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Main News / Editorial
Published 09/02/2010 - 11:41 a.m. CST

One of the things that irritate voters most about politicians is that they often try to be on both sides of an issue. We’ve seen candidates and elected officials be for something, before they were against it; and vice-versa. Coincidentally, these alterations in their mindset seem to occur simultaneously with their election or reelection attempts. Case in point is the recent declaration by Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins that he has changed his mind about the use of capital punishment.
Published 09/02/2010 - 11:40 a.m. CST

In another example of some people being in office so long that they feel they can get away with anything, a Dallas congresswoman awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarship money to relatives, in violation of the rules. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, running for her tenth term, apparently decided that she didn’t like the rules set up by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), which provides the funds. The foundation is supported by private and corporate donations and provides $10,000 annually for each member of the Congressional Black Caucus to award in scholarships.
Published 08/26/2010 - 10:29 a.m. CST
    The recent episode in Lantana, in which 3 teenaged boys were captured on video, hanging out in the pool area at night, next to a couple of ice cream machines, culminating in one of them defecating and smearing the feces on a machine, is one of the most disgusting acts of vandalism you can imagine. We can all understand the childish mischief often exhibited by the young and restless, but, this revolting act has ramifications beyond mere prankish behavior.
Published 08/19/2010 - 11:23 a.m. CST
    Hundreds of area residents braved the sweltering heat last Sunday and flocked to a rally in Farmers Branch to protest the ongoing illegal immigration imbroglio. The city passed an ordinance to bar illegal immigrants from renting apartments in FB and recently voted to appeal a federal judge’s ruling striking down the ordinance. City Councilman David Koch welcomed the rally's organizers, Salt Lake City-based Americans Against Immigration Amnesty, with a proclamation from Mayor Tim O’Hare.
Published 08/12/2010 - 3:47 p.m. CST
    A woman who is about to take office as the Collin County District Clerk has been indicted by the District Attorney for engaging in organized criminal activity.
The indictment alleges that Patricia Crigger rewarded five supervisors in the clerk's office who campaigned for her with a trip to Oklahoma and falsified records to indicate they were on the job during the two-day trip. According to court documents, the trip is among more than 200 instances in a 45-page brief filed this week by the DA’s office in which Crigger and the others recorded that employees were working when they were not.
Published 08/12/2010 - 3:44 p.m. CST
    Fall 2010 marks the first semester engineering counts as a 4th year science graduation credit in Texas. Nearly 100 Texas middle and high school teachers will learn how to bring math and science to life in the classroom with high tech engineering curriculum that meets the new Texas Education Agency’s 4th year science requirement. The Infinity Project’s established engineering curricula allow students to choose engineering as a graduation credit to better prepare them for the rigors of college-level engineering.
Published 07/22/2010 - 12:58 p.m. CST
During a 5-day law enforcement surge that wrapped up last Saturday night, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National Gang Unit arrested 105 men and women during an operation targeting foreign-born gang members and their associates throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Other law enforcement agencies included, Dallas PD, Fort Worth PD, Arlington PD, Carrollton PD, Irving PD, Farmers Branch PD, the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, Dallas DA’s office and the Texas Dept. of Public Safety. Items seized in the arrests included firearms, U.S. currency, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and hydrocodone.
Published 07/22/2010 - 12:53 p.m. CST
    Texas has been declared as America’s Top State for Business, according to a CNBC study that rated the states based on 40 different measures of competitiveness. The Lone Star State became the number one when it comes to business climate in the nation. “This designation reinforces the fact that the Lone Star State is the best state in the nation to live, work and raise a family thanks to our low taxes, reasonable and predictable regulations and skilled workforce,” said Governor Perry.
Published 07/08/2010 - 1:10 p.m. CST
    If you want to get into a heated debate, bring up the subject of cameras being used for traffic enforcement. Many drivers view them as just another way for cities to extract money from the public in order to finance government. Given the fact that Texas cities have collected more than $100 million in fines since a red-light camera law took effect in 2007, it would seem to be a good argument. Yet, city administrators insist that the cameras have cut accidents at intersections and saved lives.
Published 08/19/2010 - 11:24 a.m. CST
    The Chairman of Dallas County’s Jail Population Committee said the jails are at or close to capacity and the failure to bring the inmate population down could cause the state to force the county to move inmates to other Texas jails until a new facility can be built. With a price tag of about $30,000 per bed, that could cost millions of dollars. Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said, “We’re in trouble…., we’ve got to get 1,000 people out of this facility.” Currently, there are 7,133 inmates in the county’s jails. The fear is that a sudden massive increase in arrests that might ensue after a major warrant sweep could put the county out of compliance with state staffing requirements.
Published 08/19/2010 - 11:22 a.m. CST
    It’s often been said that if you don’t like the weather in Texas, just wait a few minutes and it’ll change; would that it were true in July and August, especially this year. With triple digit temperatures for most of the past few weeks, and more of the same coming our way, most of us long for the sound of thunder and the sight of water from above taking the place of overworked sprinklers. As the heat wave continues and our air-conditioners strain to perform adequately, we look for hope from weather forecasters.
Published 08/12/2010 - 3:45 p.m. CST
    One of the most serious problems facing elected officials is the perception of their performance in office. Part of that perception comes from the public’s view of those who support the office holders. We all know that it costs money to run an election campaign, but those who seek the office should be careful about who they accept funds from. Lupe Valdez, the Sheriff of Dallas County, is in the news for accepting large donations from questionable characters.
Published 07/28/2010 - 12:15 p.m. CST
    President Ronald Reagan said: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Recently, Governor Rick Perry was trying to say something similar when he issued a statement regarding Texas’ legal action challenging the EPA’s takeover of Texas’ 16-year-old air permitting process. “This legal action is the next step in our ongoing commitment to fight back against the Obama Administration’s ever-widening effort to undermine our air quality initiatives and force a heavy-handed federal agenda on the people of Texas,” Perry said. He was reacting to the Environmental Protection Agency’s interference in Texas’s air-pollution permitting process, which the EPA says violates the U.S. Clean Air Act by letting plant owners obtain emissions permits covering entire facilities instead of requiring individual permits for each processing unit.
Published 07/22/2010 - 12:57 p.m. CST
     In the most flagrant example of abuse by a homeowner association, one of those power-hungry little fiefdoms in Frisco sold someone’s home out from under them because HOA dues were late. How much more callous and insensitive can you get than to foreclose on a home owned by a soldier serving in Iraq? The case, which has received national attention, involves the home of Michael and May Clauer, who lost their $315,000 home, which, by the way, is mortgage free, to foreclosure because the HOA was owed $977 and failed to hear from the owner.
Published 07/08/2010 - 1:11 p.m. CST
    Even though physical fitness in Texas schools has become an essential part of the curriculum, a recent study indicated that high school students are more out of shape than they were last year. The study showed a shortfall in certain benchmarks required to be in the healthy zone. Fitness tests on 2.9 million students in third grade and up made it clear that less than a third of the children in those grades were deemed physically fit after taking a battery of six tests measuring such areas as muscular strength, endurance and body composition.
Published 07/08/2010 - 1:07 p.m. CST
    Dirk Nowitzki, undoubtedly the best basketball player in Dallas Maverick’s history, recently became a free agent. That means he’s up for grabs to the team that offers him the best contract. That generally means the team that can provide the player with the fattest paycheck. However, that’s not the case with Nowitzki. The man who earned All-Star status 9 times has decided that home is where the heart is, and Dallas has been his home from the beginning of his hoops career. Hence, he has worked out a four-year $80 million deal; about $16 million less than he could have earned if he held out.