Articles for September, 2011
10 Most Beautiful: Who Will Make it to the Finals?
It’s the last round of voting before the finals. This week we have Charlene, brunch and bacon lover; Candice, big heart, big eater; big Texas-haired Tiffany, exotic model Carol, and Christina, Season 1 American Idol finalist. Go vote. You will determine who makes it to the final round, which begins Sunday at midnight.
Is Your Doctor on the Dole?
An alert FrontBurnervian sends along a link to a new ProPublica database filled with data about doctors and pharmaceutical companies. Says ProPublica:
Drug companies have long kept secret details of the payments they make to doctors and other health professionals for promoting their drugs. But 12 companies have begun publicizing the information, some because of legal settlements. ProPublica pulled their disclosures into a database so patients can search for their doctor. Accepting payments isn’t necessarily wrong, but it can raise ethical issues.
You can search your doc’s name. Or you can just search for everyone in Dallas and then order the results by amount of payment, which is what I did. Have a look for yourself. Congrats to Dr. James Dale Griffin, the top individual on the Dallas list. Last year Dr. Griffin took $122,000 in cash from Pfizer for speaking. Quite a haul.
Update (11:31 a.m.): As several people have pointed out in the comments, I missed some money. Dr. Griffin took some meals and travel from Pfizer, too. Tack on another $26,452 for a total of $148,452 in 2010. Nice!
Do Not Click the Following Link to Kissing Suzy Kolber
If you’re not familiar with Big Daddy Drew’s work on the blog Kissing Suzy Kolber, then chances are your heart is cleaner than mine. Big Daddy Drew is filthy and full of profanity and other stuff that isn’t appropriate for polite company. Certainly not appropriate for this blog. What he likes to do is write plays featuring NFL personalities, especially Rex Ryan. Because Rex Ryan has a filthy mouth so it’s fun to imagine stuff he says. Plus he (Ryan) has a foot fetish. That’s fun, too. Okay, anyway — man, I really shouldn’t do this — today’s installment from Big Daddy Drew is all about the Cowboys-Jets matchup and how Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is going to use his football powers (and filthy mouth and other body parts) to outsmart his brother Rex. The play features Jason Garrett and Jerry Jones, too. But like I said, it’s filthy-dirty.
Zac dared me to post a link to it. I don’t turn down a dare. But in the name of all that is right and holy, do not click that link! Especially if you’re at work!
In other news, it’s been nice working here. I’ll miss you guys.
Ticket Giveaway: Plano Balloon Festival
Hot air balloons are pretty to look at, but I have about zero intention of hopping in some wicker basket that’s just ready to strand me in Oz. I’m also deathly afraid of heights. Which is why the Plano Balloon Festival is great— there are plenty of opportunities to see the balloons go up, and no pressure to go for a ride what with all the fun stuff going on on the ground.
Interested in attending, perhaps with kiddos in tow? We have tickets to give away. The first five (5) people to enter will each win four (4) tickets. Click here. Pronto.
Once you’re hanging out at the festival, feel free to stop by the D Family booth, grab a complimentary copy of our special family-oriented issue, and register to win an excellent holiday “staycation” at the Gaylord Texan. The potential for free awesome stuff abounds.
Your Texas Rangers Could Soon Be a Major League Baseball Dynasty
Sure, this year they’ve let the Los Angeles California Angels of Orange County Anaheim stay uncomfortably close to them in the standings, but Jonah Keri at Grantland argues that the Rangers’ mega-TV contract, signed last year with Fox Sports Southwest and going into effect in 2014, could make it possible for the team to remain among the elite teams of Major League Baseball for many years to come. They don’t need a downtown stadium or a full ballpark every night to compete. The $1.6 billion they’ll get for 20 years of television broadcast rights will do just fine, Keri writes:
As any Mets or Dodgers fan of recent vintage can tell you, money doesn’t guarantee success. But it sure as hell helps. If the Rangers are still being run by [general manager Jon] Daniels and his staff of bright lieutenants, if their coaches and instructors are still ballsy and creative enough to try new things such as rethinking how we train pitchers, if Jurickson Profar and a next wave of blue-chippers crashes the big league roster in style … and they have an extra $80 million a year to play with? We might have to pencil the Rangers into the playoffs nearly every season, the same way we do for the Yankees and Red Sox.
Keri notes that there’s “a catch” to this, but to my mind that catch undermines any excitement Rangers fans might feel in reading that their team could soon be pulling in more local TV revenue than any MLB team except the Evil Empire and Boston.
The catch is that the Rangers might just be the first of many teams to leverage their way to much more revenue through the mere suggestion that they might want to launch their own regional sports network. So — just like Billy Beane’s Moneyball A’s have lost the edge they gained a decade ago because now nearly every team realizes that on-base percentage is sexier than a high RBI total — if everyone’s doing it, there’s no advantage at all.
Jessica Simpson Isn’t Getting Breast Reduction Surgery
After what I can only assume is months of intense investigation, ABCNews.com is reporting that Jessica Simpson will not be having her breasts reduced in anticipation of her upcoming wedding. This comes just one day after the publication of the Sun’s intense investigation saying Simpson will have the surgery.
Radha Arora Takes Over at Rosewood
The new president of Dallas-based Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, Radha Arora, assumed his duties yesterday, about a month after being named the replacement for former Rosewood CEO John Scott. According to this profile of Arora that appeared last month in a magazine aimed at South Asian women, Rosewood’s new head is a “sexy and successful gentleman” who’s hobnobbed with Hollywood A-listers, knew Princess Diana, and likes to drink wine–”lots of it!”
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Sep. 7
Here’s the deal. Tomorrow is Fashion’s Night Out, otherwise known as an extremely bespoke excuse for females to toddle around on five inch heels (I finally own a pair, and I swear, life looks different that high off the ground) and drink and buy pretty things. Dudes, you can get in on this too if you promise no square-toed black leather slip-ons masquerading as dress shoes. Those are the worst. Anyway, if you’re up for this madness, you should probably map out your route in advance, which is why I’m mentioning it now.
But tonight, you should just take a load off. And you can do that at the Prophet Bar, home to a great weekly Wednesday evening hip hop/jazz/R&B jam. It’s just a teensy, tiny bit more exciting, what with Talib Kweli, Mos Def, and Booker T. alum Erykah Badu (AKA DJ Low Down Loretta Brown) making appearances. Ten bucks is the usual cover, but tonight it’s $15 before 11 PM. Do I even need to tell you that this is still a great deal? Kweli and Mos Def are coming from their show at the House of Blues, which you can still get tickets to as well, making the Prophet Bar the official after party locale.
And if you just can’t wait for tomorrow’s FNO frenzy, Lure Salon, in their infinite wisdom, hosts a kick off event this evening complete with discounted products, beauty tips, and free appetizers and drinks.
For more to do this tonight, go here.
Excelsior! Rod Dreher Is Now My Co-Worker (Sorta).
Big Bob mentioned yesterday the news that former Morning News editorial writer Rod Dreher (he of Crunchy Con fame) has left his gig with the Templeton Foundation to take up with an magazine called The American Conservative. Rod explains here why he’s pumped to have the new job. Anyway, what Bob didn’t mention is that The American Conservative is a Wick Allison joint. He’s the CEO of The American Ideas Institute, the nonprofit publisher of the magazine. My understanding is that Rod now reports directly to me, in a sort of more or less weak dotted line way. Couldn’t be happier.
Leading Off (9/7/11)
Teacher Arrested for Solicitation in Ennis. Joshua Jaggears allegedly sent about 20 current and former students inappropriate texts. One father, whose son was sent a text, said the message asked for naked pictures. Jaggears resigned after he was arrested. But the police weren’t told of the allegations until four days after the school found out. So the town is up in arms, but a meeting is set for Thursday to “clear the air.”
Cook Children’s Debuts New NICU. About 40 babies moved into Cook Children’s new NICU yesterday. It took less than 2 hours to make the transition. With the new area, parents can stay bedside and help in their kids’ care. The hospital says it’s the “first all-private room NICU in the state and the largest in the nation.”
Dallas Is America’s Second Most Sex-Happy City. Sure. This may be a little inappropriate. But considering the rest of the news of the week centers on devastating wildfires, conference shakeups, and no job growth, I thought we could all use a little cheering up. So here’s a list ranking the most sex-happy cities, and their condom sales, STD rates, and birth rates. Austin, who seems to top every list, beat us. But that’s okay. We have a lower STD rate.
Larry McMurtry Has A Bone to Pick with John Ford
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Larry McMurtry is currently working on five movie scripts, ![Larry McMurtry IMG_6027[11]](http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Larry-McMurtry-IMG_602711-210x300.jpg "Larry McMurtry IMG_6027[11]")
including the film adaptation of S.C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon about the legendary half-white/half-Comanche chief Quanah Parker. So when McMurtry (shown in photo by Randy Hunter) made a rare appearance in Snyder, Texas, Labor Day weekend to take part in the first-ever John Wayne Film Fest, you knew he would speak with authority introducing The Searchers, director John Ford’s classic western. The 1956 flick, which starred Wayne, Natalie Wood and Jeffrey Hunter, was said to have been based on the kidnaping of Parker’s then-9-year-old mother by Comanches in the 1830s–in what’s now the state of Texas, not Monument Valley in Utah and Arizona, as depicted in Ford’s masterpiece.
Parkland’s Woes Not as Bad as Morning News Wants You To Believe, Ctd.
I’ve been meaning to update that post from last week since the day after it went up. That’s when I got an email from Bob Moos, a public affairs specialist for the Region 6 office of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), correcting an error I made in the post.
After asking the regional and national CMS offices for stats on how many “immediate jeopardy” citations it issues, and after not hearing back from them, I quoted this story, which says that CMS doesn’t keep those stats. Well, Region 6 does. After reading my post, Moos sent me the following email:
The Dallas Region 6 office of CMS oversees five states: Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
There have been six immediate-jeopardy citations against hospitals (including Parkland and Methodist) in Region 6 since the beginning of the current fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2010). Specifically, there have been four in Texas, one in Arkansas and one in Louisiana. There are 957 hospitals in Region 6 — 517 of those are in Texas. During the previous fiscal year, there were two immediate-jeopardy citations against hospitals in Region 6. Both were in Louisiana.
So such “IJ” citations can be considered out of the ordinary.
Hope that helps.
Helps indeed. So despite Methodist’s getting an IJ citation right on the heels of Parkland’s, such citations are, indeed, rare. I was wrong to say they aren’t. What I don’t understand at this point is why the Morning News didn’t publish those same Region 6 numbers when it ran its big Sunday story on Parkland, instead choosing to quote experts. When I talked to Moos the day after I put up my post, I asked him whether anyone at the News had asked for those IJ stats. He said that, in fact, a reporter had called with that request after I put up my post. Moos couldn’t recall whether they’d previously asked for the numbers. I am forced to conclude they hadn’t, which is odd.
Anyway, mea culpa. I was wrong. And I learned something about Region 6.
I’ve learned something else since putting up that last post about Parkland. CMS’ IJ citation has lengthened wait times in the ER. Here’s an example a Parkland ER doc gave me:
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Sep. 6
Some people really do not like Garrison Keillor. I am aware of this. He may or may not be kind of a jerk. But plenty do, and I happen to be one of them. At the very least, I appreciate his work, and I am possibly one of four people who actually liked A Prairie Home Companion, the movie, because I have the hugest soft spot for Kevin Kline. The radio show is maybe the only reason my older brother survived our numerous family road trips, what with me threatening to do something drastic every time his octopus limbs encroached on my side of the backseat.
Anyway, the longtime radio host and author brings his live show to the Bass Hall in Fort Worth this evening, with fiddler Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek and the Decemberists) in tow. He’s talked retirement for 2013, so tonight may be one of your last chances to catch him out on the touring circuit. Slate’s Sam Anderson wrote a great essay about Keillor’s mysterious throwback appeal back in 2006, and it’s still worth a read. Tickets are still available, but fair warning: the cheap seats are long gone.
There’s plenty going on around town to commemorate the upcoming tenth anniversary of 9/11, beginning tonight with a panel discussion hosted by the Press Club of Dallas. The purpose is to examine the outcome of the attacks over the past decade, and features input from professors of law, politics, ethics, and national security. Tod Robberson of the Dallas Morning News will moderate.
For more to do with your post-holiday weekend evening, go here.
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