Articles for March, 2009
Friday Fun: Adam Tribute
I looked around and couldn’t find a New Yorker-related game (or at least one I could understand). So if you have any suggestions, hit up the comments.
(So we’re clear: This is/was Adam’s baby, and I don’t plan to continue it. Doesn’t feel right. But I thought doing it today was the right move. If you don’t have any game suggestions, feel free to reminisce about the solid time-wasting Mr. McGill introduced to your Fridays.)
Leading Off (3/06/09)
1. Senator KBH fought against earmarks in the current spending bill, all while sponsoring $150 million in earmarks for Texas. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We like getting money.
2. More than 70 eight-liners were seized in a raid of a Fort Worth gaming room. No word on whether the mother of a certain D Magazine editor was present.
3. Something tells me that the passengers on the two Southwest flights that bumped into each other (wing to tail) would describe it as something more scary than “a clip.” I’m canceling a flight just reading about it.
Big Trouble at Lone Star Park
Money problems. Mike Hindman has the scoop.
Leppert Blasts Crow, Two Referenda
Mayor Tom Leppert had scarcely been accused of making “negative personal attacks” against Harlan Crow–the leader of the forces against a city owned convention-center hotel–when darned if the mayor didn’t go and do it again. The anti-hotel effort is “being pushed by an individual who owns the Hilton Anatole, and it’s unfortunate,” Leppert proclaimed today, addressing DowntownDallas’ jam-packed, 50th Anniversary luncheon at the Hyatt Regency here. He also ripped a union proposal to curb developer incentives–both issues will be on the city ballot May 9–and said “the combination of these two referendums can’t go forward.” After the mayor talked, keynote speaker Catherine Crier scolded everybody for contributing to the economic meltdown, but said good things can come out of it, like growing vegetable gardens and moving back in with your parents. Yeah, meltdown!!!
Layoffs at D Magazine
Today has been rough. We laid off 12 people, representing just under 10 percent of our total workforce (including D Magazine, D Home, D CEO, D Weddings, D Beauty, and People Newspapers). This time, the layoffs came from the magazine side of the operation; the newspapers were not affected.
When we retrenched in November, we made our cuts based on what we thought at the time was a fairly pessimistic view of how the economy would hold up in 2009. Reality has proven that we were actually not pessimistic enough. As our comrades at the Dallas Morning News and Star-Telegram will attest, these are challenging times for publishers. And bankers. And, well, everyone.
Evan Grant Brings the Heat With New Blog
As others have mentioned, today we launched a new sports blog called InsideCorner. I won’t be contributing to it, because, as Eric has noted, I’m not a sports fan. But Eric will be over there on a regular basis. So will Zac. And, you know, it’s gonna be hard to keep Wick from sharing his thoughts on the NFL draft. I’m sure.
Forget about all that, though. The big news is that Evan Grant is now in the house. We’re calling him the manager of InsideCorner. (Or is it the InsideCorner? Hmm.) If you follow baseball, you know who Evan is. After he’d covered the Rangers for years (and been named Texas Sportswriter of the Year for his work), the Dallas Morning News tried to move him over to the Cowboys. We simply couldn’t stand by and let that happen. Evan landed in Surprise, Arizona, hours ago. Expect greatness.
Also joining us on InsideCorner (that InsideCorner?) are Mike Hindman and Jeff Miller. Mike pays his bills in the courtroom, but in his spare time, he writes about the ponies and baseball. You might recognize his name from the Newberg Report, Texasrangers.com, and the Dallas Morning News (can’t find a link). Jeff worked at the News for 21 years, where he supervised writers in the sports department. He has written three books and will be working on a fourth when not blogging for InsideCorner.
Welcome aboard, gents.
(P.S. If the site loads slowly, it’s because our server is under attack from China. No joke.)
Layoffs at the Star-Telegram
A memo just went out to all employees from publisher Gary Wortel outlining the cutbacks. There will be pay cuts, and 12 percent of the workforce will be laid off. Full memo after the jump.
Leading Off (3/5/09)
1. I know Adam already got to this last night, but I still have a question: what are Ed Werder and his mustache going to do now now that T.O. is going to yell at some other team’s wide receivers coach? I imagine Werder slowly walking, defeated, on the road out of Valley Ranch as this plays.
2. Missed this the other day, but Mark Cuban announced the businesses that are close to receiving his personal stimulus package — which I realize now I probably shouldn’t have worded that way. Especially since one of them is called Naked Pizza.
3. Rod Davis, come back! Frisco needs you! (You can’t have your old cubicle, though. I’ve made some slight modifications.)
T.O. To Go
I just flipped over to SportsCenter in time to catch NFL reporter Michael Smith breaking the news that the Dallas Cowboys have released Terrell Owens. Smith says it’s because of all of the lockerroom disruptions. If this were a sports blog, there’d be a lot of cogent analysis here. I guess I’ll just leave that for the commenters.
Ed Oakley and His Eyebrows Considering Another Run
The mayoral runner-up says the chances are “slim to none,” but adds that people are itching for him to enter the race for District 3. Even though the filing deadline is Monday, Oakley and Dave Levinthal are confident he would have no problem meeting the requirements.
But, we reminded Oakley, collecting enough voter signatures to file a valid petition for a ballot position would take him about half a day.
“That’s true,” Oakley said.
Jeez, Dave. Just rub more salt in the wound. I hope the Bills go 0-16.
George W Bush Bicycles Where Eagles Dare
Remember Rochester Park? It’s a newish park in the Trinity Corridor close to the area where local birders have reported sightings of bald eagles. Monday, a nature-lovin’ FrontBurnervian Birder spotted an yellow-helmeted ex-President of the United States at Rochester Park. (New species!) My friend pulled up to the park and noticed a black SUV with Maryland license plates. When he got out of the car to hike in the forest, two dudes in black suits approached him. They told him they were scouting a location for George W. Bush to ride his mountain bike. Ten minutes later, a line of six mountain bikes, one with GW, flew past him. No bald eagles reported.
The Sneaky Way to Buy a “New” Car
Had a drink last night with an FBvian whose significant other works at Sewell Lexus. I asked if there had been a slowdown in new car sales and received an unexpected answer. Apparently, people are still buying new Lexuses, but they are requesting that the interior, paint color, amenities, etc., match those of the car they are replacing. Why? So their friends and colleagues aren’t wise to the new purchase, given how it might be perceived in these rough economic times.
SMU Provides Backdrop For Sad State Of J-School Graduates
A friend and Mustang J-School alum sent this link and writes:
Why does the main image accompanying this Gawker item have to come from SMU? Just to taunt me, I think.
HDNet Looking To Make Dan Rather Less Lonely
New York Observer reports that Dan Rather Reports is looking for new correspondents (in addition to Rather, not instead of). I always mean to watch the HDNet newsprogram but end up watching the late-night version of Art Mann Presents instead.
Highland Park Worker Takes My Fun Away
Actually, it’s whatever he’s pouring out of that white bottle (shown center) that’s neutralizing the bubbles, source of our joy. I suspect that substance might be at work in other once-bubbly areas of my life as well.
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