Five stories that have North Texas talking: '50s Dallas in a citizen committee-produced documentary, the word that knocked Plano speller Chetan Reddy out of the National Bee final round, and more.
Thanks to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image and the City of Dallas, you can now watch “vintage footage of Dallas’ main traffic arteries in the mid-1950s” – and many more throwback captures of Dallas life – on Vimeo.
Best quote from the Dallas Citizen Traffic Commission-produced Report To Dallas: “For the first time, a one-way street system for downtown traffic will be feasible.” [The Dallas Morning News also features a retro-cool police video, Shield Over Dallas.]
- Plano Speller Hits A Pinch In Round 10: Plano eighth grader Chetan Reddy made it to Round 10 of the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship final. Until the kaburi (a type of land crab) sent him off the stage as the crowd stood and applauded. Arvind Mahankali from New York netted first place after nailing knaidel. Since the first televised rounds on Wednesday, KERA's spelling correspondent Courtney Collins sat with headphones on, silent, pouring one out (tea!) for each crestfallen speller and following Chetan through his fourth and last year in the competition. [KERA]
- Fort Worth Gets Dibs On First U.S.-Made Smartphones: Each one of the new Motorola Moto X's will pass through a facility in Fort Worth. As KERA's Lauren Silverman reports for Morning Edition, the company is moving into a plant once used by Nokia in the city's "telecom corridor," bringing Cowtown 2,000 more jobs. The toys manufactured there will be the first ever smartphones to be assembled in the U.S. [KERA/NPR]
- Getting Old Is Tough For Gay Seniors: Resources for the LGBT community often hone in on awareness, self-acceptance and social opportunities for young people. But what about gay seniors, who face different challenges? They’re twice as likely to live alone than their heterosexual counterparts, twice as likely to be single and three to four times less likely to have kids, according to KUT’s Kate McGee. Austin organizations such as Family Eldercare and Austin Gay & Lesbian Senior Services are helping connect the city’s gay population to some help – and to each other. [KUT]
- Oswald House For Sale In Oak Cliff: He only lived there for six weeks, but Lee Harvey Oswald's stay at a boarding house in south Dallas has piqued some real public interest. That's because it's the place he returned to on Nov. 22, 1963, about 30 minutes after John F. Kennedy was shot in downtown Dallas. Learn more about how the assassin changed Dallas forever via this Think episode featuring Sixth Floor Museum curator/oral historian Stephen Fagin. [AP via NPR]
