wayward steers during cattle drives. But somehow, astonishingly, the teacher’s decision to actually lasso his students ended badly. It went like this, according to a WFAA report…
Last month’s unveiling of American Airlines’ new logo and livery (er, paint job) was a prelude to this: the long-awaited, full-blown merger with US Airways. The airlines are making it official this morning after their respective boards approved the $11 billion deal yesterday. US Airways CEO Doug Parker will head…
Those of us who were not born rich — and those who were born rich but cursed with a work ethic anyway — have a sort of ongoing assumption about what it takes to survive. We may believe that if our resources ever dip below a certain line, we may…
It’s been a decade since the Supreme Court, in Lawrence v. Texas, struck down the state’s law banning sodomy and “homosexual conduct” as an unconstitutional violation of privacy. Texas has since stopped enforcing the law, but not everyone got the memo. In 2009, two men were kicked out of an…
Last October, in a particularly brutal and senseless act of violence, Derrick Birdow crashed a Mercury Grand Marquis through the side of Greater Sweethome Missionary Baptist Church and proceeded to fatally bludgeon its 53-year-old pastor, the Reverend Danny Kirk Sr., with an electric guitar. Police weren’t sure why Birdow murdered…
The current iteration of the debate began when Larry McMurtry, writing in Texas Monthly, ranked Dallas well below Fort Worth among Texas cities, dismissing it as “a second-rate city that wishes it were first-rate.” That sentiment wasn’t particularly surprising. Anyone who’s read his books knows that McMurtry’s sensibilities tend more…
Last night the city held a shmooze event for people who live near a proposed exclusive private golf course and horse park in a poor part of Southern Dallas, but the shmooze blew up. A carefully choreographed scene of friendly information booths and party favors turned into an angry shouting…
Clint Bench was born with with a congenital deformity that prevented his arms from fully forming. That didn’t stop him from going to college, getting married, having children or from riding roller coasters at Six Flags Over Texas. He’s done pretty much all of them: Batman, the Texas Giant, the…
The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday to renew the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It now heads to the House for what will likely be an ugly battle over its renewal; President Obama used part of his State of the Union address last night to urge the House representatives to…
Police are on the lookout for a 6’2″, 300-pound Hispanic man who conducted a brief but successful raid on the Victoria’s Secret at Mockingbird Station. According to a police report, the man walked into the store through the front door, grabbed 20 sets of pajamas — a $700 value –…
In his State of the Union address yesterday, President Obama laid out a moderately progressive agenda, calling for a higher minimum wage, action to combat climate change, comprehensive immigration reform, and tougher gun control measures. The Nuge was not amused. The New York Times described a “stone-faced” Ted Nugent whose…
DART’s policy, or lack thereof, for offering health coverage for employees’ gay and lesbian partners was thrust into the spotlight last summer when former police officer Andrew Moss launched a petition calling for change after his husband (at least under California law) was denied benefits. The agency’s board of directors…
Governor Rick Perry is in California this week as part of his campaign to lure businesses to Texas, attempting to finish in person what his radio ads started. In an interview with the San Jose Mercury News Perry said that California Governor Jerry Brown’s comments that Perry’s radio ad was…
In 2007, Dallas County came to the realization that throwing hookers in jail, as was the standard practice, was an expensive and not-very-effective way of addressing prostitution. So police, courts, and health providers teamed up to develop the Prostitution Diversion Initiative, a program aimed at treating women rather than punishing…
This morning at the Dallas Museum of Art, Mayor Mike Rawlings, along with about 1,000 other men in suits sharing the stage, announced a new campaign dubbed “Men Against Abuse.” The next stop on this tour of well-meaning gestures will be a celebrity-packed rally on March 23, which the mayor…
It’s a painful year to be a Mavericks fan. Two years removed from winning the NBA championship, the team’s a disappointing 22-29, with its playoff chances dimming with each passing game. Some might blame Mark Cuban, who dragged the team from the NBA’ cellar to its apex before dismantling it…
Greenpeace, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Public Citizen — along with more than 80 other groups from across the country — are calling on the EPA Inspector General to investigate the agency’s withdrawal from legal action against a company accused of contaminating a water well through its fracking operations…
In the days since he was murdered at a Glen Rose gun range, American Sniper Chris Kyle, who recorded more than 150 confirmed kills while serving overseas, has become a palimpsest on which both those who abhor American adventurism overseas and those who view military skill as the ultimate virtue…
