Sarah Wamsley ran sobbing out of a Tarrant County courtroom yesterday afternoon as her 21-year-old brother, Andrew Wamsley, was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of both his parents for their $1.65 million estate in December 2003. Prosecuting attorney Mike Parrish had sought the death penalty, because he…

You saw the picture here on Monday. Now you get the details. Seems 65-year-old former Mavs coach Don Nelson is having a life the rest of us only dream about. That is, assuming you fantasize about getting drunk with Owen Wilson, acting in shows directed by George Clooney, sitting in…

I have been bouncing around courtrooms in the George Allen Courts Building (the white structure at 600 Commerce) the last couple of days. Each judge has his or her own rules for cell phones and pagers posted on the courtroom doors. Some say, “No cell phone or pager use.” Some…

When Lindsey Lanzisero called her husband at work last week, he thought he was finally about to be a father. With his wife due to deliver their first baby within the week, restaurant manager Peter Lanzisero rushed across the Galleria’s Grand Luxe Cafe to the phone, sure that tonight was…

Zzzzz: Buzz was fascinated to read Gerry Fraley’s front-page story in The Dallas Morning News last Saturday about Major League Baseball’s announcement that it will now test for amphetamine use among players–bringing a halt (as if) to widespread use of little green uppers. According to the story, the ban on…

Laissez les bon temps rouler: Talk radio last week was all over testimony from the Government Accountability Office that emergency aid given to victims of Hurricane Katrina was used in at least one instance to buy goodies from the Condoms to Go store on LBJ Freeway, among several local purchases…

Bang, bang: Buzz had a couple of items to blather about this week. One was about Texas game wardens busting North Texas fishmongers and restaurants for illegally selling game fish. Eh, whatever. We had something else about whether that Woodall-Rogers park the city is thinking about will extend to Ray…

Oh, c’mon: It probably doesn’t bode well for a budding politician when the first question a reporter asks about his plans to run for Dallas mayor is: “Dude, seriously?” To be fair, Buzz had pretty much the same reaction when we heard George W. was running for president, so perhaps…

Testy: The 5th District Court of Appeals last week sided with the Dallas Observer and rejected a civil suit filed by a man who claimed we violated state law by revealing that he is HIV-positive. Roger Stanley, a worker at the Cathedral of Hope, had sought in excess of–get this–$1…

Grinched: We’ll be honest. Christmastime isn’t exactly Buzz’s season. We prefer caustic sarcasm to the mawkish sentimentality, and it’s not often when we can combine both in one tidy package. But it happens. Like now, for instance. See, we received an e-mail from “Two Guys from Dallas, Texas” asking us…

Glenn Mitchell, 1950-2005: We have a tendency to break rules here at the Dallas Observer, even those we make ourselves. For example, in our annual Best of Dallas issue, our staff writers are not supposed to give the same award to the same person two years running, since we like…

True truisms: Good writers eschew clichés, but this is Buzz, so we’re giving you two to ponder right off the bat: “Lie down with dogs and rise up with fleas,” and “A man is known by the company he keeps.” With those in mind, ask yourself how you’d like to…

Licensed to speak: OK, here’s a thought: The next time the Texas legislators want to propose a redundant state constitutional amendment, maybe they should consider one granting Texans the right to free speech unfettered by government regulation–sort of like, you know, the First Amendment. Why? Consider this: Two groups on…

Say I don’t: Hope, they say, springs eternal. Unless you happen to be a Texas voter of the progressive or liberal bent, in which case all hope was beaten out of you about the time Ann Richards cleaned out her desk in the governor’s mansion. So it was with low…

Go on, flame us: It’s been a busy few weeks here at Buzz central, as we’ve been doing our part to help put together the massive Best of Dallas issue you hold in your hands. It’s a lot of work, and it’s not over yet. Now comes the part where…

Opportunity poops: Listen up, editors of Dog Fancy magazine: You missed the scoop (that’s our last bit of wordplay, we promise) when you excluded Dallas from the list of Top 10 canine-friendly cities in your current issue. Houston made the list. Austin made it. But not Big D, a city…

Not so public: Buzz’s congratulations go out to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for winning the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas’ James Madison Award for his work on behalf of open government. Good for you, General Abbott, now about those Dallas Observer public records requests… “Texas functions best when…

Dang, some good news: Buzz, ever the one to point out the dark cloud amid the silver lining, was going to tell you about some of the sad, stupid things we’ve heard from certain people–dimwitted white people–about the evacuees from New Orleans. See, there was the article someone sent us…

Damn: Last week, Buzz suggested that The Dallas Morning News could provide a service to its readers if it would begin publishing longer Sunday pieces that wrap up big breaking local news stories, rather than letting the news come in bits and pieces. Specifically, we were looking for a scorecard…

Feelin’ groovy: One of Buzz’s all-time favorite lines about the news business comes from the 1994 movie The Paper: “We taint them today, we make them look good on Saturday. Everybody’s happy.” It’s funny, as Homer Simpson would say, because it’s true. Take, for example, two stories that appeared within…

Al redux: A few new faces are walking around the Dallas Observer offices, as former staffers have left for new “opportunities” (rehab). Among the newcomers is right-hander Matt Pulle (3.72 ERA) brought over from Tennessee as a reporter. To acquaint Matt with the city, Buzz sent him over to last…