Politics & Government

Hypothetically at least, the 6,100 Dallas restaurants, bars, school cafeterias, and food trucks are supposed to be inspected twice a year by city health inspectors. But when the responsible department’s budget is cut by 43 percent and its inspection staff by more than a third, its ability to conduct such…

The Trinity Strand Trail will someday run about eight miles from the old Trinity River channel, pass under Stemmons Freeway and out of the Design District, lope alongside Turtle Creek, loop beneath the DART/TRE tracks and the Tollway, then link up with the Katy Trail. That’s the plan, at least,…

As I type this, Mayor Mike Rawlings is in a room at Shanghai’s Purple Palace Hotel, 7,000 miles away and 13 hours ahead of us. That makes it about 1 a.m. over there, so you might expect him to be sleeping, resting up for another big day at the U.S.-China…

Texas is no stranger to beefs with the federal government. Look no further than its perennial pissing match with the EPA. Last week, Texas officials declared victory in another front of their skirmish with the feds, this one involving an obscure reptile, the dunes sagebrush lizard, found only in four…

Turns out, the people of Dallas don’t care much for voting — Dallas County ranked fourth in the state (out of 254 counties) for the fewest ballots cast among voting-age people. Even Harris County had a slightly better turnout, which unfortunately means the Asshole of the Universe, has us beat…

First Baptist Pastor Robert Jeffress gets most of the press for his outspoken views on homosexuality and Mormonism, but over at the Dallas Voice, John Wright highlights the, um, retrograde views of another prominent local preacher, Dwight McKissic of Arlington’s Cornerstone Baptist Church. McKissic successfully introduced a resolution at the…

When Texas Democrats gathered in Houston last week for their annual convention last week, the mood was glum. Republicans have, after all, held every statewide office since 1994 and, while demographics are likely push the state back into Democratic hands by, oh, 2050 or so, there’s not a lot to…

At a hearing Wednesday, Chairman Ralph Hall and his Republican colleagues put their powerful U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to its highest, most noble use: Namely, bringing the election-year hurt to the Obama administration for whatever perceived shortcomings reside in the committee’s broad wheelhouse. Reading from a…

Damage estimates from the hail storm that pummeled, to name a few things, historic slate roofs, delicate glass sculptures, the Midway sign at Fair Park, and my car. Also, the head of state Rep. Eric Johnson’s wife Nakita when a hailstone boulder crashed through his car’s sunroof, which might have…

Why is Fair Park so deserted? It’s a question that has baffled city officials forever, but so far no one has come up with a plan to draw people to the 277 acre fairgrounds in months that don’t start with “O.” It’s a puzzle no longer, because council member Dwaine…

First, the bad news. Next year, the city estimates that residential users will pay 5.7 percent more for water, according to City Manager Mary Suhm’s latest budget briefing (page 35). Wilonsky told you it was coming, right after the city hiked rates last year, again more than five percent. The…

Corpus Christi Congressman Blake Farenthold appeared on CNN yesterday to tell Soledad O’Brien that he disapproves of President Obama’s recent executive order, which will keep the Department of Homeland Security from deporting some undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children (for now, anyway.) “The president needs to come to…

The Dallas City Council loves art. Sure, council members like getting dressed up all fancy and going to look at the pretty pictures as much as the next person, but they aren’t so simpleminded as to think art is purely for aesthetic enjoyment. This is Dallas, remember, where our leaders…

You have always been able to walk from the site of the Convention Center Hotel over to, say, police headquarters, but why would you? That stretch of Lamar Street has never been particularly inviting to non-motorized transport, but some long-delayed street improvements designed to make the stroll less daunting are…

Once upon a time in the last legislative session, Arlington state rep Bill Zedler tried and failed to introduce a law requiring a whole slew of new information that abortion-seeking women and their doctors would have to provide to the state. His bill failed, but as we told you a…

President Barack Obama announced Friday afternoon that the Department of Homeland Security will no longer attempt to deport young undocumented immigrants brought here as children, signaling a compassionate shift in an immigration policy whose hallmark was aggressive enforcement and record-shattering deportation numbers. With a few big caveats, undocumented immigrants meeting…

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a magic wand you could wave and — voila — a keg or three of small-batch craft beer from a local microbrewery. The city of Dallas is working on its own version of the trick which, this being the city, happens in slow…

It’s been almost three years since the Wyly Theater and Winspear Opera House had their glitzy launch, but, largely overshadowed by the fanfare and intermittently forgotten if you don’t frequent the corner of Routh and Flora or keep your finger on the pulse of with small- and medium-size arts groups,…

Do you agree with #Obama’s decision to stop deporting illegal immigrants? chron.com/news/houston-t…— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 15, 2012 Today, President Barack Obama announced an executive order effective immediately that will protect undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who were brought here as children from deportation for up to two…

Now that the race for North Texas’ newest congressional seat has officially been whittled down from a dozen to just two, it has transformed from an entertaining, no-holds-barred political cockfight with several amusing sideshows into a ethno-geographical scramble for endorsements. A mess, in other, smaller words. A couple of days…

Five months to go and Republicans are waking up to the awful realization that over the course of the primary season — the last five or six years, really — they’ve done their level-best to alienate the largest minority demographic not only in Texas, but in the nation. It is…

View Larger Map Remember a few weeks ago when the FBI said that John Wiley Price had sold the vacant land 7001 Grady Niblo Road as part of a massive money laundering scheme? The property was at the center of another, less sensational but probably related debate over at City…