This week I read the Dallas Morning News website. This media outlet mainly targets people who are interested in what’s going on in the Dallas-Fort Worth area or live in that area. It does include some state and national news much like the LA Times, but is still heavily focused on local news. The Dallas Morning News has the typical range of articles that you would expect from a news source: local and national news, business, sports, life etc. The website also has video section as an alternative to reading articles, which some may find convenient for news on the go.

One of the articles I read from The Dallas morning News was one about a cop who could not properly recall a shooting. Dallas police Officer Christopher Watson has now twice given his account of the events surrounding his partner shooting a Rylie resident. Watson’s partner Spencer shot Bennett, who is mentally ill, on Oct 14. Watson’s account of this incident was that Bennett approached Spencer violently with a knife in his hand. However, a neighbor happened to catch the independent on video and the video depicts an entirely different event. The video depicts Bennett rolling away from officers and then standing with hands by his side. While standing frozen in one spot Bennett goes down after being shot by Spencer. After viewing this video Watson still claims that Bennett gripped a knife and appeared to pose a threat. Spencer has subsequently been fired after this incident. While this may seem baffling experts say that this is a common phenomenon and is known as tunnel vision. In most every day situations our brain remembers the gist of things and not extreme detail. This is amplified in stressful situations where all that we remember is what we are focusing on such as a gun in someones hand instead of the sex of the person holding the gun.

Another article that caught my interest was The Girl In the Closet Part 8. This article was the last in an 8 part series on Lauren Kavanaugh. This articles focused on her life growing up in middle school and high school and the struggles she faced during those times. After growing up being abused mentally, physically, and sexually Kavanaugh has had a hard time forming relationships with others. This was seen throughout the article when her friends wouldn’t come to her birthday party, or her junior high date canceling on her. While Kavanaugh has struggled to live a normal life, her step-mother, Sabrina Kavanaugh, has been their for her time and time again.  Kavanaugh has also made the decision to go on and live life rather than give up. When her step- mother was diagnosed with cancer, she became a care-taker for her step-mother and was by her side just as she was for her until she became cancer free. Kavanaugh is now attending courses at her local community college and is continuing to pursue as much of a normal life as she can.

The Dallas Morning News’ article on TxDot’s hope to curb drunken driving also got my attention. The TxDOT Fan Van attends tailgates throughout Texas and allows fans to play various games with “Drunken Goggles” to show how much alcohol affects their motor skills. It also allows fans to sign a pledge to not drive drunk as well. This past week the TxDOT Fan Van was at the SMU game. SMU plans to allow for beer sales inside it’s stadium at it’s sporting events and sales could begin as soon as January. While a controversial topic many agree with it and say that as long as it is highly regulated they do not have a problem with it.

While The Dallas Morning News is a good news source, the focus on Dallas and Ft. Worth area really turns me off from it. I do not live their and the local news has zero impact on my most of the time. The national news that is covered is also tied back to Dallas most of the time as well. Also I am personally not a fan of video news and prefer to read an article then be forced to listen to one. The interactive articles also were bothersome at times since all I wanted was an easy to read article instead of one with embedded videos and other fancy options.