Dallas, TX
Dallas CIO resigns after 4 years for role in private sector | StateScoop
Bill Zielinski is resigning from his position as Dallas’ chief information officer after nearly four years on the job, the Dallas Morning News reported on Wednesday.
Zielinski joined the city amid the COVID-19 pandemic and led the city’s response to a ransomware attack and navigated the fallout after a city information technology employee deleted millions of electronic police records. His official last day as CIO is April 30.
Though he did not specify his new role, Zielinski told The Dallas Morning News he’s moving to the private sector after more than three decades working government jobs.
“I had this great opportunity that came my way that, at the end of the day, given where I am in my career, where I am in my life, was just a great match. And so I said yes,” Zielinkski told The Dallas Morning News. “And so I’ll take several weeks off and then I will start a new gig in private industry.”
Brian Gardner, the city’s chief information security officer, will serve as the interim CIO.
In 2021, a city IT employee accidentally deleted millions of police files. Two years later, some city computers and services were taken offline after a ransomware attack that breached more than 30,000 Social Security numbers and other personal information.
In response to the deletion of records, Zielinski began offering monthly reports on the IT department to the city council. Additionally, the ransomware attack prompted city officials to work to address its digital vulnerabilities.
“There’s nothing pushing me to leave,” Zielinski told the Dallas Morning News. “The city has been extremely supportive both from city management through to the council. I’m nothing but pleased with the support that the city has provided to me here in this role and to the IT organization, and I expect and I hope to continue to see that kind of support here in the organization.”
Dallas, TX
Mark Cuban takes legal action against Dallas Mavericks ownership over potential new arena deal
Mark Cuban has gone to court over frustrations that he’s being kept in the dark about the Dallas Mavericks moving forward in their quest to build a new arena.
Cuban’s lawyers have filed a petition in Dallas County district court seeking sworn testimony from a corporate representative of the Arena Development Institute, a company formed by Mavericks ownership in Delaware.
In June, the Mavericks announced that they had entered into an option agreement for the potential purchase of 104 acres of land at the former Valley View Mall site in North Dallas.
The Mavericks’ lease at American Airlines Center expires in 2031, and the team hopes to move into a new building ahead of the 2031-32 season.
Cuban claims that this potential new arena deal could violate contracts he already has in place with the Mavericks’ owners in Texas.
In the document Cuban filed, he outlines his version of how he sold his majority stake in the Mavericks to Miriam Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont, the Sands Corporation CEO who also serves as the Mavericks governor. Cuban said he began working with them in 2019 to pass gambling in Texas. Their goal at the time was to build a “Venetian style destination resort” somewhere in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
In 2023, Cuban officially sold his majority stake in the Mavericks to Adelson. Cuban said that they had a handshake agreement in place where he would remain in control of the Mavericks’ basketball decisions while Dumont would be in charge of the team’s business side.
“This handshake agreement was reiterated in multiple emails and orally in the presence of Dumont, Miriam Adelson, another NBA owner, and Mavericks employees,” Cuban’s legal action read.
The Athletic asked Cuban if he could produce these emails. Cuban replied, “Can’t say anything at all.”
Dumont, of course, leaned on former general manager Nico Harrison to make basketball decisions, which went well — at first. The Mavericks made separate moves for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, which resulted in them catching fire to close that season and making a surprise run to the NBA Finals.
But all of that goodwill was erased when Harrison decided to trade Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025 — a failed move that eventually cost Harrison his job.
In May, Dumont hired Masai Ujiri — a championship-winning executive who spent 12 seasons running the Toronto Raptors — to take over in Dallas as president and alternate governor. Ujiri will clearly wield significant power in Dallas. In one of his first major moves, Ujiri chose to fire coach Jason Kidd, despite Kidd having more than $40 million remaining on his contract.
Cuban maintains a 27 percent stake in the Mavericks but has minimal say in the day-to-day operations of the team. In the petition Cuban filed in court, he claims that Dumont once told him, “Why would I give you control of a $4 billion asset?”
— Melody Gutierrez and Nathan Fenno contributed to this report
Dallas police officers and firefighters are being praised after rescuing a homeless woman who was trapped in a ravine for days. First responders said the rescue pushed them to their limits, but they never gave up.
Paramedics and police officers responded to a call late last month in searing afternoon heat after a man working out near Conrad High School reported hearing faint cries for help.
“When we got the initial call with DPD, we were seeing notes that said that there was someone deep back beside the ravine,” Dallas Fire-Rescue paramedic Robert Kober recalled.
A recent storm had turned the terrain in the area into a thick, sticky mud. “You stepped in it, you sank past your ankles, sometimes halfway or more up to your knees. Nasty, nasty conditions,” Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Mark Gnewuch said.
They hiked nearly a quarter mile through the muck, thick brush and even sewage to find the woman. A one point they even needed to fashion a makeshift bridge, Kober said.
“By the time I got out there, I’d already slipped and fell once and my thought process was ‘wow, she has been out here for a while,’” Gnewuch said.
“I was expecting to see someone who was barely coherent, possibly deceased, but when we arrived on location and I saw her, she was actually carrying on a conversation,” Kober said.
The woman was taken to a hospital suffering from severe dehydration, prolonged sun exposure and other injuries, but was in stable condition.
“I have been on similar situations where individuals who are in that type of environment for that long, they don’t survive, so it was definitely a miracle to make it through,” Kober said.
The rescue was proof of what can be accomplished when first responders work together.
FC Dallas announced today that forward Logan Farrington signed a contract extension through the 2027-28 season, with club options for the 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons.
Farrington was previously under contract through the 2027 season. This new deal updates his contract options through the 2029-30 season.
Farrington has appeared in 14 matches this season, scoring a career-high six goals and recording a team-leading four assists. He was named to the MLS Team of the Matchweek Starting XI for Week 5 after scoring a brace and one assist in the Texas Derby against Houston on March 21.
For the first time in his professional career, Farrington scored in back-to-back matches from March 21 to April 4, finding the net in the Texas Derby victory and the road win at D.C. United.
The Racine, Wisconsin, native was drafted No. 3 overall in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft and signed a new contract on Jan. 22, 2025. Farrington has recorded 15 goals and 16 assists in 75 appearances since joining Dallas, the most by any 2024 MLS SuperDraftee across the league. He won the MLS NEXT Pro Cup with North Texas SC on Nov. 9, 2024, scoring a goal in the final. He also became one of six players in MLS history to record multiple games with both a goal and an assist off the bench in a single season in 2024.
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Quick BDS Take
There is no doubt in my mind that we’re going to see more of these types of announcements over the next few weeks as the club begins to reposition itself for the upcoming calendar change in MLS. There are still a lot of players on deals that run through 2027, so addressing what part of 2027 has to be done here.
Either way, I am all for adding more years to Farrington’s contract. He’s been one of the more underrated strikers in MLS and his partnership with Petar Musa has really been fun to watch over the last three seasons.
His numbers alone this year show that he’s been improving year over year with the club, too.
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