Let Me Sum Up

Friday 5: Why Jack Matthews should own Museum Tower. Plus: Cocky Elvis!

No matter what the bid, it's better for Dallas if Jack Matthews buys MuseumTower.
Alan King surely will be sporting a pretty big grin the next time he walks theDISD HQ hallways.

Need one more thing to distract you this morning as you wonder how you’re going to motivate yourself before the weekend? Here are five such things, each one of which put a bee in my bonnet.

1. Just let Jack Matthews buy Museum Tower already.
I don’t have any insider knowledge about how much the Omni’s developer has bid for the controversial laser-beam generator in the Arts District. He could be bidding high, bidding low, bidding just right.

But I have spent an afternoon, about a decade ago, in the Cedars with Mr. Matthews as he calmly laid out his plans for urban development domination. And, with very little help from the city (until the Omni deal), he set out and made it happen.

It’s easy to think now it was obvious that his South Side on Lamar was a slam-dunk, but that’s hindsight talking. It’s easy to say now that the Omni was obviously going to be a huge moneymaker, but there were plenty of doubts. The man is soft-spoken but thoughtful, practical but visionary, and he would surely do a better job of finding a solution with the Nasher than Museum Tower’s current owners.

2. Alan King has to have a big smirk this morning.
The former DISD chief of staff quits in October, and now he’s coming back just a few months later to head up the auditor’s office? The guy who warned everyone they were spending too much before Mike Miles got in trouble for spending too much? He’s the one who’s going to make sure the rules are being followed? Oh, baby. Let me tell you how I’d play this.

If I’m Alan King, I would wait until about 10:30 or 11 in the morning, then walk very slowly through the front doors wearing a replica of Elvis’ white jumpsuit and about 30 gold chains, complete with sunglasses and platform shoes. I would walk into the first high-level meeting I could find, take a big drink out of an executive’s coffee cup, lean back in a chair so far I’m horizontal, and yell, “Please … CONTINUE.” In Spanish, just because it sounds cooler.

3. Schools’ car drop-off lanes are tinderboxes, people.
So, two dads got in a fist fight in the car drop-off lane at an elementary school in Fort Worth. This doesn’t surprise me. Tensions run very high during the morning drop-off procedures. And we’re not going to put a stop to bad dads until we populate the drop-off lanes with good dads, preferably ones who can stop the fighting by threatening to fight the dads who think they should be fighting. I’ve seen this logic elsewhere, and it seems solid to me.

4. Please let there be Sunday liquor sales.
Please.

5. Planned Parenthood is asking a judge to not be such an idiot.
I really can’t believe this Planned Parenthood ban has gone on as long as it has. [Checks which state I’m in.] Oh. Yes I can.

Retweets

Well, if it’s breaking …

BREAKING: My uncomfortable meeting with Ross Perot and the secret truth of the new science museum.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest…

— Gordon Keith (@gordonkeith) January 11, 2013

Teresa Gubbins broke the news earlier this week , but I know this means at least one thing: more Starwood points for Daddy!

Uptown's Luxe Stoneleigh Hotel sold; to join Starwood Hotelsbizjournals.com/dallas/blog/mo… via @dallasbiznews

— Dallas Biz Journal (@DallasBizNews) January 11, 2013

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Hottest Headlines of 2025

The top 10 stories that defined city life in Dallas in 2025

Southern Methodist University class of 2029

SMU/Facebook

Southern Methodist University is the 103rd best college nationwide, and it ranked No. 5 in Texas, Forbes says.

Editor's note: Stories about city life were some of our most-read headlines of the year in Dallas. Readers devoured stories about suburbs, schools, and transportation, curious to see what made the best-of cut for scores of rankings. And, of course, we all needed to check in with the world's richest people and see which ones live in Texas.

Here's a look back at the most-read Dallas city life stories of 2025:

1. 5 Dallas high schools rank among America's best in 2025, per U.S. News. Five prestigious Dallas-area high schools are living up to their reputations for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings.

2. 27 Dallas billionaires land on new Forbes list of world's richest people. More billionaires have made it onto the 2025 World's Billionaires List than ever before, according to Forbes. This year, 27 Dallas billionaires are among the richest people in the world, including Elaine Marshall, Lyndal Stephens Greth, and Jerry Jones.

3. Techy Dallas suburb is No. 1 hot spot for remote workers in U.S. A SmartAsset survey of cities with the biggest remote workforces has revealed Frisco is the No. 1 city with the highest share of remote workers in the nation. The study found over 40,000 Frisco residents work from home, which is more than a third of all of the city's workers aged 16 and older (117,193 total workers).

Person working from home Working from home comes with its own challenges, like picking which part of the couch to work from. Photo by Jodie Cook on Unsplash

4. 3 affluent Dallas neighbors dominate new list of wealthiest U.S. suburbs. Three well-to-do Dallas-area communities — University Park, Southlake, and Colleyville — are among the wealthiest suburbs in America in 2025, a report confirmed. The three affluent Dallas neighbors were lauded in GoBankingRates ranking of the 50 wealthiest U.S. suburbs, based on 2022 and 2023 average household income data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.

5. 4 Dallas-area universities make 2026 list of world’s best schools. The University of Texas at Dallas, University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, and University of Texas at Arlington are among the top 1,200 schools included in the QS World University Rankings 2026. The Princeton Review agreed, also naming SMU, UTD, TCU, and University of Dallas to its best-in-the-U.S. list, while Forbes named six DFW universities to its list of America's top colleges.

6. 11 cities around Dallas make list of best places to live in the U.S. Nearly a dozen Dallas suburbs, including perennial favorite Flower Mound, have landed among the best places to live in 2025, according to U.S. News & World Report.

7. Dallas middle school ranks No. 1 in Texas for 2026, per U.S. News. More than a dozen Dallas-Fort Worth elementary and middle schools have excelled on U.S. News and World Report's just-released list of the best K-8 schools in Texas for 2026, with one that's first in class: The No. 1 best middle school in Texas is Dallas ISD's William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted.

8. North Dallas suburb lauded as 5th best U.S. city for working parents. Frisco already has a reputation as a great place for families and a top spot for remote workers, so it's no surprise that the city has clocked in as one of the best places in the country for working parents, too.

Frisco Frisco ranked No. 5 nationwide in a 2025 study. Visit Frisco/Facebook

9. City of Dallas to put a pause on curbside trash collection issue. In October, the city of Dallas put the curbside trash collection debate on hold. According to a release, the Sanitation Department temporarily paused implementation of an alley-to-curb program that was approved, in order to evaluate additional options for continuing alley service where residents strongly prefer it.

10. Dallas suburb proclaimed 8th best U.S. city to drive in, per report. Dallas roadways are no picnic, but in one neighboring town, it's easy street: A report by WalletHub puts none other than Plano on its list of the top 10 best U.S. cities to drive in for 2025.