BY MICHAEL BARAJAS Maria Esparza awoke to what she thought was the sound of her husband cooking — the hiss and pop of fresh vegetables dropped into a pan of hot oil. Reality set in when Roy Esparza told her to keep her head down as bullets cracked and whizzed…
Compared with many of the United States’ other large metro areas, the median home in DFW remains (relatively) cheap, according to new research from HSH, a mortgage information firm. The median Dallas-area home — which costs $189,600 says HSH — is affordable for households making $48,786.53 or more, the 12th…
This all could have been avoided, Jerry Jones said, if he’d just gotten his way. As part of an attempt to break the Super Bowl attendance record — set in 1980 when 103,985 fans watched the Steelers beat the Rams in the Rose Bowl — 13,000 temporary seats were added…
The leader of the racist chanting on a University of Oklahoma Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity bus trip “appears to be a graduate” of Jesuit College Prep in Dallas, according to the school. “I am appalled by the actions in the video and extremely hurt by the pain this has caused…
Justice Hull never had a chance. The 2-month-old, allegedly intentionally drowned by the child of her CPS-appointed caretaker in January, was born to a mother who was already subject to eight CPS reports before she was born. Keshondria Hull, according a report issued by the Texas Department of Family and…
There was a palpable lethargy around the Observer offices yesterday. Not exactly atypical for Monday, but the fluorescent lights seemed especially harsh because not all quite regained the hour of sleep we lost over the weekend. If state Representative Dan Flynn gets his way, it might be the last time…
In October 2012, seven men in white jumpsuits — immaculate save for an unsettling crimson stain spreading from their crotches — gathered outside the convention center in New Orleans as the American Academy of Pediatrics was having its annual meeting. The body had just issued a policy statement endorsing newborn…
The first rule about glitter bombs, if you work in the Texas Department of Public Safety, is you do not talk about glitter bombs. “DPS does not discuss security-related matters or investigations,” the agency vaguely told us in an email statement. (Subject line:”Inquiry about Glitter Bombs.”) But there appears to…
Continuing DFW’s storied history of people doing very stupid things in rented exotic cars, a driver abandoned a Lamborghini on the Dallas North Tollway early Sunday morning. See also: A Lamborghini and Ferrari Crashed into Each Other in Fort Worth on Sunday Initially, according to WFAA, police had no idea…
As video released by Dallas police of the suspects confirms, the department has frustratingly little to go on in its search for the killers of Ahmed Al-Jumaili. Al-Jumaili, 36, had recently emigrated to Dallas from Iraq. Wednesday night, he saw snow for the first time; when he, his wife and…
Dallas Police officer Amy Wilburn shot Kelvion Walker — that much is beyond dispute. Believing he was armed and a carjacking suspect, Wilburn rushed the car Walker was sitting in. Despite, according to witnesses, Walker’s hands being up, Wilburn drew her weapon and hit him in the stomach. DPD brass…
Texas has some of the worst civil forfeiture laws in the country. In 2010, the Institute for Justice gave the state a grade of D- in terms of how easy it is for police to take property allegedly linked to criminal activity, and how hard it is for the property…
A federal magistrate judge has ruled that Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price is, in fact, indigent enough that taxpayers should pay for a sizable portion of his defense, as faces federal corruption charges for allegedly taking almost $1 million in bribes. Earlier today, Price filed the requested financial disclosure…
By 2013, the stories of child molestation in the Catholic church, along with the archdiocese’s attempts to sweep the allegations under the rug, were old news. In that year alone, sex abuse cases cost the Catholic church $108,954,109, according to a report by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops…
Ahmed Al-Jumail was outside with his wife just after midnight Thursday taking pictures of the newly fallen snow when witnesses saw two men walk casually past the couple before turning around and shooting at them, police say. Al-Jumail was hit and transported to the hospital, where he died. He was…
You hear it, or see it if you’re online, every time someone asks what they should do while visiting Dallas. One of the quickest responses is always ‘go check out the Dallas World Aquarium.’ Some mention of penguins or rare birds and how it’s a little expensive ($20.95) but worth…
Not content to let its southern suburban sibling have all the fun, the Dallas Police Department has released a new hopes-to-go viral video of its own. It’s not nearly as good as the Cedar Hill McConaughey spoof…
We’ve been highly critical of DART’s handling of winter weather here at Unfair Park. The agency’s cuts to bus service during inclement weather leave Dallas without adequate public transit at the time when it’s most needed. That being said, the limits Winter Weather Scenario One places on rail service make…
There is nothing wrong with the way that Mansfield regulates fracking, according to the people who run Mansfield. “City leaders say the gas drilling ordinance in Mansfield is one of the most progressive and balanced ordinances in the Barnett Shale,” city leaders say in a not-so-modest news release. But some…
Hey, can I just ask something? Dallas ISD trustees are slated to discuss a proposal barring pay-outs to terminated or otherwise departing employees unless those settlements have been voted on and approved by the school board. The political message is that the administration has been paying people settlements when it…
Timothy O’Connell did what anyone would do faced with a bunch of frat bros constantly telling him to “fuck off” and using his fence as a toilet. He got in touch with the local news — WFAA in this case — and let them do the rest…
Yesterday’s Trinity Toll Road debate may have been unscheduled, but it was raucous. After two open-microphone speakers at the scheduled city council meeting spoke in favor of the road, council members Scott Griggs and Philip Kingston lambasted the two-decades planned South-to-North Dallas connector, despite the objections of Dallas City Attorney…
