This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.
This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, we have another grab bag including: Six Degrees of Clarence Thomas; election news; shenanigans in Fort Worth; law enforcement news, mostly about the jail, from Tarrant County; suburban school district news; the DMN’s opinions about all sorts of local news; the state of Dallas’ community pools; religious buildings in the burbs; new local music; the State Fair finalist foods (with photos); and more.
This week’s post was brought to you by the music of local heroine St Vincent.
Let’s jump right in:
- As you know, Six Degrees of Clarence Thomas, particularly the kind involving local billionaire Harlan Crow, is one of my favorite topics. It’s back in the news lately, with folks citing it in discussions about President Biden’s push for Supreme Court reform. Not to mention that there may be more Crow-paid Thomas flights and vacations that haven’t been officially disclosed yet.
- Our old un-friends True the Vote are scrutinizing the voter rolls in Denton County with an eye to removing 17,000 voters from the rolls. Denton County claims that their data is outdated, but the real meat of this article is in the discussion of the app the True the Vote folks are using, which I knew nothing about.
- Good luck with that: the DMN’s editorial board wants Donald Trump to quash birther rumors about Kamala Harris.
- In an expected move, the Las Vegas Sands folks, who now own most of the Dallas Mavericks, are hunting for support for a gambling push in the Lege in the 2025 session. It’s been obvious since Adelson bought the Mavericks that she was going to try to get a destination district between Dallas and Fort Worth anchored by the Mavericks and a casino; here’s her first attempt at laying groundwork for the casino.
- Meanwhile, Adelson’s co-owner and still the public face of Mavericks ownership, Mark Cuban, is leading a venture capitalist group supporting Kamala Harris. Adelson is, as you will recall, a Trump supporter, so they’re definitely playing both sides here.
- Jumping to more local politics, y’all certainly remember Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French refusing to certify the election of one of his precinct chairs, whom he said wanted to dissolve the Republican Party and merge it with the Democratic Party. The would-be chair filed suit back in April but the parties have had trouble finding a judge. The case has been transferred to Amarillo and meanwhile the motions have been flying; the most recent ruling on one of them prevents the GOP from appointing a chair for the precinct. This case is fascinating to me; even if the GOP is right on the merits of the freedom of association, when they control the electoral apparatus, is there no appeal for a Republican who has been thrown out of the party on patently ridiculous grounds?
- Noted as part of the changes in Tarrant County that may or may not be related to the ascendency of Tim O’Hare and his cronies: City Manager David Cooke is stepping down in February after 10 years. He’s the longest-serving city manager in Fort Worth history.
- Other law enforcement news from Fort Worth/Tarrant County:
- The Fort Worth City Council discussed a settlement with the former police chief who claims he was fired in 2019 for whistleblowing.
- Relatives of a Tarrant County jail inmate who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022 have filed a lawsuit claiming the jail is full or drugs and the jail fails to protect prisoners with mental health issues. Somewhere down the road I’m sure I’ll be reporting about how the county paid to settle this suit.
- One of the Democratic commissioners on the Commissioner’s Court requested a briefing on current operating procedures in the jail this week but the Sherriff didn’t send anyone to answer questions, which is apparently their new policy since the death of Anthony Johnson.
- As I was writing this post, the Fort Worth report came out with a piece on scrapped policy recommendations drafted for jail personnel in 2021. I’ll be keeping an eye on this part of the story.
- On the subject of the Johnson case, AG Ken Paxton is allowing the county to withhold the remaining footage of Johnson’s death. Part of the security video and some iPhone video leading up to Johnson’s death has already been released. The Texas Rangers are investigating and claim releasing the rest of the footage would interfere with their work.
- Tarrant County has authorized hiring outside counsel to defend the two jailers who have been sued over Johnson’s death to the tune of $30,000 each. Tarrant County tax dollars at work.
- Last, but not least, a federal court dismissed a suit over the death of a jail inmate in 2019 because it was filed after the statute of limitations, despite the jail’s determination that the deceased died of a sickle cell crisis even though the deceased did not have sickle cell disease.
- Here’s an interesting piece about the ethics of donations by developers with interests before the city council in Denton and the struggle to update the ethics code.
- The Star-Telegram wrote an editorial about how the plan to assess home values for tax purposes every two years means hot neighborhoods with significant price increases are paying too little. I didn’t expect to see an argument against a regressive tax in the Star-Telegram, but here we are.
- The DMN has also been feisty of late with its op-eds and editorials. Here’s a sampling:
- An editorial on how little the TCEQ is fining a plant in Joppa for continuing to operate without proper permits: $100 per month.
- An op-ed from the Chair of the City of Dallas Ethics Reform Task Force on why the charter amendment to create an independent office of inspector general should be on the November ballot.
- An op-ed by a local zoning activist against the ForwardDallas land use plan on the grounds that it’s rushed and we don’t know what’s in it. The opinion piece also alleges that the way the document was advanced to City Council violates the Texas Open Meetings Act.
- The editorial board would like to know what’s going on at Fair Park complete with some history and thoughts about how the current regime has gone wrong.
- Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins introduces the plan to fix the police and fire pension problem: money from the general fund.
- And some news from school districts in the greater Metroplex:
- Here’s some follow-up on the details of the contract between Fort Worth ISD and its superintendent. This is pretty clearly lining up for a lawsuit since the board didn’t renew her contract.
- Meanwhile the Star-Telegram explains what it means that FWISD is starting the 2024-2025 school year without strategic goals. It’s a medium deal but still a deal.
- Texas Monthly reports on the effort to get vouchers going in Princeton ISD, which is being led by Dallas GOP donor Monty Bennett. If you don’t already know his name, remember it, because he’s funding vouchers across the area and financed the GOP takeover of Princeton ISD. Meanwhile, as far as I can tell from the Texas Monthly article, the actual plan is to put the kids who are in the “Princeton ISD” schools in private schools across the state.
- Keller ISD is requiring parental notification permission for kids to change names and pronouns at school. The DMN editorial board unsurprisingly approves even thought it acknowledges that some parents may not be “up to the job” of helping kids with “deep personal challenges” like being trans. Parents and students in the district are not so thrilled and let the board know it at a meeting at the end of July.
- Keller ISD is also banning cell phones on campus.
- A federal civil lawsuit alleges that Waxahachie ISD disciplines Black and Latinos students disproportionately to their white peers.
- Southlake Carroll ISD, meanwhile, has decided not to work with the Department of Education to resolve civil rights complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation and race. This decision has been coming for a while and I’m going to be interested to see what the feds do about it.
- Also, Southlake Carroll has named a single finalist for its superintendent position: Granbury superintendent Jeremy Glenn. Those of you who have been following the troubles in Granbury ISD will recognize that Glenn is a great choice for Southlake Carroll.
- The ACLU has accused 51 districts and schools, including two charter schools in North Texas, of having dress codes that violate the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination against hair textures or protective hairstyles associated with race. One of the schools involved is merging with another charter school this fall and will be changing its dress code. The other school didn’t respond to media inquiries.
- The Dallas Observer has a story on the Evolv weapons detection system that McKinney ISD has spent about $1.27 million for. The Observer links to this paywalled Intercept investigation of Evolv, which explains some of the problems with the system: false alarms, delays, and doctored test results for the software. It’s not my tax dollars at work, but if it were, I’d be protesting.
- In education news for nominal adults, UT Dallas has decided how to punish the nine students arrested for pro-Palestine protests back in May. Students who graduated in May can’t get their degrees or transcripts until December and continuing students are subject to deferred suspension. The students are challenging the discipline with assistance from the National Lawyers’ Guild.
- The city of Dallas has an increasingly tight budget these days (see above about pension money coming from the general fund) and one of the options under consideration is closing Dallas’ community pools or cutting back to three days a week open. Most of the pools are south of I-30 but one of the mid-size facilities is about a mile and a half from my house and it’s constantly busy in the summer. And while there are private clubs and private pools in this part of town, we’re not far from neighborhoods without those amenities. Folks need pools and splash pads in the summer to keep cool; we need to find the money for them.
- Dallas County has had its first West Nile virus death of 2024.
- McKinney’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended against rezoning a parcel of land for the construction of a mosque last month following significant protest from residents. The Dallas Observer also reported on the story and then did a piece on the reader reaction, which was about what you’d expect given the Observer’s leanings.
- Meanwhile in Fairview, the town council unanimously denied a conditional-use permit for an LDS temple after a meeting in early June where 2000 supporters of the temple were met by hundreds of residents who were opposed. One of the specific points of conflict was the 173-foot spire, which would be the equivalent of a 16-story building in a residential neighborhood. The town was willing to allow a 68-foot spire.
- In good local news, a local law firm is starting a concert series at small independent venues. As a long-time lover of those small shows, and someone looking for small venues to check out, I’m excited about this venture.
- An employment lawyer with an expensive downtown office has turned 3500 square feet of it into an art gallery that I now really want to check out.
- The Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth, my favorite Metroplex museum, has Michelangelo’s first painting. Here’s the story of how they got it.
- Texas Monthly has a feature on the bathrooms at the Hotel Swexan in downtown Dallas. After reading this, I moved Stillwell’s, the steakhouse in the hotel, up my list of restaurants to try.
- Here’s an update on the renovations at the historic Forest Theater in South Dallas, another venue I’m excited to check out when it’s open again in 2026.
- Last but not least: check out Eater’s coverage (with photos) of the State Fair food finalists. Bring me the Hot Chick in a Pancake Poppers, the Drowning Taquitos, and the Texas Fried Burnt End Bombs, please.