eChaser: January 2013 / p3

Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas update: In an effort to further promote transparency in public education, the Texas Education Agency has made charter applications for schools launched since 2001 available for public review on the agency’s website. The data can be sorted by name of the charter holder, education service center region or application status. Student-specific information has been redacted, and copyright or proprietary material is not posted. Copyright material may be reviewed at the Texas Education Agency headquarters, 1701 N. Congress Ave. in Austin. • In Galveston County a 26-year-old mother was convicted of injuring her newborn child in October 2009. The infant survived serious brain injuries resulting from an incident in which a state witness testified that the child’s mother told him she “killed” her baby. Disturbing? Yes. Inflammatory? Possibly. But according to news reports, the witness in a video-recorded statement to police never used the word “kill.” He told police only that the mother said she “dropped” her baby. Defense attorneys alleged prosecutorial misconduct and successfully convinced the judge to void the conviction — the young mother eventually received deferred adjudication and 10 years probation — but when the judge sealed the record of the defendant’s motion to dismiss, the Galveston Daily News moved to have the records unsealed. FOIFT board member Charles Daughtry argued that “the public has a paramount interest in the conduct of its elected public officials and their staff.” Daughtry and the Daily News convinced the judge to unseal the records, alleging they were wrongfully withheld from the public. The record of what transpired in that courtroom in relation to the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct were wrongfully withheld. That’s why FOIFT believes: The public deserves to know.

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PEOPLE & PLACES

Star-Telegram investigative reporter Yamil Berard, a member of the Fort Worth SPJ board, is one of 15 U.S. journalists chosen to attend the 8th Annual Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America at John Jay College in New York City.

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GET A JOB

KUT, Austin’s NPR station, seeks an experienced beat reporter to cover Austin and Central Texas news with an eye to engaging citizens on topics important to the region. Requirements include Spanish speaking skills; at least three years full-time broadcast news experience and demonstration of increasing responsibilities; extensive knowledge of Austin city politics and social issues; and newscast experience and superior production skills, including ability to mix own stories and to report live on the air with short notice. Info here. ...

Columbia Journalism Review seeks a part-time Texas-based correspondent for its United States Project in 2013. The United States Project focuses on the use of rhetoric and money to influence policy, with emphasis on the ongoing debate about the nation’s fiscal future. Info here.

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Chris Smith, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

If you aren’t constantly learning something new, you can lose your competitive advantage rather quickly in our fast-paced profession. So even if you don’t make New Year’s resolutions, you might consider at least setting some professional development goals in 2013.

Luckily, PRSA makes that easy. Each month except July, our Greater Fort Worth Chapter offers a luncheon program on a timely topic, including two half-day professional workshops planned this year. Already an expert on that topic? Go anyway. Members say they often get valuable tips simply from sharing a conversation at the table.

Can’t make a midday program? Try one of our evening mixers, primarily designed for networking but also to inform.

Senior-level practitioner? Go anyway. Giving back to your profession not only offers intrinsic rewards, but some senior members suddenly out of a job have learned the hard way that networking isn’t just something you do when you’re looking for work.

Feeling on the fringe? Get involved. With numerous chapter committees, there’s something for everyone to do. The important thing is to stay connected.

You can’t afford not to in 2013.

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OVER & OUT

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Humanity lost a champion when Betty Brink died. You couldn’t call Betty Brink the face of Fort Worth Weekly because reporters seldom get their mugs in the paper. Most readers had no idea that the byline attached to her hard-hitting investigative stories belonged to a short, white-haired, slightly stooped woman who turned 80 this year. ¶ You could, however, call Brink the paper’s heart and conscience. Read the story. ...

Thanks, Mary Dulle, for the p. 2 visual catalog of glee from the SPJ/PRSA/IABC Christmas-party benefit for the JPS readers library. And thanks, Kay Pirtle, for again arranging the location (Coors Distributing) and the barbecue (Wilson’s), and Janet Neff for leading the raffle grab team, and Johnell Kelley for the priceless photo of Dave Lieber mourning (not really) his pooped-out poinsettia. Lieber should be on the stage. All Johnell said was, “Hey, Dave, look sad!” and instantly you thought somebody had torn the doors off his Malibu and salted his tank. ...

Registration is open for the Region 8 Conference, May 3-4 in San Antonio. The weekend will be packed with sessions for freelancers, reporters and editors, students and media educators, plus critiques and the Mark of Excellence Awards for students; advice from those who cover the Texas border, immigration and the military; and a luncheon keynote address by UT Austin journalism professor Paula Poindexter, author of "Millennials, News, and Social Media: Is News Engagement a Thing of the Past?" Early-bird pricing is available until April 29. Follow the chapter blog for updates and other details. ...

The McCormick New Media Women Entrepreneurs award offers funding to women-led media projects. J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism and the McCormick Foundation seek four start-ups for this year’s awards; eligibility guidelines and the application are here. Apply by Jan. 23. ...

The National Center on Disability Journalism, headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, has started a $5,000 award to recognize the “best work covering disability issues on air, in print or online.” Details here.

Caught my eye. 10 environmental victories of 2012. ... Stanford scientists create world’s first peel-and-stick solar cells. ... Apple files patent for wind turbine that can produce energy even when there’s no wind. ... LuminAR Bulb transforms any surface into a touch screen. ... Engineers in Hong Kong generate electricity from water mains. ... 30 biggest stories of the year in animal conservation and extinctions. ... Harvard scientist proposes a way to refreeze the Arctic. ... Obama victory a win for science funding. ... Hybrid nanomaterial converts light and heat into electricity. ... Bladeless ceiling fan uses vortex airflow to regulate room temperature. ... Researchers produce hydrogen from sunlight, water and rust. ... Researchers remove extra chromosome from Down syndrome cells; could a gene therapy be next? ... Air-powered motorcycle can travel 62 miles on a charge. ... How to boost lithium battery performance: just add crushed silicon. ... British scientist says Hurricane Sandy damage could have been prevented with discarded tires. ... Plastic islands being used to restore African lake. ... Gravity probe shows diminishing groundwater reserves.

Closing words: “Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.” — James Thurber ... “One reason the human race has such a low opinion of itself is that it gets so much of its wisdom from writers.” — writer Wilfrid Sheed ... “There is, some say, in God a deep but dazzling darkness.” — 17th-century Christian poet Henry Vaughan ... “People like to ask me if writing can be taught, and I say yes. I can teach you how to write a better sentence, how to write dialogue, maybe even how to construct a plot. But I can’t teach you how to have something to say.” — novelist Ann Patchett

Closing words II, prayerfully submitted: “There was prayer in school during segregation. There was prayer in school during miscegenation. There was prayer in schools just a year before the assassination of JFK. Prayer in school is not a cure-all, easy answer to evil.” — columnist Emily Timbol, addressing arguments that prayer in school would have prevented the Connecticut school massacre