Politics & Government

Wow. This does not feel like our finest hour. Joe Straus, Republican of San Antonio, just announced he will not seek re-election in 2018 after five terms as speaker of the Texas House. U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, is bailing. So is Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. They…

San Antonio Republican Joe Straus, the five-term speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, announced Wednesday morning that he won’t be running for re-election next year, giving up his seat in the Legislature and his speaker’s gavel. Straus’ decision comes after a rancorous legislative session during which he was the…

During President Barack Obama’s terms, Dallas resident and former President George W. Bush, for the most part, kept his mouth shut about matters of policy, following in a long line of ex-presidents who declined to criticize their successors despite obvious political differences. But on Thursday, Bush made his clearest stretch…

Dallas Police Department officials announced Wednesday that they’ve solved many of the issues that led to soaring 911 wait times during a crisis that stretched from last fall into the spring. Staffing levels have been increased, facilities have been improved and police officers, called into emergency duty taking 911 calls,…

Tuesday morning, during the NFL owners’ regularly scheduled meetings in New York, several NFL owners met with representatives from the NFL Players Association and the league to discuss the ongoing issues surrounding player protests and the national anthem. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is in New York, but he wasn’t…

Last week, the national PBS television program Frontline did a long story focused on West Dallas landlord Khraish Khraish, part of a series on the national affordable housing crisis. Khraish is somebody I have written about a lot in the last year, and the Frontline piece evoked strong feelings in me —…

Dallas’ prominent sports team owners are going in different directions when it comes to players protesting the national anthem. On Monday, leaders of Dallas’ African-American community excoriated Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for his stance that any Cowboys player protesting during the national anthem won’t play for the team. Later…

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is vowing to continue the fight against a secular Nativity scene at the statehouse after a court served him a defeat last week.  U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled that Abbott’s 2015 decision to throw the nativity scene — which depicts Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and…

Since T.C. Broadnax took office as Dallas city manager in February, I have had the feeling he was waiting to see just how sacred some of the city’s sacred cows were. Yesterday, he got a clear message that at least one of them, the weirdly named South Dallas Fair Park…

When the Dallas City Council finally passed its long-gestating ethics reform package in March, council member Philip Kingston was among those dissatisfied with the new rules because they weren’t strong enough. On Friday, Kingston became the first council member rung up on the new rules. The city’s ethics advisory commission found…

Dallas’ mayor is crowing about a settlement on rates that the city attorney reached recently with an East Texas water authority, and he’s right. Our new city attorney, Larry Casto, did way better than his predecessors, meaning he more or less pulled our bacon out of the trashcan, where somebody…

Amiti Perry, Dallas’ new favorite bartender, didn’t have much time to think Friday afternoon as her story about kicking Milo Yiannopoulos and a group of neo-Nazis out of a Dallas bar in April 2016 went viral. She had to teach morning and afternoon classes at the University of North Texas,…

During his weekly radio show Tuesday, Jerry Jones doubled down on his stance that Cowboys players will not play for the team if they choose to protest before games in a way that, in Jones’ words, disrespects the United States’ flag or national anthem. The Cowboys owner, the first in…

As terrible and heartrending as the impact of Hurricane Harvey was on the people of Houston, the sick backstory was almost worse. Everything awful that happened to Houston was known beforehand. The same things are known here, too. It just hasn’t happened here. Yet. Houston is learning, to its dismay,…

Amazon, if you’re still out there somewhere and you’re still looking at us for your new subheadquarters, I have a favor to ask. Please don’t judge our book by the cover. I know, I know. We have to talk about the cover. In fact, let’s do that first. As far…

Faced with the real threat that Dallas could go bankrupt if it loses a bundle of police and firefighter pay lawsuits, the mayor and a majority on the City Council are ready to roll the dice. They’ve rejected a potential $300 million settlement offer, choosing instead to take their chances…

A key drug reform policy passed by the city of Dallas this spring remains under threat by the continued efforts of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who wants to submarine cite-and-release before it starts. On Tuesday, Price sparred with Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston, Dallas County District Attorney…

People can say anything, but if you want to see what people really mean when they talk about improving poor neighborhoods in Dallas, look at State-Thomas, look at Little Mexico, look at what’s going on today in West Dallas. Don’t even call it gentrification. Nobody who used to live there…

When Dallas City Council members grilled city staff during a committee hearing Monday about a lack of progress on affordable housing issues, staff forgot to mention the team of feds breathing down their necks. They could have told the council: “We’ll know more after we figure out who’s going to the pen.”…