Heads up, guys. Remember last summer? It was so damned hot Texans were horse-whipping their thermostats. We came this close to rolling blackouts. So close we’re pretty sure Public Utility commish Ken Anderson lost some years off of his life, or at least a little hair. We’d like to tell…
Damn! They almost got me to fall off the wagon again this morning. I came within a pubic hair’s breadth of reading an entire story about John Edwards’ sex life. That’s actually closer than just a hair’s breadth. Today’s story mentioned Lisa Blue, the Dallas lawyer and widow of Fred…
With Cinco de Mayo fast approaching, the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, is scrambling to remind Americans that if you’re going to undermine a holiday designed to celebrate a culture’s heritage, you don’t have to just do it by getting hammered…
Yesterday was First-Quarter Earnings Day for Dallas Morning News parent A.H. Belo, or as we call it in the newspaper business, So How Many of Us Are Getting Whacked on Christmas Day? Day. The news was pretty predictable: Total first-quarter revenue was $105 million, down 7 percent over last year…
This morning, two men stood in the same courtroom where they were convicted of aggravated assault and sentenced to life in prison for a rape and shooting that happened almost 30 years ago. This time, both were smiling, as they were one step closer to exiting the criminal justice hell…
There was a day when I might have come up laughing at the big investigative package in yesterday’s Dallas Morning News on University of Texas Southwestern Medical School ex-president Kern Wildenthal and his expense account madness. It’s not just that the News “buried the lede,” as we say in the…
The scuffle between Texas and the feds over women’s healthcare was supposed to get real tomorrow, when Planned Parenthood was scheduled to be barred from being a provider for the state’s Medicaid Women’s Health Program. But earlier today, Federal District Judge Lee Yeakel granted the non-profit its requested preliminary injunction…
Before SMU prof Al Armendariz had even warmed the seat at his post as EPA regional chief, he was pilloried as an activist whose research into the air pollution caused by fracking operations made him unfit to run a five-state office overseeing some of the industry’s most important drilling grounds…
Alex Jones, host of Infowars and national guru of conspiracy theorists, recently took up the cudgel for free speech at Dealey Plaza on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination. Vowing to bring “tens of thousands” to Dealey Plaza next year, Jones said on today’s broadcast he hopes Dallas enjoys…
I was in Austin over the weekend, where I couldn’t help but notice 1,500 people holding a rally for women’s rights on the Capitol building’s south steps. It was one of dozens of events across the country Saturday organized by Unite Women to protest legislation affecting women’s health, abortion access,…
A radioactive waste disposal company owned by Harold Simmons’ Dallas-based Contran Corp. has been given the green light by state regulators to dispose of low-grade radioactive waste at a West Texas site. Representative Lon Burnam, who says he possesses confidential documentation exposing an undercurrent of dissent and worry within the…
Love Field and TSA officials have a message for the public: STOP CARRYING GUNS THROUGH SECURITY. SERIOUSLY, GUYS. Fifteen travelers tried to carry guns through the Love Field security checkpoint this year — that’s compared to one person in the same period of time last year. Holy shit, right? That’s…
FrontBurner carried a little news earlier today that may interest some of you: Eric Nicholson will be joining the Dallas Observer as the lead reporter on Unfair Park. Eric was born and raised in Dallas and graduated from UTD, although his collegiate career did some admirable winding, through Montana and…
Several weeks ago, two area theaters refused to show an ad for atheism, part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason’s new campaign, “Our Families Are Great Without Religion.” Now the American Humanist Association, which supports DFWCoR’s parent organization, the United Coalition of Reason, has gotten involved, and they’ve brought…
Mike Miles named Dallas ISD Superintendent from Dallas Independent School Dist on Vimeo. Yesterday we raised some questions about how the Dallas Independent School District might handle the employment contract of Mike Miles, the district’s new superintendent. Those details emerged last night — you’ll find Miles’ address above — and…
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate began debating the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which is largely backed by Senate Democrats, and discussing its Republican alternative, authored by Chuck Grassley of Iowa and our own Kay Bailey Hutchison. In preparation for that debate, Hutchison took to the Senate floor…
When President Obama appointed SMU prof Al Armendariz to the EPA regional post in Dallas back in 2009, it was to the sound of collective groaning from the energy industry and Republican politicos. Only months before, he’d authored a study citing oil and gas production as a major source of…
The Dallas Independent School District is expected to officially hire Mike Miles, a former Army Ranger and U.S. Senate candidate and the superintendent of a small school district in Colorado, as its top official later today. Although Miles was named a “lone finalist” a few weeks back, his hiring was…
Dear Kid Who Missed the Catch and Started Crying So Was Given Another Ball: Man up. The truth is, you never even had it. You weren’t even close. Your arms are too short, for one. For two, you’re in the twilight of your infancy. If you were honest with yourself,…
Elliot Monteverde-Torres’ teaching career is still on pause, nearly two months after he filed a complaint about goings-on inside Botello Elementary School — and he’s heard almost nothing from DISD about his “potential misconduct,” he says. Monteverde-Torres was placed on paid leave following his allegations of BB guns being brought…
Steve Lipsky gripped a garden hose and held it at arm’s length, staring as a guttering tongue of fire poured from its end and grew another foot before his eyes. “Look at that,” he said in awe as the flame, liquid and sinuous, licked the rural darkness outside his home…
Update, 5:20 p.m.: Police have identified the suspect as Tommy Robinson. He’s been booked into Lew Sterrett on charges of aggravated sexual assault. Police are asking the media not to release his booking photo to the public until after the victim has been shown a photo lineup. They told reporters…
