City News Roundup

Dallas Morning News hires more male writers and more Dallas news

Everyone knows that men have a more authoritative voice than women.

Photo courtesy of VishwaGujarat.com

This roundup of Dallas city news has two items related to transparency: one about online crime reports, the other about helicopter surveillance. There's good news for West Dallas residents but bad news if you like gender parity in your media.

Here's what happened in Dallas this week:

Online crime info
The Dallas Police Department is redacting certain information from its crime reporting online, which they say is to protect information on victims and preserve the integrity of investigations.

Other cities have taken similar steps. But this is not sitting well with city council member Cara Mendelsohn or the Dallas Morning News, who are both on a crusade.

Mendelsohn, who sniffed that this "might be for other cities ... but not for Dallas," thinks it should be up for discussion. The DMN doesn't like that it will make their jobs harder.

Some DMN staffers even found themselves working on the weekend to cover the topic, an occurrence so meaningful (and rare) that they put it in a pinned tweet.

Helicopter footage
An anonymous source leaked 600 hours of surveillance footage taken by police helicopters and drones, which included footage from police departments in Dallas and Atlanta.

The footage was posted on a site called DDoSecrets, whose cofounder said that the data was stored in an unsecured cloud and they didn't know the identity of the source.

According to Courthouse News, the video from Dallas' helicopter footage includes crimes in progress and surveillance linked to ongoing investigations, but also innocuous footage such as shots of crowds at the State Fair of Texas.

Concrete plant gets rejected
At its November 10 meeting, the Dallas City Council said no to a concrete batch plant trying to open in West Dallas.

Latino's Ready Mix had been in business at 1001 W. Commerce St. near Sylvan Avenue for years, but in 2019 it was told it had to move.

The formerly industrial neighborhood has more than a dozen concrete batch plants, but has become gentrified in recent years.

Latino's Ready Mix was handed a "denial with prejudice," which means they can't come back and make another request for two years.

Men rule, go men
The Dallas Morning News does not present well in a report on male dominance in the news media.

Called "Divided 2021: The Media Gender Gap," the report by the Women’s Media Center evaluated 30 news outlets in the U.S. including print, online, broadcast, cable TV, and wire, from January 1-March 31, 2021. Among those were 14 major daily newspapers, including the DMN.

Overall, across all media platforms, men get 65 percent of news bylines and credits, versus 34 percent for women. Print is worse. Online media (like CultureMap) is better:

Print: 69 percent men and 31 percent women
Online: 57 percent men, 43 percent women

At the Dallas Morning News, it's even worse, with 73 percent of the bylines going to men and 27 percent to women.

The only place where it's 50-50 is TV nightly news shows, because you need a pretty lady to look at. But in other media, where you can't see whether the female writer is attractive or not, everyone knows there's nothing more reassuring than the authoritative voice of a man, whereas women come off like nagging shrews.

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One hot dog

DFW Airport pup sniffs out victory in TSA’s cutest canine contest

Photo courtesy of Transportation Security Administration

Say "cheese," Bolt!

The next time you fly through Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, you might bump into the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s new top dog.

No, we’re not talking about the TSA’s top boss. We’re talking about a doggone cute canine.

Bolt, a three-year-old, brown-coated German shorthaired pointer, just won the TSA’s annual Cutest Canine Contest. All entrants in the contest were TSA bomb-sniffing dogs.

Travelers voted on social media for the agency’s most precious pup, choosing from among four finalists in different regions of the U.S. TSA canine handlers at U.S. airports initially nominated 85 dogs. Agency employees then voted online to whittle the list to four finalists.

Bolt bomb-sniffing dog Bolt is a three-year-old, brown-coated German shorthaired pointer.Photo courtesy of TSA

Bolt’s handler, Daphne Wang, describes him as “such a character and a hard-working little guy.”

“He absolutely loves his job and coming to work,” Wang says in a release.

“I am so happy he gets to show the world his quirky personality. It’s definitely an adventure working with Bolt every day,” she adds. “There is nothing ordinary about him. He works hard and plays even harder. He is always in working mode, even at home. He is never short on energy and is always 1,000 percent excited to go to work.”

WebMD describes German shorthaired pointers like Bolt as a “loyal and loving breed” known for its hunting prowess.

“They’re intelligent and full of energy, so they won’t be happy lazing about all day,” says WebMd.

TSA canines like Bolt and their handlers move through groups of people to sniff out the odor of explosives. A handler learns to notice subtle changes in their canine’s behavior if an explosive device appears to have aroused the dog’s senses.

“Explosives-detection canine teams are one of TSA’s most effective and visible layers of security,” says TSA Administrator David Cummins. “These highly trained dogs and their handlers help detect threats in dynamic transportation environments, deter potential attacks, and give travelers confidence that TSA is using proven, adaptable capabilities to protect the traveling public.”

Bolt TSA dog Bolt moves through groups of people to sniff out the odor of explosives. Photo courtesy of TSA

Photo courtesy of Transportation Security Administration

Say "cheese," Bolt!

TSA canines and handlers undergo training at a facility in San Antonio.

The federal government launched canine training in 1972. The training program came under TSA’s control following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

TSA-led bomb-sniffing teams began by screening air cargo in 2008. Three years later, the agency expanded the program to include passengers.

“Canines are an essential part of our team at TSA,” says Ha Nguyen McNeill, the agency’s deputy administrator. “As cute as Bolt and our other canines are, the work they do is vital for TSA’s national security mission.”

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