Would it have been nice for the Amber Guyger story to have unfolded in the community without reference to race? Do those words, as you read them, sound as absurd to you as they do to me as I write them? Nothing is not about race. Not at the local…
Sentencing of Dallas ex-cop Amber Guyger began Tuesday afternoon, hours after a jury found her guilty of murdering her upstairs roommate, Botham Jean, in a shooting last September. She faces five to 99 years in prison Prosecutors presented additional evidence, including Guyger’s application for employment at the Dallas Police Department…
Amber Guyger is guilty of murder. After about four hours of deliberation, that’s the decision made by Dallas County jury Tuesday morning. She’ll be sentenced to between five to 99 years in prison by the same jury that convicted her later this week. Following the verdict, Guyger sat at the…
Last week, the comment period for changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) closed. Members of the public had 60 days to express their opinions about the federal government’s proposed changes, which if implemented could take away benefits from as many as three million U.S. residents, including 300,000 in Texas, many of whom are already vulnerable to food insecurity.
Former Dallas Police Department officer Amber Guyger’s trial, the object of local and national media’s fixation for the better part of a week and a half, has moved in fits and starts. Before the trial proper even started, it took attorneys on both sides more than a week to cull…
Friends and family, politicians both foreign and domestic, as well as supporters of every stripe, all donned the color red and converged on the Renaissance Dallas Hotel on what would have been Botham Jean’s 28th birthday. Red was his favorite color. “He lived his life in such a way that…
For months, Dallas has debated the fate of former Dallas Police Department officer Amber Guyger. On Sept. 6, 2018, she shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Jean, believing, she said, that Jean was an intruder in her apartment. Instead, Guyger had entered Jean’s apartment, which sat directly above hers. As of…
Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas and reliable Donald Trump toady, made a bit of news over the weekend when he predicted on Fox & Friends that the impeachment process could plunge the United States into civil war. Responding to a question about evangelical Christians’ response to impeachment efforts…
Protesters gathered outside the Dallas Police Association building near sunset Friday, holding signs reading “Mata Gotta Go” and “Resign Mata,” calling for the firing of the DPA president. The activists say Mike Mata broke police protocol after one of the department’s former officers, Amber Guyger, shot and killed Botham Jean,…
Saturday at Frank Crowley Courthouse had a vibe easily recognizable to anyone who’s ever worked the weekend shift in an office building. Head to any floor in the building except the seventh, and Dallas’ hub of criminal courts activity was bereft of action. Get off the elevator on the seventh…
The Dallas ISD board of trustees voted Thursday night to close a struggling alternative high school and replace it with satellite programs at three campuses. Patton Academic Center, in Oak Cliff, is an alternative school for students who either are over-age or behind in class credits needed to graduate. It’s…
Friday morning, the world finally heard from Amber Guyger. In as few words as possible and frequently through tears, the former Dallas Police Department officer described the night she shot Botham Jean. She shot and killed the PriceWaterhouseCoopers accountant, she said, because she said she feared that Jean was going…
First, there was the unfamiliar skyline on the fourth floor of the parking garage. Typically, Amber Guyger parked on the third. Then, there was the bright red mat conspicuously marking the foreign door. And, finally, the stench of marijuana emanating from the apartment that Guyger claimed she mistook for her…
A group of photojournalists is challenging a Texas state law that restricts how they can use drones, arguing the law represents a violation of the First Amendment. The law imposes fines and possible jail time for photographers caught using drones to shoot photos of people or private property, regardless of…
Yesterday, a Senate special committee held its first meeting to discuss gun violence and prevention and address the eight executive orders issued by Governor Greg Abbott. Discussion centered around mental health, social media, shooters who self-radicalize online; many panel members repeated concerns about impinging on second amendment rights and due process of the law.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area has the lowest rate of children’s health insurance coverage among the 25 largest metro areas in the United States, according to new census data released Thursday. Across the area, 11.7% of children are uninsured, continuing a multiyear slide that reflects statewide trends. Adults in Dallas and…
Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, as a parade of witness talked about the scene at the South Side Flats apartments, the forensic results of Amber Guyger’s decision to shoot Botham Jean and investigative procedure, prosecutors’ case came into clearer focus: Guyger might not be a cold-blooded murderer, but she was…
The Dallas City Council made what had to be one of the easiest decisions its members will ever make Wednesday afternoon. All 15 council members voted to rename the stretch of road that fronts American Airlines Center in Victory Park for the greatest player in Dallas Mavericks history, Dirk Nowitzki…
DeSoto will become the first North Texas city to offer paid family leave to all city employees, beginning next month. Candice Quarles, the DeSoto City Council member who spearheaded the law, is a mother herself and saw an opportunity to use her 12 years of human resources experience to help…
The state’s lead investigator in the Amber Guyger case, David Armstrong, said today in court that he didn’t think she committed a crime in the shooting of her neighbor, Botham Jean. But the judge, Tammy Kemp, didn’t allow the jury to hear that part of Armstrong’s testimony, ruling that his…
Any time City Hall plays with the facts, there’s a reason. It should raise a red flag. A case in point right now is a new plan to turn over the baseball field at Reverchon Park to private interests. Think of it this way: This is about $20-$30 million worth…
The story on Tuesday, the second day of former Dallas Police Department officer Amber Guyger’s murder trial, was one of the mundane and the visceral. Cops and apartment managers talked for hours about procedures, floor plans and door locks, drawing the outline of a picture that’s yet to come fully…
