Social Policy

Dallas ISD Prioritizes Pre-K (Just Don't Ask How They'll Pay For It)

"Universal pre-K" is the universal mantra of every school board member and education official in the city. It's the elusive idea that all future, predominantly poor, kids in Dallas ISD will have gone through an aggressive early childhood education program, and that earlier exposure to vocabulary and ... More >>

Teachers Union Set to Do a U-Turn and Endorse DISD Trustee Miguel Solis

Alliance-AFT, a Dallas teachers union that was making robo-calls a year ago to get Dallas school Superintendent Mike Miles fired, is about to endorse one of his strongest supporters for re-election to the school board. The union will inform members Friday that it has endorsed Miguel Solis for the P ... More >>

Asylum Insanity

Welcome to the land of the free. While we decide whether we feel like deporting you, we've got a cold dank cell that'll suit you just fine.

Texas' Proposed Background Check Rule for Obamacare Navigators Looks Awfully Familiar

At the request of Governor Rick Perry, the Texas Department of Insurance rolled out an additional set of requirements Obamacare "navigators" will be subject to. On top of the training and certification the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandates, TDI will require an additional 40 hours ... More >>

Another Whiny Self-serving Essay About Teachers in the Morning News Sunday

On Sunday The Dallas Morning News printed an essay on its op-page by Austin writer John Savage about teaching in what he calls "the worst school in Texas." It's a piece that has been making the rounds from Salon to the blog of Diane Ravitch, a former champion of school reform who has become a bor ... More >>

If the Bushes Are Liberals Now, Then I Must Be a ... Kumquat?

Story in The New York Times today talks about the Bush dynasty reclaiming its influence in the Republican Party by championing immigration reform. I have another idea for them, based on their legacy in Dallas: school reform. But this is grudging, man. Why do I want the Bushes to reclaim anything? ... More >>

Ted Cruz is Going on a "Defund Obamacare Tour," and He's Bringing it to Dallas

Senator Ted Cruz wasn't joking when he.threatened last week to shut down the government if the Affordable Care Act, passed by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, moves forward. Now, buoyed by his victory in an early presidential straw poll in Iowa, he's doubling down on his salted-fields ... More >>

Ted Cruz and John Cornyn Now Hinting at a Government Shutdown if Dems Don't Defund Obamacare

House Republicans have now voted 39 times to repeal Obamacare. On a certain level, their persistence is admirable in the same way that I admire the way my dog never stops believing that this will be the time that he finally catches that squirrel. One's esteem is diminished only slightly by the fact ... More >>

Texas Conservatives Observe 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade With Ridiculous Press Releases

Today is the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark court case that originated in Texas with Norma McCorvey and ultimately led to the Supreme Court sweeping away a number of state and federal abortion restrictions. Because of Roe, terminating a pregnancy in the first trimester is between a wo ... More >>

Judge Denies Planned Parenthood's Request to Let Them Back in Texas Women's Health Program

Let's do this quickly, so you can incorporate it into all the sorrows you're about drown after you leave work today. A state judge has denied Planned Parenthood's request for a temporary injunction that would have allowed them to rejoin the Texas Women's Health Program. According to Mary Tuma, a r ... More >>

A Romney-Ryan Win Would Mean a Ban on Abortions, But Bans Don't Stop Abortions

Lead editorial in The New York Times this morning -- "If Roe v Wade Goes" -- got me thinking: let's say the Romney/Ryan ticket wins. How long will it take for Texas to make abortion illegal? Romney used to support Roe v. Wade, but now he joins Ryan in proposing that abortion be made a crime except ... More >>

Texas Plans to Use Medicaid Expansion it Rejected to Pay For Women's Health Program

In early June, Governor Rick Perry was quick to announce that no state of his would be taking any of that tyrannical federal money to expand Medicaid coverage. Yet court documents filed by outgoing Health and Human Services Commissioner Tom Suehs claim that the state's new, Planned Parenthood-free W ... More >>

What the Supreme Court's Ruling On Arizona's Immigration Law Means for Farmers Branch

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down much of Arizona's illegal immigration law Monday morning, leaving its most controversial, show-me-your-papers provision standing, and that only provisionally. Experts say the decision provides a road map to federal courts evaluating immigration laws enacted in plac ... More >>

Farmers Branch Has Spent Five Years and Millions of Dollars Trying to Keep Out Mexicans. Is It Time for a Truce?

Tom Leppert Reviews Obama's Immigration Policy Speech Given in El Paso Tuesday

Official White House Photo by Pete SouzaPresident Obama in El Paso on Tuesday​No doubt you're well aware that President Barack Obama was in El Paso yesterday, where he said that "genuine, comprehensive reform" was the only way to repair a "broken immigration system." In his speech, posted in its e ... More >>

Mass deportation, strict border enforcement, amnesty. What will comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds take action--or if they don't?

Mexican Macro-economics

FAIR-y Tales

Russell Pearce and Other Illegal-Immigration Populists Rely on Misleading, Right-Wing Reports to Scapegoat Immigrants and Terrify Penny-Pinched Americans.

Illegal Immigrants, Desperate To Find Work In The U.S., Risk Kidnapping, Rape and Murder From Those Smuggling Them Across the Border

In Battle Between Feds and States Over Arizona's Immigration Law, Guess Which Side Rick Perry and Greg Abbott Are On?

Danny FulgencioGovernor Rick Perry​Arizona's new immigration law has been a polarizing political issue to say the least, with President Obama challenging its constitutionality through the Department of Justice by launching a July 6 lawsuit against Arizona and Governor Janice Brewer. So it was ... More >>

Wait a dang Minute Man: Who's This Guy Filling in for the Mexican?

Arlington PD Says It Doesn't Want to Be in the Business of Enforcing Immigration Laws

CopShop.com​While Irving makes the occasional headline with its use of the Criminal Alien Program -- which involves turning over to federal immigration officials people detained for any reason, even traffic violations --  top cops in Arlington have taken a stand against that approach. Instead ... More >>

Outside a Quiet Two-Party Town Hall, Health Care Demonstrators Take To the Streets

Patrick MichelsDemonstrators on both sides of the debate shared space outside this morning's town hall meeting with Rep. Pete Sessions and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson.​Update: Check out our slide show for more photos from the meeting and the protest.Walking up to the health care reform protest outs ... More >>

Villafranca's Bid for Farmers Branch Council Has Very Little to Do With Immigration Issues

Steve SatterwhiteElizabeth Villafranca with daughter Natalie, who's now 9 and ... working on a documentaryElizabeth Villafranca entered the limelight in 2006, as Farmers Branch began its illegal-immigrant battle that rages to this day. As we mentioned earlier this week, the Cuquitas co-owner has dec ... More >>

Ask a Mexican

Hail Cesar, who was capable of changing his mind

School Of Rock Branch To Open In Dallas Area

The Austin-based Paul Green School of Rock, which served as the inspiration for the 2003 hit comedy School of Rock, will open the doors to its first Dallas area branch in June. The school, with its mission statement of "saving rock 'n' roll one kid at a time," has already opened enrollment for its ... More >>

Old-Time Religion and New Americans

Hispanic evangelical leaders join to push for compassionate immigration reform

March on Oak Cliff. Well, In Oak Cliff.

A march is planned in Oak Cliff today to demand immigration reforms; it's part of a national day of advocacy to push Congress to act this summer, before Washington is swamped by the presidential campaign. Advocates want "comprehensive" reform, a policy that would include not only additional border e ... More >>

Swift Justice? Not Bloody Likely.

Illustration by Brian Stauffer So, it’s official: All 53 illegal immigrants charged with fraud after the December raid at Swift & Co.’s Cactus meatpacking plant have pled guilty in federal court in Amarillo. They face five to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for using the stolen ... More >>

Needle Point

This morning down in Austin, the Senate Committee on Health & Human Services is set to hear public testimony on Senate Bill 308 -- which, for those not keeping score at home, is the legislation proposed by Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) that would legalize needle-exchange programs in Texas. (Deuell, ... More >>

You Know Who Likes the President's Immigration Reform Plan? Nobody, That's Who.

Rafael Anchia Wants to Kill Anti-Immigration Legislation Dead. Good Luck With All That.

Rafael Anchia is trying to kick out immigration legislation, but not immigrants. Because nothing gets the Friend of Unfair Park more riled up than the words "immigration legislation" (or "Avi Adelman," geez), we thought it'd be a good idea to mention the press release we just received from the offic ... More >>

Anchia to Tackle "Divisive and Misguided" Anti-Immigration Legislation

State Representative Rafael Anchia Don't tell FrontBurner, because they'll think he's a racist, but Representative Rafael Anchia belongs to the Mexican American Legislative Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives. And last week, Anchia was named vice-chair of MALC's newly formed task force on i ... More >>

The Big Foist

Farmers Branch Needs Dough to Fight "Frivolous Lawsuits." Yeah, Frivolous. Right.

Farmers Branch city council candidate Tim Scott (pictured here with his family) says all them damned civil-rights suits pilin' up in the FB are, ya know, nonsense, y'all. Facing four lawsuits and mounting legal costs, the city of Farmers Branch is fretting over finances. David Koch, a resident who's ... More >>

Who Brought the Minutemen to Garland? A Former City Council Member, Looks Like.

The Hunted

Minutemen train their sights on a new target: Hispanic day laborers

Watching Chorizo Getting Made

Criminal District Judge Manny Alvarez is a Republican. But he'd prefer it if you kept politics out it. Back in May, a non-partisan poll showed that two years after Bush won a historic 40 percent of the Hispanic vote, Republicans' stance on immigration was alienating Latinos at a rapid clip. Whether ... More >>

Splitsville

No border fences make for mad neighbors in Farmers Branch

Southern Hospitality

Surprised that Dallas' massive immigration rally went so well? Then you must be a Yankee.

Simple minds

ICE, ICE, baby

Tax Dollars at Work

Hey, armed robbers need bullets, too!

Walk the Walk

Can shoe leather and signs change immigration law?

The Resurrection of Sandy Kress

Or, how a Democrat and reviled former DISD board president found a happy home pushing "educational acoountability" for the GOP

The kids aren't all right

The Americanized culture of undocumented immigrants finds the doors to higher education closed

Proof of citizenship

The INS is asking the impossible of a Laotian refugee who believes he's an American

Doling for dollars

The Cold War over, defense giant Lockheed Martin mines another government program for profit -- the war on poverty

Gimme Shelter

With public housing under assault from Congress, the Justice Department, and HUD, Dallas tenants' advocate Alice Basey is part of a grassroots movement fighting to keep poor families from going homeless

Betty's In Charge

Is Dallas County's most explosive bureaucrat ruining the health department?

Letters