Collin County Republicans Getting All Up In Each Other’s Grills

Something’s brewing in the Collin County Commissioners Court. Corbett Howard is running against Joe Jaynes for a commissioner’s seat. They are both Republicans, but it looks to me like Howard is the proven conservative, mainly because his website says he’s the proven conservative, with the underline. Well, Howard’s campaign manager, along with three other Republicans, has written a letter to the state AG claiming that they aren’t playing fair in Collin County when it comes to answering open records requests. The letter is after the jump:

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Michael Bloomberg Is Not Running For President

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He keeps saying that. But then he goes and meets Ross Perot’s “ballot access expert and campaign manager” Clay Mulford for lunch in Austin. But he isn’t a candidate and said so. Of course, if one were to be literal, he did not say he wasn’t going to be a candidate.

Florence Middle School is on Fire

No, really. Or at least, it was. The school had to be evacuated this morning after a fire broke out near the boys’ locker room. No one has been reported injured. Just earlier this week, Lincoln High School was damaged by an early morning fire that began at an office building next door (giving one kid a great excuse why he couldn’t turn in his science fair project). Meanwhile, the Episcopal School of Dallas’ Lower School is closed today to prevent the spread of a contagious stomach virus that’s been making the rounds. What say you, Celeste?

Local Gay Man Is Still Gay, Despite What They Say on The 700 Club

Our dearly departed Rod Davis points us to an item on the blog of his new(ish) employer about a gay man who claimed on a 700 Club segment to have been converted to heterosexuality during a church’s “purity siege” outside a Dallas gay bar. If you think you can guess what happened next, you’re probably wrong.

Chantix to Receive Additional Warning Labels

A wire-watching FBvian pointed me in the direction of this story, which says that Pfizer, the maker of the smoking cessation drug Chantix, will be adding additional (and more prominent) warning labels to the drug, based on patient reports of depression and suicidal thoughts. As you may remember, and the CNN Money piece points out, the drug came under scrutiny last September following the death of Carter Albrecht.

Hicks Out as Liverpool Owner?

A source-having FrontBurnervian says Hicks (and co-owner Gillette) might soon be walking alone. Or not walking alone. Or whatever. Point is, they might be getting out of Liverpool:

To further attempt to hijack FB as a soccer message board, I have it on good authority that a press conference is already in the works for Feb16 at Anfield to announce the sale of Hicks’ club for 375m pounds to DIC, netting H and G a nice $70m on their investment, and allowing them to avoid each having to write the $20m check to Royal Bank of Scotland for their past financing.

There are denials, of course. Still, developing.

American Idol Dallas Auditions: Class with a Capital K

So apparently I was incorrect as to when they were airing the Dallas auditions, unless it was a two-parter. But the local kiddos were on the air last night, and some of Dallas’ finest came out to represent. Here, in case you, like me, missed it—a smattering of the attendees:

Your Element Party Was Elementarily Fun

Wife and I went to F.I.G. last night for the Your Element party last night, the one that Sarah told you about. The party featured four very talented artists (I had a favorite, but I’m biased since I consider Bob Poe a friend) and benefited The Fashionistas. How was it? Fierce. For more insights, check out the jump (while the DJ revolved it):

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Wal-Mart Hearts D Magazine

An alert FrontBurnervian points us to news that Wal-Mart, which is responsible for about 20 percent of all retail magazine sales in the United States, is kicking about 1,000 titles out of its stores. That same FBvian asked if that list of magazine titles included D Magazine. It does not. The genius that is Thad Stammen, our circulation director, tells me that, in fact, Wal-Mart has asked us to step up our circulation in 88 of its local stores, because D sells so well there. Must be Marty Cortland.

Friday Fun

I’m going to be honest with you, I haven’t ventured too far into today’s Friday Fun. It seems like it might be a bit more involved than other Friday Funs (Fridays Fun?). But more than a few of you have sent it along to me as a suggested Friday Fun, so I’m going to trust the people. Fitting, I guess, since the game is called Campaign Game. You select which presidential candidate to be, what staff to hire, and then what moves to make. Near as I can tell, it’s like Risk meets Dungeons & Dragons. Only there’s no dice. Good luck, candidates.

Steve Blow Ain’t Wild About Marty Cortland

Steve Blow columnizes today about our columnist, Marty Cortland. I couldn’t be happier with his take. I knew when Marty started writing for us back in October that people would eventually figure out that “Marty Cortland” isn’t his real name (we borrowed the name from a character in You’ll Never Get Rich). I also knew that a rich guy writing about what it’s like to be rich would rub some people the wrong the way. But I never imagined that our little experiment would make it onto the front page of the Metro section. Good stuff.