Politics & Government

Monday, outgoing Dallas Police chief U. Reneé Hall and law enforcement leadership briefed City Council’s public safety committee on this year’s modest decrease in violent crime.

Marsha Jackson is relieved when the rain rolls through her Dallas neighborhood off of Highway 30. She’s lived there since 1995. Twenty-five years ago, the area was more rural. It was greener and breathing was easier back then, she says. Jackson bought the land where she lives largely for her…

As protesters crossed the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge toward a wall of cops on June 1, they chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot!” Members of the media were among the protesters. Photographers’ camera shutters snapped, writers scribbled in their notebooks and some streamed the event live on their phones. Then, the…

Just three years after becoming the first woman to lead the Dallas Police Department, U. Renee Hall has become the first woman to resign from the DPD chief’s job, City Manager T.C. Broadnax just announced. “Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax has accepted Dallas Police Chief Reneé Hall’s letter of resignation…

Shelley Luther wants less government and more freedom. The Dallas hair salon owner recently announced her candidacy for the Texas Senate, and if elected, she said she’ll fight against what she sees as government overreach.

Starting today, you won’t see people on electric scooters zipping down the streets of Dallas. Citing public safety worries, the Dallas Transportation Department halted the city’s scooter program this week. All scooter operators are ordered to cease operations today and the scooters themselves must be removed from city streets by…

Local animal rights advocates say they have some worries about proposed $380,000 cuts to Dallas Animal Services’ budget.  The cuts in the recent draft city budget being worked on by the City Council include $50,000 to DAS’s body camera budget, $249,000 in salaries for one vet and one manager III position,…

Monday, the Texas Democratic Party announced it would be contacting 1 million Texans this week to help them register to vote ahead of November’s general election. Teaming with U.S. Senate hopeful MJ Hegar’s campaign, “Texas Voter Registration Week” will last until Sunday. Young adults and people of color, who historically…

During his bid for Denton County sheriff in 2016, Republican Tracy Murphree boasted he would beat up any transgender woman who dared to enter a public restroom occupied by his daughter. Now, a transgender woman is aiming to take Murphree’s job. A week ago, former law enforcement supervisor Freyja Odinsdottir announced…

Shelley Luther could soon be trading her shears for a state Senate seat. Saturday, at a pro-law enforcement “Blue Lives Matter” rally, the Dallas hair salon owner announced that she would be running for District 30 in a special election. In a video from the event, Luther spoke to supporters…

The internet is a tool people can use to reach their full potential, says Jaime Resendez, vice chair of the Dallas City Council’s Workforce, Education and Equity Committee. It has become vital to employment and education. But some areas of Dallas don’t have adequate access to this important tool, and…

First it was one, then it was two, then it was more than a dozen. Kevin Betts, owner of North Texas’ Novel Coffee Roasters, said that over the past three weeks, numerous shipments of his company’s fresh-roasted coffee were either delayed or lost in the mail. Customers have been understanding,…

Until recently, Aaron Escajeda had never been to Dallas. He grew up in El Paso and worked at a settlement home, surrounding him in the flow of immigrants. So, when he came to the Big D with 15 of his classmates from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs…

Rubin Sasavi, a Dallas activist, lay on his stomach with his hands in front of him. Sasavi had come out on the evening of June 1 to protest police brutality following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Now a cloud of tear gas was…

No tax-rate increase, no defunding of the police department — much — and added revenue from increased property values are among the highlights of the proposed Dallas budget for 2020-21. City Council members got their first chance to probe City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s budget plan during a briefing Tuesday. Starting…

Earlier this year, Dallas hair salon owner Shelley Luther entered the national spotlight after she was jailed for defying state and local orders to close her business. Now she could be sliding into a Texas Senate seat. Saturday, Prosper state Sen. Pat Fallon received the Republican nomination for the U.S…

Formally ending Dallas City Council’s recess summer recess, Mayor Eric Johnson restructured the Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Affairs, removing its only Latino representative, Paula Caldwell Blackmon. Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Adam McGough is Blackmon’s replacement. District 12 councilmember Cara Mendelsohn has also been appointed to serve as the committee’s…

Despite protesters’ continued calls to defund the police, Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax says he never had any intention to lower the law enforcement budget. In fact, federal funding from the CARES Act passed by Congress to help counter the ongoing economic crash means the Dallas Police Department could see…

Take a glance at those two photos above of Texas Democratic Senate candidate MJ Hegar. While they’re quite similar, discerning eyes might detect slight differences between them. For instance, in the photo on the left, she looks like a 44-year-old veteran awarded a Purple Heart after a National Guard medivac…

Thursday, Texas Democratic Party officials were featured on Pod Save America, a progressive political podcast. The show’s co-host opened with a familiar question: Is this the year Texas turns blue? Manny Garcia, the party’s executive director, answered without hesitating. “Hell yes,” he said. He would say that naturally, and 2020…

The number of murders in Dallas is on track to surpass 200 for the second year in a row, and the pandemic’s economic damage threatens to drive many more renters from their homes. Affordable housing in the city is already in short supply. No wonder then that Dallas City Council…

Monday, the Trump administration announced it would be shaving four weeks off the deadline for people to respond to the 2020 census, effectively ensuring certain minority communities will be undercounted. Democratic lawmakers nationwide have complained that the move could hurt their chances of reelection since the census alters the way congressional…