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 time to catch up on all the things that have been happening since I took the accidental month off here. (Some of it was planned holiday, some of it was accidental and medical, but we’re all OK here.) So let’s talk about the latest on: DEI in our cities and what it would cost them to keep it when the administration is against it; the State Fair and guns; what’s going on with the management of Fair Park; the changing of the guard at Dallas City Council after the May election; the latest from Dallas PD; news from the jails in Dallas and Tarrant counties; Tarrant GOP Chair Bo French and the foot he put in his mouth, or at least his Xitter account; Tarrant County Commissioner’s court issues, including redistricting; State Senator Kelly Hancock’s move to the Comptroller’s office and the people running to replace him (awful); various explainers and catch-ups including the Sands’ casino push, EPIC City and the Marvin Nichols Reservoir; the latest on the Dallas-Houston bullet train that’s not happening; Dr. Phil files for bankruptcy; and the longlist entries for the State Fair’s Big Tex Choice food contest. And more!
This week’s post was brought to you by the music of the Neave Trio, a piano trio whose most recent album caught my attention. I know very little about them but two of them are women, so they got the nod as part of my 2025 project for listening to women’s music. I enjoyed the two albums I listened to while writing this post very much.
Let’s dive in:
- Both Dallas and Fort Worth are weighing whether to ditch their DEI programs based on threats to withhold federal money. I think the decision is easy but I’m not the one who has to deal with a city budget.
- As noted by our host, Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against the State Fair’s gun ban was dismissed. Also in the news here in Dallas recently, the man who shot and injured three people at the Fair in 2023 was sentenced to twelve years after a plea bargain.
- The city of Dallas has finally given Fair Park First and the Oak View Group the heave-ho as managers of Fair Park. The story is also at WFAA. Fair Park First is moving to “conservancy mode” and plans to build a park in South Dallas for now but some city officials want to use them for fundraising anyway. Meanwhile, the Dallas Free Press has some unanswered questions about the long-term plan for Fair Park and nearby areas.
- The DMN notes the changing of the guard in City Council: Oak Cliff and parts of South Dallas got new council members after the May election to replace folks who were term-limited out.
- News from Dallas PD: New Chief Daniel Comeaux met with the police oversight board in late June but wasn’t allowed to answer policy questions. The big one is about cooperation with ICE, which is a subject that I’m sure I’ll come back to down the road. Also, City Council approved new entry level hiring standards to help get us to the 4000 police officers required by Prop U. The DMN notes that three years of work experience and no college requirement is modeled after Houston PD’s requirements. I’m not a huge fan of the credentialism involved in everybody needing a college degree for everything, but I also understand that police get less training than the stylist who cuts my hair got for her cosmetology license, so there is a question of standards here.
- I report a lot of negative stuff about the Tarrant County Jail so it’s only fair I note the negative stories about the Dallas County Jail. And this week’s stories are both pretty bad. First: the family of Spencer Swearnger, who died of water intoxication in 2023, are suing the county for a violation of his civil rights. Apparently this is the third such death in the jail since 2020. In case you’re not clear on what water intoxication means, Swearnger, who was mentally unstable and suicidal, drank enough toilet water from his cell toilet that he died. Unrelated, Dallas County is still having problems releasing inmates whose time has been served, resulting in inmates staying in jail for weeks longer than they should be. This problem is a knock-on result of the change in case management software in May 2023, which we’ve been talking about the whole time. Now former inmates are suing the county, which is more than reasonable. Dallas County needs to get its ducks in a row where the case management software is concerned.
- Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French has finally pissed off the wrong peoples. His crime? Posting a poll on Xitter about whether Muslims or Jews are the biggest threat to America. Now Lite Guv Dan Patrick and and other local Republican officials including Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker have called on him to resign. French is clearly going to fight it out, but Patrick gave a lot of Republicans cover to push French to quit. But, as the Dallas Observer notes, the GOP isn’t calling out the Islamophobia. And in related news, Fort Worth PD is investigating an obscene note taped to the door of the GOP HQ. In response to a xeet of French’s that suggested snipers would end anti-ICE protests, the culprit printed the xeet and wrote “Read the First Amendment, you fascist [expletive]”.
- As you may recall, the Chair of the Tarrant County Democratic Party quit recently. There’s a special election on July 7 to fill that post and the Star-Telegram has the details about the two candidates. I wish them and Tarrant County Democrats good luck.
- In other Tarrant County news, Commissioner’s Court is fighting about Tim O’Hare spiking a historical marker at the Rainbow Lounge, a queer historical site in Fort Worth. O’Hare claims it’s a technical problem with the application. Unsurprisingly, O’Hare’s foil, Commissioner Alisa Simmons, thinks he’s just mad because it’s queer history.
- Speaking of Commissioner Simmons, one target of the recent redistricting efforts in Tarrant County, the court voted along party lines to approve a $250K contract with a conservative law firm to fight the gerrymandering lawsuits against said redistricting.
- We thought there was going to be some moving and shaking going on in the Tarrant County statehouse delegation now that State Senator Kelly Hancock has taken the position of State Comptroller. The special election for his seat will be held with the November general election. The good news is that the odious Rep. Nate Schatzline of Mercy Culture Church has already pulled his hat from the ring. The bad news is it’s in favor of Leigh Wambsganss of Patriot Mobile, who has Dan Patrick’s endorsement. This already-outdated explainer mentions one Democratic candidate. I wish him luck because as much as I want Schatzline out of the statehouse, I want Wambsganss in it even less.
- Another week, another story about the string of deaths in the Tarrant County jail. This time a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the medical director of the jail. The family of Chasity Congious, who gave birth unsupervised in the jail in 2020 and who died along with her daughter soon afterwards, received $1.2 million in a lawsuit against Tarrant County. The follow-up lawsuit was dismissed after the medical director proved that the only notification he received about the matter was an email on a Sunday.
- The DMN has a background explainer about the Sands empire that wants to put a casino in North Texas. I had no idea the Sands folks currently have no casinos in the US. The political side of the story, including the Sands attempt to get local zoning approval and their lobbying in Austin, is all details interested parties will know, but it’s a good entry point for anyone just dipping into this topic. And of course we all know they own the majority stake in the Mavericks, if only because their GM keeps screwing things up (not included in this article).
- The BBC has a story about a young British woman who was shot to death in Prosper. No charges will be brought. I was reading about this story on Reddit, where some commenters suggested that the records were sealed because a minor shot the victim unintentionally. That’s tragic if it’s true and all the more reason to control access to guns. I wish the victim’s family peace.
- The DMN has the latest update on the Frisco track meet stabbing from earlier this year. Most recently, Karmelo Anthony was indicted on murder charge over the death of Austin Metcalf; this piece has the outline of the story as it’s happened, including some of the harassment of Anthony’s family.
- And some more news on EPIC City, the Plano mosque’s development on the edge of Collin County: First, the Department of Justice has ended its investigation of Epic City, which Senator John Cornyn called for back in May. Second, just because the Feds are done harassing EPIC City doesn’t mean the state is. Governor Abbott signed HB 4211, which requires business entities entering into a residential arrangement to disclose to anyone buying a piece of land that they are investing into the interest of the business rather than the property. Abbott has confirmed this law is aimed at EPIC City, but his real beef against them is clearly that they’re Muslim. Other state probes into EPIC City as described in the article are continuing.
- Water everywhere but not a drop for Dallas to drink: The Texas Water Development Board has officially declared a conflict between two regions over the Marvin Nichols Reservoir. The conflict will go to mandatory mediation that will be scheduled by mid-July.
- This is technically an East Texas story, but I feel like it’s connected to Collin County’s favorite, Ken Paxton, so I’m reporting it: State Senator Robert Nichols of Jacksonville, the senior Republican in the Senate, won’t run for re-election. He’s been voting his conscience instead of the party line for the last few years, most notably on the Paxton impeachment, so this is not a surprise.
- One more nail in the coffin of the bullet train between Dallas and Houston: Spanish media reports that the Spanish railway company Renfe has closed down its U.S. subsidiary. The subsidiary was supposed to be part of the coalition led by Texas Central. Read the whole thing for the details of how long and hard the wheels have been falling off this project.
- Department of “It couldn’t happen to a nicer”: Dr. Phil’s Fort Worth-based Merit Street Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is suing Trinity Broadcasting Network. Local coverage comes from the Star-Telegram and the DMN.
- The Star-Telegram Editorial Board has some thoughts about the $172K legal bill for the failed attempt to split the district earlier this year. Specifically, they don’t like that the details of the work are blacked out so nobody can read them, even though the time is billed in six-minute increments. They also take a shot at that quarter-million dollars Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court just allotted to defend their mid-decade redistricting.
- And the DMN Editorial Board condemned Attorney General Ken Paxton’s call for a new execution date for Robert Roberson, the defendant in a shaken baby case in 2003 where the conviction is based on now-discredited science and the judge’s impartiality has been questioned. You may remember the parliamentary maneuvers that kept Roberson out of the death chamber last October. This is the kind of case that demonstrates why we need to ditch the death penalty: Roberson deserves a new trial, but Paxton would rather execute him. If Roberson were sent to jail for life, at least we could continue the fight for his release.
- SMU broke with the Methodist Church in 2019, amending their articles of incorporation to remove the South Central Jurisdictional Conference. The church and the university have been going at it in court ever since. The most recent ruling comes from the Texas Supreme Court: the church can sue SMU for breach of contract. KERA also has the story.
- The DMN has a new executive editor: Colleen McCain Nelson, currently editor of the Sacramento Bee, and a former DMN journalist with a Pulitzer under her belt.
- I am neither a football person nor a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader person, but I knew they didn’t get paid nearly enough for the demands put on them, as in less than a fast food employee. So I was pleased to learn they got a big pay raise after the first season of the Netflix show.
- Local museum news: there was a break-in at the Perot, our local science museum. There was no damage to the exhibits. And the African American Museum of Dallas has a new CEO, Lisa Brown Ross. She’s taking over after the 50 years of service in that role by the museum’s founder, Harry Robinson Jr.
- Last but not least, while I have no cute critter pictures for you, I do have the State Fair Big Tex Choice semifinalists. The Dallas Observer and Eater Dallas have you covered. Sadly, there are no photos. I say yes to the Brisket and Brew Stuffed Pretzels and the Bacon Jam Cannoli and more for the rest of you to the Pop Rocks Margarita and the Coconut Quadruple.