Update, 3 p.m.: Elliot Monteverde-Torres, the teacher suspended after blowing the whistle on his principal, was denied a contract renewal for next school year in the weeks before he sent the complaint letter. See details after the original item. Original item: The News’ Matthew Haag has a story in this…
We keep hammering away at this same general point, but really: It’s been a terrible year for family planning providers in Texas. First the Legislature moved $73.6 million out of the state family-planning budget for the next two years . At the same time, they changed to a tiered funding…
Seeing as how the Texas climate these days is predisposed to extremes, the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas passed a rule change last week they hope will prevent another epic, frozen February blackout or a grid driven to the brink by gawd-awful Texas…
Before I get to the lame joke that’s required by my job description, here’s something really cool: Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech have designed and built a robotic jellyfish powered by dissolved gasses. No, really, they have. They have video of it swimming in…
New Year’s Eve, 2011. Just across the moat on Interstate 45, at exit at 283B, down the Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard ramp to where the highway spills into Fair Park, there’s a corner with an open liquor store and a closed movie theater. It’s usually pretty desolate here, save…
“That’s right,” Cat Lafitte wrote in an email to the Observer about a month ago. “I’m the idiot Facebook cop.” If you don’t remember Cat Lafitte’s name, you may remember her actions: She was one of three police officers fired in June 2011 for violating department policy. Lafitte’s offenses, according…
A major credit-rating agency is expressing grave doubts about the ability of the state’s largest nonregulated power generator to pay off its debt. Energy Future Holdings, the Dallas-based parent company of power generator Luminant, transmission company Oncor and retail electricity provider TXU Energy, has been downgraded to a CC rating…
Councilman Scott Griggs kicked off last night’s festival of shared discontent over the possibility of drilling in Dallas under the ordinance changes recommended by the drilling task force. Two city drilling task force members, a former member of the Fort Worth drilling task force, members of environmental advocacy groups and…
Wait. This is awesome. We just stumbled across Craig James’ new U.S. Senate campaign ad. His campaign manager, who also moonlights as his daughter, is interviewing him, asking if people in West Texas will hate him for his role in the Texas Tech football fiasco that led to head coach…
Like him or not, I’m sure we can all agree: Damarcus Offord, the 20-year-old Lincoln High grad who’s challenging Bernadette Nutall for her southern Dallas seat on the Dallas ISD school board, is making the typical snoozefest that are school board politics a lot more fun. Last week, Greg showed…
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a federal district court’s order forcing the American Cancer Society to return some $240,000 donated by Irving-based Giant Operating, an oil and gas company the Security and Exchange Commission says defrauded investors of more than $13 million. The ACS donations were…
Alternative elementary schools used for discipline are a “pipeline to prison” and a drain on Dallas Independent School District’s budget that should be closed, a group of DISD parents and activists said today. Alternative school opponents waded across the unkempt lawn at NW Harllee Elementary school in southern Dallas to…
Just in time for Easter, the irrepressible atheists over at the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason are back. You’ll recall that back in February, the group erected a South Dallas billboard in praise of black free-thinkers. This time around, for a campaign they’ve dubbed “Our Families Are Great Without Religion,”…
The FBI and Friends are at a Mutual of Omaha bank branch this afternoon, after an armed gunman made off with a plastic bag full of loot. The industrious folks at DFW Police Scanner report: An unknown suspect just robbed the Mutual of Omaha Bank at gunpoint. Susp is a…
Supporters of Ben Spencer gathered yesterday on the steps of the Frank Crowley Criminal Court Building, where he was convicted for a crime they believe he did not commit. Monday marked 25 years since his arrest for the murder of retail executive Jeffrey Young at a remote industrial complex. Spencer…
Back in December, we spent some time exalting the weirdness of Mavericks guard Delonte West, who had just signed with the team. West is known for his ongoing mental health struggles, and his non-dalliance with LeBron James’ mom. But he is also a noted weirdo whose quotes can reach Ichiro-esque…
As midterms approached on the SMU campus, as the dual stenches of Red Bull and coffee drifted through university libraries and the bars fell quiet, Jennifer, clad in an oversized sweatshirt and yoga pants, looked like an average college student cramming for midterms. Yet, as she sat at her usual…
Students, faculty and community members marched together today through the University of Texas at Arlington campus, demanding justice for Trayvon Martin’s death and the arrest of his killer, 28-year-old George Zimmerman. Hundreds attended the rally organized by the UT-Arlington NAACP chapter, including students from UTD and UNT. Many held signs…
Before this morning, we had never heard of Reynolds Protection, a Dallas purveyor of bodyguards, or its owner, Chad Reynolds, who judging from his bio photo is roughly the size of a refrigerator. A very bald, imposing refrigerator. But this morning Reynolds Protection sent around a press release announcing the…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a sweeping investigation over the weekend of possible cheating on standardized tests in dozens of school districts across the country, and Dallas Independent School District made an appearance. The AJC examined test results for 69,000 schools in 49 states and found “high concentrations of suspect scores”…
Dr. Michael Economides, author, CNBC regular and University of Houston professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, says Texas lost out on some $7.7 billion between 2005 and 2011 primarily because we didn’t use natural gas for electricity. Economides, it should be noted, is a vocal industry supporter and testified before…
After Toni and Ed Allen lost their son, Brien, in May of last year, they decided to mourn him with something called the Bronze Memories Service Package from Restland Funeral Home on St. Paul Street. As funeral packages go, “Bronze Memories Service Package” sounds like the sort of thing that…
