Did I just have a Hillary moment? Not sure. But I am sure of this: I have stumbled into some very persuasive evidence that HUD Secretary Julian Castro, shortly after his appointment by the president a year ago, cut HUD’s enforcement division off at the knees in a deal to…
So maybe I pulled a small deception on Ben Sandifer when I called him, something I did not fully disclose at the time. Or really disclose at all. But now I will. Sandifer, a somewhat reclusive person or at least one who does not actively seek the limelight, has emerged in…
Dallas barbecue institutions, apparently, are not safe from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, even when they’re located in Deep Ellum, one of the most liberal parts of one of Texas’ most Democratic cities. “Texas is what America is supposed to be,” Abbott said in front of a packed house. “America needs…
Ted Cruz continues, as Dan Rather told us when he stopped by the office last month, to be a desperado waiting for a train. Throughout Wednesday night’s second Republican debate, Cruz leaned on the ropes, stressing his extreme right-wing bona fides but refraining from attacking Donald Trump or any of…
Dallas went viral twice this week. Let’s hope our immune system can take it. First time was for the local visit of Donald Trump, champion of all angry white people everywhere on Earth, living, dead and unborn. Second time was for the handcuffed arrest of a ninth-grade student named Ahmed…
Why do I feel like I just got shot in the leg and now they’re sending me to a tailor? The North Texas Tollway Authority, which is in the toll road business, is now going to review the latest plan for the road the mayor wants to build on top…
If one member of the City Council gets his way, you may not have to head downtown to fight a traffic ticket next year. You might be able to do it in front of your closest justice of the peace. The problem, if you ask critics of Dallas’ municipal courts,…
Donald Trump With Robert Jeffress, Katrina Peirson and Scottie Nell Hughes American Airlines Center, Dallas Monday, September 14, 2015 Attending one of Donald Trump’s events is like stepping into an alternate-reality where the United States has reaped the whirlwind of years of nativism and indulging its worst impulses. He offers…
“Hi,” the woman says, in a voice that isn’t friendly. “What are you doing?” It’s a pitch black night in mid-August in Southeast Dallas. Marina Tarashevska wields a camera as she approaches the back of a black pickup. A man wearing a cowboy hat opens the driver’s door to get…
Last week without any prior public discussion, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings announced (see below) he was unilaterally turning over the planning process for the Trinity River Park downtown to philanthropists Rusty and Deedie Rose in exchange for a gift of $1 million. The mayor did say, “We must also continue…
On August 10, a soccer mom and dad say, a Dallas parks employee destroyed their league’s goal posts and then threw them into a creek that feeds into White Rock Lake. Members of the Dallas Park Board, meanwhile, maintained last week that they don’t know whether that’s true. In the meantime,…
Rick Perry is quitting the 2016 presidential race. The former four-term Texas governor, who also ran in 2011 for the 2012 nomination, never saw his campaign get off the ground this cycle. He performed better on the trail than he did in 2011, but wasn’t able to overcome the taint…
Hey, Mr. Jensen. I’m so ashamed. I feel terrible. I wrote all those stories about the city screwing you out of your home and warehouse in West Dallas and how Monica Alonzo, the City Council member for your area, ignored your repeated pleas for help. You kept saying, “I don’t…
Can’t shake it. Worried. I still think something scary could be going on with Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk. After I read a story about her in the Saturday edition of The Dallas Morning News, I was even wondering if I should call 911, but then I thought, “Oh, wait,…
Senator Ted Cruz went to Kentucky on Wednesday to get in on the spectacle. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis had been tossed in jail for contempt of court after refusing to perform her legal duty — issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in this case — and dadgummit, Cruz was going…
Few days ago I told you the City Council and mayor of Dallas were headed for some kind of group therapy at this week’s meeting because of knife-play going on behind the scenes about the annual budget. Yesterday’s meeting was a little bit disappointing for me because no one jammed…
Back in March, The Dallas Morning News introduced us to Pam Mueller. Mueller, we learned, is a mild-mannered M Streets resident who has taken to renting out the other side of her small duplex on Airbnb, the short-term rental website that has, along with Uber, become synonymous with the “sharing economy.” “It’s more fun…
Last week HUD Secretary and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was on MSNBC Live disarmingly fending off flattering suggestions by host Melissa Harris-Perry that he may be tapped as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 running mate: “I learned in life,” Castro said, “that if you want to have a great future you…
Couple weeks ago, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings gave City Manager A.C. Gonzalez and his top staff an unusual if very velvet-fingered push-back for showing the council a video presentation about how the next city budget will fix the streets when in fact it won’t. Uh-oh. It’s not nice to tell the…
Dallas Animal Services, the city’s animal control agency, is under-funded, its managers and supporters say, and has just over 100 full-time people on staff. Among people who follow such things, the general impression is that 101 people actually work full time for DAS, since the city gave the agency a budget…
Dallas City Hall X-Files. OMG. I am so ready. Wednesday Eric Nicholson had a story here which seemed to confirm at least in part a conspiracy theory I have touting for about 50 years. It’s about a secret under-the-radar City Hall effort to steer major resources into land at the southwest corner…
There has long been fevered speculation in certain circles that a cabal of rich businessmen are conspiring with high-level city staffers to funnel taxpayer dollars into the southwestern corner of downtown Dallas in a massive secret real estate play. As evidence, these conspiracy theorists point to the strange confluence of public…
