News

If you want to read the complete file in the case of Infinity Radio, Inc. v. Belo Corp. et al, the subject of a news story in this week’s Observer, here are the kinda-simple steps necessary. And lemme say I wish I knew how to do this Friday, after getting…

Five years after the publication (well, self-publication) of his book O.J. Is Guilty, but Not of Murder, local private detective Bill Dear is moving his search for Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman’s killers to the big screen. On March 27 at the Angelika Film Center, 275 locals handpicked by Dear…

In the Squeezing Blood from a Stone filings at the United States Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, it seems there are still a few folks who want some scratch from what remains of the Entertainment Collaborative. In January, U.S. District Judge Harlin DeWayne Hale officially chopped down…

As Mayor Mackie Choice sits with friends on his front porch on a warm March afternoon, he periodically surveys the horizon for danger. The bulldozers could come at any moment, from any direction, to level the entire town. Already they have razed a nearby settlement, and nobody knows what their…

IN THE MOVIES, Hogwarts castle is a towering Gothic monument to magical education, with Harry Potter and the rest of J.K. Rowling’s young wizards traipsing across the expansive school grounds. Set against the foggy, mountainous backdrop of Scotland, the boarding school features secret passageways that contain dangerous monsters, moving staircases…

No, you didn’t miss the news that Belo Corp., the owner of The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-Channel 8, is involved in what looks like a nasty lawsuit with the mighty New York City-based CBS Corporation. That’s because Belo’s media outlets (and CBS’, for that matter) have failed to report…

Keep it: The Federal Emergency Management Agency began its audit of aid money doled out to victims of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita/Wilma last week, but if you are one of the people who used FEMA debit cards to buy booze, tattoos, sex toys or a trip to a massage parlor in Dallas…

Texas Crude Gramps, just get over it: Sorry, Jim, I’m going to have to break a little tradition I have and disagree with the spirit of your latest article (“SMU’s Shame,” by Jim Schutze, March 16). Sure, SMU was operating on the shady side when they systematically subverted the University…

In a rare piece of good news for the Dallas County Jail, InfoIntegration, the infamously incompetent computer firm that lost track of inmates like they were old pairs of tube socks, will not renew its contract when it expires in July. Tonya Brenneman, the founder of the firm, got the…

The worst thing that can ever happen to you, according to my wife, is bedbugs. For those of you who don’t pay attention to the news, bedbugs, those nasty little bloodsuckers, have made a comeback. You can read about their resurgence here. My wife and I found this out the…

I always answer my office phone with some degree of trepidation. Not that I don’t like bitching out publicists trying to sell me on a “summer wedding feature,” because I do–and how. But I like a good old-fashioned news tip a lot better, and those are few and far between…

What’s bad news for Tom DeLay is good news for Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck, the Dallas-based documentary filmmakers whose movie about Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle’s investigation into the doings of DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee (TRMPAC) has found a distributor. The Observer first…

Last night I went to an early screening of the film Water by acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, whose 1996 film Fire sparked rioting in her native India upon its release. (Seems the radical Hindus back home didn’t dig the storyline involving two women who leave their husbands and wind…

The Democrats kinda, sorta have the registered voters in their corner come the mid-term elections, at least according to a Zogby poll released today. Yeah, well, judging by this info, Texas Dems really shouldn’t get their hopes up. Barbara Ann Radnofsky, we’re looking at you. You too, Chuck Thompson. –Robert…