Joe Bain called Denton police to report a murder. He’d shot and killed his wife Ruth Bain on that early Saturday afternoon at their home in south Denton. He told the 911 operator what he’d done, said “goodbye” and hung up the phone. The 911 operator tried to call him back…
Like Dallas, Houston is in Austin right now trying to get the Legislature to sign off on a much needed fix for its police and fire pension funds. Houston cops, firefighters and the mayor are not in total agreement on what they want, but at least they have somebody in…
Wednesday afternoon, the reports dribbled in from all of the Cowboys’ beat reporters: Tony Romo, the team’s starting quarterback since November 2006, is going to be released. Today is the first day of the NFL’s league year. Romo’s demise was inevitable — the writing’s been on the wall since Dak…
Despite a couple of bumps in the road, Christian Campbell gave federal prosecutors exactly what they wanted. Campbell, who was indicted with Price in 2014 but copped a plea a year later, admitted on the stand Wednesday what he’d admitted in federal court in 2015: He’d given cash to Kathy…
Three of Dallas’ police associations are claiming that Dallas Assistant Police Chief Christina Smith received special treatment when cops appeared at her Lakewood home in February. The Dallas Fraternal Order of Police, the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas and the National Latino Law Enforcement Organization also claim a follow-up investigation has only made…
Almost all of the homeless camps the city has scraped away for the TV cameras over the past year are back up, rebuilt close to their original locations or maybe half a mile away. If the city’s tent-scraping program was intended to resolve homelessness, promote health and safety or reduce…
No one has been sure what role the state legislature will play in any solution to fixing the trroibled Dallas Police and Fire Pension system. On Tuesday afternoon, state Rep. Dan Flynn, chairman of the Texas House Pensions Committee, introduced his bill to patch the system’s multi-billion-dollar hole. It includes an overhauled…
Hakeem Griffin-White and Ashley Coleman are in Dallas County jail, Dallas police reported Monday, for allegedly murdering Drekeiston Alex last Thursday. The shooting was caught on a surveillance video. The pair allegedly discussed the crime on social media, and police found a deleted video in which the couple talked about shooting…
We talk here all the time about things that are hopeless, things headed to hell in a hand-basket, the usual, so every once in a while, when something good does happen randomly, I like to offer it as a footnote or caveat or just for grins. In that vein, the…
Monday was supposed to be a good day for John Wiley Price’s federal prosecutors. After a week of largely exhausting financial and procedural testimony, they were finally going to connect jurors with one of the three women central to the indictment against Price. Karen Manning agreed to testify against Price…
The SWAT team glide down a door-lined hallway in an abandoned juvenile center on the outskirts of Mansfield. Guns at the ready, they follow one another like soldiers on a sweep, sticking close to the walls, entering rooms two at a time. These are the guys police call when they…
Dear Stoner: I have a metal pipe that I can unscrew and clean, and the other day I had a great idea: What if I put a nug in there to get nice and sticky after smoking a few bowls? Will it be more potent? JustBlaze Dear Blaze: Now I…
Saturday morning, North Texas finally got in on 2017’s angry congressional town hall action. Congressman Michael Burgess, who represents parts of Far North Dallas and bigger chunks of Collin and Denton counties, faced a vocal, often angry crowd in Marcus High School’s gymnasium in Flower Mound. Burgess, a Republican medical…
Finally, after almost a decade of investigation, nearly three years of trial delays and a week of jury selection and indictment reading, the United States of America v. John Wiley Price, et al. began in earnest last week with opening statements. The Observer was there, as we will be throughout…
The ongoing Dallas County Courthouse federal corruption trial is taking place at two levels. Last week in the formal courtroom encounter, retired FBI agent Don Sherman and Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price never looked at each other, never moved an inch from their seats. But at the second, subliminal…
We know you’re busy. Here’s a roundup of the news of the week from your pals at the Dallas Observer. No One Around to Foot the Bill When Vandals Target Texas’ Historical Markers After vandals strike a pair of markers in Llano, Texas, the cost of repairs trickled to those…
Up until yesterday, the prosecutors in the corruption trial of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and his chief of staff, Dapheny Fain, controlled the narrative. But on Thursday afternoon, thanks to a strong cross-examination from attorneys Shirley Baccus-Lobel and Marlo Cadeddo, the defense team began to make their own headway. Their…
While he’s not out of the woods, Ken Paxton got some good news Thursday when U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil case against the Texas attorney general. All that separates Paxton from a clean legal slate now are two criminal trials, both based on charges…
Pretend you’re some private company. You dump an enormous load of concrete into the Trinity River creating an obstruction so massive that boats can no longer even get up and down the river. Say you get caught. Don’t you think you’d have to fix it? Or go to the pen?…
Bullet holes. Spray paint. Harsh weather. Outright theft. Life can be hard for a public history marker in Texas. In late February, the Texas State Historical Commission (THC) received reports of attacks on three markers in Llano County, west of Killeen. One 81-year-old sign commemorating “the last Indian battle in…
At the New Hope City Council meeting this week, nineteen folding chairs set out for residents isn’t enough. Residents began to pour into the town hall that once served as a portable building for a local oil and gas company, using seats taken from a closet. This is the first…
As it does every half-decade or so, the time has come for Dallas Area Rapid Transit to figure out a plan to raise prices. The cost for riding DART for a full service day would, under the proposed plan, increase from $5 to $6 and rather than buying a single…
