This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.
This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, it’s a grab bag of national, state, and local news. From important matters like reactions to last weekend’s shooting and Texas and the Metroplex showing up at the RNC to the trivial like the arrival of the Michelin Guide, we have something for everybody.
This week’s post was brought to you by the 40 best songs of 2024, according to the New York Times. Their music playlists are better than their opinion writing and their presidential news coverage.
Let’s dive right into things:
- The biggest story this week is the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. A couple of Texas officials were present when it happened and as usual, a lot of Texans had to get their two cents in. Pick your poison: the Dallas Observer, the Dallas Morning News, or the Star-Telegram. There’s also an editorial from the Star-Telegram about what the middle, its presumed reader, should do: pray for our leaders and take back politics from the crazies. The DMN editorial board thinks we should lower the temperature by regulating social media. (Nowhere in either of these editorials is there any mention of regulating firearms, and only the barest mention of access to them.)
- Dallas House Representative Jasmine Crockett supported a bill to remove Secret Service protection from convicted felons (Trump) and now the usual suspects want her to resign over it. Obviously that’s not going to happen; this is just dragging her name through the mud for the mushy middle.
- Dallas mayor Eric Johnson gave a speech at the Republican National Convention this week, slamming Democrats and endorsing Trump. This is Johnson premiering the talk he’s been giving to our statewide outlets on prime-time TV for the folks who pay attention to that stuff. I consider it an audition for a future role in a Republican administration or a job outside Texas.
- Did you know that your local police department probably sent police officers to guard the RNC? Fort Worth sent the most cops of any city in Texas: 46 of the 105-member Texas delegation (of cops). Dallas sent 13. Fort Worth taxpayers are on the hook to the tune of just over $220,000 for salary, overtime, and travel for the officers.
- The Star-Telegram offers a reality check on the Ted Cruz line that Democrats are seeking the votes of undocumented immigrants in this election: that’s not happening.
- Speaking of illegal voting: Tarrant County’s election integrity group is investigating a provisional ballot voted by a would-be Mansfield ISD school board candidate. Reading the article, it sure sounds like a personal or political grudge between the candidate (Angel Hidalgo) and the guy who referred the matter to the Election Integrity Unit (Allen Turner). The EIU referred the case to the grand jury after the Sherriff’s office declined to prosecute on multiple grounds, including that Hidalgo’s provisional ballot was not counted.
- As expected, it went off with a whimper, not a bang: the True Texas anniversary celebration over the weekend drew protestors but there was no violence.
- Got something to say in Commissioner’s Court in Tarrant County? Better keep it under three minutes or you’ll be escorted out. Apparently one of the regular speakers got not only thrown out of the meeting earlier this month, but a trespass notice, so he can’t come back to the court for a year. A former Democratic State Rep got an indefinite trespass notice at the same time after telling O’Hare he didn’t respect him.
- Another inmate has died at the Tarrant County jail: a 68-year-old man with medical issues. He’d been in jail since February and back and forth to the hospital. His offense was harassing a police officer, presumably by spitting at the cop.
- Another awful jail death, this one currently in court, involves an inmate who gave birth to an infant in the jail in 2020. The birth was unattended, the infant wasn’t noticed until after it had stopped breathing, and child died 10 days later. Kicker: an obstetrician had told the medical director to either move the inmate to a medical facility or monitor her around the clock. Be careful clicking through to read this article; it’s worse than it sounds.
- DART’s funding situation is getting worse: Carrolton and Farmer’s Branch are also capping their contributions. When Farmer’s Branch, which you may remember from a decade or two ago as the suburb that got in trouble with the feds for trying to forbid landlords to rent to undocumented folks, discussed this in city council, one of the council members referred to DART riders as ‘trash’. He tried to walk it back, but I watched the video and it’s pretty clear what he meant.
- The Latter-Day Saints are trying to put up a temple in Fairview but the city won’t give the church variances beyond those allotted to existing structures, which are all smaller than the new LDS temple.
- Here in Dallas, creeping gentrification is coming for Garibaldi’s, a Latino/Hispanic bazaar in “East Dallas” that appears to be on its way out in favor of a new Home Depot. I say East Dallas in quotes because Garibaldi’s is just south of I-30 on the eastern side of Dallas, which technically makes it South Dallas. But East Dallas means Hispanic/Latino Dallas and South Dallas means Black Dallas, so the fact that the location is south of the traditional dividing line, I-30, isn’t as important.
- You may remember that there was an explosion at the Sandman Hotel in Fort Worth in January. Word is the city is finally getting ready to reopen part of the street in front of the hotel late next month.
- The Dallas Weekly has an explainer on the ForwardDallas land use plan. Honestly I need all of these I can get; I follow the news and I don’t entirely understand how the use plan interacts with zoning.
- Tarrant County has its first human case of West Nile this year.
- North Texas COVID cases are spiking according to local pharmacists. Here’s some news about the two newest variants. My grandmother (you read that right) died of influenza in 1923 and we’re not as far out from the initial round of illness as she was from the 1918 flu when she died. We have far better medical technology but COVID can still kill you. As always, friends, please mask up and take care of yourselves!
- As a chronic pain patient myself, I found this op-ed about chronic pain in the Star-Telegram fascinating. I know from personal experience that I do better with all of my long-term health problems when I have a doctor who seems to give a flying flip about me as a person; I’ve learned that when a doctor looks at me primarily as a bunch of test results they can tweak, it’s time to find a new one. That said, I’m wary of telling physicians to be empathetic because it drives revenue and cuts costs.
- What’s next for all the school districts challenging the Biden administration on Title IX? The Fort Worth Report has the goods. Notice Tim O’Hare’s name in this explainer.
- State Senator Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, thinks the state’s abortion laws may need further clarity in the 2025 legislative session. Also note the bit on HB 3058, which should allow women to receive abortion care for ectopic pregnancies, and how private bounty hunting to enforce anti-abortion laws means doctors are afraid to provide care in those cases as things stand.
- The Guardian has a series on the “election operators” in the 2024 US elections. Here they put the spotlight on Tim Dunn.
- As our host noted yesterday, the Michelin Guide is about to come to Texas and our restaurateurs are excited. I’ll skip the outlet-by-outlet news links and give you the highlights: the DMN tells you what you need to know; Eater and the DMN recommend some restaurants they think should be reviewed or get stars, and the Dallas Observer has some reasons not to get too caught up in the hype.
- The Dallas Library had a Bridgerton ball. Click through for dancing and pretty costumes.
- This week I learned about Yesterqueer, which documents queer history in Fort Worth.
- A number of athletes from the Metroplex are going to the Olympics this summer. Axios has the full list.
- Remember that Netflix series about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders? Apparently the fans aren’t happy with the Cheerleader Director. If you don’t want to watch a whole series but you want to be able to talk in the company Slack about it, Vox has you covered.
- Next month Babe Ruth’s ‘called shot’ jersey will be part of a big sports memorabilia auction here in Dallas. Save your pennies, or at least buy a lottery ticket: the jersey is valued at $30 million.
- Last but not least: Texas Monthly has A Postapocalyptic Guide to the 2024 State Fair’s Big Tex Choice Awards Semifinalists that’s worth reading even if you’re not entirely into the kind of food that doesn’t get into the Michelin guide.