Fort Worth Weekly Classifieds // January 4-10, 2023

4-10, 2023 fwweekly.com

Dallas-based Southwest has canceled more flights than any other airline during the holidays, prompting federal investigators to ask why.

METROPOLIS

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines faces a federal investigation into whether it violated its own legally required customer service plan amid a blizzard of flight cancellations that ruined plans and angered travelers over the Christmas holiday.

The service meltdown that resulted in the cancellation or delay of most of the carrier’s flights over the holiday weekend was “disproportionate and unacceptable,” said officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) in a statement.

As Winter Storm Elliott started to impact a large chunk of the states, the vast majority of canceled flights across the nation were operated by Southwest Airlines. And air travelers’ woes are likely to continue this week.

“USDOT is concerned by Southwest’s unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays & reports of lack of prompt customer service,” the agency posted on Twitter on Monday evening. “The Department will examine whether cancellations were controllable and if Southwest is complying with its customer service plan.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tweeted shortly after that he was “tracking [the issue] closely” and would have more to say about this soon.

Late Tuesday afternoon last week, USDOT tweeted that Buttigieg had spoken “with union leaders and the CEO of Southwest Airlines to convey the Department’s expectation that Southwest meet its obligations to passengers and workers and take steps to prevent a situation like this from happening again.”

Southwest officials said in a message to employees, obtained by the Dallas Morning News last week, that staffing issues were a large part of the reason the planes were

Southwest is struggling to stabilize its operations after a winter storm caused a backlog in travel, mass flight cancellations and delays at major airports.

being grounded after pilots and other staff couldn’t get to the airports where they were needed.

Some travelers were told that no new bookings were being made before the new year.

In a statement to the DMN, a spokesperson for the airline — the largest in 23 of the nation’s Top 25 travel markets — said that it was slashing flights and halting ticket sales for the coming days while it recovers.

“Due to our limited schedule and large number of re-accommodations, inventory available to book flights across our network is very low, but we are still operating flights,” Southwest spokesperson Chris Perry said in a statement.

Mike Santoro, vice president of the pilots union for the airline, told CNN the core of the issue was an outdated scheduling system that was already overwhelmed before the storm became the catalyst for the current problems. Those technology problems, he said, have left pilots and crews stranded in cities across the country looking for accommodations, unable to get through to airline officials to find out where they — or the planes they’re scheduled to staff — are supposed to be.

“We don’t know where we are, they don’t know where the airplanes are, and it’s frustrating,” Santoro said. “We are tired of apologizing for Southwest. Our hearts go out to all of the passengers.”

Last Tuesday, the airline scrubbed 64% of its flights, representing nearly 90% of cancellations from all carriers into and out of

the country, according to the online airline tracker FlightAware.

The carrier has already canceled 62% of its flights last Wednesday — accounting for all but 33 of more than 2,500 canceled U.S. flights that day.

Southwest officials issued “heartfelt apologies” Monday that they said were “just beginning” as challenges they also described as “unacceptable” are expected to continue this week.

Officials said in the statement that the severe winter weather caused “wide-scale disruption” and that the airline is working at full capacity to restabilize service.

“We’ll work to make things right for those we’ve let down,” the statement read.

That may not comfort travelers who spent the entire holiday weekend in Austin-Bergstrom International Airport or those separated from stacks of luggage at Houston Hobby Airport and who were dropped off at Love Field in Dallas —Southwest’s hub — without having been notified that their flights were canceled. On Christmas Day, more than 100 flights were delayed or canceled at the San Antonio International Airport.

The chaos left some travelers sleeping on airport floors, waiting for hours in lines, and overwhelming hotels in the scramble to find last-minute accommodations.

But federal officials are limited on what they can do beyond a harshly worded social media callout for an airline to enforce its customer services commitments. Those commitments are not required for an airline

to keep its license but were established in 2011 law as a sort of traveler’s bill of rights that airlines are supposed to enforce on themselves.

Airlines can be heavily fined by USDOT for breaking their rules on how to respond to long delays of planes filled with passengers sitting for hours on the tarmac, but it is unclear yet if those were among the major issues since most flights were canceled altogether.

“It’s posturing on DOT’s part,” said Charlie Leocha, president of Travelers United, which advocates for air travelers and has pushed for stronger ways to enforce airline customer service plans and other requirements.

Typically, he said, Southwest is a “customer service champion” as the only airline with no change fees, with credits that don’t expire, and without charges for up to two bags, with few limitations.

The weather has been unprecedented, and as the largest carrier in the U.S., he added, Southwest is bound to have higher cancellation numbers during busy flight seasons.

“This weather situation is overwhelming,” he said. “I can’t remember a period with such cold temperatures and an amazing amount of snow. It is a shame that the real customer service champion has found itself in the crosshairs. All airlines have the same problems.” l

A version of this story originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.

fwweekly.com

BY KAREN BROOKS HARPER, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Factual Retelling of History Is the Greatest Tool that Activists and Advocates Have.

Just a few months ago, a monumental case that protected the constitutional right to privacy for women was overturned. After 50 years of serving as precedent, Roe v. Wade was rolled back, and 167 million people in this country have had their equality further chipped away and their bodily autonomy threatened. How did this happen? I have several different thoughts about how the political landscape of this country has shifted over the past seven years and pushed us to this point, but a better question would be why have we rolled back this protection knowing why it was originally put in place? Have we forgotten the history of what happened to women before abortion was legal and federally protected? Have we forgotten our collective history?

In a time when many conservative states are openly and actively changing history curriculums to better fit their warped and “alternative truth” agendas, knowing our history and knowing it factually is one of the greatest tools that activists and advocates have.

This country is currently in an era when book bans and unprecedented restrictive changes are being made to school curriculums to push far-right extremist views and falsify and alter the very dark and often racist history of this country. Over the past two years, 15 states have passed laws restricting curriculum which will affect nearly 122 million people. Between January and August of 2022, 36 states issued 137 pieces of legislation aimed at limiting the way that teachers are able to teach their students. Most of this legislation has aimed to restrict how race, sexuality, and gender are taught, and most of this legislation has been aimed at K-12 schools. Of the 137 pieces of legislation, only one has been introduced by a Democratic politician.

While these changes are currently being aimed at K-12 schools, an increasing number of these laws will apply to colleges and universities, too. This is troubling.

It is not just an adage or a cliche to say that if you don’t know your history, then you’ll repeat it. In this case, history is literally being rewritten, changed, and/or erased. That’s exactly what is happening in real time in our country as we witness historic rollbacks on human and constitutional rights and the systemic denial of scientific facts. We — or rather a select group who have collectively been able to sway us toward the opinion that it doesn’t even matter — don’t even know our history. We have been swayed to not acknowledge facts, and we are paying for it and will continue

to do so until we collectively change.

Prior to 1973 and before Roe v. Wade was decided in the Supreme Court, it was routine for women to die due to being denied access to safe abortions. Let’s be clear. Women have always gotten abortions. They have not always been able to access safe abortions, and that has resulted in death. Nearly 100 years prior to Roe v. Wade, the Comstock Law was passed, making it a federal crime to disseminate birth control through the mail or across state lines. By the early 1900s, medical journals were filled with the stories of women with perforated and infected uteruses from unmonitored and medically questionable abortions. Women who sought abortions had little to no options to safely get them, and by the 1930s, it is estimated that more than 600,000 abortions were taking place yearly, with roughly 10,000 women dying due to medical complications. After Roe v. Wade was passed into law, the mortality rate for those receiving abortions drastically dropped to about 70 deaths per every 100,000 abortions. After Roe v. Wade was passed into law, it became statistically safer to have an abortion than to give birth to a child.

I’m worried that the people who have advocated for the reversal of Roe aren’t concerned enough with what life was like for women aiming to get abortions before the law. Those stakeholders who are anti-abortion are committed to continuing to push a false history that posits that women have never gotten abortions and have never prac-

ticed family planning. Have they forgotten the bloody and gory tales of women dying from their wounds during and after abortions? Do they not care? The women who died pre-Roe deserve to be remembered, and their deaths deserve to be remembered and spoken about so that other women do not meet the same fate. We cannot forget them, and we cannot forget what awaits us if women do not have full bodily autonomy to make decisions for themselves, their bodies, and their futures. If abortion access is limited or taken away, there will be casualties. We as a nation must decide if we are OK with politicians allowing and advocating for that to happen.

Signed, Celeste Graham Dallas

Celeste Graham is a mother, a high school special education teacher, and a Ph.D. candidate at Texas Woman’s University in the department of social sciences and historical studies. She is currently writing her dissertation about formerly incarcerated mothers of color and their lives after they are released from prison.

This letter reflects the opinions and fact-gathering of the author(s) and only the author(s) and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a letter, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.

Why Is TRWD Appointing Electoral Losers to the Board?

The recent passing of Jim Lane of the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) board has exposed a gaping hole in leadership at the helm of TRWD, led by board chair Leah King. The Dec 13 meeting of TRWD commemorated Mr. Lane’s public service. Within the same meeting ensued a discussion on a method to fill the now-vacant seat. (State law requires the vacancy to be filled by the board within 60 days of occurrence. The term for this appointment expires in May 2023.)

With great confusion, King volleyed clumsily with board attorney Stephen Tatum on a proposed method of filling the vacancy with defeated and rejected candidates from prior elections. The words “transparency,” “optics,” and “accountability” were tossed about by board member James Hill during the discussion on the method to fill the current vacancy, and he concurred with King to select from defeated and voter-rejected 2021 candidates. Neither Ms. King nor Mr. Hill spoke to their conflicts of interest in making this selection.

One of the failed 2021 candidates campaigned on a slate with Ms. King and Mr. Hill. He is a land developer named C.B. Teams. Moreover, in 2019, Teams was also on the TRWD ballot and was defeated by Jim Lane, whose seat is now open due to his passing. These individuals who failed to get elected in 2021 were vetted by the voters and rejected.

Mr. Hill and Ms. King’s vapid argument is that these people have been vetted by the public. It troubles one to think that this is proper and well thought out. The irony is that their collective message in 2021 to the voters was transparency and accountability. The board voted to fill Mr. Lane’s vacancy using the unelected 2021 TRWD candidates.

Board member Hill requested staff to derive a policy in case vacancies occur in the future so future boards will have a standard set of rules for guidance. The policy requested from staff by Mr. Hill is vital. This policy will amount to an appointment of an elected position and should require a period of public input and comments before consideration.

When will voters within the TRWD start electing competent transparent leaders?

Signed, Water District Accountability Project

This letter reflects the opinions and fact-gathering of the author(s) and only the author(s) and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a letter, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.

Members of the Water District Accountability Project do not believe TRWD board chair Leah King will appoint a noninsider to fill Jim Lane’s vacated seat this month.

TRWD

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Two Women at a Window, c. 1655–60, oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection, 1942.9.46

This exhibition is organized by the Kimbell Art Museum.

The Kimbell Art Museum is supported in part by Arts Fort Worth, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

MUSIC

Breaking All the Strings

Cosmic country singersongwriter Broke String Burnett’s 12-track debut is set for February.

BY JUAN R GOVEA

Brandon “Broke String” Burnett hasn’t broken a guitar string onstage in a good while. His nickname has stood the test of time for a reason — he plays hard.

He also works hard. After years of plying local stages and writing new material, he’s set to release his debut album in February.

Recorded in an improvised home studio with old friend Calan Rawl, Doppelgänger is 12 tracks of moody, dark, old-school country in the vein of Orville Peck and Sturgill Simpson, with psychedelic, Radiohead-esque flourishes. Think of it as “cosmic country.”

Along with Burnett on vocals and rhythm guitar and producer Rawl on keys, Jacob Martinez handles bass and vocals, John Paul Thomas drums, and Robbie Saunders steel and lead guitar.

Burnett and Rawl have been wanting to get into the studio for a while now. Rawl, Burnett said, “really gets me and my songwriting. I feel like he captured that wide open, kind of cinematic feel of my songs, which is something we had always talked about concerning making something one day.”

After taking a brief hiatus from gigging to form his backing band and track the album, Burnett said he is more than happy with the recordings and plans on breaking all the strings this year.

“Rawl did a lot regarding the time signatures and flow of the album,” Burnett said about the production. “There’s a lot of thought put into the reflection and an inclination of duality on the album. There are hopeful songs and others we call ‘hell songs,’ and there are songs in between I call ‘gray songs.’ ”

The production came easy and happened in a very organic way, Burnett said.

(From left to right) drummer John Paul Thomas, frontman Brandon “Broke String” Burnett, and bassist Jacob Martinez want to take you on a little trip.

Music

Songs like “She Turned into a Shadow” and “Ghost Town” were both kind of typical, slow-country strummed songs at first, Burnett said.

Rawl, however, “suggested doing down strokes for those tracks,” Burnett continued. “It flowed better in sequence and even made them more haunting. I feel like we just had fun, really, and once we decided on the title, Doppelgänger, everything fit perfectly.”

For Rawl’s first effort as a producer, he drew from his experience scoring student films. “The ambience of the record worked well with the shared themes after mixing

and mastering the album’s imagery,” he said, which helped the concepts on the album. “We spent a lot of time thinking about it and how we wanted to represent the record’s Twilight Zone-like mood.”

Burnett and Rawl plan to put out more music next year as a production company.

“I don’t have a name,” Rawl said, “but I am interested in the idea of working with a label or other musician.”

Burnett teased the album by releasing the single “Got It Bad” last month via BrokeStringBurnett.com and all streaming platforms. Two more teaser singles are on the way.

“The goal when we started was to make something epic and to build a band in the process,” Burnett said. “I hope to get this album in front of as many ears as possible, and we just want to put on good shows.” l

Jessica

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EMPLOYMENT

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EMPLOYMENT NOTICES

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SUBMISSIONS

• Album release party Fri, Feb 3, w/The Rye Boys at The Post at River East, 2925 Race St, FW. $10. 817-945-8890.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

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Planned Parenthood

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We’re not going anywhere. We know you may be feeling a lot of things right now, but we are here with you and we will not stop fighting for YOU. See 6 ways you can join the #BansOffOurBodies fight on FB @ PPGreaterTX. For more info, go to: PPGreaterTX.org

We’d Like To Hear From You! Do you have thoughts and feelings, or questions, comments or concerns about something you read in the Weekly? Please email Question@ fwweekly.com. Do you have an upcoming event? For potential coverage in Night & Day, Big Ticket, Ate Day8 A Week, or CrosstownSounds, email the details to Marketing@fwweekly.com

TOURISM

CALIFORNIA

From its celebrated coastline to its broad heartland and granite Sierra peaks, CA offers a lifetime of vacations in one Golden State.

CaliforniaTouristGuide.com

CONNECTICUT

Great shopping, dining, casinos, Mystic maritime fun in CT, the southernmost New England state. More at: VisitConnecticut.com

DELAWARE

Explore the Great Outdoors with DE’s Scenic Drives, State Parks and More. Find Trip Ideas at: VisitDelaware.com

ILLINOIS

Places to go, things to do, the best places to eat and drink, must-see Chicago, trip ideas and inspiration for your travels at: EnjoyIllinois.com

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OREGON

From Mt Hood to the Oregon Coast, Explore Oregon with the official tourism at: TravelOregon.com

MAINE

Take the Guesswork Out of Planning Your Getaway at: VisitMaine.com

MARYLAND

If you thought Maryland was just battlefields and Old Bay, think again! VisitMaryland.org

MASSACHUSETTS

Find countless fun things to do from Boston to The Berkshires at: VisitMA.com

MINNESOTA

MN is the place for extraordinary, eye-opening adventures likr camping under the stars in a Dark Sky Sanctuary. More at: ExploreMinnesota.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NH is the perfect outdoor playground. Roll the windows down and explore scenic routes, walk around vibrant small towns and make unforgettable memories. VisitNH.gov

NEW JERSEY

NJ wows with 130 miles of shorelines and cities that pulse with exciting entertainment and culinary pleasures. Discover the Garden State. VisitNJ.org

NEW MEXICO

Visit New Mexico for a unique family vacation filled with exciting activities like skiing, hiking, shopping and sight seeing. NewMexico.org

NEW YORK

Explore all the state of New York has to offer including fun things to do, year-round events, festivals, and more. ILoveNY.com

NEVADA

Outdoor recreation, exciting events, and stories for days. Plan your next trip to Nevada. TravelNevada.com

RHODE ISLAND

RI is 400 miles of New England coastline, with beaches and freshfrom-the-ocean seafood. It’s also public art, charming villages, and more. VisitRhodeIsland.com

VERMONT

Our cities and towns welcome visitors with their rich history, eclectic shops, farm-to-table dining establishments, and recreation areas. VermontVacation.com

WASHINGTON

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JANUARY 4-10, 2023

Find us online at FWWeekly.com/Classifieds

Rambo

Fri w/Cory Cross at Twilite Lounge, 212 Lipscomb St, FW. 817-720-5483.

or email stacey@fwweekly.com today.

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EMPLOYMENT

Now Hiring CDL Drivers with Tanker & Hazmat preferred. Health Insurance and other benefits. Per Diem Paid. 1-830-833-4547 EOE

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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

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EMPLOYMENT

Database Professional sought by MUFG Bank, Ltd. in Arlington, TX to support & admin Oracle, SQL Server & PostgreSQL d/base platforms incl installation, config & maintenance. Req. Bach’s Deg in Comp Sci, Info Systems, Electrical Engg, or rel or foreign equiv deg + 5 yrs exp supporting & administrating multiple d/base platforms incl installation, config & maintenance of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 through 2016 & Oracle d/bases versions 10 through 12c; d/ base utilities & tools for d/base monitoring incl Oracle Enterprise Manager w/ Oracle on Unix (AIX) & Linux (RHEL), Oracle RAC, Oracle Data Guard, Oracle Partitioning Option, Oracle Data Pump & Oracle Recovery Manager); & 3 yrs exp must incl QL Server incl Always-ON Availability Groups, Mirroring, Log Shipping & Replication & Windows PowerShell scripts, SQL Server Reporting, Integration & Analysis Services; & 1 yr exp must incl performing app dvlpmt support activities incl d/base dsgn, optimizing SQL queries, building complex SQLs, concurrency planning, data refreshing & d/base objects migration across regions. Reqd to work nights & weekends & be on-call during non-bus hrs for tech support & maintenance purposes. Background checks & fingerprinting may apply. For app screening details & to apply go to https://careers.mufgamericas.com. Job # 10057135-WD. EOE.