Congrats to our pal and content partner Shawn Williams, whom our readers know from his Dallas South Blog. He's taken a big step and spun off a non-profit local news organization called Dallas South News.

Here's how he describes the venture:

I'd like to announce the launch of Dallas South News, a nonprofit news organization utilizing technology, social media, and journalistic principles to empower and inform diverse communities.

Dallas South News uses a combination of traditional journalists, citizen journalists, and bloggers to provide a fresh perspective to news stories important to Southern Dallas communities. We will cover local news as well as provide state and local commentary on a variety of topics.

I met with Shawn at his new offices at Southside on Lamar last week -- It brought a twinge of nostalgia for our early days at PegNews when it was just a couple people and used desks in a ramshackle office. He's got a great team of contributors and advisers and will certainly be coming up with some great stuff in the months to come. Today he talks with US Senate candidate (and Houston Mayor) Bill White.

Even though there are some that don't buy into the non-profit model, I think that it's one of several that will be critical to keeping good journalism alive in the new, new New Media world to come.