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Dallas should join the charge against Texas state overreach

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Dallas should join the charge against Texas state overreach


Houston and San Antonio have filed a lawsuit against the state to block House Bill 2127, or the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act. It’s encouraging to see that some council members in Dallas support the city joining them.

HB 2127 is intended to “provide statewide consistency by returning sovereign regulatory powers to the state where those powers belong.” The lawsuit challenges the Legislature’s constitutional authority to enact the law.

This is a conflict over interpretations of the new law. The text of HB 2127 claims that the Legislature has constitutional authority to enact this law under Section 5, Article XI in the Texas Constitution. The lawsuit claims that lawmakers do not have that authority, citing the same section. Such are the legal times.

The bill’s purported purpose is to regularize a “patchwork of regulations” from differing municipalities. Its actual intent is to prevent city councils from passing ordinances that run afoul of the Legislature’s more conservative vision for the state.

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It accomplishes this by requiring that municipal regulation in several categories be consistent with state law. Anyone negatively affected by local regulations that don’t comply with state law will be able to sue municipalities.

That isn’t entirely unreasonable; cities do sometimes overreach with regulation. Dallas’ now-scrapped plan to ban all gas-powered lawn equipment is one example.

The intention behind that ban was to address health, environmental and noise concerns, but it also would have created unfair expenses for small businesses, like sole-proprietor landscapers.

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Other kinds of regulation, however, aren’t affected by the new law. The preemption section in the Health and Safety code wasn’t changed, apparently leaving a municipality’s ability to regulate the sale, distribution or use of tobacco products undisturbed, for example. That means local smoke-free regulations should not be affected.

Local control is under attack in Austin

There are many ordinances that will be affected, though. Perhaps most hotly debated are municipal ordinances requiring water breaks. In extreme Texas heat, city-mandated water breaks are a good protection for outdoor workers against abusive business practices. But they fall under the Labor Code, which is covered under this bill.

The bill does some good. The problem is it does more bad. It goes too far in handcuffing the state’s more than 1,200 cities that have all sorts of problems the Legislature can’t conceive of.

The Legislature meets for only a few months every other year, leaving communities with a small window to address concerns in their community.

Even if the Legislature did manage to get to every issue, regulation that works for one city might not work for another. On top of that, this bill likely means more time and money spent on litigation and legal research for drafting ordinances.

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Whether or not the lawsuit succeeds, it’s good to see that some on the Dallas City Council want to join the charge against this kind of state overreach.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com



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Dallas, TX

Sources: Giants’ DeVito expected out vs. Dallas

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Sources: Giants’ DeVito expected out vs. Dallas


New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito is expected to be out for Thursday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys because of his forearm injury and Drew Lock is expected to start in his place, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jordan Raanan.

DeVito is listed as questionable for the Thanksgiving Day game, but a source told ESPN on Wednesday that DeVito was considered a long shot to play.

He did not travel with the team to Dallas on Wednesday as he was undergoing further evaluation, the Giants said. The team, however, said it expected him to travel to Dallas later Wednesday.

DeVito took several big hits in Sunday’s 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was making his first start of the season after the Giants released former starter Daniel Jones late last week.

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The Giants turn to Lock after bypassing him following the benching of Jones for DeVito. Lock spent the first 10 weeks as the backup, with DeVito as the third string/emergency quarterback.

Lock has a short week and no real practices to get ready for the matchup of NFC East rivals. He also will be playing behind an offensive line without its starting tackles. Andrew Thomas (foot) is on injured reserve and Jermaine Eluemunor (quad) was ruled out Wednesday.



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Dallas, TX

Colorado visits Dallas after shootout victory

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Colorado visits Dallas after shootout victory


Associated Press

Colorado Avalanche (13-10, in the Central Division) vs. Dallas Stars (13-8, in the Central Division)

Dallas; Friday, 9 p.m. EST

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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Stars -140, Avalanche +116; over/under is 6.5

BOTTOM LINE: The Dallas Stars host the Colorado Avalanche after the Avalanche took down the Vegas Golden Knights 2-1 in a shootout.

Dallas is 13-8 overall and 4-2-0 against the Central Division. The Stars have a 4-2-0 record in games they score at least one power-play goal.

Colorado is 13-10 overall and 2-3-0 against the Central Division. The Avalanche have a 2-5-0 record in games their opponents serve fewer penalty minutes.

The teams meet Friday for the first time this season.

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TOP PERFORMERS: Matt Duchene has 12 goals and 14 assists for the Stars. Mason Marchment has five goals and seven assists over the last 10 games.

Cale Makar has eight goals and 22 assists for the Avalanche. Mikko Rantanen has eight goals and seven assists over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Stars: 6-4-0, averaging 3.7 goals, 6.4 assists, 3.1 penalties and 8.2 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game.

Avalanche: 7-3-0, averaging three goals, 4.8 assists, 2.6 penalties and 5.2 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game.

INJURIES: Stars: None listed.

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Avalanche: None listed.

___

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




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Dallas, TX

Kidd breaks the silence, gives first update on Luka Doncic’s sudden wrist injury

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Kidd breaks the silence, gives first update on Luka Doncic’s sudden wrist injury


The Dallas Mavericks’ bad injury and availability luck this season continued into Wednesday evening, as Dallas will be without Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson, Dante Exum, and Luka Doncic against the New York Knicks tonight.

While no one expected Doncic and Exum to play as they are both out with wrist injuries, both Thompson and Gafford had a chance at playing. Thompson will be out for the second straight game with left foot plantar fascia, and Gafford is out with an illness.

This illness has been no joke for Dallas, as both Quentin Grimes and Dereck Lively II were listed on the injury report, but both are available against the Knicks.

The Mavs have found a way to win two of the three games that Doncic has missed due to this sprained wrist that he unexpectedly suffered against the New Orleans Pelicans last Tuesday, and Mavs head coach Jason Kidd gave the first update on Doncic’s status when it comes to the wrist injury on Wednesday night.

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“He looks good,” Kidd said at his pregame media availability. “Everything that has come back that he looks good and is getting closer to coming back.”

Kidd then continued to talk about how Doncic has been going through “individual workouts,” and everything that he has “heard or seen is trending in the right direction.” He went through a pregame workout at the American Airlines Center with his wrist taped despite being out, and this is a good sign.

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It’s typical for Kidd and the Mavericks to limit what they tell the media when it comes to players’ injuries, but the fact that Doncic is going through workouts and responding well is a good sign. Doncic has not been able to catch a break this season, as he has dealt with a calf contusion, knee contusion, and this wrist sprain over the last two months, and this week-plus off should help get him back to being 100 percent.

He didn’t even seem to be 100 percent with his knee when he injured his wrist against New Orleans, and him getting this time of rest could be huge for him in returning to playing at an MVP level. This wrist injury happened so suddenly against the Pelicans, and even Doncic didn’t know the exact moment it happened. He said that the pain started early on in the game, and it got worse as the game went on. Doncic dubbed his wrist injury as “nothing serious” in his postgame press conference from last Tuesday night, but his availability lately says otherwise.

This season for Dallas, Doncic is averaging 28.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.6 assists per game while shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from downtown, and while his numbers are down, Kidd remains confident in his superstar. Kidd emphasized that Doncic is still “human” last week when asked about his slow start to the season, and even though Dallas is finding ways to win without him, his return is going to help take this team to another level.

His teammates miss having him on the floor with them, and the Mavs are a completely different team when Doncic is fully healthy and cooking with gas. It has been a while since Mavs fans saw Doncic fully healthy considering the downpour of injuries that slowed him down during the playoffs, and he and Kyrie Irving will have the chance to help push this team back to the top of the Western Conference once he returns from this wrist injury.





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