City News Roundup

Meetups begin with city council candidates and more Dallas news

Remember Dwaine Caraway? How could you forget. He's back.

Dwaine Caraway/Facebook

We'll get an awesome chance to meet candidates running for the Dallas City Council over the next couple of weeks. The police and fire pension fund won a small settlement. And State Senator Don Huffines was caught being Don Huffines on a video.

Here's what happened in Dallas city news this week:

Pension settlement
The Dallas Police and Fire Pension (DPFP) board won a $2 million settlement against their former real estate fund advisor, CDK Realty Advisors. The Dallas Morning News published a copy of the settlement, which includes $800,000 from CDK principals, Kenneth Cooley, Jon Donahue, and Brent Kroener, plus the firm's interest in a building it shared with the fund that is valued at $1.2 million. "Of course, the settlement falls slightly short of the $320 million in losses allegedly caused by CDK, but a win's a win, right?" asks Zerohedge.com.

Hey Huffines
State Senator Don Huffines, who represents a strip above Dallas that runs from Coppell in the west to Sachse in the east, makes a fantastic impression in a conversation with students about school choice that was captured by a Richardson parent on video. When a student questions the value of vouchers to poor students, Huffines goes off.

"Do you want me to give them $15,000?" he asks. "Is that what you want? So they can all go to Hockaday, so they can all go to St. Mark's? You want to give them a full tuition? That is the most selfish thing I've ever heard."

After the video was made public, a spokesman issued a half apology, stating that the policy was right, but "Senator Huffines' tone and delivery today did not live up to the level of civil discourse that he always expects of himself and others."

Meet the candidates
It's never too soon to brush up for the May 6 election in Dallas when citizens will be voting on races for the City Council. On the next two Mondays, you'll get an opportunity to meet many candidates at once, when the Dallas Examiner hosts two "Meet the Candidates" events at the African American Museum at Fair Park.

On March 6, it'll be candidates for District 3, including incumbent Casey Thomas, and two challengers: Joe Tave and Sandra Crenshaw; and also candidates for District 7, with incumbent Tiffinni Young, and challengers Adam Bazaldua, Marvin Crenshaw, Kevin Felder, Tammy Johnson, and James Clyde Turknett.

On March 20, it'll be District 4, with Carolyn Arnold and Dwaine Caraway; and District 8, with incumbent Erik Wilson, plus challengers Tennell Atkins, Moctezuma Seth Gonzalez, Gail Terrell, and Eric Williams. That same night will include DISD board race District 6, with incumbent Joyce Foreman and challenger Phelesha Hamilton.

West Dallas protection
Working with Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs, Texas State Rep. Eric Johnson has filed a bill to protect West Dallas residents from involuntary displacement. HB 2480 would set aside 20 percent of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds for affordable housing, property tax relief, and infrastructure spending to ensure affordability and equitable redevelopment. Many large words there, but Griggs says it in English: ""What happened in West Dallas and the collateral damage to many families living in HMK properties is not acceptable," he says.

city-news-roundup politics

happy go lucky plano

Dallas neighbor dazzles on new list of happiest cities in America

Photo courtesy of Visit Plano

undefined

A new happiness study has ranked Plano one of the happiest cities in America this year, and it once again landed on top as the happiest city in Texas.

Plano has moved up on the list and ranks as the 16th happiest U.S. city in 2026. Last year, it was 17th.

WalletHub determined the happiest cities in America based on 29 relevant metrics based on "positive-psychology research" across three main categories: emotional and physical wellbeing, income and employment, and community and environment. As with most WalletHub studies, it compared the 182 most populous U.S. cities.

Fremont, California claimed the top spot as the happiest city nationwide for another year. Bismark, North Dakota and Scottsdale, Arizona, respectfully, rounded out the top three.

Here's how WalletHub ranked Plano across the three key dimensions:

No. 15 – Emotional and physical wellbeing
No. 22 – Community and environment
No. 72 – Income and employment

Plano and its residents have continued improving their city year after year, whether its through opening new bakeries and restaurants, inviting fun pop-ups for locals, or having a strong job market.

Plano's happiness far outshines the rest of North Texas; according to WalletHub, Irving is the 70th happiest city in the country, the third-happiest in Texas, and the second-happiest city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro. Garland ranked farther behind as No. 92 nationally, and more DFW cities ranked even lower: Grand Prairie (No. 106), Dallas (No. 111), Fort Worth (No. 113), and Arlington (No. 119).

The report additionally found that Dallasites spend the third-most amount of time at work in the nation. The city ranked No. 180 in the national analysis of U.S. cities with the "fewest work hours."

WalletHub also emphasized that money doesn't buy happiness — after a certain point.

"For decades, researchers have explored the science of happiness and identified several core factors, including mental well-being, physical health, strong social ties, job satisfaction, and financial stability," the report said. "Still, income has its limits — studies show that earning more than $75,000 a year does not lead to greater happiness."

Six-figure earners in Plano aren't necessarily as happy as those who don't make as much, as a separate financial study from SmartAsset revealed these big earners are only taking home about $72,653 after taxes and adjusted for the cost of living.

This is how other Texas cities ranked in the report:

No. 39 – Austin
No. 128 – Houston
No. 135 – Lubbock
No. 137 – El Paso
No. 140 – Laredo
No. 143 – Amarillo
No. 150 – Brownsville
No. 154 – San Antonio
No. 155 – Corpus Christi

wallethub plano reports