So now I can record my favorate radio programs like I do with TV. Big-time radio guy (KLIF, etc) Dan Halyburton leads the venture.
Here’s a handy little interactive map of where federal stimulus transportation funds are going. Just to save you scrolling time, I hit the top metro counties in Texas. Harris (Houston): $300,457,587. Tarrant (Fort Worth/Arlington): $259,587,715. Travis (Austin): $105,946,789. Bexar (San Antonio): $68, 176,707. And Dallas? A measly $35,475,827. Chump change.
AG candidate Ted Cruz has friends at NR. First, Mark Hemingway wrote an effusive piece in the May 4th print edition. Then, Jay Nordlinger chipped in with a long and oddly rambling post on the website. Unfortunately, neither one of them can vote for him.
I wrote about Hal Samples a few times while I was at the Observer, and we’ve been friends since then. So I’ve around been Hal’s constant companion, a sweet bulldog named Cash, a ton of times. She’s been really sick lately, and is about to start chemotherapy. Vet bills and so on have left the two of them cash strapped, so there is a fund-raising shindig tonight at Hal’s studio, SPACE. Hit the link and you’ll find out about the art for sale, and without you having to go anywhere else, I’ll let you know that Robert Gomez and Sarah Jaffe are playing. 2814 Main in Deep Ellum. Starts at 7.
I really need Zac Crain to cast this Cleburne quake movie, but I’ll give it a shot. (Working Title: Terror Tremors.) Right now, Dr. Brian Stump (Jeff Goldblum), an SMU geological sciences professor, is taking 10 portable doohickeys to measure a quake’s epicenter. I’m sure he and his team, starring plucky SMU student Ashley Howe (Mandy Moore), will discover just how dangerous the situation really is. (With the help of a mysterious West African seer, played by Djimon Hounsou.) Somehow they convince the stubborn, wily, big-hearted Johnson County Sheriff, Bob Alford (J.T. Walsh), that the city needs to be evacuated. That’s when the evil government suit (Chris Pine, miscast) shuts down the entire operation. The ground begins to rumble, and … c’mon, this writes itself, people.
Update: Wes Mantooth points out that J.T. Walsh is very dead. He suggests John Goodman. Zac, where are you?
Wick beat me to it, but my headline was better.
Same-store sales (my ska band name, btw) down 25 percent in fiscal third quarter. No problem, though. Don’t worry about it. We’re just playing economic rope-a-dope. About to come out swinging aaaaany minute now.
Revenue nosedived. Same-store sales in its third quarter fell 20.8%.
Sir, you were my hero growing up. And I see your Twitter account was opened in March. I have only one question: What are you waiting for? Tweet me, Rog. Tweet me now.
The Dallas state senator has come into his own. He tops the “best” category in Texas Monthly’s biennial Best and Worst rankings, and for very good reasons. The senator surprised me from the very start (although I shouldn’t have been surprised at all) by opposing his own party’s ham-handed change of Senate rules to pass voter I.D., which he supports but not at the expense of overruling the customary privileges of the minority in the Senate (a move that will come back to haunt the GOP when it becomes the minority). It’s tough being the lone voice of reason when the mob is screaming. For more on Carona’s excellent performance during the session, read the piece by Paul Burka and Patricia Kilday Hart.
As the economy continues to kick everyone in sight right square in the jeans, folks are setting SUVs ablaze in the desert, parking their cars in the paths of oncoming hurricanes, and — closer to home — burying BMWs in the Texas fields.
“We see people doing this kind of crime who ordinarily wouldn’t steal candy from a store,” said Tom Reilly, a sheriff’s investigator in Dallas County, Texas.
Reilly also says that these kinds of sketchy-sounding thefts are up as much as 12 percent in Dallas County this year. If you’re thinking about doing it yourself, give me a call. I’ve never actually done it, but for a two-year stretch when my car was giving me trouble (unbeknownst to me, squirrels had made a nest inside and chewed up most of the wiring — seriously) I imagined every possible scenario. I am an expert.
One paragraph in this report about the disposal of the intellectual assets of the Rocky Mountain News caught my attention:
Another party familiar with the potential sale is Brian Ferguson, the Texas-based investor whose group seriously considered making a run at the Rocky before eventually backing away. Ferguson and his fellows control what he describes as “a good chunk” of A.H. Belo, the corporation that owns the Dallas Morning News, and they’re also Scripps shareholders — and he continues to covet the Rocky’s intellectual property…
What does “good chunk” mean? The last time we looked, his group had bought 6% of the common shares. The company famously has a two-tier stock system, like the New York Times, designed to protect the Dealey family’s control against the likes of Ferguson and other would-be intruders. So what’s the play? For an answer, see the July issue of the print product, soon to be on a newsstand near you.
She also wants your feedback on what should and shouldn’t be cut. My suggestion: Every sixth line item. Only way to make it fair. From Ms. H:
Next year’s City budget (Oct. 2009 – Sept. 2010) is going to require serious budget cuts. I have opposed a tax increase because too many residents and families are struggling right now. I want your input on next year’s budget, and would like you to get involved in the process as soon as possible. Because of the dire state of next year’s budget, the city is holding early meetings to give a budget overview: