RE: WHOLE FOODS

Our tip was obviously a little late. We had three dozen martinis for lunch.

KRLD has been covering since 12:50.

Here’s what the DMN website is reporting as of now.

WHOLE FOODS SHOOTING

A shooting has been reported at–of all places–Whole Foods on Lemmon. Two people reportedly down.

Developing

STAR JONES HEADED SOUTH?

A memory-having FrontBurnervian remembers this Dallas Voice interview with Star Jones. In it, Jones expressed a fondness for Dallas and hinted at moving here, all the more relevant now that the hostess has put The View behind her. Of course, that was before Daniel with the Dallas Voice got all up in her grill about Al.

MURDOCH ON MEDIA

A net-surfing FBvian points us to these thoughts on the future of newspapers and other media from Chairman Rupert.

MARY SUHM DOES HER DUTY

Thought I’d share a snippet of an e-mail I got earlier from our city manager. Thought it was funny. She was at jury duty.

I wish I could just stand up and say, “Nobody’s going to want me on a criminal jury, because I know lots and lots of cops. Can I go home?” I get called frequently for jury duty and never serve. Just do my duty in the big jury room for several hours.

Mind you, I am not complaining. It is just that I have been thru my reading material, finished the crossword puzzle, and am getting fidgety.

RUMORS BEHIND THE RESTAURANT NEWS

This week’s hot topic of discussion is the closing (or not) of Nobu. Two weeks ago, a black-clad FrontBurnervian Foodie brought the possibility to my attention. Yesterday, a D staffer, who lunched in the “almost empty” restaurant, said their waiter told them Nobu was set to close at the end of the month. Thirty minutes ago, another D employee yelled, “Hey did you hear Nobu is closing?” to me in the parking lot. Last night at Shinsei, he/she overheard Dean Fearing, who’s hanging around the kitchen of his wife’s new restaurant, claim the same. I called Nobu (I know, a startling development) and asked to speak to a manager. A surprised Ms. Christine Williams denied the rumor. “We have a five-year lease and we aren’t going anywhere.” There you have it. For today.

LOCAL AUTHOR CONTINUES TO DO GOOD

Local author (and, full disclosure, “person I’ve had lunch with once or twice”) Cristina Henriquez has a fiction story in the current New Yorker. Yes, that makes two stories in the New Yorker for Henriquez. Check out her site if you want more.

DELAY PREVAILS, MOSTLY

Word just in that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld most of the Delay-engineered GOP redistricting plan, except for District 23, in southwestern Texas and the border, currently occupied by U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla.

BUT LOOK OUT FOR THE KRYPTONITE

An FBvian who probably was an English major with a penchant for avoiding the Critical Theory classes notes:

I thought a portion of Chris Vognar’s suggestion in Over The Top’s “Lessons from the Daily Planet” on the front of today’s GuideLive section could have been a veiled response to his newsroom’s recent distress.

Vognar’s tip: “Boost circulation: If you want to keep circulation figures up, follow the advice of DP editor Perry White (Frank Langella): ‘Three things sell papers: tragedy, sex and Superman.’ Where’s the Man of Steel when we need him most?”

It’s interesting that he said “we.”

JESSICA SCRAPES BOTTOM

Rumor has it that Jessica Simpson is secretly dating Dane Cook, the most unfunny, untalented, yet somehow successful comedian since Carrot Top (without the killer props, natch). Even is the rumor isn’t true–and I doubt that it is–such gossip is sad, sad, sad. [sigh] I bet she misses Nick as much as I do.

In other Jessica news, she won’t be Lucy Ewing after all. Supposedly, Katie Cassidy from 7th Heaven snagged the gig.

LIVE BLOG FROM CITY COUNCIL MEETING

It’s the last meeting before a month-long recess. A FBvian with a BlackBerry will file dispatches throughout the morning. Check back often:
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CULBREATH HOSPITALIZED

Michael Davis’ blog reports that Betty Culbreath was hospitalized last night for emergency surgery. No more details at this time. Have a good thought for her. Developing.

RE: DMN WEED-EATER

An FBvian with good contacts for the Super Keen Buyout Sweepstakes at the DMN has a new number for the potential winners, and a question about spinoff consolidation:

At lunch with a DMN staffer (who for the first time is worried about his job), I heard the number of desired buyouts at 75. He also lamented the fact that the cuts would likely all be of newsroom people, bringing the ratio of middle managers and paper pushers (no pun intended) to writers closer and closer to 1:1.

Ummm…regardless of ‘delivery method’, ‘medium’ or ‘publication’, doesn’t there need to be someone left to actually write copy for all of these ‘cool, new media outlets’? By the way, I’m still looking for the melding of Al Dia (Spanish language paper) and Quick (free daily) into a hip, free, Spanish language daily. “Pronto,” anyone?