DMN INVESTIGATES

Here are the numbers of swine flu vaccine doses that state health officials have allocated to Dallas-area counties, per 100 residents:

Dallas County: 8.3
Rockwall County: 7.5
Tarrant County: 6.5
Collin County: 5.6
Kaufman County: 5.1
Denton County: 4.6
Ellis County: 4.6
Parker County: 3.2
Wise County: 2.9
Johnson County: 2.0

Dallas County's rate is also higher than that of major urban counties elsewhere in the state:

Travis County (Austin): 7.7
Harris County (Houston): 7.1
Bexar County (San Antonio): 6.1

The allocation figures only cover shipments to private health-care providers. They have received the vast majority of vaccine in Texas.

Want to check my math or look up another county's allocation? Click on the "Doses by County" link on this Department of State Health Services site. Then look up the county population total on the U.S. Census site.

State health officials say they consider several factors when allocating vaccine, including its current scarcity, providers' requests and the need for geographic balance.

Do you have a tip about swine flu vaccine allocation? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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You missed a lot if you missed the paper this weekend. You can catch up quickly with these Hot Links:

1. Yes, utility operator Ken Weaver (right) really was a stock car driver. But college football star? College baseball star? College degree? That stuff was all made up, my colleagues Steve McGonigle and Ed Timms discovered. They found that Weaver also has a record of plane and car theft. But the Texas Public Utility Commission didn't seem to notice. It let him run Freedom Power, which sells prepaid electricity to the poor and amassed the highest rate of consumer complaints of any electricity provider in Texas.

2. Comments posted on my colleague Dave Tarrant's report from Jordan suggest that many readers don't want any back story on Ellis County terrorism suspect Hosam Smadi. But for those of you who do, this piece is a must-read.

3. Keashia Matthews, the Arlington mom at the center of a scandal we exposed over how Child Protective Services works, is defending herself to Channel 8. Sort of, anyway. My favorite quote from the TV piece regards the thought that has haunted her since she left her toddler to die in a hot truck: "Just what I could have done different."

Do you have a tip about child welfare? CPS? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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The state's academic testing program in grammar and high schools has fed a running argument over whether it puts emphasis more on scores or learning. Critics surely will seize on this data analysis by The News:

1. Holly K. Hacker's Sunday story found half of college-bound graduates from some North Texas high schools earned less than a C average their freshman year. That includes middling results from kids at Dallas' nationally recognized magnet school. The state's higher education commissioner said it was a "serious problem" that students are "stunned when they arrive on a college campus." Look up your school with this online database.

2. Current and former members of the non-profit that runs the Alamo has been squabbling over finances. That brings this to light: The state may own the landmark, but no agency provides management oversight. That worries San Antonio's mayor, The News' Marjorie Korn reports.

3. News reporters aren't the only ones who fight for records. An audit released this morning shows the FDIC wouldn't share documents with the State Auditor's Office as part of a review of the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending.

Do you have thoughts or tips to share? Leave a comment or e-mail me.

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I reported last month that after getting a congressional skewering, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a clumsily named arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was planning another look at possible health effects of Midlothian's industrial air pollution.

The ATSDR says it began that effort on Monday. Researchers from the University of North Texas will be calling a random sample of Midlothian residents. From those, the agency is looking for 100 people to agree to longer interviews next week.

The goal is to get the public's suggestions in advance on how the federal agency and the Texas state health department should conduct the new air pollution review. That in itself is a shift from past practice. Another change: ATSDR officials at first said the health of local animals wasn't relevant to looking at local pollution. This time, animals will play a role.

How did these guys get from Point A to Point B? That's the theme of this morning's Hot Links:

1. Last year, Susan Hyde lost her paramedic's certification and her kids because she subjected them to dozens of medical treatments they apparently didn't need. This year, Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie hired her as a patient care assistant, according to Dallas Morning News reporter Jon Nielsen. How and why did this happen? Hospital officials won't say. One possibility is that a background check focused only on criminal records -- and Hyde doesn't have one.

2. Addison-based Debt Relief USA said it could help you with your bills. Then it filed for bankruptcy, The News' Pamela Yip reports. Click here for updates on that case and a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general. Also note that the Addison company is not affiliated with a New Jersey one that operates the Web site www.debtreliefusa.org. (I confused the two earlier.)

Do you have a tip about background checks? Bankruptcy? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know.

I recently got an email alerting me that I had some unclaimed money in an IRS account. Wow, that sounded too good to be true.

And, in fact, it was.

Turns out that my email is a perfect example of a modern scam called "phishing," which involves the criminal use of the Internet to try to gain access to sensitive information, such as credit card and social security numbers.

In this case, the fake IRS message attempted to trick unsuspecting victims, like me, into revealing personal information that could then be used to access the victims' financial accounts.

"This is a big topic," said Clay Sanford, an IRS spokesman in Dallas. Taxpayers have forwarded more than 33,000 of these scam e-mails to the IRS, he said, and there are more than 1,500 different schemes to date.

With ozone season kicking off Friday, it's time for a review of how North Texas is doing on knocking smog out of the skies. ("Smog," by the way, is a non-technical but apt word for the gunk in the air. In most places, including Dallas-Fort Worth, ozone is the main component of smog, so many people swap the terms in casual usage.)

The main problem is that there's no one right way to measure progress against smog. The official version says Dallas-Fort Worth is making pretty good progress. The American Lung Association, in its 10th annual State of the Air report being released Wednesday, finds things getting worse.

As is so often the case, both versions of reality arise from the same raw data. It's just shaken and stirred with different goals in mind.

Here are a few public-interest stories catching our eye in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. I'm always interested when a lawmaker speaks candidly about dealings with lobbyists. Doesn't happen often. State Rep. Jim Pitts of Waxahachie explained to The News' Robert Garrett today why he sponsored a bill that would have saved one of his ex-colleagues' clients big bucks. "I was just trying to help [him] out."

2. A state rep says he will call for an impeachment vote on Texas' highest criminal court judge, Sharon Keller, before the legislative session ends. The last several months haven't been pleasant for the controversial judge.

3. So what are the state senators up to? The Star-Telegram reports that a group of them has asked Gov. Rick Perry to review Texas' environmental agency, which they say is too close to the businesses it regulates. Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth cites the agency's recent decision to renew the permit for TXI's Midlothian cement plant. An agency spokesman says it has "aggressive enforcement" that is "leading to a cleaner environment."

Did I miss a good story? Or do you have a tip? Send me an e-mail and let me know.

Here are a couple of public-interest stories catching our eye in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Bad timing for the feds: A top lawyer in the Securities and Exchange Commission's Fort Worth office has been charged with assaulting a police officer. J. Kevin Edmundson is one of the attorneys who's supposed to be focusing on the fraud case against Texas billionaire Allen Stanford. Yes, Stanford's Web site is still up today, but a note on it warns: "As of April 24, 2009, the Stanford Financial website will be redirected to www.stanfordfinancialreceivership.com."

2. Change in our winds? The EPA wants deep cuts in cement kilns' emissions of mercury and other pollutants, Dallas Morning News investigative reporter Randy Lee Loftis reports. What will that mean for the kilns in Midlothian, whose emissions often blow right toward nearby Dallas? Stay tuned.

Did I miss a good story? Or do you have a tip? Send me an e-mail and let me know.

Here are a few public-interest stories catching our eye in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. OK, the good news first: No one has been hurt since stadium lighting poles (like the one pictured here) started falling at Texas high schools. But the rest of this investigative report from Cox Newspapers is terrifying. Denton, Tarrant and Ellis counties are among those where tragedy nearly has struck. The steel poles have a common -- and unregulated -- manufacturing lineage.

2. Bedford resident Jan Tidwell, a reader of this blog, sent us a frantic post yesterday. The local power company wanted to chop down her old oak trees. Dallas Morning News reporter Sherry Jacobson and videographer Nathan Hunsinger hustled to craft these balanced looks at the situation. Is Oncor overzealous in cutting trees near power lines? Or are homeowners like Jan putting shade ahead of safety?

3. We've been trying to avoid the White House puppy story, reasoning that there were too many other reporters covering this trivia. But Dallas Morning News reporter Jeffrey Weiss changed our mind today with a look at the risks associated with the Obamas' North Texas-bred pooch.

Two members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality refused a colleague's call for a public hearing today and outvoted him to renew the permit of TXI's cement plant in Midlothian.

News environment writer Randy Lee Loftis is reporting that panel Chairman Buddy Garcia and Commissioner Bryan Shaw said TXI's plant -- the region's largest industrial source of air pollution -- had a good compliance record. Both added that TXI had been responsive to public complaints over smog and other concerns.

Those concerns led the third commissioner, Larry Soward, to push for a hearing during a commission meeting in Austin. Soward wanted to review whether TXI's permit was consistent with federal smog rules and new pollution control methods, Randy reports.

TXI attorney Al Axe, who was allowed to address the commissioners over Soward's objection, said the public has had chances to express opinions.

What do you think of the commission's decision not to allow a public hearing? Do you support TXI's permit renewal?