This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.
This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, an explosion rocked downtown Fort Worth; the late Eddie Bernice Johnson was honored; Ken Paxton was swatted; there was assorted primary-related business; Dallas’ city charter and its upcoming bond proposal got closer to their deadlines; the DMN’s architecture critic had a few things to say about housing policy; a Dallas Zoo giraffe died; and more. This week’s post was brought to you by the music of the Supreme Beings of Leisure.
This week’s post will also be my last for a while, though I hope to be back on the beat sooner rather than later. I received a diagnosis of endometrial cancer in November, and next week I’ll have surgery to remove the cancer. I have a 70% chance of skating by without radiation or chemo following surgery, but obviously I won’t know when I’ll be up to writing until afterwards. When caught at this stage, endometrial cancer’s survival rate is 99% at 5 years, so I’m glad my doctors found it. As a public service, I’d like all of you to know that any post-menopausal bleeding is a sign to take yourself to the doctor immediately and get checked out, because the default assumption is that’s a sign of uterine cancer. The life you save may be your own or that of someone you love!
As you may have heard, since it got national coverage (Washington Post), there was an explosion in downtown Fort Worth on Monday. Nobody was killed but more than 20 people were injured, one critically. The Star-Telegram has the best coverage; the gist is the cause appears to be a natural gas leak in the basement restaurant of the Sandman Hotel. The hotel is in a historic building; the design and steel construction may have kept the building up despite the explosion. You can see from the photos in the last link that it’s a large twenty-story building. City authorities have closed streets in the area and the parade route for the Stock Show has been changed to keep participants away. The Star-Telegram also has an explainer about gas explosions in North Texas and how some of them are related to maintenance on the customer-owned line from the street.
While we were fortunate enough not to have an explosion, our own Dallas home had a leak that our inspectors didn’t catch when we moved in. A month after we took over and paid our first gas bill, we called to have it checked because it seemed high and found out there was a leak. We spent a very cold holiday after having our gas turned off at 5 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It took about ten days to get the line dismantled and replaced and the inspection to clear it so we could get our gas heating back on.
What bothers me personally as a gas customer is that our bill was ridiculous and Atmos could have spotted it, but they left it to us to figure it out. It’s one thing for Atmos to not be financially responsible for repairing gas lines on private property. But they’re the experts and they have a good idea of when a customer’s gas expenditures change. The gas lines in this part of Texas are mostly old and aging out; we learned this in 2018 after the big DMN investigation into Atmos mentioned in the Star-Telegram article about gas explosions. If they know their own lines need replacement, they ought to be proactively telling their customers to get the lines from the street checked.
Circling back to the hotel explosion, the lawsuits have already started, with the hotel, the management company, and Atmos as defendants.
The second big story this week has been the funeral and burial of local legend Eddie Bernice Johnson, who represented South Dallas in Congress for 30 years. She died on December 31, her wake was on Monday, her funeral was on Tuesday and she was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin on Wednesday.
One of the more distressing parts of the news about Johnson is how she died. The family plans to sue her medical provider for negligence, as described by the Texas Tribune, and I suggest you read the details with caution because they’re pretty rough. The gist of it is that she had spinal surgery, was left unattended in her own bodily wastes, her injuries became infected, and the infection killed her.
This week’s story is about Johnson’s achievements, though. She was honored by a variety of community and political leaders, including President Biden, who made his first trip to Dallas as President to attend the wake. Love Field, where Biden flew in on Monday, was the site of a pro-Palestinian rally that led to 13 arrests but didn’t keep Biden from attending the wake. You can read about EBJ’s career in the publication of your choice; my favorite piece is this D Magazine tribute with quotes from state, local, and national figures she mentored. She will be much missed.
In other news:
- You may not have heard this but Attorney General Ken Paxton’s McKinney house was swatted on New Year’s Day. No one was home. As noted in the article, while Paxton blamed the DMN and Dade Phelan for doxxing him around his impeachment trial, the information that was released only included his Austin address.
- The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal challenging Dallas’ bail system this week. KERA has a good explainer covering the ins and outs of the case and why it was declared moot. D Magazine also has the story.
- Gearing up for the primaries? The Dallas Observer has the hot races in North Texas laid out for you. My own state Senate primary, SD 16, is high on the list; I’m getting a ton of mail/email/texts about it already so you know it’s going to be a hard fight.
- Remember the trouble the Tarrant County GOP was having with their primary, which was going to cost them both arms and legs? They worked out a deal with the Secretary of State and the show will go on.
- With the upcoming primaries, it’s residential eligibility shenanigans time! Our host noted the state senate edition here in North Texas, but for completeness, here’s the DMN’s coverage. We also have a local politics edition the race for Tarrant County constable precinct 8. I don’t expect either of these cases to go anywhere, but I note them for completeness and in case I’m wrong.
- Also in election news, there was a debate for the election to fill the open seat in HD 2, which was vacated when Bryan Slaton was expelled from the House. The Texas Tribune has the details.
- Some AT&T customers in South Dallas lost service for almost two weeks due to copper thefts that damaged lines. AT&T claims that location has nothing to do with the time it took to repair. I’m just saying that if we lost internet for two weeks in Lake Highlands, heads would roll.
- Noting this one for the hater beat: Following social media protests, a Grapevine restaurant cancelled a drag show planned for New Year’s Eve. And thanks to Marc Veasey for calling out the haters.
- You may remember that the Dallas SPCA’s leader was forced out last year and was replaced by former City Council member Chris Luna. Luna wrote an op-ed for the DMN last week as part of his efforts to regain community confidence. It’s a good start.
- More on the Sands/Adelson/Cuban front: the Adelsons bought some of Cuban’s property near downtown. I’m not the only one eyeing the ongoing Adelson move into the Metroplex with a touch of suspicion. D Magazine wants to know When Will Miriam Adelson Buy the Dallas Morning News? which makes a surprisingly compelling argument for the good (for the Adelsons) that would come from such a purchase.
- There’s a second lawsuit against Mr Cooper over its recent security breach. This is interesting reading over the analysis of the claims and the likelihood of how the court will weigh them based on precedent. As affected customers, we did get information from them last week about freezing our credit and have done so.
- Also in cybersecurity news The City of Dallas found nearly 300 more people were affected by last years attack that had previously been disclosed. They’re being informed.
- It’s coming down to the wire on the deadline for proposed changes to the Dallas city charter, which are due January 19. The DMN has a rundown of some of the suggestions.
- Speaking of the folks who run Dallas, as our host noted, there’s a recall effort to get rid of our party-switching mayor here in Dallas. The DMN story reinforces my own feeling about this recall, which is that the Powers That Be aren’t happy with Mayor Johnson but it’s too much effort to kick him out when he’s term-limited out anyway. The recall petition is due back on March 5, and while I’d sign it, it’s going to take 103,595 signatures to even get the Council to consider it. My local Democratic group hasn’t mentioned the effort; I think it’s dead in the water unless someone with money and determination jumps behind it five minutes ago.
- This story about the council’s inability to get things done, specifically the extra meetings for the bond proposal that’s going on the ballot in May, is why the Powers That Be are mad at Johnson. Note that one of the meetings is a replacement for a meeting cancelled because the mayor is going to be at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
- A few weeks ago I wrote about Keller ISD’s empty board seat after a trustee stepped down during a board meeting. The Fort Worth Report has the story on her replacement, Heather Washington, appointed January 3. The seat will be up for election in May; Washington has not announced whether she’ll run for a full term.
- I don’t believe most questions are stupid, but I make a few exceptions. Here’s one answered by the Fort Worth Report: Does a Chinese company own all North Texas tollways? Apparently this is a rumor on Reddit, but the answer is no. Apparently CINTRA, the Spanish company that runs SH 130 in the Austin area, also runs some of the express lanes in our local area, but the toll roads in North Texas are owned by the North Texas Toll Authority.
- This fact check is on a story that runs past stupid straight to disingenuous: No, the FBI director did not say Hamas can walk right into the U.S. through the southern border contrary to the comments of a Republican congressman from Tennessee.
- Here’s an update on a subject of interest to our host: Kodiak Robotics is going to put driverless semis on I-45 between Dallas and Houston later this year. The next time we drive down we’ll be looking at the eighteen wheelers to see who, if anybody human, is driving.
- I love that the DMN has an architecture critic. But I really like a lot of what he has to say on other subjects. Here’s Mark Lamster on Why Dallas housing policy is absolutely BANANAs. Lamster does not pull his punches and his commentary is worth your time as well as right on the money.
- In sad news, Ferrell the giraffe was put down on December 31 at the Dallas Zoo. He was 15 years old and a fall exacerbated some existing injuries. In case you were wondering what happens to the remains of a zoo giraffe, here’s what happened to the remains of a giraffe who died at the zoo in 2007 and a piece about what’s expected to happen to Ferrell’s remains. Read those two stories with caution if you love critters.
- Today I learned about the Dallas City Archives in the basement of City Hall and the cool stuff it contains.
- This is an immigration story but it’s also a history story. It’s about Rio Vista Farm, which was recently designated a National Historic Landmark, and is written by the son of a bracero who came through the processing center for Mexican workers.
- Last but not least, here’s a story about the upcoming move of the Arlington Museum of Art. I visited the museum in December to see its exhibit of Posada prints. It was housed in a former department store. In March they’re reopening in their new digs in the Entertainment District with an exhibit of artifacts from Pompeii.