Dallas Cite-and-Release Policy for Weed Back From the Dead

It’s taken some time — either a little over a year or a little over eight years, depending on how you count it — but the city of Dallas and the Dallas Police Department finally appear ready to arrest fewer people for marijuana possession. Since 2007, Texas law has allowed…

Dallas Sheriff Takes Immigration Spat With State to Austin

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez wasn’t kidding around when she announced a change in the way her office deals with requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold some undocumented immigrants in jail until ICE can come collect them. Those charged with certain minor offenses could make bond and…

Dan Patrick Makes Big, San Bernardino-Related Mistake on Social Media

Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was very upset about the New York Daily News’ Thursday cover. Released after the shooting deaths of 14 people in San Bernadino, California, the cover took issue with the claims of prominent Republicans, including Texas’ Ted Cruz, who said they were praying for the victims…

Dallas Police and Fire Pension System Severely Wounded, Not Dead

The Dallas Police and Fire Pension system is in bad shape, really bad shape. So bad, in fact, that it has affected the city’s bond rating, with both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s bumping the city’s creditworthiness down one notch in recent months. It isn’t hopeless, though, and changes are…

Dallas Construction Worker Rest Ordinance Back for Round Three

This should not be hard. There is no reason the city of Dallas shouldn’t or can’t pass an ordinance that would ensure construction workers in the city get to take a break. Ten minutes every four hours, that’s all that advocates have pushed for, and that’s all that’s been in…

5 Things You Should Know About Dallas’ Pension Crisis

The biggest problem facing the city of Dallas isn’t Tony Romo’s left clavicle. It’s not the Trinity toll road. It might not even be, despite a compelling case that can be made for it, the city’s crumbling infrastructure. The biggest problem facing the city is a massive looming shortfall in…

Ted Cruz Capitalizes on Colorado Planned Parenthood Shooting

For the briefest of moments over the weekend, it seemed that Ted Cruz might show a little humanity when it came to assessing the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic that left three people dead. “We don’t know … what those motives were, but whatever they were, it’s unacceptable,…

The Cowboys’ 5 Biggest Thanksgiving Turkeys

Every year, sometime around Thanksgiving, local media will trot out a list or two celebrating the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving successes. While remembering Clint Longley’s “mad bomber” game or Jason Garrett’s win against the Packers in 1994 subbing for an injured Troy Aikman is fun, we’re not here to do that. In…

Oak Lawn Protesters Pick Fight With Philip Kingston

Crime and more cops in the Oak Lawn neighborhood weren’t the only things on the minds of demonstrators who rallied outside City Hall this weekend.  Somewhere near the end of the gathering in front of Dallas police headquarters, the demonstrators, there to protest 12 violent attacks near the Cedar Springs…

Planned Parenthood Sues Texas Over Medicaid Cash

Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas did what’s been inevitable for a couple of weeks and sued the state of Texas in federal court Monday. The suit comes after Governor Greg Abbott and officials at the Texas Office of the Inspector General said in October that they would stop any Planned…

Following a Dozen Attacks, Oak Lawn Gets a Visit From the Mayor, Rallies

Eleven weeks later, the Oak Lawn community is getting the police attention it’s been demanding. Since September 1, the area immediately surrounding the gay friendly Cedar Springs strip has seen at least 12 people attacked. Some victims were robbed and many ended up in the hospital. Geoffrey Hubbard, a bartender at…

Anti-HERO Ordinance Organizer Has a Big Problem With Dallas

As has been made abundantly clear over the last couple of weeks, some Texas Republicans are feeling pretty … well … pissy about Dallas changing some language in its 13-year-old-plus nondiscrimination ordinance. For the most part, they — here’s looking at you state Senator Don Huffines, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick…

Sheriff Valdez Opens Public Information Rat’s Nest

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez’s decision to change the way her office deals with undocumented immigrants held in the county jail keeps seemed simple enough. Some immigrants charged with certain nonviolent crimes would be released as soon as they made bail, even if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked for…