Fort Worth Weekly // March 20-26, 2024

BY EFF AND MUCKROCK

BY CODY NEATHERY

BY JUAN R. GOVEA

Planking

Wave hello to this nautically themed Clearfork destination.

By Laurie James

Ribbee’s Done Right

Ribs are all ya need at this South Fort Worth spot by some Goldee’s folks.

By Cody Neathery

Time of the Season

With the Cowboys idling, the other local pro teams shine.

By Patrick Higgins

Cover photo by Will Von Bolton

Anthony Mariani, Editor

Lee Newquist, Publisher

Bob Niehoff, General Manager

Ryan Burger, Art Director

Jim Erickson, Circulation Director

Emmy Smith, Proofreader

Michael Newquist, Regional Sales Director

Jennifer Bovee, Marketing Director

Stacey Hammons, Senior Account Executive

Julie Strehl, Account Executive

Tony Diaz, Account Executive

Wyatt Newquist, Digital Coordinator

Clintastic, Brand Ambassador

Christina Berger, E.R. Bills, Jason Brimmer, Buck

D. Elliott, Juan R. Govea, Patrick Higgins, Laurie

James, Kristian Lin, Cody Neathery, Wyatt

Newquist, Steve Steward, Teri Webster, Ken

Wheatcroft-Pardue, Elaine Wilder, Cole Williams

The Foilies 2024

Recognizing the worst in government transparency.

BY ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION AND MUCKROCK

We’re taught in school about checks and balances among the various branches of government, but those lessons tend to leave out the role that civilians play in holding officials accountable. We’re not just talking about the ballot box but the everyday power we all have to demand government agencies make their records and data available for public scrutiny.

At every level of government in the United States (and often in other countries), there are laws that empower citizens to file requests for public records. These laws go by various names — Freedom of Information, Right-to-Know, Open Records, or even Sunshine laws — but all share the general concept that because the government is of the people, its documents belong to the people. You don’t need to be a lawyer or journalist to file a request. You just have to care.

It’s easy to feel powerless in these times, as local newsrooms close and elected officials embrace disinformation as a standard political tool, but here’s what you can do, and we promise it’ll make you feel better. Pick a local agency — it could be a city council, a sheriff’s office, or state department of natural resources — and send them an email demanding their public record-request log or any other record showing what requests they’ve received, how long it took them to respond, whether they turned over any records, and how much they charged the requester for copies. Many agencies even have an online portal that makes it easier, or you can use MuckRock’s records request tool. (You can also explore other people’s results published on MuckRock’s FOIA Log Explorer.) That will send the message to local leaders that they’re on notice. You may even uncover an egregious pattern of ignoring or willfully violating the law.

The Foilies are our attempt to call out these violations every year during Sunshine Week, an annual event (March 10-16 this year) when advocacy groups, news organizations, and citizen watchdogs combine efforts to highlight the importance of government transparency laws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and MuckRock, in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, compile the year’s worst and most ridiculous responses to public records requests and other efforts to thwart public access to information, including through increasing attempts to gut the laws guaranteeing this access — and we issue these agencies and officials tongue-incheek “awards” for their failures.

Sometimes, these awards actually make a difference. Last year, Mendocino County in California repealed its policy of charging illegal public records fees after local journalists and activists used The Foilies’ “The Transparency Tax Award” in their advocacy against the rule.

This year marks our 10th annual accounting of ridiculous redactions, outrageous copying fees, and retaliatory attacks on requesters — and we have some doozies for the ages.

The Literary Judicial Thrashing of the Year Award: Pennridge School District, Pennsylvania Sometimes when you’re caught breaking the law, the judge will throw the book at you. In the case of Pennridge School District in Bucks County, Judge Jordan B. Yeager catapulted an entire shelf of banned books at administrators for violating the state’s Right-to-Know Law.

The case begins with Darren Laustsen, a local parent alarmed by a new policy to restrict access to books that deal with “sexualized content,” seemingly in lockstep with book-censorship laws around the country. Searching the school library’s catalog, he came across a strange trend: Certain controversial books that appeared on other challenged-book lists had been checked out for a year or more. Since students are allowed to check out books only for a week, he (correctly) suspected that library staff were checking them out themselves to block access.

So, he filed a public records request for all books checked out by non-students. Now, it’s generally important for library patrons to have their privacy protected when it comes to the books they read — but it’s a different story if public employees are checking out books as part of their official duties and effectively enabling censorship. The district withheld the records, provided incomplete information, and even went so far as to return books and re-check them out under a student’s account to obscure the truth. And so Laustsen sued.

The judge issued a scathing and literarily robust ruling: “In short, the district altered the records that were the subject of the request, thwarted public access to public information, and effectuated a cover-up of faculty, administrators, and other non-students’ removal of books from Pennridge High School’s library shelves.”

The opinion was peppered with witty quotes from historically banned books, including Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alice in Wonderland,

shows they apparently have no shame.

The Failed Sunshine State Award: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

Florida’s Sunshine Law is known as one of the strongest in the nation, but Gov. Ron DeSantis spent much of 2023 working, pretty successfully, to undermine its superlative status with a slew of bills designed to weaken public transparency and journalism.

In March, DeSantis was happy to sign a bill to withhold all records related to travel done by the governor and a whole cast of characters. The law went into effect just more than a week before DeSantis announced his presidential bid. In addition, he has asserted his “executive privilege” to block the release of public records in a move that, according to experts like media law professor Catherine Cameron, is unprecedented in Florida’s history of transparency.

DeSantis suspended his presidential campaign in January. That may affect how many trips he’ll be taking out-of-state in the coming months, but it won’t undo the damage of his Sunshine-slashing policies.

The Art of Racing in the Rain, and To Kill a Mockingbird. After enumerating the district’s claims that later proved to be inaccurate, he cited Kurt Vonnegut’s infamous catchphrase from Slaughterhouse-Five: “So it goes.”

The Photographic Recall Award: Los Angeles Police Department Police agencies apparently love nothing more than trumpeting an arrest with an accompanying mugshot, but when disclosing cops’ headshots, the police lose their minds and all sense of the First Amendment.

This particular unconstitutional escapade began (and is still going) after a reporter and police watchdog published headshots of Los Angeles Police Department officers which the two lawfully obtained via a public records lawsuit. LAPD and their union were furious. The city sued reporter Ben Camacho and the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, demanding that they remove the headshots from the internet and return the records to LAPD.

You read that right: After a settlement in a public records lawsuit required the city to disclose the headshots, officials turned around and sued the requester for, uh, disclosing those same records, because the city claimed it accidentally released pictures of undercover cops.

But it gets worse. Last fall, a trial court denied a motion to throw out the city’s case seeking to claw back the images. Camacho and the coalition have appealed that decision and have not taken the images offline, and in February, the LAPD sought to hold Camacho and the coalition liable for damages it may face in a separate lawsuit brought against it by hundreds of police officers whose headshots were disclosed.

We’re short on space, but we’ll try explain the myriad ways in which all of the above is flagrantly unconstitutional: The First Amendment protects Camacho and the coalition’s ability to publish lawfully obtained public records, prohibits courts from entering prior restraints that stop protected speech, and limits the LAPD’s ability to make anyone pay for any mistakes the city made in disclosing the headshots. Los Angeles officials should be ashamed of themselves — but their conduct

Multiple active lawsuits are challenging DeSantis over his handling of Sunshine Law requests. In one, The Washington Post is challenging the constitutionality of withholding the governor’s travel records. In that case, an official from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement last month claimed the governor had delayed the release of his travel records. Nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight filed a lawsuit in February, challenging “the unjustified and unlawful delay” in responding to requests, citing a dozen records requests to the governor’s office that have been pending for one to three years.

Michael Barfield, director of public access for the Florida Center for Government Accountability (FCGA), told NBC News, “It’s stunning, the amount of material that has been taken off the table from a state that many have considered to be the most transparent.”

The FCGA is now suing the governor’s office for records on flights of migrants to Massachusetts. “We’ve quickly become one of the least transparent in the space of four years.”

The Error 404 Transparency Not Found Award: FOIAonline

In 2012, FOIAonline was launched with much fanfare to bring federal transparency into the late 20th century. No longer would you have to mail or fax requests. Instead, FOIAonline was a consolidated starting point, managed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that let you file Freedom of Information Act requests with numerous federal entities from within a single digital interface.

Even better, the results of requests would be available online, meaning that if someone else asked for interesting information, it would be available to everyone, potentially reducing the number of duplicate requests. It was a good idea — but it was marred from the beginning by uneven uptake, agency infighting, and inscrutable design decisions that created endless headaches. In its latter years, FOIAonline would go down for days or weeks at a time without explanation. The portal saw agency after agency ditch the platform in favor of either homegrown solutions or third-party vendors.

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Last year, the EPA announced that the grand experiment was being shuttered, leaving thousands of requesters uncertain about how and where to follow up on their open requests and unceremoniously deleting millions of documents from public access without any indication of whether they would be made available again.

In a very on-brand twist of the knife, the decision to sunset FOIAonline was actually made two years prior, after an EPA office reported in a presentation that the service was likely to enter a “financial death spiral” of rising costs and reduced agency usage. Meanwhile, civil-society organizations such as MuckRock, the Project on Government Oversight, and the Internet Archive have worked to resuscitate and make available at least some of the documents the site used to host.

The Self-Serving Special Session Award: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

By design, FOIA laws exist to help the people who pay taxes hold the people who spend those taxes accountable. In Arkansas, as in many states, taxpayer money funds most government functions: daily office operations, schools, travel, dinners, security, and much more. As Arkansas’ governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders has flown all over the country, accompanied by members of her family and the Arkansas State Police. For the cops alone, the people of Arkansas paid $1.4 million in the last half of last year.

Last year, Sanders seemed to tire of the scrutiny of her office and her spending. Sanders cited her family’s safety as she tried to shutter any attempts to see her travel records, taking the unusual step of calling a special session of the state legislature to protect herself from the menace of transparency.

Notably, the governor had also recently been implicated in an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act case for these kinds of records.

The attempt to gut the law included a laundry list of carve-outs unrelated to safety, such as walking back the ability of public-records plaintiffs to recover attorney’s fees when they win their case. Other attempts to scale back Arkansas’ FOIA earlier in the year had not passed, and the state attorney general’s office was already working to study what improvements could be made to the law.

Fortunately, the people of Arkansas came out to support the principle of government

transparency, even as their governor decided she shouldn’t need to deal with it anymore. Over a tense few days, dozens of Arkansans lined up to testify in defense of the state FOIA and the value of holding elected officials, like Sanders, accountable to the people.

By the time the session wound down, the state legislature had gone through multiple revisions. The sponsors walked back most of the extreme asks and added a requirement for the Arkansas State Police to provide quarterly reports on some of the governor’s travel costs. However, other details of that travel, like companions and the size of the security team, ultimately became exempt. Sanders managed to twist the whole fiasco into a win, though it would be a great surprise if the legislature didn’t reconvene this year with some fresh attempts to take a bite out of FOIA.

While such a blatant attempt to bash public transparency is certainly a loser move, it clearly earns Sanders a win in the Foilies — and the distinction of being one of the least transparent government officials this year.

The Cops Anonymous Award: Chesterfield County Police Department, Virginia

The Chesterfield County Police Department in Virginia refused to disclose the names of hundreds of police officers to a public records requester on this theory: Because the cops might at some point go undercover, the public could never learn their identities. It’s not at all dystopian to claim that a public law enforcement agency needs to have secret police!

Other police agencies throughout the state seem to deploy similar secrecy tactics, too.

The Keep Your Opinions to Yourself Award: Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita

In March 2023, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sent a letter to medical providers across the state demanding information about the types of gender-affirming care they may provide to young Hoosiers, but this was no unbiased probe: Rokita made his position very clear when he publicly blasted these health services as “the sterilization of vulnerable children” that “could legitimately be considered child abuse.” He made claims to the media that the clinics’ main goals weren’t to support vulnerable youth but to rake in cash.

Yet as loud as he was about his views in the press, Rokita was suddenly tight-lipped once the nonprofit organization American Oversight filed a public records request asking for all the research, analyses, and other documentation that he used to support his claims. Although his agency located 85 documents relevant to the request, Rokita refused to release a single page, citing a legal exception that allows him to withhold deliberative documents that are “expressions of opinion or are of a speculative nature.”

Perhaps if Rokita’s opinions on gender-affirming care weren’t based on facts, he should have kept those opinions and speculations to himself in the first place.

The Not-So-Magic Word Award: Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia Public records laws exist in no small part because corruption, inefficiency, and other malfeasance happen, regardless of the size of

the government. The public’s right to hold these entities accountable through transparency can prevent waste and fraud.

This kind of oversight can be very inconvenient to those who would like a bit of secrecy. Employees in Virginia’s Augusta County thought they’d found a neat trick for foiling Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.

Consider: “NO FOIA”

Trying to withhold a bunch of emails they wanted to hide from the public eye, employees in Augusta County began tagging their messages with “NO FOIA” as an apparent incantation staff believed could ward off transparency. Of course, there are no magical words that allow officials to evade transparency laws. The laws assume all government records are public, so agencies can’t just say they don’t want records released.

Fortunately, at least one county employee thought that breaking the law must be a little more complicated than that, and this person went to Breaking Through News to blow the whistle.

Breaking Through News sent a FOIA request for those “NO FOIA” emails. The outlet received just 140 emails of the 1,212 that the county indicated were responsive, and those released records highlighted the county’s highly suspect approach to withholding public records. Among the released docs were materials like the wages for Sheriff Office employees (clearly a public record), the overtime rates (clearly a public record), and a letter from the sheriff deriding the competitive wages offered at other county departments (embarrassing but still clearly a public record).

Other clearly public records, according to a local court, included recordings of executive sessions that the commissioners had entered illegally, which Breaking Through News learned about through the released records. They teamed up with the Augusta Free Press to sue for access to the recordings, a suit they won last month. They still haven’t received the awarded records, and it’s possible that Augusta County will appeal. Still, it turned out that, thanks to the efforts of local journalists, their misguided attempt to conjure a culture of “No FOIA” in August County actually brought them more scrutiny and accountability.

The Poop and Pasta Award: Richlands, Virginia

In 2020, Laura Mollo of Richlands, Virginia,

discovered that the county 911 center could not dispatch Richlands residents’ emergency calls: While the center dispatched all other county 911 calls, calls from Richlands had to be transferred to the Richlands Police Department to be handled. After the Richlands Town Council dismissed Mollo’s concerns, she began requesting records under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. The records showed that Richlands residents faced lengthy delays in connecting with local emergency services. On one call, a woman pleaded for help for her husband, only to be told that county dispatch couldn’t do anything — and her husband died during the delay. Other records Mollo obtained showed that Richlands appeared to be misusing its resources.

You would hope that public officials would be grateful that Mollo uncovered the town’s inadequate emergency response system and budget mismanagement. Well, not exactly. Mollo endured a campaign of intimidation and harassment for holding the government accountable. Mollo describes how her mailbox was stuffed with cow manure on one occasion and spaghetti on another (which Mollo understood to be an insult to her husband’s Italian heritage). A town contractor harassed her at her home, police pulled her over, and Richlands officials even had a special prosecutor investigate her.

But this story has a happy ending. In November 2022, Mollo was elected to the Richlands Town Council. The records she uncovered led Richlands to change over to the county 911 center, which now dispatches Richlands residents’ calls. And in 2023, the Virginia Coalition for Open Government recognized Mollo by awarding her the Laurence E. Richardson Citizen Award for Open Government. Mollo’s recognition is well-deserved. Our communities are indebted

to people like her who vindicate our right to public records, especially when they face such inexcusable harassment for their efforts.

The Doobie-ous Redaction Award: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Drug Enforcement Administration Bloomberg reporters got a major scoop when they wrote about a Health and Human Services memo detailing how health officials were considering major changes to the federal restrictions on marijuana, recommending reclassifying it from a Schedule I substance to Schedule III.

Currently, the Schedule I classification for marijuana puts it in the same league as heroin and LSD, while Schedule III classification would indicate lower potential for harm and addiction along with valid medical applications.

Since Bloomberg viewed but didn’t publish the memo itself, reporters from the Cannabis Business Times filed a FOIA request to place the document into the public record. Their request was met with limited success. HHS provided a copy of the letter but redacted virtually the entire document besides the salutation and contact information. When pressed further by CBT reporters, the DEA and HHS would only confirm what the redacted documents had already revealed — virtually nothing.

HHS handed over the full, 250-page review several months later, after a lawsuit was filed by an attorney in Texas. The crucial information the agencies had fought so hard to protect: “Based on my review of the evidence and the FDA’s recommendation, it is my recommendation as the Assistant Secretary for Health that marijuana should be placed in Schedule III of the CSA.”

The “Clearly Releasable,” Clearly Nonsense Award: U.S. Air Force Increasingly, federal and state government agencies require public records requesters to submit their requests through online portals. It’s not uncommon for these portals to be quite lacking. For example, some portals fail to provide space to include information crucial to requests.

But the Air Force deserves special recognition for the changes it made to its submission portal, which asked requesters if they would agree to limit their requests to information that the Air Force deemed “clearly releasable.” You might think “surely the Air Force defined this vague ‘clearly releasable’ information.” Alas, you’d be wrong: The form

stated only that requesters would “agree to accept any information that will be withheld in compliance with the principles of FOIA exemptions as a full release.” In other words, the Air Force asked requesters to give up the fight over information before it even began and to accept the Air Force’s redactions and rejections as nonnegotiable.

Following criticism, the Air Force jettisoned the update to its portal to undo these changes. Moving forward, it’s “clear” that it should aim higher when it comes to transparency.

The Scrubbed Scrubs Award: Ontario Ministry of Health, Canada

Upon taking office in 2018, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was determined to shake up the Canadian province’s health-care system. His administration has been a bit more tight-lipped, however, about the results of that invasive procedure. Under Ford, Ontario’s Ministry of Health is fighting the release of information on how understaffed the province’s medical system is, citing “economic and other interests.” The government’s own report, partially released to Global News, details high attrition as well as “chronic shortages” of nurses.

The reporters’ attempts to find out exactly how understaffed the system is were met with black-bar redactions. The government claims that releasing the information would negatively impact “negotiating contracts with health-care workers,” but the refusal to release the information hasn’t helped solve the problem. Instead, it’s left the public in the dark about the extent of the issue and what it would actually cost to address it.

Global News has appealed the withholdings. That process has dragged on for over a year, but a decision is expected soon.

The Judicial Blindfold Award: Mississippi Justice Courts

Courts are usually transparent by default. People can walk in to watch hearings and trials and can access court records online or at the court clerk’s office. And there are often court rules or state laws that ensure courts are public.

Apparently, the majority of Mississippi Justice Courts don’t feel like following those rules. An investigation by ProPublica and the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal found that nearly two-thirds of these county-level courts obstructed public access to basic information about law enforcement’s execution of search warrants. This blockade not only appeared to continued on page 7

Hannah Diaz

violate state rules on court access, but it frustrated the public’s ability to scrutinize when police officers raid someone’s home without knocking and announcing themselves.

The good news is that the Daily Journal is pushing back. It filed suit in the justice court in Union County, Mississippi, and asked for an end to the practice of never making search-warrant materials public.

Mississippi courts are unfortunately not alone in their efforts to keep search warrant records secret. The San Bernardino Superior Court of California sought to keep secret search warrants used to engage in invasive digital surveillance, only disclosing most of them after the EFF sued.

It’s My Party, and I Can Hide Records If I Want to Award: Wyoming Department of Education Does the public really have a right to know if their tax dollars pay for a private political event?

Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder and Chief Communications Officer Linda Finnerty in the Wyoming Department of Education didn’t seem to think so, according to Laramie County Judge Steven Sharpe.

In his order requiring disclosure of the records, Sharpe wrote that the two were more concerned with “covering the agency’s tracks” and acted in “bad faith” in complying with Wyoming’s state open records law.

The lawsuit proved that Schroeder originally used public money for a “Stop the Sexualization of Our Children” event and provided misleading statements to the plaintiffs about the source of funding for the private, pro-book-banning event.

The former superintendent had also failed to provide texts and emails sent via personal devices related to planning the event, ignoring the advice of the state’s attorneys. Instead, Schroeder decided to “shop around” for legal advice and listen to a friend, private attorney Drake Hill, who told him to not provide his cell phone for inspection.

Meanwhile, Finnerty and the Wyoming Department of Education “did not attempt to locate financial documents responsive to plaintiffs’ request, even though Finnerty knew or certainly should have known such records existed.”

Transparency won this round with the disclosure of more than 1,500 text messages and emails — and according to Sharpe, the incident established a legal precedent on Wyoming public records access.

The Feel the Burn Award: Baltimore Police Department

In 2020, Open Justice Baltimore sued the Baltimore Police Department over the agency’s demand that the nonprofit watchdog group pay more than $1 million to obtain copies of use-of-force investigation files.

The police department had decreased their assessment to $245,000 by the time of the lawsuit, but it rejected the nonprofit’s fee waiver, questioning the public interest in the records and where they would change the public’s understanding of the issue. The agency also claimed that fulfilling the request would be costly and burdensome for its short-staffed police department.

In 2023, Maryland’s Supreme Court issued a sizzling decision criticizing the BPD’s $245,000 fee assessment and its refusal to waive that fee in the name of public interest. The Supreme Court found that the public interest in how the department polices itself was clear and that the department should

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:

Murphy Wall Products International, Inc., has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Special Permit No. 9874, which would authorize continued operation of a joint compound manufacturing facility located at 405 Northeast 21st Street, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76164. Additional information concerning this application is contained in the public notice section of this newspaper.

have considered how a denial of the fee waiver would “exacerbate the public controversy” and further “the perception that BPD has something to hide.”

The Supreme Court called BPD’s fee assessment “arbitrary and capricious” and remanded the case back to the police department, which must now reconsider the fee waiver. The unanimous decision from the state’s highest court had sharp words on the cost of public records, either: “While an official custodian’s discretion in these matters is broad, it is not boundless.”

The Continuing Failure Award: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Alien registration files, also commonly known as “A-Files,” contain crucial information about a non-citizen’s interaction with immigration agencies and are central to determining eligibility for immigration benefits. However, U.S. immigration agencies have routinely failed to release alien files within the statutory time limit for responding, according to Nightingale et al v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services et al, a class-action lawsuit by a group of immigration attorneys and individual requesters.

The attorneys filed suit in 2019 against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In 2020, Judge William H. Orrick ruled that the agencies must respond to FOIA requests within 20 business days and provide the court and class counsel with quarterly compliance reports. The case remains open.

With U.S. immigration courts containing a backlog of more than 2 million cases as of October of last year, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the path to citizenship is bogged down for many applicants. The failure of immigration agencies to comply with statutory deadlines for requests only makes navigating the immigration system even more challenging.

There is reason for hope for applicants, however. In 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland made it federal policy to not require FOIA requests for copies of immigration proceedings, instead encouraging agencies to make records more readily accessible through

other means.

Even the A-File backlog itself is improving. In the last status report, filed by the Department of Justice, they wrote that “of the approximately 119,140 new A-File requests received in the current reporting period, approximately 82,582 were completed, and approximately 81,980 were timely completed.”

The Creative Invoicing Award: Richmond, Va., Police Department

OpenOversightVA requested copies of general procedures — the basic outline of how police departments run — from localities across Virginia. While many departments either publicly posted them or provided them at no charge, Richmond Police responded with a $7,873.14 invoice. That’s $52.14 an hour to spend one hour on “review and, if necessary, redaction” on each of the department’s 151 procedures.

This Foilies “winner” was chosen because of the wide gap between how available the information should be and the staggering cost to bring it out of the file cabinet.

As MuckRock’s agency tracking shows, this is hardly an aberration for the agency, but this estimated invoice came not long after the department’s tear-gassing of protesters in 2020 cost the city almost $700,000. At a time when other departments are opening their most basic rulebooks (in California, for example, every law enforcement agency is required to post these policy manuals online), Richmond has been caught attempting to use a simple FOIA request as a cash cow. l

The Foilies (Creative Commons Attribution License) were compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Director of Investigations Dave Maass, Senior Staff Attorney Aaron Mackey, Legal Fellow Brendan Gilligan, Investigative Researcher Beryl Lipton) and MuckRock (Co-Founder Michael Morisy, Data Reporter Dillon Bergin, Engagement Journalist Kelly Kauffman, and Contributor Tom Nash), with further review and editing by Shawn Musgrave. The Foilies are published in partnership with the Association of Alternative Newsmedia.

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS AND PARTIES:

CHAMPIONX LLC, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Permit No. 21085, which would authorize continued operation of an Oil Well Pumps and Parts Manufacturing Facility located at 901 North Crowley Road, Crowley, Tarrant County, Texas 76036. Additional information concerning this application is contained in the public notice section of this newspaper.

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the ’Gers in more games than their rotation pitches them out of. Vegas gives Texas the fifth best odds to hoist the Commissioner’s

After Kyrie Irving’s instantly iconic left-handed buzzer-beating hook shot to take down the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets 107-105 on Sunday, the Mavericks now sit seventh in the Western Conference. Not sure what being the best team currently in the play-in tournament means, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that Dallas probably is. Their defensive struggles remain, but the two rotational big men in rookie Derek Lively and trade-deadline acquisition Daniel Gafford have certainly helped with rebounding, which in turn is giving Irving and fellow more attempts at the basket. This team still doesn’t feel like it has a deep playoff run ahead of it, but I’m confident they will make it to the postseason.

Victorian-era snake oil salesman Jerral Wayne Jones tried to assuage a deflated Cowboys fanbase after their annual early playoff exit in January by assuring the faithful that it would be “all in” next year. After he walked back the statement quite a bit by noting that his definition of “all in” might be “different than yours” just a few weeks later, the beginning of free agency has proven that his definition is quite different indeed. Judging by the offseason moves made so far, he seems to think the word “in” actually means “over.” So far, seven Cowboys have headed for greener pastures, leaving the team without a starting running back, center, left tackle, middle linebacker, and a total of four linemen. In fairness, Jerry did poach a decent linebacker from the clutches of the 49ers in Eric Kendricks, but that won’t be near enough to solidify the staggering weakness up the middle of the defense alone.

The local team to feel most hopeful about is the Stars. Bolstered by their own dynamic rookie(-ish) duo with another Wyatt

None of this is surprising, really. The Cowboys never spend in free agency. They build through the draft and have been one of the most successful teams at doing so over the last decade. Which is fine as long as your draft picks hit. Considering last year’s haul, which saw no significant impact from any single player taken, the method has proven to be too many eggs in one proverbial basket. The team’s shopping list is long heading into next month’s player selection extravaganza, and due to swapping three picks for current players last year, the Cowboys have far too few picks to fill all their holes. Barring a miracle, the tenuous Dak Prescott-era Super Bowl window seems like it could be “all over”

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EATS & drinks

Walk the Plank

From the folks behind Blue Sushi comes a landlubbin’ spot with a serious nautical theme.

Plank Seafood Provisions, 5289 Marathon Av, The Shops at Clearfork, FW. 817-989-2373. Noon-9pm

Sun, 11am-9:30pm Mon-Thu, 11am-10pm Fri-Sat.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY LAURIE JAMES

With locations in Austin and Omaha, Nebraska, Plank Seafood Provisions is owned by the same corporation behind Blue Sushi, still one of the most beautiful spots in town. Flagship Restaurant Group’s attention to detail ought to be respected in revamping

the tepid Twigs Bistro and Martini bar in The Shops at Clearfork from generica to a nautical theme. From the painted star charts on the ceiling to the skeleton of a skiff hanging near the bar and a ton of ship/boat ephemera, if you sit long enough here, you might forget you’re nowhere near the ocean on our Blackland prairie.

Happy hour (3-6pm weeknights) calls, and you should go when you can indulge on a budget. And indulge, we did. Select

cocktails and bubbles are $9, and the house marg was delightfully fresh, tarter than it was sweet. The Strawberry Surfer combined the buoyant taste of an energy drink with mellow coconut that tempered the alcohol, almost dangerously. Consuming two of these might lead to shenanigans, so my dining companion and I stopped at one.

Also on happy hour: several appetizers. The beignet-style hush puppies seemed like a throwaway side, but the half-dozen

flavorful treats were killer. Picture the sweet crunch of a funnel cake with a little hint of corn and dusted with powdered sugar. The sweetness of the jalapeno jam dipping sauce was broken by a mild heat that didn’t linger.

The blackened redfish taco, described on the menu as spicy, wasn’t overly hot, but the mounds of tarty, tangy slaw and avocado slivers diminished any possibility of overly heavy blackened seasonings. Props to Plank continued on page 17

Plank’s blackened redfish taco is a steal ($6) during happy hour.

Plank’s Atlantic salmon was one of the most visually appealing entrees the author had ever seen.

continued from page 15

for the wonderful saucer-size corn tortilla, slightly thicker than average to keep the insides together and cooked perfectly with leopard spots where the tortilla hit the heat of the pan.

The escabeche smoked mussels were the one small disappointment in the appetizer fest. While they were all plump and had opened fully, the dish was served cold. A disclaimer would have managed expectations, but the vinegary spice and crunch of the pickled veg on top of the smoky shellfish was nice.

Plank offers several beef choices, though Flagship works extra-hard to source responsibly fished and unendangered seafood, so ordering a cheeseburger seemed like a waste. The Atlantic salmon arrived with accents of the turmeric aioli skillfully painted and daubed on the plate and the fish sitting on a bed of black spiced rice. Visually, it was one of the most stunning plates I’d ever seen. The fish tasted fine –– not overdone — but it lacked any kind of zip or even salt. It’s also possible I’ve been spoiled on salmon from Washington, but fortunately the piquant creaminess of the turmeric sauce livened up every bite. The black rice looked like gorgeous caviar and tasted better than your average serving of semi-sticky.

We gambled on more redfish, this time in fried form. Served on a brioche bun and adorned with pickle, lettuce, tomato, and a zippy Cajun-style tartar, the fish did not

Great balls of happiness — Plank’s beignetstyle hush puppies were sweet and savory.

explode with flavor, although the sauce added a nice dimension. Unfortunately, the whole thing looked like your average fastfood fish sammy. The skinny fries accompanying the dish were phenomenal –– fresh, perfectly seasoned, and plentiful.

If you have room for dessert, and we just barely did, the creamy butterscotch budino –– Italian-style pudding, more solid than a flan and dense like crème brûlée –– would fill that last little hole in your stomach. Butterscotch is an odd flavor, but the pudding was enhanced by a layer of salted caramel and a healthy dollop of crème fraiche on top. The subtly tart taste of the

crème kept the floral, sticky butterscotch from becoming too heavy.

In the relative scheme of Fort Worth areas that can’t sustain restaurants, Clearfork seems to be doing better than many. The turnover there seems slower than that of Artisan Circle (or whatever it is we’re calling Crockett Row these days) or that haunted corner in Montgomery Plaza where at least five restaurants have tried and died over the last decade. It’s not a coincidence that most of Clearfork’s restaurants are local, regional, or national chains with the backing to survive most economic storms. The service at Plank was top-notch, and there was plenty

Plank believes in sustainable seafood, and the provenance on these oysters is impeccable.

of staff both times we visited. The appetizers and dessert are winners here, most of the presentation was lovely, and the dining was well-paced and unhurried. Like its sibling Blue, Plank Seafood Provisions is a cool oasis on the prairie. l

Plank Seafood Provisions

Atlantic salmon $27

Fried redfish sandwich .................................. $20

Blackened redfish taco (happy hour) $6

Escabeche smoked mussels (happy hour) ......$8

Beignet-style hush puppies (happy hour) $8

House margarita or Strawberry Surfer (happy hour) ....................................................... $9

Butterscotch budino $11

Plank’s fried redfish sandwich looks and tastes like any other filet-o’-fish sammy.

EATS & drinks

Bad to the Bone In South Fort Worth, Goldee’s spinoff Ribbee’s sparkles.

Ribbee’s, 923 E Seminary Dr, FW. 11am-9pm Thu-Sun.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY CODY NEATHERY

Since the Anchorman himself Ron Burgundy once proclaimed, “ribs — I had ribs for lunch, that’s why I’m doing this,” I’ve had questions. Where in the barbecue world (including San Diego, which Ron says is German for “a whale’s vagina”) is there a joint serving only ribs?

I had eaten at dozens of barbecue establishments across Texas before the nationwide

’cue boom but never found a place specializing in succulently smoked nuggets of meaty morsels in the form of baby back, St. Louis, or spare. As we bask in this juicy golden age, one spot does come to mind. Served out of a barred window from this white-painted cinder block building in an edgy part of Garland, Meshack’s BBQ Shack’s ribs were among the best on the planet. That was their niche, and I can’t even recall if any of their other meat offerings were any good.

With respect to the old guard like Meshack’s, humble Goldee’s became a national destination after topping Texas Monthly’s list of best barbecue joints in the fall of ’21, something I mentioned in a recent article about Goldee’s Zain Shafi and Sabar BBQ, his Pakistani-influenced Texas ’cue trailer parked next to Tinie’s Mexican Cuisine in SoMa and open only on Saturdays. When three of the five Goldee’s owners not named Shafi wanted to try

something unique, Ribbee’s was born. Biting into one of their baby backs expertly cooked on an M&M-brand smoker from the piney edges of East Texas in Tool, I pondered why no one’s ever rocked a ribs-only joint before. When asked, “Why just ribs?” — only because it’s a ballsy move — co-owner Jalen Heard answered in his signature jovial manner, “I asked [co-owner] Jonny White if he’s sure about limiting continued on page 19

Ribbee’s original dry rub option is a stark detour from Goldee’s and their glazed St. Louis cuts.

Each rib gave a slight tug from the bone, which was perfect.

Eats & Drinks

continued from page 18

the menu to one item without brisket and sausage, and he replied, ‘Yeah, it’ll work.’ ” And that’s the gusto these guys have. Third co-owner Lane Milne was manning their sister concept the day my party visited.

Ribbee’s is located in South Fort Worth in a former Sonic that the team recognized as an opportunity. The dining room is spacious enough. A patio already existed, and more than enough kitchen and preparation area have helped make Ribbee’s, well, a fast-casual restaurant. With a fire-engine red exterior and “BBQ” on the sign out front in a clean font, this 2-week-old venture is watched over by a welded longhorn. Apart from some TVs inside, it is bare bones like its big sister Goldee’s.

Written on a dry-erase board near the ordering window flanked by a merchandise rack, the menu is straightforward. It consists of four flavored options for the ribs that come served in a Styrofoam to-go container with crinkle-cut golden fries dusted in a salty-sweet seasoning and with chopped creamy coleslaw, and if you’re familiar with the in-house baked loaves of bread at Goldee’s, be prepared for freshly baked rolls that are soft where it counts with that stickyicky ooh-wee!

Ribbee’s original dry rub option is a stark detour from Goldee’s and their glazed St. Louis cuts. Ribbee’s spicy original comes dry rubbed as well, and it will spinningheel-kick your taste buds.

The old suggestion that rib meat should fall off the bone is false — that just means they’re overcooked. All of Ribbee’s orders are racks split into thirds, and each rib we tried gave a slight tug from the bone, which was perfect. Two other baby-back options a sweet and a tangy hot honey — are both glazed, which left us needing several napkins to dab the drip.

The real humdinger here is the dryrubbed beef ribs. They’re not the massive dinosaur-bone ones you’re thinking of but rather more manageable, smaller ones that have that same rich, beefy smoked flavor.

To maintain the nostalgic drive-in feel, floats of root beer or Big Red round out the desserts, mimicking the simplicity of the entrée menu.

Along the same lines as other fast-casual concepts without convoluted menus, the team of White, Heard, and Milne prefers to keep the menu tiny but mighty, which allows for quality control and efficiency. The math works: Find one item you’re good at, and do it well, and it doesn’t get much better than Ribbee’s ribs. l

(From left to right) the beef rib, original dry rub, and hot honey are here to please.

Ribbee’s All-pork ribs

ribs

float

Ribbee’s is located in South Fort Worth in a former Sonic.

Crinkle-cut golden fries dusted in a saltysweet seasoning, chopped creamy coleslaw, and baked rolls that are soft where it counts accompany every order.

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MUSIC

Turn Up Henry the Archer’s new album is a lovely Garden

of sounds.

BY JUAN R. GOVEA

It’s been more than four years, but Henry the Archer is back with new music. Recorded with Casey Diiorio in Dallas at Valve Studios (Snoop Dogg, Slayer, The Polyphonic Spree), The Garden will be out April 13, and, unlike previous releases, it will feature a little bit of everything sonically.

“Every single song on the six-track album is completely different,” said frontman Henry O’. “You’ve got ska, jazz, punk, heavy rock — it all runs the gamut. … If you look at a garden, it’s a diverse group of plants and flowers all together. It’s all these beautiful things living in harmony, and it’s a lot like the album.”

The songs are also diverse instrumentally. Piano, ukulele, and a “redubbed” guitar all factor in among the band’s traditional arrangement of guitar (Henry O’), bass (Eliot Arriaza), and drums (Kevin Geist). Henry O’ feels The Garden is the best music he’s ever released and is super-excited to get it out.

Everything took as long as it did due to work schedules, travel, and financing, he said. Henry O’ and company wrote the songs before the pandemic and recorded them during the lockdown. The Garden was finished in 2020 and mastered in New York City by Alan Douches at West West Side Music (Pete Townshend, Fleetwood Mac, Ben Folds Five). The album is still Henry the Archer-esque, just “matured,” Henry O’ said.

“Anything I’ve recorded in the past has been in my studio and smaller studios, but this is the first album we’ve recorded at a major studio,” he said. “To have someone like Casey behind the mixing board, who is able to pick up certain elements and make them sound more special, was really key to this release. The few people that have heard it said, ‘It’s never sounded like this before.’ ”

The tracks are a mix of personal and imaginary. Henry O’ said “The Garden,” “ViolinT,” and “Something Beautiful” were inspired by the person who “owns” his “heart.”

The release party/show will be in Arlington at Division Brewing, where CDs will be for sale along with preorders for vinyl copies. The band would also like to tour soon. Wherever they are, Henry O’ feels he’s on the right path.

“I believe I was meant to make music, and during the course of my life, I’ve had people connect with me,” he said. “One day, I’m going to die, but what I’ve left behind is a creative artistic expression that will outlive my life, and it will continue to inspire other people to write music and inspire other people to get through tough situations. It doesn’t have anything to do with being famous. It has to do with this internal drive to share something that I feel deeply about, and if that touches another person, then that’s amazing, and if it touches another person 20 years after I’m dead, that’s amazing, too.” l

(From left to right) bassist Eliot Arriaza, frontman Henry O’, and drummer Kevin Geist have been waiting a long time for The Garden to bloom.

Will Von Bolton

Henry O’: “One day, I’m going to die, but what I’ve left behind is a creative artistic expression that will outlive my life.”

Will Von Bolton

Art by Sarah Cook

Henry the Archer Sat, Apr 13, w/Cut Throat Finches, Sean Russell at Division Brewing, 502 E Main St, Arlington. $13-15. 682-259-7011.

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Any Texans who may be concerned that an unlicensed massage business may be in operation near them, or believe nail salon employees may be human trafficking victims, may now report those concerns directly to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) by emailing ReportHT@TDLR.Texas.gov.

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Texas Commission on environmenTal QualiTy

NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN AIR PERMIT (NORI) RENEWAL

PERMIT NUMBER 21085

APPLICATION. CHAMPIONX LLC, has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Permit Number 21085, which would authorize continued operation of an Oil Well Pumps and Parts Manufacturing Facility located at 901 North Crowley Road, Crowley, Tarrant County, Texas 76036. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. https://gisweb.tceq.texas.gov/LocationMapper/?marker=-97.35278,32.59444&level=13. The existing facility is authorized to emit the following air contaminants: hazardous air pollutants and particulate matter including particulate matter with diameters of 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less.

This application was submitted to the TCEQ on February 14, 2024. The application will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth regional office, and the Crowley Public Library, 409 South Oak Street, Crowley, Tarrant County, Texas beginning the first day of publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review in the Dallas/Fort Worth regional office of the TCEQ.

The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of the application. Information in the application indicates that this permit renewal would not result in an increase in allowable emissions and would not result in the emission of an air contaminant not previously emitted. The TCEQ may act on this application without seeking further public comment or providing an opportunity for a contested case hearing if certain criteria are met.

PUBLIC COMMENT. You may submit public comments to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application and the executive director will prepare a response to those comments. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the TCEQ’s jurisdiction to address in the permit process.

OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED CASE HEARING.

You may request a contested case hearing if you are a person who may be affected by emissions of air contaminants from the facility. If requesting a contested case hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and permit number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing;” (4) a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or association, one or more members who have standing to request a hearing must be identified by name and physical address. The interests the group or association seeks to protect must also be identified. You may also submit your proposed adjustments to the application/permit which would satisfy your concerns.

The deadline to submit a request for a contested case hearing is 15 days after newspaper notice is published. If a request is timely filed, the deadline for requesting a contested case hearing will be extended to 30 days after mailing of the response to comments.

If any requests for a contested case hearing are timely filed, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for a contested case hearing to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting. Unless the application is directly referred to a contested case hearing, the executive director will mail the response to comments along with notification of Commission meeting to everyone who submitted comments or is on the mailing list for this application. The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction to address in this proceeding.

MAILING LIST. In addition to submitting public comments, you may ask to be placed on a mailing list for this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. Those on the mailing list will receive copies of future public notices (if any) mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk for this application.

AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the Public Education Program toll free at 18006874040. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.

Further information may also be obtained from CHAMPIONX LLC, 901 North Crowley Road, Crowley, Texas 76036-3739 or by calling Ms. Brinney Mahmood, Environmental Manager, Vanguard Environmental, Inc., at (918) 641-5588.

Notice Issuance Date: March 4, 2024

Texas Commission on environmenTal QualiTy

NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN AIR PERMIT (NORI) RENEWAL

SPECIAL PERMIT NUMBER 9874

APPLICATION. Murphy Wall Products International, Inc., has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for renewal of Air Quality Special Permit Number 9874, which would authorize continued operation of a joint compound manufacturing facility located at 405 Northeast 21st Street, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas 76164. AVISO DE IDIOMA ALTERNATIVO. El aviso de idioma alternativo en espanol está disponible en https://www.tceq.texas.gov/permitting/ air/newsourcereview/airpermits-pendingpermit-apps. This link to an electronic map of the site or facility’s general location is provided as a public courtesy and not part of the application or notice. For exact location, refer to application. https://gisweb.tceq. texas.gov/LocationMapper/?marker=-97.346725,32.782288&level=13. The existing facility is authorized to emit the following air contaminants: particulate matter including particulate matter with diameters of 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less.

This application was submitted to the TCEQ on February 23, 2024. The application will be available for viewing and copying at the TCEQ central office, TCEQ Dallas/Fort Worth regional office, and the Tarrant County Clerk Office, 100 West Weatherford Street, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas beginning the first day of publication of this notice. The facility’s compliance file, if any exists, is available for public review in the Dallas/Fort Worth regional office of the TCEQ.

The executive director has determined the application is administratively complete and will conduct a technical review of the application. Information in the application indicates that this permit renewal would not result in an increase in allowable emissions and would not result in the emission of an air contaminant not previously emitted. The TCEQ may act on this application without seeking further public comment or providing an opportunity for a contested case hearing if certain criteria are met.

PUBLIC COMMENT. You may submit public comments to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. The TCEQ will consider all public comments in developing a final decision on the application and the executive director will prepare a response to those comments. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the TCEQ’s jurisdiction to address in the permit process.

OPPORTUNITY FOR A CONTESTED CASE HEARING.

You may request a contested case hearing if you are a person who may be affected by emissions of air contaminants from the facility. If requesting a contested case hearing, you must submit the following: (1) your name (or for a group or association, an official representative), mailing address, daytime phone number; (2) applicant’s name and permit number; (3) the statement “[I/we] request a contested case hearing;” (4) a specific description of how you would be adversely affected by the application and air emissions from the facility in a way not common to the general public; (5) the location and distance of your property relative to the facility; (6) a description of how you use the property which may be impacted by the facility; and (7) a list of all disputed issues of fact that you submit during the comment period. If the request is made by a group or association, one or more members who have standing to request a hearing must be identified by name and physical address. The interests the group or association seeks to protect must also be identified. You may also submit your proposed adjustments to the application/permit which would satisfy your concerns.

The deadline to submit a request for a contested case hearing is 15 days after newspaper notice is published. If a request is timely filed, the deadline for requesting a contested case hearing will be extended to 30 days after mailing of the response to comments.

If any requests for a contested case hearing are timely filed, the Executive Director will forward the application and any requests for a contested case hearing to the Commissioners for their consideration at a scheduled Commission meeting. Unless the application is directly referred to a contested case hearing, the executive director will mail the response to comments along with notification of Commission meeting to everyone who submitted comments or is on the mailing list for this application. The Commission may only grant a request for a contested case hearing on issues the requestor submitted in their timely comments that were not subsequently withdrawn. If a hearing is granted, the subject of a hearing will be limited to disputed issues of fact or mixed questions of fact and law relating to relevant and material air quality concerns submitted during the comment period. Issues such as property values, noise, traffic safety, and zoning are outside of the Commission’s jurisdiction to address in this proceeding.

MAILING LIST. In addition to submitting public comments, you may ask to be placed on a mailing list for this application by sending a request to the Office of the Chief Clerk at the address below. Those on the mailing list will receive copies of future public notices (if any) mailed by the Office of the Chief Clerk for this application.

AGENCY CONTACTS AND INFORMATION. Public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address and physical address will become part of the agency’s public record. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the Public Education Program toll free at 1-800-687-4040. Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.

Further information may also be obtained from Murphy Wall Products International, Inc., 405 Northeast 21st Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76164-8527 or by calling Mr. Kristopher Thompson, R and D Chemist at (817) 626-1987.

Notice Issuance Date: March 5, 2024

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EMPLOYMENT- General

Wabtec US Rail, Inc. seeks Software Engineer in Fort Worth, TX to develop and test software solutions for new functionality, remediating defects in existing functionality, and contributing to team success. Telecommuting permitted. Requires domestic travel up to 15% of the time. Apply at www.jobpostingtoday.com Ref#62659.

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Replace your roof with the best looking and longest lasting material steel from Erie Metal Roofs! Three styles and multiple colors available. Guaranteed to last a lifetime! Limited Time Offer: 50% off Installation + Additional 10% off Instafor military, health workers & 1st responders. (MB) call 1-888-778-0566 today!

FREE HIGH SPEED INTERNET

For Those Who Qualify Government program for recipients of select programs incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet service. Bonus offer: Android tablet FREE with one-time $20 copay. Free shipping & handling. Call Maxsip Telecom today! 1-844-600-1065. (MB)

The Gas Pipe, The GAS PIPE, THE GAS PIPE, your Peace Love & Smoke Headquarters since 4/20/1970! SCORE a FREE GIFT on YOUR Birthday, FREE Scale Tuning and Lighter Refills on GAS PIPE goods, FREE Layaway, and all the safe, helpful service you expect from a 51 Years Young Joint. Plus, SCORE A FREE CBD HOLIDAZE GIFT With-A-Buy thru 12/31! Be Safe, Party Clean, Keep On Truckin’. More at thegaspipe.net

HAVE YOUR DREAM BATHROOM!

You can have the bathroom of your dreams for as little as $149/month! BCI Bath & Shower has many options available. Quality materials & professional installation. Senior & Military Discounts Available. Limited Time Offer: FREE virtual in-home consultation now and SAVE 15%! (MB) Call BCI Today! 1-866-913-0581

HISTORIC RIDGLEA THEATER

THE RIDGLEA is three great venues within one historic Fort Worth landmark. RIDGLEA THEATER has been restored to its authentic allure, recovering unique Spanish-Mediterranean elements. It is ideal for large audiences and special events. RIDGLEA ROOM and RIDGLEA LOUNGE have been making some of their own history, as connected adjuncts to RIDGLEA THEATER, or hosting their own smaller shows and gatherings. More at theRidglea.com

LEGAL NOTICE –

The business records of the following customers of ACCESS INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (or any affiliates of ACCESS) located at 630 N. Freeway, Suite 300, Fort Worth, TX 76102 have been abandoned: CATHEDRAL ROCK MANAGEMENT, LP. All records will be shredded 9 days after publication of this notice. Anyone claiming to have an interest in the records should contact Access Information Protected in writing at the following address 4 First Avenue, Peabody, MA 01960, Attn: Legal Department, Tel. No. (888) 869-2767 (Client Support); email: Collections@accesscorp.com

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NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Notice is hereby given that original Letters Testamentary the Estate of HELEN BARTKOWIAK, Deceased, were issued on March 1, 2024, under Docket No. 2023-PR02012-1, pending in the County Court at Law No. One of Tarrant County, Texas, to LINDA LEVY. Claims may be presented in care of the attorney for the estate, addressed as follows: Linda Levy, Independent Executrix Estate of Helen Miriam Bartkowiak, Deceased c/o The Werner Law Group, PLLC 101 W. Goodwin, Suite 720 Victoria, Texas 77901 All persons having claims against this estate, which is currently being administered, are required to present them within the time and in the manner prescribed by law. DATE: March 12, 2024 THE WERNER L AW G ROUP , PLLC Leslie A. Werner SBN 21190150 leslie@ werner-lawgroup.com

Charles C. Ferguson, II SBN 24045867 charles@werner-lawgroup.com Cole Eckhoff SBN 24121355 cole@werner-lawgroup.com

Adela C. Martinez SBN 24110599 adela@wernerlawgroup.com 101 W. Goodwin, Suite 720 Victoria, Texas 77901 Telephone: (361) 578-7200 Facsimile: (361) 4851949 Attorneys for Linda Levy, Independent Executor

ZEST IS ALMOST HERE!

Interested in participating in Zest 2024, in stands on 3/27? Email Marketing@fwweekly.com today!