A truly new idea, immense in scope, revolutionary in purpose but also wonderfully simple, cheap, pragmatic and real, is suddenly on the table in the city’s most ancient and intractable unsolved problem — the damned Trinity River. It’s this: Stop. Just stop. Stop trying to stick stuff on it, spray…
Until Wednesday, Dallas County’s 2016 and 2017 uptick in mumps activity was contained to cases that came in ones and twos. Despite North Texas seeing two and a half times more mumps cases in 2016 than the longstanding statewide average of about 20, Dallas County had yet to see an…
What could the Northeast Police Department be working toward on any given day? Stopping sex trafficking? Pulling over drunk drivers? Pursuing strong arm robbers and drug kingpins? Making sure pesky teenagers and drunk college kids don’t steal those little orange number tents from Whataburger? The police department responsible for Cross Roads…
Despite their size and prominent display, it’s easy to ignore statues. After a while they blend into the landscape, becoming silent vigils as the world swirls around them. Using a quadcopter to gain a different vantage, however, these commonplace statues become less familiar. The new view gives them a new…
As he promised he would to the Observer’s Jim Schutze a couple of weeks ago, Dallas state Senator Don Huffines filed a bill Tuesday afternoon to get rid of Dallas County Schools, the school district that doesn’t operate any schools. Dallas County Schools, for the uninitiated or confused, runs the…
On Tuesday afternoon Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings filed a notice of non-suit in his lawsuit against the Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund. That means that the mayor, who’d sued the fund as a private citizen in order to stop to fund from making payments he believes could bankrupt the…
Leroy Coleman and Joseph Sanders have a simple response to the recent, sweeping federal order dictating federal agencies be more aggressive in deporting undocumented immigrants: It’s about damn time. Coleman and Sanders are day laborers who see the effects of U.S. immigration policy first hand as they compete for low-wage temporary…
On Monday jurors heard the opening arguments in the corruption trial of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, his chief of staff Dapheny Fain. Codefendant Kathy Nealy, Price’s political consultant, will face a separate trial. Here’s what they heard from them and the case’s first witness. The Government’s Case Assistant U.S. Attorney…
Great, I have an answer to a question. Now, after hearing opening arguments in the John Wiley Price case, I know why no Perots are indicted. I get it. But given the government’s theory on why no Perots should or could have been indicted — and given the opening arguments made Monday…
As was hinted might be the case late last month, the U.S. Department of Justice will no longer support the lawsuit filed by Dallas U.S. Representative Marc Veasey and several voting rights groups against the state of Texas’ voter ID law. In a filing made late Monday afternoon, attorneys for the…
If he needed a reminder, Dallas state Senator Don Huffines is getting one: Remember, no matter where you are, if you’re speaking to the public, someone is probably filming. During a discussion with Richardson ISD parents and students at the state capitol Monday, Huffines grew irritable when pressed about his…
Taking money out of mass transit to save the city’s dying police and fire pension fund is not a fun idea. It’s nothing to look forward to. But we have to do something, and whatever we do probably won’t taste sweet. “The pension crisis is a public safety crisis now,”…
Early Sunday morning, just before 5:30 a.m., according to the Dallas Police Department, a car that a witness described as a black sports car sped past DPD’s South Central Substation on Camp Wisdom Road, spraying bullets from a handgun. The two suspects, Assistant Chief Randy Blankenbaker said Sunday afternoon, initially targeted…
In a lot of ways, the identity of the 2017 Rangers appears set. If they are going to win the American League West for the third consecutive season, this year’s Rangers will do it with a dominant front end of the rotation, an experienced middle of the order and a…
We know you’re busy, so here’s a roundup of the week’s news from the Dallas Observer. Five Things You Should Know About the Newest Maverick, Nerlens NoelThe newest basketball star in town is manifestly talented and shares Dez Bryant’s destruction of apartments. Dallas City Council Brings Cite-and-Release for Weed Possession…
Two floors down from the real courtroom Thursday morning, a dozen or so mediatoids sit staring at two flat-screen closed-circuit television monitors in a special media-only annex courtroom, all waiting with bated breath and fingertips poised on keyboards for what we all assume will be the opening day of the…
Katie Jones, according to Cedar Hill police, didn’t get to enjoy the proceeds of her Wednesday robbery for long. On Wednesday morning, police say, the 60-year-old Dallas resident hit the Chase bank just off State Highway 67 in the southwest Dallas County suburb, demanding cash and driving away with an…
On Thursday afternoon, just ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline, the Dallas Mavericks pulled off one of the week’s biggest trades, shipping center Andrew Bogut and wing Justin Anderson to the Philadelphia 76ers for center Nerlens Noel. The Mavs will also send their first round pick to the Sixers, as…
After twice being left for dead, cite-and-release for low-level marijuana possession is back on the table in Dallas, with a vote by the city council expected as early as March 8. Members of the council who support cite-and-release have twice pushed for changing the way Dallas cops handle pot arrests…
President Trump tweeted two days ago: “The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!” I got so excited when I read it. You mean liberal activists are actually going to do to Republicans what the Tea Party…
On Tuesday afternoon, city staff released the results of the first year of Dallas’ so-called living wage program. In late 2015, the Dallas City Council voted to require any business with a city contract to pay its employees $10.37, about $3 more per hour than the federal minimum wage of $7.25…
It was, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn said, the biggest jury panel she’d ever had in her quilt-bedecked federal courtroom. Seventy men and women from the seven counties that supply potential jurors to the Dallas division of the Northern District of Texas completely filled the courtroom’s gallery, relegating clerks, the…
