Dallas Police Department officials announced Wednesday that they’ve solved many of the issues that led to soaring 911 wait times during a crisis that stretched from last fall into the spring. Staffing levels have been increased, facilities have been improved and police officers, called into emergency duty taking 911 calls,…
For most of the year-plus that Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has fought domestic violence allegations made by his ex-girlfriend, Elliott has preferred to let his lawyers, his dad or Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones speak for him. Wednesday, as rumors surfaced that Elliott’s battle with the league over…
This afternoon in Washington D.C., the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Trump administration will square off in an ongoing legal skirmish over the attempt of a teenage immigrant in a detention center to get an abortion. With Texas law in the spotlight, it’s not surprising that the state Attorney General Ken…
Tuesday morning, during the NFL owners’ regularly scheduled meetings in New York, several NFL owners met with representatives from the NFL Players Association and the league to discuss the ongoing issues surrounding player protests and the national anthem. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is in New York, but he wasn’t…
Last week, the national PBS television program Frontline did a long story focused on West Dallas landlord Khraish Khraish, part of a series on the national affordable housing crisis. Khraish is somebody I have written about a lot in the last year, and the Frontline piece evoked strong feelings in me —…
Ezekiel Elliott remains eligible to play for the Cowboys, thanks to a ruling from U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty Tuesday night. The judge granted Elliott a temporary restraining order, allowing him to continue playing until a preliminary injunction hearing or Oct. 30, whichever comes first. Elliott’s request for a preliminary…
Starting Dec. 1, no one busted in the city of Dallas for possessing 4 ounces or less of marijuana will be required to spend the night in jail. With a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the Dallas County Commissioners Court cleared the way for the policy to take effect. Instead, individuals cited for…
Dallas’ prominent sports team owners are going in different directions when it comes to players protesting the national anthem. On Monday, leaders of Dallas’ African-American community excoriated Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for his stance that any Cowboys player protesting during the national anthem won’t play for the team. Later…
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is vowing to continue the fight against a secular Nativity scene at the statehouse after a court served him a defeat last week. U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks ruled that Abbott’s 2015 decision to throw the nativity scene — which depicts Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and…
Since T.C. Broadnax took office as Dallas city manager in February, I have had the feeling he was waiting to see just how sacred some of the city’s sacred cows were. Yesterday, he got a clear message that at least one of them, the weirdly named South Dallas Fair Park…
Three mediums stand near the tree where a 3-year-old Richardson girl was last seen in the early morning hours of Oct. 7. They’re not here in any official capacity for the Richardson Police Department, but they’re determined to use their self-stated psychic “gifts” to find Sherin Mathews. Like others who…
When the Dallas City Council finally passed its long-gestating ethics reform package in March, council member Philip Kingston was among those dissatisfied with the new rules because they weren’t strong enough. On Friday, Kingston became the first council member rung up on the new rules. The city’s ethics advisory commission found…
The Dallas FBI needs the public’s help identifying a gang of bank robbers the bureau is calling the “Country Boy Bandits” after a string of bank robberies in North Texas. An unknown number of robbers and a getaway driver have hit six banks and convenience stores in Fort Worth and…
Last week, I wrote about Kevin F. Lawrence, executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, the state’s largest law enforcement association. I took him to task for blaming the NFL knee-taking protest on dishonest reporting about police brutality by the national media. Maybe we need to get back into…
Anyone watching the recent legal and media combat between the NFL and Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott has a right to be confused. The NFL has hit Elliott with a six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations. He is appealing that suspension, and the legal battle is winding its way through…
Dallas’ mayor is crowing about a settlement on rates that the city attorney reached recently with an East Texas water authority, and he’s right. Our new city attorney, Larry Casto, did way better than his predecessors, meaning he more or less pulled our bacon out of the trashcan, where somebody…
As things stand, Ezekiel Elliott will not be starting at running back for the Cowboys when the team returns to the field Oct. 22 against the 49ers. Instead, he could begin serving his six-game suspension stemming from domestic violence allegations his ex-girlfriend made against him in 2016. If the team…
The Dallas Police Department needs the public’s help identifying a suspect in a Wednesday morning shooting in the parking lot of a Dallas strip club. The shooting, which took place at about 5:15 a.m., left one man dead and a woman wounded in the leg, according to police. In the…
Amiti Perry, Dallas’ new favorite bartender, didn’t have much time to think Friday afternoon as her story about kicking Milo Yiannopoulos and a group of neo-Nazis out of a Dallas bar in April 2016 went viral. She had to teach morning and afternoon classes at the University of North Texas,…
Janelle Hofeldt had a gut feeling. She says she first felt it when, during a visit from Minnesota, she met her niece’s boyfriend at a North Texas gas station. Chris Revill seemed friendly when he pulled up in his car. At 34, he was older than Typhenie Johnson, who was in…
If you have been watching the Ken Burns PBS documentary on the Vietnam War, then one of the themes you have seen powerfully depicted is the campaign of public lying carried out by President Lyndon Baines Johnson and his team in defense of the war. Long after LBJ’s own Secretary…
The Boy Scouts of America’s board of directors announced Wednesday that the organization will begin admitting girls to the Cub Scouts starting next year. A separate program will be set up to allow older girls to become Eagle Scouts — the BSA’s highest rank — as well. Boy Scout leaders…
