Arlington MLK Parade Denied Permit. Organizers of the parade, which had been criticized by the Arlington NAACP for choosing Gov. Greg Abbott as its honorary grand marshal, evidently never paid the $34,000 in fees required by the city for security and logistics. Toyota, listed by the parade as a sponsor, must not have felt like coughing up the cash to save this one. Dallas and Grand Prairie, among other North Texas cities, host MLK parades that go off with considerably fewer hitches every year.
It’s Cold. I didn’t see any snow, though. Did you see any snow?
Dallas County vs. Big Pharma. The county is suing at least 11 drug companies and three local doctors for their alleged complicity in the opioid epidemic that’s caused nearly two thousand deaths in Dallas County alone since 2011. County Judge Clay Jenkins says the county is in part trying to recoup costs spent on substance abuse treatment and related cases at Parkland, while Commissioner John Wiley Price compared the case to the big 1990s lawsuits against tobacco companies. There is, in other words, a lot of money at stake.