Most local legislative races don’t receive much attention, but House District 108, now represented by Dan Branch, encompasses the power centers of University Park, Highland Park, and downtown Dallas. By power center, I mean money center, because in politics one equals the other. Dan Branch is preparing to run for AG when Greg Abbott steps up to run for Lt. Gov. when David Dewhurst runs for Senate. (Got that?) John Reynolds at the Quorum Report [sub. req.] reported yesterday that former County Judge Keliher is seriously considering a run for the seat in the GOP primary, as is local activist doctor John Gill. Keliher has most recently taken on the leadership of Texas Business for Clean Air, which has been one of her driving passions (warning: as far as I can tell, none of the links on the site work, but maybe that’s just for me). Dr. Gill was a strong campaigner for tort reform.
1. Rick Perry has claimed the state has a $9 billion surplus — without properly thanking the federal government for making that possible. Now he’s getting ready to take some more money from the feds, this time a $1.5 billion loan to cover unemployment claims. The fun part: “[I]t’s unclear when Texas employers will have to pay a much higher tax to repay the loan and rebuild a required $863 million cushion in the unemployment compensation trust fund. A second Texas Workforce Commission official and an outside expert said the brunt of expected higher taxes might not sock employers until 2011, after the worst of the recession passes and well past the March primary for Gov. Rick Perry.” Genius.
2. From now on, I’m borrowing a page out of plan commissioner D’Angelo Lee’s playbook (according to what Bill Fisher testified yesterday in the City Hall corruption trial). Let’s say I’m interviewing a subject for a story, and let’s say the subject happens to be wearing some really nice pants. I’ll say, “Your pants are tight. I’m a 34 waist.” (Do people still use “tight” to mean “sweet”? Follow-up question: am I deluding myself into thinking I’m a 34 waist?)
3. Fifty-year-old Harvey Ray Moss is the new worst person on the planet. Because he locked his 21-year-old mentally disabled girlfriend in the back of a hot truck, where she was nearly overcome by heat exhaustion. Unbelievable.
Just now seeing this post. I don’t know what to say. Except that you should hate the game, not the player who plays that game.
You can read the filing for yourself, but Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages is suing District Attorney Craig Watkins because it claims his Fair Park Bail Bonds is in arrears to the company to the tune of about $16,000. Zac got the DA on the phone, and Watkins told him that he was unaware of the suit, that he would look it up, and that he hadn’t dealt with Southwestern Bell since about 2002. The suit alleges that the original promissory note was signed by Watkins in 2005.
Are you black? Are you single? Then BlackPeopleMeet.com and the Steve Harvey Morning Show want to help you get your groove on. (Do people still get their groove on? Is it clear that this promotion is not aimed at me?)
A FrontBurnervian raised the question to me about the Tollway going to 70 mph, and, frankly, I had forgotten that in 2000 the EPA had forced the NTTA to lower the speed limit by 5 miles to 60 mph. As best as I can tell from this report, the guys on the Tollway Authority seemed to have worked really hard to find other ways to meet emissions requirements, and the new electronic technology with the tollway entrances helped. (Reading the report, however, reminded me of the almost inhuman patience required to work with or for the government in any of its forms.)
I suspect they are having as much trouble as the rest of the media companies in trying to figure out how having an iPhone app makes you any money.
At about 10:22 p.m. Sunday night Katie Hamilton started commenting on this post on the The Dallas Morning News’ Rangers blog. From the the handles used in the comments section it appears that Mrs. Hamilton not only defended her husband but traded some civilized barbs with a commenter named “JJ.” Richard Durrett of DMN writes that they verified the identity of Mrs. Hamilton. All in all it lasted until about 12:40 a.m. Monday.
Here’s an excerpt from the DMN post that summarizes the debate:
I thought I would share some of my own thoughts and feelings on the subject- as you can imagine, I have a few things to say. First of all, thank you so much to those who have a forgiving spirit and for praying for and supporting our family during this whole ordeal. I honestly appreciate it and I’m very thankful to you all. Secondly, to all those who “just can’t forgive” Josh for this one night- I have a question for you: Why is it that I (his wife- the one whom he hurt the most, by far through this) can forgive him, but you can’t?
When your business makes great hires, you can’t help shouting it from the rooftops. So, here goes: Rhett Taylor, the No. 1 account executive by far last year for the Dallas Business Journal, has joined our company to focus on business categories, with a special emphasis on D CEO magazine. Nobody knows the DFW business environment better than Rhett. He’ll be joined by another new hire, Jas Robertson, a former New York media buyer who will help our clients with marketing/communications/best business practices. As Southwest Airlines likes to say: “It’s on!”
A. H. Belo-involved people are having a lot of fun with this one:
Go to search for Dallas Morning News (either on your iphone or in iTunes) and look for their app.
Oops. Not there. What does come up is “Dallas Football Live” and two sites called “Dallas Local News,” followed by five generic sites. The News is available on “Dallas Local News” and so is D Magazine — without our permission (hello, lawyers). So then I searched under Dallas, and “Dallas News” came up sixth. So to find the Morning News I need to search under Dallas News. Another one:
If you go search for Austin American Statesman, you’ll get the Statesman’s app, which is produced by… the Statesman. The WSJ is by Dow Jones and Co., the NYT is by NYT Co., etc.
When you find Dallas, it’s by Imaginuity New Media. Click through and you see your news app is coming from the folks who brought you “Rocky Artue” which is a game that follows Rocky as he learns that, “the U.S. government had abducted his father and hidden him away in the bottom of a mine to keep him from sharing too much knowledge about the Roswell crash and his work.” Which, of course, is what we’d all expect from Texas’ Leading Newspaper. <Insert clap to the forehead here>
Just ask him. Here is his e-mail response to someone offering him inclusion in a top-secret, high-profile weekly pick-up game:
Here’s the thing, man, and I know this will make me sound like a [expletive deleted], but I’m a better basketball player than all of you. Like, I’m awesome. So this thing doesn’t sound like it would be much fun for me.
Great column by Tim Cowlishaw today that warrants a few minutes of your time. It’s about Josh Hamilton. But it’s also about Tim Cowlishaw. The crux:
I watched the Cowboys lose to the Eagles, 44-6, last December from my room at Parkland Hospital after suffering a fractured skull of undetermined origin. When Josh says he’s foggy on the details of his drinking in Arizona, I’m right there with him in the fog. How I got into an ambulance to go to Parkland will remain one of my life’s little mysteries.
It takes guts to put it out there. Kudos to Cowlishaw.
This brings up a side question in my mind. Maybe this doesn’t apply so to Cowlishaw, who, even though he has his picture in the paper every week, must enjoy a certain amount of anonymity, but it certainly applies to Josh Hamilton. Hamilton is an easily recognizable fellow. What bartender or waiter serves him a drink? Okay, let’s say the guy decides to rip a few lines of coke. A dealer is going to deal. Drugs are illegal. You wouldn’t expect a dealer to have a huge conscience. But how does Josh Hamilton get served in a Tempe, Arizona, bar? Who does that to him?