DMN INVESTIGATES

Did I read that right? A 45-year-old Dallas businessman with 14 convictions? Living free, with luxury cars and a plane, recruiting investors?

The Securities and Exchange Commission identifies the guy as Alan Todd May and is suing him, alleging that his Prosper Oil & Gas is a Ponzi scheme.

Prosper's Web site includes lots of pretty pictures of drilling rigs. DMN reporter Eric Torbenson says the company started up after May was released from prison in 2007.

May made the news at least once before: While locked up for credit card fraud and parole violations, he was suspected of using a jail pay phone to set up "bogus trade shows in Houston, Austin, Dallas and Denver and getting people to mail him entry fees," the Houston Chronicle reported in 1995.

Remember the Darlie Routier case -- the Rowlett woman who's on Texas' death row for the 1996 stabbing death of one of her boys? Remember how the error-riddled trial transcript delayed the appeal process and raised doubts about its integrity?

Then you'll want to read the rest of this blog post.

"Court administrators would have difficulty justifying courts' continued dependence on stenographic reporting if they were to describe the process by which the majority of state trial courts create, produce, and maintain the official record of the hundreds of thousands of court proceedings annually," a national association of court officials concludes.

The Conference of State Court Administrators' report begins with provocative questions. What, it asks, would ordinary people say "if they learned that thousands of staff are assigned to individual courtrooms to make this manual record even though few cases are appealed? How might they react if they learned that the manual recording of those proceedings is made in a media that could be interpreted into written English only by the individual making the record?

John Galligan (right), the attorney for Fort Hood massacre defendant Nidal Malik Hasan (lower right), has started a blog and is poking away at the prosecution.

Galligan complains, among other things, that the Army is gearing up for a death-penalty trial but has refused his request for a "mitigation specialist" -- an expert who could address extenuating circumstances that might spare Hasan from capital punishment.

Col. Morgan Lamb denied the defense request "because the mitigation specialist also happens to be an attorney," Galligan writes. "Obviously, Colonel Lamb was not properly advised that this same mitigation specialist has also been requested and approved in another Army capital murder case now pending at Fort Lewis, Washington. In short, the US Army is operating with a double set of standards....

"What is the rationale for such disparate treatment? One can't help but wonder - is it because [Hasan] is Muslim?"

Elsewhere on the blog, for reasons I don't understand, Galligan uses President Obama's middle name (Hussein) when referring to him and misspells his first name.

How does the Army respond to the defense claims? "Fort Hood officials have no plans to comment on personal blogs related to the November 5, 2009 incident," says an e-mail I just received from post spokesman Tyler Broadway.

The DMN didn't do much today with high-flying Dallas real estate agent Nicky Sheets' guilty plea in a big tax evasion case. So here's some help with the back story.

About a year ago, former DMN reporter Gretel Kovach did perhaps the definitive take on Sheets, his star Realtor wife, Eleanor Mowery Sheets (right), and their long history of financial troubles.

Among my favorite details in the D Magazine piece: The trustee in one of their bankruptcy cases details "what he considered the 'most notorious' example of a pattern of shifting assets to avoid payment: Nicky flew his lawyer in a twin engine plane owned by Nicky's JNS Investments to Odessa for a hearing, where he argued that he was just Eleanor's penniless underling." A creditor's lawyer heard about it and went after the plane, "but by the time he had tracked it from a recently vacated hangar at Dallas Love Field to the Addison airfield, it had been repossessed" by someone else.

Eleanor's Web site, before it was taken down, praised her hubby's tax acumen this way:

"Nicky creates the aggressive marketing strategies for our business with an enormous foresight into new trends and technologies. He has a great capacity for staying ahead of the industry and is the creator of many of the formative business transactions we do -- getting people together I'd never have thought of, doing land trades and arranging beneficial tax solutions for buyers and sellers."

The IRS recently tried unsuccessfully to auction the couple's North Dallas home. The "property appraisal and liquidation specialist" was listed as Mary Beth Justice. Her Austin workplace was targeted -- a day after the auction, coincidentally -- by suicide pilot Joe Stack.

DMN reporter Kevin Krause had an astonishing story in Saturday's paper: Some Dallas Country criminal court judges have been handing out virtual pardons for years when releasing convicts from probation. And these elected officials are not explaining themselves.

A little-known provision in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure lets judges turn back the hands of time. They may "set aside the verdict or permit the defendant to withdraw the defendant's plea," the code says, and they can "dismiss the accusation, complaint, information or indictment against the defendant, who shall thereafter be released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense or crime of which the defendant has been convicted or to which the defendant has pleaded guilty."

Caveats: People convicted of certain violent or sexual crimes are not eligible. Also, judges and licensing agencies who later deal with pardoned probationers may consider their criminal histories.

Here's the fallout, as reported by Kevin: Former Constable Aurelio Castillo was convicted in 2000 of receiving an illegal campaign donation but now is free to run for county clerk, thanks to Judge Ernest White (above right).

And David Chang, a former Dallas police officer who was convicted in 1996 of stealing from motorists during traffic stops, was free to run for Balch Springs mayor in 2008 (he lost). His pardon came from Judge John Creuzot (lower right).

Dallas lawyer Ralph Janvey is the court-appointed receiver assigned to recover money that disgraced Texas banker Allen Stanford (at right) allegedly obtained by defrauding investors. Among those Janvey is seeking funds from are the many politicians who benefited from Stanford's generosity -- members of Congress and fundraising committees for both major political parties.

Janvey started asking them to pay up a year ago. Many have not done so, reports Dave Michaels of the The Dallas Morning News' Washington bureau.

Click here for Janvey's list of who has paid and who owes what.

As I read the court records today from State Rep. Terri Hodge's guilty plea on tax fraud, one sentence contained a detail that seemed new and intriguing.

Federal prosecutors noted that some of the $73,000 that went unreported on her tax returns was "campaign contributions made by various donors to Hodge, which she used for her own personal benefit ... ." But that's where they left it.

I re-read the 2007 indictment against Hodge, as well as a 2008 filing citing supplemental evidence that authorities had gathered. I didn't see anywhere allegations of her using campaign contributions for personal use.

Prosecutors say in today's plea agreement that they will present later a routine supplement. Perhaps that's the time and place when they will elaborate on the contributions. For now, they remained focused on the rent payments Hodge received -- and failed to report to the IRS -- from Dallas developers Brian and Cheryl Potashnik, whose low-income housing projects needed her support for millions in public subsidies.

Until we hear more from the prosecution, I'm left wondering who made these campaign contributions, were there any strings attached, and how did Hodge use them for her personal benefit?

Over the weekend, fire departments in two of Texas' biggest cities were in the news again over allegations of employee misconduct.

The News' Selwyn Crawford told us about the lawsuit headed to court accusing some inside Dallas Fire-Rescue (Chief Eddie Burns shown at right) of "rampant sexual and gender harassment." One female worker claims she was touched and sent a photo of a naked woman. Another was "repeatedly propositioned," according to the lawsuit.

The Houston Chronicle followed with a story that summed up the issues there in the first sentence: "Racist graffiti, threats, profanity and a noose hanging in a locker; claims of harassment and a culture of accepted sexism, evidenced in part by a topless female firefighter posing in panties on a widely distributed calendar."

Fire officials in Houston and Dallas say these allegations are not indicative of their departments. Dallas, in addition, disputes the lawsuit allegations and cites an internal review that found some to be uncorroborated.

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

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Steve Thompson, The News' ace Dallas Police Department writer, explains a few important caveats to yesterday's positive news that the city's crime rate dropped 6.4 percent in 2009.

1. This, of course, factors only reported crime.

2. Of those reported crimes, the total didn't reflect some that "appear to be undercounted according to federal guidelines," Steve wrote. As you may recall, he and Tanya Eiserer have found questions in DPD's reporting methods, such as omitting some car burglaries and classifying assaults and break-ins as lesser offenses. Their stories prompted Mayor Pro-Tem Dwaine Caraway to call for a review.

3. Even including the possible undercount of some crimes, the city's decrease missed the goal of a 10 percent drop, which had seemed attainable earlier in 2009.

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

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1. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found levels of cancer-causing benzene in the air at North Texas sites impacted by Barnett Shale gas drilling, The News and other outlets reported. A state official said there was no "widespread air-quality issue." But the mayor of one Denton County town faulted the state's testing, saying it didn't get enough samples from populated areas because "I don't think they want to find anything."

2. The board of Dallas County's public hospital, Parkland Memorial, is standing by the bonuses -- I forgot, we're supposed to call these incentives -- paid to executives worth 19 percent to 31 percent of their base pay. That caused consternation last week among rank-and-file employees. The hospital had cut jobs recently and handed them merit raises of mostly 2 percent.

3. The Dallas County district attorney's investigation of misconduct allegations inside constable offices produced its first charges Wednesday. Among other things, Lt. Howard Watson was accused of coercing sex from two women in exchanging for not arresting them. He has been unavailable for comment.

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

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UPDATED FRIDAY, JAN. 22

Although her actions were "not exemplary," Judge Sharon Keller can continue presiding over the state's highest criminal court after a special master found that her decision to close her court hours before a death-row inmate's execution did not keep his attorneys from using other options in filing last-minute appeals.

The special master wrote that the "majority of the problems" that 2007 day were in fact the "responsibility" of the attorneys for the inmate, who had raped and murdered a Houston woman.

Among other things, the attorneys "untruthfully told the media" they were ready to file 20 minutes after Keller closed her doors, the special master found. They also could have contacted other Court of Criminal Appeals judges for help after she was gone -- a point Keller had previously made.

The decision now has one of the inmate's attorneys, David Dow, playing defense, as colleague Diane Jennings is blogging today.

Hope you had a better holiday weekend than the three subjects of today's blog post.

1. Another public servant in trouble: A former Irving police officer pleaded guilty to defrauding a Housing and Urban Development program that sought to revitalize slumping neighborhoods by enticing law enforcers to live there with a 50 percent discount off the list price on a home.

2. Were you customers of these electric providers -- Pre-Buy Electric of Grapevine and National Power Inc. of Houston? If so, you may be due a refund after the Texas Public Utility Commission penalized each nearly $2 million.

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

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The federal government beat brought two interesting stories in the past 24 hours, as two of our top reporters tell us:

1. Two mortgage companies in Tarrant County were hit with subpoenas as part of a U.S. Housing and Urban Development investigation, The News' Dave Michaels reported from Washington. They were among 15 that the feds alleged had "significant" failure rates with federally insured loans.

2. One of the convicted defendants in last year's Dallas City Hall corruption trial is now accused of following around a juror, The News' Jason Trahan reported. The presiding judge said in a hearing Wednesday that she was "very concerned" by the allegations, which include ex-Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee approaching the juror in a movie theater to discuss the case.

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

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Assistance for business owners in obtaining federal stimulus grants. Moonlighting opportunities as a mystery shopper. Free trials of products endorsed by trustworthy celebrities.

The Better Business Bureau has identified these and others as the top 10 scams of 2009. These targeted consumers and small businesses with the hope of deceiving them into disclosing private financial data or conducting transactions that lock them into a never-ending cycle of charges, the BBB said.

"While many of the scams on the list are perennial problems, some scams were distinct in 2009 because of the economic climate and scammers' penchant for taking advantage of the top headlines," said Jeannette Kopko, BBB spokesperson in Dallas.

Any readers out there have stories to share about these rip-offs?

Fair or not, we expect the best of the best of behavior from our police departments. Most officers deliver. Some don't, and when that happens, things get messy for everyone, as two stories over the weekend show:

1. An officer who Dallas police has tried previously to fire is in trouble yet again, The News' Tanya Eiserer reports. His problem seems to be stealing from others in his own ranks, but it makes you wonder about his work protecting the public.

2. Fort Worth chief Jeffrey Halstead's first four months at the helm included excessive-force allegations against his officers: the raid of a local gay bar that turned violent and the death of a mentally ill man who'd just been Tased. He tells the Star-Telegram that "we want to correct behavior" in the department.

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

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For $2,000 in cash, Fernando Hernandez promised he could keep his colleagues at IRS from launching one of those dreaded audits.

That bribe now has him staring down a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and $250,000 fine, as part of a plea deal he reached this week.

Any time a public official like this is involved in bribes, I'm interested. But authorities were a tad vague in court records and a press release on a few details. Now I'm even more curious.

They say the case involves just one bribe, way back in 2005, but had Hernandez had solicited others? They don't reveal his job at the IRS or describe the "U.S. taxpayer" who paid the $2,000. And they write that the case "is being investigated" by four federal agencies, so is there more to come?

I emailed U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Kathy Colvin about those points late yesterday. As I wait to hear back from her, I wondered whether any of you in blogosphere could fill in these blanks?

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

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News doesn't necessarily slow to a crawl during the holiday season. So let's continue catching up on more of the interesting items that published during New Year's week:

1. Politically connected Texas billionaire Allen Stanford may be in trouble with the feds over an alleged Ponzi scheme. But U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions of Dallas, shown at right, still loves him. Sessions said so in an email. It's not the first time in recent months that Sessions has shown himself loyal to campaign contributors.

2. Deporting immigrants who commit crimes is one thing. Enforcing penalties after they illegally re-enter the U.S. is a more complicated matter, The News' Jason Trahan reported.

3. We've highlighted the investigation into the Dallas police's methods of classifying -- or not classifying -- some crimes, leading to a rosier crime rate. News beat writers Steve Thompson and Tanya Eiserer updated their fine work with a story showing that the department will change the way it handles car burglaries.

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

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We're back after an extended break during the holidays. Let's ease into our familiar routines with a look at some of the interesting public-interest stories from the weekend:

1. If you're catching up on the recent rise in terror threats, The News published a nice takeout by The Washington Post exploring Al-Qaeda's re-emergence in Yemen. Yemen is the base of the imam who advised the Army psychiatrist behind the Fort Hood killings, as my colleague Brooks Egerton has blogged, and has apparent ties to the Nigerian who tried to blow up a plane bound for Detroit.

2. Much has been written about the economic wonders of the new Cowboys Stadium. The News' Jeff Mosier reminds us that in one instance what Jerry giveth Arlington, he taketh from Dallas. Fair Park had a "hollow feeling" as the annual Cotton Bowl football game was played out west for the first time Saturday. Makes you wonder what the economic losses were for Dallas?

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In federal records, she is known only by her initials. And her story is one of suffering beyond anything I can imagine:

She was a widowed mother in Nigeria, struggling to feed six young children. A Nigerian couple living in North Texas provided her fake immigration documents and lured her here, promising a salary and payments to her kids.

Here's what she allegedly got in return: 16-hour work days of cooking, cleaning and caring for the couple's kids -- seven days a week, for nine years. Virtually no money or contact with the outside world. Forced sex with the man of the house.

An unnamed Catholic priest ultimately helped her to escape, federal records say.

Emmanuel Nnaji and wife Ngozi Nnaji are now charged with conspiracy, forced labor and other crimes. If convicted, they face up to 55 years in prison. Federal records say they have lived in Irving, Arlington and Fort Worth.

The man's adult son tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the charges are bogus.

How many more cases like this are out there? Plenty, according to this U.S. State Department report.

Do you have a tip about human trafficking or modern-day slavery? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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A recent Dallas Morning News article about missing-in-action real estate mogul/arts philanthropist Eric Brauss noted that he and his wife owned three German luxury cars worth over $300,000 each.

That was "an unfair depiction of a couple who lived modestly compared to their wealth," says Sara Marotto of Denton in a letter to the editor published today.

In that light, check out this video tour of Eric's home in Addison (right), which is now for sale. The original list price of $2.9 million has been cut to a cool $2,495,000.

Eric is listed as a million-dollar donor to the new performing arts center in Dallas and as associate producer of a low-budget slasher flick, The Dead Don't Scream (right).

Courts are now trying to sort out what went wrong with and what will become of the Brausses' real-estate empire, as The News' Gary Jacobson reported recently.

Remember the little boy pictured at right?

His name was Darrell "Tre" Singleton III. On a hot day in September, his mom left him in a vehicle while she worked. She apparently did this deliberately. He was a little over a year old, and he roasted to death.

Child Protective Services had known for a long time about problems with the mom, Keashia Matthews (below). She lost custody in the 1990s of her first two kids because of abuse and neglect. And a few months before Darrell died, CPS determined that she had been leaving him and two young sisters home alone.

Matthews promised to get day care. The case was closed. Didn't work out too well, did it?

So CPS set out to review its handling of the matter. I've been asking about results since October. "Nothing yet" has been the standard reply.

Today spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales acknowledged that the review was done but refused to discuss the findings.

"Any issues identified in reviews are handled internally," she told me in an e-mail. "If there are any policy changes as a result of the review of the case, I'll certainly let you now."

I asked Marissa to explain what right she had under state law to withhold this information. That was a couple of hours ago. I'm still waiting for an answer.

Matthews remains free on bond. The initial injury-to-a-child charge against her has been changed to murder.

She has told Channel 8 that a person who was supposed to pick up her son never showed up. "I never expected him to be there all day," she said.

Where, I wondered Friday, is embattled Dallas real estate mogul and arts philanthropist Eric Brauss (right)?

Some commenters pointed toward Brazil. Now Dallas Morning News reporter Gary Jacobson is finding some evidence of that in court documents.

One filing in Dallas state court quotes a Nov. 17 email from Brauss as saying he was on a "very primitive tour in the Amazon rainforest."

And a Nov. 20 email from Brauss to one of his investors purportedly said: "Sorry I did not get back to you until now, but needed to wait for my lawyer's directions...Until we come to an agreement with you...I need to stay here in South America."

As The News reported last week, Brauss' Today Realty Advisors, which invested in hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of projects, has closed its Far North Dallas headquarters. In court, several investors seek restitution of what they allege are millions of dollars in diverted funds.

Gary's working on a longer story now. Among the questions he's trying to answer: Has Brauss already made good on his $1 million donation to the new performing arts center in Downtown Dallas?

Dallas Morning News archives drip with references to Dallas real estate mogul Eric Brauss' wealth.

In 2004, he and wife Christine (right) were described as owners of three Maybachs -- German luxury cars worth over $300,000 each. Eric was also named as the owner of a $160,000 watch.

In 2007, they made the list of million-dollar donors to the new performing arts center downtown. And they gave $50,000 that year for a Dallas Opera gala.

Now comes word from News reporter Steve Brown that Eric is nowhere to be found. And the Far North Dallas headquarters of his Today Realty Advisors is shut down.

Late last month, a Dallas court granted investors a temporary order that bars the Brausses from spending or transferring millions held by real estate partnerships.

Local real estate execs told Steve they don't know whether Brauss is still in the country. He's from Germany and also has lived in Canada, where Today Realty has another office.

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

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Dave Michaels, my colleague in The Dallas Morning News' Washington bureau, just sent in this dispatch:

Almost a month after the Fort Hood massacre, lawmakers investigating it still don't have information from federal agencies regarding what they knew in advance about shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman (right), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said today that his investigators haven't been able to interview members of an FBI-led joint terrorism task force who knew about Hasan's contact with a radical imam before the Nov. 5 shootings.

Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said his committee also requested documents that haven't been produced. "Put me down as restless right now, but still understanding that they have a lot they are doing."

Military prosecutors want a formal psychiatric review of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan (right) to determine whether he can stand trial for the Fort Hood massacre, we learned late last night.

Read our story for some preliminary discussion of the Army's possible motives.

We're working on a follow-up story now. Do you have questions you'd like to see asked and answered? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Today's a waking nightmare for the Texas officials who are paid to keep dangerous folks locked up:

1. Catherine Evans (right), a former state district judge in Dallas County, faces a felony charge of trying to smuggle a knife and other contraband into a Texas Youth Commission facility, reports Christy Hoppe of The Dallas Morning News. That's embarrassing all by itself. It's made worse by the fact that Gov. Rick Perry recently named Evans TYC ombudsman -- a job in which she was supposed to make sure that juveniles in state lockups were kept safe from harm. Evans has resigned and could not be reached for comment Monday. Why do we need an ombudsman? Well, the agency has a history of physical and sexual abuse scandals, as The News showed in a 2007 series of investigative reports.

2. Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr. (right), a repeatedly convicted child rapist, used a smuggled gun Monday to overpower state prison guards and escape in southeast Texas, The Associated Press reports. TDCJ has a wanted poster up on its Web site but no information today about where Comeaux is or how he got the gun, prisons spokeswoman Michelle Lyons tells me.

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

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Here's a loose end from the long holiday weekend: Federal banking regulators ordered Dallas-based Jefferson Bank to end its many "unsafe or unsound banking practices and violations of laws and/or regulations."

Bank chairman Barry Orr blamed the bank's problems on the the lousy home-building market and "a significant fraud loss," The Dallas Morning News' Brendan Case reported. What kind of fraud? All Orr would say was "customer fraud, not internal fraud."

Jefferson Bank's management team was dismissed as of Sept. 1. The institution agreed to follow Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. orders but did not admit wrongdoing.

Readers, can you tell us more about what's going on here? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Dave Michaels in The Dallas Morning News' Washington bureau just sent me this dispatch:

The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee said Tuesday that the government's failure to deal with Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's growing radicalism was similar to the intelligence community's failure to prevent the 9/11 attacks.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., made his comments after attending a closed-door briefing with administration officials about last week's massacre at Fort Hood, which killed 13 people. Lieberman didn't discuss any details of the briefing but said all signs indicate that Hasan committed an "act of Islamic extremist terrorism."

"There is a similarity to 9/11, which is there was information in different places in our government, which if it had been connected, would have said to people this guy was a real danger," Lieberman said.

Several people have told The News that Hasan, a psychiatrist, was conflicted about being a Muslim in the U.S. Army, complained that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan constituted a "war on Islam," and wanted some of his patients to face war crimes charges.

Every follow-up story on last year's 17-fatality bus crash near Sherman seems scarier than the one before. In October, it was the National Transportation Safety Board's long list of crimes and errors that preceded the disaster.

Now here's the latest, from Dallas Morning News reporter Jason Trahan: Texas DPS officials say 5-Minute Inspections, the Houston company that issued the bus' inspection sticker, routinely awarded such certificates without actually inspecting the vehicles.

5-Minute Inspections' Web site says: "need a quick inspection? tired of dealing with crooks? Come see the 5 Minute Inspection TEAM!"

Readers, do you know of other businesses that are doing this? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Texas law says only charities and nonprofits can hold raffles. But that hasn't stopped some law-enforcement folks -- such as Dallas County Constables Derick Evans and Jaime Cortes from using them to raise campaign cash, The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Krause and Ed Timms reported over the weekend.

Some of the constables' employees say they've been pressured to sell the tickets. The constables, through their lawyers, deny wrongdoing.

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

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Embattled Dallas County constables Jaime Cortes and Derick Evans used to say they had no contracts with Dowdy Ferry Auto Services, which has seized thousands of vehicles for them.

Now, mysteriously, Dowdy Ferry says it does have written deals, The Dallas Morning News' Kevin Krause reports today. And somehow I wasn't shocked to see that Dan Wyde (right) is the lawyer doing the talking for the towing firm.

It reminded me of a 2006 story about Wyde's history. He was running for DA at the time and had attracted attention for using his synagogue's private membership directory to send campaign solicitation e-mails.

Among the other Wyde controversies mentioned in the story:

* As a young prosecutor, he left the DA's office after allegations that "he had an improper discussion with a jail inmate without the man's defense attorney being present."

* Later, as a judge, he began contempt-of-court proceedings against a prosecutor who allegedly disparaged him in a private conversation outside Wyde's presence. Another judge ruled that Wyde's effort had no legal basis and raised "serious free-speech issues."

* A defense attorney was barred from his courtroom for four years because she would not apologize in writing for questioning one of his rulings. Another judge ordered Wyde to recuse himself from more than a dozen cases that the defense attorney had pending in his court.

Wyde denied any wrongdoing.

Do you have a tip about constables? Towing firms? Lawyers? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Bell County is refusing to release copies of 911 calls made in connection with last week's massacre at Fort Hood.

The refusal, written by Bell County attorney Richard J. Miller, means the state attorney general will issue an opinion on whether the legal stance is correct.

"A criminal investigation of the matter by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is pending at this time...it is believed that release of the requested information at this time would unduly interfere with the progress of that investigation, as well as any potential prosecution, primarily because of the need to identify and interview witnesses to the offense and not jeopardize their future cooperation," Miller wrote to representatives from The Dallas Morning News, WFAA, Fox News, CNN, The Associated Press and the Temple Daily Telegram.

Miller also wrote that provisions of the Texas Homeland Security Act might make the calls exempt from disclosure because the shootings "could possibly relate to terrorism and homeland security,"

The state attorney general's office has 45 business days to issue a ruling on the matter.

My co-worker Holly Hacker recently introduced me to a terrific do-it-yourself reporting tool called Institutions Whose Degrees are Illegal to Use in Texas. It's maintained by the state's higher education board and contains a long list of unaccredited schools, diploma mills and more.

Holly used the list most recently for a story about Carrie Gordon, who is mayor of the little Dallas suburb of Balch Springs and a Dallas city planner. She likes to call herself Dr. Gordon, though her degree comes from a defunct correspondence school on the state list.

Previously, Holly wrote about Juanita Wallace (right), a local NAACP leader who recently lost a run for Dallas school board. She likes to call herself Dr. Wallace, citing a degree from a still functioning school on the state list -- Madison University.

Using degrees from such places is a crime if it helps you obtain any financial benefit "or gain a position in government with authority over another person, regardless of whether the actor receives compensation for the position," the state says. These ladies have not been charged with wrongdoing.

Do you have a tip about people using questionable degrees? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Texas has no shortage of amazing criminal justice stories. Here's the latest to hit my radar screen: State law says it's OK to show pornography to children -- as long as they're your children and the stuff is otherwise legal (no kiddie porn, in other words).

Now a Panhandle prosecutor wants the Texas attorney general's office to check his reading of the penal code section on showing harmful material to minors. An AG's spokesman said the matter is under review and declined further comment.

Randall County District Attorney James Farren's request grew out of a divorced Dallas-area woman's experience. Her three grade-school-aged daughters were living with their dad earlier this year when he allegedly got liquored up late one night and showed two of them porn on his computer. They later told a counselor, who alerted authorities. Amarillo police investigated, found the girls believable and sought advice from the DA's office before proceeding.

Farren concluded that that his hands were tied. No search warrant ever got issued, so there's been no independent look at evidence.

"We have to convince the Legislature to review this issue," Farren told me.

State Sen. Bob Deuell, a Republican from Greenville, said he will push for change in the next legislative session.

"It's not going to be an easy issue," he warned. Why? There will be talk that the state is trying to dictate what parents can teach their children.

One question from Todd Willingham's 1992 trial is whether the defense could have found a fire expert in Texas to rebut the arson findings of investigators Manuel Vasquez and Doug Fogg?

At the time, the one expert defense attorneys approached agreed that is was arson.

During our reporting on the Willingham story that ran Sunday, we asked that question of Mark Goodson, a Denton engineer who was interviewed about reviewing the Willingham case by the Texas Forensic Science Commission, which eventually chose Craig Beyler.

Goodson's email response:

"There were experts in Texas in 1992 who could have rebutted the testimony of Mess'rs. Vasquez and Fogg. But, please read the phrase 'there were experts' carefully. While there were experts with this knowledge, many of them worked in public sector agencies, for which there were unofficial rules preventing testifying for the defense. Thus, while the many experts were out there, some were truly not available to testify for a defendant. If they did, their supervisor would receive a call from a most unhappy District Attorney, upset that there was an out of town interloper who was now helping a defendant."

During our reporting of the Todd Willingham story that ran Sunday, fire expert Craig Beyler said he has asked the Texas Forensic Science Commission to collect all the responses to his August report to the commission so that he can reply to them in the future.

He said he may disagree with some of the observations, agree wholly or partly, or agree to disagree. The Corsicana fire chief wrote a 21-page response in September.

Beyler's report said the original investigation in 1992 did not prove arson, although he acknowledges that his report doesn't rule out arson. The cause of the Willingham fire is undetermined, he said.

"My job was not to redo their investigation," Beyler said of the original fire investigators. "My job was to evaluate all the investigative work in the report. This is about improving forensic science."

The fallout from the corruption verdicts against Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill & Co. continues at City Hall, as we look at today's stories:

1. The Dallas City Council spent much of Monday talking about ethics reform, The News' Rudy Bush reports on the City Hall blog. Among the proposals: lobbyist registration, bans on lobbyist gifts and new requirements on zoning cases. The point of the last one: weakening the type of power that Hill, as a council member, wielded over developers who needed his approval for their projects in his district. The plan calls for multiple council members to weigh in on zoning cases.

2. I'm getting to this item a little late, and some of you may wish you hadn't ever seen it. The McClatchy newspaper chain found that Moody's Investors Service "punished executives who questioned why the company was risking its reputation by putting its profits ahead of providing trustworthy ratings for investment offerings." Doesn't restore your confidence in Wall Street, does it?

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Here is a look at some of the interesting public-interest stories from over the weekend:

1. Frisco officials worry that expansion of Exide Technologies' battery recycling plant could increase lead pollution, The News' Matthew Haag and Valerie Wigglesworth report. As it now stands, lead emissions from the plant (shown right) make Collin County "one of only 18 counties nationwide not expected to meet new, more stringent air-quality standards." Exide has told the state that production increases won't raise emissions.

2. The investigation into two Dallas County constables gets weirder. Last week, Dallas County Judge Jim Foster ordered records seized from one of the two, Jaime Cortes. But, wait: Those must be returned after a judge sided with Cortes, who argued Foster lacked authority to take the materials.

3. The Catholic Diocese of Dallas is paying out $4.65 million to five more abuse victims, The News' Sam Hodges tells us.

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I'm starting to sound repetitive. Because once again, stories over the weekend remind me of my colleagues' State of Neglect series, which exposed how Texas' network of government agencies and regulators often operate with industry insiders first in mind.

1. Back in 2002, The News' Doug J. Swanson told you how Texas lets doctors keep licenses despite criminal behavior and other misconduct. The state pledged reforms after the stories, et cetera et cetera. Fast forward seven years. Enter another News reporter, Brooks Egerton. And you can guess where I'm headed. My question this morning: Is anyone in a position of power dialing the Texas Medical Board to ask why it let these doctors remain active?

2. A Boston firm seeking a billion-dollar contract from the Texas State Board of Education has given gifts to two key members who then failed to disclose them, News freelance writer Jeff Horwitz writes. Explanation from one of the two: He thought he had received the gifts out of friendship, not because he served on the board. The other member declined comment, which was probably a smarter move.

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You can buy them at the grocery, at the garden store, at some farmers markets and -- of course -- online. And your kids, armed with a little Internet knowledge, can turn them into something deadly:

1. Cory Young (right), an 18-year-old in Keller, recently died from drinking poppy tea, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Boiling seeds or seed pods essentially creates cheap, homemade morphine, of God-only-knows how strong a concentration. "The kids are all after it," Cory's dad is quoted as saying. "It's supposed to be a pleasant high, a euphoria effect that you get out of it."

2. Cory is not the first area resident to die this way, according to another grieving family's Web site. They've documented several deaths around the country, including another one in Tarrant County early this year.

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Public Citizen's lawsuit against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, filed Tuesday in Travis County District Court, cites arguments identical to those that the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed in a 2007 federal case.

That case was Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency. Public Citizen also added some twists to reflect Texas law.

"We just took a page out of Massachusetts v. EPA, said Tom "Smitty" Smith, Public Citizen's Texas director.

In brief, the suit says the law requires Texas regulators to take action to curb any harmful emissions, including carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases -- harmful, the argument goes, because global warming brings a host of problems for human and ecological health.

The TCEQ has declined to do so, and Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints the state agency's commissioners, strongly opposes regulating CO2.

TCEQ Chairman Bryan Shaw, Ph.D., issued a statement in response to Public Citizen's suit. Here it is, in full:

"The science on global warming is far from settled. Neither Congress nor the EPA have been able to promulgate final rules on greenhouse gas regulation. What is certain is that if done incorrectly, CO2 regulations will impose great costs on Texas, without any guarantee of a measurable environmental benefit. Reducing CO2 in Texas will do nothing to lower CO2 globally, but will have the effect of sending U.S. jobs to China and India."

In fact, as today's stories remind us, we've got a ways to go until these big news events conclude.

1. As a now-convicted Don Hill wonders why jurors and God did not "give us this one," I wondered when the other public official enmeshed in the FBI's bribery investigation will go on trial. The News' Gromer Jeffers Jr. happened to report today that the judge is asking about possible courts dates for State Rep. Terri Hodge (shown at right). Meanwhile, it appears some are already trying to undercut her 2010 re-election opponent. Their argument: He's too educated.

2. On the list of people who can consistently strike fear into Child Protective Services, state Sen. Jane Nelson has got to be near the very top. She has long led reform efforts targeting the agency. Now she is questioning whether four recent deaths of children while under CPS' watch, including that of an Arlington toddler, is a broader pattern, report The News' Brooks Egerton and Scott Goldstein.

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With little but a disco-era law standing between vulnerable people like children and about 80,000 chemicals in commercial use in the United States, it's probably time for a regulatory makeover. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson promised one Tuesday when she outlined the Obama administration's principles for rewriting the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976.

As my story in today's paper notes, Texas is the heart of the U.S. chemical industry, especially along the Gulf Coast from Beaumont-Port Arthur (right) to Corpus Christi.

The toxic substances law regulates chemicals as they come into contact with people through products or industrial uses. Risks from chemical emissions into the air fall under the Clean Air Act.

Our colleagues covering the arrest of the 19-year-old Jordanian accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper included in their latest story snippets of an interview the suspect's father gave from his home in Jordan.

In addition to the father defending Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, he told the Agence France-Presse that his son "suffered psychological problems after the death of his mother of cancer in 2007, when he decided to go to the United States to live and study with his friend.

"But regardless of these problems," he added, "I know my son is innocent."

You can read more of the Agence France-Presse story here. And you can catch up on the latest developments from The Morning News on our Crime Blog, and even read the criminal complaint for yourself.

Hot Links today make the world seem somehow upside down.

1. The more you need help, the less likely you are to get it. That seems to be the logic transportation officials are using in deciding how to spend federal stimulus money. Reports USA Today: "Dallas trails only Los Angeles in miles of bad roads, yet it has received less than 1% of the $530 million that Texas approved for road repairs." A TXDoT official says our roads are so bad that fixes would cost too much to be eligible for funds.

2. The Dallas Morning News' Victor Godinez has a fascinating back story today about the Perot family confidant who's accused of insider trading. Reza Saleh, it turns out, helped rescue Perot employees from a prison in his native Iran 30 years ago. Now he's adding to the embarrassment facing Perot-affiliated investments this year. My colleagues Gary Jacobson and Brendan Case wrote a few months ago about the multi-billion dollar collapse of a family hedge fund.

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What a tangled web they weave in making money:

1. Maria Refugia Camarillo (right) gets to spend the next 44 months of her golden years in federal prison, a judge decided yesterday. The 72-year-old Fort Worth grandma arranged sham marriages for up to $12,000 apiece between many members of her extended family and green-card seeking immigrants. More details are in a Justice Department news release issued when she pleaded guilty in July.

2. Lubbock lawyer Kevin Glasheen stands to make millions representing 12 former prisoners who have been exonerated by DNA evidence and are seeking compensation from the state. But now, The Dallas Morning News' Jennifer Emily reports, one of the Dallas exonerees has hired a different lawyer to sue Glasheen. Lawyer 2 alleges that Lawyer 1 did no legal work and shouldn't collect a $1 million fee. Glasheen denies the claim.

3. Reza Saleh made about $8.6 million by trading on advance knowledge of Dell's purchase of Perot Systems, federal regulators alleged yesterday. Saleh's employer, according to The News' Victor Godinez: Parkcentral Capital Management, an affiliate of Perot Investments.

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Hot Links today are all about capital punishment:

1. Charles Dean Hood (right) may well deserve to die for murdering two people in Plano. But I'd feel a whole lot better about killing killers if I knew they got a fair trial. And that's very much in doubt here. The latest: Texas' highest court said yesterday that it's too late for the defense to use evidence that the trial judge and Collin County's DA were, um, romantically entangled. Defense attorneys tried to work this angle earlier but lacked evidence -- the affair, like most, was secret. But now they have admissions from former DA Tom O'Connell (under Hood) and paramour Verla Sue Holland (below).

2. The appeals court decision comes at a particularly difficult time for Texas' image. I recently summarized three other ongoing capital punishment embarrassments, including two in which there's real doubt about a convicted man's guilt. In one of those cases, the defendant has already been executed.

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Today's Hot Links look at how the tables have turned on two former representatives of the Texas legal system.

1. Was he trying to make the Guinness Book of World Records? Michael Meissner (right) worked for 17 small-town police agencies in 18 years, The Dallas Morning News reports today. Now he's jailed, facing child-porn and organized crime charges in Dallas and Tarrant counties. He worked most recently for a town in Central Texas, but it's hard to understand how that was possible. WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported two years ago that Meissner lost his peace officer's license in 2003, used a phony college degree and had an arrest record.

2. Former Dallas municipal court Judge Tiffany Lewis (right) pleaded guilty Tuesday to stealing tens of thousands of dollars while working as a private lawyer in a Tarrant County probate case, reports The News' Tanya Eiserer. Lewis was sentenced to 60 days in jail and 10 years of probation. The State Bar of Texas took away her law license in 2005.

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That's the question from several readers whose e-mails landed in our DMN Investigates inbox this afternoon.

Late last week, a hidden-camera video showed Baltimore employees of the community group -- which has faced voter-fraud allegations since the '08 elections -- giving dubious advice to a man and a woman posing as a couple.

The advice? How to cover up their purported jobs in prostitution on tax forms.

FOX News was the biggest outlet to jump on the story, and ACORN was again left defending itself. As the furor has simmered with additional videos, some GOP-minded commentators accused other media of downplaying or outright ignoring the controversy. That's probably what led to the e-mails we received today.

For today's Hot Links, let's catch up from the weekend:

1. Another family is accusing child psychiatrist William Olmsted (right) of misconduct with their daughter. And they're likewise mad at the Texas Medical Board, saying that it did nothing after they complained. Last week, Dallas Morning News writer Diane Jennings reported that the board let Olmsted keep his medical license after a Dallas County court put him on probation for molesting a girl. Board officials won't talk about why they chose this disciplinary route.

2. The Plano Chamber of Commerce wants residents to shop within the city, News reporter Theodore Kim reports. Seems that sales tax revenue has plummeted as new shopping magnets have beckoned further north. How long will it be, do you think, before Frisco starts losing out to the next big thing even further north? What will be the first Dallas suburb in Oklahoma?

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Sometimes the best stuff in The Dallas Morning News is in the briefs. Read on through today's Regional Roundup for three of my favorites:

1. Remember Lori Bailey (top right)? She used to be in the paper all the time as Dallas FBI office spokeswoman. Now she's gone -- and on probation for DWI after a wrong-way crash on the Dallas North Tollway.

2. Remember Jose Merced? Probably not. He's the Santeria priest who sued the city of Euless over its ban on sacrificing goats (lower right) and other critters. And he has won a major round in his freedom-of-religion court case.

3. Someone's going to have a doozy of a time explaining how this happened: An Eagle Mountain Elementary School third-grader slipped out of school on a bathroom break, found an unlocked employee's van with the keys inside and went on a five-mile joyride.

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In today's Hot Links, we see why I a) have a fear of flying and b) am glad I'm not Dan Morales' ex-wife.

1. American Airlines is rejoining Southwest on the list of carriers facing regulators' ire over maintenance practices. According to The Wall Street Journal, the FAA suspects that AA mothballed a plane to hide defects. The move reportedly occurred as regulators investigated possible improper repairs to at least 16 MD-80s. American says allegations of impropriety "misrepresent the facts." Southwest, meanwhile, recently got permission to keep flying dozens of planes with unauthorized parts. Back in the spring, you may recall, the FAA made both airlines cancel hundreds of flights over inspection and repair issues.

2. Dan Morales (right), the Texas attorney-general-turned-federal-felon, secretly made a key to his ex-wife's house and entered it without permission, Texas Lawyer reports. Now a judge has ordered ol' Dan, who was freed from prison on probation, to have no contact with his ex. Remember why he went to prison? Tax fraud (not telling the IRS about his personal use of political contributions) and mail fraud (related to his pursuit of fees in the state's multibillion-dollar tobacco lawsuit settlement).

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FBI agents today arrested former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Eugene Lockhart (right) on mortgage fraud charges.

The so-called Hitting Machine played for America's Team from 1984-90 and, according to a federal indictment, went on to work in businesses that played off his former employer's name. They allegedly included America's Team Mortgage, America's Team Realty, America's Team Funding Group, Cowboys Realty and Cowboys Mortgage.

Lockhart, of Carrollton, and eight others are accused of running a scheme from 2001 to 2005 that generated "approximately $20.5 million in fraudulent loans" in the Dallas area, federal prosecutors said.

All of the questions in today's two Hot Links have the same short answer. Read on:

1. This is 2009, right? And entering a suspect's bail info in one Dallas County computer doesn't get it into other computers? And a man (Ezequiel Moreno, right) accused of sexually abusing a teen and plotting her kidnapping can get out of jail because the computers aren't connected, as my colleagues Scott Goldstein and Jennifer Emily report today? And Dallas County commissioners want to cut spending on criminal justice?

2. Do shrinking newspaper budgets make it easier for government officials to hide what goes on in courtrooms, as The New York Times reports today? Does a bear poop in the woods?

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Dallas Episcopal Bishop James Stanton's list of problem priests isn't limited to the Rev. William Warnky (right), who, as I reported in yesterday's paper, has been suspended in recent days from both ministry and securities trading because he owes an ex-parishioner $50,000 for stock fraud.

I learned today that two months ago, Stanton quietly stripped the Rev. Keith Roberson (below right) of his collar for three years for "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy."

Here's a partial translation that I coaxed out of Stanton's top aide, Bishop Suffragan Paul Lambert: The conduct was directed at women at the Terrell church where Roberson worked, Good Shepherd. "It was more harassment than anything," and "it was nothing physical."

Roberson declined to comment today. He runs an optical repair business in Fort Worth called J.R. Optical, whose Web site says:

"I am an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church and I uphold the values and character traits associated with a life of personal commitment and service to the Lord. I live by the Scripture verse 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' I am honest, open, professional, congenial, and stand by my word."

Lambert acknowledged that Roberson previously left another parish -- he wouldn't say which one -- amid controversy. "It was a bad match," he said. "It was not sexual harassment."

Years ago, Roberson also worked briefly as a fill-in priest at Good Samaritan, where Warnky was the priest in charge until this week. It hasn't been decided yet how long Warnky will be out of ministry.

Scam artists are going after consumers desperate to pay their bills. One reader wrote in to Problem Solver to say she had to borrow money from her in-laws to get out of a jam when she was conned out of $2,900 by a secret-shopper scam. Another said she, too, had lost money.

"Kate, is there anything that I can do to go after these people and get some sort of restitution?" one of the readers asked?

Columnist Pamela Yip wrote about this type of scam in June, but unfortunately the reader didn't see her warning. There are various twists to the shopping con. One has the shopper giving the con artist access to bank information to cash their "paycheck." Another has the shopper receiving a money order to buy several small items then sending back the cash to their "employer." The money order winds up as a fake and is later denied at the bank. The cash and employer are long gone by that time.

There is usually no recourse in getting any money back, but if you're caught up in something like this you should report it to the authorities, such as the Federal Trade Commission and Texas Attorney General's office. These scams seem to proliferate, but at least if the right people have the information a few thieves may get caught.

Two utterly unrelated spats caught my eye this morning in the back pages of The Dallas Morning News:

1. The controversy surrounding the car-towing practices of Dallas County constables Derick Evans and Jaime Cortes grows more interesting by the day. Evans has now hired powerful state Sen. Royce West (right) as his lawyer amid a corruption investigation by the Dallas County District Attorney's office, reports Kevin Krause. West has been a major donor and adviser to DA Craig Watkins. And Watkins' office, meanwhile, defends constables when they face civil lawsuits. What do you make of all these potential conflicts of interest?

2. Jaguar of North America filed a federal lawsuit accusing Plano-based Millennium Motor Cars of submitting more than $2 million in false warranty claims and other charges, Terry Box reports. Millennium owner David Stephens (right, with one of his babies) has counter-sued. He blames service department employees for any irregularities and accuses Jaguar of withholding information.

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Mystery is the word of the day for Hot Links:

1. Who killed pastor Carol Daniels (right) in her Christ Holy Sanctified Church? Why? And why are authorities warning other pastors to be wary in the little Oklahoma town of Anadarko, about 200 miles north of Dallas? The authorities aren't talking publicly.

2. Why has the Dallas County Precinct 5 constable's office been the target of so many criminal investigations? Kevin Krause, who covers Dallas County for The Dallas Morning News, traces the ugly history back almost a decade on the paper's crime blog.

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Dallas Episcopal Bishop James Stanton (right) confirmed today that he has suspended a priest-stockbroker who, as I reported Sunday, owes an ex-parishioner/ex-client $50,000 for securities fraud.

Stanton said he was unaware of what I discovered late yesterday: A Dallas judge put the Rev. William Warnky (below right) on 10 years of probation in 2006 for contempt of court after he failed to pay about $50,000 in child support to his second wife.

Warnky should have disclosed this to Dallas Episcopal Diocese leaders, the bishop said.

"Mercy," he added. "That is a very serious matter."

This spring, the Texas attorney general's office sought to jail Warnky because of continuing child-support failures. The judge let him stay on probation. Warnky has been making payments since, the AG's office said.

The priest declined to comment today. He led services Sunday at his church, Good Samaritan, which is a few blocks south of White Rock Lake. Stanton said his suspension from ministry took effect Monday.

Two Dallas Cowboys employees who were seriously injured in the collapse of the team's practice facility are filing suit this morning against several companies involved in building or renovating the massive tent-like structure.

Click here for a full report.

Scouting aide Rich Behm (above right) and special teams coach Joe DeCamillis (below right) accuse all the defendants of negligence and two of conspiracy -- of knowing at least two years ago that the facility was unsafe and covering it up.

The prominent Dallas trial lawyer Frank Branson represents both Behm, who is permanently paralyzed below the waist, and DeCamillis, who suffered a broken neck but escaped paralysis.

Does wearing a black robe mean never having to say you're sorry? Do you deserve a taxpayer-funded car allowance? Today's Hot Links make me wonder:

1. Sharon Keller says she would do it again. The presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (at right, waiting for her misconduct trial to begin) testified Wednesday that there was no reason to keep the court open late in 2007 for a death-row inmate's last-minute appeal. Hours later, the killer was executed. Now that the tables are turned and she's facing trial, Keller faces possible removal from the bench. And this isn't the former Dallas County prosecutor's only legal woe; another stems from her failure to list millions in personal assets on a financial disclosure form, as my colleague Steve McGonigle's investigation showed.

2. The Dallas suburb of Richardson spends more than $800,000 a year on employee car allowances, Dallas Morning News reporter Ian McCann finds. Many of the employees do lots of on-the-job driving -- but some are just getting perks. How does this compare to what other cities do? Are city-owned car fleets a better alternative?

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Two questions this morning: Is Texas using its regulatory resources wisely by focusing on small-time gambling operations? And does probation really mean anything in this state?

1. Execs of Dallas-based Aces Wired have pleaded guilty to running a gambling operation, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The company, which runs game rooms in several Texas counties, previously insisted that its machines met state requirements by not awarding cash prizes. Now it will forfeit more than $1 million, and the bosses will be put on probation. Prosecutors had planned to present allegations at trial that the execs bribed a Fort Worth police officer, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported recently.

2. Plano resident William Fletcher pleaded guilty to securities fraud three years ago and was put on probation. Now he's been charged with doing it again and using the proceeds to pay court-ordered restitution from the 2006 case, The Dallas Morning News' Elizabeth Souder reports. Will Fletcher -- who did business under the names Texas Oil Equities and Raptor Oil & Gas -- get probation again?

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Several interesting items from the weekend. The first three we'll bring you have a trend in common: peculiar financial transactions involving public officials.

1. What is going on in the offices of Dallas County constables Jamie Cortes and Derick Evans? The News' Kevin Krause brings us another in an increasing list of stories on their activities, which always seem to involve vehicles or a towing company they're employing.

2. Dallas' Mexican consulate office is under investigation for financial improprieties, The News' Alfredo Corchado tells us. Similar allegations arose a few months ago. Trend or coincidence?

3. Tarrant County College trustee Robyn Medina Winnett was arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, the Star-Telegram reports. It's the latest unflattering headline for TCC's administration.

4. Haven't heard from former U.S. House Majority Leader and Texas' own Dick Armey in a while. Talking Points Memo's Muckraker blog explores how Armey's lobbying firm apparently received blowback from his advocacy group's role in organizing health-care protests.

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Testimony is reaching a critical stage in the Dallas City Hall bribery trial. Jurors will earn their $40-a-day pay after times like Wednesday.

1. Federal prosecutors, in the meat of their case, scored as developer-turned-informant James R. "Bill" Fisher testified about paying a load of money to Don Hill's associates and finally winning his vote. However, in a boost to Hill's defense, Fisher acknowledged Hill never asked for cash and Fisher never paid him directly. (Trial is recessed until Monday, fyi.)

2. We know Rick Perry is the longest serving governor the state's had. And we know before then, he toiled in Austin as well. So why was he also claiming a home in College Station to get a tax exemption? He dropped it after the Associated Press broke the story this week.

3. Now for a little media talk: The Texas House is apparently blocking a Houston-based online news organization from covering an upcoming session. I know this news org, Texas Watchdog, is a competitor to The News. But c'mon, House. We Texans need more -- not fewer -- journalists covering Austin. Give them access.

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The star witness in the federal bribery trial, developer-turned-informant James R. "Bill" Fisher, took the stand yesterday. He continues to add texture to a narrative that leaves you feeling icky about how things get done at City Hall. (Follow today's testimony in Jason Trahan's live blog.)

1. "It's pay to play." There's your quote of the day from Fisher (shown at right), as prosecutors proceeded to walk him through a series of incidents where co-defendants, chiefly former Plan Commissioner D'Angelo Lee, hit him up for financial favors in exchange for votes. One example: Lee gave a not-so-subtle hint that he liked Fisher's colleague's swanky leather coat and volunteered his own coat size.

2. Details of Lee's antics may not be surprising to trialwatchers. This, however, may be: High-powered political consultant, Carol Reed, was among those advising Fisher to go ahead and pay a security firm run by deceased councilman James Fantroy at a time when the developer needed the official's votes. Columnist James Ragland notes the advice came after the conflict of interest had caused a ruckus publicly.

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That's one takeaway, among many, that you should have from the Dallas City Hall bribery trial. Let's explore:

1. Co-defendant Allen McGill (shown at right) testified Monday that his sham Black State Employees Association of Texas opposed a housing developer's project to force the hiring of minority contractors who'd give it kickbacks later, The News' Jason Trahan reports. Once the developer played ball, the opposition lifted. McGill and his cohort, Darren Reagan, realized that they were ones worked over months later: The developer was an FBI informant.

2. The Hearst network of newspapers, which includes Houston and San Antonio, is wrapping up a series that finds about 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors. That echoes The News' State of Neglect investigative series, which earlier this year found that Texas lets hospitals hide their mistakes from the public.

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The folks in University Park thought the Texas Open Meetings Act would let them speak about controversial plans to renovate their public pool at Curtis Park.

University Park's attorney, Robert Dillard, read the law differently. He advised the City Council to block residents from addressing the issue when it came up during a meeting Tuesday because doing so may be a violation. That's after they had waited an hour for their turn.

Needless to say, the residents were confused by the city's logic. So were experts interviewed by The News' Lori Stahl, whose story today quotes them as saying the Open Meetings Act allowed residents to have their say.

"There is absolutely no basis for the city attorney's advice that allowing these comments would have been a violation" of the law, one expert told Lori.

Dillard, incidentally, wouldn't talk about not letting the residents talk.

There's a lot in the news today. Let's start exploring what's out there:

1. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is saying "mistakes were made" in the controversial raid on a Fort Worth gay bar after an internal report rips agents, The News' Scott Goldstein reports. However, the report seems to tiptoe around one of the biggest complaints -- allegations of excessive force. One patron, you may recall, sustained a brain injury in the incident, which sparked protests and national news coverage.

2. Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller remains on the witness stand in the City Hall bribery trial, which you can follow on Jason Trahan's live blog. In testimony yesterday, she described defendant Don Hill as an official bristling at ethics reforms. Other interesting nugget: Developer and Miller supporter Brian Potashnik fed her negative information about his employee-turned-rival James R. "Bill" Fisher, yet she said she was in the dark about similar unflattering details regarding him.

3. Beyond Dallas, we have a series of ethics scandals making news: a NASA official who steered millions to a consulting client, resignation calls for University of Illinois trustees and a House Democrat who got sweet deals on loans.

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How many times must the State Auditor's Office -- not to mention news reporters -- ding the State Board of Dental Examiners for problems that impact Texans? We may need two hands to count.

1. In its latest audit released yesterday, the auditor's office cited 19 examples in which the dental board's online database didn't have up-to-date disciplinary actions against practitioners. Because the public can use that information, the gap "puts patients at risk of receiving services from licensees who have committed repeated violations." The audit is dense reading. So I recommend you first check out the story by The News' Terrence Stutz.

2. Dallas City Hall trial item A: The state passed laws requiring community approval for the type of low-income housing projects at the heart of the corruption case. Testimony reiterated how some co-defendants feigned community opposition to allegedly extract kickbacks from developers.

3. Dallas City Hall trial item B: Laura Miller's name came up again, as I predicted. The defense questioned Dallas' housing director about Miller's appointment of Brian Potashnik, a major campaign contributor of hers, to a task force that created policy benefiting his company.

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

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We have conflicts of interest in various facets of life -- housing deals, law enforcement and medicine -- in today's morning round-up of stories:

1. There's a new twist in the controversial dealings between Dallas County constables and the troubled towing company they're using: One of the law enforcers gave a worker from the firm a job, The News' Kevin Krause blogs. A state agency is investigating.

2. Dallas' housing director testified in the City Hall bribery trial that he thought Don Hill and co-defendant D'Angelo Lee were too cozy with developer Brian Potashnik, The News' Jason Trahan reports. Hill approved Potashnik's projects against recommendations from the housing department, which we reported in this 2005 story.

3. The New York Times explores the pharmaceutical industry's influence on scientific research: A company secretly paid a ghostwriter to draft published papers backing hormone therapy in women, benefiting later as sales of the drugs it produced soared.

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

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We have updates on some stories that have been in the news in the last few months -- and been the subject of our blogging:

1. The legendary football coach at Mesquite High School who pawned more than $100,000 in school equipment agreed to plead guilty late last week if the felony charges against him were reduced, The News' Matthew Haag reports. Questions still remain, though: Like why didn't the school board get to the bottom of this sooner? And why isn't the district's auditor digging deeper to root out other hints of financial fraud?

2. Did your schools see an improvement in the latest TAKS tests? Mine did. But don't forget this: The grading got easier this year, as some kids who failed were counted as having passed, The News' Holly K. Hacker explains.

3. We're learning a major narrative of the upcoming trial of the state's highest criminal court judge, Sharon Keller. She was the one who closed her office before a death-row inmate could file a last-minute appeal, ensuring his execution. The narrative: Did computer crashes really delay the inmate's lawyers from completing paperwork sooner? Keller is trying to raise those doubts, the Austin American-Statesman tells us.

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

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Interesting how things aren't always what they seem. That's a theme in our stories today:

1. Dallas Congressman Pete Sessions has ripped earmarks. And yet he gave a sweet one worth $1.6 million to an Illinois company that wants to build a blimp the military could use, Politico reports. A former aide to Sessions just so happens to lobby for said company, which said it had no government contracting experience.

2. Were you one of the Texas parents who locked in cheaper college tuition for your kiddo by prepaying years ago? Well, that piggy bank is nearly broke, the Houston Chronicle tells us. The state comptroller asks you not to panic just yet.

3. Jury of your peers? A Dallas County judge said prosecutors unfairly eliminated minorities from hearing the death-penalty case of a black man, leaving only whites, The News' Jennifer Emily reports. This reminds me of our investigation team's 2006 series, Striking Differences. It found both prosecutors and defense sought to remove jurors based on race.

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

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The common theme is investigations. Let's take a closer look at today's stories:

1. State regulators are now investigating the car-towing company used by two Dallas County constables that has created controversy in recent weeks, The News' Kevin Krause reports. The company -- which has no county oversight -- is run by a troubled businessman who also has an auto salvage shop.

2. Protections for federal employees who blow the whistle on corruption were expanded yesterday, USA Today tells us. Most can now request that a jury hear their case, excluding intelligence agency employees. Advocates wanted protections for all workers.

3. Perhaps the biggest story in Dallas is the City Hall bribery trial. But it's not the only corruption case in the courts. A suburban D.C. jury is deliberating the fate of former U.S. congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana.

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

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Three very different stories. But they all come back to money: how to get it, or how to keep it.

1. One of the feds' star witnesses in the Dallas City Hall bribery trial, Southwest Housing Development's Brian Potashnik, finished four days of testimony yesterday. Some observers and blog commenters thought Potashnik stumbled at times to show Don Hill personally benefited from contracts given to associates. But Unfair Park's Jim Schutze had a different take.

2. Speaking of the Dallas City Council, some of its members are reluctant to trim their own office budgets amid a $190 million shortfall, The News' Rudy Bush reports. I'm sure city workers and residents will sympathize.

3. College sports' umbrella organization, NCAA, is facing lawsuits from former athletes who accuse it of cashing in on their likenesses in video games without sharing the proceeds. A ranking member of a Congressional panel has questioned why the NCAA still receives tax-free status as a nonprofit when it acts more like a commercial enterprise.

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

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You may have missed this item deep inside The Dallas Morning News' metro section today: The University of Texas at Dallas forwarded complaints against its own police officers to the Collin County district attorney.

The action comes two months after UT Dallas' police chief, Colleen Ridge, resigned. A few weeks ago, the assistant chief and an officer who had been on leave were fired. Another employee also quit, and one more remains sidelined.

That's a lot of HR paperwork. But what makes this potentially criminal?

UT Dallas and prosecutors continue not to discuss it publicly. News reporter Holly Hacker did manage to narrow things down after receiving a letter from the University of Texas System's lawyers seeking permission from the state attorney general to keep records about the complaints private.

The UT System lawyers indicate the police matters involve these multiple choices: a) ethical questions, b) standards of conduct, c) financial reporting and/or d) internal accounting practices.

If you know the correct answer, post a comment or e-mail Holly or me directly.

The builder at the heart of the Dallas City Hall corruption trial, Southwest Housing Development's Brian Potashnik, was grilled yesterday about payouts he made to others whose political support he needed and received. The defense is trying to show that contracts Potashnik gave to Don Hill & Co. were no more unusual or improper than those, which he described as anything but bribes. Here are some highlights:

1. Potashnik was questioned about $5,000 he paid to sponsor a birthday party for state Sen. Royce West. He corrected the defense, saying the event was "for the education of underserved youth" in South Dallas. (You may recall West's son also had a paid job at Southwest Housing through an internship program that the senator sponsored, according to a 2005 story that Gromer Jeffers Jr. and I wrote.)

2. Potashnik gave at least $40,000 to a community book fair that former council member Leo Chaney Jr. founded to highlight black authors. When asked why in court, Potashnik testified that, "This is a charity we believed in." (Potashnik also hired Chaney's appointee to the city plan commission, Melvin Traylor.)

3. Remember my post last week about Potashnik giving money to a local church whose neighborhood support he needed? The amount could have been as much as $50,000, he testified. Was it a bribe, he was asked under oath. Potashnik replied no: "We were making an investment in the community, and we wanted money to be used to refurbish the church."

Are those transactions smart business? Is the defense onto something? Tell me in an e-mail or leave me a comment.

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The Texas Attorney General's Office today filed a consumer-fraud lawsuit against the college-prep software company that I first raised questions about in April.

The suit targets the Coppell-based SAT and ACT Test Prep Center and its operators, a Cedar Hill couple named Frances Stuart and John Joseph Stuart (at right, after his recent arrest on unrelated charges -- more on that below).

I just tried to reach the Stuarts at the Coppell business and got a recording saying that the phone had been temporarily disconnected. I also left a message for them at the Student Resource Center, a virtually identical business that Frances set up in May, using a downtown Dallas address.

My original blog post about consumer complaints led me to do a little digging about the Stuarts. I discovered that John had been convicted of sexually exploiting a child in Arizona, was a registered sex offender -- and had failed to tell police that he was working at the prep center. Cedar Hill police responded by arresting him.

The AG's office says the Stuarts' telemarketers made calls to several states, "falsely telling parents that their children had expressed an interest" in test-prep software. Many who bought the material "discovered that the CD they received matched an outdated, 2006 version that was offered by a nationally recognized company" for far less.

The Stuarts have previously denied wrongdoing. I last heard from them early this month, when Frances posted a comment on another of my blog posts and told me to "go to hell."

Defense lawyers yesterday began cross-examining the developer enmeshed in the pay-for-votes scheme that former Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill allegedly directed. Unsurprisingly, they wanted to ask Brian Potashnik about ex-mayor Laura Miller.

Miller was his biggest champion at Dallas City Hall. Potashnik was one of her biggest benefactors.

An FBI agent chalked that up to politics in earlier testimony. But the defense hopes to make much more of the donations. And there is plenty there to explore, as Gromer Jeffers Jr. and I found in a 2005 investigation.

Potashnik, for instance, made a $5,000 contribution to Miller under the name of a limited partnership, even though state law prohibits such donations. His wife also made $5,000 in donations under her maiden name. So the couple was able to give Miller more than city rules allowed during an election cycle.

In all the Potashniks contributed more than $66,000 to Miller. The defense quizzed Potashnik yesterday about one worth $10,000 that came a day before a successful council vote. He called it a "legal, legitimate" donation. Miller, who is on the list of potential witnesses, said in our 2005 story that her support had little to do with the money.

The contributions were merely one aspect of the Potashnik-Miller alliance. There was also behind-the-scenes aid. And there was her appointment of him to a policy-making housing task force.

Expect the defense to use it all to try and create reasonable doubt among jurors.

UPDATE: My colleague Jason Trahan, who's covering the trial, has a post over at the Crime blog foreshadowing Monday's testimony. He also explores how Laura Miller fits into the defense strategy.

Today's stories of public interest feature a constable in trouble for policy violations and a state lawmaker in trouble for alleged criminal wrongdoing.

1. Dallas County administrators are starting to take action against constables who violated policy by doing work outside their precincts to boost their statistics, helping them lobbying for more staff. The News' Kevin Krause reports that constables -- such as Jaime Cortes, who did this most frequently -- will lose a total of 31 positions. The taxpayer savings: $1.7 million.

2. A grand jury indicted South Texas state Rep. Kino Flores on allegations he didn't disclose sources of income, real estate deals and gifts, including one from a lobbyist, the Associated Press reported.

Do you have a tip these or other subjects? Send me an e-mail or leave me a comment.

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Developer Brian Potashnik, who has pleaded guilty in the Dallas City Hall bribery trial, has testified he donated $25,000 to a local church to gain support for his low-income housing projects.

The News' Jason Trahan mentioned the item during his live-blogging from the federal courthouse today.

I e-mailed Jason during the trial's lunch break to get a few more details. He told me that Potashnik (shown at right) didn't name the church and identified the pastor only as a Rev. Johnson, who has since died.

We may learn more specifics when prosecutors enter exhibits into the record, Jason tells me. For now, I'm left wondering:

Did someone instruct Potashnik to pay the church? Does this happen often with churches in Dallas?

If any of you know other examples, post a comment or send me a private e-mail.

So will this be the day that the Justice Department's bribery case against former Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Don Hill (shown at right) falls apart?

Or will it be the day that his smiling demeanor changes?

We're about to find out, as questioning of the low-income housing developer who has pleaded guilty to bribing Hill begins this morning. The News' Jason Trahan is stationed at the federal courthouse and live-blogging the developments.

In a News interview four years ago, lawyers for developer Brian Potashnik explained his role for the first time, framing him as a victim of opportunistic city officials.

We have key developments in several stories that we've tracked here -- from Dallas County constable contracts to document destruction in Irving to Fort Worth police action.

1. Dallas County commissioners decided to consider instituting policies to control towing contracts of vehicles by law enforcement agencies under their control. The News' Kevin Krause has been telling us about two constables who have an arrangement with a troubled businessman that includes no oversight.

2. The Irving City Council will hear details today about how the staff there retains planning and inspection documents, an issue that arose after the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility collapsed months ago. Some building records had been destroyed, as The News' Brandon Formby first reported. City councilwoman Beth Van Duyne has called for an investigation.

3. Sensing distrust in the gay community, the Fort Worth City Council requested an independent federal investigation into last month's police raid at a gay bar that turned violent. Meanwhile, newly released records show the supervisor for one of the raid's officers had previously warned that he had "a history of poor decisions and bad judgment," The News' Scott Farwell reports.

Do you have a tip these or other subjects? Send me an e-mail or leave me a comment.

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Two stories from The Dallas Morning News are shining a light in corners I didn't even know existed. And a third nearly made me lose my breakfast.

1. Dallas County's tax office holds secret hearings at which you can gain title to a vehicle with no evidence of ownership, Kevin Krause reports today. A big beneficiary of the process is County Commissioner John Wiley Price, a car collector.

2. Children as young as 10 are on Texas' public sex-offender registry, Diane Jennings reported in Sunday's paper. Other states will put kids as young as 7 on the lists. Diane did a great job of showing the lifelong consequences to everyone in a family in which two boys molested their sister.

3. Can someone tell me how children could be locked up and starving in a Dallas motel bathroom without someone in the outside world noticing? Scott Goldstein reports on a horror story that unraveled only when one of the parents sought police aid.

Do you have a tip about the tax assessor? Child abuse? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Today's Hot Links have breaking news on the Rainbow Lounge raid and Mark Cuban.

1. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission boss Alan Steen says his agents committed "clear violations" of policy during the controversial recent gay-bar raid in Fort Worth, the Dallas Voice reports. The agents' supervisor has retired amid an internal investigation. Meanwhile, KXAS-TV has obtained the Fort Worth police report on the Rainbow Lounge incident, which ended with one patron seriously injured and calls for a federal investigation. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has posted police radio traffic from the raid on its site.

2. This just in: A judge has dismissed the insider-trading lawsuit that federal regulators filed against Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Do you have a tip about the Rainbow Lounge? TABC? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Turmoil in the suburbs. A drug war near the Texas border. What's a politician to do?

1. Irving's power structure is under siege. The local icon, Texas Stadium, is turning into an eyesore. The Dallas Cowboys will soon be playing in Arlington, leaving behind controversy over their practice facility's collapse and the city's dubious role in inspecting it. Now comes a federal judge's ruling that the city's at-large system for electing the City Council is illegal, as reported today by Jeff Mosier and Katherine Leal Unmuth of The Dallas Morning News. Members of the all-white council said they thought things were working just fine. Hispanics are about 40 percent of the population -- the largest group in town.

2. The Los Angeles Times has a fascinating look today at possible ties between drug lords and elected officials in Mexico. Seems a recently elected member of Congress there, Julio Cesar Godoy, is now a fugitive. He has been linked to a narco gang that has killed at least 16 police officers in recent days. He is also a half-brother of Michoacan state's governor.

Do you have a tip about Irving? The Dallas Cowboys? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Change is coming to the Dallas North Tollway and to the criminal courts, as today's Hot Links show.

1. The North Texas Tollway Authority is taking new steps to warn wrong-way drivers, Dallas Morning News transportation writer Michael Lindenberger reports. Read Michael's blog for more discussion about whether the blame for recent crashes lies entirely with drunken drivers or also with tollway design.

2. The recent Supreme Court decision requiring lab analysts to testify in court about their findings is a huge boost for crime suspects, The Washington Post reports. "This is the biggest case for the defense since Miranda," a defense lawyer tells the paper. Legal-minded readers, are you seeing any local impact yet?

Do you have a tip about tollways? Lab analysts? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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A reader called Problem Solver asking what should be done about a disagreement between her daughter and her daughter's landlord.

When her daughter moved out of her apartment the landlord claimed the place was "trashed." But the daughter had hired a cleaning crew to scour the place.

"Besides having lived there for two years, we had the carpets constantly cleaned, and [there were] some holes in the wall where we put pictures, it was clean," the daughter told my colleague Daphne Chen. "'Trashed' is the farthest thing from any truth at all."

Now, the landlord is threatening to take the tenant to small claims court.

Real? Fake? Hard to believe? Today's Hot Links are about guns in Texas:

1. Dallas banned public display of real-looking toy guns in 2007. But that did not stop a couple of guys from nearly getting shot by police recently, as The Dallas Morning News' Steve Thompson reports today. Do we need a law that bans the replicas outright, as other governments have tried? Who makes these products? Why is their manufacture allowed? Why do parents buy them for their kids?

2. The New York Times says John Shipley, an FBI agent in Texas, has been charged with running an unlicensed business: dealing guns that ended up in Mexico, used in narco-vs.-army shootouts.

Do you have a tip about real guns? Fake guns? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Here on the right is Robert Cantu trying to stay cool at Barclay Square, in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood of Dallas. The apartment complex has been plagued by air conditioning problems, but a court hearing yesterday brought no legal fix.

Now let's look at a mansion in Marin County, just north of San Francisco. (Thanks to Zillow.com for the image.) Till last year, it belonged to Brian H. Printz, an officer of the company that controls Barclay Square.

Printz is a real estate lawyer. He sold the seven-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bath place for about $6 million, public records show.

Records show that he also owns 80 acres of undeveloped land a little further north, in Napa Valley. His business partner, James S. Goody, owns about five acres there, plus a home in San Francisco valued at $1.7 million.

I could not locate them for comment this afternoon. The Web site for their company, Bay Equity Real Estate Acquisitions, lists no contact information. A phone number I found elsewhere online is answered by a recording that does not state the company's name.

The right to spend, and the right to bear arms: These are the Hot Links of the day.

1. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn uses more taxpayer dollars on travel than any of his colleagues. The Texas Republican says the Politico.com report was "a little bit of a cheap shot," according to WFAA-TV/Channel 8.

2. Should students have the right to carry concealed weapons on college campuses? Is Texas going to give the gun lobby its big break on this issue? The Wall Street Journal has an interesting national roundup today.

Do you have a tip about politicians' spending? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Litigation over the Dallas Cowboys practice facility collapse is about to begin.

Rich Behm (right), the most seriously injured victim, has hired high-profile Dallas lawyer Frank Branson. Branson, in turn, asked a Dallas County court late last month to order a pre-litigation deposition of Nathan Stobbe, president of facility builder Summit Structures and its parent, Cover-All Building Systems.

Court records show that the attorney also asked for all of the Canada-based company's documents related to the tent-like facility, which came crashing down during a thunderstorm May 2.

Judge Sally Montgomery has taken no action on the petition, and no lawsuit has been filed. But Branson told me today that Stobbe had already submitted to questioning voluntarily. Branson said he had received some documents, too.

"The defendants at this time seem to be cooperating," he said. "I'd like to get this case up and running as smoothly as possible for everybody's sake."

Even though Mexico had a swine flu outbreak, Alan and Kathy Lynn Dieken of Kaufman decided to go ahead with their honeymoon cruise. That's because when they called Carnival Cruise Lines before heading to Galveston to board the ship, they were told the ship would port somewhere -- maybe not Mexico -- but somewhere.

But it didn't. The ship went out into the Gulf of Mexico, basically parked, then sped back to Galveston one day early, the couple said.

Because of the change in itinerary, Carnival says it has refunded each passenger his or her $40 in port taxes and will offer 50 percent off a future cruise as a "goodwill gesture."

"Our first experience was so horrible, I don't know if I want to spend another week on a ship," Kathy Lynn Dieken said. "We were essentially lied to."

My post last week exploring whether dealings between a Dallas ISD trustee and a college-prep program's founder had posed a conflict reminded a reader about the state laws for disclosing such relationships.

Reader "STC" was correct that Texas' Local Government Code, chapter 176, requires public officials to fill out forms disclosing conflicts of interest with prospective government contractors.

But there appears to be several loopholes in the law.

The biggest seems to be that the state law defines a conflict as a financial relationship, employment or business. Friendship -- which you and I might think warrants a heads-up to the public -- does not.

Even if there is a financial relationship, it may not have to be disclosed under chapter 176, depending on the money at stake and the timing of the transaction.

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.

It was an ad that first caught my eye in The Dallas Morning News this morning:

1. The entire back page is about Zicam, a line of homeopathic cold remedies. "Based on the FDA's recommendations, we have voluntarily taken two nasal products off the shelves," the ad says. But it never says what the safety issue is: Hundreds of users claim the non-prescription products have destroyed their sense of smell. The manufacturer, Matrixx Initiatives, disputes this -- but also has paid millions to settle claims from customers, The New York Times reports. Another thing the ad doesn't mention is this sharply worded warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

2. Back up to yesterday's paper for an excellent set-up piece on the Dallas City Hall corruption trial, which is getting under way this morning in federal court. My colleague Jason Trahan did a terrific job of laying out the issues and the players. This morning's update: Developer-defendants Brian and Cheryl Potashnik didn't show up in court.

Do you have a tip about over-the-counter drugs? The City Hall trial? Another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know.