Articles about Local News
Leading Off (2/9/12)
Mavs End Losing Streak, Dirk Nowitzki Moves to No. 21 On All-Time Scoring List. Dirk surpassed former Maverick Adrian Dantley and is something like 200 points behind Robert Parish for No. 20. I usually have something for situations like this. What is it? Oh, right: I SEE YOU, BIG GERMAN.
Debate Over Deep Ellum School Turns Emotional. “I’m not going to personally stand for poor people to get bad education any more!” said Mayor Mike Rawlings. I see both sides of this. Actually there are lot more sides than that. It’s like a Dungeons & Dragons die. I guess? I never really played. Anyway, it’s an education issue, so I’m sure it’ll get settled quickly and quietly.
Arlington Councilman Questioned Over Drug Use. Councilman Mel LeBlanc’s wife narced on him after she found some marijuana (he’s already been to rehab), so now everyone is up in his business, asking questions and such. First question: Why do you live in Arlington? Second: And you willingly serve on the city council? Third: You must smoke, like, a ton of weed then, no? Fourth: Seriously, like a lot a lot right? Fifth: Do you know any other Mels? Because it seems like you probably don’t run into many others anymore. Sixth: Why do some names just die out? Like Norman. It used to be popular and now I bet there aren’t two kids born in Dallas all year with that name. Seventh: Do Arlington city council members get special rates at Six Flags? I feel like they should. Eighth: Do you like how they wrote that story and made it seem like it was probably crack you were caught with, but it was really just marijuana, and yeah, that’s still a drug and since you’re a public official still a big deal, but the reporter was probably ticked it wasn’t crack, because, let’s face it, that’s a much more awesome story, and so you kind of got shafted a little bit? Anyway, good rapping at you, Mel.
CBS 11 Political Reporter Jack Fink Has One-On-One Interview With Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum. It’s here, if you want it. At no point, however, does Santorum do this, so I’m not sure I’d bother. But I’d like to personally thank Fink and the rest of the hardworking CBS 11 team for going through the trouble to make that happen so I’d have a clear excuse to post that GIF. Guys, you may be 11 on the dial but you’re No. 1 in my heart, and I hope you know that.
BREAKING: “Nearly Everyone Speeds On Dallas Freeways.” “Holy s–t, are you kidding me?” said absolutely no one ever.
Programming Note: Valentine’s Day Tips With D Magazine’s Raya Ramsey on WFAA’s Daybreak
ShopTalk’s own Raya Ramsey will be on WFAA (Channel 8 ) tomorrow morning at 6:20 a.m. to talk about proper planning for Valentine’s Day.
Too tired to get up and watch at that time? Don’t have a DVR, or even a VCR? Get a preview of what she’ll be talking about right here.
You Guys LOVE Khloe Kardashian Odom
According to this poll I put up yesterday, anyway. If you don’t feel like clicking over, as of the second I posted this, the results are:
Yes — 72% / 103 votes
No — 18% / 26 votes
I don’t know who that is — 4% / 6 votes
I pretend to not know who that is but OMG YES — 4% / 6 votes
I prefer Robert — 2% / 3 votes
Why Mark Davis Is Completely Wrong On Komen
In this (behind-the-paywall) column in today’s DMN, Mark Davis puts forth his completely incorrect assessment of the entire publicity nightmare surrounding the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It’s the kind of thing you could let slide as ridiculous politics (I’m still not 100% sure he isn’t being facetious), but this is a national story. After the jump, a few specific places where he’s gone wrong.
IM Just Saying: Christina Rees Talks About Her Somewhat Shocking New Do
I have known Christina Rees since circa 1996. We worked together at the dearly departed Met. We worked together at D. Now she’s the curator of The Art Galleries at TCU. In all the time I have known her (to my recollection), she has always had flowing, wavy-curly hair. I took a survey. This other guy (whom I won’t name but whose name rhymes with “crack”) and I both agreed: Christina’s hair was attractive. And it was black. The survey definitely revealed that it was black. Or dark. Now, however, things have changed. Several people in the past few days have asked me: “Did you see Christina’s new picture on Facebook?” You can see for yourself the look that Christina is rocking. I took another survey. That other guy and I once again both agreed: that is a blond mohawk. I asked Christina about it in a Gchat. Enjoy:
1:10 PM
Christina: never done this
1:11 PM me: Hang on.
1:13 PM Okay, you ready?
Christina: Can’t we just talk on the phone?
me: That’s so 2011.
Christina: ok
me: Plus, then I have to transcribe the interview. And I’m lazy.
Christina: Right.
me: First question. Not to put too fine a point on it. But what the hell happened to your hair?
Could Yesterday’s DART Arapaho Center Station Shooting Have Been Prevented by More Cops?
News reports, like the one from WFAA above, say that the Transportation Security Administration and Dallas Police are offering to help DART Police secure their stations, following yesterday’s shooting, the latest in what seems like a string of violent public transit incidents. This would involve having more officers posted on DART trains and at DART stations.
Would that have made a difference for Eric Johnson, who lost his life when a DART police officer exchanged gunfire with a man who’d been turned away from riding a bus for trying to board with an expired pass?
When we’re faced with tragedies like this, it’s natural that we want to do something to prevent such a senseless act from occurring again. But isn’t the plain fact that we live in a big city, with a lot of other people, some of whom are prone from time to time to commit awful acts?
Things like this are going to happen. After all, there was already an officer on the scene.
And, as WFAA reports, one of yesterday’s victims claims he was struck by a bullet fired by the officer, not the suspect.
Dallas Has Its Employment Mojo Back, But Houston is Making Us Look Like Slackers
American City Business Journals has analyzed numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and determined the biggest job winners and job losers over the last 10 years.
Texas in particular come off looking compartively great. Dallas-Fort Worth has the second-biggest gain in jobs during the last year (among the nation’s 100 biggest markets), the fourth-most gain in the last five years, and the fifth-most in the last 10 years. (Houston finishes No. 1 on all three lists.) Of course, the picture is slightly different if you rank cities by their percentage gains in jobs, with DFW ranked 10th, 8th, and 27th looked at that way.
Only 13 of the top 100 U.S. metropolitan areas have showed a gain over the last five years. Six of them are in Texas.
Portlandia is ranked No. 52.
Leading Off (2/8/12)
Two Killed and Officer Hurt at DART Shooting. It’s the third deadly incident at DART since November. This time, two people died. But public transportation user Cathy Bentz isn’t worried. “Something like that could happen anywhere,” she said. “On a car, in a plane, even just going for a walk,” she said to the Morning News (behind paywall).
Rowlett Asks Gun Range To Be Safer. I don’t think it’s too much to ask: if you’re a gun range, make sure stray bullets don’t travel into a family’s home. Yesterday, the owner of the gun range agreed to try to make his business safer. The city of Rowlett filed an injunction after the third stray-bullet incident.
DISD Will Probably Have More Layoffs. But you’re not surprised, are you?
Uncle Barky Reports Carolyn Mungo Named News Director for WFAA
According to Uncle Barky, Carolyn Mungo, formerly of Houston’s KRIV, will head up WFAA’s newsroom. UB reports that first choice Kurt Davis of San Antonio’s KENS evidently said, “Thanks but no thanks” when offered the job.
This development means a grand slam for females holding the news director positions at the area’s four major television stations.
Protest Outside Komen Headquarters
Because nobody involved seems to want this story to stop, today there was a protest outside the local headquarters for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure. The DMN’s Bruce Tomaso breaks the news of James Ragland covering the very small protest here. Unfair Park has much more here.
Just as, in the wake of the policy “reversal” and the resignation of Komen vice president Karen Handel, the anti-Planned Parenthood crowd is accusing Komen of bowing to pressure from the left, now the actual left is vowing to make sure Komen doesn’t bow to pressure from the right, asking the foundation to promise it will not cut funding to Planned Parenthood after next year. So much vowing and bowing. Makes me want to watch a Kung Fu movie.
Randy Travis: Common Bat or Buffy Vampire?
Randy Travis is the guy in the middle, in case you didn't know.
Reuse Jeans sent out an email today to share pictures from the Jan. 21 grand opening of its new store at the Shops at Park Lane. In the email, they were sure to note how grateful they were that country singer Randy Travis had been able to stop by (see photo above.)
This new photo, and Mr. Travis’ recent Denton County Sheriff’s Department mugshot, have sparked an intra-office disagreement.
Settle the argument: Does he look more like a vampire bat or a vampire from the TV shows Buffy and Angel?
What Dallas Can Learn From Portlandia
It’s foolish, certainly, to read today’s final article in the Dallas Morning News‘ three-part series on the growth and development of North Texas and come to the conclusion that Dallas-Fort Worth should absolutely adopt the same approach as Portland, Oregon. (The Portland area collectively sets a boundary beyond which urban development is forbidden.)
But, man, it sure makes sense that the many municipalities and the counties that comprise a region should, you know, work together:
Planners expect the population of the entire Portland area to double in the next few decades, just like North Texas. But Portland’s growth will accompany only an 11 percent increase in land.
Here, space is prized more as a tool for redevelopment than a vehicle for expansion. The high-tech giant Intel houses its Hillsboro campus in a former industrial field. A Chevron gas station in nearby Beaverton also functions as an electrical power plant. And permanently stationed food trucks fill vacant Portland parking lots with everything from poached Thai chicken to pork schnitzel.
The urban growth boundary prevents cities from spreading outward, so they’re forced to look inward. “It has led to a realization that everything is related to everything else,” said Ethan Seltzer, a professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University. “This notion that you’re all in it together, it leads to a willingness to cooperate.”
Maybe, if you’re a certain sort of person, the bit about the food trucks makes you roll your eyes. And perhaps setting a strict regional growth boundary would be a terrible mistake, causing housing prices to skyrocket to the point that it would prevent affordable pricing for decent housing in the core of the city. I’m not sure of the net effect. I’ve heard smart people argue differing sides.
Sports Parents Need to CHILL
For the past couple of months, I have been helping coach my son’s basketball team. The kids are 7 and 8 years old, they play in the YMCA White Rock league, they’re called the Wildcats, and they are awesome. Not that the Y will formally acknowledge it, but they won the league this year, only losing one game in the process. The boys — many of whom I had coached for the past three years — work hard, and they’re real sweethearts. I love ‘em all. Also, as I mentioned before, they are 7 and 8 years old.
I waited until the season was over to write this, because I didn’t want to cause any undue stress on either the players or their parents. But now seems like an OK time.
Super Bowl Smackdown: Host Indianapolis Makes Dallas-Fort Worth Look Like a Bunch of Chumps
As the Super Bowl XLVI broadcast came back from one commercial break, NBC’s Al Michaels said something like (paraphrasing): “What’s so great about Indianapolis as a Super Bowl host is that it’s one of the places where everything is within walking distance.”
Sitting, as I was, in a living a room amidst the exurban sprawl of Frisco on Sunday, that comment stung. I mean, he wasn’t talking about North Texas, and yet he was.
And Michaels isn’t alone. Indianapolis is getting rave reviews for its hosting of the NFL’s championship extravaganza. Having been blessed with unseasonably pleasant weather this year (as opposed to the ice and snow we greeted fans with in Dallas for Super Bowl XLV), there’s already speculation about how soon the capital of Indiana will get to host another. It’s very unlike the “Will North Texas Ever Get to Host Another?” headlines that followed our region’s turn.
Much of the praise for Indy is about its compactness. Whereas North Texas had some activities in Fort Worth, others in Dallas, and the game in Arlington, with driving required to get anywhere, Indianapolis was walkable. Sports economist Patrick Rishe wrote a column for Forbes yesterday where he noted that “Bigger is not always better” — another slap in the face of Texas?
Should the Texas Rangers Re-sign Josh Hamilton?
Even before Josh Hamilton had his relapse with alcohol last week, the Texas Rangers were faced with having to make a tough decision this year regarding his future with the team. Hamilton can become a free agent at the end of the coming season. He’s already established himself as one of the greatest players to ever wear a Rangers uniform, and naturally that makes him one of the most popular players on the Rangers roster.
But his injury history gives one pause. Plus he’s going to turn 31 this season. The overwhelming body of evidence in baseball suggests that most players peak between the ages of 27 and 29, which means that Hamilton is past his peak and will see his skills decline from here on out.
Which isn’t to say that he won’t still be a valuable player this year, and for a few more years yet. If he’s looking for something like the 10-year deal that Albert Pujols got from the Angels this offseason, that seems unlikely (and would be incredibly unwise.) Last November, Adam Morris of Lone Star Ball argued that the Rangers should let Hamilton walk after 2012. In January, Grant Brisbee of Baseball Nation called Hamilton’s situation “The Most Difficult Contract Decision in the History of Baseball” and argued that Hamilton is worth a big money-short term deal.
So does what happened at Sherlock’s last week change anything at all? (more…)
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