This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.
This week in Dallas area news, we now know the candidates for various races in the May elections in the Metroplex; staffing and evidence issues in the Dallas Police Department; and news from Dallas Museums. Also, from the border by way of the BBC, a fascinating short film about a Texas town that is now part of Mexico.
- Know Your Book Banners: Families Engaged for Effective Education. This is from a new substack newsletter called Anger & Clarity that focuses on Texas educational issues. I’ve found it worthwhile, but this edition on the book banners, many of whom are in North Texas, was particularly interesting.
- North Texas municipal elections are coming on May 6 and the filing date for candidates has passed. The big news in Dallas is that Mayor Johnson will be running unopposed for his next term. Local coverage: Filing deadline: Here’s who’s running for Dallas mayor, City Council in 2023 [Archive link]: Meet Your Official Candidates in the May Municipal and School Board Elections from D Magazine and Who’s running for two Dallas ISD school board seats [Archive link]; Here are the 30 candidates running for Fort Worth City Council and Who’s running for Fort Worth-area school boards and TCC? from Fort Worth Report. Some of the ISD board names in the Fort Worth area may be familiar to folks who follow school-related news topics.
- Dallas police look to recruit, retain officers in new ways as ‘hiring crisis’ endures [Archive link]. The usual suspects are an issue: low pay and perceived lack of safety compared to the suburbs; unfunded pension liabilities; national issues with police careers; and of course the state mandates for police funding. There’s an interesting graph about attrition vs. intake along with the article. In addition to local recruitment, apparently DPD is recruiting in Puerto Rico to attract officers: Dallas Police Return to Puerto Rico for Recruitment (from July 2022).
- 5 things to know about Dallas police’s 52,000 untagged files and how it could impact cases [Archive link]. While we’re on the subject of DPD: here’s a big screwup where they’ve violated state law on evidence storage. If prosecutors don’t turn over evidence in cases to the defense because it’s been improperly stored, that means defendants can’t get a fair trial. And in some cases, it looks like evidence has been deleted; that evidence could not only prove a case for prosecutors, it could exonerate defendants. Plus it turns out that DPD hadn’t told the DA or the council: Dallas DA wasn’t aware of 52,000 improperly stored police files before The News’ report [Archive link].
- City Of Dallas Working On Plan To Legalize Card Rooms. The zoning issues are interesting to me, and reminiscent of some of the issues around keeping the Heights dry that I experienced living there 20 years ago. The rest of it sounds like standard “make it legal & regulate it vs criminalizing it with all the trouble crime brings” discussion that goes with sexually oriented businesses, alcohol in dry areas, and other “moral” issues in Texas.
- The border town that ‘forgot’ it was part of the US. A 10-minute subtitled video from the BBC about the town of Rio Rico, which was in the US until a change to the Rio Grande put it in Mexico. Featuring corporate malfeasance in the form of changing the flow of the river (hence, the border), immigration law, and Al Capone.
- Texas’ “anti-woke” policies cost taxpayers millions. Axios follows up on the state’s decision to force a boycott “woke” financial institutions that won’t invest in the energy business. Unsurprisingly, it’s costing Texans a lot of money to subsidize the political stances of Republican state officials instead of letting the free market do its thing.
- How the UNT Health Science Center Helps Artists and Performers Get Back on Stage. Much needed free medical care for musicians in Fort Worth. This is a proof of concept and they expect to fundraise to make it permanent.
- First woman appointed director of SMU’s Meadows Museum. The Meadows is a gem. If you visit Dallas and find yourself in the SMU area with a couple of hours to spare, you could do a lot worse than spending your time exploring its collection of Spanish art.
- Also in museum news: The Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition. “The DMA’s 1984 building by Edward Larrabee Barnes was designed for a different Dallas, a different time, and a different society. Conceived among warehouses and undeveloped city lots, the austere Modernist design in Indiana limestone forefronted elegance and quiet dignity. But in a different cultural context, with changing visitor expectations, with access to art now an issue of equity, diversity and inclusion, and with ambitious new skyscrapers and parks emerging around the Museum, Barnes’ capacious two-block campus can be read as unwelcoming, off-putting, and defensive. Visitors find the complex difficult to navigate, while inflexible and dated galleries have resulted in iconic artworks languishing in storage.” So apparently they’re going to replace it and this is the first stage of a contest to find an architect to plan the work.
- From the arts in the greater Houston area, featuring a particular interest of mine: Viols Blooming in Texas. There’s an early music consort for teens in Humble! For those of you in the Houston area, if you’re interested in listening to this kind of thing, check out Houston Early Music, which is mentioned in the article.