About Those DISD Whistleblowers

I mentioned this morning that some DISD whistleblowers were getting a nice payday. The DMN wasn’t clear on this point, but DISD is not paying this round of settlements. They paid two earlier settlements totaling about $1.5 million. Yesterday’s $1.4 million, though, will be paid by HP. Jon Dahlander, the district’s spokesman, points us to the settlement, if you’re inclined to read the whole thing.

Leading Off (11/11/10)

1. This morning on FrontBurner, it’s not about winning. It’s about rediscovering effort. And reinventing compassion. And prospecting for stick-to-it-iveness. Accordingly, we are typing in full pads.

2. We mentioned earlier in this space that the Cowboys had trouble keeping their website up earlier this week. The News wrote about it, too. But there’s something charming about the way this British news outlet described the snafu:

A leading US professional sports outfit saw its website go down this week following the failure to renew its domain name. Struggling American Football club the Dallas Cowboys — who have lost seven of their first eight fixtures this season — witnessed a number of days of downtime following the administrative oversight.

Makes it sound like the Cowboys lost some drawer pulls in their kitchen.

3. We’ve had three suicides in two days on our roadways. One guy jumped from the High Five. Another hung himself from the Houston Street viaduct. [shaking head, having a hard time understanding the need to turn such a tragic act into a public spectacle]

4. If my math is correct, yesterday’s settlement of a whistleblower suit in connection with the computer contract shenanigans at DISD means the district has now paid out nearly $3 million to whistleblowers who were involved with this case. Suggestion to DISD teachers: might want to focus less on the teaching and more on the whistleblowing. It pays better. [Update: HP paid yesterday's settlement.]

How Denton’s Neon Indian Ruined Disney Star Demi Lovato

Kind of kidding, but that’s sort of what Life & Style is saying. Or something. This comes from a longtime commenter who was “embarrassed to have found this.” Not sure why, but anyway, the relevant section:

Now, new eyewitnesses confirm to Life & Style those problems are only exacerbated by the teenager’s heavy drinking and partying. Texas college student Brian Payne clearly remembers the night he spent hanging with Demi in North Richland Hills, Texas, where he saw her firsthand doing cocaine at a mutual friend’s house party on Dec. 28 last year. “She was doing line after line like a pro — and she was 17 at the time,” he tells Life & Style, recalling the wild party they attended after a concert by the band Neon Indian at the Granada Theater in Dallas. “I just remember her doing it as if she had been doing it for a long time. It didn’t seem like something new to her.”

Anyway.

Lakewood Residents Still Fighting with Oncor Over Tree Trimming

Hi. Remember the record snowfall and the accompanying record power outage in Dallas last year? I do. It was cold, and I found there’s a limit to how many times I’ll be seen in public without having the benefit of a shower and a hair dryer.

I bring this up because shortly after everyone’s power was finally restored, a fight began between residents in the Lakewood area and Oncor over tree trimming. Downed limbs and limbs heavy with snow were, as you probably recall, the main cause of the outages. And it seems that fight is still going on.

I like trees. I do. I also like feeling my nose and not seeing my breath when I am inside my house. I’d like to think there’s a happy compromise. I have one in mind, in fact: If you can get all your neighbors in a certain square area to agree to keep your trees up yourself, Oncor backs off. But in return, your area is not a priority area in the event of a massive power outage – in fact, it goes to the bottom of the list.

Leading Off (11/10/10)

1. Sometimes, all you need is the lede: “Nearly 4,000 students and faculty at Martin High School in Arlington expressed themselves in a video that is going viral.”

2. Technically, this story takes place in Oklahoma at OSU’s campus. However, there is a connection here so I’m going with it. Kasey Cook is a graduate of Colleyville Heritage High School. On Monday, he was shot by a robber in Stillwater. While en route to the hospital, he tweeted, “Just got shot in my leg!!!! Ouch it stings!!! In the ambulance on the way to the ER.” The cops were able to find the robber as he replied to Cook’s message with: “@Cook I dropped your stupid laptop while running away from the cops. Not. Worth. It. Going to Eskimo Joe’s.” K. Fine. I made up that last part.

3. As Zac mentioned, this is happening tonight. You’ve been warned.