6 March 20 - 26, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents On March 11, the Dallas-based airline an- nounced it will end its beloved “two bags fly free” policy this summer. Free luggage will still be extended to members of the Rapid Rewards loyalty program’s upper tiers, any- one with a business class ticket, or those who hold the airline’s credit card, which was me until a few moments ago, snip. It’s the principle of the thing, class solidarity, whatever. The last year has been death by a thou- sand private equity cuts for Southwest Airlines, ever since Elliott Investment Management bought a $1.9 billion stake in the company. Today’s announcement feels like a slash that could kill. In the last year, the hedge fund investor has pressured the airline into a corner, aiming to increase profitability through $500 million in cost cuts. This is a funda- mental misunderstanding, or disregard- ing, of why Southwest worked in the first place. Herb Kelleher, the airline’s founder, was no moron. He knew how to build a profitable product. However, the beauty of Southwest was the company’s conscious decision to walk away from policies that might increase profitability but harm the customer experience. Does Southwest lose $9 every time a flight attendant gives me a free mimosa? Sure, but I haven’t flown any other airline domestically in years. Elliott Investment Management has forced out longtime board members who champi- oned the policies that made Southwest special, and earlier this year, mass layoffs hit the com- pany for the first time in its history. Last summer, the airline announced it would soon end its half-century-long tra- dition of democracy, aka, allowing cus- tomers to choose their own seats. And earlier this month, the airline announced an overnight devaluation of its once gen- erous points-earning structure. Wanna Get Away fares now earn 67% fewer points per dollar than they did just weeks ago, and the sweeping change is retroactively impacting already-booked flights. With all this in mind, it feels like South- west Airlines’ free baggage policy was the last good thing it had going for it, and now a bunch of finance bros who hate good things have taken that too from us. Was Southwest perfect before all this? Of course not. The airline’s stock value had long lagged behind other airlines, inspiring Elliott Investment Management’s takeover. We can’t forget the 2022 holiday schedul- ing meltdown, which was so bad it has its own Wikipedia page. The airline took an- other hit during last year’s Boeing crisis be- cause of its cost-saving decision to fly only Boeing 737s. But I loved Southwest Airlines anyway because Southwest Airlines loved me. Now, like everything else good in this world, Southwest has been commandeered by capi- talism, and we customers will be stuck pay- ing more for the shell of what this company once was. So if you catch me January 6th-ing the Elliott Management headquarters, mind your business. Or join in. I want my airline back. ▼ POLITICS WHAT TIME IS IT? TEXANS MIGHT GET TO VOTE ON ENDING DAYLIGHT SAVING. BY ALYSSA FIELDS I f you stumbled into work March 10 an hour late and feeling like your beauty sleep was cut short, it’s because the time has sprung forward again. Luckily the in- convenience of manually adjusting clocks has been nearly eradicated by the prolifera- tion of automated versions, but daylight sav- ing time still leaves almost the entire country with an acute sense of jet lag. For decades, lawmakers across the coun- try and political spectrum have tried to rid the country of the biannual pesky time change without much luck. This session, new filings could land the time change issue on Texas voter ballots by November, after the time falls back. By federal law, it is within a state’s rights to observe or not observe the daylight saving time change in the spring, but there’s a huge caveat to foregoing the adjustment. No state has the authority to remain on permanent daylight saving time without congressional approval. If voters in a state choose to end daylight saving time, the clocks will remain on standard time, shortening the amount of sunlight in the evenings. Hawaii and Arizona are the only two states that do not change their clocks, instead accepting early darkness. One bill from Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a Democrat from Laredo, would establish standard time as the norm. “The twice-a-year clock change is dis- ruptive and unnecessary,” Zaffirini said in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “Studies have linked these shifts to increased traffic accidents, negative health effects, and de- creased productivity.” A bill from Rep. Will Metcalfe, a Republi- can from Conroe, aims to establish daylight saving permanently, opting for more sun- light in the evenings but darker mornings. Metcalfe filed a similar bill in 2023, but it failed in the Senate. Congressional approval has proved to be a roadblock for other states, like Florida, in the past, but Metcalf is hop- ing this won’t be the case for Texas. “Texas doesn’t need to wait for Washing- ton,” Metcalf said in a news release. “By passing HB 1393, we’ll demonstrate leader- ship and send a strong message that Texans are ready to move forward.” Rep. Mayes Middleton, a Republican from Galveston, doesn’t care which time is picked so long as he doesn’t have to remem- ber to change the time on his oven anymore. Middleton filed two bills, one that would end the observance of daylight saving and another that would make the hour-ahead time the regular. “This would just say ‘look, we’re not go- ing to change our clocks anymore,’” Middle- ton said to CBS News. “That’s the one thing everyone agrees on: please, please, we don’t want to change our clocks anymore. I filed both bills because at the end of the day, what I really want to have happen, no more time change. I’m tired of the time change. Every- body’s tired of the time change.” The bills from Zaffirini and Middleton would send the time change debate to voters in a November referendum. While most Texans agree changing the time is annoying, a study from Utilities Now found an even split on the popularity of standard time ver- sus permanent daylight saving time. The time change has been screwing up cir- cadian rhythms since it was first adopted in World War I as an effort to conserve energy. Many people seemingly hated it, especially farmers, and the law was repealed in seven months. But then the Second World War hap- pened, and the time change system was rein- stated and called “War Time.” After the war, some localities kept it up; others did not. The disarray of time zones was so bad that a Texan had to step in and sort things out. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uni- form Time Act in 1966, creating rules for states that observe the time change. The law man- dated participating states to change their clocks at the same time, on the same day, by the same differential. It also stipulated that no state could adopt year-round daylight saving. A bill to make daylight saving time per- manent nationally, called the Sunshine Pro- tection Act, has been filed and failed multiple times since 2018. In 2022, the bill unanimously passed the Senate, and Presi- dent Donald Trump expressed his support, indicating he would sign it if it reached his desk, but it failed in the House. A similar bill has never passed the House, but neverthe- less, the Sunshine Protection Act has been refiled for the 119th Congress. Trump, and arguably his top appointed adviser, Elon Musk, have been vocal about their distaste for the time change. Trump, a fan of executive orders, recently discussed a potential executive order establishing a na- tional standard time while signing other ex- ecutive orders. “It’s very much a fifty-fifty issue and it’s something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way, a lot of people like it the other way,” he said. ▼ CRIME EGREGIOUS OFFENDER ICE AGENTS ARREST OAK CLIFF BAKER WHO KILLED, SET FIRE TO LOCAL ARTIST. BY EM MA RUBY D allas ICE agents arrested the owner of a North Oak Cliff bakery earlier this month, according to a March 11 an- nouncement. ICE said agents identified Man- uel Tellez, who is a Mexican citizen, as “removable” in 2022 after he was convicted of the killing of Anthony Moreno, a local artist. Moreno’s body was found three blocks from Maroches Bakery, which Tellez owns, suffering from multiple stab wounds and having been set on fire. The evening before, Moreno had been seen visiting with Tellez at the bakery, where the store owner ap- peared on Instagram Live interviewing the artist about his sugar skull artwork. Investi- gators believe Tellez and Moreno were “ro- mantically interested” in the same woman, spurring the crime. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, neighborhood security footage caught Tellez’s movements on the night of the mur- der, including the burning of Moreno’s body which was so severe his identity could not be immediately confirmed by investigators. Footage also showed Moreno wearing white gloves similar to those found at the scene. In June 2023, Tellez opted out of a jury trial and pleaded guilty to the lesser crime of manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years deferred adjudication probation. “He received no prison time for this con- viction and was placed back into the com- munity with community supervision for eight years,” the ICE release said. “This is an egregious offender,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Opera- tions Dallas acting Field Office Director Josh Johnson added on social media. “We are grateful for our federal partners within the Justice Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for help- ing us remove this high priority target from our communities.” Conducting the “largest deportation pro- gram of criminals in the history of America” has been a top priority for President Donald Trump. According to ABC News, just over half of the arrests made by ICE agents na- tionally in the first month of Trump’s second term were classified as “criminal arrests.” ICE has not responded to media re- Lauren Drewes Daniels Opponents of daylight saving time say dark mornings pose a risk to children walking to school. Unfair Park from p4 >> p8
