We’re certainly not above a little promotion, especially for a good cause. So when we got word that venerable newsman Dan Rather and his grandson Martin wanted to tell us about The Rather Prize, a $10,000 grant to be given to the Texas student or educator who could come up…
Call it a small, mostly symbolic victory for the anti-toll road bunch. Late Wednesday afternoon, the Dallas City Council unanimously approved a half-measure drafted by freshman council member Adam McGough that keeps the bond money already raised for the city of Dallas Trinity project — some $47.7 million — from being…
Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson promised Saturday that the investigation into the shooting death of 19-year-old Christian Taylor at an Arlington car dealership would be as transparent as possible. So far, he’s keeping his word. Tuesday evening, Johnson announced that Brad Miller, the trainee officer who killed Taylor, had been…
The sliver of ground Ken Paxton and the state of Texas are fighting over is so small as to be absurd. That’s not a surprise, of course. So far this year, setting aside the big fights over things like saving the planet, he’s taken a brave stand against same-sex spouses…
A fight centered in what seems to be one of the most contentious blocks of downtown Dallas continued last week with developer Tim Headington asserting that Texas law doesn’t guarantee apartment dwellers the right to access “air, light or a view.” He was talking about tenants in the Wilson Building…
Today as the Dallas City Council returns from its summer slumbers, it takes up a number of prickly questions, none more so than the debate over asking developer Trammell Crow Co. to include some affordable housing in exchange for the company’s getting an enormous grant of extra development rights from…
A secret but common belief among political professionals here is that only people over 60 really care about local politics, and all they want is more stop signs. Yet here we are on a very warm summer evening at The Foundry, an indoor/outdoor bar that shares a small repurposed industrial…
Since it went public with plans to build a high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston, Texas Central Railway has been adamant that it won’t be suckling at the government teat. The project would be entirely private, allowed to rise and fall on its own merits, as judged by the…
My favorite part of the audit released yesterday of the city’s water meters: In 2008, when the water department was taking flak for too many “implausible” meter readings — meter readings that are either crazy, totally whacked out or you-gotta-be-kidding-me — they did what any head-up self-defending bureaucracy would do…
No matter who one asks, a second rail line downtown is the most important project on DART’s agenda, essential to the transit authority’s future. It will expand the capacity, and the possibility, of transit infrastructure that is currently strangled by the manufactured bottleneck of four above-ground train lines running on…
Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson still hasn’t released the surveillance video of 19-year-old Christian Taylor being shot to death by APD officer Brad Miller, but he did release more than 16 minutes of dispatch radio audio Monday. Johnson released the audio in response to multiple videos circulating that used scanner…
Inch by inch, the state of Texas is being dragged into the United States’ new reality, whether the state leadership likes it or not. Last Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was ordered to face a federal contempt charge for his office’s role in, you guessed it, denying newly guaranteed…
Marty Hiles had big plans for Ellis County. “A bunch of us — mostly retired, all former CEOs, executives, we’ve been around the world, done things, every one of us are veterans — we got together and we were looking and said ‘You know what? Ellis County needs to come out of…
Recently I came across a great term of art I think aptly describes the contrast between the way the Bishop Arts/North Oak Cliff district of the city is growing and the way West Dallas is developing. It’s, “Orderly but dumb versus chaotic but smart.” A tight fit. In a conversation…
Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson said Saturday that his department has asked the FBI to help investigate the shooting death of 19-year-old Christian Taylor. Taylor was shot early Friday morning by Arlington police officer Brad Miller. Taylor, who was unarmed, had driven his car through the glass front of a…
Whether on the prime-time slot graced by Senator Ted Cruz or the kid’s table afternoon debate where former Governor Rick Perry to his place, just too many candidates filled the stages. Neither Texan got more than about 10 minutes of cumulative time to speak and Cruz was additionally impaired by…
From the extravagantly named Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service comes this exciting news (if you’re a crazy person) or warning (if you’re me) of a “football field-length stretch of [CA Roan Drive]” in Rowlett that’s been blessed (or cursed) with a massive, tree-covering spider web built by thousands of spiders. “Someone…
When they woke up week ago Wednesday, the Rangers were effectively dead. They’d lost to the Yankees 21-5 the day before. Martin Perez, just returned from more than year off after Tommy John surgery, had gotten smoked in his Tuesday start, giving up eight runs while getting only three outs…
Sure, the main anti-towing activist in Texas is facing child sexual assault charges, but that doesn’t mean towing companies in Dallas are angels. Of all of the towing companies covered here, the Observer’s personal favorite is Longhorn Wrecker, headed by a foul-mouthed man named Patrick. Several years ago, a resident…
Downtown Dallas has tons of parking — 69,000 spaces, according to Downtown Dallas Inc. It will have ton of parking for the foreseeable future. Despite that, city planners are calling for even more parking downtown, in part to help the those who might someday want to call downtown home. But…
A portion of the covertly filmed video that served as the basis for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Texas Senate testimony against Planned Parenthood last week was released to the public Tuesday morning. It’s heavily edited, shot by a rabid anti-abortion group and impossible to date, but it’s chock full…
All right, I understand that very few readers of the Dallas Observer are worried about Social Security yet, but you all have to have Social Security cards. Right? That’s all I’m talking about. Just the card. And, yes, it’s more than that. I’m a lifelong libtard. I am pro-government. I…
