Speaking of Dallas’s water supply …I was on US 380 yesterday, headed to Cattleman’s Cafe in Blue Ridge for chicken-fried steak, when, driving toward Farmersville, I espied what’s left of Lake Lavon, down some 13 feet due to the drought. “It’s stunning,” in the words of North Texas Municipal Water…
Yesterday we gave you the heads-up: Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has brought in former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement to try to throw out what they claim are the federal court’s “unlawful redistricting maps.” And, right on cue, they’ve filed their emergency stays with the U.S. Supreme Court: All…
After the jump are two docs parents of kiddos in the Dallas Independent School District might want to look at sooner than later — before Thursday morning, certainly. That’s when the trustees will begin discussing how to factor in the new State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test scores,…
Editor’s note: Rob Mahoney writes about the Mavericks on his ESPN-affiliated blog The Two Man Game and about basketball for The New York Times’s Off the Dribble blog. Presumably his New York Times bio will henceforth note that he now writes about the Mavericks for Unfair Park. Hark: The NBA…
A couple of weeks back, during those water conservation and watering restriction briefings, council member Scott Griggs had a few questions for Dallas Water Utilities Director Jody Puckett that she wasn’t prepared to answer, among them: Is the city presently selling water to gas drillers, and, be honest, how much…
Shortly before Thanksgiving 2007, Timothy Bray and co-author Nathan Berg of the University of Texas at Dallas issued a report that hasn’t aged a day since its initial publication: Access to Grocery Stores and Food Security in Dallas, which began the ongoing conversation concerning the so-called “food desert” that exists…
On Wednesday we got our first look at the new-look Texas maps drawn by the court, which is attempting to rectify the U.S. Department of Justice’s concerns that the state Legislature is attempting to keep Hispanics from voting for Hispanic candidates, especially in Dallas-Fort Worth. To which Texas Attorney General…
I’ve seen Cheap Trick countless times, among them: playing the State Fair of Texas, opening for Meat Loaf at Starplex, at Reunion Arena some time in the ’86. No matter when, no matter where, the band never disappoints; there’s a reason they’re beloved by the likes of Steve Albini, the…
Speaking of the local garage-rock scene of the 1960s …Three long years ago I noted that Fort Worth filmmaker Melissa Kirkendall was in the process of wrapping her doc Teen-A-Go-Go, a history of those good old days. And while the film — which features the likes of Bugs Henderson (ex…
Almost two months ago to the day, Mike Modano retired from the National Hockey League as a Dallas Star, after a single ill-fated, injury-shortened season with the Detroit Red Wings. So, then: What now? For the longest time he’s made no secret of his desire to move into the front…
In the end, that free-for-all at the Mesquite Walmart may turn out to be The Video That Defined Black Friday 2011 ’round these parts. There are, though, other contenders, as revealed in home movies dispatched from Big Boxes from Hurst to McKinney to Arlington to the intersection of Skillman and…
A few minutes ago, Occupy Dallas posted to its Facebook page a note that two of its former members — which is to say, the group of protesters who split the camp before Dallas Police broke it up last week — were arrested for decorating the downtown Neiman Marcus with…
One of the best photos we’ve ever posted to Unfair Park was this February 16, 1968, snapshot of Angus Wynne and Jimi Hendrix taken at Love Field, shortly before Dallas experienced the man and his band at the Fair Park Music Hall. That picture, of course, accompanied an audience recording…
Way back in July I stumbled across a cache of R.C. Hickman photos being sold on eBay. Some are long gone; I wound up with one, which, according to the Fort Worth-based seller, came from the legendary Dallas Star Post photographer’s personal collection. Four months on many remain, and those…
On this slow, gray Black Friday, allow me to spend some of the day suggesting gifts you need not stand in line (or put on pants or risk a pepper-spraying) to purchase. Over the last few days and weeks I’ve stockpiled a few auction items for the wish list; all,…
Microcosmic world: Buzz recently received an email from the president of the homeowners association of our condominium, ordering all residents to remove personal property — door wreaths, potted plants, holiday displays, everything — from the building common areas. (There’s actually a point to this anecdote. Stay with us.) Some residents…
Thirty miles northwest of Dallas, there is a suburb the outside world scarcely touches. There is no evidence of recession here, no stagnating unemployment. In 2008, Forbes named it the most affluent neighborhood in the country. The next year it was named one of the richest ZIP codes of its…
Longtime friends of the show know of my obsession with the local garage-rock scene of the mid-1960s; if and when I ever write a book … Ah. Anyway. To the estimable list that includes, oh, The Chessmen, Kit and the Outlaws, Mouse and the Traps, Floyd Dakil, The Esquires, The…
According to a New York Times piece published earlier this week, the population behind bars has more than doubled in the past 15 years. Best guess at present: 2.3 million Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving in the clink. And Robert Morris, a criminology professor at University of Texas at Dallas, wants…
About a month ago we noted that the Department of Justice was very unhappy with how state legislators redrew Texas’s congressional districts — something to do with how the new map “actually reduced minority electoral power” in Dallas-Fort Worth, for starters. Hence the ongoing litigation in San Antonio and D.C…
A few years back, Lt. Max Geron was one of the Dallas Police Department’s spokespersons, but he’s quick to remind in his missive to The Atlantic that what he has to say on the subject of Lt. John Pike’s pepper-spraying of peaceful demonstrators on the UC-Davis campus last week are…
The U.S. Department of Energy has coughed up $115 million for something called The EV Project, rolled out in October 2009 with the intention of spending the next 36 months analyzing how and how much folks actually charge their electric cars. A report’s due in 2015, and Dallas is among…
