Dallas County Debuts Color-Coded Coronavirus Threat-Level System

As if things weren’t bad enough, get ready to have some intense Global War on Terror flashbacks. Monday afternoon, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins unveiled the county’s new, color-coded COVID-19 threat level chart. It’s a look, and a format, that should be familiar to anyone who remembers the days and…

Dallas County Reports 253 New COVID-19 Cases, Tying Single-Day Record

Dallas County reported 253 additional cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, tying its single-day record for new confirmed cases of the disease. The county also reported two new coronavirus-related deaths. Both people died at long-term care facilities where they were residents. The first, a woman in her 60s, lived…

Park Friends Group Wants To Be Development Czar Along the River

This is a story about the dangers posed by spunky people. In these terrible times, this story should offer comic relief. But, uh … nah. Probably not too comic. The Trinity Park Conservancy, a very spunky private group charged with raising money for a fancy new city park on the…

Dallas Furloughs 500 Employees to Fight Coronavirus Budget Crunch

About 500 Dallas employees have been furloughed as the city continues to fight its coronavirus budget crunch, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and City Manager TC Broadnax announced Friday. The furloughs have been handed out across 10 departments, according to a letter from Broadnax to city employees. “The city manager notified…

Mark Cuban Is Investigating Dallas Businesses’ Coronavirus Compliance

The Mavericks may be on indefinite hiatus, but Mark Cuban, the team’s owner, is still finding interesting ways to make news during the coronavirus pandemic. Cuban’s still paying the Mavericks’ hourly employees, even though the American Airlines Center’s empty. He’s been one of the leading voices on how the NBA…

Jailed Dallas Salon Owner Now Symbol for Texas Conservatives

Tuesday afternoon, Dallas County Civil District Court Judge Eric Moye sent Shelley Luther to jail for seven days. Despite the paltry sentence, Luther’s case drew national attention because, over the past couple of weeks, she’s become a patron saint for the movement to free Texas from novel coronavirus-inspired restrictions. Luther…

Coronavirus Set to Tear $25 Million Hole in Dallas’ Budget

The Dallas City Council got its first significant look at the havoc the novel coronavirus pandemic is likely to wreak on Dallas’ budget Wednesday. The short-term outlook for the city isn’t great. The long-term could be even worse. Here’s the big takeaway: According to city staff, Dallas’ budget for fiscal…

Coronavirus Science Is Not an Election for God’s Sake

This is what drives me crazy about a lot of the public discourse on coronavirus. When did people get the idea that science is a democracy? For the last many weeks I have been writing about the coronavirus pandemic, and, because everything that goes up online these days leaks out…

Eight Days Later, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Rolls Back More Restrictions

It looks like we’re just going to go for it. Tuesday afternoon, after a week that included Texas’ highest ever COVID-19 death total and Dallas County’s five highest reports of novel coronavirus infections, Gov. Greg Abbott announced plans to reopen even more of the state’s businesses. Under new orders from…

Dallas County’s Coronavirus Count Continues Upward

The number of confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in Dallas County continued its upward march Tuesday, as county officials announced yet another record-breaking total. County officials confirmed 253 new cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus Tuesday, as well as seven new coronavirus-related deaths. Tuesday’s new case total…

COVID-19 Forces Dallas Homelessness Advocates to Get Creative

Since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Texas, many shelters that serve Dallas’ homeless population have shut their doors, diverting their clients to hotels or motels as they did when faced with overflow before the pandemic. Those who are sleeping in shelters or motel rooms are subject to stringent social distancing regulations,…

Here’s What Mark Cuban Thinks It Will Take to Get the Mavs Going Again

Sports fans are desperate. As the coronavirus pandemic has meandered through its second month, we’ve forced ourselves to be excited for remote games of HORSE, 10-part documentaries about a Chicago Bulls season that’s already been covered exhaustively and video game versions of our heroes. Previously played games are plentiful, too,…