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State Fair Photo of the Day, 10/2: With 19, 19, 1985.
Bowling for Soup drummer Gary Wiseman mugs for the camera while playing at the State Fair of Texas Tuesday night. More than 100 bands and artists will play on three different stages during the three weeks (or so) of the State Fair, and you can find out more when you check out our guide to the State Fair right here. Photographer Jason Janik will have more scenes from the fair on FrontBurner throughout its duration.
We’re on Luka Doncic injury watch.
Per the Mavericks:
Jason Kidd has since announced that Doncic will miss Monday’s season opener against Memphis. Not ideal!
But, also, not something worth freaking out over just yet:
We’ll circle back should anything change to make this more freak-out-worthy.
Programming Alert: Strong Towns comes to Oak Cliff tonight.
Charles Marohn is a Minnesota-based land use planner and civil engineer who split off on his own to start the nonprofit Strong Towns, which mixes journalism and advocacy around urban issues and municipal financial health. Way back in 2020, we published a story that first ran in Strong Towns about the town of Fate, near Rockwall, which realized that it wasn’t going to be able to pay its bills because it wasn’t generating enough tax revenue to keep up with its growing obligations. (Dallas is also figuring out how to navigate this predicament, albeit it at a far larger scale.)
Marohn has helped popularize the idea of the Growth Ponzi Scheme, that sprawl will only increase liabilities for public governments and quickly becomes unsustainable. Marohn has a new book out—co-written with Daniel Herriges—called Escaping the Housing Trap, which explores solutions to the nation’s growing affordability crisis. (This is a pretty interesting essay about the book and some of the discussions around it, if you’re curious.)
Anyway, Marohn will be speaking at Wax Space in Tyler Station tonight at 6 p.m., along with locals like Monte Anderson, the developer responsible for bringing the Belmont Hotel and Tyler Station back to life, among many other things; Ashley Brundage, the CEO of the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity; and Kevin Shepherd, the founder and CEO of the planning and engineering consultant firm Verdunity. Here’s more information about the event. 1300 S. Polk St.
The Interesting Thing About Proposition E
Developer Ruel Hamilton loses bid to toss bribery case, will be retried.
A jury convicted real estate developer Ruel Hamilton of bribing former Dallas City Council members Dwaine Caraway and the late Carolyn Davis in exchange for votes favorable to his subsidized low-income housing developments in 2021. His case then bounced around appellate courts until August 2022, when a three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit vacated his sentence. In February 2023, the Fifth Circuit ruled 9 to 7 that it wouldn’t rehear the case but didn’t bar the federal government from seeking a retrial. Hamilton appealed when the government refiled the case last November.
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the government could retry Hamilton, freeing the refiled case to move forward. Judge Cory T. Wilson wrote that Hamilton’s lawyers failed to prove that trying him again would be double jeopardy. His team argued that because the jury acquitted him on one of the charges, a new trial would relitigate facts that had already been decided.
In the three-judge panel’s opinion penned by Wilson, the court found that Hamilton “fails to meet his burden” to show the jury determined that his check to Caraway was not a bribe. “Therefore, the district court did not err in denying Hamilton’s double jeopardy motion.” Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote a concurring opinion, explaining that she felt the burden of proof was onerous and almost impossible since it’s difficult to know exactly what the jury was thinking. “But we are an inferior court with a strict rule of orderliness. And concur I must,” she wrote.
You can read the opinions here.
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Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones donate $100 million to new Children’s Health hospital.
The philanthropists dipped into the more than $2 billion they earned from selling Chief Oil and Gas in 2006 to match the nine-figure donation from Lincoln Property Co.’s late owner Mack Pogue and his wife Jean. Children’s Health and UT Southwestern on Tuesday broke ground on the 34 acre campus in the Southwestern Medical District, a project that is expected to take six years to complete and will include 32 stories spread across three towers. The Rees-Jones Foundation has previously donated more than $35 million to Children’s efforts. It’s one of many interesting things coming to the city’s medical district.
Dallas County may have approved Rowlett voting site without certificate of occupancy.
Bethany reported earlier this week about Rowlett Mayor Blake Margolis’ concern that the county’s choice for its sole voting site was too small and lacked adequate parking. Now, Dallas County Commissioners were told that the Freedom Place Church may not have a valid certificate of occupancy filed with the city, which could force elections officials to move the polling place. Margolis would prefer it be located at the Rowlett Community Centre, which often hosts Election Day.
Amber Alert issued for missing Hurst girl.
Zoe Rowbotham, 16, was last seen on Sunday night at the intersection of Bluebonnet and Arwine drives in Hurst. Police say she ran away from home and are concerned because of her diminished mental health capacity. She left on foot. She’s about 5-feet-6-inches and weighs 240 pounds.
Another week without rain the forecast.
The Texas coastline and some portions of the southern tip of the Hill Country are the only areas in the state with rain forecasted over the next week. Most of North Texas is in at least a moderate drought, with some areas further north facing more severe levels. Temperatures are expected to play the hits for the next two weeks: lows in the mid 60s in the morning, highs bumping into the high 80s and low 90s in the afternoons.
The Wait For a Great North Texas Championship Defense Continues
This political yard sign goes harder than yours.
Spotted by a reader in Oak Cliff over the weekend: a house that wasn’t satisfied with the statement made by a simple little paper sign. The reader informs us that the Christmas-like trees to the left are also decorated with Kamala ribbons.
Think you can do better? You’ve got 35 days to put together your Griswoldian political display.
State Fair Photo of the Day, 10/1: Walk With Purpose.
Sam Hendler is a 5-year-old with an ice cream in his hand and his eyes set on livestock. The Briscoe Carpenter Livestock Center is one of hundreds of attractions inside the enormous State Fair of Texas. To learn how to get that ice cream cone for free and plenty of other insider tips, check out our guide to the State Fair right here. Photographer Jason Janik will have more scenes from the fair on FrontBurner through its duration.
Democratic Texas lawmakers ask DOJ to monitor election.
Forty-eight elected Democrats in the state’s most populous counties have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to monitor Texas’ elections this year. The request asks the office to use its authority to watch for potential constitutional and civil rights violations during the early voting period from October 21 through November 1 and on November 5 in Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, and Travis counties.
“Recent actions by Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have increased the urgency for federal election monitors in our state,” the letter dated September 30 reads. “Studies have revealed that the State of Texas has repeatedly taken steps to restrict voter turnout. This is not coincidence and not based on factual claims of voter fraud.”
The letter mentions a recent voter roll purge by the state within the 90-day period preceding a federal election and Paxton’s investigation into alleged vote harvesting, which included raiding the homes of Democratic campaign workers in South Texas.
North Texas officials include congressmen Marc Veasey and Colin Allred; Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins; Tarrant County commissioners Roy Charles Brooks and Alisa Simmons; state Sens. Nathan Johnson and Royce West; state Reps. Rhetta Bowers, John Bryant, Julie Johnson, Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos, Toni Rose, Salman Bhojani, Ramon Romero Jr., and Chris Turner.Â
The Must-See Concerts Coming to Dallas-Fort Worth
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Y’all Street is coming.
The Texas Stock Exchange—which has named former Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher as an advisor and hired former Nasdaq and NYSE talent—plans to launch in Dallas next year. New CEO James Lee said, “Issuers are looking for deep, liquid markets and enhanced visibility around their names, but they also want a better public market experience through greater alignment and stability around listing standards and costs.” I think we can all agree on that.
Street parking prices go up.
Starting today, the minimum parking rate for all downtown Dallas meters (excepting Deep Ellum, where rates will increase in May) will be $1. For many of these meters, it’s the first increase in a decade.
Coppell ISD votes to close Pinkerton Elementary.
Facing a tight budget and declining enrollment, trustees voted last night to shutter the school, saving the district about $2.1 million. Emotions ran high, with parents protesting outside administration headquarters.
Let’s watch the final at-bat of Shin-Shoo Choo’s career.
We’re now four years removed from South Korea’s greatest baseball export concluding his time as a bright spot in some bleak Rangers seasons. (Choo played for Texas from 2014-2020. Total number of playoff appearances: two.)
Rather than retire after his contract expired at age 37, Choo returned to the KBO, Korea’s top professional league, where he proceeded to wreck shop for SSG Landers. Alas, time comes for everyone, and today, at the age of 42, it did for Choo. Here’s what his last at-bat looked like:
(Note the Ranger jersey being held up by a fan around the 2:15 mark.)
It goes without saying that everything about that baseball ambiance is cooler than our best stuff here in the States. And that this was a pretty damn good send-off for a two-decade-long career.
Amber Guyger is now eligible for parole.
Botham Jean was born on September 29, 1991. He died six years ago, on September 6, 2018, when Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, who lived in Jean’s apartment building in the Cedars, mistook his apartment for her home, walked into his home, and shot him. She told a jury that she believed he was an intruder. They convicted her of murder. Today, on what would have been his 33rd birthday, Guyger can learn whether she will soon walk out of the state prison in Gatesville.
If she does, it will mean she served half of her 10-year sentence. Her parole review is scheduled for today, and a petition on Change.org has roughly 1,150 signatures asking the state to deny her. The Dallas County District Attorney’s office has also provided a letter to the board protesting Guyger’s potential parole.
Jean’s sister, Allisa Charles-Findley, told the Dallas Morning News that should Guyger walk out of prison today, “it would be like losing Botham all over again.” Last year, on the fifth anniversary of his death, Charles-Findley talked to me about the pain her family is still experiencing and what she is doing about it. You can read it below.
Five Years After Botham Jean’s Death, His Family Is Still Processing Their Loss
State Fair Photo of the Day, 9/30: I Dip, You Dip, We Dip.
Fletcher’s employees dip their dogs to order. It’s never frozen. It’s emblematic of the adage: simple, but not easy, as late patriarch Skip Fletcher apparently liked to say. Get over to Fair Park and try for yourself. Here’s our guide to the fair, and make sure you come back tomorrow for another photo of the day from photographer Jason Janik.
Sounds like the Mavericks are going to turn Dereck Lively loose.
Mavs media day is underway, and Jason Kidd stormed out of the gate with what will probably be the most important news of the day: Dereck Lively, Dallas’ exceptional second-year center, will get his chance to crack the starting unit:
Yes, there’s coach-speak baked into that, but don’t get it twisted. Kidd knows, just like we at StrongSide know, that his team’s ceiling is highest with the 20-year-old as its main pivot and Daniel Gafford serving as perhaps the game’s best backup at the position. Good on him for not wasting any time putting that plan into action.
Sweet Pass Sculpture Park Will Soon Close in West Dallas
Jasmine Crockett’s viral moment makes SNL.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas) has attracted lots of attention for not pulling punches in Congress. On Sunday’s first episode of Saturday Night Live’s 50th season, she found herself on the screen, portrayed by cast member Ego Nwodim in a sketch.
The sketch riffs on the “Brat summer” phenomenon spawned from British pop singer Charli XCX’s Brat. (You’ll recall the singer famously tweeted that “kamala IS brat” after Kamala Harris announced her candidacy.) Charli XCX hosts a talk show in the sketch, and Crockett is a guest referred to as the “bad girl of C-SPAN” and is invited to offer her thoughts on several things in the same vein as her viral description of fellow representative Marjorie Taylor Green over the summer.
Crockett later posted on X.com that she had been traveling with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on the campaign trail for Harris. She didn’t know about the sketch until she landed, when her “phone was being blown up.” She also says that the show’s portrayal was so accurate that they even replicated an outfit she wore recently, “down to the brooch.”
Texas’ Michelin stars will be announced on November 11.
The Michelin Guide announced that it will host a live event that evening in Houston, at a restaurant to be determined (but, by custom, a restaurant that will receive Michelin recognition). Attendance is by invitation only for chefs and media. During the ceremony, Michelin will reveal its starred and recommended Texas restaurants.
As a reminder, you have until 5 p.m. today to enter our Michelin star prediction pool and win a $50 Burger House gift card.
SMU’s ACC Debut Was a Triumph Decades in the Making
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Cause of First Baptist fire still unknown.
Dallas Fire-Rescue officials say that the cause of a fire that destroyed the historic sanctuary at First Baptist Dallas is still “undetermined” and may remain so. The July fire was believed to have started in the building’s basement. Recently, the church announced plans to save as much of the exterior walls as possible as they rebuild.
Ken Paxton turns to state legislature.
After the Texas Supreme Court refused to overturn a decision that allowed the State Fair of Texas to keep its ban on firearms, Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed Friday to bring his fight to allow guns on land owned or leased by governmental entities. He says he will work with lawmakers in Austin to craft legislation on the matter.
Lawmakers meet with Robert Roberson
A bipartisan group of state legislators (including Kronda Thimesch, R-Lewisville, and Salman Bhojani, D-Euless) traveled to Livingston this weekend to meet with Robert Roberson, who is scheduled to be executed on October 17. The East Texas man was convicted in the death of his baby daughter, a ruling most experts agree now was based on junk science. You can read more about the case in our September issue and online here.
Hezly Rivera picks a college.
Sixteen-year-old Olympic gymnast Hezly Rivera of Plano said she has verbally committed to competing at LSU when it’s time for college. She became the youngest U.S. Olympian at the Paris games over the summer, where the team won gold. LSU brought home the NCAA gymnastics national championship in the spring.
Your weekend restaurant etiquette reminder.
I just heard a nightmare story from the leader of a very well-respected Dallas restaurant. Recently a party of customers visited that business and, among other rudenesses, the guests passed out and consumed marijuana gummies in full view of the staff.
Remember, proper etiquette is to either gobble the gummy before you walk in, or bring enough for the whole restaurant.
Rowlett voters aren’t thrilled with their new early voting location.
I’ve received several messages from readers concerned about Rowlett’s single early voting location for Dallas County, and it appears that the city’s mayor is also worried.
In the 2020 presidential election, voters cast their ballots at the Rowlett Community Centre. This year, the county lists Freedom Place Church, which is located on Main Street. Readers who reached out voiced the same concerns that Rowlett Mayor Blake Margolis voiced to CBS 11 today, that the church has fewer than a dozen parking spots and its location is not amenable for a large turnout. In the last presidential election, the Community Centre location had an average of 1,800 voters per day that totaled 22,000 after Election Day. Margolis says that the Community Centre is still available.
He worries that the new location will lead to voter suppression, “especially for elderly and vulnerable populations.” He questions whether the location also runs counter to state election laws regarding accessibility and the preference for public buildings whenever possible.
We’ve reached out to Dallas County elections officials for details. Early voting starts on October 21.
Source: CBS 11
Rangers follow the Stars in considering direct-to-consumer streaming model.
The Texas Rangers are officially pulling out of their partnership with the Diamond Sports Group to explore trading Bally Sports Southwest for a streamer it is developing in-house. The contract with Diamond ends after the season’s final game.
Sports Business Journal quoted Neil Leibman, the team’s chief operating officer, telling a panel recently that only 16 percent of the team’s five-state territory can watch the games. That’s about 2 million people; 7.6 million live in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area alone. “We have to fix that,” he said. The report quotes “sources” and is light on what the model might be, including whether the Rangers are considering providing the product for free, like the Dallas Stars are doing with their Victory+.
Evan Grant is also reporting the plan over at the Dallas Morning News, which he attributes to “a person with knowledge of the club’s negotiating position.” The Rangers could also allow the MLB to handle broadcasting and distribution, but the direct to consumer model has the upside of selling advertising and/or a subscription package in-house. Grant notes that the team could go back to negotiating with Diamond if this idea flames out.
There’s plenty to iron out; this is clearly not an official announcement. Nevertheless, it furthers my colleague Mike Piellucci’s argument that North Texas has become the nation’s test kitchen for how local professional teams broadcast their games. The Mavericks went the other direction, partnering with WFAA parent company Tegna to show all non-nationally televised matchups.
Source: Sports Business Journal
State Fair Photo of the Day: 9/27, the Final Touches.
The gates at the State Fair of Texas just opened, but the vendors and staff have been prepping for well over a week. Here, Tiffany Coleman begins the first of many final touches: blowing up balloons on the Midway. Like every year, photographer Jason Janik will be capturing scenes from Fair Park for the next three weeks. Heading out to Fair Park? Make sure you spend some time with our guide to the fair.
Monday is the last day to submit your Michelin star predictions for our contest.
Some time this fall—I’ve heard as soon as late October—Texas will get its first-ever Michelin Guide, complete with star ratings for the restaurants Michelin considers the best. To celebrate, D Magazine is hosting a Michelin prediction guessing game, with the winner receiving a $50 gift card to near-certain three-star recipient Burger House.
Because of the rumor that the Guide might drop in October, we set a deadline of 5 p.m. on September 30. That’s Monday. If you haven’t entered yet, spend your weekend thinking about your predictions and get them in by Monday night!
Will You Guess All of Dallas’ Michelin Stars in Our Reader Prediction Pool?
What’s a Win Worth? Against the Giants, Enough to Stave Off Mediocrity For Another Week
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Officially leave your guns at home before going to the State Fair.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has run out of options in his attempt to block the State Fair of Texas from banning guns. He appealed to the Texas Supreme Court after an appellate court upheld the decision of a district judge that the fair could legally enforce the rule despite holding the event on public property. The State Fair is a nonprofit and Fair Park is owned by the city, so Paxton had maintained that it must follow state law. But the high court seems to allege that the attorney general didn’t actually make an argument in his appeal: “This Court cannot possibly order the State Fair to allow handguns to be carried at this year’s Fair when the party seeking that relief does not even argue that Texas law obligates the Fair to do so.”
Hotelier Monty Bennett confirms he’s backing Dallas HERO charter amendments.
Bennett, the GOP donor and publisher of the online Dallas Express conservative publication, tells WFAA that he’s contributed office space and an undisclosed amount of cash to the charter amendment effort that would allow residents to sue the city if it doesn’t hire another 900 police officers. Previously, Bennett’s involvement has only been tied to his relationships with individuals involved in the effort, like former state Rep. Stefani Carter, who is on the board of his hospitality company.
Commissioner John Wiley Price suggests city build its own jail.
Price says the sheriff’s office is spending $16 million a month to run the jail, which is at or near its 7,100-prisoner capacity. The City Council this week OK’d paying the county $7.9 million a year to help cover its jail costs, which Price says is “short” of the amount it takes the county to deliver the city services. Dallas has no interest in buildings its own jail, and council members have asked to study whether the contribution is fair or not.
U.S. Senate Democrats are sending money to Texas.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced a “multimillion dollar” spend on television ads in U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s race against incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. The investment is a major shift from recent years in which national Democratic dollars has eschewed Texas for other states. The DSCC is sending $79 million to Texas for staff and ads and also pledged similar investments in Florida.
