A day before large segments of Texas’ economy are set to reopen, Dallas County health officials announced the county’s largest-ever single-day tally of new cases of COVID-19. The county confirmed 179 additional cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus and five coronavirus-related deaths Thursday. In a statement posted…
Three weeks ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent out a press release that seemed weird, but not too weird. The attorney general, never one to avoid a fight with the federal government or any of Texas’ 49 fellow states, had a problem with an order issued by a Colorado…
In the debate on opening up versus shutting down, a dark picture is emerging, with national ramifications but also with some nasty roots closer to home. A truly terrible political calculus may be afoot. The calculus would be this: that the nation will swallow the cost in human lives of…
Dallas County Health and Human Services reports that 112 more people in the county have tested positive for COVID-19. Wednesday’s count is Dallas County’s fourth-highest one-day total of novel coronavirus infections. Five more people in Dallas County have died from the disease. Since the beginning of the outbreak, 99 people…
Monday, Dallas is set to begin taking applications for its novel coronavirus rent and mortgage assistance program. The city isn’t making the program’s website or phone number available ahead of its launch, but Dallas staff revealed Tuesday afternoon just what you’ll need in order to apply, in case you want…
Now for the really weird part, the reopenings. What does reopening even mean? Who says? Reopen what? How? Then what? Why does this feel like Russian roulette? Wait. Is life Russian roulette? I have been thinking a lot about Colleyville, the affluent suburban community north of Dallas that has defiantly…
Dallas County Health and Human services reported 135 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 10 deaths Tuesday afternoon. The new infections mark the highest one-day reported total for the county during the ongoing pandemic. Wednesday’s death count is tied for the highest total reported by the county during a…
The French M. Robertson Unit, a maximum-security state prison, is located off a dusty farm-to-market road about 20 minutes from Abilene. A couple of tiny hamlets dot the dry West Texas terrain near the prison, but for the most part, its population of about 3,000 inmates is surrounded by nothingness…
We may all be in this together, but our opinions about it are breaking down along predictable lines. Monday afternoon, Gov. Greg Abbott debuted his plan to reopen Texas’ restaurants, retailers, malls and movie theaters, despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the state and around the world. In North Texas…
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to re-open the state will start with restaurants, movie theaters, malls and retail stores. At a press conference Monday afternoon, Abbott unveiled a three-phase project to get Texas back to business. Phase 1 begins Friday. Thanks to Texas’ continued available hospital capacity, its relatively low…
Every weekday morning, Laura Currey gets up before her kids. She looks through weekly lesson plans from their teachers, then sits down at a whiteboard and writes out their assignments for the day. By 8:30 a.m., class is in session. Currey talks to her daughter, a third grader, about what…
Yes, we need to pay special homage to first responders and medical personnel in this crisis, but there is another group of exposed persons out there risking their own health. I am thinking of clergy, nonprofit workers and volunteers who serve the least of our sisters and brothers. Any number…
For the first time since Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson put much of North Texas in novel coronavirus hibernation in mid-March, the range of activities Dallas residents are allowed to undertake grew significantly last week. Next week, thanks to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the list…
Another Thursday, another set of unemployment numbers that would’ve been unbelievable three months ago. Almost 300,000 Texans applied for unemployment insurance payments over the week that ended April 13, 2020. According to an analysis from WalletHub, that’s more than a 20-fold increase from the same period in 2019, when just…
Finally, I found someone to help me with two conjoined questions that I have been trying to untangle for weeks. First question: What about the disease? Second question: What about the economy? Miguel Solis told me how to figure it out. Don’t untangle. But everybody wants to untangle. Monday, I…
Following a unanimous vote by the City Council Wednesday, Dallas’ disaster declaration will remain in place through at least May 12. The declaration, which gives City Manager T.C. Broadnax emergency powers during the novel coronavirus pandemic, will now be tied to Texas’ disaster declaration. If Gov. Greg Abbott extends the…
State budget shortfalls associated with the COVID-19 economic slowdown could put state prekindergarten programs at serious risk, according to a report released Wednesday. In the report, researchers with Rutgers University’s National Institute for Early Education Research warn that cutbacks to state-funded pre-K programs could have long-lasting effects, not only on…
Early in the pandemic, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick just wanted to kill granny. Now he wants to throw as many of us overboard as necessary to bring back his true love, America’s economy. As he so often does, Patrick appeared on Tucker Carlson on Monday night. After sounding a…
I don’t know about you, but I need something to calm me down at the beginning of the day so I don’t start out already wired. My personal regimen is something I call “Cuomo in the morning.” And it’s not because I agree with everything that comes out of the…
Dallas County is set to shelter in place until May 15, at least for the time being. After a contentious debate Tuesday afternoon, Dallas County Commissioners Theresa Daniel and Elba Garcia sided with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and county medical experts pushing the order two weeks past its previous…
The oil industry moved into truly uncharted territory Monday afternoon. U.S. crude oil prices, for the first time in history, dropped below $0 per barrel. A person could, if he or she had the means to do so, have made more than $35 for each barrel of oil he or…
It’s starting to look a lot like the final result of the legal battle isn’t going to matter very much. Regardless of whether the federal courts finally determine that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did, in fact, have the right to effectively ban abortion during the novel coronavirus pandemic, thousands of…
