U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered Texas to tell all 254 counties in the state not to take any action, for the time being, on the list of registered voters sent to them in late January by Texas Secretary of State David Whitley’s Office for citizenship verification. Counties can attempt…
The other night I attended a public forum where nine candidates for mayor of Dallas fielded questions from a moderator. I think I’m beginning to get the picture. But first, let’s clear the decks. From here on out, I can’t really promise you that I’m going to be objective. I…
Tuesday afternoon, Dallas City Council member Kevin Felder turned himself in on charges that he left the scene of South Dallas accident that injured an 18-year-old scooter rider. Tuesday night, following Felder’s being released on a $2,500 personal recognizance, local TV stations got their hands on the affidavit Dallas Police…
This will be my second what-I-did-on-my-vacation column, and all I did was go down to the Rio Grande Valley for a week, so maybe that means I ought to go on more, better vacations? When I was down there, I swore I would tell somebody about one part of it…
Texas’ next big abortion fight is here, coming in the form of Houston-area state Rep. Briscoe Cain’s fetal-heartbeat bill. If it passes, it will ban any abortion performed more than six weeks after fetal conception. That’s the written part of the bill. The unwritten part, the part that will fill…
Dallas police issued an arrest warrant for Fair Park City Council member Kevin Felder late Monday morning, almost two weeks after the council member allegedly hit an 18-year-old scooter rider in South Dallas. District Judge Tammy Kemp’s office confirmed to the Observer that the judge signed the warrant, but couldn’t provide…
After New York, that brazen tart, deserted poor Amazon at the altar, the brokenhearted Amazon said nobly it was done with love and would never seek a new headquarters again. But we all know how long that sort of thing lasts. The tingle returns. What we must fear in Dallas,…
Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio might have flown under the radar into Arlington if it weren’t for social media. But now? Not a chance. The controversial 86-year-old was slated for Arlington Music Hall in April, and Jambo’s Barbeque Shack restaurant owner Ashton Stauffer, who’s running for mayor, was ecstatic. “A…
The favorite to replace outgoing East Dallas City Council member Mark Clayton is out of the race. Paul Sims, a former member of the Dallas Park Board and former council member Angela Hunt’s husband, announced on Facebook Friday afternoon that he is no longer a candidate, just before the city’s…
Barring a couple of changes of heart or a couple of absences, acting Texas Secretary of State David Whitley is not be confirmed, thanks to united opposition from Texas Senate Democrats. Whitley has been under fire for the last month, following his questioning the citizenship of nearly 100,000 Texas voters…
Texas Secretary of State David Whitley may have finally found the limit on just how far a Republican official in the state can go and still keep his job. Thursday, after weeks of public debate, hearings and lawsuits, the surest signs yet that Whitley’s nomination was in real trouble emerged…
There are two possible takeaways from Collin County state Sen. Angela Paxton’s recently filed Senate Bill 860: The senator is either staggeringly unethical or incredibly politically naive. SB 860 would allow the Texas Attorney General’s Office — the same one run by her husband, Ken Paxton — to oversee a…
VisitDallas CEO Phillip Jones’ long-awaited appearance before the City Council’s Government Performance & Financial Management Committee ended up seeming a lot like a mock trial. There was evidence, plenty of pleas and admonitions from both sides and some political theater, but no real stakes. Jones and his organization remain, for now…
The calendar has finally crept past February’s midpoint, and that means a bit of Dallas 2019 election-related news. The announcements — and the “she’s running, he’s running, who exactly is running” drama — are over. Across 15 races, for 14 City Council district seats and mayor office, 65 candidates will…
By the time I got there Monday afternoon, a city crew with a big power-wash truck had washed away most of the paint vandals had sprayed on the Confederate memorial outside City Hall on Sunday night or early Sunday morning. Cops on the scene told me they had no suspects…
Former Dallas mayor and Observer columnist Laura Miller is running for Dallas City Council. Miller filed paperwork with city Friday afternoon, just beating the 5 p.m. filing deadline, to challenge north central Dallas incumbent Jennifer Staubach Gates in District 13. D Magazine broke the news that Miller was considering taking another…
The Texas secretary of state’s job is a pretty good one. Whoever holds it gets an annual salary of more than $130,000 to make sure the state’s election machinery runs smoothly, which has to be satisfying. Barring any monumental screw-ups, the job is easy to keep, too. There are no…
Steve Bartlett. Ron Kirk. Tom Leppert. Eric Johnson? A who’s who of Dallas’ conservative business elite has made its presence known in Dallas’ mayoral race, throwing its considerable fundraising weight behind Eric Johnson. We’ll give you a minute to catch up from the cognitive dissonance. Johnson is a progressive, Democratic…
The pattern has repeated itself several times even in the short period Beto O’Rourke has been a national figure. The media fawning over the former U.S. representative slows down a bit, because of fatigue or outside events, and people begin to wonder whether the El Pasoan has peaked, whether in…
Barring intervention from Dallas’ preservation board, the Confederate War Memorial that towers over Pioneer Plaza downtown is coming down. The Dallas City Council voted 11-4 Wednesday afternoon to remove the statue, which was built in 1896 and moved downtown in 1961 to accommodate freeway construction. “I want to be free…
Robert Jeffress made perhaps his strongest statements yet in defense of President Donald Trump Wednesday. Given what Jeffress has said about the president in past, it should come as no shock that the First Baptist Dallas pastor’s new remarks have left him teetering on the edge of the deep end…
Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall gave the public the first look at what she and her department believe Dallas’ improved Citizens Police Review Board should look like Monday. After harsh reactions from both those who want to strengthen the board and those who believe doing so would be unfair…
