dallasnews.com (Opinion) Media Bias for Past 90 Days

Legislative hearings won’t fix the power grid. Lawmakers need a fresh approach

politics

This op-ed is part of a series published by The Dallas Morning News Opinion section to explore ideas and policies for strengthening electric reliability. Find the full series here: Keeping the Lights On.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Mar 03, 2021

It’s time to stop pointing fingers and take steps to make the Texas grid more reliable

economy and finances

This op-ed is part of a series published by The Dallas Morning News Opinion section to explore ideas and policies for strengthening electric reliability. Find the full series here: Keeping the Lights On.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 27, 2021

The day Allen Brooks was lynched in Dallas, police saved two other Black men from the mob

1k 🔥       crime, law and justice

It was a Thursday morning, March 3, 1910. Downtown Dallas was filled with the potential for economic boom as the population grew rapidly. The bustle of business and the aroma of food competed with a melody of cowboy boots and high heels. A flashy $20,000 neon welcome, the Elks Arch, had been erected on Main Street to show visiting conventioneers how cosmopolitan this former little town had become.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 27, 2021

Decades of electricity disasters should prompt Texas to finally embrace energy efficiency

Like millions of other Texans, my family spent three days last week huddled in the cold as blackouts cut our power and heat. My wife, two young daughters and I were left scrambling to stay warm and fed. Thanks to multiple layers of clothing and blankets, we’re OK.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 21, 2021

Letters to the Editor - Sen. Ted Cruz, redistricting, Republican Party, For the People Act, NRA, drying laundry outside

social issue

Once more Ted Cruz confuses the dark realities and tragic consequences of Trump’s presidency with “theater.” I remind Cruz that the phrase “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” is spoken by Macbeth at the end of his murderous career as a tyrant. Shakespeare shows us in Macbeth’s final moments how serial abuse of power ultimately desiccates the soul. Macbeth is unable to the value of anything, not even his own life.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 15, 2021

As Texas contemplates Medicaid expansion, beware the coverage and cost creep

With a new year comes new legislative priorities. Should expanding Medicaid, the public health insurance for low income people, be one of them in Texas? When Obamacare was first implemented in 2014, about half of the states — mostly progressive ones — expanded Medicaid to new adults aged 19 to 64 who otherwise didn’t previously qualify. Three of the states neighboring Texas have expanded — Arkansas, New Mexico, and Louisiana (in July 2016), while Oklahoma plans to expand later in 2021.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 14, 2021

‘I’m not a cat’ and other demonstrably true quotes of the week

“I’m here live. I’m not a cat.” — Lawyer Rod Ponton, who joined an official online proceeding in the West Texas court of Judge Roy B. Ferguson of the 394th Judicial District, and struggled to turn off a Zoom filter that made him look like an adorable, fluffy, talking kitten. (Tuesday, Dallas Morning News)
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 12, 2021

Suburban counties are getting fewer vaccines per capita, so Texans are heading to urban hubs

health

As multiple news reports have shown, poor and minority populations are being vaccinated at lower rates than the wealthier white residents. That’s despite another inequality that has gotten less attention: suburban counties are receiving the vaccines at lower per-capita rates than urban counties. For instance, even with the success of the vaccination hub at Texas Motor Speedway last week, the vaccine is almost twice as scarce in Denton County as in Tarrant County. An analysis of distribution numbers from the Department of State Health Services shows that Tarrant County has received about one dose for every 81 residents, but Denton has only received one dose for every 154 residents.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 10, 2021

Dallas did the right thing in closing homeless camp

The spread of tent cities throughout Dallas — and many other urban areas of the U.S. — is a step backward in helping the chronically homeless stabilize their lives and, in many cases, get the help they need to address issues of addiction and mental illness.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 09, 2021

Regarding America’s world-beating national organ transplant system: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

health

The COVID-19 public-health crisis made 2020 one of the most challenging years in our nation’s history. But those same challenges revealed the resilience, compassion and willingness to help others that makes this country great.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 09, 2021

Yes, panhandling is out of control. The Legislature can help Texas cities get a grip

Panhandling has been an almost impossible problem for cities around the country to seriously address since the U.S. Supreme Court broadly limited how municipalities can govern street soliciting in its 2015 ruling in Reed vs. Town of Gilbert (Ariz.).
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 08, 2021

America is in the grips of a ‘me’ society, but we can make it into a ‘we’ society

1k 🔥      

This column is part of our ongoing Opinion commentary on faith, called Living Our Faith. Find this week’s reader question and get weekly roundups of the project in your email inbox by signing up for the Living Our Faith newsletter.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 06, 2021

The same old approach to Texas redistricting isn’t going to work this time

On a stifling summer afternoon, lounging in a sticky pleather chair in Austin’s Bergstrom airport, I tapped out a quick text to my wife letting her know that my flight back to Dallas was delayed. The good news was I wouldn’t miss dinner with the family — a common occurrence during a busy Texas Legislative Session.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 06, 2021

The past haunts Biden’s economic recovery plan

For President Joe Biden, the past is a prologue he would prefer not to repeat. It’s why he won’t wait long before pushing ahead with as much of his recovery plan as he thinks can pass Congress — with or without Republican votes.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 05, 2021

Man accused of being pimp was out on bond and free to roam when arrested on charges of trafficking 14-year-old girl

crime, law and justice

The story of sex trafficking in America is a murky and tangled web of criminal deceit, conspiracy and trauma. But with each new detail, the larger narratives emerge. So we bring you the story of 33-year-old Anthony Lenell Acy.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Feb 02, 2021

Letters to the Editor — Information on elections, suggestions for federal funds, China, school choice, taxes, Baseball Hall of Fame

I call upon the federal government to assist its citizens in understanding the 2020 election by setting up an educational website that presents the testimonies of all 50 secretaries of state and their senior elections officials. The information presented there would include descriptions of the counting mechanisms and the tallies, but also the discrepancies: their numbers, natures, dispositions and their legal status.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Jan 30, 2021

Letters to the Editor - GOP and COVID-19 relief, political unity, Ken Paxton’s latest lawsuit, counting the undocumented, Paige Flink

Our country ended 2020 in chaos. Between the pandemic and the election results, our country was in a hot mess! Two weeks after an attempted insurrection intent on destroying our democracy, a new administration began. But the GOP seemed intent on ignoring what happened ahead of the inauguration. They are back to being the party of “no.”
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Jan 25, 2021

We can escape ideological madness by convicting Trump

The Republicans in the winter of 1860-1861, even more than Democrats today, were terrified that their victory in the presidential election might be overthrown by a lawless attack on the nation’s capital.
dallasnews.com (Opinion)     Jan 23, 2021