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 updates around the May elections and moving them to November; Mayor Johnson turns up in DC; a lot of news about Fort Worth and Keller ISD; how low MMR vaccination rates are in DFW; the latest on the Sands casino/stadium project in Irving; former Gateway pastor Robert Morris is finally indicted for molesting a girl in Oklahoma in the 1980s; the history of deportation in Fort Worth; some news around the infamous Doncic trade; and what’s up with the Forest Theater in South Dallas.
This week’s post was brought to you by the music of Émilie Simon, the French pop singer.
Last week I found out I was one of the folks whose measles protection wasn’t up to snuff. Because I’m chronically ill with autoimmune problems, this wasn’t something we wanted to mess around with, especially as we have some travel in our near future. I have been revaccinated and so has my husband, but we were lucky: we got some of the last doses at our local pharmacy. There’s only been one measles case in the Metroplex so far and it appears to have been brought in from abroad, unrelated to the cases on the New Mexico border. That said, it’s only a matter of time until those cases spread, especially with the number of vaccine holdouts we have in the Metroplex. I spent a not-so-great few days recovering from the vaccine, but I’d rather do that than get measles, or worse, spread them to people I know and care about, or even strangers.
In the news recently:
- Here in Dallas we approved moving our city elections from May to November in the amendment election last fall. Now bills to make that happen have been filed by our local legislators. Thanks to Rafael Anchia in the House and Nathan Johnson in the Senate for working to make this happen.
- Speaking of May elections, Dallas County not only has a new pollbook vendor for the upcoming ballot, but our county commissioners will get an advance look. Fingers crossed it goes better than it did in November.
- The Dallas Observer tells us who the 20 highest-paid employees of the City of Dallas are.
- Meanwhile, our absentee mayor has been in Washington DC, testifying in front of the Senate about affordable housing. As Dallasites know, Mayor Johnson is all in favor of housing as long as it’s built by private parties, and as befits his new party allegiance, he’s all about slashing red tape now. More on his testimony from local real estate outlet Candy’s Dirt.
- Ever wondered who writes the editorials for the Dallas Morning News? Here’s a current list of the editorial board’s members.
- Today I learned that 75% of vehicular fatalities in Dallas are caused by drunk driving. Don’t drink and drive, friends, and watch out if you’re out when the bars close.
- Today I also learned that Dallas has the second-highest rate of new HIV cases in the nation and that other sexually transmitted infections are also on the rise. Practice safe sex, too, friends. And as far as I know, these two stories are not related.
- The Fort Worth City Council would like a public vote on the Keller ISD split. Related, the council is also moving forward on rezoning school-adjacent parcels of land to prevent inappropriate development in the face of opposition from the district. More on Keller ISD below.
- An update on a November 2024 story from the Star-Telegram: about one-third of elementary schools in the city of Fort Worth are at risk of a measles outbreak because students are vaccinated below the herd immunity rate. Check out the table: the numbers are pretty scary.
- An unusual story from Tarrant County: the Tarrant County GOP voted against vouchers!
- Another failure at the Tarrant County Jail, but at least this time nobody has died: the county has merely failed to file the correct reports with the state in the statutorily required 30 days. Sheriff Waybourn blames a clerical error and the report was properly filed a couple of days later. KERA also has the story. A late filing wouldn’t be a big deal if everything going on at the jail wasn’t handled in such a sloppy manner.
- WFAA has a list of the schools in North Texas with the lowest MMR vaccination rates, including public and private schools. The “winner” (loser) is the private school associated with Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, where less than 15% of the student body has taken the MMR vaccine. The pastors at the church, including Fort Worth state House rep Nate Schatzline, have been bragging on social media about how their students’ families are exercising freedom by ignoring public health recommendations. The Star-Telegram also has this story. I sure hope none of Mercy Culture’s students catch measles and die or have permanent disabilities.
- Let’s go back to Keller ISD, which is the subject of a lot of news lately. A district spokesperson are now saying that a meeting back in February on splitting the district was closed because of death threats, though law enforcement has no record of any threats being reported and public records requests to the district didn’t obtain any either. Meanwhile the district will have a shortfall next year estimated at $12.4 million. This story and one in the Star-Telegram also discuss an audit of district finances that was either conducted properly or in inappropriate secrecy, depending on your point of view. The district’s finances aren’t going to be helped by paying off the former superintendent, who will receive about $425,000 after resigning over the proposed split.
- Meanwhile, absences spiking at Dallas ISD schools in January, which may cost the district some state funds. There are no clear reasons for the absences, but two candidates are illness (RSV and flu) and the Trump administration’s change in “sensitive location” immigration policy, which means students and parents without documentation might be seized by immigration authorities at schools. No arrests have happened at Dallas schools so far.
- Local troublemaker Monty Bennett has had his fingers in Dallas education again. This time he put together a charter school nonprofit that most of the people who signed up for didn’t know he was behind. It’s another dirty little astroturf story covered by Steven Monacelli. Kudos to him for breaking it.
- UT Arlington has placed a faculty member on leave, claiming it has received complaints about his teaching, despite a good review in mid-February. Dr. Charlie Hermes has been arrested three times in the last year: at a pro-Palestine protest and in two incidents in court and in Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court protesting deaths in the county jail.
- In Plano, it looks like Council member Shelby Williams will resign to run for Place 4 on the Collin County Commissioners Court. Williams is the head of the Collin County GOP. Also on the agenda: it looks like Council will be replacing Paul Wageman, the Uber lobbyist, on the DART board with an interim member.
- The Adelson/Sands plan to bring a casino resort to Irving has hit some public opposition as thousands of people have signed a petition against rezoning an area owned by them for a casino if the state legalizes gambling. As our host notes, that’s a big if. This is the big casino and stadium for the Mavericks that the new ownership wants them to occupy after their current contract with the American Airlines Center expires. (I keep thinking the patch of land the Sands bought in 2023 is in Arlington but it’s actually in Irving.)
- Balch Springs, an inner ring suburb southeast of Dallas, has passed a non-disparagement social media policy for members of city boards and commissions. This week they removed a member of the Park and Recreation Advisory Board and the Flood and Drainage Committee for violating the policy with a negative Facebook post. I foresee a lawsuit.
- The proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir has run into more trouble. This time it’s regional water plans: the reservoir is in the future plans for Dallas’ region but not in the east Texas region where it would be located. KERA also has the story.
- Local Congressional Representative Keith Self had a rough time last week at a town hall in Wylie where he was heckled by constituents. Note that this coverage is in Newsweek, which is both national and now something of a right-wing publication, but the DMN doesn’t seem to have covered this protest and most of the news about Self this week is about his misgendering Rep. Sarah McBride and the flounce that followed when one of his colleagues called him on the carpet for his bigotry.
- The latest news about Robert Morris, formerly lead pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake until it came out that he’d been molesting a young girl in the 1980s, is that he has been indicted on five counts of lewd or indecent conduct with a child in Oklahoma, where those incidents happened. He may have turned himself in by the time you read this. There’s a lot of coverage, so take your pick of stories: the DMN, the Star-Telegram, the Texas Tribune, and the AP, because this story has hit national coverage. As the Tribune notes, Morris was a spiritual adviser to our current president.
- The Star-Telegram has dug into its archives to show the history of Fort Worth around deportation. The message: this is nothing new, as four headlines dated between 1911 and 1921 and the stories about Chinese, Mexican, and European immigrants (of the wrong sort, in this case Russian) show.
- Congressman Brandon Gill, (R-Flower Mound), has a brilliant idea: he wants to replace Ben Franklin on the $100 with the current White House resident. In case you forgot, Gill’s other claim to fame, and the one that got him his current job, is that he’s Dinesh D’Souza’s son-in-law.
- Are we over the Luka Doncic trade here in Dallas yet? No, we are not, and we’re not going to get over it. The Guardian has a report on the human element and the Dallas Observer is talking about how restaurants in Victory Park (near the American Airlines Center) have lost business on game nights. Of all the things I’ve read across local, national, and international outlets, though, my favorite comes from the Onion: Homesick Luka Doncic Gazes Longingly At Photo Of Barren Dallas Office Park.
- In lieu of zoo babies, of which we have none this week, I leave you with this Instagram sizzle reel for the renovation of the Forest Theater in South Dallas, which I have talked about quite a bit in these pages. I’m really looking forward to going down there for a show when it reopens.