News

This condo on McKinney Avenue is where Enron’s Jeff Skilling lived sometimes. Not anymore. It says in The New York Times today that the death yesterday of Enron’s Ken Lay will likely keep the government from seizing his real estate and financial assets, thus sparing his survivors financial ruin–and, one…

Officer Allen Hill was on motorcycle patrol writing traffic tickets on the suburban streets of North Richland Hills, just northeast of Fort Worth, when a call came over his radio: Available SWAT team members were to report to the station immediately. It was an answer to his prayers. Brawny and…

For three years Pascale Hall has owned and operated a coffee shop in the basement of an apartment building. The odds should have dictated long ago that she shutter her doors and make room for the next venture (and the next and next). After all, she was down in the…

Gut feelings: Why would two Plano women decide to spend July Fourth fasting? The likely answers seem obvious enough: swimsuit season, too many mochafatass lattes at Starbucks, an anorexia relapse. But to protest the Iraq war? Looks like we’ve found the progressive contingent in Plano. Their names are Julie Cuniglio…

Handsome Is… Go west, young dandies: Give me an effing break! Gross. These pretentious poseurs (“Girl on Top,” by Andrea Grimes, June 29) are the superficial element that gives Dallas a bad name. Get out of here, losers! Go to L.A. We don’t want to look at your fake breasts,…

I hope you read my column last week about the Beautiful Room, Dallas’ pseudo-elite social club for pretty people who like to pay to hang out with other pretty people who want to pay to hang out with them. The hate mail has been surprisingly light (where are you guys–maybe…

This Wright Amendment float was among the few political statements made during my neighborhood’s July 4 parade. Well, Mitchell Rasansky did say hi to me. As I began writing this, at 9 p.m. July 4, I could hear from the backyard the snap-crackle-boom of nearby fireworks (either that, or gunplay–hard…

There’s a piece in (or is that on?) Salon today about the 15th anniversary of the most overrated indie movie of the 1990s, Richard Linklater’s Slacker. Now, it’s been years since I’ve seen it, and maybe I’ll soften toward it if you feel like giving me your copy of the…

Here’s some awesome news to greet you the day after a holiday off: AT&T is releasing today a study that says more than a quarter of all U.S. companies aren’t prepared to handle a disaster, whether it’s natural or man-made. The study indicated many of them have flawed or outdated–or…

The man will actually sing “Whiskey River” while changing your wiper blade and filling your tank. Willie Nelson and former Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson share more than just a thing for Hawaii; seems both are willing to bet a little bank on biodiesel fuel, damned hippies. In The New…

I hear the best stuff in the most unlikely places. Last week, I was fighting off a heavy case of the Zs at the back of a room in City Hall, waiting for the item I was interested in to come up. Meanwhile, a bunch of police and fire officials…

Word is Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and “political consultant” Sheila Farrington tied the knot this weekend at a small wedding. Word is D’Angelo Lee, Hill’s appointee to the City Plan Commission, was the best man. Word is all three are being investigated by the FBI. Word is no…

Just when you thought we had it all here in Dallas–a W Hotel full of posh turds and some semblance of, um, something happening with that Wright Amendment thing–we get even more. O, karma, how you shine upon us! For now comes DallasForHire.com, a Web site wherein you can bid…

In news intended to make you feel safer on downtown Dallas streets–where 11 people were shot a month ago in a single incident–says here that Dallas-based Safeguard Security Holdings will take over the Dallas Central Business District Safety Patrol staff. Apparently, the business owners who pay for the patrol–you know,…

When we sat down over yesterday with The Dallas Morning News’ mammoth front-page “exclusive” in which three reporters “found thousands of suspect purchases on district credit cards–and serious questions about whether anyone is watching how the tax dollars are spent,” well, we thought two things to ourselves: Wow, that sucks…

Either some dude in Dallas County’s jail was inspired by the Fox show Prison Break, filming around town, or just decided he’d better go elsewhere for medical treatment. Perhaps inspired by the Fox-TV show Prison Break, which is filming around town for the next few months, an inmate at the…

Cuba Gooding Jr. gets paid to do things like Rat Race (above) and show at Ghostbar grand openings. That’s one hell of a way to make a living. Friday night’s part-two opening of Ghostbar atop the W Hotel provided the most interesting Dallas crowd I’ve seen in a long time…

Tommy Lee spun some records Saturday night at Ghostbar, which which we mean he hit “play” on a computer keyboard. This picture is not from Saturday night. I already fear for Ghostbar, the top-o’-the-W-Hotel bar that opened last week. Tommy Lee was there Saturday–yes, he of Motley Crue and failed…