Six Flags was a summer ritual when I grew up in North Texas. Getting dropped off by parents as far from the gate as possible, stuffing oneself with overpriced, sticky-sweet funnel cakes, trying to get a basketball through an undersized and slightly lopsided hoop for the plush Looney Toons character…
You remember Craig James, right? The SMU football star-turned ESPN broadcaster-turned stick-pin doll of Red Raiders everywhere? And how he ran for Senate and lost in embarrassing fashion? Well, losing that badly isn’t cheap, and seeing as he doesn’t really have a job at the moment, he’s having trouble paying…
We promised you a throwdown during yesterday afternoon’s gas drilling hearing before the city council, the first step towards an updated ordinance on drilling within city limits. Dallas Drilling, meanwhile, guaranteed a “smackdown.” It’s possible in retrospect that those were slight overstatements, designed to interest you in an issue that’s…
We knew it already, but Ted Cruz is Texas’ next U.S. Senator. Sure, he still has to face Democrat Paul Sadler in the November general election, but this is Texas, where so long as you promise to cut taxes and put a big ‘R’ somewhere near your name, you’re good…
A friend of Unfair Park passed along an interesting email exchange between some members of the Gas Drillng Task Force in advance of tomorrow’s throwdown public hearing. Seems that some are none too happy that Councliman Scott Griggs chose task force member Terry Welch to speak in favor of tighter…
Can’t say we didn’t see this coming, but a pair of Dallas voters are alleging that the recently redrawn City Council districts illegally dilutes the Hispanic vote. The city redrew its 14 council districts following the release of the 2010 Census. It adopted the final maps in October. According to…
It didn’t make the marquee for tomorrow’s “Thrilla on Marilla,” but there are a couple of other things the City Council will be briefed on, same day, same place. One of those is a rather dry study, the first since 2006, comparing the pay and benefits of city of Dallas…
First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress has made his predictable entree into the newly opened front of the culture war centered on Chick-fil-a. “The liberals have gone into a frenzy,” said Jeffress, according to the Christian Post (via DMN). “Their first response was to try to stop the expansion of businesses…
This was all supposed to be wrapped up months ago. The City Council formed the Gas Drilling Task Force more than a year ago, which was initially scheduled to wrap things up and have a final recommendation by November. A handful of issues — proper setbacks, whether to allow drilling…
Imbroglios don’t get more prosaic than this: A USDA newsletter suggests its employees practice “Meatless Mondays,” thereby shrinking their ecological footprint. Skip the Salisbury steak at the cafeteria and eat a plant instead. Take into account the ever-swelling asses of the American public and this isn’t such a bad idea…
It seems nothing associated with the Trinity River project has gone according to plan. That $38 million soccer complex is being built next to an asphalt-crushing plant, the delightful kayaking feature is such a threat to human safety that you can’t go near it, there’s not enough money for all…
When Mitt Romney spoke at the NAACP convention in Houston two weeks ago, he was roundly booed when he promised to repeal the signature law of the nation’s first black president. Some said Romney had cojones for speaking his mind to voters he had little chance of wooing. Some viewed…
Our Dearest Domingo: You’ve had a good run for Congress. You made it out of a crowded, 11-person scrum into a mano-a-mano face off with State Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth. You had the balls to call GM’s gas-guzzling SUVs “not good for America,” even though the plant that…
Friday morning’s horrific shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater moved a number of Texas politicians to tweet, Facebook and press-release their condolences. 1st District U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert got some extra attention — and is now claiming his remarks were taken “grossly out of context” — when he appeared…
Good news first: the kittens have their own room now. Bad news: most of those kittens are still going to die. Every few months, the Animal Shelter Commission gets together for a progress report from shelter manager Jody Jones and director of Code Compliance Jimmy Martin. It’s always a mixture…
Six months ago, Peter Stone was working for Apple in Manhattan when he decided, somewhat randomly, to move to Dallas. “He liked the idea that he could golf and play tennis year-round without the mounds of snow and icy winds of New York City. “I came here, and it is…
At right you see former First Lady Laura Bush, cheerily painting a door at a health clinic in Zambia. The photo was taken earlier this month by a staffer at the Bush Institute, part of the press surrounding the former first couple’s visit to Africa earlier this month. It’s also…
For months now, Domingo Garcia and Marc Veasey have been groveling before increasingly less significant public figures for endorsements in the race for the U.S. House seat stretching from Oak Cliff west to Ft. Worth. I thought that, with the July 31 runoff fast approaching, they had exhausted all endorsement…
You might remember FreedomWorks. In 2010, the nonprofit, established and funded by billionaire David Koch, helped shape a sprawling Tea Party movement into the force that swept a large number of very conservative Republicans into Congress. Call it grassroots, call it AstroTurf. For a hint, if one is needed, of…
President Barack Obama will be in Texas for approximately five minutes today, attending some fundraisers in San Antonio and Austin. An LGBT Leadership Council event in Austin costs anywhere from $250 to $7,500 to attend, while the Statesman claims another event at the Four Seasons there will cost $25,000 per…
Opposing counsel in a six-year legal battle over a proposed Farmers Branch immigration ordinance are trading letters to the judge, arguing, naturally, that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law supports their side. Last month, the high court struck down the most controversial provisions of Arizona’s law save…
At the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m. today, the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System board of trustees held their monthly meeting. We decided to join them, both due to our love of waking up in what was basically the middle of the night to sit in a conference room,…
