When one reports on the 150th anniversary of the Ku Klux Klan, as the Longview News-Journal did on Sunday, one must be cognizant that people reading the paper might give the cover special scrutiny. In a region with as fraught a history with the Klan as East Texas has, the burden…
If there was ever a time to show just a bit of caution when it came to stoking the fears of a shocked and wounded city, it might’ve been this weekend. Dallas was finally coming down from a week of uncertainty inspired by the murders of five of the city’s…
Over the past six years, Lower Greenville has undergone a transformation. Thanks to a few million in city bond funds, the street itself has gone from a potholed obstacle course (like the typical Dallas street) to a pedestrian-friendly avenue with space to sit and stroll. Dive bars have given way…
Dallas, as anyone with eyeballs has no doubt noticed, is in the middle of an apartment boom. Currently, the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area has 50,000 apartment units under construction, which, to put things in historical perspective, is a crapload. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had 50,000 apartments under…
The Observer has an opening for a part-time social media editor. This twenty-hour/week position combines journalism with social-media skills to increase the Dallas Observer’s audience and serve as its online public face. The social media editor manages the Observer’s Facebook and Twitter accounts, among others, with the expectation of continued…
Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant is being sued by his former attorney and landlord, Royce West, for allegedly causing more than $60,000 worth of damage to a DeSoto rental mansion. The court action is the latest falling out between the two, who used to be close. West, the property’s owner,…
Which hurts more, being brained with a rock or being pestered by national media about it? This morning, Danny Fulgencio is choosing the press. “I got nailed in the head by a rock, bled like a motherfucker, became national news, went to bed, am now even bigger national news,” he says. …
The Merriman Park/University Manor neighborhood, which sits at the northern tip of White Rock Lake in the liminal space between Lakewood and Lake Highlands, is on alert. In recent days, a handful of residents, most of them with homes that back up to DART’s White Rock Station, have had their…
Starting Tuesday, content on The Dallas Morning News’ two major websites, DallasNews.com and SportsDayDFW.com exists behind a metered paywall. Any reader hoping to view more than 10 articles a month on the sites can expect to be asked to pay for a digital subscription — or adopt one of the many easy…
For a long time, each of the Observer’s online sections has had its own Facebook page except for the news section, or what was once called Unfair Park, may it rest in peace. News restricted itself to the Observer’s main page, drawing weird looks from those who came for the…
Sorry, but maybe the dumbest line to come out of a very dumb season is the suggestion that the media is to blame for Donald Trump. First of all, if we in the media were even remotely capable of thinking Trump up, don’t you think we would have thought him…
Andy Beal, amateur mathematician, noted high-stakes poker player, failed space entrepreneur and Dallas richest human, made a big splash in January when he bought Tom Hicks’ former estate — listed for $100 million, the highest price in Texas history — in Preston Hollow. He wasn’t done shopping. Last week, as…
So, Wrestlemania, the WWE’s Super Bowl, is coming to Jerryworld this weekend. That means that Dallas will have a few visitors, who will spend a little money and probably have a pretty good time. As is customary with these sort of events at Arlington’s crown jewel, it also means that…
Dear Republicans: Let me get this straight. You want to take back Donald Trump. You want to take Trump off the table. But you want to give us Ted Cruz instead. I know you’re not totally insane. Your problem is that many of you are not from Texas. You don’t…
Over the past two decades or so, Lower Greenville residents have waged a heroic and largely successful battle to reclaim their neighborhood from the drunk 20-somethings who treated it like a never-ending frat party. With help from the city, they strong-armed problematic bars into closing at midnight. They got the street…
Thanks to a last minute injunction stemming from a lawsuit filed by the Texas Greyhound Association, the Texas Racing Commission did not have to make the decision Tuesday that will decide the future of horse racing in Texas. The commission tabled a discussion that would’ve decided whether or not to keep…
The most iconic feature of Dallas’ skyline is the geodesic sphere atop the Reunion Tower. The 259 high-output LEDs around this ball form patterns for holidays, sports victories and various remembrances. But someone has to keep the sphere in shape — cleaning windows, inspecting the light nodes and changing the…
Andy Beal, he of enormous banking wealth and modest fame from his second life as an amateur mathematician, high-stakes poker player and failed space entrepreneur, has purchased what was listed as the most expensive home in Texas history — Tom Hicks’ sprawling, 25-acre Preston Hollow estate. Being that Preston Hollow…
The best thing about the incessant deluge of crap to which we are now subject thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Gmail push alerts, Google alerts and Instagram, among many, many others, is the daily occurrence of something untoward, accidental or just silly slipping past a public figure’s social media goalie…
It sounds like The Dallas Morning News is going to take another run at getting people to pay for their online content at some point next year. I am strongly in favor of getting people to pay the media for content, because I want the media to pay me. So…
Saturday, The New York Times reported that Chinese real estate investors, frustrated with prices and a lack of available property in areas in which they typically invest, are turning their eyes to the United States’ interior. Specifically, they’re looking at Corinth, of all places. Zhang Long, a Beijing businessman, is…
Every so often, city officials descend on a particularly dismal corner of southern Dallas, say a few words about the neighborhood’s bright future and then gaze appreciatively while hulking construction equipment tears apart a decrepit house or apartment complex as TV cameras roll. It’s an attention-grabbing and even useful spectacle. Far…
