DMN INVESTIGATES

Different types of concerns are on residents' minds in two different suburbs:

1. Arlington's mayor and council members have reaped free tickets and food at the city's luxury suite at publicly subsidized Cowboys Stadium, the Star-Telegram reports. The market value of the "perk of the office," as one leader called it, is around $400,000. Some observers fear this creates a conflict of interest.

2. In Frisco, residents living near a battery-recycling plant continue to worry that their health is at risk. The News' Valerie Wigglesworth and Matthew Haag cite study results from 15 years ago that found 45 children had "lead levels that today are linked to myriad health issues, from learning disabilities to behavior problems to brain damage."

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

Use social-networking media to get your news? Follow the blog on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.

These images all come from The Meadville Tribune in northwest Pennsylvania, where the latest failure occurred.

At right is what the facility looked like when under construction in 2008.

Below are scenes from Wednesday's collapse.

The company that built the Dallas Cowboys' failed practice facility (right) has suffered another collapse of one of its large tentlike structures.

This one's at a fairgrounds in northwest Pennsylvania, reports a little paper there called The Meadville Tribune. And fortunately, no one was hurt -- unlike here, where one Cowboys staffer was permanently paralyzed below the waist, another suffered a broken neck without paralysis, and 10 others were injured less seriously.

Last fall, a federal agency blamed the Cowboys collapse on a long series of design failures and warned that many similar tent-like structures remain in use around the world. "All of those buildings, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said, need to be checked for similar problems," we reported in October.

A judge in Philadelphia previously blamed a third collapse there on design errors by the same company: Canada-based Cover-All Building Systems and its U.S. subsidiary, Summit Structures. It has denied wrongdoing and insisted its buildings are safe.

The Philadelphia collapse occurred after a heavy snow in early 2003, as did the latest Pennsylvania collapse. Last year's disaster in Irving occurred during a thunderstorm.

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

If you're on Twitter, follow our blog at DMNInvestigates. You can also check us out on Facebook.

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?

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

Use social-networking media to get your news? Follow the blog or me on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.

Several design flaws contributed to the May 2 collapse (right) of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility, according to a draft report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The federal report also urges all owners, designers and builders of similar steel-framed, fabric-covered structures to evaluate their safety.

Canada-based Cover-All Building Systems has said it designed the structure to withstand 90 mph winds, as required by the city of Irving's building code.

But "the wind speed at the time and location of the collapse was in the range of 55 mph to 65 mph," the federal report says.

The disaster left Cowboys scouting assistant Rich Behm permanently paralyzed below the waist. Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis suffered a broken neck but escaped paralysis. Ten others suffered lesser injuries.

No other nearby structures suffered significant damage during the May 2 thunderstorm.

Our first item in Hot Links explains what your bank account has probably been feeling.

1. The idea was competition would lower Texans' health-care costs. What patients got instead were fatter bills and less effective treatments, according to a Dallas Morning News multi-day series called "The Cost of Care" that began Sunday. Some of my colleagues who contributed reporting will be blogging here on their findings this week.

2. Closing arguments are expected to begin later this morning in the Dallas City Hall corruption trial, The News' Jason Trahan reports. After these end, jurors will deliberate on a verdict for what could be weeks.

3. I didn't hear NBC give a shout-out last night to the Arlington voters who agreed to subsidize the new Cowboys Stadium. The upshot: NBC did compare it to the pyramids, Parthenon, Great Wall of China, Taj Mahal and Roman Coliseum. We'll see if it attracts similar numbers of tourists so that Arlington can recoup the tax dollars residents are giving Jerry Jones.

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

Use social-networking media to get your news? Follow the blog or me on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.

JCI, a Las Vegas company that advised the Dallas Cowboys on fixing its practice facility before it collapsed, has filed for bankruptcy protection. JCI owner Scott Jacobs filed for personal bankruptcy, too.

The company -- which is seeking to reorganize and now uses the name S2 Engineers -- also has issued its first statement about the collapse: "Scott Jacobs and JCI stand by the services rendered for Summit Structures regarding the Dallas Cowboys indoor practice facility. Mr. Jacobs and JCI do not have any further comment at this time as litigation is pending."

Pennsylvania-based Summit and its Canada-based parent, Cover-All Building Systems, designed and built the practice facility in 2003. The two people most seriously injured in its May 2 collapse -- Cowboys staffers Rich Behm and Joe DeCamillis -- sued the two companies and JCI last month, alleging that they conspired to conceal the giant tent-like structure's defects.

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.

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.

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.

Like social networking? Follow us on Twitter at DMNInvestigates and ReeseDunklin. You can also join our Facebook group at DallasNews Digs.

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.

If you're on Twitter, follow our blog at DMNInvestigates. You can also check us out on Facebook.

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."

Tommy Gonzalez became one of Texas' most handsomely compensated public administrators last week. The Irving City Council likes him so much -- the mayor calls him perhaps the nation's best -- that it threw in a $150,000 loan with sweet interest rates.

So why won't Gonzalez talk about the pay or loan?

He has failed to respond to multiple requests for comment left by The News' Irving beat writer, Brandon Formby, during the last week. These went to Gonzalez via phone and e-mail, to his secretary and to Irving's public information officer. Two print stories and several blog posts have published.

Residents have spoken up. So have several council members. Why no Gonzalez?

We know he's got opinions on other topics.

Here's a look at public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere that gave me pause at breakfast:

1. Recession? What recession? Irving's City Council voted last night to pay City Manager Tommy Gonzalez more than $390,000 a year. That makes him the highest paid city manager in the area and maybe the state, my dogged colleague Brandon Formby reports. Gonzalez made news last week with text messages saying the Dallas Cowboys organization "pushes things thru" City Hall and built a practice facility that "probably never was structurally sound enough." He made those observations shortly after the facility collapsed; Brandon obtained the texts with an open-records request.

2. Frontiers of outsourcing: Southwest Airlines has reversed course and will use a company in El Salvador, Aeroman, to perform some "heavy" maintenance work.

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

Here's a look at public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere that raise serious questions about building practices:

1. Dallas Cowboys officials knew before building their practice facility that a new, similar structure erected by the same contractor had recently collapsed, I'm reporting today in The Dallas Morning News.

2. Another disaster killed three construction workers yesterday in Austin. The project's developer, Gary Perkins, has deep ties to the Dallas and Denton County areas.

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

Brandon Formby brings us a fascinating story today on text messages that Irving city officials sent each other after the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility collapsed last month.

We get some finger-pointing. We get some wagon-circling. And, ultimately, more questions about the city's watchdog role in this.

Nugget No. 1: City Manager Tommy Gonzalez, right, referred to the team as an organization that "pushes things thru." That feeds suspicions of residents and at least one elected official who believe the franchise held sway in Irving.

Nugget No. 2: Gonzalez goes on to write that the facility was a "big ole tent" that "probably never was structurally sound enough" to hold up against straight-line winds.

My latest story about the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility collapse adds to a growing list of unanswered questions.

An early one was: Why didn't the thunderstorm of May 2 wreck other structures nearby (right)?

Ensuing ones included: Who was the final engineer of record? What happened to the city of Irving records that should show this? (See my colleague Brandon Formby's update on this issue.)

Did the Cowboys know when they hired designer/manufacturer/builder Summit Structures in 2003 that one of the company's other big tentlike facilities had recently collapsed in Philadelphia, just six weeks after opening? Did Summit workers themselves build the Irving facility, or was the labor subcontracted? If so, to whom?

Newer questions include: Why did the Cowboys, many months before the Irving disaster, hire building-collapse expert Charles Timbie -- the engineer who diagnosed design flaws behind the Philly warehouse failure? What exactly did he tell the team was wrong? Why did the team turn to a second consultant, a non-engineer and former drug dealer named Jeffrey Galland? Which of his recommended fixes were not done and why?

The Cowboys are giving a blanket "no comment" to all my questions. Canada-based Summit isn't answering much of anything but did have local spokeswoman Laurey Peat put out this statement over the weekend (click below to read the whole thing):

Hope you had a good Memorial Day holiday. Let's catch up on a few of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Remember the FBI's public corruption investigation involving affordable housing deals at Dallas City Hall? Nearly five years after it began, we may finally see the start of the long-awaited trial, Jason Trahan tell us. Unless former Mayor pro-tem Don Hill and his co-defendants decide to make last-minute plea deals.

2. Interesting story line in Jeff Mosier's profile of Arlington mayor Robert Cluck is that a predecessor, Richard Greene, isn't convinced the publicly subsidized Cowboys Stadium will bring the city the national profile it craves. Greene cites as evidence Rangers Ballpark, another recipient of taxpayer money.

3. Hundreds of airplane mechanics may have been improperly licensed during the last decade, raising safety concerns and questions about the Federal Aviation Administration's regulation, WFAA (Channel 8) reports. It is the latest installment in an ongoing investigation.

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

Let's catch up on a couple of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Your car warranty is about to expire!!! So claim the automated phone calls that pester Americans by the millions and that a U.S. senator wants to stop.

2. Federal regulators accuse former Dallas Cowboys player Michael Kiselak, his Westlake firm and related parties of misleading investors, The Dallas Morning News' Eric Torbenson reports. An online bio says Kiselak also founded the Sports Business Network to help fellow ex-pro athletes.

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

My first question about the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility was why Saturday's storm caused no other major structural damage nearby (right).

Since then the questions have multiplied: Why did the Cowboys hire a designer/builder that had just suffered a collapse of another of its large steel-framed, fabric-wrapped buildings, in Philadelphia? What happened to the city of Irving records that are supposed to show which engineer approved the design? Is it a coincidence that other records show the same engineer supervised design of both failed structures?

Our latest story makes me wonder: Is anybody in government going to seriously investigate what happened here?

No answers so far. So we'll keep digging. Thanks to all who've joined the conversation here in recent days.

A Canadian engineer linked to design flaws in a 2003 Philadelphia warehouse collapse is the same guy listed as responsible for design of the Dallas Cowboys' ruined practice facility, Metro reporter Brandon Formby and I are now showing on dallasnews.com.

The engineer says he didn't work long at builder Summit Structures and didn't have much to do with the project. Dallas' Manhattan Construction Co., the general contractor, says it, too, had little involvement. The company listed as civil engineer on a building permit application says it had no involvement at all.

What's next? Stay tuned.

Brandon Formby, who covers Irving for The News, is reporting that the Dallas Cowboys failed to have city officials to inspect roof work done last year on its indoor practice facility.

Under Irving's building code, the Cowboys, as general contractor, were required to notify the city that the re-roofing was completed and ready for inspection.

A team spokesman declined today to answer questions about the work.

Brandon obtained about two dozens city documents involving the facility, which collapsed Saturday as storms moved through North Texas. You can peruse them on the continuation.

This just in from Summit Structures regarding Saturday's collapse of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility:

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and their families. This is obviously a very difficult time for each of them and for the Cowboys organization. I have flown to Texas along with other representatives of our company to assist in anyway possible. We will be working with the Cowboy's organization and local professionals and officials to fully assess this severe weather event. Here is a statement from the National Weather Service regarding the conditions at the time:

It's Monday. So let's catch up on a few public-interest stories that caught our eye this weekend in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. We had several developments the day after storms toppled the Cowboys' indoor practice facility, injuring 12 people, Jason Trahan tells us. A team staffer learned he was paralyzed. OSHA, the federal agency that typically inspects workplaces for safety violations, launched a review. And the Cowboys already may have hired a structural engineer who investigated the collapse of a similar facility in 2003.

2. Doug J. Swanson recently wrote about a push by state lawmakers to regulate the profitable payday loans industry. The city of Irving isn't waiting on reform and proposes a limit to the interest rates lenders can charge, Brandon Formby reports.

3. Gov. Rick Perry's appointees to state boards and commissions have contributed nearly $5 million to his political campaign, the Houston Chronicle reports. A watchdog group called it patronage, but a spokesman for the governor said the money did not factor into his decisions.

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

If you read far enough into today's Dallas Morning News coverage of the Cowboys practice facility's collapse, you'll see Irving police say their city suffered no other structural damage in Saturday's storm.

So was this building just in the wrong place at the wrong time? It's an odd thought, given that the whole point of the steel-framed, fabric-covered building is to give the team a place to practice in bad weather.

The manufacturers, Summit Structures and Cover-All Building Systems, tout their work in building other sports facilities, including ones for the New England Patriots and Texas A&M. But I can't find any mention on the company Web sites of the Cowboys facility. Why?

Another issue we're looking at: A Summit-built warehouse in Pennsylvania partially collapsed during a 2003 snowstorm, less than two months after opening. A 2007 court order blamed Summit for design flaws.

"We design for snow load and wind load," an executive for the manufacturers told a Canadian newspaper in 2003, as I reported today in The News. "It's not a bubble."