The battle over House Bill 2, Texas’ 2013 anti-abortion law, is really two fights. There’s the battle that’s been waged in federal courtrooms and there’s the rhetorical struggle among activists on both sides of the issue and the state’s politicians. Wednesday morning, that first clash reached its inevitable destination —…
In a move that surely has nothing to do with Texas’ primary election today, George Nash, a volunteer staff member for Dwaine Caraway, has sued Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price for assault. Nash claims that during the melee between Caraway, who’s challenging Price for his seat on the commissioner’s…
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo’s lawsuit against the NFL highlights one of the league’s essential hypocrisies – the fact that, although it is dependent on interest from gamblers and gambling interests, the league keeps visible endorsement of gambling at arm’s length.
Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court is going to get a taste of the fight that’s been ringing in Texans’ ears for almost three years — the battle over the passage and implementation of House Bill 2, Texas’ latest in a long line of laws that have severely limited access to…
Former Texas A&M star quarterback and future vagabond Cleveland Browns-ex Johnny Manziel has, at least for the time being, dodged assault charges after being accused of rupturing his ex-girlfriend’s eardrum. Manziel’s case has been referred to a Dallas County grand jury by the Dallas Police. The investigation of the domestic…
Richard Gladden might be considered a superhero among civil rights activists if he weren’t representing one of the most despised segments of the population: sex offenders. The 55-year-old attorney has been defending them in court for more than a decade, fighting for their rights in a society hell-bent on taking…
The first place the mind wandered following the death of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was, for a lot of people, conspiracy. Even the Observer was not immune. The second obvious place, especially for those who live in Texas, was the effect the jurist’s death might have on Whole…
There are plenty of conspiracy theories floating around out there claiming political opponents murdered Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to open up a seat on the court. Radio talk show host Alex Jones, never one to pass up an opportunity to stir the pot, said he feels this happened “in his…
The dirty old man in the wrinkled raincoat lurks behind a tree with a bag of candy in a neighborhood just like any other neighborhood. Seconds, minutes, hours have passed on a day like any other school day and still he stands and waits, hungrily licking his lips when the…
At 10 a.m. Friday, Dallas police Assistant Chief Gary Tittle briefed the media on the results of the department’s 12-day-old downtown panhandling crackdown. As of Thursday, cops had made 128 arrests as part of the initiative, which downtown inhabitants say has already had a dramatic impact: On Wednesday, commercial real…
If the status of the Dallas Police and Fire System weren’t so dire, it might be amusing. The retirement plan, facing an unfunded liability somewhere north of $1 billion, faces a lawsuit filed by a group of real estate advisers that was helping the fund pick properties as it dug…
Ethan Couch, you probably have no idea how people really feel about you. You think they hate you, right? You think they think you’re scum. Maybe you think they’re jealous of you for being rich. If you have been reading the online comments, then I guess you might be justified…
John Wilson, who leads the McLennan County chapter of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club, was in the Waco Twin Peaks parking lot when shooting broke out on May 17 between the Bandidos and Cossacks. His son Jake Wilson was also there. John Wilson owns Legend Cycles in Waco. He and his…
On Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott put forward the “Texas Plan,” a radical proposal to reshape the U.S. Constitution and shift power from the federal to state governments by calling what’s known as an Article V Convention. Under the Constitution’s Article V, a two-thirds super-majority of state legislatures can call…
Like a lot of Texans, we here at the Observer have been looking for our first sighting of an openly carried handgun. Some are excited, some worried, but we’re all curious. Since January 1, carrying over one’s shoulder or on one’s hip has been legal, assuming the handgun owner also happens…
Now that 2015 is drawing to a close, the time is right to continue what has become an Observer tradition: looking back at the year that was and marveling at the incredible number of traffic tickets North Texas municipalities handed out to drivers. The methodology is simple. Texas’ Office of…
Tuesday, it appeared that that “affluenza” teen and DWI killer Ethan Couch would be back in Tarrant County to face the limited music stemming from his flight to Mexico sometime late this week. He and his mother Tonya, who appears to have aided her son’s absconding following a missed probation…
For what it’s worth, Texas is still the death-penalty capital of the United States, which in turn employs capital punishment more frequently than any other western country. Only Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and China — none of them shining beacons of human rights and individual liberty — kill more prisoners. In 2015,…
The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments today — again — in Fisher v. University of Texas, so colleges and universities all over America will be on edge — again — to see if UT has bollixed up all affirmative action admissions programs for good. But “for good” has been a…
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas did what’s been inevitable for a couple of weeks and sued the state of Texas in federal court Monday. The suit comes after Governor Greg Abbott and officials at the Texas Office of the Inspector General said in October that they would stop any Planned…
Late at night in January 2014, a group of teenage boys walked into the bedroom of a neighbor without being invited, claims a Southlake police report. They asked for a grinder, which, the Southlake PD’s report explains, “is commonly used with marihuana.” The boys left and the neighbor called 911…
On Friday morning in the bowels of the Frank Crowley Courts building, Dallas County’s leading criminal justice policymakers reminisced about the bad ol’ days at the Lew Sterrett jail. County Commissioner John Wiley Price recalled the time five years ago when the county, faced with a choice between drastically trimming…
