D

Reviving Biofueler Plans Dallas Locations

Never underestimate the ability of businesspeople to reinvent themselves. Case in point: the folks behind Dallas’ Evolution Fuels Inc. (formerly Earth Biofuels), best-known for co-owning Willie’s Place at Carl’s Corner Truckstop near Hillsboro. After nearly going bankrupt two years ago as the biofuels market was skidding downhill, the company says it has paid off tens of millions of dollars in debt and will focus now on selling “mid-range ethanol blends” at retail fueling stations/convenience stores.

Kit Chambers, Evolution’s executive VP, says the outfit has signed letters of intent to open two Dallas stores–at Travis/Knox and Lemmon/Oak Lawn–and is aiming to acquire other fueling stations in Alabama and Mississippi. In addition, says Kit (pictured), a new entity called Evolution Resources will launch soon with an ambitious plan to “repurpose existing assets to produce cellulosic ethanol.”

Guess it all makes sense. While the biofuels biz in general has had its problems, ethanol is one biofuel segment that the government seems intent on propping up.

American Airlines Flight Attendants to Stage Mock Strikes This Month

This, apparently, is in advance of getting permission to have real strikes.

Quick two-part question: How is a mock strike different than a real strike? Follow-up: Can you explain that again?

Leading Off (11/06/09)

1.  “After nightfall at Fort Hood, the religious gathered to pray, the patriotic gave blood, and doctors and nurses worked to save the lives of the wounded. Sirens continued to sound, but traffic once again rumbled along Battalion Avenue and speakers blared, ‘The emergency no longer exists.’” D Magazine contributing editor Gretel Kovach is headed to the scene Friday for the New York Times.

2. Yes, these Frisco students probably weren’t going to act on their threats to kill a teacher, posted on Facebook. But senseless violence like what happened at Fort Hood yesterday reminds us why it’s a good idea to err on the side of caution. And maybe teach kids other ways to “vent their anger.”

3. Planting a yard of artificial turf makes just as much sense as pouring time, energy, gallons upon gallons of water, and chemicals into maintaining a sparkling green lawn in the wilting sun of Texas. And if you want to paint a baseball diamond on there, fine by me. If the spirit of Shoeless Joe Jackson shows up, well then, all the better.

Check, Check

This is a post to see if we’ve corrected for Daylight Savings Time.

Doc Gallagher Has History With Financial Regulators

Sorry we didn’t have this up last week, before “Doc” Gallagher was one of the featured speakers at the Jewish Community Center of Dallas’ Senior Expo.

But if you saw him there, or you’re planning to attend one of his free sessions this month at Sonny Bryan’s in Richardson, Golden Corral in North Richland Hills, or the Highland Park Cafeteria in Dallas, you might want to check out this piece from the latest D CEO.

One aspect of the story that didn’t make it into the final piece, because of space considerations, is that much of the marketing of “the Money Doctor” (who buys time weekly Saturday mornings on KAAM-AM 770) is aimed at senior citizens. He’s appeared on the cover of Mature Texan (with Ebby Halliday), for instance. And he’s done  shows on topics like the dangers of nursing homes, in addition to warning his listeners about the dangers of working with “Big Broker.”

He’s absolutely right that you’ve got to be careful from whom you take financial advice.

Check, Check, Ctd.

One more try.

Update: I just traveled back in time. I rule.

Big Announcement on WRR

I am “broadcasting” with Adriana Bate on WRR 101.1 till 11:30. Tune in for a big announcement.

Update: Adriana Bate announced this morning that her last day on the air at WRR will be Tuesday. After three and a half years with the station, she’s leaving Dallas to join her husband in Los Angeles. The couple has been doing the long-distance thing, and it’s grown too burdensome. Adraina’s replacement will be Tempie Lindsey, whose voice, according to WRR’s website, has been described as “gentle as a summer rain.” Which is odd. Because I’ve been described as “easy as a Sunday morning.” So I look forward to broadcasting with her next month.

Putting the Finishing Touches on the Winspear

Because you can’t have a green space without the green.

Cowboys Stadium a Magnet For Prostitutes

A completely unfair headline on this post, I’ll grant you. But since both the 2010 NBA All-Star Game and Super Bowl XLV will be played inside the belly of Jerry’s giant robot space turtle in Arlington, and since as many as 100,000 prostitutes are expected to come to the area for the games, I’d argue that it’s not entirely inaccurate.

Anyway, the Morning News had a good blog post about this already. I’m really linking to it to point out how quickly the comments on the DMN Crime Blog item degenerated into racial epithets.

Leading Off (11/5/09)

1. Fort Worth officers receive a “no, no” after the raid on a gay bar, which resulted in at least one person being harmed. Some people are unhappy with the lacking severity of discipline. More details on the investigation will be released today. On a related note: several recommendations were made by a diversity task force (which was formed after the raid) to Fort Worth city officials. One proposal was for Forth Worth’s insurance to cover workers’ sex-change operations.

2.    You know a story’s going to be interesting when it includes this quote, “Am I killing? Yes, I am,” said Dr. Curtis Boyd. “I know that.” Boyd had to open a surgery center in order to keep performing late-term abortions (which means he can perform abortions on women as late as six months into their pregnancies). He has opened this center recently on Greenville Avenue, which is in Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s district. Remember Jeb? Of course you do. He’s in this month’s print product. Well, he isn’t happy about this.

3. A 12-year-old may have misdemeanor assault charges filed against him as he “shot” a 4-year-old with an airsoft gun. The 4-year-old turned around and said, “Pick on someone your own size.” Then told his parents who told the cops who told the 12-year-old he may have charges filed against him (I’m assuming this is how it went down). This reminds me of a little drama going on over at our sister blog, Overheard. A 12-year-old “accidentally” threatened a blogger. The blogger said, “Oh, really?” Then called the cops who then contacted the kid who then apologized. Bully fail.

Name That Post-Apocalyptic Setting

After traveling past Which Wich University, through darkness, I feared I had arrived in a Stephen King novel, or a zombie movie. In front of me, two dead escalators. An unfriendly elevator. Utter quiet. No sound but my own heartbeat. No alternative but retreat.

While 95 Percent Shun the Polls, A Burmese Immigrant Actually Wants to Vote

Speaking of that 5 percent-6 percent voter turnout yesterday, sometimes it takes a legal immigrant to put us “citizens” to shame. It happened yesterday at our polling place in Merriman Park, where SweetCharity and I proudly voted for insurgent DISD candidate Bruce Parrott (Zac!). Ahead of us in line was a new neighbor we’d met Halloweening with his family last Saturday–a legal U.S. resident from Burma/Myanmar by way of Thailand. Trying to communicate in broken English, the Burma native was showing his I.D. card and pleading with the poll official to let him vote. After the official explained that one needs to be a citizen to cast a ballot, our neighbor finally “got it” and walked away, dejected but smiling. Ironic to be reminded about the importance of voting by a guy from Burma–a police state marked by political repression, forced labor and ethnic cleansing.

Arts of Collin County Bids First Phase

If you’d like to construct a 2,100-seat theater near the intersection of Custer Road and the Sam Rayburn Tollway in Allen, the Arts of Collin County Commission opened bidding on the project today.

It’s just the first phase of a grand performing arts center that Plano, Frisco, and Allen have united to build. Mike Simpson, the former mayor of Frisco and current executive director of the Arts of Collin County, met with  a small group of Collin County leaders and potential arts patrons last night at Gleneagles Country Club in Plano. I was also invited.

The update that Simpson gave was very much what I explained in August. Simpson told me that the ACC commission has a fiscal responsibility to bid out construction  now, while costs are as low as their likely to get. ACC leaders hope the first phase will come in under $80 million.

In their best case scenario then, they’ll bid the project and find they’re $7 million or $8 million away from being able to pay for it. They’ll have a few months once the bids are finalized to secure all the necessary funding before they can award a bid. (They’ve raised less than $10 million in four years of concentrated effort to this point). (more…)

Leading Off (11/4/09)

1. A lot of you people didn’t vote yesterday. The big decisions were with the DISD board, where Edwin Flores kept his seat but districts 3 and 9 will have a runoff December 3. A little more than 5 percent of registered voters turned out. So the good news is, everyone (in those two districts at least) gets a second chance to participate.

2. Dirk Nowitzki went for 29 last night — in the fourth quarter. Somebody ought to do a story on that guy. I don’t know, like an appreciation piece, something that reminds people just how special Dirk is and what he’s meant to this team and city. I’m going to pitch that idea is this week’s editorial meeting. Glad I thought of it.

3. Wait, wait, wait. A few weeks ago, they threw a party on the Continental Bridge to celebrate an anonymous $10 million donation that would transform it into a “living bridge” for pedestrians only. Now, though, comes news that they’re thinking about about putting a streetcar line across that bridge — which says neither “pedestrian only” nor “living” to me. WTF, mate? Does this mean that if they decide to change their minds, we can have another party? Oh, okay. Never mind then. Proceed!

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Safe for a Fourth-Grader?

I’ve written here recently about what great fun is the DTC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. My son, a fifth-grader, also shared his opinion of the show. So a FrontBurnervian sent me the following question:

I know you liked Midsummer’s Night’s Dream, so I need your considered advice. My wife has a friend who wants to take her fourth-grader to the play, but has heard that there are parts that aren’t appropriate for younger kids. She called the theater to ask what, and they told her it was sexual content, and advised her not to bring her child. But they won’t be specific. She’s in a quandary. She would love to take her kid, but she’s a little bit unnerved by the fact that the theater itself advises her not to bring her kid — but won’t tell her specifically what content has the potential to offend. Can you help? Is there [redacted] going on, or what?

The only thing I can think of that might be objectionable: near the end of the play, when Bottom kills himself repeatedly (and hysterically), one of the methods he employs is cutting off his penis. The act is pantomimed. As I say, it’s funny. Most fourth-graders would crack up and not have a problem with it at all. I find it very odd that the box office folks would advise someone not to bring a fourth-grader. I mean, it’s fourth-grade humor. (I mean that in the best possible sense.)

Warren Buffet Goes All-in With BNSF Purchase

Mega-investor Warren Buffet used gambling terminology in describing his $34 billion purchase of Fort Worth-based railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe: “Most important of all, however, it’s an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States,” said Mr. Buffett. “I love these bets.”

It certainly seems like heartening news when the country’s second-richest man is willing to continue playing his hand. But am I the only one who gets nervous when our entire economic system is likened to a poker game?

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader (Allegedly?) in Blackface

Deadspin has the pictures. The Cowboys are “handling it internally.”

Leading Off (11/3/09)

1. The Texas Lottery Commission ruled that Willis Willis — the 67-year-old out-of-work maintenance man that was tricked out of his $1 million winning ticket — was not the rightful winner. “Guys, I’m really impressed you were able to do that with a straight face,” said Greg F. Underhill, previously thought to be the biggest jerk in the world.

2. When I see a story that starts like this — “Dallas County will hold its first walk-up swine-flu vaccination clinic Wednesday, a carefully staged event that could go perilously wrong if too many people show up demanding shots” — the first thing that jumps into my mind is NOT “well planned.”

3. “Dallas Hosts National Prostitution Conference.” The story is a bit more nuanced than that, but I’ll stick with Fox 4’s headline.

Errol Morris on Willingham Death Penalty Case

Errol Morris, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker, made a little movie back in the 1980s called The Thin Blue Line. It’s an investigation of the murder of a Dallas police officer, and its findings led to the release of Randall Dale Adams, who had been wrongly convicted of the crime. Adams came within days of being put to death for something that he didn’t do.

I decided to ask Morris if he’s been following the case of Cameron Todd Willingham (he has) and what it says about our justice system. He said:

My view is that the death penalty encourages mistakes. It’s not just ‘mistakes can happen.’ It engenders them. And Texas, as we all know, has been enthusiastic about the death penalty. Not just in passing new legislation, but in the number of capital murder cases and convictions and death warrants and just in the number of executions.

And he raised an interesting line of argument. To crudely paraphrase it, these capital cases involve horrific tragedies for which the community demands some justice (e.g., a dead cop, or three dead little girls). And because of that, investigators go to extraordinary lengths to find someone that they can punish. Morris’ words again:

If there’s a choice between no case and a case, unfortunately it becomes very easy for the human mind to find justifications for making one decision, one preferred decision, rather than another.

Mike Snyder Gets No Love from Newy Scruggs

An alert FrontBurnervian passed along this video of Mike Snyder getting the Heisman from Newy Scruggs. Listen as Snyder attempts to make smalltalk with him. That’s the definition of a layout. (h/t Liberally Lean)

Leading Off (11/02/09)

1. Articles in the DMN for $200, please, Alex: Blogger who, despite workshopping some jokes, failed to write a funny post about Eric Aasen’s Jeopardy-speak filled profile of Terry Linwood, a Plano resident who cleaned up on a recent run on the Alex Trebek-hosted quiz show. Ding! Who is Laura Kostelny?

2. Moving on to matters of church, First Baptist Church of Dallas announced plans to spend $130 million on pumping up its six-block campus. Expect a new sanctuary, state-of-the-art education building, and high-def televisions.

3. In (more) entertainment news. Paranormal Activity was second at the box office this weekend. The movie, which by now you surely know was made for about $11,000, has earned a staggering $84.8 million to date. What’s the Dallas connection? Me. I saw it this weekend. Oh, and star Katie Featherston is an SMU graduate. Someone should write a profile about her using punny demon terms so I can blog about it.

Gary Kelly’s Costume: Dorothy From Oz

The Nuts About Southwest blog today answers  my question from yesterday: CEO Gary Kelly is off to see the wizard, and then presumably Milwaukee, where the airline is launching flights this weekend.

KERA Seeks CFO Who’s Fun to be With

Also at last night’s World Affairs Council event, I ran into Mary Anne Alhadeff, the CEO of North Texas Public Broadcasting. She said she and her team are super-excited about the launch of their new radio station, KXT (91.7 FM), on Nov. 9.

But she had some disappointing news to share. The company’s CFO, Jason Daisey — whom I had the privilege of meeting in the course of reporting a story in the latest D CEO — had just left to move back east. She tried to convince him that he should stay to see the new station launched. But he said that for him closing the financial transaction that allowed KERA to purchase the new frequency earlier this year was the exciting part, “like the Super Bowl.”

Be warned, potential chief financial officers: you’ve got some big shoes to fill. According to Alhadeff, it’s difficult to find a numbers guy who is as much fun as Daisey was.

World Affairs Council Honors Dr. Kenneth Cooper

Last night SweetCharity and DallasDirt and I represented the D Empire at at the World Affairs Council’s H. Neil Mallon Award Dinner at the Fairmont. This year’s award recipient was Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the Cooper Aerobics Center. Lots of big shots in the room. I spotted Ross Perot, Tom Leppert, and Roger Staubach without really trying.  Lots of nice things were said by and about Dr. Cooper. Congratulations to him.

In the spirit of the evening, our table was like its own little United Nations. (more…)

What Was Your Most Memorable Halloween Costume? Ctd.

Yesterday Zac asked you dear, sweet FrontBurnervians to answer the above question. One of the responses so tickled me that I thought I bring it out of the comments section. It is from “I Am Spartacus”:

1977. I was 6. Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) had come out that summer. Dad made an awesome R2D2 costume out of a paprika barrel (he worked for El Chico). It was spicy smelling but very cool, just hard to get up and down stairs.