Twenty-nine people have committed suicide in Texas county jails since September 2014, more than in any of the last three years. That’s too many, says a bipartisan group of state officials. Led by Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Democratic state Senator John Whitmire, a group of Texas lawmakers announced…
One of the biggest grass-roots triumphs in Dallas County last year was the successful push by prisoner advocates and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins to preserve the right of Dallas County jail inmates to meet visitors in person rather than over a video camera. A new contract for jail visitation…
Sid Miller is one of the Observer’s favorite public officials. As Eric Nicholson said in February, he’s “the Platonic ideal of what the Texas agriculture commissioner should be. One glance at his official campaign portrait, which looks like it might have been taken at the Stephenville Walmart but which actually…
A couple of weeks ago, we told you about a push led by Downtown Dallas Inc. to bring more cops into Dallas Central Business district to combat what DDI sees as rising nuisance crimes. The meta-culprit for many of the crimes — like panhandling, public sleeping and public urination —…
Congrats to everyone reading this outside of a FEMA camp based in an abandoned Wal-Mart for making it through the first month of Jade Helm 15 unscathed. For those of you who’ve been interned, and yet still inexplicably have web access, our prayers are with you. Thanks to the brave…
The state of Texas’ obstinacy about changing a Conroe man’s death certificate continues to have positive consequences. Last week it led to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the interim commissioner of the Department of State Health Services, Kirk Cole, being brought up on potential contempt charges. The state caved…
Wednesday’s decision by the Dallas City Council to allow Love Field vendors to charge higher prices in exchange for those vendors guaranteeing a higher minimum wage for their workers was standard-issue horse trading. Vendors got what they wanted — the ability to charge 10 percent more than street prices for…
Call it a small, mostly symbolic victory for the anti-toll road bunch. Late Wednesday afternoon, the Dallas City Council unanimously approved a half-measure drafted by freshman council member Adam McGough that keeps the bond money already raised for the city of Dallas Trinity project — some $47.7 million — from being…
We’re certainly not above a little promotion, especially for a good cause. So when we got word that venerable newsman Dan Rather and his grandson Martin wanted to tell us about The Rather Prize, a $10,000 grant to be given to the Texas student or educator who could come up…
Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson promised Saturday that the investigation into the shooting death of 19-year-old Christian Taylor at an Arlington car dealership would be as transparent as possible. So far, he’s keeping his word. Tuesday evening, Johnson announced that Brad Miller, the trainee officer who killed Taylor, had been…
The sliver of ground Ken Paxton and the state of Texas are fighting over is so small as to be absurd. That’s not a surprise, of course. So far this year, setting aside the big fights over things like saving the planet, he’s taken a brave stand against same-sex spouses…
A fight centered in what seems to be one of the most contentious blocks of downtown Dallas continued last week with developer Tim Headington asserting that Texas law doesn’t guarantee apartment dwellers the right to access “air, light or a view.” He was talking about tenants in the Wilson Building…
Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson still hasn’t released the surveillance video of 19-year-old Christian Taylor being shot to death by APD officer Brad Miller, but he did release more than 16 minutes of dispatch radio audio Monday. Johnson released the audio in response to multiple videos circulating that used scanner…
No matter who one asks, a second rail line downtown is the most important project on DART’s agenda, essential to the transit authority’s future. It will expand the capacity, and the possibility, of transit infrastructure that is currently strangled by the manufactured bottleneck of four above-ground train lines running on…
Inch by inch, the state of Texas is being dragged into the United States’ new reality, whether the state leadership likes it or not. Last Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was ordered to face a federal contempt charge for his office’s role in, you guessed it, denying newly guaranteed…
Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Saturday that his department has asked the FBI to help investigate the shooting death of 19-year-old Christian Taylor. Taylor was shot early Friday morning by Arlington police officer Brad Miller. Taylor, who was unarmed, had driven his car through the glass front of a…
Whether on the prime-time slot graced by Senator Ted Cruz or the kid’s table afternoon debate where former Governor Rick Perry to his place, just too many candidates filled the stages. Neither Texan got more than about 10 minutes of cumulative time to speak and Cruz was additionally impaired by…
When they woke up week ago Wednesday, the Rangers were effectively dead. They’d lost to the Yankees 21-5 the day before. Martin Perez, just returned from more than year off after Tommy John surgery, had gotten smoked in his Tuesday start, giving up eight runs while getting only three outs…
From the extravagantly named Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service comes this exciting news (if you’re a crazy person) or warning (if you’re me) of a “football field-length stretch of [CA Roan Drive]” in Rowlett that’s been blessed (or cursed) with a massive, tree-covering spider web built by thousands of spiders. “Someone…
Downtown Dallas has tons of parking — 69,000 spaces, according to Downtown Dallas Inc. It will have ton of parking for the foreseeable future. Despite that, city planners are calling for even more parking downtown, in part to help the those who might someday want to call downtown home. But…
A portion of the covertly filmed video that served as the basis for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate testimony against Planned Parenthood last week was released to the public Tuesday morning. It’s heavily edited, shot by a rabid anti-abortion group and impossible to date, but it’s chock full…
Acting like there are two sides to the current fight in the Collin County hinterlands over a potential Islamic Association of Collin County-owned cemetery is view from nowhere bullshit. The arguments being made by the residents of Farmersville, the town closest to the future cemetery, are not reasonable. The association needed a…
