According to information first reported by CNN, Tarrant County’s Ethan Couch and his mother Tonya have been arrested in the Mexican beach resort town of Puerto Vallarta. Couch, sentenced to 10 years probation in 2013 four killing four in a drunk driving incident, has been on the run since video…
In Texas, 2016 is going to be the biggest year for reproductive rights since 2013. Following three years of stops and starts, contradictory court rulings and healthcare clinics closing their doors only to reopen them days or weeks later, the U.S. Supreme Court will finally decide the fate of 2013’s…
A new front has opened in the Texas battle over nativity scenes. Last week, we told you about the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s plan to erect a “Bill of Rights” nativity scene at the state Capitol. Texas state Representative Donna Howard sponsored the display, which depicts a few of the founding fathers…
We’ve made our list, we’ve checked it … well, not really twice. There was a ton of bourbon in the eggnog. But now we’re ready to air our grievances with those North Texans who’ve wronged us and celebrate those who help make Dallas such a special place. It’s the official Dallas…
The best thing about the incessant deluge of crap to which we are now subject thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Gmail push alerts, Google alerts and Instagram, among many, many others, is the daily occurrence of something untoward, accidental or just silly slipping past a public figure’s social media goalie…
Despite chasing thousands of leads and making sure their man’s face is plastered all over media outlets across the country, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Monday that his office has had no luck tracking down Ethan Couch, the “affluenza”-stricken teen fugitive who was given probation for killing four in a…
There’s something in the water. Or something (rumbling) underground. Something that’s driven us all, everyone who lives in North Texas’ ever-expanding web, quite mad. One of the best things about our shared condition is the verbal insanity it so often inspires. Without further ado, here are Unfair Park’s the Dallas Observer…
The Mast Brothers are a couple of pretty well-loved purveyors of artisanal, expensive chocolate. They’re based exactly where you’d expect people who make chocolate from their own beans to be based: Brooklyn, NY. But this week Mast has been slapped across the face by a blogger who, we’re pretty sure,…
Eggnog. Caroling. Lawsuits. It’s Christmas in Texas. Every year the legality of public nativity scenes generates court cases and headlines. San Antonio atheist Patrick Greene unsuccessfully sued Henderson County over its courthouse-fronting nativity scene in 2012, 2013 and 2014. In 2011, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) took issue with…
Ethan Couch is in the wind. Just don’t expect him to stay that way for long. A judge handed the “affluenza”-inflicted teen 10 years probation in 2013 for killing four people while driving drunk. The judge, Jean Boyd, apparently bought Couch’s defense team’s contention that he wasn’t responsible for his…
It was made up. The fantasy that the Rangers would leave their comfy suburban confines for Dallas’ rough and tumble streets was never going to happen. It was a media story built around the wisp of a rumor that the club and the city were holding some back-channel meetings. People…
Monday, Dallas ISD trustee Mike Morath was appointed Texas Education Commissioner by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Abbott touted Morath’s reform work within Dallas ISD, their shared commitment to early childhood education and Morath’s mountain-climbing experience in announcing the appointment. Basically everyone, including Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling and former School Board…
Tuesday’s action at the Texas Racing Commission ended in a push: Four votes for so-called historical racing, four votes against and one abstention. For now, to the chagrin of much of the state’s legislative leadership, the TRC’s regulations still provide for Texas horse tracks to allow patrons to bet on…
Tuesday night’s Republican presidential debate could not come at a much better time for Ted Cruz. Texas’ Canadian-born junior senator is in the ascendancy. He’s currently seeing his best poll numbers of the campaign, he’s scoring points in rhetorical fights with the most visible candidate in the field and he…
Mike Morath, the reform-minded former Mike Miles ally who currently sits in the District 2 seat on the Dallas ISD school board, is now the highest ranking education official in the state of Texas. Since being elected to the school board in 2011, Morath, along with former superintendent Miles and…
The 84th session of the Texas Legislature was weird, man. The most conservative body of representatives ever elected by the people of Texas killed the two-thirds rule — the way the minority party had retained a small amount of power in the Texas Senate for almost a century — cut…
When Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez changed the way her office handled some detention requests from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), charges arose that she created a sanctuary county. On Thursday, she returned to the Texas Capitol to answer charges. It seems increasingly likely that there is going…
More than a year after worker’s rights advocates and members of the Dallas City Council began pushing for it, the city of Dallas has guaranteed a 10-minute rest break every four hours for construction workers. Throughout the winding process that led to the rest break ordinance being passed, proponents have…
Come and Take It Texas and Don’tComply.com are going to hold an open carry walk near the University of Texas at Austin campus on Saturday. Then they’re going to have a mock mass shooting, complete with fake blood, victims, vigilantes and gunshot reports coming from bullhorns. The festivities are the…
The chance is still alive that casual pot smokers caught by the Dallas Police Department would not get hauled straight to county jail. The Dallas City Council’s Public Safety Committee, after hearing testimony from Chief David Brown, yesterday voted to move “cite and release” policy proposal to the full council…
Hopefully, this story won’t matter. Hopefully, figuring out who’s on the hook should Dallas’ massively underfunded Police and Firefighters Pension Fund go broke won’t matter because the fund never goes broke. It’s something that would be good to know though, considering the fund is currently sitting on an unfunded liability…
DART and Miller Lite are teaming up to give free rides to anyone who wants one on New Year’s Eve. Sounds great, except for one thing: Actually taking advantage of the offer. Unless you’re willing to get home before midnight or leave a Deep Ellum bar at the stroke of midnight…
