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When the mysterious “Project X” appeared on a Dallas City Council committee agenda in late March, we (along with a lot of other people) began guessing about who it involved. Council members were tight-lipped because the discussion involved attorneys and was held in closed session.

Maybe the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention and the Council Economic Development Committee was discussing strategies to keep the Mavs in town past their 2030 lease end with American Airlines Center.

Or maybe Mayor Eric Johnson’s interest in the negotiations around the Kansas City Chiefs’ stadium in Kansas City was a Dallas Texans shaped clue. 

And then the city announced that the Dallas Wings would move from Arlington to Dallas, where they will begin playing at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Memorial Arena after the 2025 season. That was surely Project X, right?

No. No it was not. The Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention had another meeting about Project X last week. We confirmed then that Project X was not Wings-related. We entertained a few other potential theories — another MLS franchise, or maybe cricket.

But maybe our long local speculation is finally at an end. The Council is set to vote on a deal that would allow a new professional sports team to use the Cotton Bowl for its season, with the city providing an annual subsidy “not to exceed $296,000 per year” for the next two years to Fair Park First and operators Oak View Group for expenses related to accommodating the new team.

The resolution the Council will vote on doesn’t name the team, but the Dallas Morning News floated the idea that it was the Dallas franchise for a new women’s pro-soccer league—the USL Super League. Nobody would comment on the record, and when we asked the PR firm associated with the as-yet unnamed Dallas club if this was Project X and if the team would be calling the Cotton Bowl home, but they also could not confirm that Project X and the Dallas USL Super League team were one and the same.

“It’s my understanding that Project X has been used historically to refer to different projects through the years,” said Angela Lang with Tony Fay PR.

Here’s what we do know:

I am a history professor at the University of Texas at Dallas. At 4:03 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1, I was arrested along with 20 other faculty, students, alumni, and community members.

Fifteen minutes earlier, university administrators released a statement assuring the protection of peaceful student protest and freedom of speech. Along with this assurance came an immediate order to disperse a student-created “Gaza Liberation” encampment calling for the university to divest from five weapons companies responsible for the systematic killing of Palestinian people. As a historian, I teach my students about the importance of citing sources with clarity and specificity, so I noticed that the order did not reference any specific campus policies. Still, I attempted to comply.

A ring of students locked arms and sat calmly at the center of the encampment. A colleague and I stood silently well outside the encampment but between the students and the army of riot-gear-clad state troopers, who were flanked by officers from at least four other law enforcement agencies. They massed in front of what appeared to be a tank. Behind us, another professor implored the advancing officers that force was unnecessary. I had no illusion that an out-of-shape, middle-aged professor could actually offer physical protection for my students, but I believe in peaceful protest. This was my attempt to demonstrate disapproval of an extreme and unnecessary show of force. For this, I was arrested with 20 others. We face up to six months in jail on charges of criminal trespassing at the university where we study, teach, and learn.

Women’s Soccer Coming to Cotton Bowl? We’ve been speculating what Project X is, the mysterious item that keeps showing up on the agenda for the Ad Hoc Committee on Professional Sports Recruitment and Retention. Looks like we’ve got our answer: a team in the new women’s USL Super League. The full Council is scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to spend $300,000 per season to bring an unnamed team to the Cotton Bowl for 16 home games, and the as yet unnamed local team will hold an event at Klyde Warren Park Thursday to reveal itself. Everton Bailey Jr. got a bunch of “no comment”s from all involved, but he seems to have solved the mystery.

Dallas Has Low Unemployment. Ever heard of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity? It analyzes “true unemployment,” which differs from the official rate of unemployment in ways that are important but which I will not go into here because it’s early and I’m only halfway awake. In any case, Axios lets us know that Dallas is among the metro areas with the lowest true unemployment.

Sports Sophie’s Choice Tonight. the Mavs and Stars both play tonight at 8:30. Remember when I asked the trenchant question: “Which game gets the sound in the bar?” Hope you got it figured out.

Bond Package Overwhelmingly Approved. All propositions got at least 70 percent of the vote, even with vocal pushback on two of them from a council member and one from an activist group.

Stars and Mavs Advance. Thanks to goals from Wyatt Johnston in the first and Radek Faksa in the third, the Stars took down the defending Stanley Cup champs in Game 7. If I am reading this correctly, the Stars face off against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Tuesday, the same night the Mavs begin their second round series in Oklahoma City, after they defeated the Clippers on Friday night. We will get you set up for all of that on StrongSide.

Fair Park First Reverses Decision; CEO Brian Luallen Now on Paid Leave. The nonprofit’s board had a special meeting on Sunday and changed course. Instead of going their separate ways, as a result of the meeting Luallen is now on a 45-day paid leave of absence while he undergoes a performance evaluation. Alyssa Arnold, Fair Park First’s chief impact officer, is acting CEO. None of this makes the goings on over there any less curious.

Michael Irvin Out at NFL Network. He’d been there since 2009. I believe we can find a desk for the Playmaker at D HQ.

Editor’s Note: The story below was written after midnight on May 5, when the only available election data for Collin County was not complete. The story below has been updated to reflect that 1,882 voters in Collin cast a ballot for propositions C and H . Prop C received 44 percent support and Prop H received 37 percent, which meant Collin voters did not approve each proposition.

It was a very late night (or an early morning) for bleary-eyed Dallas poll watchers Saturday. By 10 p.m., less than 4 percent of the city’s vote centers had reported returns. 

But it almost didn’t matter. The main event—10 bond propositions totaling $1.25 billion—had such a commanding lead after early voting that bond proponents were already claiming victory well before the 10 p.m. newscasts started.

By midnight, every bond proposition had at least 70 percent of the vote among city voters within Dallas County. Some had upwards of 80 percent. Dallas voters living in Denton and Collin counties approved most propositions, but voted against storm drainage (C) and housing infrastructure (H). They also weren’t as bullish on propositions that addressed arts and cultural facilities.

On May 1, 2024, at 2:35 p.m., I posted this blog about an open records request I had filed with the city and Dallas Police Department back on November 18, 2022.

On May 2, 2024, at 4:06 p.m., the timing absolutely coincidental, I am sure, I received this message from the DPD open records unit:

“The Dallas Police Department has reviewed its files and has located responsive records to your request. Your payment for your open records request has been received and the documents are ready for release.”

Along with that, I got a 429-page PDF that I am starting to make my way through this morning. So, while I am still very much interested in the license plate-reading cameras, especially after reading this thread from one Eric Fiedler of Orlando, the open records portion of the matter is closed, for now.

Saturday is the last opportunity for Dallas voters to weigh in on the 10 propositions that comprise the $1.25 billion bond package. Very few have taken advantage of this opportunity.

According to Dallas County Elections, the city has 666,742 voters who are eligible to vote in tomorrow’s election. Early voting started on April 22 and ended Tuesday. Of those registered voters, 18,973 have voted—2.84 percent. 

Depending on where you live, your ballot may present three Dallas Central Appraisal Board seats and Dallas ISD and Dallas College board seats. But the big one is the bond.

Dallas’ May ballot presents 10 bond propositions worth $1.25 billion for streets, flood control, libraries, parks, and more. Potholes, the lack of nearby parks, the new library a neighborhood wishes it had, and even whether your road floods during storms are just some of the things that this election could impact. 

Read our guide to the bond for more details on each proposition. (After you do so, consider taking our brief poll.)

Fair Park First CEO Is Out. We don’t know whether Brian Luallen was forced out or resigned on his own, but the nonprofit responsible for managing fundraising and operations at Fair Park is now without a leader. We broke the story two weeks ago that Luallen had advocated for an audit of the managing partner’s finances, basically alleging that fundraising dollars had been used inappropriately. Watch this one closely.

Zoning Proposal Punts Industry from Floral Farms. Floral Farms is the southern Dallas neighborhood that once held Shingle Mountain, and they’ve been fighting for their community ever since. The City Plan Commission this week approved a zoning change that would eliminate heavy industry but still allow some light industrial uses. The neighborhood would like to see all industry pushed out.

Opal Lee Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom. The 97-year-old Fort Worth lifer is one of 19 recipients of the award this year, following her work to make Juneteenth a national holiday. This is the highest civilian honor, and Lee, who has spent her life advocating for racial justice and the recognition of our country’s history, couldn’t be more worthy.

Mavs, Stars Have Big Games Tonight. The Mavericks tip off at 8:30 p.m. The Stars hit the ice at 9 p.m. I don’t have links for you, just hope. Both are up 3-2 and can close their series out.

A little before 11 a.m. Wednesday, Ben Wright sat in an Academy camping chair on top of a blue tarp and read. A couple dozen students surrounded the history professor inside the Liberated Zone, known most days as Chess Plaza, at the University of Texas at Dallas. Wright’s speciality is abolition studies, and the Liberated Zone is what the protesters named their short-lived encampment at the intersection of two main campus thoroughfares. Wright led a read-in with students who, like others across the country, had gathered to demand their university divest any assets from companies that profit off the war in Gaza.

“We’re reading an article about the destruction of universities in Gaza,” Wright said.

Six hours later, Wright was arrested with at least 18 others, mostly students, as a throng of law enforcement officers from five different agencies, including an Allen PD SWAT team, dismantled and disposed of barricades and tents that made up the Liberated Zone. Three history professors were among the arrestees who were held overnight at the Collin County Jail. Each was charged with criminal trespassing. Wright could not be reached for comment on Thursday morning because he was still in custody waiting to see a judge.

The protesters who filled the encampment at UT Dallas did not commit an act of violence, express any hate speech, or destroy property. The group of students, faculty, and community members chose to deliberately occupy a public space on a public university campus as many social movements have done throughout American history, an action deemed a step too far in the eyes of the university and authorities.

Big Sports Night. Last night was a big sports night for Dallas, and both the Stars and the Mavericks took the lead in their respective series. This, of course, means Friday night will also be a big sports night: the Stars will face the Knights at 9 p.m. in Las Vegas, and the Mavericks will face the Clippers at 8:30 p.m. at home. StrongSide will have more on both shortly.

Good Chance of Yuck. If you are like me, you woke around 2 a.m. when a giant bolt of lightning lit up the sky right above your house, and the thunder that followed rattled your house. Expect more rain and storms for the rest of the week and through Monday.

Mansfield Gets a Pair of Earthquakes. Police say they fielded several calls about two quakes that shook the Mansfield area Wednesday afternoon. The U.S. Geological Survey says they were 3.0 and 3.2 on the Richter scale. There were no reports of injuries or damages.

Fosters Needed. Dallas Animal Services is at 143 percent capacity after 112 dogs were surrendered last Saturday alone. Fosters are needed for orphaned kittens and dogs 40 pounds and larger—there are currently 428 dogs sharing 300 kennels.

Dallas Loses Noltemy to LA. Dallas Symphony president and CEO Kim Noltemy will leave to head up the Los Angeles Philharmonic in June. She’s been in her current post since 2018 and is regarded as one of the best arts administrators in the city.