Local Election News

Key endorsements come in for Dallas City Council race in May election

Dallas City Council member Philip Kingston has received key endorsements in the upcoming May election.

With an election coming up on May 6 for the Dallas City Council, endorsements are rolling in. Those include a list of endorsed candidates by the Dallas Green Alliance Political Action Committee, as well as endorsements by Wylie H. Dallas, a local advocate for the city of Dallas.

Early voting begins April 24.

Wylie H. Dallas is the well-known advocate for Dallas and former blogger whose posts on Twitter and Facebook have had a profound effect on local city politics. Issues he raises frequently end up as the subject of stories in the Dallas Observer, Advocate, and other local publications. Wylie's benchmark for endorsements is, "candidates that put the interests of their constituents first."

His endorsements are as follows:

District 1: Scott Griggs
District 2: Adam Medrano
District 3: Joe Tave
District 4: Dwaine Caraway
District 5: Dominique Paulette Torres
District 6: Omar Narvaez
District 7: Adam Bazaldua & Tammy Johnston
District 8: Eric Lemonte Williams
District 9: Mark Clayton
District 10: Adam McGough
District 11: Candace Evans
District 12: Sandy Greyson
District 13: Jennifer Staubach Gates
District 14: Philip Kingston

The Dallas Green Alliance PAC was founded in 2014 with a primary mission of stopping the Trinity Toll Road project. It currently has nine members including Dallas Park & Recreation board member Becky Rader and community garden advocate Clarice Criss.

The Alliance sent out candidate questionnaires after the February 17 filing deadline, covering a range of topics, including the Trinity Toll Road, the future of Fair Park, gentrification, and water quality. Follow-up interviews were conducted in late March.

While the PAC focused much of its energy on the toll road during the 2015 election, it has diversified its green issues in 2017. But the toll road remains the group's litmus test for support.

"These are the candidates we believe are most critical to forming a green majority around the horseshoe," says Alliance co-chairs Erica Cole and Brandon Pollard in a release.

Cole says that forthright opposition to the toll road and support for a wide range of critical environmental justice issues made most of the selections easy, but that the group intends to hold all candidates accountable to opposing the toll road over the next two years. "It's time for the City Council to step up, oppose the toll road, and start the park now," she says.

Unfortunately, the group could not agree on candidates for every district. Its endorsements are as follows:

District 1: Scott Griggs
District 2: Adam Medrano
District 3: No endorsement
District 4: No endorsement
District 5: Dominique Torres
District 6: Omar Narvaez & Alex Dickey
District 7: Adam Bazaldua
District 8: Eric Williams
District 9: Mark Clayton
District 10: No endorsement
District 11: Candace Evans
District 12: Sandy Greyson
District 13: No endorsement
District 14: Philip Kingston

politics

Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates pilfer nearly $2B worth of Texas packages, study shows

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

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’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

holidays porch pirates crime