Dec 07, 2014

EoT: Mummy Dinner and UT’s Brain Drain Solved

A roundup of news, columns and features about the state, from media around the world.

The Washington Post reports that Dallas’ top chefs have declared war against Leslie Brenner, the restaurant critic of the Dallas Morning News, because of her critical reviews. Some restaurants have refused to present Brenner with a bill, hoping to create an ethical dilemma so she won’t be able to write about them. “These rebels will even have a flag to fly: They plan to place stickers in the window and print new menus with the logo ‘DMN Doesn’t Pay Here,’” according to the Washington Post. It has not worked. In one instance she left $500 on the table and another time she dressed as a mummy on Halloween to avoid being recognized.

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Salon.com reports that U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, described President Obama’s immigration policy as “fundamentally unfair” to black people at a press conference.

“Amnesty is fundamentally unfair to the millions of legal immigrants who followed the rules and came here legally,” Cruz said. “Amnesty is fundamentally unfair to the 92 Americans who aren’t working here right now. Amnesty is fundamentally unfair to the African American community that’s facing historic unemployment.”

Salon.com called Cruz’s comments “despicable” and noted: “The great warrior for racial justice may not be aware that the economic literature shows that immigrants actually don’t rob other groups of jobs, despite what many conservatives cynically claim.”

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Headline writers around the world had fun this week reporting the case of the missing brains at the University of Texas at Austin. In the 1980s UT received a collection of brains of deceased patients at Austin State Hospital. Later UT lost track of 100 brains that had been preserved in formaldehyde.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the mystery of what happened to the 100 brains missing at UT has been solved.

“A preliminary university investigation has revealed that UT environmental health and safety officials disposed of multiple brain specimens in approximately 2002 in accordance with protocols concerning biological waste,” according to a UT statement.