Latino police chapter calls for Chief Hall to go, Grigsby on runoffs: Your Thursday morning roundup

 [Morning roundup]( 06/12/2019 By Narda Pérez and Carla Solórzano Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines as we start the day. 🌞 Weather: Mostly sunny and pleasant. High of 85. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [her]( Police Chief U. Renee Hall attended a council meeting Wednesday at Dallas City Hall. (Ryan Michalesko/Staff Photographer) DALLAS [Dallas Latino police chapter calls for Chief Hall to go, while black officers group backs the boss]( One of Dallas’ officer associations on Wednesday[called for Police Chief U. Renee Hall’s resignation, citing a vote of no confidence by its members](. The National Latino Law Enforcement Organization’s Greater Dallas chapter President George Aranda, a sergeant, said the department has suffered under what he called Hall’s "lack of leadership." "We need to go in a new direction," Aranda said. "We need a new crime fighter here." Hall did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Aranda declined to show full details of the vote and the size of the group’s membership. But his call for Hall’s ouster comes amid increasing scrutiny of the chief in recent weeks as a violent crime spike, highlighted by a sharp rise in homicides, strained the already short-staffed department.  Also: North Texas lawyer Ronald Holmes is the "LawDude" who [paid more than $1.4 million for the city's]( E. Lee and the Confederate Soldier](.   And: For the first time in 57 years, the big-eared, lanky carnivores known as [African painted dogs are back at the Dallas Zoo](.  ADVERTISEMENT BUSINESS [Frisco's Infinite Esports sells to L.A. company in industry's first $100 million deal]( Frisco-based Infinite Esports & Entertainment is being [sold to a Los Angeles-based company in what's described as the largest transaction in the esports industry's nascent history](. The purchase by Immortals Gaming Club values Infinite Esports at $100 million and makes the merged company the largest esports organization in the world, according to IGC. The combined business is expected to be valued at $250 million. "IGC's total audience size is nearly three times larger than our nearest competitors," IGC CEO Ari Segal said in a statement Wednesday. Immortals Gaming Club is backed by big-name investors like former Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman and the family of Michael Milken. Investors in Infinite Esports, which include the co-founders of the Texas Rangers baseball team, Neil Leibman and Ray Davis, will receive shares in IGC.  Also: Sen. Ted Cruz [praised Uber's innovative spirit]( saying its initiative to launch an urban air taxi service illustrates the power of free enterprise — and the dangers of socialism.   And: A Plano-based company is betting that the adoption of [radio frequency identification tags is about to spread throughout the industry](.  POLITICS & ELECTIONS [After a runoff uglier than any in Dallas, Plano’s new split council is hardly its biggest problem]( From Metro columnist Sharon Grigsby: Facing perhaps the biggest challenge in Plano City Hall’s history, leaders and residents need industrial-sized shovels to dig out of a manure-slinging [municipal election season that oozed with disdain, nastiness and even hate.]( Throughout the spring, Plano’s City Council races, which mercifully ended with Saturday’s runoff, hit new lows of bad behavior from the candidates and their supporters. The worst of what we saw in other campaigns across North Texas, including Dallas, didn’t come close to the garbage that flew in Plano. What passed for campaigning was a smutty mess: homophobic and Islamophobic comments on social media. Whispers that developers would walk away from important projects. Statements such as "evil people who claim to be Christians" and candidate signs and literature defaced with "liar" and the 666 "sign of the beast." Accusations of law breaking and political conspiracies involving conservative Empower Texans and liberal out-of-state donors. In the final days, Bacchus' opponents captured video of her spitting and making obscene gestures at aggressive polling place critics. Amid the false accusations, name-calling and shameless behavior, [I was most struck by the absolute absence of middle ground.]( Supporters of each candidate were certain theirs was the champion and the opponent was the devil incarnate.  Also: The Allen City Council voted [Tuesday to hire Eric Ellwanger as city manager](.   And: Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz wants to team up with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez again -- [this time to provide accessible birth control](.  ADVERTISEMENT EDITORS' PICKS - June 9 storms: Need financial help replacing spoiled food after the power outages? [Curious Texas tells you where to go](. - Politics: Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill — detested by city and county leaders — [that caps how much local government can collect in property taxes](. - Immigration: [Mexicans are no longer the majority of the unauthorized immigrant population]( an analysis finds. From the archives: Ned Fritz (left), Genie Fritz and Dr. Geoffrey Stanford received Environmental Excellence Awards at a luncheon hosted by Save Open Space, Friends of the Trinity River and several other environmental groups. (File photo/Ariane Kadoch) FINALLY [Dallas trail renamed for Ned and Genie Fritz, who helped save the Great Trinity Forest]( From city columnist Robert Wilonsky: Dallas has the Great Trinity Forest for two reasons: lawyer Ned Fritz and his wife, Genie. Long before the prolonged and brutal battle over planting a toll road in the Trinity River floodway, the couple fought off politicians who tried to turn the river into a concrete channel, who wanted to create a barge canal, and who tried to pave the 6,000-acre slice of verdant paradise that sprawls through out the southern half — the prettier half — of this city. And on Wednesday, the [Dallas City Council did something it should have done long, long ago]( — before December 2008, at the very least, when Ned died at the age of 92. Unanimously, council members voted to rename the Texas Buckeye Trail in the Great Trinity Forest for the couple. As of now, we must refer to the pathway on the other side of the levee from Bonton Farm by its rightful name: the Ned and Genie Fritz Texas Buckeye Trail. Which is only appropriate for the first trail carved through the forest, the one that introduced city dwellers to the sprawling woodlands in their backyard.  👋 That's all for this morning! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. Share the love! If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [check out our other newsletters here](. Do you have feedback? Send your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to [newsletters@dallasnews.com](mailto:newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com?subject=). STAY CONNECTED WITH US [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( [Tumblr]( [Reddit]( [OTHER FREE NEWSLETTERS]( [Unsubscribe]( | [Dallasnews.com]() | [Subscriber login]() | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( You received this message because you signed up for this Dallas Morning News newsletter or it was forwarded to you. Copyright 2019 - [The Dallas Morning News, 1954 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75201, United States]()