The death of Deanna Cook, who police believe was murdered by her ex-husband as 911 operators listened, was a rare public reminder that instances of domestic violence can turn fatal, with alarming frequency. So far this year, 19 PEOPLE have been murdered in acts of domestic violence, few of which…
For nearly two decades, Reginald Osborne worked for the Dallas County Community College District, first as a teacher at Cedar Valley and then, for the past 17 years, as an administrator and athletic director at Mountain View. He did until last month, at least, when DCCCD fired Osborne for allegedly…
If someone rolled into Unfair Park HQ and pointed an assault rifle at me while they stole my $800 and seven packs of Newports, I’d probably piss my pants and then go become a monk or a farmer, or maybe a farmer-monk. The owner of McGriff’s Beer & Wine are…
Three weeks after the FBI raided the Dallas apartment of Barrett Brown, an affiliate of the hacker group Anonymous, the other shoe has finally dropped. The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed an indictment today, charging Brown with Internet threats, conspiracy to make publicly available restricted personal information of a federal employee…
One of the things Obama took pains to highlight during last night’s debate was just how aggressively his administration has gone after Medicare fraudsters. Remember Jacques Roy, the Rockwall physician accused of masterminding a scheme to bilk the government of $375 million? Probably not, since the drubbing Obama received in…
On September 12, two men entered a Chase Bank on Jupiter Road in Richardson a few minutes apart. The first was tall, about 6-foot-4, and wearing a black doo-rag, later identified as Michael Pringle. He asked for a deposit slip from the teller and then left, pausing on his way…
Yesterday, a bit after 3 o’clock, police were dispatched to NorthPark Center where employees reported receiving a threatening phone call. Threatening how, the police report didn’t say. One had to assume that some crafty 17-year-old had phoned to say he would be in the mall after the 6 p.m. curfew…
This spring, Dallas County Community College District’s audit department began looking into the use of gas credit cards. Specifically, they were curious about record-keeping, the policies and procedures that are in place, and, um, where exactly they all were. According to a report presented to the DCCCD’s board on Tuesday,…
Phillip Ballard figured he was looking at at least 20 years. He’d already been in the federal lock-up in Fort Worth since July, and things weren’t looking good in his criminal case, which centered on seven counts of tax fraud. For almost a decade he had, according to an indictment…
Last night just before midnight, a security guard watched as a red, 1994 Chevy S10 pickup exited the gated Treymore Eastfield Apartments in Far East Dallas. The driver promptly crashed into into a nearby Ford F150, stepped on the gas to flee the accident, lost control of the truck, jumped…
Two deaths will be answered for in a trial only intended to account for one. See also: – Imaginary Monsters Chased Jonny Holden All His Life, Then a Real One Caught Him First, starting Monday, Steven Lawayne Nelson, a deeply troubled 25-year-old, will be tried for the murder of Clinton…
Dequinte Flournoy played on the offensive line for Richardson High School. Alton Franklin was a linebacker at James Madison. Neither got offered the chance to play big-time college football program, so, when they graduated in 2011, they wound up as teammates at Kansas’ tiny McPherson College. Their college careers, even…
This much we can tell you about the man suspected of robbing Chase Bank and Northern Trust Bank downtown Monday, just before noon: He’s around 25 years old; stands 5-foot-7 to 6 feet tall; wears a goatee that must be so wispy it doesn’t even register in the surveillance photos…
SMU has traditionally handled cases of alleged sexual assault involving students through closed, “non-adversarial” hearings in which a panel of faculty and students, rather than, say, a grand jury, weigh evidence and testimony and render a confidential verdict. That was how the school handled more than 100 such cases over…
Chuck’s Car Wash has long been a fixture on the Morning News’ 10 Drops in the Bucket campaign, the compilation of the eye-soreiest eye sores in southern Dallas that Tod Robberson drives past and tsk-tsks at. Chuck’s, which sits near the corner of Sunnyvale and Ledbetter, does seem to be…
Pamela Kay Cobb was systematic about how she stole. The branch manager of the Bank of America in Red Oak targeted only those customers with whom she had a longstanding relationship. When she took money from their accounts, she would fill out a fake withdrawal slip, sometimes forging a customer’s…
It’s been almost two weeks since law enforcement swept into a Dallas apartment and arrested Barrett Brown, frontman for that merry band of hackers at Anonymous, for threatening an FBI agent on YouTube. Brown was taken briefly to Dallas County Jail before being released to the FBI and reportedly sent…
Nearly half a million dollars seized by the FBI during its investigation of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price are headed for civil forfeiture proceedings over the protestations of Price and his top aide, Dapheny Fain. Both say the thick stacks of $100 bills — confiscated from a safe in…
Shakbsha Burleson has trouble sleeping at night. So around 3 a.m. this morning, as she told police, she set out for her usual late-night walk in her Lake Highlands neighborhood. Soon after, she noticed a man walking up and down the street nearby, then parking himself on a bridge railing…
Lukas Da Cruz, 21, was standing outside Lolita’s on Lemmon Avenue in the early morning hours of August 16 when a silver Honda drove past. According to a police report and a Facebook account, someone in the car fired a shot from a .40-caliber pistol, hitting him in the back…
Last week, Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos asked Attorney General Greg Abbott for some advice. County law enforcement has dutifully taken blood samples from suspects in certain intoxication-related offenses (driving drunk with a child in the car, for one) as required by state law. Now, the county’s running out…
Despite what you might think, the Texas government doesn’t just hand out food stamps to whoever holds out a hand. They’re actually debit cards, not stamps, and they come with very strict guidelines. You have to live in Texas, for one, and make less than $14,079 for a single-person household…
