The looming battle over a big loan proposed for the school system in Dallas’s wealthy Park Cities enclave is but the local version of one very big fat squawky chicken coming home to roost for rich people everywhere in America. I would say it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch,…
Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s critics, it seems, are beginning to smell blood in the water. After a week that’s seen Dallas City Council members singled out by the mayor for having a meeting to discuss Brown’s performance with the city manager and Brown firing back at his critics during…
Full credit to The Dallas Morning News’ Robert Wilonsky for finding this video first, but boy, it sure is something. First Baptist Church of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, it turns out, was not content to give his blessing to the Donald Trump for president circus just once. Monday afternoon, according…
So. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro did come to Dallas City Hall yesterday on what I can only call a secret mission, and I will explain why I call it that in a minute. HUD never would tell me what he talked about, but the…
There are two stories currently consuming Dallas City Hall. They’re related, but they aren’t the same. One is the growing frustration among multiple members of the Dallas City Council, Dallas’ police associations and some members of the police rank and file with police Chief David Brown. The other is the…
At the contentious townhall meetings between city of Dallas staffers who insist Dallas Executive Airport is going to expand and neighboring Oak Cliff residents who would rather it didn’t, one airplane in particular has drawn flak. “At previous meetings, everyone has brought up the yellow airplane that was so loud,”…
Let’s fly up high and take a bird’s eye view of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ philosophy of government. Apparently it’s not just OK but a real good thing for deliberations and even decisions about the public’s business to be taken out of the hands of public officials and given instead…
As of August 31, Dallas drivers have killed 31 pedestrians in 2015. That’s already more than 2014 (22) and almost double the number killed in 2013 (16). In 2015, at least one pedestrian has died in 13 of the city’s 14 City Council districts — only Sandy Greyson’s District 12…
As of late last week, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro was scheduled to visit Dallas City Hall tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29. But late last week neither HUD nor the Dallas mayor’s office would confirm or deny the visit. If the visit is still on, HUD…
For the sake of the record and now that a Dallas County grand jury has dismissed felony coercion charges against Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs, let’s go back and look at the level of dishonesty and trickery in the instigation of the charges, in the police investigation and in…
Women and children first, right? No? Women and children second? Forget about ‘em? Get the hell out of my way? Maybe somebody will tell me that special regard for women and children under extreme circumstances — lifeboats on the Titanic, that kind of thing — has eroded or at least…
Time for the bucket of cold water in our face treatment. Susan Hawk, the Dallas County district attorney currently on leave with mental health problems, is not going to come back and sit behind the desk and be the DA. Not successfully, if she tries. It’s just not a realistic…
A Dallas County grand jury has decided not indict Scott Griggs based on allegations that he threatened to “break the fucking fingers” of a member of the city secretary’s office because of documents Griggs felt were being improperly handled. In the run-up to April 16’s all Trinity toll road City…
It’s all downhill from here. No good will come of this. Time to cut our losses. There’s no more getting lucky. But enough about me. What about Dallas? Oh, well, Dallas. That’s another story. This last weekend I had one of those recurring experiences — I have them every once…
Before it was consumed by Ahmed Mohamed’s clock, Dallas’ broadcast media’s late summer obsession was listening to people complain about their water bills. “Four times higher,” The Colony’s Jim Budney told KXAS at the end of August. “Hasn’t been that much hotter, we’ve been watering the lawn with the same…
2014 was a good year for LGBTQ rights in Dallas. The city added limited insurance benefits for transgender city employees, made it possible for city employees to use the Family Medical Leave Act to take care of their same-sex partners and started on a path toward getting retirement benefits for the…
Did I just have a Hillary moment? Not sure. But I am sure of this: I have stumbled into some very persuasive evidence that HUD Secretary Julian Castro, shortly after his appointment by the president a year ago, cut HUD’s enforcement division off at the knees in a deal to…
So maybe I pulled a small deception on Ben Sandifer when I called him, something I did not fully disclose at the time. Or really disclose at all. But now I will. Sandifer, a somewhat reclusive person or at least one who does not actively seek the limelight, has emerged in…
Dallas barbecue institutions, apparently, are not safe from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, even when they’re located in Deep Ellum, one of the most liberal parts of one of Texas’ most Democratic cities. “Texas is what America is supposed to be,” Abbott said in front of a packed house. “America needs…
Ted Cruz continues, as Dan Rather told us when he stopped by the office last month, to be a desperado waiting for a train. Throughout Wednesday night’s second Republican debate, Cruz leaned on the ropes, stressing his extreme right-wing bona fides but refraining from attacking Donald Trump or any of…
Dallas went viral twice this week. Let’s hope our immune system can take it. First time was for the local visit of Donald Trump, champion of all angry white people everywhere on Earth, living, dead and unborn. Second time was for the handcuffed arrest of a ninth-grade student named Ahmed…
Why do I feel like I just got shot in the leg and now they’re sending me to a tailor? The North Texas Tollway Authority, which is in the toll road business, is now going to review the latest plan for the road the mayor wants to build on top…
