People: Tim O’Hare – Dispatches from Dallas

Last week’s news – week ending 2025 07 06

Mondays are the day I usually set aside to write these posts, but I was distracted yesterday by the news out of Kerrville. This week’s post was brought to you by the music of Tangerine Dream.

News from Dallas:

KERA: Dallas to review diversity, equity, inclusion programs to comply with executive orders. You’ll also see a similar report about Fort Worth below. This is happening everywhere.
WFAA: City of Dallas will take over Fair Park operations, terminates contract with private manager. Finally. Also in the Dallas Morning News: Dallas terminates contract with Fair Park First, Oak View Group but the nonprofit may stay and the Dallas Free Press: Fair Park faces major overhaul as city terminates contract with Fair Park First. What is Fair Park First doing while the city figures out if they’re going to survive this debacle? Working on a long-promised park in south Dallas: Amid fight for survival, Fair Park nonprofit announces new funding for community park. Also at KERA: Fair Park secures $3M in state funding for planned Community Park.
DMN: Dallas judge dismisses AG Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against State Fair of Texas’ gun ban. Not the only harassment effort that you’ll see dismissed in this post. Related, also in the DMN: State Fair gunman pleads guilty to aggravated assaults on eve of testimony in Dallas trial. He bargained for 12 years.
KERA: Dallas agrees to block marijuana decriminalization ordinance after appeals court ruling. We all knew this was coming. Also in the Dallas Observer: Dallas Recriminalizes Small Amounts of Weed, Gets Chummy With Ken Paxton. I voted for Prop R, I wanted Prop R, and I knew with this state government and this party-switching Republican mayor setting policy for the city, it was a futile gesture.
Candy’s Dirt: Dallas Takes Its First Swing at Zoning Reform in Almost 40 Years. There’s a link to the proposals in this post. I really wish we were getting to work on this with a different mayor.
Dallas Free Press: New DPD chief meets with oversight board, but policy questions are shut down. Specifically they don’t want to talk about cooperation with ICE, which folks are asking about. My personal theory is that Comeaux was hired over the interim chief, who retired, because Comeaux will work with ICE and Igo, the interim chief, wouldn’t.
Related, at KERA and the DMN: Dallas police recruits will need three years of consecutive work experience to be hired & Want to become a Dallas police officer? No college required. This is about how Dallas PD has to lower its requirements to get to the 4,000 officer goal set in Prop U. In theory I’m OK with dropping the bachelor’s degree requirement because I’m against credentialism, but on the other hand, my hairstylist has to have more training to get her license from the state than cops have to have to get their license. I’d rather see more specific training, and some particular kinds of training like de-escalation. I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen.
DMN: Two longtime Dallas City Council member departures mark change for much of southern Dallas. About the changes with Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins and Carolyn King Arnold being term-limited out.
DMN: Dallas survey finds residents want improved roads, policing, social services. Unsurprisingly, this is not how city officials want to spend our money.
Candy’s Dirt: ‘Greener Dallas Greater Dallas’ Initiative to Build More Parks, Convert Vacant Lots to Green Space. They want to have a park within 10 minutes’ walk everywhere in Dallas, which is a laudable goal.
Dallas Observer: Gentle Gentrification Eases Its Way Into Southern Dallas. A local developer is trying to build some nice houses in Brentwood.
KERA and the Dallas Observer: Dallas USPS worker dies while working, union officials say & Dallas USPS Worker Dies Two Years After Eugene Gates Jr. Death, OSHA Fine. Tragic. No cause of death has been announced but the weather was only (only!) in the mid-90s. I hope it turns out that the lessons of the last case like this were absorbed and the cause of death wasn’t trivially preventable.
KERA: Dallas renames lakes along the Trinity River to honor Native American tribes.They’re now NʉmʉNahmi Lake (Comanche Nahmi Lake), Wichita ita:iʔh (pronounced ih-dahts-ih) Lake, and Lipan Apache Mbátí Lake.
And a few items of super-local news:
- DMN: This Dallas woman’s home was hit twice by oncoming traffic. What does it take to get help? This is on a bend on Abrams Road, which I drive regularly to get down to Deep Ellum. I hope the city can help the owner of this house. I understand the impulse to put the pedal to the metal on this part of the road, but not to 100 mph!
- D Magazine: Lakewood’s Linda England, known for her window statements, died Saturday. (June 21) She was well known in the neighborhood and throughout the city for her window messages. I didn’t know her, but I’ll miss her signs.
- DMN: Why won’t you find liquor stores in Oak Cliff? Curious Texas answers. “A unique mix of local laws, historical votes and zoning rules that continue to shape how alcohol is sold in this neighborhood” per the article. Oak Cliff, like the Heights in Houston, was a 19th-century suburb swallowed by its neighboring city, and stayed dry even when the surrounding areas allowed alcohol sales. Most of it is now wet but a lot of the area is too close to schools or churches for alcohol licensing.
- DMN: Dallas will end some alley trash service in 2026. These neighborhoods will be impacted. We don’t have an alley so no alley pickup for us, but our neighbors will lose alley pickup in January. The last time the city tried this, the protests resulted in the city dropping the plan. We’ll see if they can make it stick this time. While I agree people are being precious, the houses in my neighborhood are designed to have trash in the alley and if people don’t want to drag their city cans through the house, they’re going to have to make some adjustments. If they have a gate between the backyard and the front, that’s one thing, but where folks who don’t have a gate are going to put their trash is a good question.

News from Fort Worth:

Fort Worth Report: Fort Worth council debates DEI programs, delays vote. This is the same discussion happening in Dallas. Fort Worth stands to lose $277 million and change, per the article.
Dallas Observer: ‘This was Preventable’: Report Reveals Failures in Fort Worth CrossFit Death. This is about the drowning death last August. Apparently it took 20 minutes to call emergency responders.

News from Dallas County:

KERA: Family of man who died of water intoxication in Dallas County jail files civil rights lawsuit. Spencer Swearnger died in 2023 after drinking an excess of water from his cell toilet. He had mental health problems and might have been suicidal. But, also, his was the third water intoxication death at the jail since 2020. Just because the Dallas County Jail isn’t as awful as the Tarrant County Jail doesn’t mean it’s good.
DMN: People are being held in Dallas County jail weeks beyond sentences amid systemic failures. This is a consequence of the problems with the county’s case management system, which was installed back in 2023. I appreciate that the Sherriff can’t release people without the proper paperwork, but the jail either needs to get on the same system as the court or to get an API connected so they can get orders in a timely fashion. This is not acceptable and I’m unhappy that my tax dollars are paying both to keep people in jail beyond their time and for the settlements that are coming because former inmates are quite properly suing over being held in the jail too long.
KERA: State commission sanctions Dallas judge Amber Givens. She was sanctioned for allowing her coordinator to impersonate her back in 2019 and admonished over actions she took in cases she’d been recused from, which gets into a rabbit hole about local court scheduling and overloaded dockets. This is not the first time I’ve seen Givens’ name attached to headlines about problems in her court. She’s probably due to be primaried.

News from Tarrant County:

Fort Worth Report: Tarrant County approves $250K contract with law firm to fight racial gerrymandering lawsuit. It’s the same conservative law firm that County Judge Tim O’Hare picked to lead the gerrymandering effort in the first place.
Dallas Observer: Tarrant County Officials Block Fort Worth’s LGBTQ Historical Marker. Also at KERA: Tarrant officials clash over canceled LGBTQ historical marker after abandoned briefing. O’Hare says it’s about procedural problems with the application. Democratic Commissioners think he just hates queer history.
Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French got himself in some hot water. The most recent item on this matter is at the Fort Worth Report: Tarrant GOP chair Bo French holds firm despite calls for his ouster. This DMN story (Dan Patrick tells local GOP chair to resign for posting online poll on Jews, Muslims) sums up what he’s standing firm against: he posted a poll about whether Muslims or Jews were a bigger threat to America and a number of state and local Republican leaders, the most prominent of which was Patrick, called for his resignation for antisemitism. Nobody on the Republican side seemed to care about his Islamophobia, though. In any case, as the Fort Worth Report discusses, neither the state nor the local party seem to be interested in doing the actual work of removing French, but with Dan Patrick having turned on French, French may be vulnerable in his next election.
Somewhat related, in the Star-Telegram: ‘Obscene’ image glued to Tarrant GOP office door in early June: police report. The obscene image was a screenshot of a nasty social media post from French’s encouraging the shooting of anti-ICE protestors with the additional caption: “Read the First Amendment, you fascist [expletive].”
Star-Telegram: New Tarrant County Democratic Party chair aims to make it ‘a million dollar party’. After the previous chair resigned, former chair Allison Campolo won her old job back by a landslide. Good luck to her.
With the regular Lege session over, there’s a lot of news about changes in the Tarrant County delegation:
- Fort Worth Report: How Kelly Hancock went from Fort Worth’s state senator to Texas comptroller. He replaces Glenn Hegar, who’s leaving to run the A&M system. Hancock will be facing Christi Craddick and Don Huffines in the Republican primary in the spring.
- DMN: Gov. Greg Abbott sets date for special election in North Texas Senate seat. It’ll be on November 4, with the general election.
- Texas Tribune: State Rep. Nate Schatzline drops Texas Senate bid, endorses conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss. This is good news because Schatzline is awful enough in the House, but bad news because Wambsganss, the Patriot Mobile PAC leader, could be worse. She has Dan Patrick’s endorsement.
- And in a different retirement and race, from the Fort Worth Report: As Birdwell plans retirement from Senate, Cook launches campaign to be his successor. Brian Birdwell is the State Senator from Granbury; David Cook is the State Representative from Mansfield.
KERA: Tarrant County adopts new software to clean voter rolls, stay ahead of registration challenges. They’re spending $46K on skip-tracing software so they’ll have less trouble with True the Vote catching people who moved and haven’t dropped their registration in Tarrant County.
KERA: Judge dismisses lawsuit against doctor in case of woman who gave birth alone in Tarrant County Jail. This case is about Chasity Congious, whose newborn died in 2020. The medical director of the jail was dismissed from the suit because he was off duty when he received a relevant email on a Sunday.

News from the suburbs:

Fort Worth Report: Arlington GM plant sees no production impact from tariffs. Data point, so far.
Fort Worth Report: Arlington mayor on payment plan with IRS for $174K in back taxes, council peers say work unaffected. Mayor Jim Ross gets paid $250 a month and the IRS is garnishing it. The mayorship of Arlington is in theory a part-time job but apparently it’s eating up Ross’ time and his finances are in an uproar. The original source of this story? The Dallas Express.
Fort Worth Report: Arlington considers raising property taxes as last resort to close final part of $25M budget gap.
DMN: Why doesn’t Arlington have mass transit? Curious Texas finds out. They’re too spread out, so it doesn’t make sense. They have rideshare instead. This may bite them during the World Cup next year, assuming it comes off.
KERA: ‘It’s not a pretty picture’: Denton will need to cut next year’s budget by nearly $14.5M. Ouch.
Texas Monthly: The Big Temple That Divided a Small Town. An overview of the fight between Fairview and the Latter-Day Saints over their proposed temple, which locals say is too big for the small town.
Dallas Observer: UPDATED: A Timeline Of The Frisco Track Meet Stabbing. Another overview. The most recent news is that Karmelo Anthony has been indicted on one count of murder in Collin County in late June.
KERA: City of Irving to review ethics policy following campaign finance complaint. The complaint was that a losing council candidate received too much money from the Texas Conservative Project PAC.
KERA: Irving has a plan to address homelessness, but critics say it’s not enough. Anti-homeless architecture and hassling by the police usually isn’t helpful to unhoused folks.
BBC: No criminal charges over British woman shot in US. She was visiting her father in Prosper and was shot and killed in January. The shooter was no-billed and no details have come out. On Reddit, folks were speculating that a child may have shot her accidentally and that’s why no information is being released. I wish the families involved peace, especially the poor Brits, who have no idea of what to make of our gun laws.

News from the suburban counties:

We have a few items on the EPIC City/Plano mosque ongoing business up in Collin County:
- KERA: New Texas property law targets EPIC City development, takes effect ‘immediately’ This is about 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.” I’m not sure how this cracks down on EPIC City.
- KERA: U.S. Department of Justice ends federal probe into EPIC City. With much less fanfare than when John Cornyn pushed them to investigate.
- KERA: EPIC sues to resume funeral services after cease-and-desist letter from Texas funeral authority. As part of the harassment campaign over EPIC City, the Funeral Services Commission sent a cease-and-desist letter to the mosque to keep them from performing funeral services. You may not know this but Islamic funeral rites are supposed to be conducted quickly, ideally within 24 hours of death, so requiring outside funeral homes to work with the mosque creates a problem. My opinion all along has been that the state is throwing everything at EPIC in the hopes that something will stick legally (as opposed to the Islamophobia, which will stick with the MAGA types), so I hope EPIC cleans house in this suit.
  - - KERA: Status of Collin County Sheriff’s controversial training in Israel remains uncertain as ceasefire begins. Wait what? The sheriff wanted to take five deputies to Israel for counterrorism training. The slight matter of a war is interfering.
  - - DMN: Plan to roll out hand-marked ballots gets preview in Collin County. Also at KERA: Voting rights activists warn Collin County move to hand-marked ballots will cause issues. This is following up on an executive order, which doesn’t have the force of law. The Texas Civil Rights Project and the League of Women Voters are against it, which would tell me it was a bad idea even if I didn’t already know why hand-marked ballots aren’t a great idea.
  - - KERA: Homelessness climbs 33% in Denton County since 2024, according to local United Way data. Yikes.

In other regional news:

DMN: What to know about Las Vegas Sands, the casino giant betting big on North Texas. I learned from this article that the Sands empire doesn’t currently have any casinos in the US.
KERA: Texas water board declares a ‘conflict’ over controversial Marvin Nichols reservoir. This is not a surprise. Region C (North Texas, which wants the water) and Region D (Northeast Texas, where the reservoir would be located) have been at odds for a long time. Now they go to mediation, which should be scheduled by mid-month.
Texas Tribune: Robert Nichols, the most senior Texas Senate Republican, won’t run for reelection. Not a surprise. Nichols has been voting his conscience rather than the party line for the last couple of years, most notably in the Paxton impeachment trial. My father-in-law is from Jacksonville and acquainted with Mr Nichols and had suggested this was about to happen. State Rep. Trent Ashby, from Rusk, is looking to fill Nichols’ rather large shoes.
DMN: Spanish backer of Dallas-Houston bullet train folds U.S. operations, report says. The report, in a Spanish business publication, also says they lost more than $5 million, or their entire investment. The bullet train is not going to happen.
Dallas Observer: ‘Poisonous’ and a ‘Clown Show’: Community Responds To Proposed DART Cuts. Clickbait title notwithstanding, the story tells you all about why Plano doesn’t want everybody in the Dallas Area Rapid Transit service area to have nice things.
Dallas Observer: Trans People Are Fleeing North Texas, What Happens Next? This article made me sad, but it doesn’t surprise me. I have trans and GNC friends and they just don’t want to live in Texas because it’s so awful here for them.
Mediaite: Dr. Phil’s Anti-Woke Television Network Files For Bankruptcy, Sues Christian Trinity Broadcasting Network. Couldn’t happen to a nicer. For a local take, try the Fort Worth Report: Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media files bankruptcy, sues Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Some editorials in local outlets:

DMN: Paxton’s insistence on Robert Roberson’s execution is indefensible. DMN editorial from mid-June. Paxton’s bloodthirstiness is in tune with Texas’ awful history with the death penalty, but we should do better.
Star-Telegram: Change candidates can learn from Zohran Mamdani’s NY mayor upset. I am really learning to like Bradford William Davis as a columnist. I hope nobody runs him out of town.
Star-Telegram: Trump didn’t view Iran strike like typical politician — and it worked. This is by Congressman Roger Williams, and I note it because it’s always interesting to see who the papers give opinion space to.
Star-Telegram: To beat China on AI, we must block mishmash of state rules on development. Similarly, this one about the state rules on AI development, dropped from the recent “Big Beautiful Bill”, is by George P. Bush.
Star-Telegram: How Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill delivers for Texas on economy, border. And for the hat trick, here’s Congressman Craig Goldman.
And a back-and-forth from two of our local papers: First from the DMN: Should Dallas fly Pride flag? which is an opinion piece by a local businessman who seems to get those pieces published in the DMN every so often. (He concludes: no.) The Dallas Observer answers the question the other ways: The Dallas Morning News’ City Pride Flag Criticism Is Flat Out Wrong. I’m with the Observer here; the DMN opinion piece seems like the usual “white dude is uncomfortable when it’s not about him” internet complaint. Those don’t look any less silly when they’re in an actual newspaper. Maybe next time whoever it is on the DMN editorial board who accepts op-eds from this guy will keep him from embarrassing himself.

Miscellaneous news:

DMN: Democrats trying to field candidate slate to win first statewide race in 32 years. This is Gromer Jeffers, Jr., the DMN’s political analyst. Local angles: Colin Allred for Senate and Nathan Johnson probably for Attorney General.
DMN: The Dallas Morning News picks 28-year veteran journalist as its next newsroom leader. Colleen McCain Nelson was most recently at the Sacramento Bee, but had spent twelve years at the DMN and was part of a team awarded a Pulitzer here. Welcome back aboard!
Star-Telegram: UNT selects interim presidents of Dallas, Health Science Center campuses as sole finalists. Warren von Eschenbach, UNT Dallas Interim President, and Dr. Kirk Calhoun, UNTHSC Interim President will be the permanent leaders of their respective institutions.
KERA: Methodist Church can sue SMU over control of the school, Texas Supreme Court rules. This is about whether the church can sue for breach of contract over changes to the school’s articles of incorporation back in 2019. The actual suit is yet to be resolved.
DMN: After 8 years leading McKinney, ‘rock ‘n’ roll mayor’ George Fuller is on to his next gig. Profile of a very interesting politician and person.
KERA: It’s official: Denton is the Halloween Capital of Texas. Apparently we’ll have to check out their Halloween-themed fun this year.
Star-Telegram: Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders get massive pay raise in wake of Netflix show. Since they were making about what you’d make at Chik-Fil-A, good.
Related, in the DMN: Dallas Cowboys cheerleader sparks outcry with pompom TikTok video. Apparently they have to “fluff” their own pompoms. I had no idea they needed fluffing or what that even is.
DMN: Man arrested after break-in at Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas police say. This was July 2; we were down there during early member hours on July 6 and everything was fine.
DMN: African American Museum of Dallas announces new president and CEO. Lisa Brown Ross, the new CEO, is taking over from founder Harry Robinson Jr.
DMN: Designers of New York’s High Line join Dallas Museum of Art expansion project. Mark Lamster, the DMN’s architecture critic, has some news and some opinions about the Dallas Museum of Art’s upcoming renovation. I hadn’t realized it had been almost a year since the DMA lost its director and that they didn’t have a new one in mind, which is not a great sign for the process.
Last, but not least, it’s time to talk about State Fair food. Eater Dallas: Dubai Chocolate Is Already the Big Winner at the State Fair of Texas and the Dallas Observer: 30 State Fair Fried-Food Semifinalists: 6-Word Reviews for Each have the news about the semifinalists. I’m down with the Bacon Jam Cannoli and the Brisket and Brew Stuffed Pretzels, but more of the Coconut Quadruple and the Pop Rocks Margarita for you.

The week in Metroplex news – 2025 04 04

Some area news that happened over the last week or so:

KERA: Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare highlights economy, tax cuts in State of the County address. He wants to get the Stars and any businesses he can to move to Tarrant County from Dallas County. He didn’t talk about his reactionary activism, though.
Star-Telegram: Legal fee bill for jail death lawsuit grows. Tarrant County approves up to $30k more
Star-Telegram: Tarrant County takes step to redraw commissioners’ precincts. This is going to be the subject of a longer piece at some point, but the gist is: the county doesn’t need to redraw the precincts, but County Judge Tim O’Hare and his two Republican cronies have hired a known “election integrity” firm with a record of defending racist redistricting here in Texas, and two commissioners and O’Hare are up for re-election in 2026. You do the math.
KERA: Tarrant County judge, commissioner vote against honoring Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta Committee. This was Tim O’Hare and Matt Krause, who wouldn’t vote for anything that said socialism. It passed anyway because the other Republican Commissioner is Manny Ramirez.
Fort Worth Report: Tarrant County Democratic Party lays off all paid staff, declines to share details. I recently learned that the Texas Democratic Party doesn’t run things top-down from the state level; all the local parties are independent. So this is bad, but it doesn’t reflect on the state party or any other area parties.
Star-Telegram editorial: From FIFA soccer to streets, Plano transit pullout could drive gridlock in Fort Worth | Opinion. Fort Worth is noticing that the problems with DART might affect the Dallas-Fort Worth railroad (the Trinity Express) and the FIFA World Cup that’s coming in 2026. I personally think the World Cup is going to be a bust; big events like that never make as much money as proponents claim they will. Even beyond that, though, we have to deal with the international travel climate fomented by the current federal administration. We’ll be lucky if FIFA doesn’t cancel the whole thing. If the games occur, they’ll be playing in nearly-empty stadiums because no foreign tourists are going to come to the US for a long time.
Dallas Morning News: Here’s who was behind the mass texts about the Las Vegas Sands casino plans in Irving. Big surprise: it was a PAC funded by the Sands people. The DMN did the work and came up with the PACs funding media and advertising on both sides of the issue. Irving City Council wouldn’t approve the casino part of the Sands resort plan last month; the plan submitted and approved doesn’t include a casino.
DMN: How a temple spire put a small Texas town and the LDS church’s religious rights at odds. An explainer about the Fairfield vs Mormon temple case, which has been ongoing for about a year. The Mormons want to build a temple, which has specific ritual meanings for them, to accommodate their congregants in the area; the town thinks the steeple they want to build is too high compared to the rest of the town.
DMN: Tesla owner sues for $1 million after car keyed at DFW Airport. The alleged culprit was arrested for criminal mischief and is in the Tarrant County Jail already. The civil suit is for property damage, emotional distress, mental anguish, fees, and costs. I don’t endorse property damage but I cannot imagine being a million dollars worth of distressed over my car getting keyed. On the other hand, my identity is not tied up with my motor vehicle.
DMN editorial: How much parking does Dallas need? Dallas has been considering revising its parking ordinance for a while. The particular version that the DMN likes is going to kill minimums downtown and in certain business and industrial areas, and reduce it elsewhere. The Powers That Be have spoken, so now we see what Dallas HERO has to say.
D Magazine: Dallas County Will Consider Independent Review of Roberson Case. Also in the DMN: Dallas County commissioners approve review of medical records in Robert Roberson’s capital murder case. We’re about to pay $20,000 to have those autopsy reports reviewed because Roberson’s daughter was airlifted to Dallas and died here, so our medical examiner did the autopsy. That was back in 2002, when shaken-baby syndrome was considered real and not junk science, as it is now. Roberson, you may recall, came very close to execution last fall and only survived because two of the members of the Texas House caused a constitutional crisis by trying to get him to appear before their committee.
DMN Watchdog: Are you overpaying on your Atmos gas bill? A customer tries to find out. The answer is: the watchdog and the customers can’t get a straight answer because Atmos gives non-answers to questions. As a customer myself, I assume I’m getting screwed.
Companies affiliated with Republican Mayors Association execs have scored business. The Republican Mayors Association was founded by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson in 2023 after he won his second term and switched parties. Financial reports suggest senior officials in the association who are also political consultants are self-dealing.
Texas Observer: Congressman Denounces ICE Response About Prosecutor Operating Racist X Account. Steve Monacelli of the Observer and several other sites found out an ICE prosecutor here in Dallas was behind a gross, racist Xitter account. Congressman Marc Veasey of Fort Worth demanded information from ICE. This is the part where they say they’re doing an internal investigation and talk to them in six months. The DC Bar, where the prosecutor was admitted, is also fobbing Veasey off. It’s going to take lighting a bigger fire under ICE than Veasey seems to have firepower for to get some action here.
DMN: Rocket acquires Coppell-based mortgage company Mr. Cooper in deal valued at $9.4B. In addition to the local angle, this is also my mortgage company. Rocket, the buyer, also just bought Redfin, so this is some vertical consolidation in the real estate market.
D Magazine: The New Billionaires: Meet the DFW Leaders Among the World’s Richest People. Also the Dallas Observer: 34 North Texas Billionaires Makes 2025 World’s Richest List. This is the Forbes list. Related in the Star-Telegram: Is Alice Walton still the richest person in Dallas-Fort Worth? Here’s Forbes 2025 list. Yes. She’s also the richest person in the world, and Fort Worth is proud she calls it home.
DMN: Congressional task force explores question of who killed JFK. Dallas will never get over 1963.
Fort Worth Report: Texas State Veterans Home named for Tuskegee Airmen opens in Fort Worth. Glad they’re honoring the Tuskegee Airmen.
KERA: ‘The healing process can actually begin’: At last, marker for 1930 Sherman race riot to go up. Sherman is up near the Oklahoma border; the article is worth reading if only for the interview with a descendant of a survivor of the 1930 lynching and riot, which destroyed the Black business district.

People with dirty minds see a lot of dirt

A story I’ve been keeping an eye on while I scramble out from under the piles of stories from international, national, state, and local sources is the seizure of photographs from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. The Modern had an exhibit of Sally Mann photographs that closed at the beginning of this month. Among the many photographs in the exhibit were four photos of her then-young children naked. After some community outrage, Fort Worth PD showed up to seize the photos in January.

Now the ACLU of Texas, FIRE, and the National Coalition Against Censorship have gotten together to write a letter to FWPD describing the seizure as unconstitutional censorship. Nobody seems to have anything to say to local media; the museum and FWPD are keeping mum.

Here’s the thing: I haven’t seen these photographs, but I’m old enough to remember when toddler bathtime photos were considered normal and not sexual exploitation of children. I’m glad my bathtime photos aren’t on the internet, a topic that brings up questions of consent, and I certainly can see how putting naked photos of your little kids in an art exhibition brings up the same questions. But artistic nudity, especially where little kids are concerned, is real. If any photo of a naked kid you ever see is sexual, or even pornographic, in your eyes, you have a problem.

The Modern had noted that the Mann exhibit had mature content, which I understand is necessary in the GOP-led city of Fort Worth, but honestly photos of little kids running around naked shouldn’t need that label. Nor should the Cowboy exhibit at the Amon Carter Museum around the corner have had to post a warning because the exhibit included a painting of two men kissing. Tarrant County has a prudish bully in County Judge Tim O’Hare, who commented on the Mann exhibit on Xitter. And of course the Dallas Express had to have its say back in December. These are the folks who think photos of child nudity are inherently sexual. They’re the ones with the dirty minds, and the problem.