Five stories that have North Texas talking: Ag Commissioner Sid Miller is a standout disseminator of “fake news”; what’s next for the Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund; Fort Worth symphony management and musicians reach an agreement; and more.
Texas has a rich and diverse landscape made up of majestic mountains, rolling hills and sandy shorelines. We have 16 nationally protected sites including Big Bend and the Guadalupe Mountains. Even the major metropolises have carved out space for nature’s reign.
Any of these places are ideal photo opps. The state’s big cities and hidden gems are picturesque locales in their own right too. Yet, the most photographed place in Texas — on Instagram, anyway — is the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. That’s according to USA Today’s list of the most photographed places in every state. The news outlet pulled from "Instagram data thanks to the app's 500 million users” to determine the list.
Actually, of the top five most-photographed spots, three are giant buildings in North Texas. [USA Today]
- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
- The San Antonio River Walk
- AT&T Stadium
- American Airlines Center
- Sixth Street in Austin
- Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is a “prolific sower” of misinformation. The state Republican leader’s Facebook and Twitter accounts are a hub for “fake news,” according to an analysis from the Texas Tribune. “The information most often came in the form of a link to an obscure ultra-conservative website posted with commentary from Miller.” In an interview with the Tribune last week, Miller admitted that he and his staff “got duped” several times and that posting inaccurate news is not done maliciously just mistakenly, he says. Here are resources to improve your media literacy. [Texas Tribune]
- On Friday, astate district judge ruledthat members of the troubled Dallas Police and Fire Pension Fund can vote on proposed benefit cuts. Some firefighters and police officers had filed a lawsuit in part to block members from voting on the cuts in November. The pension fund has been struggling – and some worry it could ultimately bankrupt the city. Dallas Morning News reporter Tristan Hallman has been following the pension woes and says Dallasites should be worried about it. He talked with KERA recently about how the city got into the situation and what it might take to get out. [KERA News]
“You have to imagine that there is going to be some tax implication from this. There's going to be at least some fees. The city knows they are going to have to pay money, that they have to if they want have secure retirements for police and firefighters. It also affects you if you want police and firefighters.”
- After picking up the blues in his 40s, Reverend KM Williams has been making up for lost time. In the 16 years he has lived in North Texas, the 60-year-old blues and gospel musician has released some two dozen CDs, played the Chicago Blues Festival twice and toured Europe seven times, Art&Seek reports. Even so, he’s not a household name like other North Texas blues guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson to T-Bone Walker and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Well, at least not yet. Watch Williams play his cigar box guitar for Austin radio station, KUTX. [Art&Seek]
- Fort Worth symphony management and the musicians' union have reached a “tentative agreement” regarding a new contract. The musicians went on strike in early September after rejecting a final contract offer from symphony management following months of unsuccessful negotiations. Since then, several rounds of concerts have been canceled. According to a press release, the tentative agreement was reached after “two days of federal mediation and more than a year of good faith bargaining.” Musicians will vote to ratify the agreement on Wednesday. [KERA News]
