On New Year’s Day, Patricia Said stood at the door of a small house in a Hispanic neighborhood of Lewisville, pleading with her daughter Amina to come home. The girl cried and clung to her boyfriend, Eddie, a college student who lived in the house with his mother and sister…
William Dean Singleton Journalists love to gossip — so much easier than picking up a phone. And word around the anxious Fort Worth Star-Telegram newsroom is that the budget-slashing McClatchy Company is making such deep cuts over there — 130 staffers are losing their jobs, 50 of those from the…
Marc Laureys: a little man with a big appetite for Skittles and meat Yesterday, we told you about Dallas’ first-ever qualifier for the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest and introduced you to homegrown rookie Bryan “The Chazzer” Lipchitz. In his Q&A, Lipchitz said he hopes…
The cover of publisher Little, Brown and Company’s September 2008-March 2009 catalog, which can be perused in its entirety here, features the cover for The Heretic’s Daughter, due in bookstores in, well, September. But you’ll likely hear about it well before then, as the author, Kathleen Kent, is a Dallasite…
Tiger Woods: 3 minor knee surgeries, 14 major championships. With news today that he needs another knee surgery and time to heal a broken leg, Tiger Woods’ U.S. Open victory just became even more miraculous. In conjunction, Dallas golf guru Hank Haney just got jiggy with the “clear” button on…
Having attended a Star Wars convention or two — for the kid, swear — I’m certainly in no position to gig folks gathering for a four-day shindig devoted to series of books (and movies, course). Besides, everything I know about Harry Potter I could fit inside a Golden Snitch, wee!…
Not a scene from DFW’s air traffic control, swear One week ago today, the Government Accountability Office released a report that noted the Federal Aviation Administration’s stepped-up efforts to hire new air traffic controllers, to compensate for “the projected departure of over 15,000 air traffic controllers between 2008 and 2017.”…
Yesterday in Dallas federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed a 71-page, 51-count indictment against 11 people the government claims defrauded banks and mortgage lenders out of millions of dollars. Among those indicted: 55-year-old Eric Rulack Farrington Jr., who, if found guilty, could wind up spending a maximum of 600…
Observer contributing photographer Brian Harkin contributes the photos for USA Today’s stories today on SMU and head football man June Jones, who figures he can get the Mustangs to a BCS bowl within the next five years. (Optimism tastes just like pineapple!) There’s also the piece headlined: “SMU spends big…
Knowing very little about this, save for what I’ve just read on the TXU Energy site, I’m intrigued by the device the Dallas-based electricity provider’s offering beginning today: the TXU Energy iThermostat. Two cool things, at first glance: Says TXU, it will allow you to “control your home’s temperature from…
Imam Safdar Razi Ali A Friend of Unfair Park sends word that Imam Safdar Razi Ali was released last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more than two months after federal authorities snatched him from his Plano home without explanation. There is but one caveat: Ali must leave the country…
In retrospect, last night’s title was won last summer. Three things I guarantee after last night watching the Celtics, not surprisingly, beat the Lakers for the NBA Championship: 1. Kobe Bryant isn’t, in fact, Michael Jordan. In the clincher, he went 22 minutes between baskets. 2. Coaching, I repeat, coaching…
Right now, the Dallas Zoo is closed but one day a year: Christmas Day. But that may change if the city can’t make up for its budget shortfall, which right now stands at, oh, $25 million, give or take. City Manager Mary Suhm will present the city council today with…
Charles Dean Hood The story of Charles Dean Hood, who was scheduled to die tonight for the 1989 murder of Ronald Williamson and his girlfriend Tracie Wallace in Plano, has garnered national attention since at least 2005, when Salon first broke the story that State District Court Judge Verla Sue…
Just don’t vomit, Bryan Lipchitz. On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., a Sam’s Club in Plano is hosting Dallas’ first ever qualifier for the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest held each year in Coney Island, New York. Broadcast on ESPN and sanctioned by…
Another season. Another empty spot on the Mavs’ mantle. The basketball season officially ends tonight, when the Celtics beat the Lakers in Boston and win the NBA Championship. In a tense, low-scoring game, gimme the Celtics minus the five, under the 191. For entertainment only, of course. Then, finally, we…
Whew — I ain’t on the city’s outstanding-warrants list, just posted to the city’s Web site as part of its threat to arrest the deadbeats. So, I dunno, you might wanna check and see if you’re on it, lest you wind up stung by the rather benignly monikered Operation Pay…
No wonder that logo looks like it’s shooting the city the bird. Doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to see where this is headed: The Dallas Morning News is reporting this afternoon that after an exhaustive review of documents and e-mail exchanges between city council members and Live Nation staffers, it…
Snapped from Unfair Park HQ, right before it started raining. Someone call the Ghostbusters. –Robert Wilonsky…
CNN wonders: “Is America’s suburban dream collapsing into a nightmare?” By which, one assumes, they mean, oh, Frisclosure? Because mentioned in the piece is downtown Dallas’s revitalization, courtesy Schutze’s pal and New Urbanism prophet Christopher Leinberger, who says folks no longer want to live miles away from their jobs. He…
View Larger Map The Katy Building — built in 1914, making it one of the oldest buildings in downtown — is for sale, notes GlobeSt.com this morning. On the tax rolls for a couple mil, it’s going for $15 million, but only because it’s being tossed in with two other…
In case you didn’t know these were the DFW’s traffic hot spots, INRIX sends a reminder. INRIX is a formerly Microsoft-affiliated company that keeps track of traffic. And, far as it’s concerned, the Dallas-Fort Worth is a congested mess — fifth-worst in the country, matter of fact, behind only Los…
