Dallas County homeowners hit by October’s tornadoes will get a little tax help from the county, thanks to the Dallas County Commissioners Court. Tuesday morning, commissioners decided by a unanimous vote to allow the Dallas County Appraisal District to revalue property hit by the tornado. Owners of properties given new,…
In a recent editorial, The Dallas Morning News praised Gov. Greg Abbott for ordering the state highway department to begin clearing out homeless encampments in the state capital. “True compassion isn’t turning a blind eye,” the paper said. “It’s demanding change and then providing the help to make that change…
Over the last couple of weeks, a certain U.S. representative from East Texas has popped up a couple of times in your friendly neighborhood news vertical. It’s been with good reason, too. He’s stormed a secure facility at the U.S. Capitol, threatened civil war over the potential impeachment of President…
If you’re looking for a lesson to take away from last month’s tornado that flattened homes and demolished businesses in North Dallas, try this: get insured. That’s according to Rocky Vaz, Dallas’ emergency management director, who said getting apartment dwellers signed up for insurance is a big priority in the…
It took the better part of two decades and a death row confession, but Texas’ highest criminal court found Quintin Lee Alonzo actually innocent of a 2001 murder Monday, opening the door to restitution and the rest of Alonzo’s life. A Dallas County jury convicted Alonzo of murder and two…
The Dallas Police Department plans to address crime problems at convenience stores it’s identified as some of the toughest in the city with an extensive package of new technology, according to the department. Three gas stations — a 7-Eleven in Oak Cliff, a Texaco in East Dallas and a 7-Eleven…
On Saturday, a federal judge issued a temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s proposed new requirement that all immigrants entering the country must show proof of medical insurance in order to be granted entry.
The Texas Democratic Party filed a lawsuit last week challenging Texas’ new ban on mobile voting, which took effect just before this election cycle. Critics say the law suppresses student voters.
There’s evidence, from donation totals and turnout, both in the 2018 election and at rallies like the one held by President Donald Trump in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, that North Texas is more engaged than ever politically. The region is the epicenter of the 2020 fight over the…
A new term for me, a bit of an epithet I guess, was applied to me several times recently by a genial retired oil industry person sitting nearby at a wedding reception. Smart man, perfectly likeable. He suggested in the course of the evening that some people — I definitely…
Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke is done running for president. Friday afternoon, the former U.S. representative from El Paso, stuck polling in the low single digits, said that his campaign couldn’t win the Democratic nomination due to a lack of resources. O’Rourke did not endorse one of his Democratic competitors,…
This Sunday, yet another new immigration policy will go into effect: immigrants coming into the country will be required to show proof of health insurance or the ability to secure health insurance or pay for medical costs, within 30 days of entering the US.
Cyber criminals struck again in Texas last month, this time in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, where officials have grappled for weeks with the impacts of an attack that took out the city’s website and paralyzed some municipal services. The attack took the city’s website and email servers offline, disabled…
The Observer promises it will no longer act as if things can’t get any stupider, no matter how stupid they get. We’ve been chastened, having watched East Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert storm a secure deposition room at the U.S. Capitol last week and initiating one of the dumbest political standoffs…
The fallout from the National Rifle Association’s decision to cut ties with Ackerman McQueen, the ad firm behind its now-dead and formerly Dallas-based NRATV streaming service, continues, and it’s spectacular. In a federal court filing first reported on by The Daily Beast, the gun rights organization fumes that the product…
Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation and it has been getting worse at an alarming rate, according to a new report released Wednesday. Researchers at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute analyzed 2018 census data and found that the percentage of children with no healthcare coverage…
Fresh from having pushed House Speaker Dennis Bonnen halfway out the door, Texas conservative activists are looking to rerun the 2019 legislative session in which the speaker played such a big part. Wednesday afternoon in Dallas, representatives from Empower Texans, Texas Right to Life and the Texas Eagle Forum, among…
Hormone-based birth control has a much more nuanced and wide-spread effect on women’s brains than we commonly think, according to a new book written by Texas Christian University Research Psychologist Sarah E. Hill.
The city of Fort Worth is interviewing six finalists for the job of diversity director. The city will pay whoever gets the job between $125,820 and $207,604 a year. I know how they can get this done for free. Find out why Joel Fitzgerald got fired. I’m serious. All the…
Former Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton turned himself in to Tarrant County authorities Wednesday afternoon following charges that he injured one of his three daughters. Hamilton, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, threw a chair at his daughter, injuring her when it shattered, before dragging her to her bedroom where…
Just in case you didn’t have sufficient reason to be suspicious of your neighbors, a new report from RentHop, a New York-based apartment listing firm, has hit your friendly Observer news vertical’s inbox this week, breaking down North Texas’ 2019 presidential donations by ZIP code. No longer must anyone wonder just…
You know what else we can do about Saturday’s gun massacre related to a homecoming celebration at Texas A&M University-Commerce? Two young people died and six more were shot. I mean what we can do in addition to the terrible grieving we must bear for the dead, the injured and…
