Dallas Park Board Signs Off On Fair Park Deal

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but Dallas is one step away from settling one of the biggest civic issues left on its plate. Thursday, the Dallas Park and Recreation Board voted 13-2 in favor of the latest, greatest city plan to turn over control of Fair Park…

Federal Judge Stops Texas’ Fetal Burial Law

Texas’ fetal burial law is out, pending appeal, but, oh boy, will there be appeals. U.S. District Judge David Ezra ruled Wednesday afternoon that the Texas Legislature’s requirement that all tissue resulting from an abortion, miscarriage, still birth or ectopic pregnancy be buried or cremated, rather than disposed of as…

Today, Fort Worth Is the Center of the Political Universe

A federal lawsuit that could end up harming millions of Texans kicks off in earnest this morning in Fort Worth. A coalition of states, led by Texas and its attorney general, Ken Paxton, will argue in front of a federal judge that the Affordable Care Act, despite being ruled constitutional…

Former Paxton Staffer Livens Up Kavanaugh Confirmation in Twitterverse

Did Zina Bash, a star of Brett Kavanaugh’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, flash a white power symbol while sitting behind Kavanaugh at his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday? Some people on Twitter think so, but then some people on Twitter think anything. Bash, who until recently worked for Texas…

What We Learned From the Cowboys Preseason

Getting the obvious out of the way first, the NFL should get rid of the preseason or, at the very least, slim it down to one or two games from the four or five each of the league’s 32 teams play now. If the league wants to claim it takes…

10 Things Ken Paxton Doesn’t Like

The short week that starts today is a big one for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Wednesday in Fort Worth, Paxton will take his first big swing at ending the Affordable Care Act, arguing in front of a federal judge that President Barack Obama’s signature achievement is unconstitutional. Paxton is…

2018 Could Be the Year UNT Football Finally Turns the Corner

Here’s a big tip ahead of college football’s opening weekend: Don’t sleep on University of North Texas. For the first time since the team’s Hayden Fry-led heyday in the late ’70s, the Mean Green are in position to return to national relevance, thanks to Texas’ best college quarterback, 17 returning…

A Guide to Robert Jeffress’ Excuses for President Trump

First Baptist Dallas Pastor Robert Jeffress deserves some credit. Motivations, politics and decency aside, he picked the right horse way back in the summer of 2015 when he decided to back then-candidate Donald Trump’s nascent presidential campaign. For his trouble — Jeffress frequently worked “Make America Great Again” into invocations and…

Ex-Balch Springs Cop Gets 15 Years for Jordan Edwards’ Murder

A Dallas County jury sentenced Roy Oliver to 15 years in prison late Wednesday night. The ex-Balch Springs police officer faced as few as five years, and as many as 99, after being convicted of murdering Mesquite teenager Jordan Edwards in April 2017. The jury also handed Oliver a $10,000…

Texas GOP Makes Sure Voters Know Just How Sexy Beto O’Rourke Is

The GOP has a problem attracting women voters, at least among those women who think uninvited pussy grabbing is a bad thing. And they have a problem with younger voters, a depressingly small group but one that nonetheless tends to be passionate about things like civil liberties, the environment and…

Election Judges With Guns? OK by Ken Paxton.

Ken Paxton’s political ambitions, at this point, are probably best served by the attorney general staying out of the spotlight, and away from controversy, at least until his November general election contest with Justin Nelson is over. That’s reality for a public official with low name ID and a bunch…

Roy Oliver’s Conviction Is a Rarity Among Rarities

When cops shoot and kill civilians in the United States, they rarely get indicted for anything. It’s rarer still when they get charged with murder and even rarer than that when they are actually convicted of a crime — usually manslaughter, if anything. That’s what makes Tuesday afternoon’s events just…

Ex-Balch Springs Cop Roy Oliver Found Guilty of Murder

Roy Oliver killed Jordan Edwards. The ex-Balch Springs police officer fired his rifle into a Chevrolet Impala driving away from a party in the eastern Dallas County town in April 2017 five times. Oliver hit Edwards, 15, in the head, killing the Mesquite High School freshman. None of those facts…

Sheriff’s Office Blames Front Desk for Mass Bail-Out Snafu Friday

Bureaucracy, not malice, forced activists to wait hours Friday as they attempted to bail 16 people out of Dallas County Jail, sheriff’s office officials said Monday. Organizers with Faith in Texas and the Community Bail Fund of North Texas showed up to Lew Sterrett around 10 a.m. Friday with cashier’s…

Beto O’Rourke Gets Best Polling News This Year

While the smart money, if such a thing exists among those willing to gamble on the whims of voters, is still on incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke got his most encouraging polling news yet in his bid to unseat Cruz. According to a new survey from…

Much of Harvey-Caused Air Pollution Could’ve Been Avoided, Report Says

When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott preemptively declared Hurricane Harvey a disaster last Aug. 23, chemical plants and oil refineries in the Corpus Christi area shut down before rain from the storm even started falling, according to a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project. That minimized unnecessary air pollution caused…