City News Roundup

Tragic shooting of Botham Shen Jean dominates Dallas city news

Botham Shen Jean

Photo courtesy of Facebook/Botham Shen Jean

Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings walked out of a Dallas City Council meeting. The City Council blew $300,000 on a winter game at the Cotton Bowl. And Dallas Love Field has finally added a key service.

Here’s what went down in Dallas city news this week.

Rawlings walks
The Dallas City Council meeting on December 12 was interrupted by a large number of citizens protesting the death of Botham Jean, the Dallas man who was shot dead in his apartment by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger.

They were there to urge the city council to crack down on police brutality while improving relations between the department and the public. But as chants of "No justice, no peace" broke out, Rawlings called an abrupt recess to the meeting and left.

Mayor Pro Tem Casey Thomas explained that Rawlings left for a private meeting. The council reconvened and voted to allow an open mic session at the end of the meeting.

Guyger was arrested on September 9 on a manslaughter warrant in the shooting of Botham Shem Jean. She was booked into the Kaufman County Jail, where she posted a bond of $300,000 and was released. Since her release, conflicting accounts about what happened have emerged, with one version stating that Jean was at the door when Guyger entered, and another stating that he was across the room.

Memorials, protests
About 200 protestors rallying against the shooting gathered at the Dallas Police Department on September 10, and police used pepper spray to contain the crowd.

A funeral service held at the Greenville Avenue Church of Christ on September 13, attended by Jean's parents and siblings, drew more than 1,500 people.

First Responders Bowl
The Dallas City Council approved a $300,000 investment in the football bowl game once known as the Heart of Dallas Bowl — now the Servpro First Responders Bowl — despite the fact that the game has never drawn more than 50,000 fans.

The game is held in Fair Park's Cotton Bowl during Christmas week, and matches two college teams against each other, primarily for a TV audience and with only a meager crowd of attendees.

The measure passed by 8 to 6. The taxpayer-subsidized event will be funded from the Parks and Recreation Department’s annual budget.

Members who voted to spend the money were Mayor Rawlings, Adam McGough, Casey Thomas, Jennifer Gates, Mark Clayton, Rick Callahan, Sandy Greyson, and Tennell Atkins.

Voting against the expenditure were Adam Medrano, Lee Kleinman, Kevin Felder, Philip Kingston, Scott Griggs, and Omar Narvaez.

Love Field wifi
At long last, free wifi is coming to Dallas Love Field airport. Approved by the Dallas City Council at an Aug. 22 meeting, the service made its debut on September 7.

The airport previously offered 30 minutes of free wifi; this represents an extension. Free wifi is considered a standard amenity at most airports.

Travelers can choose between free, fixed-speed wifi or pay for access to a network with faster speeds.

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Unhappy holidays

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

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

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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.

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