Heading into Tuesday night’s Texas primary, the state’s Democrats had plenty of reasons to be hopeful. During early voting, more Democrats had turned out than during any previous mid-term primary in the state’s 15 biggest counties, besting their Republican counterparts by more than 40,000 ballots. Beto O’Rourke, the El Paso…
Finally, finally, the Cowboys’ long battles with the NFL over Ezekiel Elliott’s 2017 domestic violence suspension and Commissioner Roger Goodell’s new contract seem to be coming to an end. Wednesday, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones agreed to fork over nearly $2 million in legal…
Former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez may not have been the best fundraiser or the smoothest campaigner during the 2018’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, but she did enough, and had enough name recognition, to ensure that she’ll have at least a few more months to get better on the trail. Valdez…
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban denied doing anything wrong Tuesday, following the publication of sexual assault allegations made against Cuban in 2011 in Willamette Week, a Portland alt-weekly. According to Portland Police Department documents obtained by Willamette Week, a woman ran into Cuban while out on the town with her…
Heading into the 2017-18 offseason, the Rangers had one big goal on the personnel front: signing Japanese two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. The team, still a few years away from anything beyond fringe contention, wasn’t interested in any of the big domestic free agents and showed as much, electing instead to…
As soon as the Cowboys 2017 season ended, the team had a single priority, one thing it had to do before the 2018 season kicked off. Somehow, it had to secure the services of DeMarcus Lawrence, 2017’s breakthrough defensive star and the Cowboys’ first elite pass rusher since DeMarcus Ware…
Quite literally, judging from their lead story right now. Is it lunch yet?…
Dallas County voters easily topped their previous best turnout for early voting in an off-year primary thanks to an energized Democratic electorate. According to numbers from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, 110,334 county residents voted early in the 2018 primary, beating the county’s previous high turnout in 2014 by…
For Eric Burton, the sidewalks of his Bryan Place neighborhood have always been a hazard. Burton, left blind by a degenerative eye condition, struggles daily with paths that are uneven, buckled and cracked, but he’s learned to deal with it. Over the past seven months, however, a new obstacle has…
This week was the best of Lupe Valdez’s gubernatorial campaign. The former Dallas County sheriff announced her highest fundraising numbers since kicking off her campaign in November, picked up a key endorsement, and earned some poll numbers that are confusing but not any kind of a death knell. For a…
Slowly but surely, ever since 2004’s Democratic electoral wipeout, Dallas County has been getting bluer and bluer. Since 2006, only one Republican, frequent party switcher Susan Hawk, has been elected to countywide office. The county that voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 pivoted to overwhelmingly supporting Barack…
SMU graduate Hope Hicks, President Donald Trump’s 29-year-old confidant, gatekeeper and communications director, will leave the White House sometime in the next few weeks, according to reporting from The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman. Although Hicks testified for the U.S. House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, reportedly admitting she told “white…
Twice-convicted felons, once they’ve completed their parole, are now eligible to serve on Dallas’ boards and commissions. Wednesday, the Dallas City Council voted to change an existing city policy that limited candidates for appointment to bodies like the Park Board or the City Plan Commission to one felony, no matter…
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is under indictment for several felonies, had a grand time in Washington on Tuesday, convening with several of his fellow Republican attorneys general to roll out their plan to kill the Affordable Care Act and picking up a primary endorsement from President Donald Trump…
Rangers broadcaster C.J. Nitkowski’s social media-inspired comeuppance couldn’t have come as a shock to anyone who’s paid much attention to the former big league vagabond. Since giving up on his Major League dreams and becoming a broadcaster in 2013, Nitkowski has frequently shown himself to be thin-skinned, reactionary and generally…
Seizing on a teachable moment and the chance for a little publicity, Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree said Tuesday that his deputies are expected to take immediate action, rather than wait for backup, if they encounter an active shooter. Murphree’s directive comes 13 days after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz allegedly shot and…
The idea, put forward by Dallas officials and reported in the Observer and elsewhere throughout the end of 2017, was that the City Council was going to do something about the bikes this spring. The public, inasmuch as the public is represented by Dallas social media, was fed up with the…
The city of Dallas has a new plan to fight panhandling. Same as 2017. Same as 2016 and 2015, too. The difference this time is End Panhandling Now, as the new program is (directly but not creatively) named, has the support of the City Council, as well as some ideas…
Four years ago, things were easy for George P. Bush, son of Jeb and next in line for the Bush political dynasty. Endorsed by retiring incumbent Jerry Patterson and backed Texas’ Republican establishment, the then 38-year-old Bush cruised to his first elected office, becoming Texas land commissioner. In 2018, as…
Solidifying a schism that spurred several fights during the last session of the Texas Legislature, the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops announced late last week that the state’s Catholic parishes should cut off cooperation with Texas Right to Life, one of the state’s most influential anti-abortion organizations. According to the…
Less than a week into early voting for this year’s Texas Republican and Democratic primaries, the state’s Democrats believe they could be seeing the blue wave many have expected as opposition to President Donald Trump solidifies ahead of the midterm elections. Across the state’s 15 largest counties, Democratic turnout is…
It’s easy to forget, as much of a pro sports town as Dallas has become, that the city’s professional sports history is a comparatively short one. After a couple of false starts by both the NFL and AFL versions of the Dallas Texans, Dallas finally got its first permanent pro…
