Dallas, TX
Dallas-Fort Worth must clean up its dirty air
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/GNRFI2YKUNFDXLCLEQAXNZLROE.jpg?ssl=1 "Dallas-Fort Worth must clean up its dirty air")
Ozone levels in North Texas have steadily improved in the last 20 years, yet they’ve still exceeded federal standards. As a result, the Dallas-Fort Worth area today is one of the top 25 most ozone-polluted metro areas in the country.
That’s why an air quality improvement plan being drawn up by the North Central Texas Council of Governments is such an important endeavor.
Funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the plan aims to recommend ways regional governments can work together to reduce the unhealthy levels of ozone and other pollutants in North Texas air. If the plan is aggressive enough, the council could receive a slice of a $4.6 billion pie the EPA plans to dole out nationwide to help implement clean air strategies.
It’s worth recalling why we should all care about any of this. Breathing ozone-polluted air can make good lungs bad and bad ones worse. It can cause a host of respiratory problems, aggravate existing ones and is especially bad for children and the elderly. The risks of these health problems are particularly high on the kind of hot, sunny days common to North Texas.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area meets federal standards for all pollutants regulated by the EPA except ozone. But the council of government wants to “create a roadmap for the region to improve air quality, protect public health, and reduce impacts of extreme weather events” by reducing not just ozone but also a long list of other pollutants.
It expects to have its strategy finalized by March 1 and is holding a series of public hearings seeking feedback on its draft. That document proposes hundreds of emission reducing measures, many of them centered on planes, trains and automobiles.
They include the usual suggestions of reducing the number of old diesel trucks on the road, promoting less idling of cars, and adding local rebates for consumers to switch to electric vehicles, for example.
Some of the strategies are more unusual, such as installing cool roofs on government or commercial buildings by either painting them white or planting vegetation on them. Others are already being tackled by some cities, such as establishing more parks and green spaces and planting trees known for large carbon storage capacity.
Homeowners can help the cause by doing more than switching to LED lightbulbs. They can band together to negotiate lower rates for renewable energy sources, and local governments can develop weatherization assistance programs for residents, the draft suggests. Such programs would help homeowners make their houses more energy efficient by installing better insulation or updating heating and cooling systems.
No one strategy will improve the region’s ozone pollution. But hundreds of them implemented together for a sustained period surely could. We applaud the council of governments for its work in coordinating the local efforts to make our air cleaner and safer, and we hope the EPA sends some of its federal grant money this way.
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Jeff Kolb and Sam Gannon welcome Cowboys insiders Clarence Hill (All City Dallas) and Calvin Watkins (Dallas Morning News) for a hilarious breakdown of the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. Giving insight, arguments, and plenty of laughs as two of the best Dallas Cowboys writers in the business go head-to-head on what Dallas should do next.
Dallas, TX
New video of Lake Dallas explosion draws focus on order decades ago to remove old plastic pipes
The search for the next general manager or president of basketball operations of the Dallas Mavericks has begun. They terminated Nico Harrison in November, which was about nine months too late, and gave any available candidates clear notice that they were open for business.
The plan was always to wait until after the season to start the search. While names popped up as the season reached an end, they didn’t begin turning over the staff until the Monday after the season ended. However, Dallas Mavericks fans are not going to like how the team is going about the search.
Patrick Dumont Leading Search for General Manager
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the Mavericks are not hiring a search firm in their hunt for a new lead executive. Instead, team governor Patrick Dumont is “acting as his own point person.”
This is an… interesting decision, to say the least. Dumont is not a basketball person whatsoever, and most organizations usually hire a search firm. The Chicago Bulls hired one as they look for their replacement for Arturas Karnisovas. Just because a firm is hired doesn’t mean a team will listen, though.
The Mavericks hired a firm in their last search for a GM. They let Donnie Nelson go in 2021 after a long tenure with the Mavs. Instead of listening to the firm, though, Mark Cuban ignored it to hire Nico Harrison, who had no previous NBA front office experience. Harrison had been an executive with Nike, which gave him connections with players like Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, and plenty of others.
For a while, that seemed to be working out okay. While he still had some questionable transactions, such as trading for Christian Wood and letting Jalen Brunson walk in free agency, they were still able to make a run to the NBA Finals in 2024. Then, he blew it all up, trading away Luka Doncic for an older and injured Anthony Davis, and the team hasn’t been the same since.
It’s imperative that the Mavericks get this hire correct. The interim Co-GM setup with Matt Riccardi and Michael Finley has performed admirably, but the 2026 NBA Draft is important for the Mavs to get right. It’s their best chance to pair Cooper Flagg with another young star, as they don’t own their first-round pick again until 2031 after this.
Hiring the right GM could help bring in more draft capital by bringing in bad contracts or flipping veterans into picks.
Dumont was able to convince Rick Welts, a Hall of Famer, to come out of retirement to be the CEO and lead the charge for a new arena. Maybe Dumont pulls another rabbit out of his hat for the GM.
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