Articles for March, 2010
Craig Watkins’ Campaign Office Plays Dirty Tricks
As someone pointed out in the comments to Leading Off this morning, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the folks over at Unfair Park have found evidence that Craig Watkins’ campaign office is playing dirty. On the Observer’s blog, there appeared comments impugning the character of Dallas County Republican Party chairman Jonathan Neerman. The comments pointed to a fine Neerman received from the Federal Election Commission, and they alleged that Neerman is the target of an investigation by Watkins’ office for money laundering. Thing is, Neerman can explain the fine (not a big deal). And the alleged investigation? Makes absolutely no sense.
Of course, the comments — 15 of them — were posted from a computer in Craig Watkins’ campaign office. That ain’t cricket.
Leading Off (3/3/10)
1. The primaries are behind us. Dallas County results are here, and Collin County’s are here. If you’re the interactive maps type, check out the Texas Tribune. And here’s video of Rick Perry celebrating his win. I’m so relieved. Because he’ll keep Washington from messin’ with Texas.
2. The University Park City Council approved rezoning for the Bush library. Quick! Someone call Rick Perry! He’ll stop those political fat cats from messin’ with our land values!
3. And speaking of obese animals, the Guinness Book of World Records has named Oscar the world’s oldest pig. He’s of the Vietnamese potbelly variety, and he lives in Far North Dallas. That’s a double happy ending.
TV with Laura: The Bachelor Episode 9 Recap
It’s over! We made it through the season of the worst Bachelor ever. We survived stand-up comedy, trips to the shed, hysterical blindness (or paralysis in Ali’s case), dinner with the Mob, and Jamaican beads. It wasn’t easy, but we did it. You know who didn’t make things any easier? Jake. He was the source of the majority of eye bleed. Sure, Vienna’s extensions confounded us even more than her kooky eye(s). And Tenley’s interpretive dance might possibly be the most dramatichumiliating thing to ever happen in the history of television. But it was malevolently milquetoast, oddly asexual Jake that had us screaming at the television more than anyone else. And now, finally, this nightmare of a fairy tale comes to an end with special guest appearances from Helena Bonham Carter, mandals (Jake’s creepy man sandals), an unhinged Papa Pavelka, Neil Lane, and Airwolf. ( My favorite part was when Jan-Michael Vincent bombed the entire island after dropping off Googly McGoogle while friend and mentor Ernest Borgnine cheered.) Jump for all that and more.
Records Disclosure To Explain UNT Flap?
The mystery over Gretchen Bataille’s surprise resignation as president of the University of North Texas may soon become less mysterious. Buttonholed at today’s DowntownDallas meeting, UNT Chancellor Lee Jackson (pictured; photo by Jeanne Prejean) said that a flood of open-records requests will likely lead to the release of “thousands” of pages of documents relating to the situation in the coming weeks. And as those documents become public, Jackson said, he may be forced to address their contents. He hasn’t talked in detail about Bataille’s resignation until now, he added–not for any legal reason, but because it’s a personnel matter, and the university doesn’t comment on personnel matters.
Read FrontRow, Get Free Tickets
You know why you should read FrontRow? Well, besides the fact that you like mind-sparring about art, ideas, love, and life. If you participate in the conversation, you get free stuff. That’s what Tim Evans learned when he went to see the show Mace Perlman directed at SMU and then returned to the site to tell us about it. It only took a few thoughtful lines and now Evans is off to the Out of the Loop festival. Next week’s winner gets tickets to the Texas Ballet Theater’s Romeo and Juliet. So get thinking.
DowntownDallas Annual Meeting: The Recap
The annual meeting of the DowntownDallas organization, the folks who helped you find your D Spot, just concluded at the Sheraton. Our fearless leader, Wick Allison, moderated a panel at the luncheon. I’ll give you a recap (at great personal risk) if you’ll be kind enough to jump.
Help Lower Greenville
There’s a Facebook page called Help Lower Greenville for those who might have jobs for those displaced by this morning’s blaze. Good luck, people.
Terilli’s, Three Other Restaurants In Four-Alarm Fire, Ctd.
I used to go to Terilli’s once a week for almost a year. So these photos — from a nearby-living FBvian — kind of hurt. But there are more after the jump.
Crush of the Week: Chrissy Tebbe
Sorry, Hassie Harrison, but there’s a new woman in our life. Yesterday, after I linked to SweetCharity’s recap of “An Affair of the Art 2010,” she sent along another picture of Chrissy Tebbe, who, if the internet can be trusted, is a nuclear cardiology technologist. To you, Ms. Tebbe, we say: thank you for everything you do.
Terilli’s, Three Other Lower Greenville Restaurants In Four-Alarm Fire
The blaze apparently started this morning around 5:45 a.m. at Terilli’s and has since spread to Hurricane Grill, Mick’s Bar, and Greenville Avenue Bar and Grill. Greenville is closed while firefighters work to stop it.
Leading Off (3/2/10)
1. It’s primary day! I’m voting, as always, for the late Richard Pryor.
2. The Mavs beat the Charlotte Bobcats (and the NBA schedule makers), making it eight straight. Making it even tougher: they did it while Bono, Tom Petty, and a really angry lady watched courtside. (Assist: @ninophile.)
3. City departments are being asked to cut operating costs for the coming budget year. Among the ideas being floated: allowing animals to self-govern the zoo and ending $1 you-call-it happy hours at the City Hall cafeteria. Dark days ahead.
Nicky Sheets Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion
You may not be as surprised at this news as I was because, well, just a few weeks ago…
Short Dresses and Ankle Tats at the Dallas Museum of Art
The Junior Associates Circle’s held its “An Affair of the Art 2010″ on Saturday night at the Dallas Museum of Art. SweetCharity had its lens trained on Yana Landman Greenstein (right) and Chrissy Tebbe (for obvious reasons), and got all the scoop save for one question that I have: what’s Tebbe’s ankle tattoo of?
Hank Paulson: “Glad I was Treasury Secretary. And I’m Really Glad I’m not Treasury Secretary Anymore”
ABC News’ Jake Tapper sent me a link to his exclusive interview with former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine — and if you over look the Alma Mater stuff, it’s a great interview as Paulson admits he did not see the housing bubble precipitating economic collapse.
Oncor: Trees Caused Most Snowstorm Outages
In the past few things have gotten folks predictably riled up around here like the way Oncor goes about pruning overgrown trees. Well, guess what? Whether it’s handled “sensitively,” or like a chainsaw-wielding maniac who’s had too much Red Bull, trimming back helps–especially in emergency situations. Oncor says that during the recent record snowstorm, a whopping 70 percent of the Dallas-area outages were caused by trees.
But when it came to “distribution feeders”–major electrical circuits serving the most customers–those feeders that had undergone pruning in the last four years experienced about one-third the number of outages as those feeders that hadn’t gotten a haircut lately. That’s a nugget from a report on the snowstorm that Debbie Dennis, Oncor’s VP for Dallas customer operations, will deliver to the Dallas City Council this week.
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