OK, business-community school reformers. I believe you mean well. But your guy is toast. You recruited a school superintendent who cannot and will not make it in the big city. You can get all stubborn about it and defend him to the last ditch. If I had to bet, I’d…
For more than two weeks, three young people arrested on misdemeanor charges have remained in a Smith County jail, unable to bond about because a judge set bail at $65,000. They stand accused of misdemeanor criminal trespassing, resisting arrest and illegal dumping. But the unusually high bond amounts are entirely…
Six months into his tenure at DISD, it’s now official: Superintendent Mike Miles is hellbent on squandering whatever good will he was granted upon his arrival. Case in point was his news conference Wednesday to more fully address findings in a recent internal audit concluding that he and top staff…
Late yesterday we told you about a bizarre event that popped up on Dallas’ nightlife calendar: a party at the nightclub Zouk, hosted by LeBron James and apparently designed to honor Jerry Brown, the Cowboys practice-squadder who died in a drunk-driving accident. The event drew all sorts of red flags…
The Texas Department of Public Safety has been mostly quiet about the case of Angel and Ashley Dobbs, who were cavity searched by a state trooper during a July traffic stop. The agency released a statement late Tuesday saying only that the troopers’ actions have been investigated and that the…
Jerry Brown Jr.’s life was cut short almost two weeks ago when the Mercedes driven by Josh Brent, his best friend and Cowboys teammate, veered off the highway near the former site of Texas Stadium. The two had just come from Privae, a members-only night club, where the 320-pound nose…
Back in September, attorney Melissa Kingston sued Lower Greenville blogger/rancorous shit-disturber Avi Adelman, memorably calling him “a self-proclaimed vigilante-style neighborhood activist who more accurately resembles a neighborhood terrorist.” The whole fight began over the new Wal-Mart in that neighborhood: Adelman hates it, while Kingston says she was working with five…
This past October, the Women’s Southwest Federal Credit Union closed its doors. It was tiny, with just 743 members and $2 million in assets, but more important was its balance sheet. The National Credit Union Administration determined WSFCE was insolvent and had to liquidate. That’s when federal regulators began poking…
On May 22, Garland police raided the home of Willis Bassham, a 40-year-old social studies teacher at Garland High School, and seized his cell phone and several computers. Stored there were sexually explicit photos and videos of at least four female students. One, who was 17 at the time, was…
Over the summer, plans for a $33 million parking garage next to the American Airlines Center briefly became the focus of the ongoing feud between Ross Perot Jr., whose company was building the structure, and Mark Cuban, whose company opposed the project. The garage was green-lighted by the City Council…
On Tuesday morning, Dallas police got a call from the Transportation Security Administration. The agency had some 65 pounds of abandoned ammunition that needed to be picked up. That’s all DPD’s incident report said. Not a word about what the hell such a large amount of ammunition was doing at…
“They came by the other day and swept some of our stuff up,” Michelle complained. She’s a petite black woman in her mid 40s, with chin-length hair partially hidden under a black and orange knit cap. On a recent weekday morning, she was perched atop an upside down bucket, blowing…
During the 2011 session of the Texas Legislature, after hearing a report on the radio indicating that judges in Dearborn, Michigan, now embrace Islamic jurisprudence, state Representative Leo Berman, a Republican from Tyler, filed a bill to keep Texas courtrooms free of sharia law. The proposal was referred to committee,…
Yesterday afternoon, Mark Cuban began passing a kidney stone. We know this because he told us. Kidney stones are no fun.If this one pops out in one piece I’m either going to get it bronzed or sell it on eBay #pukinglikeaftermyfirstbeer— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) December 18, 2012 Please, Mark. Elaborate…
Hacktivist collective Anonymous has had a busy couple days, fighting their old foe the Westboro Baptist Church. Meanwhile, court records show that their former self-proclaimed spokesperson, Barrett Brown, has pleaded not guilty to twelve charges related to the hacking of the intelligence firm Stratfor. Brown was arrested and his Dallas…
As we reported earlier, newly elected state Representative Jason Villalba announced his intention to file legislation allowing Texas school districts to arm trained faculty and staff members. “School marshals,” I think he calls them. In case you were wondering whether we might see ol’ Coach prowling the halls of a…
Last night, NBC 5 laid bare the truth about distracted driving and the Dallas Police Department. Over two years, the station reported, in-car computers and similar distractions were a factor in 13 accidents involving DPD vehicles. Over the summer, the department considered changing its policy governing the use of in-car…
Jason Villalba, the newly elected state representative from North Dallas, is starting his legislative career with a splash. Villalba announced today that he will introduce the Protection of Texas Children Act, the innocuous-sounding title of a bill that would allow Texas school districts to designate pistol-packing faculty and staff members…
On July 13, Angel Dobbs was driving her boyfriend’s car north down the George Bush Turnpike when they were pulled over by state troopers. The troopers said they had spotted Dobbs throw a cigarette butt out the window. According to a lawsuit filed by the Dobbs yesterday in federal court,…
In March 2011, after federal inspectors visited Keeneland Nursing and Rehab, a Weathorford nursing home, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a report detailing a laundry list of concerns. The report concluded that staff were medicating patients unnecessarily so they’d be easier to deal with. One nurse reportedly…
Victor Lozada was a 19-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department when he was killed in a motorcycle crash while escorting then-presidential contender Hillary Clinton to a campaign rally in Oak Cliff on February 22, 2008. His death yielded a momentary pause to the hard-fought Democratic primary, an organ donation…
You know Micah Hurd as the 23-year-old UT-Arlington student whose petition for Texas secession gained 120,000 signatures and triggered a yet-to-materialize White House response, and who claimed he would have posted it anyways if Romney were elected. It was an entertaining gesture, and its entertainment value will no doubt increase…
