Tom Huntley stands in the parking lot of Campisi’s Egyptian restaurant, lost in time. It’s been decades since he’s stood out in front of his former boss’ place. He still recalls standing next to Joe Campisi as he cooked pasta, wearing a sidearm and telling stories. The restaurant, owned by…
Lance Lopez has seen a lifetime of change in recent years. The 38-year-old Dallas-based blues guitarist lost a dear friend, found sobriety and love, formed a new band with other blues legends and fathered a baby girl named Lilly. He’s also come a long way as a musician since the…
Denton rapper Bryan “Infidelix” Rodecker has spent the past couple of years promoting his music on city streets across Europe. He’d quit his job as a waiter, cashed in his life savings and crossed an ocean to pursue his dream of sharing his lyrical art. Now he’s gone viral. Rodecker,…
South Dallas activist Dominique Alexander awaits Judge Gracie Lewis’ decision, flanked by his defense attorneys. Alexander is not worried. “I haven’t done anything new,” he told the Observer on Aug. 25, the day before his hearing. “It’s kind of like double jeopardy. So this thing ain’t going nowhere.” He is no stranger to Lewis’…
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton honored his dinner date with Amber Briggle, a mother of a transgender child who’s fighting for his right to use the bathroom. In a Equality Texas press release, Briggle said Paxton and his wife Angela met with her family on Thursday evening at their home…
For nearly two years, Dominique Alexander has been organizing protests in Dallas as the founder of the Next Generation Action Network. Now Alexander is going to prison. He was sentenced on Friday afternoon to two years for violating his probation on multiple occasions. The most recent violation occurred when he left…
Ever since her Facebook battle over transgender bathroom rights with local officials in late April, former candidate for Denton City Council Amber Briggle has become a prominent defender of transgender children who she claims are being unfairly targeted by Republican politicians’ desire to regulate school bathrooms. “I don’t understand what…
It’s Saturday afternoon in Farmer’s Branch. Inside a two-story house, family, friends and police gather to remember the life of Kelli Cox, murdered by a serial killer in 1997. “We wanted to have something for people to have an opportunity to share memories and ways that Kelli had impacted them,”…
“Dimebag” Darrell Abbott would’ve been 50 this Saturday if a deranged fan hadn’t ended his life in 2004. Every year since, friends, family and fans have gathered for the Ride for Dime, which takes place this year on the Pantera guitarist’s 50th birthday. In honor of the fallen legend, the Observer…
Eight months have passed since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced plans to repair a 161-footlong slide affecting the upstream side of the Lewisville Lake Dam. As heavy rains fall across the region, sources tell the Observer that the repairs are still a month away from completion. The slide collapsed…
Kenny Martin stood next to his wife’s driver side window, pointing a Colt .45-caliber revolver at her as she waited in her Jeep at a stoplight at the intersection of Central Avenue and Southlake Boulevard. Linda Martin was speaking on the phone as he aimed. A small balding man, the 52-year-old Martin often…
Trump creating havoc politically is no surprise. He seems to pride himself on his ability to connect with the more extreme of the voter base. But his most recent political bombshell is so shocking it will be a wonder he’ll have any Texan Republicans left to vote for him in November…
Julie Mathews seemed to have won the battle against the city council when they removed her shortly after she won an election to the Lake Dallas city council in early 2015. She maxed out her credit cards, depleted her savings account, and won a mayoral election. But just four…
Southern Methodist University seismologists recently revealed human-induced earthquakes in North Texas are not only caused by oil and gas operations but also have been occurring since the 1920s across Texas. Oil and gas industry professionals were quick to denounce seismologists findings, and the Texas legislature was quick to take action…
Linda Martin, a 55-year-old real estate agent, died at a stoplight in Southlake in late May. Now the man accused of killing her, her estranged husband, is out on bond. Kenneth Martin, 52, posted his $100,000 bail at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth where he was being held…
Parked in a 2005 gold Impala, Colton Crews waited in a busy Target parking lot, an AK-47 in the trunk of his car. He’d parked away from other cars, but not too far away, when he arrived just a few minutes earlier on this Saturday afternoon in Carrollton. The 24-year-old…
Bob Haydon’s ears perked up when he overheard a fellow student, sitting behind him, complain about his aching fingers. The student, Steve Miller, had stayed up until 1 a.m. playing the guitar. Haydon turned around and told him that he played guitar, too. Miller said he was looking for a…
Rev. Jeff Hood is a man under fire. He gained national attention as a lead organizer of the Black Lives Matters protest in Dallas and eagerly embraced the media’s interest after a gunman killed five officers. But ever since he appeared on Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly’s show, he’s received dozens of…
Environmentalists in Denton were smacked down by the Texas Legislature in their effort to enact a ban on hydraulic fracturing in the city, but they haven’t abandoned the fight. If Denton’s greens can’t stop frackers from drilling wells, then they’re ready to go to battle again to stop Denton from burning…
Benny Parkey thought he could beat death if he kept moving. He reasoned it was hard to hit a moving target. He wasn’t afraid of death catching him, though. He simply enjoyed the chase. He didn’t plan to linger suffering from stage 4 lung cancer. He’d often say if he…
In an election year, even mainstream political parties seem a little wild. But North Texas is home to groups who are on the fringe of politics, grouped together to target the status quo. Here’s a guide to some of the most noteworthy activists taking their messages to the streets in…
Pat Johnson has been a thorn in the towing industry’s side since 2008 when he began posting on his blog “Texas Parking Facility Fraud.” A former tow truck driver, Johnson has written more than 290 articles about the towing industry and its predatory practices. He quickly established himself as the…
