Dispatches from Dallas, January 3 edition

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 the tail end of 2024 and looks forward into 2025. In addition to the big Kay Granger story that wasn’t at all what you initially heard, there are: updates on bills filed in the Legislature; the Texas convicts whose sentences were commuted by President Biden; the Dallas City Manager search (sigh); yet another death at the Tarrant County Jail; the Dallas County Juvenile Board picks a a new leader in secret; churches and the politics of building new facilities in Fort Worth and Fairview; and local star St. Vincent played my neighborhood taqueria and I missed it! And more.

This week’s post was brought to you by more of NPR Music’s 124 Best Songs of 2024. I realize at my age, I’m not hip to what the kids like, but there’s sure a lot of music I’ve never heard. And it’s not just the move from guitar rock to hip-hop and rap; it’s also the move to foreign-language music, particularly, but not just, Spanish. I have a lot to investigate in 2025.

Let’s start with the biggest story of the last two weeks: the kerfuffle about Kay Granger, who ended her term as a Congresswoman with the end of the year. Our host hit the high points, but of course it’s gotten a lot more coverage in the Metroplex. The gist is Granger, who now suffers from early-stage dementia, stopped voting in late July (note that Congress has been in recess most of the fall to campaign for the November election) and has moved into a ritzy senior residence in Fort Worth, which the Express incorrectly alleged was a dementia care unit. Granger had already withdrawn from the primary before it took place in March–you may remember the last-minute entry and the reshuffle of several local primaries as folks dropped one to move to a new one that was suddenly open–and resigned from the Appropriations Committee, but she was still able to make it to DC as late as November, when she was honored for her work in Congress. See the Star-Telegram; the Dallas Morning News; Axios; the Fort Worth Report; and the Texas Tribune. Some of these were linked in our host’s post; I add them here for completeness.

All of the early stories spring from the Dallas Express, which, as our host notes, has been covered by the Texas Observer here. More recently, we’ve looked at this article about the Express and its owner, Monty Bennett, who’s behind Props S, T, U, the three really terrible charter amendments on the city ballot here in Dallas. (S and U passed; T failed.) My initial speculations on why the Express was going after Granger were all wrong, but I did find out while chasing the tail of this issue that Chris Putnam, the editor of the Dallas Express (mentioned in this D Magazine post about the HERO campaign because I won’t link to the Dallas Express on principle) ran against Granger in the 2020 Republican primary as documented on Ballotpedia (scroll down). Given the tendency of the Express to gin up trouble for its perceived enemies, I’m not surprised to see a potential grudge in the mix.

There’s been local pushback in Fort Worth on the story. One of Fort Worth’s city council members wrote a valedictory farewell for Granger. There’s also a piece on her impact on the city over her decades in Congress. And her successor, who is being sworn in on January 3, so probably as you read this post, also, unsurprisingly, had hugely complimentary things to say. And, as this recent CBS story notes, because she was still officially in Congress, her office could continue to help constituents. But the real story here is, as the Dallas Observer notes, a lot of our Texas representatives are OLD, and the same is true nationwide. And this is on both sides of the aisle: Lloyd Doggett, who was my representative my last few years in Austin, is only a few months younger than Donald Trump and I’ve wondered whether he was going to leave Congress by retiring or by being carried out. Obviously it’s too late to consider this for 2024, but it’s something people ought to consider for the next election cycle. Doggett and Trump are at the upper end of the Boomers and Granger is either at the tippy top of the Boomers or the very bottom of the Silent Generation; folks in that age group need to retire. I personally think they’re going to be pushed out by millennials and not my generation (X) for demographic reasons. I also think it’s going to take a while to happen if the kids do it at all, but I look forward to them coming in and hopefully bringing some fresh perspectives.

In other news:

• The DMN’s political reporter Gromer Jeffers makes his predictions about the political dramas of 2025.
• They’re still arresting people for January 6 crimes, including this man in Colleyville; it’s probably unfortunately moot because Trump is probably going to pardon a lot of the insurrectionists.
• President Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 convicts who were on federal Death Row. The DMN and the Star-Telegram have the details on the Texas and the local criminals whose sentences were reduced. In tangentially related news, I learned that Texas is one of four states that carry out three-quarters of executions and that there were fewer than thirty executions in 2024. As someone who remembers the 90s, when we saw a lot more executions annually, I thought this was good news.
• Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas), one of those millennials who replaced a Congressional elder and is doing good work there, is pushing the state of Texas to report on maternal deaths for 2022 and 2023. The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee is skipping reviewing those years and it has nothing to do with the fact that abortion restrictions came into effect in 2021 and a near-total ban hit in 2022, honest, officer. Good for her and the other representatives who signed on to this letter.
• The DMN selected their Texan of the Year and this year there are two: Texas House Reps Jeff Leach and Joe Moody for their bipartisan work on criminal justice, which goes beyond the Roberson case that we know so much about. This is a good call because Leach and Moody have been doing great work, but I notice that it’s bipartisanship, as always, that gets kudos from the Dallas establishment. Also, in case you’re wondering, here’s the latest on the Roberson case: it’s all up to the courts.
• Let’s look at some quick headlines about the upcoming Lege session:
  • KERA: DART wants cities to reconsider funding cuts in the Texas Legislature. Either the burbs get some of their money back from Dallas Area Rapid Transit or they’re going to get the Lege to make DART give it back.
  • Fort Worth Report: North Texas leaders seek funds to expand, improve transportation infrastructure. This is about the Regional Transportation Council, which serves 16 counties, so a lot bigger than DART and also about the rail options.
  • WFAA: Fort Worth mayor says city must prepare for reality of school vouchers. Also has some details about the city’s priorities.
  • Fort Worth Report: Here’s what Arlington ISD wants the Texas Legislature to prioritize in 2025. Too long; didn’t read? More money and no vouchers.
  • Dallas Observer: 3 Texas Legislature Bills for 2025 That Make Austin (Really) Weird. Local connection: Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) wants a strategic bitcoin reserve.
  • Fort Worth Report: Taylor Sheridan asked Texas legislators to support film incentives. Here’s what could happen.
  • North Texas lawmakers lead push to require display of Ten Commandments in public schools. The culprits are Rep. Mike Olcott (HD-60) and Sen. Phil King (R-Weatherford). This is also a Dan Patrick priority.
• Moving on to the City of Dallas, let’s talk about the most recent developments in the disastrous City Manager search. Before Christmas, one semifinalist dropped out and another re-upped his contract where he was, and the DMN reported a third candidate had dropped out out as well. We now have a new three-person list: interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert; Mario Lara, assistant city manager of Sacramento, California; and William Johnson, Fort Worth Assistant City Manager. At least the two candidates from the Metroplex have an idea of what trying to cooperate with the mayor and city council with the constraints of the HERO propositions will be like. The DMN also has some editorial opinions about the whole thing: Dallas City Council meltdown over city manager search an embarrassment. Hard agree.
• The Star-Telegram has an analysis piece on how Mercy Culture Church got its anti-trafficking shelter despite opposition by its neighbors on the second try. The gist of it was bringing Rep. Nate Schatzline, who’s a pastor at Mercy Culture, into the fight more directly and threatening to sue the city if they blocked the shelter. The DMN also has a story on what comes next now that the shelter has been approved. A couple of things to note: Mercy Culture, as the DMN mentions, is politically active, openly endorses political candidates, and the pastor has called Democratic policies demonic. Also, while I know QAnon is no longer as big as it used to be, human trafficking is a QAnon touchstone. That tells you what you need to know about Mercy Culture and its shelter.
• Meanwhile, in Fairview, local residents aren’t having any of the compromise the city made with the LDS church over its proposed temple. They did a Christmas Carol fundraiser in hopes of financing the city in case the LDS church decides to sue over a future denial.
• Frisco ISD lost on all four of the bond issues in the November election. They have a survey out so residents can tell them why. It closes on January 5. If you’re a Frisco voter, check it out here.
• The scandal-plagued, under-investigation Dallas County Juvenile Board picked a new leader after its former director resigned in July. There was no public vote and a public records request for the names and resumes of the candidates was initially denied by the board. The board is expected to confirm the offer at the end of January. The winner, if you will, is H. Lynn Hadnot, director of Juvenile Services for Collin County. I wish him well; he’s got a mess to clean up and this is not an auspicious start to his work.
• There has been one more death in the Tarrant County Jail, making 70 since Sherriff Bill Waybourn took office in 2017. This time it was a 31-year-old who was apparently detoxing in the jail. The Star-Telegram and the DMN have the details.
• You may remember that several members of the Tarrant County Appraisal Board were elected by the public in the November election. The county’s taxing entities have now voted for the appointed members of the board and the Star-Telegram has the results. Of the four appointed members, two, including the chair, lost, and two were reelected. A fifth member, Wendy Burgess, who serves in her capacity as county tax assessor-collector, will also return next year.
• Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Charles Brooks retired this year after twenty years in public service. The Star-Telegram has this tribute to his work by one of his mentees.
• The DMN an op-ed by the former District Attorney of Cameron County on the Daystar Network case which involve the son of the founder of the Christian TV network and his now-remarried mother squabbling over his job and his daughter’s allegation that she was sexually abused by a family member. As the opinion writer suggests, we need to get both the child’s parents and the unnamed suspect under oath.
• Dallas PD spent more than $25,000 on personnel, vehicle, and helicopter costs to police a viral Christmas light display at a home in Preston Hollow, a wealthy Dallas neighborhood. This is in on top of the cost of off-duty police the neighbors hired to direct traffic. City Council is going to figure out how to balance people’s enjoyment of lights with the rights of neighbors and, of course, police expenditures.
• The Container Store has filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I got the news when they emailed customers to tell us we could continue to order with confidence.
• In good news, Dallas nonprofit Bonton Farms broke ground on an affordable housing development and a resource center and cut the ribbon on a wellness center in South Dallas. Rep. Jasmine Crockett was also there to present a $600,000 grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• D Magazine has a lovely remembrance of Jimmy Carter’s work in Oak Cliff for Habitat for Humanity. In 2014, a team including the Carters built 30 houses and renovated another 20.
• The Dallas Observer has four local Bum Steer moments in addition to Texas Monthly’s Bum Steer for Jerry Jones: the Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight; the embarrassing City Manager search; Charlotte (Jerry’s daughter) Jones’ performance in the Netflix documentary about the Cowboy cheerleaders; and our north Texas public universities, specifically UT Dallas’ crackdown on pro-Palestinian protestors and the corpse-selling debacle at the University of Texas Health Science Center, to which Dallas County was giving its unclaimed corpses.
• Viral social media food critic Keith Lee is moving to Dallas. I don’t follow him but I’ll be interested to see which places he spotlights.
• The Dallas International Film Festival is officially an Oscar-qualifying festival for short films. This is a big deal. It recognizes the importance of the DFW market and boosts the potential of Texas filmmakers, since winners for the short-form Oscars can use it to jump into feature films.
• Last, but not least, Dallas’ own St. Vincent played Resident Taqueria on the Saturday before Christmas. I was hanging out at home doing nothing and Resident is in walking distance! And her show at the Factory this spring is standing room only. Also, St. Vincent was one of the DMN’s finalists for Texan of the Year.

Related Posts:

• Gina Ortiz Jones joins the crowded field for San Antonio Mayor
• High speed rail II proposed in the Lege
• “Uber with guns”