To Irving we go this morning, as the Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau asked us, via e-mail, to pretty please check out the new Web site for its convention center opening "in late 2010." Hunh. Not bad. Not bad at all. Better than this, anyhow. But you know me -- a sucker for conceptual renderings.

After taking the virtual tour, you can then check out this Texas Observer piece about the changing face of Irving -- though, I know, you thought the headline "White Man's Burden" was reserved exclusively for stories by and/or about Jim. The short version of the long story: The city's 35 percent Hispanic; the city council's all-Anglo. And "only one African-American has ever served on the Irving City Council." Of course, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis has noticed this too.

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