August 10, 2020 Whether President Donald Trump has the constitutional authority to extend federal unemployment benefits by executive order remains unclear. Equally up in the air is whether states, which are necessary partners in Trump’s plan to bypass Congress, will sign on. Trump announced an executive order Saturday that extends additional unemployment payments of up […]
August 10, 2020 The Texas Democratic Party will announce Monday that it is doubling down on its vote-by-mail campaign with a goal of reaching 1.7 million potential mail voters by the end of the month — the most for an election cycle in the state party’s history. To reach that goal, party officials will launch […]
August 9, 2020 Six museums in downtown Dallas announced Sunday their plans to reopen, two on Friday and others no later than September, with all acting in unison to enforce “new measures to ensure the health and safety of their staff and all visitors.” It won’t be business as usual. Each museum is imposing restrictions, […]
August 9, 2020 AT&T’s Randall Stephenson went out on top. Stephenson, who retired July 1, reclaimed his title as the highest-paid chief executive at Dallas-Fort Worth in The Dallas Morning News’ annual ranking of CEO pay at public companies. The ranking is compiled by Houston-based compensation firm Longnecker & Associates. At age 60, Stephenson walked […]
August 8, 2020 Finally some good news. Texas collected nearly $3 billion in sales tax revenue in July, a level of improvement that was higher than expected. The retail sector alone accounted for some $460 million added into the state treasury. “As people are staying home and not able to take vacations, what we’re seeing […]
August 7, 2020 With some Dallas-area school districts just days away from opening their doors for in-person classes, state officials are still trying to decide whether to collect data on the number of coronavirus cases at Texas public schools. The Texas Education Agency — the governing body for the state’s primary and secondary public schools […]
August 7, 2020 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton advised Friday that local Texas governments’ attempts to delay evictions for renters grappling with the COVID-19 recession amounted to rewriting state law – something they can’t do, he said in nonbinding legal guidance. “While local officials do possess certain emergency powers … statewide eviction procedures far exceed […]
August 7, 2020 The proposed budget for the city of Dallas does not include cuts to the police department. The plan released Friday does include funding new programs and infrastructure improvements that aim to reduce inequality in the city. After nationwide protests over police killings of Black people, activists and several Dallas City Council members […]
August 7, 2020 On the first day of her vacation in late June, Melanie Bentley lost her job as an administrative assistant, one of several employees let go from the Tomás Rivera Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her belongings would be packed up, she was told by an administrator on the […]
Dallas mayor Eric Johnson was named to the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, the mayor’s office announced Sunday. According to the commission, its mission is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the justice system, develop strategies to limit future outbreaks, and produce a priority agenda of systemic policy changes to better balance […]