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UNT Students Join Pro-Palestine Demonstrations. A couple hundred students left class on Tuesday and gathered on the lawn outside the University Library, where they called for the school’s foundation to divest any assets tied to Israel or manufacturers supplying weapons to its army. They join students at dozens of other college campuses across the country who are calling for their university’s foundations to act. The peaceful protest ended at about 4 p.m. with no arrests or notable police response. The school says it “recognizes and supports the rights of free speech.”

American Cuts Longer Routes Due to Boeing Delays. Through at least 2025, American Airlines will no longer fly daily to Dublin and Rome out of DFW International Airport, and Hawaii’s Kona International Airport won’t have a direct flight from North Texas during the winter. It’s another example of how airlines are reacting to Boeing’s inability to meet the demand for new 737 Max 8 aircrafts; Southwest had also cut routes in response.

Expect a Headache Out West. If you can, you’ll want to avoid I-820, State Highway 121, and State Highway 183 out near Fort Worth and the Mid Cities. Construction on the North Tarrant Express Capacity Improvement Project began yesterday, and various closures are planned through the weekend.

Your Sports Schedule. The puck drops in Game 5 against the Dallas Stars and the Golden Knights at 6:30 p.m. and the Dallas Mavericks tip off in their Game 5 against the Los Angeles Clippers at 9 p.m. StrongSide will have more.

Today in the Dallas Morning News, Sharon Grigsby writes about something our Bethany Erickson tackled last week. Our headline: “Mayor Eric Johnson’s Revisionist History.” The DMN headline: “Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, We See Your Charade of a Fond Farewell for the City Manager.” A bit prolix for my taste, but that’s not what I want to address.

The mayor is making stuff up. That’s the first thing you need to know. The second thing you need to know is that the DMN recently announced that important stories in the paper will be accompanied by a sidebar of sorts labeled “Why This Story Matters.” From where I sit, this idea is silly. And insulting. Readers don’t need to be told why something matters for the same reason that watchers of Tropic Thunder don’t need to be told why the movie is funny.

Quick aside: I’m not going to actually identify five things to know about “Why It Matters.” That’s another dumb thing the paper has taken to doing recently. The other day, I saw four stories next to each other on the paper’s website that were all titled “5 Things to Know About [Something].”

So anyway. Here’s the way I imagine the explainer sidebar would go if the DMN were brave enough to attach it to Grigsby’s story:

“Why This Story Matters: The mayor of Dallas is an elected official. Lying is bad. When elected officials don’t tell the truth, citizens get hosed. If you pay taxes and elected officials say things that aren’t true, then kittens will be murdered.”

I apologize. I lost the plot there right at the end. Here’s why this blog post doesn’t matter …

Stars Beat Golden Knights. The score was 4-2, with an empty-netter at the end. The series is now tied at two games apiece. From the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Monday marked the third time in franchise history the Knights lost consecutive playoff games at home. They also did so during the 2018 Stanley Cup Final against the Washington Capitals and the 2021 NHL semifinals against the Montreal Canadiens. ‘Two good teams going at it, it’s going to be the little things that will decide it,’ [center William] Karlsson said.” Tomorrow will be a big sports day. The Stars play at 6:30, and the Mavs tip at 9. Get some rest today, folks. Ice your knee. Remember to stretch.

Cartel Members Sentenced for Smuggling $10 Million of Meth. Twelve members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel were sentenced for transporting 200 kilos of liquid methamphetamine from Mexico to Dallas inside the diesel tank of a big rig. They should have used buckets of Los Pollos Hermanos chicken.

Flight Canceled After Pilot Gets Drunk. A Japan Airlines flight from Dallas to Tokyo had to be canceled after a replacement couldn’t be found for a drunken pilot. The flight’s 157 passengers had to be rebooked on other planes with sober pilots.

From the website Deadline: “William Hutchinson, who appeared on the Lifetime series Marrying Millions as the suitor of a woman 40 years younger than him, pleaded guilty today to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl at his Laguna Beach vacation home and was sentenced to 90 days of home confinement in Texas. The Highland Park, Texas, resident, 65, pleaded guilty to a count of misdemeanor sexual battery and was placed on three years of formal probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.”

I checked in with the public information officer at the DA’s office in Orange County. She explained that California has a scale for sex offenders, and that scale will require Hutchinson to register for 10 years. The PIO also told me that the district attorney didn’t prosecute Hutchinson on the felony rape charge because the office lacked sufficient evidence to do so.

For more context, you should read this story we published in 2021 about Hutchinson titled “The End of a Playboy.”

Update (4/30/24): Michelle Simpson Tuegel is a lawyer who represents three women who have civil cases pending against Hutchinson in Dallas County. Those cases are set for trial in November. She issued the following statement, referring to the woman whose complaint in Orange County led to the plea deal yesterday: “I applaud the courage of this survivor, whose bravery in coming forward not only led to a measure of justice for what she went through, but also helped shine a light on the actions of a man who is now a registered sex offender. It is not easy to come forward against a public person and stand in your truth waiting years for a court date, but this survivor’s courage shows the potential impact of every voice.”

Update (5/1/24): Hutchinson’s lawyer, Levi G. McCathern, II, sent the following statement via email: “We are pleased to announce that the Orange County District Attorneys and my client Bill Hutchinson have reached a plea agreement in return for a dismissal of 5 very serious charges. Mr. Hutchinson is pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor, which sentenced him to probation with no jail time and a $150.00 fine. He and his family are relieved to have this matter behind them.”

The mysterious “Project X,” which involves city council members figuring out how to retain or recruit an unnamed pro sports team, is still floating around Dallas City Hall.

We thought this was a settled matter after sports mayor’s big win last week. The City Council unanimously approved a $19 million deal to rehab the old Memorial Auditorium to lure the Dallas Wings from Arlington. But this, apparently, was not Project X. Or there’s a new Project X. Hard to say. Attorneys are involved, and the official discussions are happening in private. (“Executive session” is a real buzzkill.)

The Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention will be back in session on Wednesday, and, once again, the only item on the agenda involves discussing “commercial or financial information that the city has received from a business prospect (“Project X”) that the city seeks to have locate, stay or expand in or near the City of Dallas and with which the City is conducting economic development negotiations; and deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive in connection with Project X.”

Councilmember Paula Blackmon, one of the seven committee members, tells me it is “another project” separate from the Wings. She wouldn’t comment further. Councilmember Jaynie Schultz, another committee member, says, “I honestly don’t know.”

Let’s get to speculating.

Mavs’ Comeback Falls Short, Clippers Even Series. Dallas was on the verge of making one of the biggest comebacks in playoff history, erasing a 31-point deficit late in the fourth quarter. But a Paul George corner three (after really great defense by Derrick Jones Jr.) put the Clippers back on top and that was pretty much that. (No more Sunday 2:30 tipoffs!) Game 5 happens Wednesday in Los Angeles. And yes, that was our own Matt Goodman you briefly saw on the ABC broadcast. More on StrongSide momentarily.

Wyatt Johnston’s OT Goal Gets Stars Back in Business. The 20-year-old became the youngest player in Stars history to score an overtime goal on Saturday night, and it couldn’t have come at a more important time, with Dallas on the verge of falling into a 3-0 hole to Vegas two seasons in a row. More on the game here. The Stars have a chance to tie up the first-round series tonight.

Drier Start to the Week. After a rainy weekend, with flooding all over, we are looking at mid-80s, no precipitation until Wednesday, when an “unsettled pattern” returns. “Unsettled pattern”—so dramatic!

Less than two years removed from its 2022 launch, 97.1 The Freak is apparently no more. According to at least two reports on Friday, the station’s owner, iHeartMedia, announced a format change and several firings on Friday.

Athlon Sports’ Richie Whitt reported that employees were summoned to an emergency meeting to discuss The Freak’s unremarkable ratings over the last 18 months, since the frequency abandoned its former identity as The Eagle and longtime status as a home to heavier rock music. Whitt, citing unnamed sources, was the first to relay the news that staff will be let go and that a “change in direction” is coming. 

Listeners began speculating on social media. A video was posted on a fan-run Facebook page that appears to show the station’s flagship voice, Mike Rhyner, pulling up a yard sign promoting the station and then saying, “Thanks, y’all.”

Rhyner, a Texas Radio Hall of Famer and one of the founders of The Ticket, came out of retirement to join the new station and its “free-flowing” talk format. (He talked about that decision in this episode of EarBurner.) He confirmed to the Dallas Observer that he and the rest of the on-air crew for his afternoon show, The Speakeasy, were fired Friday, including Jeff Cavanaugh and Julie Dobbs. Rhyner also said that staff was told that the station would revert back to its original rock programming and Eagle branding on Monday.

“I know that everyone on our show is gone,” he told the Observer. “I’m not sure about the others, but I would imagine the same thing holds true for them,” referring to the rest of The Freak’s lineup, which included The Downbeat with Mike Sirois, Danny Balis, and Kevin Turner and The Ben and Skin Show with Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade. “Like I said, this was a thing where that radio company, especially the branch of it here in Dallas-Fort Worth, is not well equipped to handle us and what we did, and they really weren’t into it at all.”

The station is also the Dallas Mavericks’ radio broadcast partner, with Chuck Cooperstein providing play-by-play. Judging from his tweet this afternoon, tonight’s playoff broadcast will air.

Last July, Ashley Brundage led the first of many rallies in which she called on the city to fund affordable housing in this year’s bond. Her group, the Dallas Housing Coalition, pushed for a $200 million spend. The bond wound up allocating about $70 million for help with financing and infrastructure improvements near affordable housing. Even though it fell short of the more ambitious ask, this is still a significant achievement for housing advocates, if only because the city of Dallas has never viewed a bond program as a way to directly invest in creating more places for people to live.

This month, Brundage was announced as the new leader of the Dallas chapter of Habitat for Humanity, one of the region’s largest homebuilders. She’s spent the last 19 years with United Way, and, for the last 17, was the organization’s executive director of housing stability. That meant, during the pandemic, Brundage helped raise and disburse $40 million of rental assistance that helped people stay in their homes.

Habitat has had a rough go of it in recent months. The former CEO, William Eubanks III, parted ways with the organization after a Dallas Morning News investigation found that his wife earned a $24,000 commission on land purchased by the nonprofit. (Eubanks denied wrongdoing.) Too, the City Plan Commission denied Habitat’s plan to build 30 homes on an old ballfield following pushback from the community.

Brundage sees her role as rebuilding trust with the communities Habitat serves—it owns land in Joppa and Pleasant Grove, and is working in Irving and Kaufman County—and using her knowledge and background to position Habitat as a thought-leader and policy advocate. Too, the organization’s finances are in a much different place than they were in 2018, when the News floated that the organization “might be failing” following years of losses.

Philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, the ex-wife of billionaire Jeff Bezos, gave the organization $9 million in 2022. “That allows me to be able to come in and not feel like we’re in any kind of crisis,” Brundage says, which will allow her to hire her team and create a new strategic plan.

With early voting on the bond ongoing through next Tuesday, April 30, Brundage talked about the need for housing, her vision for Habitat’s Dallas chapter, and how important community involvement is for the organization’s projects. The conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. (Afterward, head here to read our guide to the bond package. It includes details about the housing allotments.)

Roosevelt High Students Shot Off-Campus, School Closed. Dallas ISD says it discovered a “credible threat” directed at Roosevelt High School in Cedar Crest and closed the school for the day. Two high school football players were shot and hospitalized following a drive-by shooting near the Cedar Crest Golf Course yesterday evening. They were riding home with the team’s coach when a car pulled up next to them and started shooting. One player was shot in the arm and the other was hit in the neck, but both are stable and expected to recover.

Tarrant County Commissioner Calls for Federal Investigation Into Jail Deaths. Two people have died following medical emergencies over the last four days while in custody at the Tarrant County Jail, in Fort Worth. Sheriff Bill Waybourn calls the incidents “horrific” while Commissioner Alisa Simmons has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation into conditions at the jail. A 31-year-old man died in a medical facility after being sprayed with pepper spray during a fight with a detention officer. A 42-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell on April 18.

Rain Is Coming This Weekend. Meteorologists expect as much as three inches of rain this weekend, beginning this afternoon. Hail, damaging winds, and possible tornadoes are all in the cards, so keep your eyes on the forecast.

Yesterday, the Dallas City Council sent off outgoing City Manager T.C. Broadnax during what is likely his final council meeting in Dallas. He’ll start in Austin as its city manager on May 6. His resignation is frequently tied to his relationship with Mayor Eric Johnson, which has been marked by attempted firings, arguments, and poor communication. 

But to hear the mayor tell it, the media is the real reason everyone thinks that Broadnax and Johnson can’t get along. The council recognized Broadnax yesterday morning, and Johnson’s remarks were, well, interesting.

The mayor said that he and Broadnax actually agreed about “90 percent” of the time. “That’s not a secret,” he said and then claimed that the media didn’t write about the “wins” that happened while he and Broadnax were at the helm. He pointed to several policies and moves the city has adopted over the past five years, including its racial equity plan, its approach to environmental issues, economic development opportunities, the importance placed on parks, and improvements in crime rates. Those things, he argued—incorrectly—didn’t get attention from journalists. 

“The media is going to feast on those times when we’ve not agreed,” he said. “But I am going to acknowledge that there have been times that we haven’t, that 10 percent is real. I believe that the times we’ve disagreed have been very much overblown and very much exaggerated and played up for various reasons.”

He continued: “I get what people have to write to get people to click on stories in a dying industry. You got to write what you got to write to try and keep food on your family’s table. But I deal in the reality of public policy making. I’ve been doing it for 14 straight years.”

Let’s dissect that. For one, the current narrative that the mayor and the city manager’s relationship had grown so dysfunctional that they could no longer effectively conduct city business came from six of his colleagues. They took the extraordinary step of drafting the announcement (which you can read in its entirety here) that Broadnax would step down at the council’s request.

The NYT today dropped a wonderful story that you should take the time to read. It’s about Will Evans, of Deep Vellum (the bookstore and publisher), and Javier García del Moral and Paco Vique, of Wild Detectives. Too busy right now? Just want the tastiest part? Says the paper:

Today Dallas is home to one of the most dynamic, international literary scenes in the country, inspired in many ways by the infectious, D.I.Y. energy of Deep Vellum, now one of the country’s largest publishers of translated literature, and Wild Detectives. Their fates have been twined from the start, and this past weekend they threw a joint 10th-ish anniversary celebration at the bookstore that lasted three days and felt more house party than book party.

Orchestrated by García del Moral, it was vintage Wild Detectives. D.J.s pumped up the swaying crowds that grew wilder as the evenings wore on. Tattoo artists set up a corner table; a barbecue pit set up outside. Dallas’s first poet laureate, Joaquin Zihuatanejo, held the packed house spellbound as torrential rain cascaded down on Saturday with a reading from his latest book, Occupy Whiteness, published by Deep Vellum.

Pretty cool, right? If I were a gentleman, I’d leave it there and go back to trying to understand why some people get so excited by the NFL draft. But, well, picking nits is more fun than thinking about the draft. So let me bring up one problem I have with the NYT story.

The top of the story talks about how Evans, when he moved in Dallas and attended lit events, would post about them and include a hashtag that generated some ridicule. But then the guys at Wild Detectives started using the same hashtag. The story says: “Soon, they picked up the #literarydallas hashtag, too. So did the Dallas Morning News. Suddenly the idea was no longer a laughing matter, but something real, willed into existence.”

Not so fast.

When Evans came up with the idea of naming a poet laureate for Dallas, in 2022, here is how the News began its editorial on the subject:

Poets are a rare and precious resource. Dallas needs more of them, especially now.

On Wednesday, we will learn the identity of our city’s first poet laureate, an office created by the Dallas Public Library, the Office of Arts and Culture, and Deep Vellum Publishing. Last year, announcing the creation of that program, Deep Vellum founder Will Evans said confidently, “There is no doubt that Dallas, is, and has always been, a literary city.”

We have our doubts.

Dallas is a business city, a successful city, a can-do city. But it’s not always a poetic city.

Mention this editorial to Evans, and he’ll get animated. He’ll sarcastically shout, “We have our doubts! Dallas is a business city, not a literary city! We doubt it!” Evans has that editorial tacked to a board above his desk at work so that it can inspire him to greater heights.

I learned about this editorial and its place in Evans’ life when I interviewed him for a Q&A in the May issue of D Magazine, which isn’t yet online. The occasion of the Q&A was Evans’ receiving a knighthood from the French government. You, of course, know it as the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. There may or may not be a party at the Wild Detectives on May 17. Stay tuned, mon ami.