Last November, an audit of the Dallas Police Department’s off-duty work policy landed with a thud. Due to lax oversight and departmental controls, the audit said, DPD put itself at risk for officers working up to 112 hours per week when off-duty law enforcement work was factored in, officers doing…
In 1991, Saddam Hussein used tanks and helicopters to subdue rebelling Kurds in northern Iraq. Terrified that Hussein would again use chemical weapons, as he had in 1988, millions of the country’s persecuted Kurdish minority fled. Saman Gardy was one of them. He and his family were living in Erbil,…
The mainstream media analysis of Beto O’Rourke’s decision to kill his campaign is evidence that we now live in separate dimensions and speak different languages, defined mainly by generation. On the surface, it would be hard to poke even a pinprick into most of what was said by boomer analysts…
In a different world, or maybe just a different time, Rick Perry, the ex-governor of Texas and soon-to-be ex-secretary of energy, would still be in the news this week. He would have testified Wednesday, as he was asked to do by House investigators, about his role in conducting President Donald Trump’s…
Another election night is over in Texas, but don’t expect to feel it, at least not for awhile. Voters in Dallas and around the state gave the legislature a big thumbs-up Tuesday night, overwhelmingly signing off on nine of the 10 amendments to the Texas Constitution on offer. Both of…
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…
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.
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…
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…
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…
In Dallas there are large gaps in access to resources and opportunities depending on your income, where you live and racial and socioeconomic background, according to a new report released by the city in partnership with the Center for Public Policy and Priorities.
Amid the pomp and fervor at President Donald Trump’s latest Dallas revival on Oct. 17, there was, among many other emotions, an undertone of worry, possibly even sincere, from the event’s public speakers. Whether it was Prestonwood Baptist Church Pastor Jack Graham, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan…
Nationwide, college student voter turnout doubled between 2014 and 2018, according to a new study by Tufts University. But in Texas and elsewhere, new efforts by Republican lawmakers are making it harder for students to vote this year. Critics say these moves are designed to suppress liberal votes. About 67%…
As a part of his ongoing spat with Austin over homelessness, Gov. Greg Abbott held Dallas up last week as an example of how cities should tackle the problem. But Dallas has problems of its own. As the number of people who spend their nights on city streets and under…
This can’t be what the Republican Party wanted. With the party facing a seemingly unending string of negative media coverage and scandal, East Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, basically /r/the_Donald, were the subreddit given breath and a seat in the House of Representatives, has led the news twice this week,…
In the midst of what was a busy Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn joined his fellow Texas politicians, rolling out his own plan — called the Restoring, Enhancing, Strengthening, and Promoting Our Nation’s Safety Efforts (RESPONSE) Act — to stop the mass shootings that have plagued Texas in…
Something stupid happened at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. That’s all you need to know, to know that East Texas U.S. House Rep. Louie Gohmert was right in the middle of it. Gohmert, along with several fellow acolytes of President Donald Trump, decided that the best way for them to…
In a state where everyone’s blind, the one-eyed cities are kings, or something like that. That’s the big takeaway from a new study from the National Institute for Reproductive Health. Texas’ cities, the only places in the state where women can actually seek out a legal abortion, lag behind cities…
When the Texas Legislature convenes for its next session in 2021, it will have a new speaker. Tuesday morning, the current speaker, Angleton Republican Dennis Bonnen, announced that, after two decades in the House and one term as speaker, he would not seek reelection. “It is with the deepest love,…
