Texas Governor Greg Abbott, or at least the person running his Twitter account, is generally pretty feisty on the social media platform. His tweets are usually signed with the infamous TCOT hashtag — the portal to wingnut Internet hell, search it at your peril — and the governor’s not afraid…
Dallas park “ambassador” Courtney Wright, patrolling the front lines of Lake Highlands Park, stood firmly next to the destroyed soccer goal post as angry parents confronted him. One of the parents, videotaping the encounter, asked him why he broke their soccer equipment. “You guys have been instructed to take it…
Last weekend when I made the first of what will be my many visits, The State Fair of Texas, now in the second week of its annual run and blessed by beautiful weather, was vibrant and jammed with happy human beings, not to mention livestock. I love the fair. I…
I would love it if the Rangers moved into a new stadium in downtown Dallas. Absolutely love it. I might go to 60 games a year if it happened, and I would definitely buy season tickets. I am about as biased as you can be toward all things baseball, and…
World-renowned performance artist Donald Trump’s ongoing piece, titled “What if Pat Buchanan Was a Billionaire and had a Queens Accent,” continued Friday with his announcement that he’s hired state campaign directors in three states that are not among those with the earliest GOP nominating contests. Included in those hires is…
It’s not a shock, but disappointing nonetheless: State Representative Jonathan Stickland, the Observer’s BFF and favorite member of the Texas Legislature, is getting a primary challenger. The Reverend Scott W. Fisher, pastor of the Metroplex Chapel in Euless, announced this week that he’s taking Stickland on. “With my background in overseeing…
The looming battle over a big loan proposed for the school system in Dallas’s wealthy Park Cities enclave is but the local version of one very big fat squawky chicken coming home to roost for rich people everywhere in America. I would say it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch,…
Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s critics, it seems, are beginning to smell blood in the water. After a week that’s seen Dallas City Council members singled out by the mayor for having a meeting to discuss Brown’s performance with the city manager and Brown firing back at his critics during…
Full credit to The Dallas Morning News’ Robert Wilonsky for finding this video first, but boy, it sure is something. First Baptist Church of Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress, it turns out, was not content to give his blessing to the Donald Trump for president circus just once. Monday afternoon, according…
So. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro did come to Dallas City Hall yesterday on what I can only call a secret mission, and I will explain why I call it that in a minute. HUD never would tell me what he talked about, but the…
There are two stories currently consuming Dallas City Hall. They’re related, but they aren’t the same. One is the growing frustration among multiple members of the Dallas City Council, Dallas’ police associations and some members of the police rank and file with police Chief David Brown. The other is the…
At the contentious townhall meetings between city of Dallas staffers who insist Dallas Executive Airport is going to expand and neighboring Oak Cliff residents who would rather it didn’t, one airplane in particular has drawn flak. “At previous meetings, everyone has brought up the yellow airplane that was so loud,”…
Let’s fly up high and take a bird’s eye view of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ philosophy of government. Apparently it’s not just OK but a real good thing for deliberations and even decisions about the public’s business to be taken out of the hands of public officials and given instead…
As of August 31, Dallas drivers have killed 31 pedestrians in 2015. That’s already more than 2014 (22) and almost double the number killed in 2013 (16). In 2015, at least one pedestrian has died in 13 of the city’s 14 City Council districts — only Sandy Greyson’s District 12…
As of late last week, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro was scheduled to visit Dallas City Hall tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29. But late last week neither HUD nor the Dallas mayor’s office would confirm or deny the visit. If the visit is still on, HUD…
For the sake of the record and now that a Dallas County grand jury has dismissed felony coercion charges against Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs, let’s go back and look at the level of dishonesty and trickery in the instigation of the charges, in the police investigation and in…
Women and children first, right? No? Women and children second? Forget about ‘em? Get the hell out of my way? Maybe somebody will tell me that special regard for women and children under extreme circumstances — lifeboats on the Titanic, that kind of thing — has eroded or at least…
Time for the bucket of cold water in our face treatment. Susan Hawk, the Dallas County district attorney currently on leave with mental health problems, is not going to come back and sit behind the desk and be the DA. Not successfully, if she tries. It’s just not a realistic…
A Dallas County grand jury has decided not indict Scott Griggs based on allegations that he threatened to “break the fucking fingers” of a member of the city secretary’s office because of documents Griggs felt were being improperly handled. In the run-up to April 16’s all Trinity toll road City…
It’s all downhill from here. No good will come of this. Time to cut our losses. There’s no more getting lucky. But enough about me. What about Dallas? Oh, well, Dallas. That’s another story. This last weekend I had one of those recurring experiences — I have them every once…
Before it was consumed by Ahmed Mohamed’s clock, Dallas’ broadcast media’s late summer obsession was listening to people complain about their water bills. “Four times higher,” The Colony’s Jim Budney told KXAS at the end of August. “Hasn’t been that much hotter, we’ve been watering the lawn with the same…
2014 was a good year for LGBTQ rights in Dallas. The city added limited insurance benefits for transgender city employees, made it possible for city employees to use the Family Medical Leave Act to take care of their same-sex partners and started on a path toward getting retirement benefits for the…
