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Wednesday, the Dallas City Council will be asked to vote on the fate of short-term rentals in Dallas—a long, arduous, contentious process that has been four years in the making. 

The Council will consider two options. One would virtually eradicate Airbnb, Vrbo, and other operators from Dallas. The other would allow them to continue operating with new regulations. But before that vote, let’s unpack how we got here, and what the landscape looks like for some of those options.

That Was Some Storm, Huh? Right as the Denver Nuggets were lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy, the storm sirens sounded and the hail began pelting parts of North Texas. The enormous cell stretched across as many as four counties at once on its march east. Another blast of rain came before 7 a.m. There were reports of flash flooding in portions of Dallas, but nowhere near Sunday night’s. This morning’s weather is once again east of us, but more severe weather could come overnight tonight into Wednesday. Highs will be in the 80s today, with humidity that’ll make it feel like living in Nikola Jokic’s jersey.

Rare For State to Use Eminent Domain on Parkland. The Fairfield Lake State Park is an absolute mess. The state of Texas let its lease lapse, then panicked when Dallas developer Shawn Todd scooped the property to build a luxury lakefront community. Now the state has said it will use eminent domain to acquire the land back, but it requires a “fair” payment. Todd will likely ask for hundreds of millions of dollars and a court will decide the amount if the two parties can’t agree. The state says it “will continue to reserve condemnation for the rarest and most unique circumstances.”

$7.5 Million Community Project Coming to Forest and Audelia. The plans include a neighborhood park, a library, and a police substation. The city views this part of North Dallas as a “crime hot-spot” and is hopeful that a park and new programming will help lift it up.

Missing 7-Year-Old Found Safe, Suspect at Large. Dallas police say the missing 7-year-old girl whose disappearance triggered an Amber Alert has been found safe. A man in an SUV abducted the girl Sunday afternoon near Wynnewood Village in Oak Cliff; she was on the way to a store with her 9-year-old brother. She was found safe near an apartment complex at about 1 a.m. on Monday morning. The suspect remains at large.

Severe Storms Roll Through North Texas. The heavy weather that was supposed to hit on Saturday ended up coming a day late and leaving thousands without power. And then the sky turned yellow? It was eerie last night with a ton of rain coming down in a sepia sky flashing with lightning.

Sarah Weinberg Wins Dallas ISD Board Seat. She defeated Jimmy Tran in a runoff, taking 53.21 percent of the vote in the election for Dustin Marshall’s former spot. The area she will represent is in near east and North Dallas.

Wings Lose to Liberty. It was a close one in New York until midway through the third, and then Breanna Stewart and the Liberty reeled off 19 of the next 24 points and it wasn’t.

It’s the third anniversary of Juneteenth’s inclusion in the roster of 11 federal holidays, thanks in large part to the efforts of the “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Opal Lee. Lee famously (and repeatedly) laced up her sneakers starting in 2016 to walk all the way to Washington D.C. to ask that her country officially recognize the holiday celebrated by so many descendants of enslaved persons. In 2021, President Joe Biden signed the bill that made that so.

Historically Black neighborhoods and freedman’s towns in North Texas have longstanding celebrations commemorating the day that enslaved people in Galveston were told that President Abraham Lincoln had freed them. Not familiar with the holiday? We recommend reading this profile of Lee from last year, and this discussion with Remembering Black Dallas’ Dr. Deborah Hopes about what Juneteenth means to Dallas in particular.

Below, we have compiled a list of events to help you learn more and celebrate the holiday, starting this weekend.

By next Wednesday afternoon, the four-year trudge of analyses and debate over how the city should manage short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Vrbo in single-family neighborhoods is set to finally be settled. The new City Council will be sworn in June 20, which means that next week’s agenda meeting is the last chance for the present body to establish policy that will affect their operations.

On Wednesday, Council learned its options during a briefing. The city can choose to enact regulations and collect fees and taxes from operators. Or it can follow the recommendation of the City Plan Commission to make those rentals illegal in single-family neighborhoods. The city would use zoning as a cudgel: categorize STRs as businesses similar to hotels. But the folks responsible for the real work—city staff—don’t seem confident that they’ll be able to enforce a broad ban by way of zoning. Regulations would give the city a mechanism to control the bad actors while collecting revenue for the city, they argued.

“I worry that … we’re adding regulations within the zoning ordinance that are going to either create confusion or inefficiencies with the enforcement piece,” said Julia Ryan, the city’s director of planning and urban design.

If you live in southern Dallas, North Dallas, and East Dallas, heads up: You probably have some unfinished civic business to attend to.

On May 6, both the Dallas City Council District 3 and the Dallas ISD District 2 races headed to runoff elections after none of the candidates received at least 50 percent of the vote. The May race attracted fewer than 9 percent of Dallas County’s 1.4 million registered voters and two-thirds of those ballots came during early voting.

Jimmy Tran and Sarah Weinberg are vying for the District 2 seat on the Dallas ISD board; current trustee Dustin Marshall announced he wouldn’t seek an additional term and endorsed Weinberg. After the May election, fellow candidate Kevin Malonson endorsed Weinberg as well, and the Dallas Morning News, which had previously endorsed Malonson, shifted its endorsement to Weinberg.

District 2 is kind of a misshapen donut that encircles the Park Cities and stretches past U.S. 75. The Hillcrest and Woodrow Wilson high school feeder patterns are within its bounds. 

In the May election, Weinberg and Tran were in a dead heat for most of the night at about 38 percent of the vote each. Tran and Weinberg eventually garnered 39 and 37 percent of the vote, respectively, landing them on Saturday’s ballot.

Austin Developer Involved in Paxton Probe Arrested on FBI Hold. Travis County law enforcement say they arrested Nate Paul on behalf of the FBI, but didn’t have any further information. The 36-year-old real estate developer is accused of bribing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as well as allegedly hiring his mistress. Paxton’s aides blew the whistle on Paul and Paxton’s relationship, which was the first step in the investigation that led to the House impeaching the attorney general. Now, its in the hands of the Texas Senate.

Chase! This one started near the Frank Crowley Courts Building and led authorities to Arlington, near AT&T Stadium. The incident started in the 100 block of Commerce Street, across from the jail, after callers reported a man with a handgun in his lap inside a car. He blew a tire somewhere on Interstate 30, pulled off at Randol Mill Road, and ran on foot through the parking lots of AT&T Stadium. It’s always over when they take off running.

Severe Storms Possible Saturday. The metro area all the way up to Oklahoma is at an “enhanced” risk for severe weather on Saturday, with about a 40 percent chance of rain. If it happens, it’ll be in the afternoon. Today and Sunday will be dry.

Canadian Wildfire Smoke Is Here. Don’t expect anything as pronounced as the images from the East Coast, but Fox 4’s meteorologist reports that we will have a bit of a hazy few days. North Texas has been under an air quality warning for the last two days because of mold in the air.

On any given week, there can be dozens of meetings that impact how people live in Dallas. As news organizations struggle with resources, one program is working to put a resident in as many meetings as possible to document what happens during them.

The Dallas Documenters program launched early this year. It aims to train and deploy community members who take accurate notes at city and school board meetings that are often missed by media. Dr. Marta Torres, the program manager, says the mission is “to make sure communities have eyes and ears at as many public meetings as possible.”

They’ve started first in South Dallas and West Dallas—the two main focus areas of the Dallas Free Press, the nonprofit media outlet that brought the program to Dallas. Torres says starting in these communities is intentional.

“We are looking to recruit, train and pay citizens and community members of South Dallas and West Dallas, the two neighborhoods Dallas Free Press calls home, and hope to create partnerships with more neighborhoods that historically have been left out of public processes in Dallas,” she says.

Arlington Police Wade Into Dispute Between Diocese and Carmelite Nuns. The Arlington Police Department said Wednesday that it is trying to determine if any criminal offenses happened during the weekslong dispute between the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth and the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Arlington. Bishop Michael Olsen reportedly dismissed Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach after she allegedly broke her vow of chastity, but the monastery and the attorney for the nun are suing, saying the religious order does not answer to the Diocese and that Olson took Gerlach’s property unlawfully during his investigation.

New Software Pauses Public Access to Court Documents. A switch to new software has apparently slowed or even stopped public access to court records in Dallas County. Defense attorneys report that they cannot access records that should have been uploaded after May 17, including indictments, witness lists, and bond information. Dallas County District Clerk Felicia Pitre says that the process of moving from one case management system to another has slowed as the county determines whether documents that may have been sealed by the courts were inadvertently unsealed in the process. 

Abbott Signs Bills Related to Methodist Dallas Shooting. Gov. Greg Abbott signed two bills into law this week that were filed in response to the shooting deaths of two Methodist Dallas Medical Center employees last fall. Senate Bill 1004 makes tampering with an ankle monitor a state felony, while SB 840 (sponsored by state Sen. Royce West and state Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas) would increase the penalties for harming hospital workers. Nestor Hernandez reportedly had six different ankle monitor violations prior to October, when he allegedly shot Jacqueline Pokuaa and Katie “Annette” Flowers while visiting his girlfriend at the hospital.

Fire Damages West Dallas Church. A fire that damaged the Dallas Indian Revival Center in West Dallas Wednesday afternoon is believed to be accidental, Dallas Fire-Rescue said. Workers on the roof of the church were able to escape uninjured after combustible materials caught fire from a torch one of them was using. The building was severely damaged in the blaze, which took about an hour and a half to extinguish.

There is no question that I have worn shorts and flip-flops to work. So aspersions are the last thing I wish to cast when it comes to workplace fashion. But I’m also not the mayor of the ninth-largest city in America. Let’s have a look.

Mayor Eric Johnson is showing some BDE. A few weeks ago, he wore leather to a City Council meeting. Now my guy has attended a Citizens Council gig in sneakers. And without socks!

The other guy in that pic, by the way, is Grant Moise, CEO of the Dallas Morning News. He’s fully socked, you’ll notice.

Someone has to do journalism. You’re welcome.

Texas Refuses To Give Up on Fairfield Lake. The state park an hour south was owned by Vistra Energy, which listed the land at $110 million once Texas’ 50-year lease expired. Dallas’ Todd Interests snapped it up and announced plans to build a luxury lakefront community. The state has been maneuvering ever since to get the land back, and The Dallas Morning News acquired messages between the two parties that show how rough the discussions have become. Todd alleges “sabotage,” that the state is infringing on its right to do business.

Rangers Ace Jacob deGrom Must Have Tommy John Surgery. That means it’s the end of the season for the Texas Rangers pitcher, whose total starts over the last two years sits at 26. He’s in the first year of a 5-year, $185 million deal, and the Rangers are leading the division with a record of 39-20. Look for more on StrongSide today.

Bull Enjoys Run Through Denton Neighborhood. The animal escaped while its owner ate a restaurant. The “quite agitated” bull ran through yards off University, and the video is a good way to start your morning.