The real, hard news coming out of the U.S. Senate race between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke Friday is hard to read as anything but good for the challenger. Over the last three months, the El Paso U.S. representative raised an astounding $38.1 million, the most ever in a quarter…
Another week, another regulatory change that could hurt millions of Texans proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration. This time around, Kirstjen Nielsen’s Department of Homeland Security is looking to change the way the federal government evaluates immigrants applying for permanent residence in the United States. If a change to the so-called…
For the second consecutive year and third in the last four, the Cowboys enter Week 6 of the NFL season at a crossroads. They are, like they were in 2017 and like they were in 2015, 2-3 and lurking on the periphery of the NFC playoff picture. Win Sunday in…
As the Observer reported Monday, Resilient Dallas, a plan for building a better city ready to face the future, told us a lot we already know about inequality between Dallas’ northern and southern halves, rich and poor, and white, black and Latino populations. One stark fact it revealed was surprising:…
Just looking at the two candidates’ Facebook pages, it couldn’t be clearer what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his challenger, Houston attorney Justin Nelson, are trying to do as they head into the homestretch of their campaigns. Four years after gaining his office as a Tea Party insurgent, Paxton…
My job is hard. Sometimes I hear terrible things — things I have to live with because of my work. For example, in a recent conversation I was told something positive about the Trinity Forest Golf Club. How do you think that made me feel? But I soldier on, and…
The Catholic Diocese of Dallas will release the names of all priests “credibly accused” of sexual assaulting minors from 1950 until the current day in January as part of a joint effort of each of Texas’ 15 dioceses, Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said Wednesday. Investigators have been looking through the…
I have been writing about Dale Davenport, proprietor of Jim’s Car Wash on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Fair Park, for 14 years. Monday for the first time in all those years, I heard him say something I didn’t believe was true. Speaking in reference to a new initiative…
Texas’ system of electing judges has long drawn criticism about the potential influence of campaign donations in the outcome of cases. Plaintiffs’ lawyer John McCraw took those critiques one step further last month when he filed a motion asking two justices on Texas’ 5th Court of Appeals to remove themselves from…
A day before the voter registration deadline for the midterms, state Sen. Don Huffines issued a demand for an “emergency” Texas Senate committee hearing on voter registration fraud, particularly the rampant, unprosecuted cases of immigrants registering and voting illegally. At least Huffines seems to think it’s rampant, but then he…
Dallas is a prosperous, forward-thinking place. It is, the tired catchphrase goes, a “world class city.” “Big Things Happen Here” is the city’s brand. Dallas is also where: More than 115,000 children live in poverty, among the worst rates of any large U.S. city. The median income is the lowest…
Tomorrow is the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election, so here’s a quick primer on what you need to know. First: Seriously, what’s wrong with you? Too busy? Scored some really good weed and been glued to the couch? Oh sure, we understand. It’s not…
Dallas might be having a bit of a fly problem. Recently, residents of Dallas have been complaining online about the swarms of flies invading their homes, their lives and their minds. Even Jennifer Gracheck of MosquitoNix pest control in Dallas, said over the last month and a half they have received more…
Genocide is a tricky, ugly word to trot out in an argument. Comparing something to the brutality and madness of genocide to make a point is likely to blow up in your face. Survivors are justifiably touchy about anything that remotely devalues their suffering. Plus, my editor won’t let me…
The city of Dallas will be spraying pesticide today in two neighborhoods where mosquitoes tested positive for West Nile virus. The neighborhoods are the 6700 block of Sperry in Lakewood and the 6400 block of Prestonshire in Preston Hollow, which will be sprayed between 9 p.m. tonight and 5 a.m…
Before the season, an argument could’ve been made that Terrance Williams was going to be the Cowboys’ No. 1 wide receiver in 2018. Despite underachieving during his first five years in Arlington, Williams had a chance to escape Dez Bryant’s shadow for the first time. He still had the game-breaking speed,…
Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump endorsed Rep. Pete Session, the incumbent in Texas’ 32nd Congressional District. On its face, the Trump’s seal of approval was nothing out of the ordinary, just another rote tweet from a president who’s an endless source of them. What was attention grabbing was that this…
Justina Walford says one big reason she is running for the Dallas City Council Dwaine Caraway left in August for a stay in the federal penitentiary was the fact that she wasn’t thrilled with his potential replacements. “I was not noticing people I admire to step up to run,” Walford…
Sen. Ted Cruz has a new initiative up and running in his re-election campaign against U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, blasting his challenger for his supposed animosity toward police and touting Cruz’s own deep ties to law enforcement. One of the cops prominently featured by Cruz has a backstory worth paying…
Monday I wrote a column saying there is a chance under the law that fired Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger, who shot and killed an innocent man in his own apartment on Sept. 6, is not guilty of murder. The reader response was numerous and mostly angry with me, as…
In response to multiple deadly police shootings, the 2017 Texas Legislature, led by Dallas state Sen. Royce West, passed the Community Safety Education Act. West’s bill requires all high school students, new drivers and police officers in Texas to take a class on how to better interact with one another…
The timing was just chance, but couldn’t have been more appropriate. As last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh stirred up talk about teenage sexual assault, blackout drinking and the dangers faced by young people, a group of Dallas teens on Saturday used dramatic performances…
