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Brandon Williams’ newest milestone is latest example of his growth with Mavericks
Dallas, TX
Dallas police, fire pension lawyers tried to get plan approved without city’s OK
The law firm representing Dallas’ severely underfunded public safety pension fund said it doesn’t need city officials’ approval before submitting a plan to state regulators to fix the system.
After almost six months of meetings between city officials and pension executives trying to work together on the issue, the city only recently found out.
In a letter obtained by KERA sent earlier this year to the Texas Pension Review Board’s top executive, the fund’s lawyers said both the city and the board’s reading of legislation guiding the plan was “erroneous.”
“The System’s board has exclusive authority to adopt a pension plan,” the January letter said. “No City approval is contemplated or needed.”
KERA reached out to pension system officials on Saturday afternoon, but did not receive comment by the time of publication.
In another letter obtained by KERA sent to state regulators on May 10, Dallas City Attorney Tammy Palomino said she “only recently became aware” of the initial correspondence from the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System — and that its reading of the two state statues is “plainly incorrect.”
Palomino’s letter said ultimately the city council has to approve any plan that will be sent to state regulators.
Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins, who chairs the city’s pension committee, has maintained that both parties need to come together to find a remedy. In a statement to KERA, he agreed with Palomino’s stance.
“The taxpayers of Dallas are being expected to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension’s gap and must have a say in this process,” Atkins’ office said. “It is affirmed by law, as well as the Texas Pension Review Board, who will ultimately be responsible for accepting the funding plan.”
District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon told KERA that while elected officials will be keeping their promise to remedy the issue, the city shouldn’t be just finding out about this after the fact.
“So much for working together, this was sent in January and we just found out about it a couple of weeks ago,” Blackmon said. “It kind of goes to the illusion of working together, or disillusion, right?”
Blackmon said she hoped this wouldn’t harm the process moving forward and that those involved would admit it was not the best approach. But she also said Dallas taxpayers are the ones who ultimately could get hurt during this process.
“This is a serious problem and we have to take it seriously,” Blackmon said. “Antics and letters and lack of transparency doesn’t help. We need the best and brightest minds to come to the table and really look at thoughtful solutions.”
Down payment
In the letter sent from Haynes and Boone attorneys to Amy Cardona, the state pension board’s executive director, the firm said the law is silent when it comes to giving power to the city for final approval.
“In the interest of fostering a collaborative dialogue about these issues with the [Pension Review Board], the [Dallas Police and Fire Pension System] provides the following statutory analysis,” the letter said.
The 91-page report details the two state statutes that guide how pension systems come up with funding plans with government entities — like the city of Dallas. The attorney argued that one of the laws “makes no provision for adopting or amending a pension plan. Nor does it address how a plan or amendment becomes effective.”
Instead, they said the other provision is what should govern the plan process and was why they concluded the fund could submit a plan on its own without city approval. The letter said the system “is confident that a court would agree.”
Palomino said that analysis isn’t correct and under either code the city council would need to approve the plan.
“If the two statutes are harmonized, the plan must be approved by city council under the provisions of Chapter 802.20,” Palomino’s letter said. “If the two statutes are irreconcilable, then a plan must still be approved by city council under the provisions of Chapter 802.”
The letter also said if state legislators had intended for one statute to take precedence over the other, “it could have said so in 2017, 2021, and 2023, but it did not.”
Blackmon said anyone can approach the state’s pension review board, but it’s the city that is ultimately on the hook for cutting the checks to fund the pension system. She equated it to her son asking for help in buying a new car or house.
“And he is like ‘I want this very expensive thing’ but I can’t afford with helping with that down payment,” Blackmon said. “So that’s what I’m equating this to…lets sit down and have this discussion about what can be done, because at the end of the day the city is going to have to write a check that has to clear.”
Two plans and a concern
Both the pension board and city staff’s recommendations are fairly close. The goal is to start building back the retirement fund that was on the brink of collapse in 2016 due to risky real estate investments.
The main difference is whether or not to increase police and fire retirees’ benefits. City officials call that a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA.
“No one is going to have it 100% their way or 100% our way,” Atkins said during a late April Ad Hoc Committee on Pensions meeting. “But we got to come to the conclusion that we are doing the best we can to make sure we are making the right decision.”
City staff say there are several issues standing in the way of increasing benefits — including paying more in annual contributions — and that it isn’t legal until the system is at least 70% funded.
At an April meeting, city officials said that may not happen until 2046 and it would add more than $120 million to the system’s unfunded liabilities.
As of that meeting, the pension’s unfunded liabilities have increased more than $160 million. That brings the total to $3.2 billion.
District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn, who has been outspoken about the need to increase retirees benefits, said the lack of a COLA could be hindering recruitment efforts.
“Everything we need to do on this plan has to be formed around that principal of how are we going to keep our officers, how are we going to attract new ones,” Mendelsohn said during the April meeting. “We are very close to having a public safety situation. I don’t want to say crisis, but we are very close.”
But city staff said at the time that while the police department may be falling short of hiring quotas, Dallas Fire Rescue doesn’t seem to be having that issue. City staff said not being able to hire officers is a nationwide issue — not just in Dallas.
That board is made up of 11 members — six of which are appointed by Dallas city officials. Some council members have also raised concerns over the system’s oversight.
“It’s really a false premise because they are absolutely obligated to the fiduciary duty to the [pension] fund,” District 13 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis said during an April meeting. “But the taxpayer is really not represented there.”
A deadline
The plan to fix the system is due to state regulators in November. That leaves just around six months for both pension executives and Dallas city officials to get on the same page.
Earlier this year some officials questioned how the fund was going to rebuild and asked about active investments. As of February the fund still had about 25% of its assets tied up in private investments. Those include an energy fund, natural resources — and assets in real estate.
Pension officials said the target for private equity is set at 15% for the fund. And while the investment allocations had been around two-thirds of the system’s portfolio, and officials have managed to liquidate some of those real estate assets over time — they’re still hindering the fund.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gifttoday. Thank you.
Justin Sourdif gave Capitals fans one of the most fun individual efforts of the season, recording five points and scoring his first career hat trick against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday. Sourdif had fantastic chemistry with Connor McMichael and Ryan Leonard in their first game together.
Now the question becomes – Can the Young Guns 2.0 keep it up against a usually-stingy, defensively stout Dallas Stars team?
With Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas out again due to injury, Brett Leason will make his season debut with the Capitals. Meanwhile, Dylan McIlrath will remain in the lineup.
The Stars come into on a six-game losing streak. Casey DeSmith will start in goal over Jake Oettinger while the Capitals will counter with Logan Thompson.
Puck drop for today’s game is scheduled for a little after 7:00 pm. The game’s national and on TNT.
I’m dedicating my work tonight to Callie. I love you, my sweet girl. 💔
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Lines
Washington Capitals
Beauvillier
Strome
Ovechkin
McMichael
Sourdif
Leonard
Dallas Stars
Duchene
Johnston
Rantanen
Tunnel shenanigans
1st Period
Puck is dropped. McMichael-Sourdif-Leonard and Fehervary-Carlson get the start.
Ilya Lyubushkin to the box for holding Jakob Chychrun at 2:44.
Stars’ Radek Faska goes 1 on 3 shorthanded and scores after Logan Thompson loses sight of a rebound. WHAT WAS THAT.
🚨
1-0 Dallas Stars
SHG: Radek Faksa (2). Assists: E. Lindell (14). Time: 3:06
Back to the power play and… Justin Sourdif gets tossed from the faceoff dot, starts screaming at the official, Connor McMichael comes in, says something, and he gets an unsportsmanlike doncut penalty, killing the rest of the team’s power play. You can tell Carbery is fuming.
The two teams are now playing four-on-four.
Puck bounces over Dylan Strome’s stick on a wide-open net down low after a great setup by John Carlson.
Stars are outshooting the Capitals 5-0, 5:30 into the first period.
Apparently Beck Malenstyn has returned to the Capitals because one of the commentators said he just made a play. Lmao. No one on the Capitals even wears no. 47.
Sam Steel ailing and holding his left arm after a big hit by Ethen Frank.
At intermission: The Stars lead 1-0. The Caps didn’t really do anything in the first period. They were there. They existed. But that was about it. Shots on goal are 10-8 Dallas.
2nd Period
Puck is dropped.
Ilya Lyubushkin and Brandon Duhaime throwing punches at each other after the play at 1:12. Lyubushkin is going down the tunnel due to a cut on his nose.
John Carlson… just watching a pass through the paint to his man, no stick lift or anything, just chillin.
🚨
2-0 Dallas Stars
Goal: Sam Steel (7). Assists: T. Harley (14), M. Duchene (6). Time: 2:37
Ryan Leonard fakes a dump-in and almost scores with a crazy shot to the far side from center ice.
Brandon Duhaime and Ilya Lyubushkin drop the gloves right off a faceoff at 12:53. Duhaime punches Lyubushkin about 5 times hard in the back of the helmet. Hope his knuckles are doing okay. The Caps crowd is finally into it, though.
Logan Thompson stops Roope Hintz on a two-on-none breakaway after Nic Dowd fails to get the puck deep. Caps look awful.
Mikko Rantanen slashes Justin Sourdif at 15:55. Caps going back to the power play.
At intermission: The Stars lead 2-0. Dallas leads in shots on goal 20 to 13.
3rd Period
Puck is dropped.
Anthony Beauvillier takes it hard to the net, and gets two opportunities but can’t whack the puck through.
Nic Dowd to the box for hooking at 4:57. The Caps look awful. Just listless. Can’t get anything going. A lot of standing around.
4 shots by the Stars on the power play. Thompson keeping the Caps close.
McMichael ices the puck at the end of the kill.
Caps have one shot on goal through the first 7:03 of the third period.
Jason Robertson rips one hard off the post. Thompson is flopping all over the place to keep the puck out.
McMichael and Duchene trade opportunities down the wing off the rush.
Beauvillier sends a horrible pass backwards to Matt Roy in the defensive zone, turnover to the Stars’ Steel, and Wyatt Johnston scores easily in front of the net. YIKES.
🚨
3-0 Dallas Stars
Goal: Wyatt Johnston (24). Assists: S. Steel (9). Time: 2:37
Caps pull Thompson with 2:26 remaining. Why not?
Alex Ovechkin scores his 915th career goal via a one-timer at the top of the left circle.
🚨
3-1 Dallas Stars
Goal: Alex Ovechkin (18). Assists: J. Carlson (23), J. Chychrun (17). Time: 17:41
Capitals pull Thompson again.
Timeout Washington with 1:20 remaining.
Comment below. Refresh for live updates during the game. The thread will be closed shortly after the game is completed.
Dallas, TX
Brandon Williams’ game-winning 3-pointer tops Kings, breaks Mavericks’ road losing streak
SACRAMENTO — The Mavericks were shorthanded the last time they fell to the Kings.
That fact remained true Tuesday night without P.J. Washington, but they brought reinforcements back to Sacramento with Anthony Davis and Brandon Williams, a duo that missed the last meeting at Golden 1 Center just 11 days ago.
When the Mavericks needed him most, Williams delivered. He drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer with 33.3 seconds left to help the Mavericks to a 100-98 win in front of a national audience.
“Just shot it with confidence,” Williams said. “I could kinda see it in Cooper’s eyes that he was gonna get off of it so I just had to be ready to shoot. Regardless of what my percentage says, I’m always ready to shoot.”
The Kings had three chances to take the lead following Williams’ clutch triple, but Dennis Schröder and Russell Westbrook went cold and missed 3-pointers. Sacramento regained hope when Naji Marshall missed a pair of free throws with eight seconds left, but DeMar DeRozan couldn’t convert on a running triple at the final buzzer.
It appeared as if rookie Cooper Flagg would be the one to save the day once he connected on a turnaround bank shot, but DeRozan temporarily stole the moment away from the Mavericks rookie by drilling a contested midrange jumper over the outstretched hands of Marshall.
The shot appeared to be the one for Sacramento to sandwich a five-game losing streak with another rare win. However, Williams’ shot proved to be the difference maker and the Mavericks escaped with their first road win since Dec. 1.
Williams entered the night shooting a career-worst 18.8% from beyond the arc. He only had three conversions out of his last 18 3-point attempts since Dec. 18, but he was relieved once he saw the ball snap through the net on his final attempt of the night.
“It’s been a minute since I hit a 3,” Williams said. “It kind of felt good for the ball to go in. It was like 30 seconds left so we had to finish the game out for me to really feel good.”
Dallas trailed by as many as 12 points, but rallied after halftime to force their 28th clutch game thanks to its 30-point third quarter.
Mavericks coach Jason Kidd pointed to turnovers and the Kings’ shotmaking ability as primary reasons why his team suffered a 113-107 loss on Dec. 27. It was a game that marked the Kings’ last victory, which was followed by six straight losses.
Dallas Mavericks forward Anthony Davis (3) yells back towards a group of fans after the Mavericks win over the Sacramento Kings in an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif.
Scott Marshall / AP
It appeared to be the same story for Tuesday’s defeat as Dallas coughed the ball up 17 times, which led to 19 points for Sacramento.
The Kings (8-29), who sit at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, aren’t the best team but for some reason they have the Mavericks’ number through the first two meetings of the season. Sacramento will visit American Airlines Center for the season finale on Feb. 26.
Tuesday marked the first of a three-game road trip for the Mavericks, who snapped their seven-game losing streak in opposing arenas.
The Mavericks were led by Flagg, who played through an injury scare and finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Davis added 19 points and 16 rebounds. Williams added 18 points off the bench, but none were more important than his rare triple that gave the Mavericks the edge for good.
Flagg, who’s already one game shy of the 37 he played as a freshman at Duke, has been quite durable despite minor bumps and bruises throughout the season. That appeared to be in jeopardy in the third quarter when his left knee collided with the left knee of Kings forward Precious Achiuwa.
Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg lays on the court after suffering an injury to his knee against the Sacramento Kings during the second half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif.
Scott Marshall / AP
After going through a series of tests to assess the strength of his knee, Flagg returned to the game, which was the best case scenario for a Mavericks roster who’ve had more than their fair share of injuries this season. Washington missed Tuesday’s game with a right ankle sprain suffered in Saturday’s win over Houston. Flagg said his knee was a little swollen, but assured that “it’ll be alright.”
Davis provided a much-needed boost on the boards along with Daniel Gafford, who finished with a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds. Davis has seen his fair share of shooting struggles so he’s familiar with what Williams is going through this season, but he said a game-winner is a confidence booster.
“That’s when you find it,” Davis said. “Those are the shots that lead to carryover shooting and carry over confidence for the rest of the season, so even if he was lacking confidence, which we know that he doesn’t, plays like that…you find confidence in plays like that.”
The Mavericks will look to build on their momentum Thursday against the Utah Jazz. Williams also missed the last loss to the Jazz on Dec. 15, so he’s looking forward for the opportunity to avenge that loss as well.
On Twitter/X: @MikeACurtis2
Find more Mavericks coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
It became Dallas County’s new, contemporary facility to house accused criminals in 1993. Today, close to 7,000 men and women each day either serve time, wait for trials, or transfer to state prison inside the county’s Lew Sterrett jail.
The elected leader of county government, Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins, says it’s time for a new facility — and it will cost billions to build it.
“We’ve got to begin planning and doing the work, because we can’t wait until this jail is absolutely just failing,” said Jenkins.
Expansion and development in and around downtown Dallas have the county keeping quiet about future locations.
“So we are looking at sites, and I think we’ll have land purchased this year,” Jenkins said. “And a land purchase in the relative scheme of things is a very insignificant financial amount of this.
“When I’m talking about starting on planning and building of a jail, I’m talking about something that will open perhaps 8 or 9 or even ten years from now.”
To complete a new facility in 10 years, Jenkins said the costs will be in the billions, based on a desire to build a jail that offers mental health and substance abuse treatment, trying to end the cycle of folks filling the jail, arrested over and over again for non-violent crimes.
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