You might remember FreedomWorks. In 2010, the nonprofit, established and funded by billionaire David Koch, helped shape a sprawling Tea Party movement into the force that swept a large number of very conservative Republicans into Congress. Call it grassroots, call it AstroTurf. For a hint, if one is needed, of…
Texas has executed five people so far this year, all using the same procedure. First, a barbiturate, pentobarbital, is administered to induce unconsciousness. Then a dose of pancuronium bromide paralyzes every muscle in the body. Finally, a dose of potassium chloride stops the heart. That will change when Yokamon Hearn…
In the course of reporting the recent Observer feature on wrongful convictions based on wrongdoing by prosecutors and police, an interesting tangential point surfaced multiple times. It was the reminder by several lawyers that wrongful convictions are all cases that went to trial, but that there are many other defendants,…
Temple Smith was a farsighted man. In 1913, the president of Fredericksburg’s first bank had sense enough to help finance the construction of a rail line between Fredericksburg and Comfort. A small town, Bankersmith, was settled there, but Smith saw beyond the relative boom that brought a post office, lumberyard,…
President Barack Obama will be in Texas for approximately five minutes today, attending some fundraisers in San Antonio and Austin. An LGBT Leadership Council event in Austin costs anywhere from $250 to $7,500 to attend, while the Statesman claims another event at the Four Seasons there will cost $25,000 per…
Last month, we wrote about a former Fairview Police officer who claimed the chief, Granver Tolliver, a fairly litigious former Dallas deputy chief of police, sexually harassed her repeatedly. In Lisa Mitchell’s lawsuit, she accused him of grabbing her by the ponytail and gesticulating crudely with his fingers during a…
The world of early childhood education is cutthroat. There are only so many hyper-concerned parents willing to shell out public college tuition for their 3-year-olds to get the type of preschool education that will propel them into the Ivy League. Used to be, you could slap the name “Montessori” on…
When the Cowboys drafted Dez Bryant a couple of years back, I ignored all the hand-wringing over supposed character issues. He’s young, I thought. Everybody does stupid stuff when they’re young. Give him a massive spotlight and several million dollars a year and he’ll grow out of it. But last…
Yesterday evening, the Dallas Morning News reported on its business blog that it had purchased “hyperlocal online news provider Pegasus News.” The news was surprising because Pegasus has been at the periphery of the local media scene for nearly a decade, never standing out as much of a competitor or…
Daniel Hall’s dog, Boyd, was 10 years, two months, and 24 days old on July 9 but still spry. They’d played fetch together the day before. But that day, according to Hall, the golden retriever/rottweiler mix was lounging on the floor while Hall, his girlfriend and a friend sat on…
Opposing counsel in a six-year legal battle over a proposed Farmers Branch immigration ordinance are trading letters to the judge, arguing, naturally, that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s immigration law supports their side. Last month, the high court struck down the most controversial provisions of Arizona’s law save…
You might know Jennifer Tyrell as the mother from Ohio ousted as den leader of her 7-year-old’s Cub Scout pack not because all the other kids were jealous that her son is named Cruz Burns, which is undoubtedly the awesomest name a second grader could have, but because she is…
Pleasant Grove grandmother Elizabeth Smith, 45, had a wild hour last night, after a 3 a.m. trip to the corner store to get medicine and food for her grandbaby turned into an attempted kidnapping followed by a high-speed chase. Smith told police that as she was walking back from the…
You don’t have to look terribly hard to find garbage at White Rock Lake: Plastic grocery bags, water bottles, plastic foam cups, lots and lots of beer cans, other stuff. It’s so common it fades from consciousness, becomes part of the landscape, except of course when it becomes the entire…
A few years back, the North Texas Tollway Authority took out those pesky toll booths and replaced them with cameras that, if you happen not to have a toll tag, snap a picture of your license plate and helpfully send you a bill — or send a bill to the…
Two brothers, the (now ex) wife of one brother, and a British dude hatch a plan. Playing on their collective entrepreneurial spirit, they’ll start a company. They’ll market it as a foreclosure rescue service — you know, to help people. Anyone in danger of foreclosure can call them, then they’ll…
Five years ago, the Trinity Railway Express signed a deal with 4G Metro “to provide the nation’s first comprehensive wireless broadband solution spanning the entire length of a major public railway.” Impressive, right? But by last year, it had become not so impressive. “The contractor wasn’t able to generate enough…
Update at 1:29 p.m.:Dr. Shannon’s email announcing his resignation, as well as board chair Donna Branson’s responses to my questions, are below. Original post: Skip over to Parkland’s website and scroll through the roster of senior executives and you’ll notice it hasn’t been updated in a while. But they still…
For the past year, WFAA has been digging into Richard Malouf and All Smiles Dental and Orthodontics, the chain of pediatric clinics he owns (used to own, actually) with his wife. What the station found was what appeared to be a massive case of Medicaid fraud in which he bilked…
It’s like clockwork. Every year as summer rolls around, media outlets begin to hyperventilate about the approaching West Nile epidemic, then proceed to breathlessly report on every single human case that shows up. Public health experts dutifully slip on their white coats and talk about what a grave danger West…
We love Josh Hamilton. For one, he’s a damn good baseball player who’s helped propel the Texas Rangers to its first two World Series. Plus, his backstory’s the stuff of Hollywood films. But we don’t love Hamilton as much as Hamilton loves Jesus and, to underscore that point, he’s releasing…
While the big white bridge across the Trinity River promises an economic boost for West Dallas, it’s been a test of the will of La Bajada. The neighborhood, mostly composed of Latino families, has quietly existed for decades without much bother until now. After being ignored for so many years,…
