In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court answered the question of whether the U.S. Constitution allows the Ten Commandments to be displayed on government property with a resounding It depends. In a pair of decisions handed down on the same day, the court ruled both that a Ten Commandments display at…
When city staff first unveiled their vision to transform Dallas into a “zero waste” city by 2040, there was immediate pushback. No one quibbled with the goal of waste reduction, but pretty much everyone quibbled with the way the city should get there. Environmentalists critiqued the plan for putting off…
Dallas Republican state Senator John Carona wormed his way into beer lovers’ good graces two weeks ago when he cosponsored a quartet of bills aimed at making things easier on craft brewers in Texas. The legislation, which has the support of both an impressive roster of lawmakers from both sides…
The sequester, that “Damocles sword” hanging perilously above federal spending and set to fall March 1, was supposed to be an instrument so blunt, which would cut so deeply and indiscriminately, that the cost of not reaching a bipartisan compromise on debt reduction would become unfathomable. Now, of course, it’s…
In 2006, Kinky Friedman — singer, songwriter, satirist, head Jewboy in charge — ran as an Independent for governor of Texas. Although he ultimately received less than 13 percent of the vote, it was still a memorable campaign, featuring slogans like, “Why the Hell Not?” and “How Hard Could It…
It’s an impressive feat to show up in The New Yorker as a freshman Congressman, and kudos to Senator Ted Cruz for pulling it off. Cruz has been facing widespread criticism for, among other things, his aggressive questioning of Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for Defense Secretary. Jane Mayer joined…
Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm will tell the city council on Wednesday that she had every authority to lease a 22-acre parcel of parkland to Trinity East, the gas-drilling company that wants frack the Trinity River floodplain, despite that land not appearing in original lease approved by city council. She’ll…
When the City Council passed new rules in December laying down a $300 fine on any driver caught cutting off, or throwing things at or otherwise behaving dangerously around bicyclists, there was an acknowledged need for a public awareness campaign to let drivers know about the new rules. No one…
Hidden deep within the bureaucratic folds of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which devotes most of its resources to overseeing cosmetologists, air conditioner repairmen, auctioneers and the like, is the state’s weather modification bureau. It’s not nearly as post-apocalyptic as it sounds. You might use the term “cloud…
State Representative Van Taylor, a real-estate investment banker from Plano, has introduced legislation that would settle, once and for all, who gets the last word on drilling under private property: That would be the Railroad Commission of Texas. The bill, filed Tuesday, would strip from Texas municipalities the ability to…
The House State Affairs Committee was scheduled today to consider Rep. Dan Flynn’s proposal to ban “religious or cultural law” from Texas courts. Rep. Flynn apparently withdrew his proposal, HJR 43, from committee consideration at the last second, but it’s still worth a look. As the Texas Freedom Network reports,…
There was an interesting, widely under-reported battle going on in the state legislature this morning, and it hinged around consistently badass Fort Worth state Senator Wendy Davis. Back in January, Davis filed SB 248, a bill that would bring the Lilly Ledbetter Act to Texas. The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay…
Is Keystone Pipeline really good idea?Bringing lots of heavy, dirty oil across country, when fracked ,cheaper, cleaner energy available— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) February 15, 2013 Yeah, you read that right. Media magnate Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and The Wall Street Journal, whose cable news empire has been almost solely…
Texas’ 20-cent-per-gallon gas tax hasn’t changed since 1991. That’s despite the erosion of the tax’s purchasing power — the Wall Street Journal estimates that the gas tax buys half as much concrete, steel, and other materials as they did 20 years ago — and a glaring need — the state…
Longtime Collin County Sheriff Terry Box made it clear in January that he would not be party to President Obama’s attempt to disarm the Real America and, presumably, pave the way for a permanent Marxist dictatorship through a handful of modest gun control proposals. Never mind that or that a…
For the past three years or so, the city has been actively seeking a private developer to take the Farmers Market off its hands. It finally found one last summer, but details were kept tightly under wraps as a final deal was hashed out. Those details were released, very quietly,…
Last week, Unfair Park got its hands on long-hidden proof of what a lot of people already suspected: that Mary Suhm had cut a secret deal to help Trinity East Energy drill on city parkland while telling the City Council the exact opposite. Suhm’s initial response was to downplay the…
In October, Turkish developer Mike Sarimsakci unveiled his plan to transform the long-vacant Butler Brothers Building at 500 S. Ervay St., caddy-corner to the library and directly across the street from City Hall, into a large mixed-use development complete with 250 apartments, a 200-room Hilton hotel and 25,000 square feet…
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins was scheduled to testify this morning at a hearing on whether he abused his office to perform a favor for a political donor. As you know by now, he didn’t show up, explaining through a proxy that, though he was at work, he was…
When we last left the beleaguered members of the City Plan Commission, they were opting to once again delay a vote on energy company Trinity East’s application to drill for natural gas in the floodplain along the Trinity River. This morning, the CPC was subjected to a four-hour workshop on…
It’s been a decade since the Supreme Court, in Lawrence v. Texas, struck down the state’s law banning sodomy and “homosexual conduct” as an unconstitutional violation of privacy. Texas has since stopped enforcing the law, but not everyone got the memo. In 2009, two men were kicked out of an…
Last night the city held a shmooze event for people who live near a proposed exclusive private golf course and horse park in a poor part of Southern Dallas, but the shmooze blew up. A carefully choreographed scene of friendly information booths and party favors turned into an angry shouting…
