Dallas, TX

Dallas County judge’s proposal for “neutral third party” review of Juvenile Justice Center rejected as divisive

Published

1 year ago

July 18, 2024

Dallas County judge’s proposal for “neutral third party” review of Juvenile Justice Center rejected as divisive

DALLAS COUNTY — So who’s telling the truth about conditions inside Dallas County’s Juvenile Justice Center?

It is the question of the moment following new accusations from community activists who claim that the children being held there are subjected to “inhumane” conditions.

Now, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins is suggesting a new path to transparency, saying “all the information that comes out is negative. And then the juvenile director will have a press conference and say it’s all untrue. Get the data to a neutral party so that everybody knows what is actually happening.”

Jenkins suggests allowing a neutral third party, such as representatives of a university, access to data compiled from observation sheets, logs of each juvenile’s activity throughout the day.

“Then we’ll know what is true, right? So if you’re saying that the news media is treating you unfairly and it’s not true, then turn over your data to a neutral person,” Jenkins said. “Let’s see what is true.”

The issue of conditions inside the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center surfaced anew in recent weeks. Earlier this month a group called Dallas Black Clergy and other supporters began calling for substantive change to the system.

“It’s time to protect our kids,” said activist Rev. Dr. George Mason. “We aren’t asking for the Henry Wade to be turned over to the Ritz Carlton hotels. We are simply asking for an end to the neglect, squalor and callousness that the current conditions reflect.”

A young woman who spoke at that weekend gathering but was afraid to share her name claimed that she was denied feminine products. She says she was a first-time offender and is still traumatized by the time spent in the county’s juvenile facility.

“Being locked down like an animal, worse than an animal, animals they get to go outside, the time I was here, I didn’t get to go outside … I was here for three and a half months.”

The accusations caught the community’s attention, and the Henry Wade Executive Team responded with a press conference of their own, reading from prepared statements and taking no questions.

“Youth are afforded the opportunity to participate in indoor and outdoor recreation seven days a week,” insisted DeAndra Jones, Deputy Director of Detention Services.

Meanwhile, Darryl Beatty, Executive Director and Chief Juvenile Probation Officer for the Dallas County Juvenile Department had this to say to the community: “The statements and allegations being leveled against our detention center that youth are being subjected to any mean treatment and humane treatment is categorically false.”

Again, who’s telling the truth?

“It’s time for adults to quit saying they are being victimized by the media. That is ridiculous,” said Jenkins, who also serves on the Juvenile Board. “What we are seeing is that kids are being victimized by poor performance.”

The friction between Dallas County Commissioners and its Juvenile Justice arm has been building for months, with Jenkins’ proposal apparently viewed as another attempt to access data that Henry Wade’s leaders have repeatedly refused to provide.

In response to CBS News Texas’ request for a response to the Jenkins’ proposal, Executive Director Darryl Beatty responded via email, stating, “they are aware that as a result of the prior ruling of Judge Eric Moye, the Commissioners Court does not have the right to thousands of statutorily confidential observation sheets. They repeatedly make variations of this request in an effort to indirectly receive the same information through a third party like a university study group, that they may not receive directly. Their requests seemingly benign to the general public, promotes division rather than unity.”

Beatty’s statement went on to say that “the facility is not perfect. I contacted TJJD [Texas Juvenile Justice Department] and requested early audits of the facility when concerns were raised. I have attempted to address matters that have come to my attention and put plans in place to move the Department forward. Moreover, I provided proper state oversight authorities with these very documents a year ago to assist in the effort to investigate and support our detention center.

I think that what would be more helpful is for the Commissioners Court to stop withholding funding for programs and systems that are critical to the success of the department.”

More is surely to come.

Robbie Owens

Robbie grew up in northeast Texas, in a tiny town where her family’s history spans six generations.

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Dallas, TX

Utah hosts Los Angeles after overtime win against Dallas

Published

1 hour ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Utah hosts Los Angeles after overtime win against Dallas

Los Angeles Lakers (18-7, third in the Western Conference) vs. Utah Jazz (10-15, 10th in the Western Conference)

Salt Lake City; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Lakers -6.5; over/under is 241.5

BOTTOM LINE: Utah hosts the Los Angeles Lakers after the Jazz took down the Dallas Mavericks 140-133 in overtime.

The Jazz are 6-11 in conference matchups. Utah allows the most points in the Western Conference, giving up 126.1 points and is allowing opponents to shoot 48.8%.

The Lakers have gone 13-5 against Western Conference opponents. Los Angeles has a 5-0 record in one-possession games.

The Jazz are shooting 45.8% from the field this season, 2.3 percentage points lower than the 48.1% the Lakers allow to opponents. The Lakers are shooting 50.4% from the field, 1.6% higher than the 48.8% the Jazz’s opponents have shot this season.

The teams meet for the third time this season. The Lakers won 108-106 in the last matchup on Nov. 24. Luka Doncic led the Lakers with 33 points, and Keyonte George led the Jazz with 27 points.

TOP PERFORMERS: Lauri Markkanen is scoring 27.8 points per game with 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the Jazz. George is averaging 37.0 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 55.0% over the past 10 games.

Doncic is averaging 34.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.5 steals for the Lakers. LeBron James is averaging 26 points, four assists, two steals and two blocks over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Jazz: 5-5, averaging 119.1 points, 44.2 rebounds, 30.1 assists, 7.2 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 126.1 points per game.

Lakers: 7-3, averaging 118.8 points, 42.4 rebounds, 23.6 assists, 6.0 steals and 5.4 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 118.9 points.

INJURIES: Jazz: Georges Niang: out (foot), Jusuf Nurkic: day to day (rest), Walker Kessler: out for season (shoulder).

Lakers: Maxi Kleber: day to day (back), Austin Reaves: out (calf).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

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Dallas, TX

Packers star Micah Parsons heads to Dallas while awaiting ACL surgery

Published

13 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Packers star Micah Parsons heads to Dallas while awaiting ACL surgery

GREEN BAY – Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons won’t be with the team as he awaits surgery on his torn left ACL.

But it’s for a good reason.

“He’s about to have another child here pretty quick,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Dec. 16 in his press conference.

Parsons has a home in the Dallas area and has returned there for the birth of his third child. He has not had surgery on his knee and LaFleur said he did not have a timeline on when that might occur.

Typically, doctors allow swelling to go down before they operate to repair the ligament, and so it’s possible surgery hasn’t been scheduled.

Parsons tore his ACL late in the third quarter of the Packers’ 34-26 loss to the Broncos on Dec. 14. Tests confirmed the injury Dec. 15.

LaFleur said he didn’t know if Parsons would have the surgery in Dallas.

As for the rest of the season, LaFleur said he thought Parsons would be around to support his teammates once his child is born and his medical situation is settled.

“He’ll be around, for sure,” LaFleur said.

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Dallas, TX

City Hall’s future is an opportunity for its leadership

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

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City Hall’s future is an opportunity for its leadership

Recent activities reminded me of a simple roadmap I laid out in these pages (Aug. 31, 2025, “Lessons from George W. Bush, his institution”) for effective leadership: providing safety, security, solvency and sanity.

In short, great leadership should provide physical safety for those being led and the security that they can trust the institutions to govern intelligently and with their best interests at heart, while ensuring both the financial solvency of the enterprise and the sanity to keep the place focused optimistically on the future.

Good leadership should do what it is strong at and be intellectually honest to own up to what it does not do well. Then, it should simply stop wasting time on those things outside its core competency. As my former boss was prone to pointing out — a government should do fewer things, but do them well!

As it relates to the current debate over the future of Dallas City Hall, applying these basic principles is instructive as the issue touches each of these priorities.

Our city government should exit the real estate business, since it is clearly not its core competency, especially given its record of mismanagement of City Hall over the years as well as other well-documented and costly recent real estate dalliances. It is time to own that track record and begin to be better stewards of taxpayer money. Plus, given the large vacancies in existing downtown buildings, relocating city functions as a renter will be much more economical.

The definition of insanity is to do the same thing and expect different results. Thinking that the city will be able to remediate City Hall’s issues in a permanent and economically feasible way is naïve. It is time for sanity to prevail — for the city to move on from an anachronistic building that is beyond repair, returning that land to the tax rolls while saving both tenancy costs and reducing downtown office vacancies at the same time.

I appreciate that the iconic architect’s name on the building is a city asset and demolition would toss that aside. But our neglect up to this point is evidence that it was already being tossed, just one unaddressed issue at a time. While punting is not ideal, neither is being in the predicament we are in. Leaders must constantly weigh costs and benefits as part of the job and make sound decisions going forward.

We now have an opportunity to demonstrate leadership and apply all of our energy and careful thought to execute on a dynamic plan to activate that part of downtown for the benefit of the next generation. Engaging Linda McMahon, who is CEO of the Dallas Economic Development Corporation, is heartening on this issue given her experience and leadership in real estate.

This is a commercial decision and ignoring economic realities is foolhardy. We have the chance to do something special that future citizens will look back upon and see that today’s leaders were visionary.

I’d like to see the city exercise its common sense and pursue the win-win strategy. By doing so, all Dallas citizens will be more secure knowing that its leadership is capable of making smart decisions, even if it means admitting past mistakes. The first rule when you’ve dug yourself into a hole: “Stop digging!”

It is time for our leaders to lead.

Ken Hersh is the co-founder and former CEO of NGP Energy Capital Management and former CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

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