Dallas' foster care system fell apart a few months ago. The failures of the contractor that managed these cases made it harder for foster parents and outright dangerous for some kids. @labreportdallas.bsky.social's Claire Ballor shows how. labreportdallas.com/child-welfar...

Dallas’ Foster Care System Unraveled. Foster Parents Are Living with the Fallout. - The Lab Report Dallas

As new private companies gear up to take over CPS cases in North Texas, foster families are grappling with damage done by the last contractor.

labreportdallas.com

my debut for the @newrepublic.com! on Dolly, and how she was always entirely herself even in a world that wasn't ready for it newrepublic.com/article/2147...

Dolly Parton Never Wavered

From making music to launching a huge literacy program, the singer always took her work seriously. Eventually, the rest of us caught up.

newrepublic.com

Dallas has seen a fair bit of tough news lately—but also deserving of coverage is the work being done at places like Prosperity Park, where a vacant lot in a high-crime area was transformed. I spent some time watching the park burst to life. My dispatch from the Oak Cliff site now run by kids:

The Kids Are All Right at Prosperity Park - The Lab Report Dallas

How a rubble-ridden lot in Oak Cliff became a safe place for children who do far more than play.

labreportdallas.com

Dallas intended to spend some of its federal COVID relief fixing homes and improving infrastructure in the Tenth Street Historic District. Instead, one family was out of their house for three years and neighbors want to know where the infrastructure dollars went. labreportdallas.com/public-servi...

In the Tenth Street Historic District, a Home Repair Program’s Promises Remain Broken - The Lab Report Dallas

Dallas used pandemic relief funds to fix houses and upgrade infrastructure in Oak Cliff and elsewhere. Years later, some residents ask what went wrong.

labreportdallas.com

Kelli examines the tension between service providers who are trying to house the homeless and the police department, which is increasingly detaining, ticketing, and arresting people in encampments. Her @labreportdallas.bsky.social dispatch from the messy conclusion of a six-week services blitz:

Kelli Smith@kellixsmith.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Since a Dallas police homeless team was created nine months ago, more than 300 people experiencing homelessness have been detained citywide. Thursday illustrated the challenge of this approach for service providers. 🧵

This is the most exasperated statement, lol, "will you shut up, we're leaving you one (1) whale"

Robert Wilonsky@robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Well. you can't say FIFA doesn't know how to Dallas properly. They came to town and immediately destroyed a beloved downtown mural painted in 1999 by a revered artist. www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm...

Eight months ago, Dallas PD created a new team for homelessness enforcement. We were curious how its work squares with recent efforts to connect people in encampments to housing/treatment/shelter. Kelli found two very different approaches, which shows how complicated this issue is on the ground.

Kelli Smith@kellixsmith.bsky.social · 5mo ago

281 detentions. $500 fines. A mounting pile of warrants. Records show a new Dallas PD team has zip-tied unhoused people across 61 locations in a pivot toward enforcement. My latest on the city’s new approach to homelessness—and the concern it’s stirring amongst service providers:

The state says foster kids in North Texas are in "imminent danger" because third-party case managers are failing. A judge today appointed a receiver to oversee the program. Before the order, @sharongrigsby.bsky.social spent weeks in court watching things go wrong: labreportdallas.com/p/the-presen...

The Present Danger of Foster Care in North Texas

After two deaths, the state says third-party case managers are failing foster kids. What happens in this courtroom helps explain why.

labreportdallas.com

good local journalism labreportdallas.com/p/how-a-humb...

How a Humble Tax Tool Protects Neighborhoods

Inside the grassroots push to educate homeowners about a simple tool—the homestead exemption—that can help them afford to stay in their homes amid rising taxes.

labreportdallas.com

A decade ago, when tax bills suddenly doubled for West Dallas homeowners, those without homestead exemptions were at the mercy of the market. Since then, advocates have stood up infrastructure to get ahead of these spikes and help people stay in their homes. labreportdallas.com/p/how-a-humb...

How a Humble Tax Tool Protects Neighborhoods

Inside the grassroots push to educate homeowners about a simple tool—the homestead exemption—that can help them afford to stay in their homes amid rising taxes.

labreportdallas.com

nobody wants to work anymore

Txnewsprincess@txnewsprincess.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Another day, another story from the two thumb drives. This time, about how Mayor Eric Johnson doesn't do his job much and (it looks like) has to be begged to do the ceremonial part of his job. 1/5 www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...

THREAD: I got laid off from NYMag/Vulture after 14 years. The family lost 75% of income + medical. Now mzs.press bookstore, once a side project. is do-or-die for Judith & I. I feel weird telling you this because others are doing much worse. But if you could like or share this, we'd be so grateful!

Matt Zoller Seitz@mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Greetings, new friends! You may know me as an author, a prolific Bluesky poster and 4th place finisher on So You Call That Dancing? But you might not know that my partner Judith (@mzpress) and I have an online arts bookstore that's growing every day. Full inventory here: mzs.press/EVERYTHING-W...

"...the emails revealed that there have been secret site visits underway for a while, with a quorum-avoiding number of hand-picked council members touring potential new sites for City Hall." @txnewsprincess.bsky.social on City Hall's latest mess: www.dmagazine.com/micropost/ai...

The Big Deal You Don’t Know About City Hall

After yesterday's marathon meeting, we had some questions about the City Hall discussion. Then we found out this.

dmagazine.com

"A 'priority two,' which is considered the second-most serious and can include domestic violence incidents, took officers an average of 32 minutes to get to in 2020. In 2025, that average was about 179 minutes." Kelli investigates officer staffing decisions and their impact on response times.

Kelli Smith@kellixsmith.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I spent the last few weeks analyzing where Dallas allocates patrol cops with a question in mind: How do police manage staffing for perception vs. risk? I dove into lots of data and spoke with police chiefs, elected officials and criminologists to try to make sense of Dallas’ changing priorities:

Still one of my favorite things we published on the @dmagazine.bsky.social site.

Natalie Weiner@natalieweiner.bsky.social · 8mo ago

and this of course i am particularly fond of. knon forever www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/...

Read @timmytyper.bsky.social on Tommy Lee Walker, the innocent man who Dallas County yesterday admitted was executed for a crime he didn't commit in 1953. www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/...

Tommy Lee Walker Declared Innocent of 1953 Murder

DA Henry Wade sent him to the electric chair. Today his son wept as county commissioners cleared his name.

dmagazine.com

In Dallas, churches are exploring transforming excess land and old buildings into affordable housing. The movement is part of a national trend, but Charlotte is the model for how to get it done. @sharongrigsby.bsky.social took a trip to teach us a thing or three. labreportdallas.com/p/faith-base...

This Church Could Be Your Home

In Dallas, long known as "the buckle of the Bible belt," churches are considering turning land and buildings into affordable housing. Charlotte, North Carolina, shows us how to pull it off.

labreportdallas.com

New from @stevanzetti.bsky.social: A Dallas megadonor, a new nonprofit, and a scheme to relocate the homeless out of downtown shed light on a larger right-wing triumph over “housing first.” www.texasobserver.org/dallas-texas...

A Dallas Megadonor, a New Nonprofit, and the War on ‘Housing First’

A scheme to relocate the unhoused out of one Texas city's downtown sheds light on a larger right-wing takeover of federal homelessness policy.

texasobserver.org

It's generally good news when your appraisal district adds nearly $3 billion to the tax rolls, like Dallas did this month. But what if that precedes a wave of defaults and foreclosures of affordable apartment buildings? Let's take a drive through Lake Highlands. labreportdallas.com/p/the-housin...

The Housing Crisis Simmering in Lake Highlands

The Dallas tax rolls this month received an enormous bump, which may spell trouble for 20 aging apartment complexes around Interstate 635.

labreportdallas.com

If you want to understand the suburban war on DART—there's some absurd stuff in here, and elected officials seemingly ignore evidence showing the public actually wants the transit service—you won't find anything better than this @thetexanrhino.bsky.social piece. www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/...

North Texas Cities May Find Leaving DART Is Quite Hard - D Magazine

Plano, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, and Irving are all weighing leaving the transit agency. Before the matter lands on May ballots, here's how that has gone historically.

dmagazine.com

Dallas will likely end 2025 with its fifth straight decline in violent crime, in part by focusing on tiny geographies that account for most of it. What's that look like in practice? And what can't the cops solve? @kellixsmith.bsky.social on Volara in Oak Cliff: labreportdallas.com/p/the-stubbo...

The Stubborn Story of a Challenged Apartment Complex

Volara in Oak Cliff, once the most violent apartments in Dallas, last year became a tale of success. In 2025, police say it has returned to its old ways. What happened?

labreportdallas.com

Yesterday's City Hall vote remains weird. Why is Councilman Ridley's idea not the first thing done? "One stipulation called for city officials to focus primarily on getting an independent facility condition assessment of City Hall before considering relocation." www.dallasnews.com/news/politic...

I.M. Pei’s Dallas City Hall at risk after City Council votes to explore alternatives

The Dallas City Council voted Wednesday to formally explore alternatives to the current City Hall building designed by I.M. Pei, with City Manager Kimberly...

dallasnews.com

Mayor Eric Johnson finally whipped some votes. (And Bethany's story is a must-read on how the Dallas City Council and its police department rebuffed ICE.)

Txnewsprincess@txnewsprincess.bsky.social · 11mo ago

And here is the link to that piece about the City Council briefing on the 287(g) program. www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/...

AND the mayor is missing from the meeting he called.

Robert Wilonsky@robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 11mo ago

The joint committee meeting, called by Mayor Eric Johnson, is now hearing from public speakers -- nearly every one opposed to this partnership. Said one speaker, "Eric Johnson is not known for making good decisions for our city." Council discussion to follow. dallastx.new.swagit.com/views/113

Starbucks is coming to South Dallas. But the real story is why the nonprofit leading the overhaul of the Forest Theater believed the national brand to be its best neighbor. @sharongrigsby.bsky.social on a new approach for economic development in the Sunny South: labreportdallas.com/p/why-starbu...

Why Starbucks is Coming to South Dallas

The story of how Forest Forward came to understand the significance of inviting a national chain into its ambitious redevelopment of the Forest Theater.

labreportdallas.com

IDK guys, I kind of feel like we're operating on someone else's timeline on this. Yes, it's true the discussion about deferred maintenance of 1500 Marilla has been going on for years, but the suddeness of the "we could just tear it down" talk seems basketball shaped.

Txnewsprincess@txnewsprincess.bsky.social · 11mo ago

It really is sounding like people have a real zeal for ripping down City Hall.

From Councilman Chad West's email newsletter, about Dallas' efforts to keep the Mavericks and Stars in town. I thought we literally had The Sports Mayor?

A DART board member tells me Farmers Branch and Highland Park will also discuss holding withdrawal elections from the agency. Much of the broader coverage has focused on the suburbs itching to bail. Here's a profile of a group fighting to keep—and improve—DART. labreportdallas.com/p/dart-s-big...

DART’s Big Problem and the Little Group That Wants to Solve It

The Dallas Area Transit Alliance launched right as some of the public transportation agency’s suburban partners began pushing to defund it.

labreportdallas.com

The Dallas Morning News@dallasnews.com · 11mo ago

The future of the region’s rapid transit system could take a major hit when the Plano City Council holds a special session next week to consider a ballot measure to withdraw from Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

Of all the things going on at City Hall, I'll never understand Dallas' seemingly random insistence on enforcing ticky tack rules that make it harder to run small businesses. www.dmagazine.com/micropost/th...

The Free Man, Reveler’s Hall say city demanded they quit charging a cover for live music

Despite being in business for years and offering live music for just as long, the owners of two businesses, one in Deep Ellum and another in Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District, say the city recently inf...

dmagazine.com

"The city, it should be noted, had no problem spending $140 million to restore the Cotton Bowl, a building that essentially hosts one marquee event per year."

mark lamster@mlamster.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Friends: Please join me in the fight to save Dallas City Hall. Spread the word.  www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta...