Fried Food News

State Fair of Texas gives VIPs unprecedented access to 2014 fried food awards

The 2014 State Fair of Texas begins September 26, and if you can hardly wait to sink your teeth into this year's Fried Thanksgiving Dinner, the State Fair folks are giving you a break.

Fried Thanksgiving Dinner was the entry that won the prize for Most Creative at last year's Big Tex Choice Awards, the annual fried-food contest hosted by the State Fair that has become a major driver in the buzz surrounding the event.

This year, you can get early access to the eight fried-food finalists with the purchase of a $100 VIP ticket to the competition, which takes place on Labor Day. The Big Tex Choice Awards has previously been restricted to media and judges only, and it has never been open to the public.

There's a limited number of tickets: 250, according to State Fair spokeswoman Karissa Schuler, who told the Dallas Morning News that they came up with the idea because they've fielded many requests from people who want to be judges or attend.

Attendees get to watch the judging in action, then sample bite-size portions of all of the finalists' entries. They also get a limited-edition Big Tex Choice Awards T-shirt and a one-day admission ticket to the fair. Proceeds will be donated to the State Fair of Texas Youth Scholarship Fund. For tickets, go here.

If that's not proletarian enough for you, they're also offering one person the opportunity to be a judge, with a video contest. You upload a video onto YouTube, 60 seconds or less, explaining why you should sit at the judge's table. The State Fair team will narrow it down to a field of 20 and put it up to a vote from the public.

You must be over 21 years of age, available on the day of the contest and responsible for your own travel to the contest.

The deadline for video submissions is 5 pm Dallas time on August 7. Submit them here. Voting for the finalists begins August 8 at 9 am and ends at 5 pm on August 14.

Big Tex Choice Awards loves fried food.

Fried King Ranch casserole at State Fair of Texas

Photo by Marc Lee

Big Tex Choice Awards loves fried food.

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Weed News

Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Dallas over decriminalization of marijuana

Photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife

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The City of Dallas has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for its efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

According to a release, Paxton has sued the city for adopting a city charter amendment that would decriminalize marijuana-related offenses and prohibit police from enforcing Texas law.

That amendment was Proposition R, or Dallas Freedom Act, which decriminalizes possession of four ounces of marijuana or less. Voters passed the amendment in the November 5 election, with 67 percent voting in favor.

The lawsuit, filed against the Dallas City Council, alleges that Proposition R is unconstitutional and violates Texas drug laws criminalizing any amount of marijuana.

Paxton says that cities can't "pick and choose which state laws to follow." He's proposing a permanent injunction to stop Proposition R from going into effect.

"The City of Dallas has no authority to override Texas drug laws or prohibit the police from enforcing them," says Paxton in a statement. "This is a backdoor attempt to violate the Texas Constitution, and any city that tries to constrain police in this fashion will be met swiftly with a lawsuit by my office.”

Before the recent election, possession of two to four ounces of marijuana could result in a punishment of 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

Ground Game Texas, the activist nonprofit that has also helped get marijuana decriminalization on the ballot in elections across Texas, first got the issue on the ballot in July with the necessary 50,000 signatures.

Dallas is not the only city to be sued; Paxton also filed lawsuits against five other cities in Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos in January for their ballots and policies decriminalizing marijuana.

Both Austin and San Marcos had a judge overturn their cases, according to a FOX 4 report.

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