During two previous Odessa City Council meetings, former Downtown Odessa, Inc. (DOI) Director Casey Hallmark alleged numerous instances of bullying and intimidation by Odessa Mayor Joven and Odessa City Councilmen Mark Matta and Chris Haney. As a result of Hallmark’s allegations, the city hired Tommy Sheen, a Lubbock based attorney, to conduct a thorough independent […]
Posted inLocal
A Second Look at the DNOW/Toby Eoff Lawsuit
Publisher’s note: Last week, Odessa Headlines published a story about the verdict in a lawsuit brought by Distribution Now (DNOW) against Odessan Toby Eoff and others. When news of the verdict broke we were, quite frankly, surprised as there had been no local information regarding the case. In our initial investigation, we obtained the bulk […]
Posted inLocal
Nearly $9M Jury Verdict awarded against Odessan Toby Eoff
A unanimous Fort Bend County jury late Wednesday, February 22, 2023, found that prominent Odessa businessman Toby Eoff willfully and maliciously conspired with other former employees of DistributionNOW (DNOW) to steal the energy sector giant’s trade secrets. The verdict included a finding that Mr. Eoff breached his fiduciary duty to Houston-based DNOW when he conspired […]
Posted inEconomic Development
ODC To Host Joint City Council/County Commissioner Meeting
Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett, Odessa Mayor Javier Joven, and Odessa Economic Development Corporation Board Chairman Kris Crow announced today their respective entities will be hosting a joint work session of County Commissioners’ Court, City Council, and the Economic Development Corporation. “This is the first meeting of its kind between our three entities with the […]
Posted inOdessa City Council
Swanner Working To Improve City Permitting and Inspection
Councilmember Denise Swanner is carrying through on her campaign promise to improve the permitting and inspection process for city residents and is focused on customer service within the department.
Posted inOpinion
Russell: The OA’s Antics Are Just Too Much
After reading a lengthy “editorial” by the Odessa American (OA) containing several attacks by the former daily newspaper against our publication, I felt a response on behalf of Odessa Headlines would unfortunately be in order. Two words came to mind after reading the OA’s editorial: Gish Gallop. According to one source, the generally accepted definition […]
Posted inOdessa City Council
Joven, Swanner & Matta Advocate For Odessa With State Legislature
Odessa and Midland joined together today at the Texas State Capital to advocate for the needs of West Texas at the annual Midland And Odessa Legislative Days. Beginning early this morning elected officials and local advocates met with various state officials and held round table discussions to push for additional state support for the West […]
Posted inOdessa City Council
F-Bombs, Coconuts & Other Bad Behavior
It seems like some type of bad behavior fever has infected some Odessa citizens’ public comments and behavior during recent City Council meetings. It all began with local family law and self proclaimed civil rights attorney Gavin Norris’ attempts to disrupt the December 13, 2022 City Council meeting. On the agenda that night was the […]
Posted inOdessa City Council
Texas Bar Ethics Complaint Filed Against Former Odessa City Attorney Brooks
Odessa Headlines learned today that Odessa City Councilwoman Denise Swanner has lodged a formal ethics complaint with the State Bar of Texas against former Odessa City Attorney Natasha Brooks over her role in the illegal backdating of Councilman Steve Thompson’s conflict of interest forms in 2020. The State Bar of Texas is an agency of […]
Posted inLocal
Documents Show City of Odessa Officials Backdated Conflict of Interest Affidavits
“I did not feel comfortable about backdating the affidavit,” Councilman Thompson wrote.