Cowboys Lose in a Sort of Typically Cowboys Way. I actually watched — a quarter. The second. Then I had to go. For the rest, a recap from my son, via text last night at 11:08: “Down by 10 with 4 minutes left. Dak leads a drive and we score. Get the ball back w a minute to go. We get a 45 yard kick lined up to send it to ot and we got a penalty. Then our kicker hit the effing post and we lost.” So, definitely my son.

Colin Allred and Pete Sessions Square Off. They got a debate in just before the start of early voting, which is today. Allred, a former football player, is making his first run for public office. Sessions, a thumb, is still somehow around after 22 years.

Big Crowds on the Last Day of the State Fair. It rained a lot so people were ready to have corn dogs and try to fit Big Tex and maybe a quarter of their bodies in the same iPhone selfie and so on. Guess who is writing this post and did not go to the Fair again?

Madison Martin Becomes First Woman to Score for Carroll Football. Good job, Madison.

FC Dalla Loses to Sporting KC, Also Loses Western Conference Lead. With the  3-0 loss, FC Dallas also lost the Western Conference lead to Sporting KC. Can they get it back next week on Decision Day? Maybe, but MLS has playoffs so I guess no one cares.

Restaurateur Shannon Wynne wants you to vote. Dine at any of his concepts, wearing your “I Voted” sticker during early voting from October 22 to November 2 or on the November 6 Election Day, and you will get a 10 percent discount. (The offer excludes alcohol.)

“I’ve heard many times that Texas ranked near the bottom, if not the bottom, for voter turnout,” says Wynne. (Ed. Note: And Dallas as a city is even worse.) “I think in a state that has the diversity that we do, that it’s important to do a fun thing to incentivize people, where they can have fun and get together to proudly display their voting stickers, and participate in the process. Too many people in our lives growing up would say, ‘well, my vote doesn’t count,’ and as a voting bloc, the youth of Dallas, and Texas, has to participate and lift us out of that stigma of being a non-participatory state.”

Voting is fun. Wearing a sticker is fun. And getting a discount on food is fun. This is a clear win for everybody. Not sure where and how to vote? Click here.

Not to get everybody’s feathers ruffled before the weekend starts, but who OK’d this?

The @startelegram included this graphic in yesterday’s paper. If you don’t get it, inclusion and cultural awareness is the punch line. Xenophobic humor at the expense of others use to be reserved for the “comment section” of social media—now its mainstream. Good job @startelegram pic.twitter.com/dF7JT7gPWL

— S. Lee Merritt, Esq. (@MeritLaw) October 19, 2018

The above cartoon depicts Rachel Dolezal, who lied about being black, and Elizabeth Warren, whose recent genetic test revealed an ambiguous connection to Native American ancestry, and weaponizes them against some very important conversations occurring right now. It ran in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Thursday.

The State Fair of Texas can be a real theater of the absurd. The thing wraps on Sunday, so don’t miss your chance to experience things like the above. Photo by Jason Janik. Check out more of our coverage right here.

It was a misty October day in the Cedars when I pulled up to Checkered Past Winery. I found a lone spot on the crowded street and parallel parked in one try, but that was just the beginning of the magic I was destined to experience that Friday afternoon.

I came to meet Trigg Watson, magician extraordinaire, whose monthly series Wine & Magic has become a low-key hit at the wine bar and eatery. 

The reason for the show’s success is pretty clear: Watson is not your average birthday party trickster. The man’s been doing magic since he was four years old, and he’s been performing professionally since about age 11. 

“I had these little business cards, I was available to perform at summer camps and libraries,” he says. 

The young entrepreneur grew up and got a job in the corporate world, but he continued performing in his time off. Eventually, he gave in to his unusual vocation.

“I came to terms with the fact that if there’s one thing I’d regret, it’d be not pursuing magic full time.”

As he immersed himself in the world of magic, he started taking the art form in new directions. Watson wanted to show people that magic isn’t just for kids – that going to a magic show was kind of like going to a comedy show or a concert. A year ago, as Watson was looking for new, sophisticated environments to bring his show, Checkered Past was seeking out performers who could bring in a new clientele to the cozy wine bar.

“I started bringing magic into these environments it wasn’t usually in, and that forced to me create material that fit in that environment,” says Watson. 

Forget about the stereotypes, the rabbits in hats and those decks of playing cards. This is millennial magic.

“In 2018, we’re kind of desensitized,” he muses. “We’re living in this incredibly magic world in which anything is possible and we don’t think of it as being incredible because it’s just everyday.” In his quest to reignite that sense of wonder, Watson often asks himself, “If I was in an audience and I wanted to experience something impossible, what would that look like in this modern day?”

In the Texas Legislature, criminal justice reform is among the last Big Issue Kumbayahs that Democrats and Republicans have left. Which means that it’s one of the few that you’ll likely see some movement on in each legislative session. Like, despite the population growth the state’s incurring, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has closed eight units, four of which shuttered amid last session’s steep budget cuts. A rare win for budget hawks and criminal justice reform advocates alike.

On Friday morning, a room of about 200 or so people gathered at the Belo Mansion for a day-long symposium organized by Unlocking DOORS, a Dallas-based nonprofit that helps ex-convicts re-integrate in society. Kicking off the event was a speech from Brody Burks, Gov. Greg Abbott’s top criminal justice policy advisor. Burks was an assistant district attorney in mostly rural parts of Texas for the better part of a decade.

“I had no idea how many people I incarcerated,” he said. “But with the exception of one or two or three, they’re all coming out. As they should be.”

So what do we do with them? How do we best set them up for success, to limit the risk of recidivism? This message led us into the first panel of the day, which was packed with officials who offered local and statewide perspective about what to do with our incarcerated both before and after they enter the system.

Newly-crowned superstar moderator Jason Whitely, the longtime Channel 8 reporter, presided over a discussion between East Texas state Rep. James White, a Republican who chairs the House Corrections Committee; Justin Wood, a former prosecutor and the director of the Texas Senate Committee on Criminal Justice; Lake Highlands-area Councilman Adam McGough, the chair of the city’s Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee; Assistant Chief Paul Stokes, the Dallas Police Department’s head of investigations and tactical support who subbed in for Chief U. Reneé Hall, who was dealing with a family emergency; and Bryan Collier, the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.