Seven hundred percent. That’s the magic number. In a mile-deep swath running from downtown Dallas six miles west to the Walton Walker Expressway, north to Texas Stadium and in a brood loop around South Dallas, the risk of flood disaster from the Trinity River—at least as reflected in insurance rates—is…
Unfair Park reported yesterday that things might get uglier in the death and burial of the late Gen. Hugh Robinson, a leader in local Dallas business and civic affairs also prominent in national political and military circles of his time (a top aide to LBJ at one point, for example)…
Dueling obits — always a bad sign. This time the dark cloud of family unrest gathers over the death of Hugh Robinson (or Hughes, depending on which obit you read).The first obituary, which ran March 5 in The Dallas Morning News, did mention Major General Robinson’s stepchildren but neglected to…
Mark Austry was healthy. Not an obsessed fitness nut, but healthy. Played baseball at Texas Tech and with the Fort Worth Cats. Was a superb golfer. And, when he found time from being a devoted family man to wife and two kids, he got out and ran. Sunday he dropped…
We always knew you can’t beat City Hall. Now it looks like you can’t even meet City Hall. As of April 1, people or institutions deemed to be lobbyists at City Hall will be required to go online and report every meeting or contact they have with certain city officials…
Unintentionally hilarious item in The Dallas Morning News today: “Council’s Frustration Spills Over,” by Rudy Bush on the Metro front, in which council member par excellence Ron Natinsky asks a deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development if he can help get the U.S. Army Corps of…
Whether you’re at the end of your rope or merely the end of your week, welcome to Whitt’s End: *I said upon hearing the Josh Howard-for-Caron Butler trade during the NBA All-Star break that the Dallas Mavericks were not only re-shaping their roster but re-booting their playoff prospects. I had…
Make it 17 years and counting that SMU won’t be invited to March Madness. With head coach Matt Doherty’s rebuilding program on a pace that’s as slow as refrigerated honey – or is it simply a treadmill? – is it time for a change? SMU’s latest losing season was buried…
Dear Mexican: I’ve always been attracted to transgendered women since I was about 13. I’ve noticed, however, that most trannies are Hispanic. Now, before you say that this is ¡Ask a Mexican!, not ¡Ask a Hispanic!, I’ve also noticed that more than half of all Hispanic transsexuals are Mexican. What’s…
Years ago an editor at another newspaper who thought I was worrying a story to death told me, “The French have a saying that to understand everything is to forgive everything. Remember, Schutze, we are not French.” No kidding. But I don’t think it forgives anybody to try to understand…
Doing some Trinity River research this week, I came across an item posted on Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert’s Web page talking about how the outcome of the 2007 toll road election was a real kick in city council member Angela Hunt’s ass. Hunt, of course, sponsored the unsuccessful referendum. “The…
I am here at the Big House, totally motivated, ready to blog the living hell out of today’s Dallas city council briefing on community gardens. A mob has gathered of approximately 11 community garden partisans. They are seated at the peanut gallery end of the council briefing room, where they…
Sometimes The Dallas Morning News does so many things so right I begin to worry. Tanya Eiserer’s work on how the Dallas Police Department faked the city’s crime reports so Dallas would no longer be the most crime-riddled city in the nation; everything Brooks Egerton does; in fact, most of…
10. You know it’s going to be an interesting trip when – upon the first hint of turbulence 30 minutes from touchdown in Las Vegas – the person directly behind you throws up sorta into the barf bag. “Turb-yoo-lance ain’t no good, mayne,” said the dude. Words can’t describe the…
Listen up, Dallas Area Rapid Transit! My man, Roscoe Betz, is still comin’. And some day he is gonna get you. This week Betz won again. I first wrote about Mr. Betz in June 2008, when he sued DART in the Justice of the Peace Court of Judge Al Cercone…
I just want to make sure we all understand the roll of the dice here.City council member Dave Neumann of Oak Cliff wants us taxpayers of Dallas to front about $1.4 million to the federal government in order to keep the Trinity River toll road on the fast track. Why?…
Recently when I spent time over in North Oak Cliff talking to people for a story about what North Oak Cliff wants, the most consistent theme was, “Not Lower Greenville.” They want cool entertainment venues in North Oak Cliff, but they don’t want drunks, public urination and an atmosphere of…
Dear Mexican: I’m a pan blanco, and my wife is puertorriqueña. Our son looks basically white, while a casual observer might admit that there is some Latin going on there. I’m not sure how this pertains to my question—it may or may not be worth mentioning. Our son is a…
Never thought I’d hear myself say this, but I guess I regret not having Rod Dreher to kick around any more. When our own self-styled (and always stylish) “crunchy con” departed from the editorial page staff of The Dallas Morning News last December to work for the John Templeton Foundation…
Programming note: I’m on vacation from both the Dallas Observer, Sportatorium and 105.3 The Fan next week. If you need me I’ll be in Sin City, well, sinning. And hopefully winning. When we reconvene I’ll be live and living color from Texas Rangers’ Spring Training in Surprise, Arizona. Peace Be With You…
Well, we’ll see what happens today here at the federal courthouse, where we await the first round of sentencings in the Dallas City Hall corruption trial. I am upstairs from the courtroom in the “overflow room” set up for media by Judge Barbara Lynn — what we would have called…
