City News Roundup

High-speed train is back in Texas Supreme Court and more Dallas news

Central Rail high-speed bullet train rail

The Texas Supreme Court has backtracked. They've reversed course. They've changed their direction.

Photo courtesy of JR Central

In this week's roundup of Dallas news, there's yet-another development on the high-speed rail project. There's bad news for Ken Paxton but good news for fans of Dallas trails. And there are two expos: one for job seekers and one for college hopefuls.

Here's what happened in Dallas this week:

High-speed rail in court
The Texas Supreme Court has backtracked on a case involving the Texas Central high-speed rail project between Dallas and Houston, and will review a petition from a landowner whose property will be affected if the rail is built.

The Supreme Court originally declined the case but decided to take it on after reviewing a petition from landowner Jim Miles.

The original 2019 suit Miles vs. Texas Central R.R. & Infrastructure, Inc. was ruled in favor of the property owner; that decision was overturned by an appeals court.

The case centers on whether Texas Central can legally call itself a railroad company. The petition claims Texas Central is not a railroad company because currently it has no track and does not operate trains.

If it is a railroad company, it has eminent domain and can acquire property where the route will be built.

Oral arguments are set to take place on January 11, 2022.

Sorry Ken
An Austin appellate court panel has ruled that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton must face whistleblower claims launched by former top aides who allege they were fired for reporting abuses of power.

Eight aides accused Paxton of bribery and tampering with government records, and within weeks, all eight resigned or were forced out of their jobs.

Paxton claimed he was immune from the Texas Whistleblower Act.

Job expo
The Office of Community Care is hosting a job fair for Dallas skilled labor employers to find qualified employees.

Employees can submit applications and participate in onsite interviews with 20 businesses, all of which have open positions.

The event takes place on Saturday October 23 from 9 am-12 pm, at the West Dallas Multipurpose Center, 2828 Fish Trap Rd., Dallas.

College expo
The annual Dallas Black College Expo takes place this weekend at Paul Quinn College.

Sponsored by Comerica, Toyota, American Airlines, US Army ROTC, Honda, Wells Fargo, Nickelodeon, Dallas Mavericks, and Credera, the Dallas Black College Expo is hosted by the National College Resources Foundation (NCRF).

Students can also get access to 40-plus colleges, highlighting historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other educational institutions.

A release says that the expo allows students to get accepted on the spot, get their college application fees waived, and receive scholarships. It can help high school juniors, seniors, and community college students looking to transfer to a four-year college but parents are encouraged to bring students as young as 6th grade to start their college planning.

The event includes seminars and American Airlines will be conducting interviews for jobs and careers.

It takes place Saturday October 23, from 10 am-4 pm at Paul Quinn College, 3837 Simpson Stuart Rd., Dallas.

New trail
Dallas has opened a new trail in south Oak Cliff.

Called the Honey Springs-Cedar Crest trail, it's built inside an old inter-urban rail corridor that was once part of a railway line that went to Corsicana.

Dallas County constructed and funded the 5-mile trail that comprises three separate trails, with one connecting to the South Oak Cliff Renaissance park currently under construction.

Adjacent to Cedar Crest Golf Course, the trail offers users scenic views of the downtown skyline.

Greyhound's new driver
The Dallas-based Greyhound bus service has been bought by FlixMobility, a transportation company based in Germany. It has been owned since 2007 by FirstGroup PLC of Aberdeen, Scotland.

city-news-roundup

Fugitive News

Dallas Police Department arrests 99 fugitives in summer crime program

Dallas Police/Facebook

undefined

The Dallas Police Department has a new round of arrests in Operation Justice Trail, a coordinated effort led by Police Chief Daniel Comeaux to apprehend individuals with violent felony warrants, with 99 fugitives arrested and taken into custody during June.

The program is a partnership between the Dallas Police Department and the United States Marshals Service which began on May 1, with a goal to identify and take into custody violent criminals. During the firest month of May, a nearly-identical haul of 98 violent felons were arrested, and the initiative will continue through the summer.

“Our goal is simple: to make Dallas the safest large city in America,” Chief Comeaux says in a statement. “We know that a small percentage of violent criminals are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. By focusing our efforts on these individuals, we are sending a clear message—violence will not be tolerated in our city.”

These 99 fugitives, who collectively have 616 total arrests for crimes such as Assault on a Public Servant, Manufacture/Delivery of a Controlled Substance, Murder, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Sexual Abuse of a Child, Reckless Driving, and Stalking, were taken into custody by the Dallas Police Department Fugitive Unit and U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force between June 1–30.

Of those 99 fugitives, 22 were women and 77 were men. Three had arrests for Illegal Entry into the U.S., and one had an arrest for Alien Inadmissibility - Section 212 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

Officials told Fox 4 that officers used "a combination of the city’s camera system and old-fashioned good police work" to make the arrests.

North Texas Crime Stoppers is offering a guaranteed $1,000 reward for tips submitted to the crime stoppers tipline that lead to the arrest of any individual with an existing felony warrant for specific crimes, until August 31.

politics