Office Depot. Every school kiddo and his/her mother were there. It looked like a grocery store on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Sales associate said it had been so quiet until 4 and then boom!
The good folks at DISD are trying to make sure the kids get healthier fare in the district’s cafeterias this year. They’re offering more fruit and vegetable options, and some items will no longer be available to younger kids. (So long, nachos.) But what I love most about this story is the accompanying picture. Check out Juan Jaramillo eating a slice of pizza. He’s a funny kid—he says he has tried having salad for lunch. “Once.”
Did you know that the stop sign that comes out of a school bus when it stops to let children off is indeed not called “a stop sign flipping out thingie,” but a “stop arm?” Personally, I think the former is catchier.
That being said, Dallas school buses – some of them now, a lot more later – are now equipped with cameras to record cars who do not stop when that stop arm is displayed. Right now, you get a letter. Later, possibly a fine.
So, you know, if you see a school bus (they’re yellow and have children on them), you might want to make sure that it’s not asking you to stop. Because the alternative is a sternly worded letter from the district, or actually hitting a child with your vehicle, which – speaking from experience – stings.
Happy Monday, Web log readers. I hope that you got tons of shopping done this weekend. Today, you’re going for a boat ride.
For the first time in 15 years, ye lovers of fun can rent kayaks and canoes at White Rock Lake. For $15 (or less if you buy a package deal), patrons of White Rock Paddle Co. can reserve a boat for an hour. Feeling more adventurous? Rent one for three hours, or even all day. I’m told that if you can beg off work a little early and get there around 5 p.m. before the evening rush, you’ll largely have the place to yourself. However, if you’re feeling particularly romantic, wait until an hour before sundown and watch the sunset in all its glory. And if you’re worried about the heat, don’t be: one of the women who run the stand swears the lake has a noticeable cooling effect.
Why tonight? A) The service has been up and running for less than two weeks, so you’ll be among the first to do it. B) It’s a healthy start to your week, and a healthy reader is a happy reader. C) Because I said so.
You’ll no doubt have worked up an appetite with all that rowing, so order carry-out from Big Shucks on your way home, and enjoy some fried fish and hush puppies—I cannot stress enough the importance of the latter.
Not inclined to leave dry ground? We’ve got the details on Heart’s concert and other great things to do in Dallas.
That’s what Wick suggests here. And it’s not really a new theory since that’s what’s been going on already.
Linda Harper-Brown sits on the Texas House’s powerful transportation committee. She really, really liked the 2010 Mercedes E550 her husband, Bill, gave her to drive. He did not actually own the Mercedes he gave her, though. It was loaned to him, along with a 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, by Durable Enterprises Equipment Ltd., a client of his accounting business. Coincidentally, Durable has received $12.3 million in state transportation contracts since 2007.
A bribe? Certainly not. The state representative may have failed to disclose that she was using a car provided by a state contractor (she, in fact, had her special State Official license plates put on both cars, even though she does not own them). However, her husband is incensed that anyone would find anything improper. He told the Dallas Morning News in June that his wife does not have to disclose the car because she does not own a part of his accounting business.
See? No bribe at all. Husbands and wives have nothing to do with one another.
That’s one of the questions Will Arbery asks in this month’s issue. He made $758,918 in 2008. Does that not sound high? Consider this:
McKoy is the highest paid manager of a state fair in the country. His peers don’t even come close. The president of Virginia’s state fair, which brings in about the same revenue, makes $219,037. McKoy’s compensation is not just an outlier among his fellow state fair managers. In 2008, the State Fair brought in total revenues of $36,319,776. The average compensation for the highest paid people working for Texas nonprofits with revenues around $40 million is $209,265.
And this:
McKoy also paid each of the six supervisors under him—Lee Winton (finance), Robert Hilbun (maintenance operations), Ron Black (food and beverage), Mitchell Glieber (marketing/public relations), Jaime Navarro (VP controller), and Eunice Sloan (VP exhibits)—more than $170,000 in 2008. Four earned more than $200,000. These seven employees made a combined $2,256,486—in a year in which the State Fair reported a net loss of $2,787,911.
So maybe more people should be asking questions.
A FrontBurnervian found something interesting while trolling through the Texas Tribune data base of largest Texas PAC holdings. July 15 reports were filed by 2,694 PACs and campaigns. Of these, 274 had at least $100,000 cash on hand. AG Greg Abbott leads with $11 million. He was anticipating that Kay Bailey would resign, setting off a game of musical chairs that would put him in a race for Lt. Governor. Scrolling all the way down, we see other candidates and potential candidates as we get to #17, State Rep. Dan Branch, who was positioning himself in the musical-chair game to run for Abbott’s job.
Then we hit #18. Former State Rep. Steve Wolens, husband of former mayor Laura Miller, retired from the Legislature in 2005. But five years later, he is still sitting on $1,182, 000 in contributions. That’s a lot of money sitting around doing nothing. Now let’s assume that money came in big chunks, which is allowed for state races but not for federal ones. That means it can only be spent in a state race. And who might be interested in a state-wide race, say, in 2012* when Democrats will hold more of a demographic edge in Texas than they do today? IJS.
* Make that 2014. A FrontBurnervian points out there are no state-wide non-federal races in 2012.
Our quest to find the city’s prettiest ladies continues with this next batch of beauties for your viewing pleasure.
Up now: Bina Palnitkar Patel (an attorney at law and worldwide traveler), Ashley Burghardt (a handbag designer and fondue aficionado), Alex Tran (a pageant queen with a biochemistry degree), Lauren Kingsman (a bright, young finance student at SMU), and Laurence Car-Moebel (a French, crème brûlée-making mom).
Check them out now and choose your favorite. Then vote once a day every day to help her make it to the finals.
Congrats to these three ladies, who will move on to the finals round of the 10 Most Beautiful Women in Dallas 2010 voting!
Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Nina Moch and Monica Heinemann-Combs. It was an honor to have their beautiful faces grace the ballots.
To see Candice, Vicki, and Leah again, come back Sept. 13-20 during our final round of voting. The three women with the most votes from each week will be here, competing for one of the top 10 spots. (That’s 12 ladies total to look at, folks.) But for now, hit up our Week 2 semifinalists, and give your fav the click of confidence.
1. Lots of kiddos are heading back to school today, and this report in the Dallas Morning News is there to remind us that depending on their race and socioeconomic situation, they may or may not be statistically inclined to achieve. The DMN reports that while TAKS scores indicate that more black, Hispanic, and poor children are scoring at the “commended” level, an indication of college readiness, there are still wide achievement gaps between these students and their white and Asian classmates.
2. Karl Rove is banging on doors, raising money for his American Crossroads political action group that will join (lead?) the charge against Democrat incumbents this November. Who is its largest single contributor, giving the organization $2 million over two months? Why, it’s Dallas’ “Most Evil Genius.”
3. What does it say about a place when news of a potential “cold front” that may drive temperatures all the way down to the mid-90s is a cause of giddiness?