Leading Off (4/23/12)

Dashboard Cameras Catch Police Officers Breaking Law, So Officers Want To Quit Reviews: Dallas police squad cars’ dashboard cameras have two roles 1) to protect citizens against excessive force, and 2) to protect officers against wrongful accusations. But the cameras also catch officers speeding, breaking traffic laws, not turning on their lights, and other infringements that, you know, sometimes end up killing people. But who likes the man breathing down his or her neck? That’s why officers and police associations have pushed to cease regular reviews of the dashboard videos (pay wall).

Union Round-up: Lockheed Machinists To Strike, American Airlines’ Flight Attendants Picket Bankruptcy Hearings: North Texas goes Rust Belt this morning with some rare union activity. Lockheed’s machinists have thrown a wrench in the ongoing F-35 fighter jet program (you know, the ga-billion dollar debacle), refusing a new contract, in part, because of the threat to eliminate pension benefits to new employees (pensions, what a quaint concept). Meanwhile, fight attendants are picketing as American Airlines goes to court today to try to get a U.S. judge to throw out union contracts so that it can trim $1.25 billion in employee costs, including freezing pension plans. Come on people, this is the new America. It’s every old person for himself / herself. Invest in bullets, not pensions. Yee-haw! U-S-A!

Remains May Be Related to Starved Boy Case: There’s an update to that stomach-turning story involving the missing boy who was allegedly starved to death by his parents in Ellis County. Remains were found in a creek bed Saturday, but police cannot confirm their identity until after DNA testing.