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Scott Goldstein

Covers:  dallas city council, dallas mayor, dallas politics, housing, dallas, government, politics, dallas city hall, economic development
Author of the weekly "Meetings of Interest" Dallas political email newsletter, named 2024 "Best News Outlet" by @DMagazine.

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HUD: Dallas affordable-housing practices break civil rights laws

HUD: Dallas affordable-housing practices break civil rights laws

Dallas Morning News — Dallas officials promote discrimination against minorities and the disabled through affordable-housing practices that violate federal civil rights laws, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development investigation has found. According to a 29-page letter outlining the initial findings, "the evidence shows that there was a pattern of negative reactions to projects that would provide affordable housing in the northern sector of Dallas and that those decisions were inconsistent with the goals required by HUD program obligations." A city spokesman said in a written statement that the city complies with HUD guidelines regarding affordable housing projects.

Dallas officers wrote 37,000 fewer traffic tickets last year

Dallas officers wrote 37,000 fewer traffic tickets last year

Dallas Morning News — Dallas police issued 37,000 fewer tickets last fiscal year than in the previous year, continuing a decrease that could, over time, cost the city millions of dollars in lost revenue. Officers wrote 211,843 citations in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, compared with 248,835 the year before. The number of traffic tickets issued in the city has been decreasing since at least fiscal 2006-07, when officers wrote 495,007 tickets. The Dallas Police Department, like its counterparts in other big U.S. cities, has shifted resources to concentrate on fighting violent crimes and property crimes, offenses that are reported to the FBI and widely used to assess the overall safety of cities.

Dallas mayor says he’s worked on JFK speech since January

Dallas mayor says he’s worked on JFK speech since January

Dallas Morning News — It’s the biggest speech of his political career. He started writing it in January. But Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings isn’t offering any previews of the address that he’ll deliver in Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, when the city commemorates the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Security will be tight for Friday's JFK commemoration ceremony

Security will be tight for Friday's JFK commemoration ceremony

Dallas Morning News — Dallas officials have a clear goal for Friday's 50th anniversary commemoration of the John F. Kennedy assassination: Protect the thousands of guests attending it without making Dealey Plaza look like a military compound. Security experts say that while the likelihood of a terrorist attack at the event is low, the damage of even a minor disruption would be immeasurable. So police are leaving nothing to chance. There will be background checks for all attendees, street closures, temporary DART rail stoppage and the use of mobile surveillance cameras. Nov.

Officials: Yellow Cab insurance may not have met Dallas' requirements

Officials: Yellow Cab insurance may not have met Dallas' requirements

Dallas Morning News — Dallas' biggest cab company may have been violating the city's insurance requirements for years, officials say. Yellow Cab and other taxi companies owned by Irving Holdings Inc. appear to have insurance polices that include a "self-insured retention" that pays claims up to $250,000, according to public records. City law was changed in 1996 to require that cab companies use independent firms for taxi insurance and that none of their employees have ownership in those firms. If taxi companies are self-insured, injured people could be at a disadvantage in negotiating claims because they could be dealing directly with company employees.

For Dallas police, pain of day JFK was killed lingers

For Dallas police, pain of day JFK was killed lingers

Dallas Morning News — They were on the front lines of a presidential security operation that could not have ended worse. So it's natural that some of the Dallas police officers on duty on Nov. 22, 1963, still wonder if things could have been different. They're still bothered, after 50 years, by questions from outsiders, especially the conspiracy buffs. The pain lingers like the trauma of war. "I have been at the bedside of numerous officers who have passed away and who were there at the time of the assassination," said Paul G. McCaghren, a retired assistant police chief.

Dallas manager faulted, but not disciplined, for 'disappointing' handling of Uber matter

Dallas manager faulted, but not disciplined, for 'disappointing' handling of Uber matter

Dallas Morning News — A.C. Gonzalez, the interim Dallas city manager, stubbornly tried to crack down on the car service Uber without City Council input and over objections from his predecessor, the police chief and others, according to an investigative report released Wednesday. Gonzalez now admits that his actions constituted "one of the worst decisions of his career," the report said. The inquiry, ordered by Mayor Mike Rawlings, found no evidence of illegal or unethical conduct by Gonzalez or anyone else. Still, Rawlings called the conduct of Gonzalez, the top internal candidate to replace retired City Manager Mary Suhm, "highly disappointing."

Little guy making big impact on Dallas City Council

Little guy making big impact on Dallas City Council

Dallas Morning News — He's not old enough to drive or tall enough to see over the speakers' podium, but David Williams often has important business to discuss with Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and his City Council colleagues. So every few weeks, the 12-year-old southeast Oak Cliff boy signs up to address city leaders on topics such as school safety, bullying and domestic violence. He sometimes comes armed with a PowerPoint presentation. When it appeared some council members were not listening to him at a February meeting, David asked, "Do you feel it is acceptable for City Council members to be up and walking while their constituents are addressing them?"

Police chief: Dallas leads big U.S. cities in reducing crime, but there are caveats

Police chief: Dallas leads big U.S. cities in reducing crime, but there are caveats

Dallas Morning News — Over the past 10 years, crime has gone down in Dallas more than in any other U.S. city with a population of 1 million or more, Police Chief David Brown told the City Council on Wednesday. Brown said overall crime has declined by 45 percent. But the chief's declaration comes with caveats. Beginning in 2007, Dallas police repeatedly changed the way they report certain crimes, including thefts, burglaries and assaults. Council member Scott Griggs asked Brown what effect those reporting changes had on the figures the chief was citing. Brown said the changes affected "just very small fringes" of the overall crime statistics.

Fake flower deliveryman gets 40 years for shooting Mesquite woman

Fake flower deliveryman gets 40 years for shooting Mesquite woman

Dallas Morning News — Thanks to Wilson Alexander Benitez, there's a 9-year-old girl in the Dallas area who runs and hides whenever she hears a knock at her door. On the first Halloween since Benitez dressed as a flower delivery man in December and shot her mother in front of her at their Mesquite

Garland man sentenced to 15 years for killing man after receiving graphic message

Garland man sentenced to 15 years for killing man after receiving graphic message

Dallas Morning News — Jurors considered the crime an act of passion, which limited the punishment range for the repeat felon.

Photo of sex act key evidence as Garland murder trial opens

Photo of sex act key evidence as Garland murder trial opens

Dallas Morning News — Mark Lynn Milligan and his estranged wife had been texting "ugly" and "juvenile" messages back and forth for hours one night last year when Milligan received an explicit photo of the mother of his three children engaged in a sex act with another man. That's when, authorities say, Milligan got

Polo player from notable family found not guilty of Las Colinas mallet attack

Polo player from notable family found not guilty of Las Colinas mallet attack

Dallas Morning News — The jury took a little more than an hour to acquit Vaughn Miller of assaulting Jorge Cernadas at Las Colinas Equestrian Center.

Dallas County DA Craig Watkins' resign-to-run policy isn't in place this election cycle

Dallas County DA Craig Watkins' resign-to-run policy isn't in place this election cycle

Dallas Morning News — The district attorney appears to have backed off a policy under which prosecutors were barred from running for judicial office unless they quit.