Leading Off (4/19/11)

Wildfires Burn Unabated. The DMN headlines says, “Texas Wildfires Raging Within 100 Miles of Dallas-Fort Worth,” the clear implication being that we should all start packing up our belongings. Very sweeps weeky. But there’s no overstating what has happened out at Possum Kingdom. Ninety percent of the state park there has been destroyed, and thousands of people have been evacuated.

Great Profile of Abdul Qadir Jeelani. Who is that, you ask? In 1980, he scored the very first points for the new Dallas Mavericks franchise. Brad Townsend chronicles his downward spiral to drug addiction and homelessness. If you don’t have a subscription to the paper, find someone who does and have him email you the story. As the Mavs face the Trailblazers tonight (the only other NBA team Jeelani played for), it’s a must read for any fan.

Public Art To Spruce Up Ross Avenue Underpass. The city has chosen a public art project on which to spend $113,000. Happy Shapes will be installed in the underpasss that leads to the Arts District. “The team of Joe O’Connell and Blessing Hancock of Tucson, Arizona, proposed 30 sculptures made of translucent polyethylene with internal LED lights to be anchored on each side of the highway underpass. The shapes, taken from Arts District architecture, would have tails, mustaches and other ‘evocative’ features, O’Connell said.” I’ll reserve judgment. But I do find it curious that the winning artists are from Tucson, and the other two finalists were from San Antonio and Seattle, and they also proposed using LED lights. What? No Dallas artist knows how to work with LEDs?

Tony Romo Organizes Flag Football Game With Teammates. Cowboys brass isn’t allowed to have contact with players during the lockout, so Romo is organizing team workouts. Because, no doubt, it gives him an excuse to get out of having to help with planning his wedding this summer.

Craig Watkins Has No Explanation for This

Or, well, so it seems. Twenty-seven years after Farmers Branch officer Lowell Tribble was killed, Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins held a big press conference to announce his office had the killer – a man named Gary Wayne Pettigrew. Eight months after that, the DA’s office quietly dropped the charges against Pettigrew, telling WFAA that it didn’t have the evidence to convict.

Pettigrew’s friends and family say Watkins never did have the evidence. Watkins won’t go on camera, saying the matter is an ongoing investigation, which is really so unusual of him.

DART Board Discussing Big Rate Hike For Nonresidents

Today’s RealPoints includes a report on a panel discussion led by urban evangelist Michael Buckley of UT-Arlington. During the talk, DART executive David Leininger discussed the $50 million annual drain caused by riders who live outside of the transportation authority’s service area, and whose cities don’t contribute to DART. To deal with the situation, DART’s board is discussing “non-resident and resident price differentiation,” Leininger said. “And it would be a big differentiation. It wouldn’t be 25 cents, I can tell you that.”