Mavs Agree to Terms With O.J. Mayo. I’ve always loved the guy’s name. It’s a beverage and a condiment. But if you want any deeper analysis than that, you’ll have to ask Zac Crain what it means for the Mavericks to have the point guard from Memphis.
Dez Bryant Arrested on Family Violence Charge. According to DeSoto police, the Cowboys wide receiver committed the assault Saturday. He was arrested Monday. Here are the parts of the story (paywall) I enjoy the most: 1) Asked for comment, Bryant said, “I’m good. I’m good.” 2) “The Lufkin native moved to DeSoto in 2009, the year before he signed with the Cowboys, to live in the home of his mentor, a former bail bondsman named David Wells. ‘I’m helping him prepare not to get in trouble,’ Wells told the Dallas Morning News in 2010.” And 3) “Bryant won a small court victory in late June, when he persuaded a Dallas County judge to grant him a conditional driver’s license. His regular license had been suspended for excessive traffic tickets.”
DMN Asks Attorney General To Investigate DPD. This story is behind a paywall, which is a shame, because everyone should read it. The Dallas Police Department has been making it harder for reporters to get information. For instance, a basic police incident report now oftentimes requires a written open-records request. Well, now the department is destroying emails before the News can see them. The paper’s attorney has asked AG Greg Abbott to look into the matter. The story quotes Keith Elkins, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas: “It appears to flagrantly be a thumb-your-nose to the law by a law enforcement agency, and that’s something that I hope any lawmaker in Texas … takes note of. Something needs to be done in the taxpayer interest.”
NTTA Slammed by Former Executive Director. In related news, the paper just got its hands on some documents that it had to fight three years to see (with the AG’s help). The News was trying to figure out why the North Texas Tollway Authority’s executive director resigned after working there just one year. What they found (paywall) was worth the fight. Jorge Figueredo wrote the following in a memo to the agency’s board: “My early assessment of what needed to be done here was influenced by my belief that the agency had a reasonably talented and committed workforce that would react rationally to change. However, the reality is that the NTTA suffered from a marginally talented workforce, lack of strong internal systems and controls, and a rigid culture that has to be replaced. … I have more fully come to understand the serious and systemic resistance to change within the NTTA. … I believe that lingering regional complaints about the NTTA being an arrogant agency that was primarily focused on itself are, in large part, based on the organizational culture that I have found here.”
