Beto O’Rourke’s Presidential Campaign Is Going To Wear Us Out

Whatever one wants to call the thing that’s going on in presidential politics right now — the money primary, the silly season or the greatest trick Iowa and New Hampshire ever pulled — Texas finds itself squarely in the thick of things, apparently for the long haul. Julian Castro, the…

Get Ready for a Weird End to the Cowboys’ Regular Season

For about a half-hour Sunday afternoon, it looked like the Cowboys were going to be playing three huge games to close out the 2018 regular season. Less than 15 minutes of game time later, however, those contests in Indianapolis, Arlington and New Jersey had been rendered effectively meaningless, setting up…

Despite Huge Improvement, Texas Voter Turnout Still Has a Long Way to Go

The final numbers are in and, stop us if you’ve heard this one before, Texas still had one of the United States’ worst voter participation rates in 2018, despite an 18 percentage point increase in voter participation over 2014. This November, 46.3 percent of Texas’ voting-eligible population cast ballots, according…

DFW Quotes of the Year 2018

The Observer owes a lot to those who just come out and say it. Whether it’s the outgoing congressman lamenting that new Texas residents cost him his office because they just don’t understand the state, or the leader of one of the city’s biggest churches explaining why it’s perfectly OK…

Texas AG Paxton Joins Trump in DACA Supreme Court Fight

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to do everything in his power to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, which allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation. Thursday afternoon, Paxton announced he’s leading a…

Dallas Apartments Getting Smaller, More Expensive

Anyone renting or looking to rent in Dallas won’t be surprised by this news, but the confirmation is nice at least: Apartments across DFW have gotten smaller and significantly more expensive over the last 10 years, according to new analysis from RENTCafé, a rental listing website. Between 2008 and 2018, the…

Louie Gohmert Makes Fox Business Sorry They Let Him on the Air

There aren’t many things, or people, capable of making Fox News apologize. The network is happy to let its on-air personalities and guests shill for conspiracies about the migrant caravan, Benghazi or Robert Mueller’s witch hunt. Thursday morning, however, the Observer’s favorite Republican, East Texas U.S House Rep. Louie Gohmert,…

DFW Gas Station Owner Agrees to Repay Customers for Harvey Gouging

Bains Brothers LLC, owner and operator of gas stations across North Texas, will pay more than $26,000 to drivers it admitted gouging in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the Texas Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday afternoon. The company, owned by Kuldip Bains, overcharged customers at its stations in…

Dallas County Settles Sex Harassment Claim Against Former Health Chief

The Dallas County Commissioners Court on Tuesday approved a $120,000 payment to settle a lawsuit brought against the former head of Dallas County Health and Human Services. The vote came 11 months after the county fired longtime health department chief Zach Thompson following sexual harassment allegations by a subordinate employee…

Irving-Based Media Company Agrees to Acquire Sinclair-Targeted CW33

The long journey traveled by Dallas’ CW33 TV station appears to be nearing its end. Monday, the massive media conglomerate that owns the station agreed to merge with another massive media conglomerate. This comes after a merger deal between the first media conglomerate and a third media conglomerate fell though…

Texas Legal Fight Over Redistricting Isn’t Over

It turns out the nearly decade-long fight over Texas’ legislative districts didn’t actually end with the Supreme Court’s ruling against the plaintiffs in June. Late Friday afternoon, the coalition of voting rights groups that have fought the state for fairer legislative districts since the last round of redistricting in 2010…

Texas Has Highest Rate of Uninsured Children In United States

More adult Texans, and a higher percentage of them, are without health insurance than anywhere else in the United States, the Observer reported in September. A new report from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families shows that kids in the state are no better off. More than 835,000 Texas…

Dallas Cop Arrested on Controversial Revenge Porn Charges

A 32-year-old Dallas Police Department senior corporal has been arrested on revenge porn charges, DPD announced in a brief statement Thursday. Tarrant County authorities have charged Alexander Cleland with Unlawful Disclosure or Promotion of Intimate Visual Material, a Class A misdemeanor. Cleland turned himself in to Tarrant County officials in Keller…

The Cowboys Have Been Here Before

Thursday night’s setup should be familiar for Cowboys fans. Their heroes are in the midst of a mixed bag season. They’re talented, but imperfect, getting ready to face one of the NFL’s gatekeepers. A loss wouldn’t destroy their season, and a win won’t make it, but the result of the…

Former Dallas City Attorney Larry Casto Is Running for Mayor

Recently departed Dallas City Attorney Larry Casto is running for mayor, he tells The Dallas Morning News’ Robert Wilonsky. Casto is now the second candidate to officially jump into the race, joining Dallas businessman Albert Black. Mike Ablon, a prominent real estate developer in the Design District and potential candidate, has…