Dallas, TX
Letters to the Editor — Texas prisons, voting, Dallas sanitation, ‘Morning Has Broken’
For shame, Texas
Re: “Prisons Must Stop Sweltering Cruelty — Texas inmates are being ‘cooked to death’ without air-conditioning,” Monday editorial.
I correspond with 13 women in Texas prisons, including my own family member, who has lived in four of the female units. Eight of those 13 do not have air-conditioning, and winters are also brutal on those units. They live in cinder-block buildings or metal industrial buildings with metal roofs and no insulation.
They were sentenced to be confined, not to be tortured. The cruelty our governor, lieutenant governor and state senators are allowing by refusing to use surplus budget money to provide relief and basic humane treatment of fellow human beings is beyond comprehension.
Most of these state leaders claim to be Christians. I have written them directly, repeatedly, respectfully, on this issue and never receive so much as a form letter in return.
God sees, hears, knows and remembers (Exodus 2:24). The ultimate reckoning will not be kind to those who “close their hearts to pity” (Psalm 17:10).
In the meantime, advocates for humane treatment of Texas prisoners will continue to call for basic standards of climate control for human beings. As for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s claims about heat mitigation, they are true only on paper. There are so many failures in carrying out even those pitiful efforts. For shame, Texas!
Becky Haigler, East Dallas
Prisoners are people
Regardless of their crimes, prisoners are people — people with a right to life and a constitutionally guaranteed right to not be treated cruelly. I have never been incarcerated, but I have experienced homelessness. I know something about dealing with a Texas summer without air-conditioning. Not surprisingly, it’s excruciating.
Forcing anyone to endure these conditions and suffer from heat-related illnesses more than exceeds the definition of cruelty. If we are morally and constitutionally proscribed from treating people this way, how can we justify the cost of fighting a lawsuit that by right should be won by the plaintiff? How can we justify the cost of treating those who suffer? How can we justify undermining the humanity of our brothers and sisters?
Eric Wallace, Dallas
Expired license is an ID
Re: “Voting and license logjam,” by James Elliott, Sunday Letters.
In his letter, Elliott wrote about a family member whose license had expired. He and the family member are inconvenienced by the backlog of available appointments to renew the driver’s license.
However, the expired license is still an acceptable form of ID for voting in November. Per the office of the Texas Secretary of State, a license expired no more than four years is acceptable.
Mr. Elliott, please encourage your family member to take her expired license to the polls and exercise her constitutional right to vote!
Karen Cannon, Arlington
Voter ID myths and truths
I am concerned that people are hearing rumors about voting problems and deciding not to vote due to them. A few examples are: Myth: You cannot vote with an expired license. Truth: You can if you are under 70 and it expired less than four years ago. Over 70, the expiration date does not apply.
Myth: You cannot vote without a driver’s license. Truth: There are seven forms of photo ID plus many alternate IDs that are acceptable for voting. Check this website, votetexas.gov/voting/need-id.html.
Myth: Food and drink cannot be offered to people in line to vote. Truth: This is true only if it is done on a partisan basis. If offered in a nonpartisan way and without electioneering, it’s totally acceptable in Texas.
Check the website above for the rules and don’t believe what you hear about barriers to voting. Turn out and vote your conscience.
Marcia Grau, Richardson
Vocal crowd seeks alley pickup
The Dallas Department of Sanitation Services and District 9 council member Paula Blackmon must have been shocked Monday when they held a community meeting on the department’s proposal to move sanitation pickup from alleyways to curbsides. A standing-room-only crowd of all ages swarmed into the Ridgewood Belcher Recreation Center’s large meeting room.
The attendees overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to department director Clifton Gillespie’s plan to phase out alleyway trash collection, which accounts for 38% of all garbage pickup in the city.
So many people showed up to voice their feelings, some had to park on distant surrounding streets and lean up against the meeting room walls. Only one microphone was used — had the leaders never run a community meeting before?
Four or five uniformed police officers watched over the crowd, even rushing to “escort” out a too-vocal resident at one point.
Gillespie heard a number of thoughtful suggestions from the attendees, from privatizing existing alleyway trash collection to using more modern, more maneuverable, automated side-loading mini-trucks for pickup in narrow alleys. Whether he truly listens to them remains to be seen.
Glenn Hunter, East Dallas
‘Praise every morning’
Re: “Don’t overlook morning’s promise — Early hours bring moments of hope, beauty and clarity,” by Christopher de Vinck, Saturday Opinion
De Vinck’s column is a lovely paean to a daily reflection that thanks and humility are such life-giving virtues, “recognizing all over again that we are on a long, joyful adventure.”
In no way does he suggest a competition with the Benedictine monks in Vermont. But he does reveal that “the monks greet each day with song and prayer, and they are filled with gratitude to God. I try to greet each day with words, poetry and with a sense for it all.”
Here he puts one in mind of “Morning Has Broken,” a haunting song that shares his own sense of new beginnings each day, but does affirm what is most important: “Praise with elation, praise every morning, God’s re-creation of the new day.”
Tom Jodziewicz, Irving
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
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.
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on X for the latest news.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
For a moment, it looked like FC Dallas was on its way to another statement win at home tonight.
Petar Musa scored two first half goals, to extend his Golden Boot leading tally to nine goals. But after Dallas grabbed control, the Galaxy found a way back before halftime with goals from Lucas Sanabria and Joseph Paintsil.
The second half brought more chances and more frustration for Dallas, which finished the night with 13 shots to LA’s nine. In the end, the point stretched Dallas’ unbeaten run to five games, though just like last week, it felt like another match where Dallas left points on the table.
Key Moments
7’ – GOAL! After a poor pass back by a LA defender, Petar Musa was free to go one-on-one with the LA goalkeeper. After a touch to get ahead of a defender, Musa slotted home his eighth goal of the season from outside the penalty box.
21’ – Offside! Joaquin Valiente sent a floating ball over the Galaxy defense, where Musa was able to get behind the defense and make an easy play for what appeared to be his second goal of the night. The play was called offside despite a fairly lengthy review period.
38’ – GOAL! This one counts! Musa gets his second of the night off a great ball from Chris Cappis. Logan Farrington picked off the ball in the midfield. He then played Cappis wide to the left of the penalty area. Cappis immediately played a ball back across the goal for Musa to slide in and finish for his ninth of the season.
43’ – Goal LA. Lucas Sanabria got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He took a couple of touches to get outside the penalty box before firing a shot that beat Michael Collodi at the near post.
45+4’ – Goal LA. Gabriel Pec got the ball near the top of the penalty area. He pulled the ball back a bit, which caught a pair of Dallas defenders. This allowed Joseph Painstil to get free behind the Dallas defense as Pec played him through inside the penalty area. Pec immediately smashed home a shot above Collodi to tie the game.
75’ – Another offside goal. This time on a corner kick for Dallas, after a scrum in the penalty box, Kaick hammered home what looked to be the go-ahead goal. But after a few seconds the flag was raised due to a deflection on Osaze Urhoghide, who was in an offside position.
Instant Reaction
Yeah, this is another disappointing result for this team. In a real way, it felt like the first half against Houston from last month. Dallas grabbed the lead, looked in control, but some defensive miscues opened the game up for the visitors to climb back.
With a double-game week coming up, this will certainly be another game where Dallas will wonder ‘what if’ more than anything else…especially when you factor in the two goals called off for offside.
About the Subs
Eric Quill went to his bench for the first time in the 66th minute, as he brought on Santiago Moreno for Logan Farrington. Quill went to his bench again 81st minute with Ran Binyamin and Nolan Norris coming on for Sebastien Ibeagha and Deedson. The final sub came during stoppage time with Herman Johansson and Joaquin Valiente coming off for Sam Sarver and rookie Nick Simmonds, who made his MLS debut.
Man of the Match
No question about it tonight, it has to be Musa.
Where does this fit into the season
As of this writing, the draw puts Dallas into a three-way tie for 5th place with Real Salt Lake and Seattle. Both are in action right now and look firmly in control of their games. I’d expect Dallas to be in 7th place by the end of the night.
What’s next for FC Dallas
Dallas wraps up a three-game homestand next Wednesday night as they host Minnesota United.
Dallas, TX
Akheem Mesidor selected by Cowboys by Blogging The Boys in SB Nation’s community mock draft
Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami
Pass rush has been an issue since the Micah Parsons trade. The Rashan Gary trade helped, but Dallas still needs an injection of talent. Akheem Mesidor fits here because his body size allows for some versatility inside and out, something DC Christian Parker utilizes. Mesidor is also a high-motor player with a deep bag of pass rush moves.
His last season at Miami was full of disruption in the offensive backfield and he shows an all-around game, not just a bend-around-the-edge pass rusher. Yes, he’s a little older than you’d like in a rookie (25), but his motor, pass rush toolbox, and ability to play the run matches up with a need and makes him a quality pick at number 20.
-
Culture30 minutes agoPoetry Challenge: Memorize “The More Loving One” by W.H. Auden
-
Lifestyle36 minutes agoPhotos: How overfishing in Southeast Asia is an ecological and human crisis
-
Technology48 minutes agoBlue Origin successfully reused its New Glenn rocket
-
World54 minutes agoDistress call captures tanker under fire, Iran shuts Hormuz trapping thousands of sailors
-
Politics1 hour agoTrump ally diGenova tapped to lead DOJ probe into Brennan over Russia probe origins
-
Health1 hour agoExperts reveal why ‘nonnamaxxing’ trend may improve mental, physical health
-
Sports1 hour ago‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
-
Technology1 hour agoiPhone and Samsung flashlight tricks you should know