Today, Richard Miles gets paid for 14 innocent years he spent in prison. Tomorrow: payback
Richard Miles was finally, officially exonerated for the crime he didn’t commit. He wants those who put him in prison to pay.
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Five Questions for Mike Miles, DISD Superintendent (and Former Senate) Candidate
Yesterday, Mike Miles, an Army Ranger turned education reformer, was named the lone finalist for Dallas Independent School District’s superintendent job. Today begins 21 days of tire-kicking, a mandatory waiting and vetting period before the district and Miles can officially wed. Plenty of people will do all that kicking, including…
Dallas ISD Names Mike Miles, Reform-Minded Military Vet from Colorado, Lone Finalist for Superintendent Job
Prediction: The next few weeks may not be a ton of fun for Mike Miles. Miles, the superintendent of Harrison School District Two in Colorado Springs, was named the lone finalist for the top job in Dallas ISD at a meeting this afternoon. The board, which voted 8-0 (with Carla…
Dallas Police Adding Bait Houses and Businesses To Their Thief-Catching Technology
The City Council’s getting briefed this week on “community policing,” the Dallas Police Department’s ongoing effort to get residents involved in preventing crime in their neighborhoods. This last came up in December, when Chief David Brown and McGruff the Crime Dog came to visit council members and enthusiastically high-five Scott…
City Council Set to Approve Settlement Between DFW Airport and Chesapeake Over Fracking
More than two years since the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth and the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board sued Chesapeake for allegedly shorting them on millions in royalties and leaving wells undrilled, the airport and the energy company have reached an agreement. As the price of natural gas hovers at…
City Hall Shouldn’t Make Any Promises About Hosting the World Cup at the Cotton Bowl
As we mentioned Saturday, there’s a deal in the works to keep the annual Texas-OU orgy at Fair Park, but it hinges on the city’s willingness to raise $25 million to upgrade the Cotton Bowl. It feels like chump change, considering the history and economic impact of the event. But…
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Johnathan Ramsey, Missing 11-Year-Old, Presumed Dead; Dad, Step-Mom Arrested as Police Search for Body (Updated)
Update, April 1: If you’ve read this morning’s paper, you know this story is even more disturbing than initially thought. Update after the original: Original item, Saturday, March 31: It was only yesterday that Edward Ramsey called Dallas police, concerned about the whereabouts of his 11-year-old grandson, Johnathan Ramsey. But…
Olympics! World Cup! Texas-OU Forever! How City Hall is Selling More Cotton Bowl Upgrades
Before he left for the Land of a Thousand Blogs, Robert Wilonsky had a few stories about city officials’ desire — they would call it a need — to spend another $25 million or so sprucing up the Cotton Bowl, just four years after taxpayers coughed up $57 million for…
What You Don’t Know About Prosecutorial Oversight: Our Chat with Attorney Betty Blackwell
Michael Morton, free after 25 years of wrongful imprisonment for his wife’s murder, spoke about his experience yesterday during a panel discussion on prosecutorial oversight at the University of Texas. Morton’s case has become a focal point of any story or discussion about prosecutorial misconduct, a subject we explore below…
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The President of the American Atheists Seems Pretty Mad At Movie Tavern For Refusing To Run Atheist Ads
Last week we told you about the Dallas Fort-Worth Coalition of Reason’s tiff with Movie Tavern. Once more, briefly: DFWCoR signed a contract to pay Movie Tavern three grand to show a pro-atheism ad as part of the coalition’s new campaign, “Our Families Are Great Without Religion.” But Movie Tavern…
Cabbies’ Suit Against Dallas and Its Love Field Line-Cutting Rule Tossed Out of Court
Sure, it goes against everything we learned in elementary school — cut in line and suffer ridicule and a knuckle to the shoulder — but it turns out the city of Dallas has every right to allow compressed natural gas-powered taxis to queue-jump at Love Field to improve air quality,…
DISD (And A Whole Lot of Other School Districts) Not Buying Cheating Allegations From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Monday, we told you the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had published a broad investigation concluding that hundreds of school districts, including Dallas Independent School District, displayed “troubling test patterns” that could indicate widespread cheating. That day, DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander said the district had been aggressively investigating suspicious test activity for…
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V.A. Doc Discusses Traumatic Brain Injury, Diagnosis and Staff Sergeant Robert Bales
Traumatic brain injury may be the most elusive of all war injuries. It presents itself through a number of symptoms — mood changes, insomnia, headaches, memory loss, irritability — and in varying degrees. The conversation surrounding such injuries recently became louder after Staff Sergeant Robert Bales was formally accused with…
Have Hat-Cam, Will Travel Over the Calatrava Bridge (Plus Bonus Footage of Jim’s Dogs)
They finally opened up the new Calatrava bridge to vehicular traffic today, so I jumped in my pickup and went down there to drive on it. As you know, there were many delays getting it open. The bridge connects the far northwest corner of downtown with West Dallas on the…
Another Dallas ISD Teacher Suspended After Putting His Complaints on Paper (Update)
Update, 3 p.m.: Elliot Monteverde-Torres, the teacher suspended after blowing the whistle on his principal, was denied a contract renewal for next school year in the weeks before he sent the complaint letter. See details after the original item. Original item: The News’ Matthew Haag has a story in this…
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The Defunding of Women’s Health Care in Texas May Force Rural Clinics to Close
We keep hammering away at this same general point, but really: It’s been a terrible year for family planning providers in Texas. First the Legislature moved $73.6 million out of the state family-planning budget for the next two years . At the same time, they changed to a tiered funding…
This Summer’s Texas Blackout Avoidance Strategy: Diesel Generators and Voluntarily Going Dark
Seeing as how the Texas climate these days is predisposed to extremes, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas passed a rule change last week they hope will prevent another epic, frozen February blackout or a grid driven to the brink by gawd-awful Texas…
From the Dept. of Awesome: A UT Dallas Researcher Has Designed a Robotic Jellyfish
Before I get to the lame joke that’s required by my job description, here’s something really cool: Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have designed and built a robotic jellyfish powered by dissolved gasses. No, really, they have. They have video of it swimming in…
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How a Battle Over a Korean-Owned Kwik Stop Divided, Then United, South Dallas
New Year’s Eve, 2011. Just across the moat on Interstate 45, at exit at 283B, down the Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard ramp to where the highway spills into Fair Park, there’s a corner with an open liquor store and a closed movie theater. It’s usually pretty desolate here, save…
Cop Fired For Posting About Her “Jerry Springer-Style” Brawl On Facebook Files An Ethics Complaint Against DPD
“That’s right,” Cat Lafitte wrote in an email to the Observer about a month ago. “I’m the idiot Facebook cop.” If you don’t remember Cat Lafitte’s name, you may remember her actions: She was one of three police officers fired in June 2011 for violating department policy. Lafitte’s offenses, according…
So There’s a Good Chance Energy Future, Texas’ Largest Power Generator, Goes Broke
A major credit-rating agency is expressing grave doubts about the ability of the state’s largest nonregulated power generator to pay off its debt. Energy Future Holdings, the Dallas-based parent company of power generator Luminant, transmission company Oncor and retail electricity provider TXU Energy, has been downgraded to a CC rating…
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The Call for Tighter Fracking Regulations in Dallas Got a Little Louder Last Night
Councilman Scott Griggs kicked off last night’s festival of shared discontent over the possibility of drilling in Dallas under the ordinance changes recommended by the drilling task force. Two city drilling task force members, a former member of the Fort Worth drilling task force, members of environmental advocacy groups and…