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New EarBurner: Eric Celeste Talks DISD’s Lew Blackburn Controversy

This week on the podcast: sex and education.
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Nigel Buchanan

Early this month, we published a piece to FrontBurner entitled “Lew Blackburn’s Sex Problem.” The story went through what felt like a month’s worth of drafts and rewrites until city columnist Eric Celeste got the piece just right. And then the Dallas Morning News’ Corbett Smith went and reported on some of the details of a settlement between the Dallas Independent School District and a fired staffer named Tonya Sadler Grayson. Eric had information that the News didn’t—namely, that trustee Lew Blackburn had sex with Grayson and then later sat on a tribunal that upheld her firing.

So we put the story online immediately—as editor of the website, it is always a joy to publish print content weeks before the issue hits newsstands—and you can find it in its physical form today. We’d also like to see the conversation continue, so we brought Eric onto EarBurner to jaw about the situation. As you can imagine, Eric goes deeper into DISD for us, talking about the power dynamics of those on the board and their relationship with their top subordinate, Superintendent Michael Hinojosa.

(Another teaser, if that doesn’t do it for you: Tim also discusses his failed attempt to meet porn star and alleged presidential mistress Stormy Daniels, who may live in Forney.) Show notes after the jump.

1. R.I.P. to Don Carter, the man who lifted Dallas out of the professional basketball backwaters. Here’s a nice New York Times piece from 2011, after the Mavs won the championship.

2. The Dallas Morning News endorsed Collin Allred in the crowded Democratic race for the 32nd Congressional District, a seat currently held by Pete Sessions.

3. Eric wrote about one of the challengers in that race, Ed Meier. He has also written about Brett Shipp, long before he traded in journalism for politics.

4. This story has all you need to know about Stormy Daniels.

5. Actually, Tim, the shopping center in Forney is the Kickapoo Trace Center, not Kickapoo Place.

6. Ward Heelers in Dallas!

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