On a clear day last week, about 100 people gathered in the chapel of Lott’s Mortuary on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Dallas to mourn the death of Sheila Davenport Sanders. Sanders, 56, was shot in the back June 2 in a crossfire at Jim’s Car Wash two…
Texas’ Driver Responsibility Program, perhaps the most loathed program administered by the state, is no more. Friday afternoon, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill immediately putting the program to the sword, clearing the path for about 1.5 million Texans to regain their driver’s licenses. The program imposed surcharges on…
This may come as a shock to those unfamiliar with East Texas, but the people there, especially those in many of its small towns, really, really don’t like abortion — so much so that they’re willing to make national spectacles of themselves just to show everyone how much they hate…
Kendrell Lavar Lyles frequently looked for prostitutes near the area where police believe he shot and killed Muhlaysia Booker on May 18, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The affidavit, released Thursday afternoon, details the investigation that led Dallas police to Lyles. Police believe that he committed two additional murders…
Dallas ended up paying dearly for banning porn conventions from the city in 2016. On Wednesday, the City Council signed off on paying J. Handy $650,000 to settle the suit he brought against the city in February 2016. Handy, founder of the Exxxotica pornography and adult industry expo, sued the…
Thanks to an addendum to the Dallas City Council’s agenda Wednesday, we now know who felt flush enough to pay a million-and-a-half for Dallas’ recently toppled tribute to the treasonous Confederate general, Robert E. Lee. According to council documents, the high bidder in the city’s online auction for the statue,…
Everything goes back to Detroit, I guess. Well, not me. I was thinking more about the Dallas chief of police. Again. Yesterday, the Dallas chapter of the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization joined a growing chorus of critics calling for Chief U. Renee Hall to be canned. The NLLEO is…
Dallas police have arrested the man they think killed Muhlaysia Booker on May 18. Kendrell Lavar Lyles, 34, has been charged with murdering two additional, yet to be identified people in May as well. DPD Maj. Max Geron said that police began investigating Lyles after an anonymous tipster told Dallas…
If he’s anything, Dallas mayor-elect Eric Johnson is an ambitious guy. He’s got degrees from Harvard, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania, and took his seat in the Texas House of Representatives before turning 40. In the legislature, he’s sought out high-profile fights, sparring over things like criminal justice reform,…
Editor’s note: Casey Miller served as a member of the jury that last week found Brenda Delgado guilty of capital murder in the contract killing of Dallas dentist Kendra Hatcher. Delgado will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. Miller offered the Observer this essay about his experiences…
Without the fanfare of a signing ceremony or public statement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott legalized industrial hemp and products derived from the plant this week, bringing Dallas’ many CBD shops out of murky legal waters and into the light. House Bill 1325, which passed overwhelmingly in both the Texas House…
A Bryan Place apartment building that was damaged when in a deadly crane crash Sunday afternoon will be closed, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue. Greystar Properties, the management company that owns the Elan City Lights apartment complex, determined the building is “totally unusable for residential purposes,” said Jason Evans, a spokesman…
Dallas Police Chief U. Renee Hall sounded a lot like a woman on the ropes Monday as she did her best to address Dallas recent spike in homicides and other violent crime in front of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee at City Hall. She told council members that the…
Residents of a Bryan Place apartment complex where a crane fell over the weekend were able to return to their homes to gather a few things before heading back to the hotel rooms where they’re likely to be living for at least a few weeks. Shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday,…
Watching the results roll in Saturday night in Dallas’ municipal election, one would be excused for being a little surprised, especially if she’d been paying attention to what the Observer reported over the last couple of weeks. State Rep. Eric Johnson was almost 20 points ahead of Dallas City Council…
You know who you are. If I’m talking to you, you know how I feel. I know how you feel. This is like a mini version of the week after Donald Trump got elected. Oh, Canada! And then, “Oh, no! I don’t have a job in Canada.” So let’s take…
Early last week, the Plain View Project, a database put together by a group of Philadelphia lawyers, went live, publishing Facebook posts that the group believed “could undermine public trust and confidence in police” from more than 3,500 police officers. Among the posts are dozens from Dallas police officers that, to…
The brand-new mayor elected Saturday is in for a tough initiation. During the campaign, Eric Johnson, a lawyer, gave the legally correct answer to questions about loose dogs and other knotty day-to-day problems: not the mayor’s job. And he’s right, legally and on paper. The day-to-day operation of city government…
A powerful thunderstorm toppled a crane Sunday afternoon in downtown Dallas, authorities reported. Dallas Fire and Rescue reported the incident was near 2600 Live Oak St., where the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs’ Latino Cultural Center is located. NBC DFW reported that at least two people were injured.
The lights went out twice on Dallas progressives Saturday night. First figuratively, when state Rep. Eric Johnson took a lead he wouldn’t come close to relinquishing in the city’s mayoral race, and then again a half hour or so later, when the power and Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs’…
A Dallas County took less than an hour Friday morning to convict Brenda Delgado of Dallas dentist Kendra Hatcher’s 2015 murder. Delgado will spend the rest of her life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to prosecutors, Delgado paid Kristopher Love and Crystal Cortes to kill Hatcher because…
State District Judge Tammy Kemp pushed attorneys from both sides of the Botham Jean case about the release of the 911 call made by former Dallas cop Amber Guyger shortly after she shot and killed Jean on Sept. 6. Kemp, who’s issued a gag order in the case, said that…
