Merten just got around to looking at Texas Tribune’s list of city of Dallas employees’ salaries. He called me, shocked — SHOCKED — at some of those numbers. He also wanted to know who the who is Harold Nogle, the fourth-highest paid city employee at $208,000 — which puts him…
So insists the Texas Jewboy and former gubernatorial candidate in a piece penned for Tina Brown’s Daily Beast, the headline of which is “Why Democrats Should Blame Themselves for the Tea Party.” Friedman, who lost to his bid to become the Democratic nominee for agriculture commissioner last month, writes of…
Moments ago, D.C.-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released its report Worst Governors, which claims to serve up “in-depth analyses of 11 elected officials who have pushed their states’ best interests aside in favor of their supporters, families, political parties and bank accounts.” And, yes, Rick Perry’s among…
Baffled and outraged preservationists quietly vacated Monday afternoon’s Public Safety Committee meeting after the city council committee voted unanimously to adopt a new historic building demolition ordinance without public input. Katherine Seale and Scott Potter of Preservation Dallas stood at the lectern awaiting an opportunity to speak, but the committee…
Although the city council’s Trinity River Corridor Project Committee didn’t vote on a plan to transform Riverfront Boulevard into a not-really-a-“complete street,” committee members voiced support of the $54.5 million project, with chair Dave Neumann describing this morning’s briefing as “very energizing.” However, Carolyn Davis questioned why renderings presented by…
The George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University won’t be breaking ground till November, but its policy arm, the Bush Institute, has already had a busy spring. Shacking up in SMU’s Collins Center, it hosted its first events last month, covering education leadership, literacy in Afghanistan and natural…
Maybe you’ve seen the latest issue of Newsweek on newsstands — that cover’s hard to miss. It’s kind of the all-Texas issue, matter of fact, with Evan Smith contributing this piece about the hubbub over the high-school social-studies curriculum and Daniel Gross’s essay about how “the Texas turnaround may help…
You’re probably well aware that the Texas Motor Speedway’s open for business this weekend, culminating with the running of the NSCS Samsung Mobile 500 at 2 p.m. Sunday. And if you’re not, well, no matter — this photo of Governor Rick Perry, snapped by our Rachel Parker yesterday during kick-off…
Heading west on I-30 from downtown last night, you’d have passed two stretches of stalled traffic — the first, along the access road just across the Trinity, made up of the grumbling masses in line for the Dallas Main Post Office, waiting to get their tax returns postmarked on April…
While District Attorney Craig Watkins has rejected two offers by the Office of the Attorney General to assist in a criminal investigation of the constables, the OAG is conducting an ongoing civil investigation of Dowdy Ferry Auto Services, according to an open records request filed by Unfair Park. Dowdy Ferry…
Two years after Texas Department of Transportation officials told Dallas that they could no longer afford to cough up the cash needed to maintain the plant life in the medians and window boxes along the stretch of Central Expressway between Woodall Rodgers and LBJ Freeways, the city council’s Transportation and…
More than two dozen folks — several of whom broke meeting protocol by talking to council members and city staff — showed up yesterday afternoon to hear the Transportation and Environment Committee tackle … well, attempt to tackle how to regulate the neighborhood farmers markets that have popped up around…
When Republican Ken Mayfield admitted to us that he’s been recruiting volunteers to help Democrat Beth Villarreal defeat Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes in Tuesday’s upcoming Democratic primary runoff, Cortes was one of the first people we called for reaction. Especially after Mayfield said he doesn’t know Villarreal, whose best…
Wednesday at 5 p.m. was the filing deadline for anyone interested in running in the May 8 special election to fill state Rep. Terri Hodge’s District 100 seat — and the Texas Secretary of State’s Web site shows there’s but one candidate, Eric Johnson, who trounced guilty-plea-taking Hodge in the…
Nothing whets our political appetite like rumors of alliances between Republicans and Democrats during election season. So when we heard that Republican Dallas County Commissioner Ken Mayfield was helping Democratic candidate Beth Villarreal in her campaign against Precinct 5 Constable Jaime Cortes, we thought we’d won the lotto. Sure, Mayfield’s…
While he’s been dodging us and other local media outlets, Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins apparently had no qualms about granting an interview to former DMN’er Emily Ramshaw, who profiled his November race against Republican candidate Danny Clancy for the Texas Tribune. Strangely, Watkins comes across as decidedly Republican…
For those who didn’t read our cover story last week, the Office of the Attorney General made a second attempt on February 23 to lend a helping hand to District Attorney Craig Watkins in a criminal investigation of the Dallas County constables. In August 2009, Watkins said, um, no thanks…
A few odds and sods on this Census Day:The fine folks at Bike Friendly Oak Cliff have posted a video follow-up to our post about plans to build The Better Block at the intersection of N. Tyler and W. 7th Streets on April 10 and 11. That’s it up top,…
Much like Richard Allen’s interview, our conversation with Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson didn’t make it into the cover story on Dallas County Judge Jim Foster appearing in last week’s paper version of Unfair Park. But that’s not to say Jillson’s opinions about Foster, runoff candidate Clay Jenkins…
So says the Friend of Unfair Park who sent us the link to the most astonishingly named Web site in the history of ever: Palin4Life.com. What you see above is the only thing on the Web site, which was created on March 8. And, ooof, tickets ain’t cheap — unless…
Word is Kay Bailey Hutchison will announce this morning down in San Antonio that she’s staying in the Senate — so say NBC News and The Washington Post, anyhow. Which would explain Mayor Tom Leppert’s acknowledgment yesterday that, sure ’nuff, he’s mulling a second term.And it would explain State Sen…
As we told you at the end of Monday’s item about Mayor Tom Leppert’s new Web site, consultant Laura Reed Martin was supposed to get back with us about the decision to hire Washington, D.C.-based Stan Olshefski to handle the site’s upcoming redesign. Stuff like this normally wouldn’t be that…
