Five stories that have North Texas talking: New names for new transit lines, the Soul Repair Center opens at TCU, rape gives reason for ‘the talk’ in Highland Park and more.
Update, 4:50 p.m.: DART’s Revenue Committee took the first step today that could lead to hiring a Cleveland-based company to market sponsorships and naming rights to Dallas' public transit routes. In which case there’d be modifiers added to those colors we’ve just memorized: the Orange Crush line to Irving, etc.
The Dallas Morning News’ Robert Wilonsky had a story this morning and more speculative examples. In it, DART’s Morgan Lyons reminds that Cowboys Stadium hasn’t even sold its naming rights yet, so it could be a while before bus routes and rail lines get branded.
Lyons says there will be two more votes, one in December and the final vote in January.
-- Lyndsay Knecht
TCU Helps Repair Souls; Robots Do Surgery
The Soul Repair Center is now open at TCU’s Brite Divinity School. It’s not purgatory on Earth, or an Eternal Sunshine-esque memory cleanse, or even a meditation symposium headquarters. It’s a new program focusing on veterans and members of the military who are recovering from what the founders call moral injury: “perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.”
In advance of the center’s opening yesterday, the co-directors spoke with Krys Boyd on ‘Think’ last week about why returning veterans would be in need of such a service.
More hope unearthed from the horrors of combat: Robotic surgery, which originates in ideas for military telesurgery. Check out the second installment of our Battlefield Breakthroughs series. And if you missed the first one about proton beams as cancer zappers yesterday, catch up now.
-- Lyndsay Knecht
Highland Park Rape Arrest Gets Parents Talking -- To Their Kids
After a teenage girl reported she was raped by a Highland Park High School senior, parents in the area are apparently more eager to talk to their kids about sex. Melissa Repko of the Dallas Morning News has a piece about how the incident is affecting the girl -- classmates are insisting the incident was “date rape,” not “rape” -- and the talk is making it to breakfast tables accordingly:
A Highland Park mother of a teenage boy said that [the] arrest was a wake-up call. She had been reluctant to talk about sex because it was “awkward and embarrassing.” She wants her children to be abstinent and worried that the conversation might trigger more thoughts about sex.
Victims who’ve long been quiet about their own experience have been mobilized to express support as well. One HP mom dropped a note off on the teenage girl’s doorstep, disclosing that she’d been raped and kept it secret for years.
-- Lyndsay Knecht
Twinkie’s ‘Hostess’ Considers Liquidation
Irving-Based Hostess Brands Inc. bakes (and owns) many goods, including Twinkies and Wonder Bread. The company is currently in bankruptcy and dealing with striking workers.
Hostess announced yesterday it was laying off 627 employees and closing bakeries in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati. Officials say the move was in reaction to profit loss from their striking workforce, and was designed to save money as the company deals with an uncertain economy.
The closures and layoffs might not be enough, according to Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn: “We will close the entire company if widespread strikes cripple our business... Hostess is “days away” from having to shut down entirely..”
-- Justin Martin
Animals Rescued From Denton County En Masse
A veritable menagerie was taken from a single owner near Sanger this weekend: 173 animals, including donkeys, guinea pigs, birds and an emu, were stolen away by authorities from deplorable conditions. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has a bite on the mass exodus, which now finds the animals safe and potentially up for adoption if the Humane Society gets custody this week.
-- Lyndsay Knecht