DMN INVESTIGATES

We blogged here a few weeks ago on the man Gov. Rick Perry appointed as chairman of the Texas Commission on the Arts who was arrested after trespassing at SMU.

That's where Bill McNutt III (shown at right) graduated and went on to help organize its Young Alumni Association. Yet in 2008, the prominent alumnus was banned from SMU's campus after the school received multiple student complaints about his behavior, such as "offering alcohol to minors."

After his arrest, McNutt resigned from the state commission. Lori Stahl of The News reports today that he has now quit as a deacon at Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

SMU remains tight-lipped about specifics of the complaints and, at this time, appears to be pursuing only the trespassing charge. McNutt didn't return a call to Lori for today's story.

We get complaints pretty much every day about utility bills and power companies. So do legislators, the Public Utility Commission and, of course, the utilities themselves.

Now one of the biggies, Oncor, is asking the PUC for independent testing of the accuracy of its new smart meters (right), Dallas Morning News reporter Eric Torbenson says.

State Sen. Troy Fraser, chair of the Senate Business and Commerce Committee, recently responded to complaints about the meters by asking that their installation be halted. He also urged the PUC to suspend the monthly fee consumers pay for the meters until independent testing is conducted.

Oncor, in its letter to the PUC, says the meters are accurate and blames an unusually cold winter for higher bills.

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.

Gov. Rick Perry has had some bad luck recently when appointing prominent Dallasites to state posts. Two of them soon got themselves arrested on charges of misconduct around young people.

The latest mess involves businessman Lee William "Bill" McNutt III (right), whom Perry named Texas Commission on the Arts chair in December. McNutt has since been arrested for trespassing at Southern Methodist University, reports Lori Stahl of The Dallas Morning News.

SMU says it warned him to stay away in 2008 after getting "multiple student complaints against Mr. McNutt alleging behavior that violates University policy, such as offering alcohol to minors."

McNutt, 54, graduated from SMU and was founding president of its Young Alumni Association, a governor's press release said. He worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and the first President George Bush, according to the arts commission.

McNutt has resigned from the commission, The Daily Mustang is now reporting.

He's also a deacon at Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

The previous Perry-appointee mess involved Catherine Evans, a former Dallas County state district judge.

Perry named her Texas Youth Commission ombudsman in September. Several weeks later, she was charged with trying to smuggle a knife, a cellphone and prescription drugs into an East Texas TYC facility.

Please let me know if you get more information about what's going with either of these matters.

The New York Times has a fascinating background piece today on the tax law that software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack III (right) blasted in his suicide note.

The 1986 legislation started as a favor to IBM and "made it extremely difficult for information technology professionals to work as self-employed individuals, forcing most to become company employees," The Times reported. "Many software engineers and other such professionals say that the law denies them the opportunity to become wealthy entrepreneurs and that it makes it harder to increase and refine their skills, eventually diminishing their income."

Joe Stack, in the note he posted online before flying a plane into IRS offices in Austin yesterday, said those who wrote the law "could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave."

Not a rant -- a tip.

Send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

What we have so far: A small plane crashed this morning into the Echelon office complex in northwest Austin. Austin TV station KVUE says the building that was hit is at 9430 Research Blvd.

The IRS has offices there, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

And the FBI has a field office elsewhere in the complex, at 9420 Research Blvd.

CNN, citing an unnamed official, says: "The pilot of the plane had set his house on fire beforehand, stole the plane and crashed it intentionally."

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

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?

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.

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

Dallas-Fort Worth commuters have begun paying tolls in recent years because, they were told, tax dollars were too few to expand all the congested roadways and build new ones.

The Star-Telegram did a nice job this weekend showing how there has been, in fact, public money to spare. Since 1991, nearly $1 billion has been dedicated to projects that had "little to do with mobility," the newspaper reported.

Two examples: $16.1 million for the Battleship Texas restoration project on the Texas coast and $262 million spent on highway rest stops across the state, including one for $10 million off Interstate 35 with Wi-Fi connections (shown at right).

Who's to blame? Texas transportation officials say the federal government ties their hands by requiring spending on enhancement projects, as these are called, in order to get a much larger chunk of construction change. Once the money is here, state lawmakers then push to use it on pet projects, such as $2 million for a Houston fire museum.

Do you have thoughts on how government is deciding to spend these transportation dollars? 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.

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.

An environmental group says yes -- and that adds to the list of concerns about gas drilling activity in the lucrative Barnett Shale covering western Dallas-Fort Worth.

The News' Randy Lee Loftis writes that companies can use a certain type of unregulated fluid that has high levels of benzene -- which can cause leukemia and other disorders -- as part of the drilling process. Some residents in Denton and Tarrant counties were already worried about drilling's impact on the air, drinking water and safety. In some cases, research backed up their worries.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Railroad Commission told Randy that state rules have prevented cases of groundwater contamination. So the agency "does not see a need to monitor fracturing fluids," she said.

Do you have thoughts on drilling in the Barnett Shale or have tips on other stories? 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.

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.

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

A reader signed up for a fixed-rate electric plan, but was surprised to see an "Oncor Delivery Rate Increase" show up on the bills.

Can they increase the fee with a locked-in rate, she asked?

The answer is yes.

According to the Public Utility Commission, retail electric providers are allowed to increase the bills if transmission rates increases. There are other instances as well, such as charges for "storm recovery."

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.

I wrote a column on Sunday about a reader's interest in getting AT&T's U-verse, a high-speed Internet service.

It obviously brought up a sore subject for numerous readers who are waiting for any type of broadband product in their neighborhood -- let alone one that is considered cutting edge.

"I live in Henderson County off a very populated state highway south of Athens. We barely have telephone service, much less broadband," one reader wrote. "Where on earth do rural residents have access? I currently subscribe to a dial-up service."

The state of Texas applied for stimulus funds to find out exactly. At the end of July, a contract was awarded to map broadband availability in the state. A statement from the Department of Agriculture at the time said that the "initial phase of broadband mapping" should be done by the beginning of February.

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.

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

Only one of the 13 people (right) killed in the Fort Hood massacre was a civilian. And that's no accident, The Austin American-Statesman reports today.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan apparently targeted soldiers and avoided others nearby, U.S. Rep. John Carter and an anonymous source close to the investigation told the paper.

The story makes sense in light of previous reports that Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had ties to a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen, Anwar al-Awlaki. Before the massacre, the imam advocated killing soldiers who fight against Muslims; afterward, he called Hasan a hero.

Do you have a tip about Fort Hood? 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Dallas Morning News' front page today features two examples of government spending that wasn't all it was cracked up to be:

1. Officials overstated the number of Texas jobs created or saved with federal stimulus funds, reports Dave Michaels, who does investigative work in our Washington bureau. Want to check out stimulus spending for yourself? There are plenty of search tools on this Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board site.

2. Texas' $300 million investment in teacher merit pay did not boost student achievement, researchers from Texas A&M and other universities conclude.

Do you have a tip about stimulus spending? 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.

You're a high-risk patient. You need a swine flu vaccine. Your doctor has none. Where can you get help?

We're hearing this anguished question over and over again. The Texas Department of State Health Services knows the answer -- and isn't sharing it.

Its Web site has the obligatory FAQ section, but this question isn't on the list.

Another section of the site is labeled "H1N1 vaccine distribution," with categories for allocations by county, to local health departments and to private providers. But there are no links -- only the words "coming soon."

Early this morning, my colleague Jeff Weiss asked state health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams: "Why does the state not post on its Web site the names of every provider that you've ordered vaccine shipped to and the amount of vaccine that you have had shipped there to date?"

Her only responses:
* "We are working on a county-by-county list of totals. Hopefully we will be able to post those numbers soon."
* "Providers receiving vaccine at this point are getting amounts to serve their own patients. They are reaching out to their own high-risk patients and are quickly exhausting their supplies, which are limited right now due to national production."

So all most people know is what we've been able to figure out so far: Dallas County's health department is having a mass clinic tomorrow, aimed at high-risk people without insurance. And Farmers Branch entrepreneur Jeff Vitt (right) is selling vaccines for $20 a pop to anyone who walks through his door.

As of the weekend, state health officials were accusing a Farmers Branch business of misrepresenting itself to get a huge stash of swine flu vaccine.

Now a spokeswoman for Jeff Vitt's Star Medical Group says he did nothing wrong and blames the dispute on a communication problem -- failure to clarify the distinction between Star Medical and another Vitt company called Flu Shots of America.

Texas health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said Friday that Star claimed to be a private medical practice, making it eligible for an early shipment of vaccine. The state's theory has been that such practices are the best way to reach the highest-risk patients first.

But Vitt's business turned out to be what the state calls a mass vaccinator, and it was selling shots to anyone willing to pay $20.

Vitt's spokeswoman, Elaine Vitt, said in an email today:

Flu Shots of America clinic owner Jeff Vitt tells The Dallas Morning News that he has received 11,570 doses of swine flu vaccine. That's more than the Dallas County Health Department has.

And Vitt's clinic (right) has been vaccinating anybody willing to pay $20 -- not just those in highest-risk groups who are supposed to be first in line. They are, according to the Centers for Disease Control, "pregnant women, people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age, health care and emergency medical services personnel with direct patient contact, children 6 months through 4 years of age, and children 5 through 18 years of age who have chronic medical conditions."

The state health department says it is investigating. Vitt says he has done nothing wrong.

Do you have a tip about Flu Shots of America? 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.

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.

The front page of Sunday's Dallas Morning News was one of the strongest we've had in a while. Highlights:

1. Death-penalty opponents such as the Innocence Project say Texas executed an innocent man in Cameron Todd Willingham. Not so fast, concluded an investigative report I co-authored with Steve McGonigle and Gary Jacobson. We found that Willingham did much to incriminate himself after the 1991 Corsicana house fire that killed his three little girls (right). And the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published a long statement from Willingham's ex-wife, Stacy Kuykendall, that reinforces our findings.

2. Police-beat reporters Tanya Eiserer and Steve Thompson raised new doubts about Dallas crime statistics. They found that DPD doesn't consider crimes such as this to be attempted burglary: Masked men are seen on video attacking a business entrance with bolt cutters and an ax. Because they failed to get inside and fled when an alarm sounded, police said it was only "criminal mischief."

3. Dallas County constables have dramatically increased traffic enforcement, Ed Timms and Kevin Krause reported. They followed up today with a look at other types of expansion that have essentially turned constables' offices into their own police departments.

Do you have a tip about a capital case? Crime stats? Constables? 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.

Let's play a little game. Pretend I'm a famous columnist who covers pro sports. My boss is running for governor. In all my spare time, on my own personal stationery, I start asking the teams I write about to give money to the boss' re-election campaign.

Now let's look at some facts. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission chairman Jose Cuevas is asking owners of the bars and restaurants he regulates to donate to Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign, reports The Dallas Morning News' Wayne Slater.

The solicitations are legal. They don't name Cuevas, a Midland restaurant owner, as TABC chairman (although he admits the obvious: recipients recognize his name). The Perry campaign says there's no problem.

Having trouble reading the four words under the TABC logo pictured above? They are service, courtesy, integrity and accountability.

Do you have a tip about political fund-raising? 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.

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.

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.

"Ouch" is the Hot Links word of the day. Ouch. Ouch.

Less than two weeks ago, my newspaper published a glowing feature story about Catherine Rohr (right). She's attracted widespread coverage for founding and running the Prison Entrepreneurship Program, or PEP, which trains inmates and parolees to start free-world businesses. Now comes word that Rohr was having "inappropriate relationships" with some of the guys and has resigned as PEP's CEO.

PEP's chairman says Rohr disclosed the inappropriate relationships to her board a month ago. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice sent her a letter Sept. 9 banning her from prison units, spokesman Jason Clark told me today. Now, he added, TDCJ will take a fresh look at PEP's programs.

Man, it's a long way from 2007, when PEP won the governor's Criminal Justice Volunteer Service Award.

Do you have a tip about Catherine Rohr? PEP? 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.

I received a call from a reader that an elderly woman's caregiver was not taking care of her. The reader said the caregiver wasn't showing up daily, but she was frightened of the worker and was afraid of a confrontation, so didn't want to say anything.

So, she asked me to look into the situation. I reported the problem to both the caregiver's employer and to Adult Protective Services. The state investigated the situation and said that the elderly woman is getting adequate care. The reader agrees that the situation is better for the elderly woman and that the caregiver is now coming to work.

If you see an abusive situation of the elderly, children or the disabled, you can call APS to investigate. Their toll-free number, 1-800-252-5400, is answered round-the-clock. You might experience a wait though. It took about an hour for me to get through.

No one expected change to come easily when legislators passed a series of initiatives to overhaul Child Protective Services back in 2005. News of late reminds us just how tough it may be.

1. You'll recall the headlines that brought the agency's investigative work back into question following the death of an Arlington toddler left in a hot car by his mother, who had a history of abuse and neglect. That case came after three other child deaths in the Houston area that prompted reviews from CPS headquarters.

Yesterday the Houston Chronicle's Terri Langford, a former colleague of ours here at The News, had a timely piece on how one of the biggest reforms hasn't been working: The hiring of former law enforcement officers to beef up CPS casework. Seems half of the new personnel has already quit in what appears to be a "culture shock" between social work and investigations.

One of those who left, now a police chief in a suburban Houston school district, described his experience like this: "I was a little disappointed. You were being supervised by someone with no law enforcement experience and you're supposed to be advising that person and they see you as a glorified caseworker."

2. On a completely different subject: How many cops does it take to escort Oprah Winfrey at the State Fair? More than I would have guessed, Scott Goldstein tells us on the Crime blog.

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.

Our blog has featured a couple of items on complaints with the North Texas Tollway Authority's billing system. The most common we've received: The agency doesn't keep track of toll payments then assumes drivers haven't made good, levies a stiff late fee and sics a bill collector on them.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's watchdog columnist, Dave Lieber, reported this weekend on similar complaints he's hearing. One reader was told he could be arrested if he didn't pay up.

A top NTTA official says the fees -- $25 per toll violation, plus other costs -- are needed to cover its collections operation. But state Sen. Jane Nelson is skeptical.

"It's gotten out of hand," she told Lieber. "What really bothers me is this is not supposed to be a revenue source for the NTTA."

The implication: Funding is tight as NTTA expands with more toll roads. Nelson also told Lieber that when she's made inquiries about this with agency officials, "They've been very defensive."

Do you have an experience with NTTA's billing system? Post a comment.

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.

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.

The liberal Center for American Progress is calling out Texas lawmakers who voted against the $819 billion stimulus in January - and are now asking the Obama administration for $3 billion in stimulus funds to bolster the budget of NASA, a major Texas employer.

This comes on the heels of a September audit that questioned the use of federal tax dollars by another Texan who scorned the stimulus: Gov. Rick Perry. The federal audit found that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission under Perry had billed the Medicaid program for nearly $300,000 in care and prescription drugs it shouldn't have given legal and illegal immigrants.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Child Protective Services is changing its tune regarding a neglect investigation that could have saved the life of Darrell Singleton (right) -- but didn't.

Yesterday, CPS spokesman Chris Van Deusen said that leaving a 1-year-old such as Darrell unsupervised all day in a home doesn't put the child at immediate risk of serious harm and thus is not a top-priority case for investigation.

Now he's just sent me an e-mail stating the opposite: "It is the agency position that allegations of pre-school children who are at home alone right now, or who are being left home alone regularly, constitutes an immediate threat to their health and safety, and those allegations require immediate investigation."

Another new position regards the May complaint about the welfare of Darrell and his two siblings, ages 5 and 6. Yesterday CPS said that someone who knew the children reported that they were being left home alone all day in Arlington while their mom, Keashia Matthews (right), worked in Bedford.

Van Deusen's new e-mail says: "The May intake we received did not allege that the children were currently in danger. The report was that one of the children said she had in the past been left with her siblings at home. There was no allegation that this was an ongoing practice or that children were currently home alone."

That's why CPS didn't consider this a top-priority case, the spokesman says.

What I still don't understand is why, regardless of whether this was Priority 1 or Priority 2, CPS closed the matter after mom arranged for day care. Consider:

1. Why is day care a solution if there was no ongoing problem?
2. Matthews had a known history of endangering other children and losing custody of them.
3. The May neglect complaint arose while CPS was investigating her for alleged physical abuse (later deemed unfounded, the agency says).
4. Why was Darrell in his mom's car all day in early September, dying, if she had day care?

I asked. They answered. And I still don't get it.

Yesterday my question was whether CPS alerted Arlington police in May that Keashia Matthews (right) was leaving her three little children -- ages 1, 5 and 6 -- home alone all day while she worked.

And as you can see in today's follow-up story, the answer is yes. But CPS didn't ask for police help, because it didn't think Matthews was putting the kids at risk of serious, immediate harm.

And so this woman, who had a history of neglecting other children and losing custody of them, never got charged with endangerment. That could have sent her to jail and given the three little kids some chance of finding a safer home.

Instead, CPS closed the books on the matter after she arranged for day care.

Now, of course, the youngest child, Darrell Singleton III (right), is dead, and mom has been charged with contributing to his demise by deliberately leaving him in a hot car.

Arlington police say they're now reviewing their actions to see whether they could have done more to prevent the death.

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

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

Let's do this in chronological order:

1. In the mid-1990s, Keashia Matthews (right) left her first baby alone in a rancid apartment. Mom's mom takes custody of this child.

2. Keashia soon has another baby. Grandma takes this one, too. "She is not fit to be a mother," Grandma tells Dallas Morning News ace crime reporter Scott Goldstein.

3. Keashia has baby #3 in 2003. Child Protective Services is notified, and this girl goes into foster care. A judge sends her back home later that year.

4. Keashia has two more children.

5. In May of this year, CPS learns that Keashia is leaving the three youngest kids -- ages 1, 5 and 6 -- home alone while she works. "She ended up securing daycare for the children," CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales tells reporter Goldstein. "That case was closed in June."

6. Early last month, Keashia's youngest dies under suspicious circumstances, as described by Arlington police. That's the dead baby pictured at right: Darrell Singleton. Mom now has been charged with injury to a child and is free on bond.

CPS's Web site says all of its neglect and abuse reports "must be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency for possible criminal prosecution." And police must accompany CPS caseworkers who are responding to "reports of abuse/neglect that involve children who appear to face immediate risk of harm that could result in death or serious injury."

So were Arlington police notified of the neglect in May? If so, what happened? I've asked CPS and police spokespeople for answers. They say they're checking. Stay tuned.

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

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

Hot Links looks today at how money gets spent in Austin:

1. Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign is paying "volunteers" to recruit more "volunteers," The Dallas Morning News' Gromer Jeffers reports today. My favorite quote in the story is from Dallas County Republican Party chairman Jonathan Neerman (right), who was a volunteer in Perry's 2006 campaign and said there were no cash rewards then. "I want my check," he said.

2. The $19 billion Texas Permanent School Fund is the second-largest educational endowment in the country. It pays for textbooks and other school supplies. And the State Board of Education has taken to rejecting the investment advice of the fund's professional staff and hiring a consulting firm that cost much more than the competition, free-lance writer Jeff Horwitz reports in The News. The key advocate of these moves: board member Rick Agosto (right), a San Antonio Democrat who had prior business contacts with the consultant. He denies wrongdoing.

Do you have a tip about politics? 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.

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.

Do you have a tip about street repairs? Hedge funds? 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.N

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.

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.

Do you have a tip about law enforcement? 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.

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.

Do you have a tip about law enforcement? 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.

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?

Do you have a tip about doctor discipline? The Texas Medical Board? Other professional disciplinary issues? 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.

The results of Dallas Morning News investigations are all over the paper today:

1. A Dallas County court put child psychiatrist William Olmsted (right) on probation for child molestation. But he can still work as a doctor. That's because the Texas Medical Board recently decided not to take his license away, as Dallas Morning News reporter Diane Jennings shows today. The board decided it was enough to limit his practice to treatment of men, in a group setting. Olmsted must also get a psychiatric evaluation, attend "professional boundaries" courses and pay a fine. All of which recalls my colleague Doug Swanson's 2002 investigation showing that the board was reluctant to punish doctors who sexually assaulted or otherwise harmed patients. And it recalls Doug's 2007 follow-up on a Texas legislator who was in business with a doctor and called a special hearing to see whether the board was too aggressive in its discipline.

2. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert says real police officers will begin checking out car-burglary complaints in person instead of letting civilian call takers handle the task by phone. And there will be a sweeping review of all 2009 reports that Dallas police labeled untrustworthy. The changes come in direct response to News reporters Steve Thompson and Tanya Eiserer's recent findings that cops weren't counting all crimes.

3. Today's update on the Dallas Episcopal Diocese's stockbroker-priest scandal: A second clergyman has left his pulpit -- and he's talking about suing parishioners who accuse him of investment-related misconduct.

Do you have a tip about doctor discipline? The Texas Medical Board? Other professional disciplinary issues? 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.

Difficult questions about pregnancy linger in my mind from the weekend papers, even though the newsprint's already on the recycling pile:

1. Why does Texas lead the nation in repeat teen pregnancy? Bob Garrett of The Dallas Morning News' Austin bureau looked at several factors in Monday's paper. Among them: Only Utah and the Lone Star State require state-funded clinics to get parents' consent before giving their teens birth control. And Utah at least tells young people on a state Web site to go to Planned Parenthood if they don't want to involve their parents.

2. Have you ever thought about what you'd do if you were pregnant and knew the baby was doomed? Over the past two Sundays, my colleagues Lee Hancock and Sonya Hebert traced one family's journey in words, photos and video. If thus stuff doesn't haunt you, have someone check your pulse.

Do you have a tip about matters of life and death? 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.

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).

Do you have a tip about aviation safety? Probationers? 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.

Today's main Hot Link highlights another case that gives Texas' capital punishment system a bad name.

1. Longtime death row inmate Michael Toney (right) is free on bail, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The Texas attorney general's office, following Tarrant County prosecutors' admission that they withheld evidence, moved to dismiss charges that he killed three people in a 1985 Lake Worth bombing. Beyond that, you're not going to learn much from the Star-Telegram story. Click here for the definitive series on the Toney case, written in 2005 by my Dallas Morning News colleague Doug Swanson.

2. Other recent death penalty-related messes: The top judge of the state's top criminal court, Sharon Keller, is facing possible discipline because she closed her doors instead of waiting for a death row inmate's appeal. And a study commissioned by the state Forensic Science Commission cast serious doubt on the science used to convict -- and execute -- a man whose three children died in a fire.

Do you have a tip about a capital case? 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.

Robert Peters (right), the former DISD principal we wondered about in this morning's Hot Links, has surfaced: He is a principal in the Manor school district, just outside Austin.

Officials there say he has "cooperated fully" with the Dallas district's investigation of TAKS cheating at Lang Middle School.

Dallas district boss Michael Hinojosa tells a different tale. He says Peters quit cooperating and bears some responsibility for the scandal, as my co-worker Tawnell Hobbs reported in The Dallas Morning News.

There's still no word on who at the East Dallas school actually changed hundreds of students' answers on the state test.

Watch this blog and Tawnell's DISD blog for more on this and other evolving stories.

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.

So many questions, so little time. A few of our favorite new ones arise in today's two Hot Links:

1. There is increasing support for the idea that the state of Texas executed an innocent man, reports Christy Hoppe of The Dallas Morning News' Austin bureau. Cameron Todd Willingham (right, in a photo being held by a cousin), of the North Texas town of Corsicana, was convicted of killing his three young children in a fire. He insisted that he was innocent but was put to death in 2004. A new study commissioned by the state Forensic Science Commission concludes that a fire marshal who investigated the deaths "seems to be wholly without any realistic understanding of fires and how fire injuries are created." The Chicago Tribune has been dogging this case for some time; click here for more detailed coverage.

2. Southwest Airlines' maintenance practices are facing new scrutiny from the FAA, reports Eric Torbenson of The News. This time the issue is whether the Dallas-based airline used unauthorized parts when repairing older Boeing 737s. Still no word on why a football-sized hole opened up during a Southwest flight last month.

Do you have a tip about the Willingham case? Airline maintenance? 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.

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?

Do you have a tip about judicial conduct? Car allowances? 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.

Today's Hot Links focus on some lurking dangers:

1. A new study raises questions about the promotional campaign for a cervical cancer vaccine that Gov. Rick Perry unsuccessfully tried to mandate for Texas girls. Gardasil manufacturer Merck funded messages by medical groups that "did not address the full complexity of the issues surrounding the vaccine and did not provide balanced recommendations on risks and benefits," the study says. It was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2. Lake-wrecking zebra mussels are emerging in North Texas, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reports. What is to be done about these little pests, which can clog public water-supply pipes?

Do you have a tip about public health? 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.

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?

Do you have a tip about gambling? Regulators? 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.

David Stecko of Dallas wrote me concerned that if he wanted to change electricity providers at the end of his contract, he'd be dependent on when Oncor would read his meter. "This is very unfair, because Oncor's meter-read date is completely out of my control," he said.

Oncor runs the power transmission lines and reads meters for the various companies that provide electricity in North Texas. Stecko was concerned that if the Dallas-based power company read his meter early, he'd wind up with a cancellation fee for switching electricity providers before the end of his contract. If Oncor read it late, then he'd be subject to the month-to-month variable rate, which "can be very expensive."

He also objected to paying the $7.25 fee that Oncor charges to get an out-of-cycle meter read because he figured he'd wind up doing that every year as he shopped for the best rate when his contract expired.

Turns out that as of Sunday, the rules change and he won't have to pay anything extra to have his meter read whenever he changes electricity providers. And he won't have to worry about timing things perfectly any more either.

Several items in the news today reminded me of the State of Neglect series that my colleagues on the investigations team produced earlier this year. That explored how Texas government, through its mangled bureaucracy or deference to big business, leaves the little guy lacking.

1. Oncor customers will pay a total of $115 million more statewide after the Public Utility Commission agreed to the company's request for higher rates, The News' Elizabeth Souder reports. That move ignored a previous ruling by a panel of administrative law judges that found Oncor should get only $30 million to subsidize an "imprudent" purchase of high-tech meters that didn't meet PUC requirements.

2. Star-Telegram watchdog columnist, Dave Lieber, has a nice piece on a 78-year-old military veteran who can't get his food stamps allotment renewed because of confusion within the Health and Human Services Commission. Some residents have sued to try and get results.

3. An employee who helped stage those infamous fights among the mentally disabled residents at a state-run Corpus Christi school was convicted Thursday. Those were not the only problems at the facility, which operates under the oversight of the Department of Aging and Disability Services.

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 or me on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.

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.

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 or me on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.

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.

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 or me on Twitter, or join our Facebook group.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Use social networking to get your news? Follow us on Twitter at DMNInvestigates and ReeseDunklin. Or join our Facebook group at DallasNews Digs.

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."

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.

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

A reader let me know this morning about her issue with the North Texas Tollway Authority. She said I was welcome to post it for the rest of you readers.

"Today's article (DMN Problem Solver) was incredibly timely!

I called NTTA this morning regarding a 'Late Notice' I received for a charge ($6.17) that I knew I had paid on time. The 'Late Notice' assessed me a $2.50 late fee, for a total of $8.67.

There are flies in the ointment of some Texas crime-catching innovations, as today's Hot Links show.

1. We all know canines can help track escaped prisoners. But can they correctly ID crime suspects? There are growing questions about the only dog handler in Texas who does scent-identification lineups, the Victoria Advocate reports. A faulty dog ID recently sent a South Texas man to jail for a rape he didn't commit. Some judges have now barred the handler -- Fort Bend County Deputy Sheriff Keith Pikett -- from testifying.

2. Gov. Rick Perry gave sheriffs $2 million to install Webcams on the Mexican border. But few arrests and drug busts have resulted, an El Paso Times investigation shows.

Do you have a tip about dogs or dog handlers? Drugs? 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."

Today's Hot Links touch on books, religion and traffic.

1. Who are the Texas textbook advisers saying that Thurgood Marshall and Cesar Chavez are not major figures in U.S. history? One is a Massachusetts evangelical named Peter Marshall, whose Web site would be happy to sell you books, DVDs and more. The other is a North Texas evangelical named David Barton, whose Web site would be happy to sell you books, DVDs and more.

2. Most of America lives in major metro areas. But we urbanites and suburbanites aren't getting our fair share of federal transportation stimulus money, a New York Times analysis suggests.

Do you have a tip about textbooks? Stimulus spending? 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."

All aboard! Buckle up for today's rough ride to some theme-park Hot Links:

1. Despite Six Flags Over Texas' best efforts, some info is finally getting out about what went wrong with the Texas Giant last week. The wooden roller coaster promises "sheer white-knuckle terror" when it's working right. Sounds like its failure was pretty scary, too -- a safety inspector told me the last car on the train lost its proper track position and was dragged up to 300 feet, gouging the rails.

2. Six Flags isn't the only amusement park with safety problems. Federal regulators are investigating a deadly monorail crash that occurred early Sunday at Disney World, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Do you have a tip about amusement parks? 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."

Six Flags Over Texas spokeswoman Sharon Parker announced Saturday's restart of the Texas Giant roller coaster with this written statement:

"On Friday, the ride was thoroughly inspected by Six Flags engineers and an inspector from the Texas Department of Insurance and has been cleared to reopen."

The insurance department begged to differ with part of that statement.

"We did not do any inspections," department spokesman Jerry Hagins said today. "We do not have any inspectors."

Regular readers of this blog already knew as much from Thursday's post about the wooden coaster's safety woes. It was shut down most of last week for reasons Parker initially would not explain. Later she said that hot, dry weather had caused track misalignment.

Hagins said recent news coverage did lead the insurance department to ask Six Flags to have the ride checked. In Texas, amusement parks' insurers hire the inspectors who certify -- usually once a year -- that rides are safe.

So I went back to the Six Flags spokeswoman for clarification. Her reply: "The Texas Department of Insurance gives final approval for the ride once a third party inspection is completed and passed."

To which Hagins clarified further: "We don't give final approval for a ride." The state merely issues a sticker after getting a signed statement from the insurer's inspector.

Earlier in the day, I asked the Six Flags spokeswoman what was done to get the Texas Giant ready to roll again. This was the reply: "We have no further comment."

Let's catch up on a couple of mind-bending education stories that you probably missed over the holiday weekend:

1. George Orwell would have appreciated this: Some students who failed the TAKS test are counted as passing for purposes of new school accountability rankings, Dallas Morning News reporters Holly Hacker and Jeffrey Weiss showed. Why? A formula predicts that these failers are likely to pass the next time. What if the prediction is wrong? No problem. The schools' rankings don't drop.

2. Charter schools are privately run, but we taxpayers finance them. So the government exercises fiscal oversight, right? Wrong, reports The Dallas Morning News' Matthew Haag. Onto that stage steps Imagine Schools, a nationwide charter school management company with a real estate program that some officials say hurts students. It's planning to expand into McKinney next year. State officials OK'd the move despite concerns that Imagine lacked non-profit status.

Do you have a tip about school testing? Charter schools? 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."

Let's get down to business. Today's Hot Links are about creative ways to make money in Texas.

1. The Wall Street Journal humorously pulls back the curtain on a "going out of business" expert in Dallas. Carpet salesman Cyrus Hassankola even called his business Going Out of Business at one point, until the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office took note.

2. A federal lawsuit accuses Dallas electricity retailer Stream Energy of operating a pyramid scheme, Dallas Morning News reporter Elizabeth Souder writes. The company hotly denies the claim and says it uses the time-honored multi-level marketing approach of Mary Kay. The suit takes aim at Stream's marketing arm, Ignite, whose Web site includes this pitch: "Find out how you can make money on your energy bill. Wouldn't you like to get paid every time you turn on the power?"

Do you have a tip about rug sales? Multi-level marketing? 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."

Today's Hot Links are about two things you cannot escape in life: death and databases.

1. Here's the most interesting proposal I've heard in a while: a a national database of undiagnosed diseases. The idea was inspired by the mysterious death of a suburban Austin boy named Charles August "Cal" Long, the Austin American-Statesman reports. It summarizes the goal this way: "doctors and scientists could describe symptoms, exchange information and compile data that could be used to solve medical mysteries." Two Texas legislators recently introduced a bill in Congress -- Rep. Michael Burgess, who is a physician from North Texas, and Rep. John Carter of Central Texas, who long ago lost one of his own children to an unknown disease.

2. The Social Security Administration is not only paying benefits to the dead, it's also denying aid to living folks who are misclassified as deceased. Here's the inspector general's report on which McClatchy Newspapers based its story.

Do you have a tip about death, or databases, or another subject? Send me an e-mail and let me know.

If you're on Twitter, follow our blog at "DMNInvestigates."

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.

Here are the stories giving me chills on a hot Texas morning:

1. Another month, another mass-transit disaster: This latest one, which killed at least seven people in the nation's capital, was supposed to be impossible, The Washington Post reports. A computer should apply brakes automatically if trains get too close. Another mystery: The driver of the train that crashed had a clear line of sight but apparently never braked, either. Was she incapacitated? Using a cell phone, like the drivers I wrote about last month?

2. Another week, another higher-ed exec getting paid by taxpayers not to work: Tarrant County College Chancellor Leonardo de la Garza has quit with two years left on his contract -- but still will receive $700,000, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The story lacks much context; go to the Fort Worth Weekly for that. Last week, Elsa Murano quit as Texas A&M boss. Here's her deal, as reported yesterday by my colleague Holly Hacker: "She will be on leave for a year and keep her president's $425,000 salary, plus an additional $295,000, and she agreed not to sue. She plans to return as a professor, at a $260,000 salary."

Do you have a tip about mass transit? Higher ed? Another subject? 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.

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

1. Judges must not hear cases involving major campaign contributors, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. So what do we do in Texas with litigation involving billionaire home builder Bob Perry, who has given big bucks to all nine justices on the state's highest court?

2. Many new details of the tainted-syringe scandal are emerging in a ProPublica/Chicago Tribune report. It paints a chilling picture of problems at the Food and Drug Administration. Among the four people who've died is a Texas toddler.

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

It turns out there are still some delays to opening up the left turn lanes at Buckner Boulevard and Garland Road.

Mark Titus, program manager of traffic management systems for the city of Dallas, had thought that the work at the intersection would be done at the beginning of June.

Five days later, frustrated drivers are anxious to know what is going on, noting that there has been "minimal progress" and that they're still sitting for what-seems-like-forever at the traffic light.

"Can you post an update? This construction has been dragging on FOREVER," wrote one reader.

Another Monday. Another month ahead. Here's a look at some of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. The city of Dallas' budget deficit just got a little worse. The Trinity River toll road and park project will require $29 million and 20 additional months to test the shaky levees, Michael Lindenberger reports. City council members have already had trouble letting go to favored programs.

2. Texas lawmakers have spent lots of time this session trying to tweak controversial college admissions rules. Up in Illinois, legislators have been much more hands-on, a Chicago Tribune investigation found: They've influenced which students get into the University of Illinois and even overruled the admissions department.

3. The former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman kept enforcement staffers from pursuing cases against companies and punishing violators. The Washington Post reports his predecessor is trying to increase such investigations of abuses linked to the financial crisis.

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

The Texas Attorney General alleged in a lawsuit today that Conn's -- a large appliance chain with stores in North Texas -- used "high pressure" and deceptive sales tactics to mislead customers into buying extended warranties.

Employees of the Beaumont-based company pledged two years of product protection and "new, unused" replacements, the AG said. But customers -- who paid between $100 and $1000 for a warranty -- didn't get all of that, according to a sampling of 2,000 consumer complaints cited in the lawsuit:

"An active duty military man and his family in Arlington, Texas purchased a washing machine with a four year extended warranty from Conn's shortly before Christmas 2008. The machine was defective upon delivery and Conn's technicians could not repair it but falsely reported back to Conn's that the machine had been repaired. Six weeks later, the machine was still not repaired, and the man was deployed for Army training, leaving his wife and children without a working washing machine."

Conn's vice chairman Bill Nylin said in a statement that it has tried to respond to the AG's complaints by creating a customer help group to improve customer satisfaction and increasing the number of call service operators. The AG seeks up to $20,000 per violation and up to $250,000 for ones involving customers 65 years of age or older.

"Our top priority is providing our customers with a high level of customer service, highly trained and knowledgeable sales personnel, and outstanding product repair service," Nylin said.

Another day, another roundup of public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. This leaves you with more questions than answers: Dallas County Judge Jim Foster testified that FBI agents have asked him about colleague John Wiley Price multiple times, but he did not elaborate further during a deposition this month. So is this a formal investigation? What are the allegations? Why would agents go to Foster? For his part, Price didn't appear worried when Kevin Krause interviewed him.

2. Another man walked free after he was cleared by DNA-based evidence in Dallas County, Jennifer Emily tells us. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation to increase compensation to those wrongly convicted.

3. Texas has had some characters of televangelists. Robert Tilton was perhaps the biggest. His speaking in tongues and pitching for donations were always striking. His empire collapsed like several of his contemporaries, but he's still toiling in Florida, Scott Parks reports.

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

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):

As the total number of confirmed swine flu cases continues to rise, Irving resident Kay Brooks wonders whether restaurant workers and food handlers are being checked for the disease.

"I have not heard this particular issue addressed. I trust that our local health departments have some plans in the works?" she asks.

The short answer is no. There are no new inspections or rules being created specific to H1N1, better known as swine flu.

Industry folks say that's because food workers are already cautioned to wash their hands and are told not to report to work if they suffer from "diarrhea, vomiting, contagious illness, severe acne, boils, certain skin conditions, jaundice, etc."

"It would be the standard advice regardless of what illness is involved. Employees need to practice good hygiene and stay home if they're sick. But nothing special for H1N1 flu," said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services.

So far, none of the roughly 700 cases of swine flu in Texas were contracted in a restaurant setting. The Texas Restaurant Association credits safety requirements already in place.

"It's a huge part of their business. It's not necessarily swine flu related, but they [restaurants] are subject to high sanitation standards," said Wendy Saari, spokeswoman for the association.

Before everyone breaks for Memorial Day, let's take a look at a few of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Carla Ranger -- the popular, watchdogging Dallas ISD board member -- learned this week that she would lose her job at the Dallas County Community College District after two decades of service. The Dallas Observer's Robert Wilonsky asks the right question: Why? Her bosses aren't talking. But she is. She blogged that she was given no warning, that it "appears someone has ordered my removal" and that "it smells of politics."

2. State lawmakers are bogging down as they try to reform eminent-domain laws allowing property seizures for, among other things, economic development, Marcus Funk reports.

3. The Dallas Center for the Performing Arts -- the shimmering new home to the opera, ballet and theater shows -- may not get a $1.7 million public subsidy as soon as it hoped, City Hall reporter Rudy Bush blogs. Question: Does the center need the subsidy at all, given the city's budget woes?

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

A cool new online tool lets you check out those phone solicitors who say they're raising money for law enforcement.

The Texas attorney general's office built this little database, which shows that donations to many of the fund-raising groups are not tax-deductible. And a lot of the donations go to overhead, not to needy cops.

"Each year, many generous Texans provide financial support to organizations that purport to benefit peace officers and their families," AG Greg Abbott said. "The online resource launched today ensures contributors have easy access to these organizations' financial information. As a result, Texans can make informed decisions and determine the percentage of their dollars that will actually benefit peace officers."

It's Monday. We have a theme for today's edition of Hot Links: Open government. So let's dive in:

1. The News' Dallas City Hall reporters used the Texas Public Information Act to make an interesting discovery. City officials, in asking the Attorney General's office to reject a request for convention center hotel records, seemed to acknowledge having information it once said didn't exist.

2. A federal appeals court's ruling questions whether Texas' Open Meetings Act violates government officials' free-speech rights. The Austin American-Statesman reports that several states now fear that transparency and accountability may come under attack there.

3. We've blogged about proposed legislation that would restrict the public's ability to check whether public-school teachers have criminal histories. Ryan McNeill reports that a major teachers union drafted some of the bills and gave thousands in campaign contributions to the lawmakers pushing them.

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 few of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Oh, wait. Hold on. Looks as though the government has reconsidered and decided it will investigate the collapse of the Cowboys indoor practice facility that injured about a dozen people and left one coach paralyzed permanently. The agency conducting the review still isn't saying much to Brandon Formby and Brooks Egerton.

2. You see this? The much-hyped King Tut exhibit has drawn only 600,000 visitors, considerably below hopes of 1 million. The Dallas Museum of Art blames the attendance on the economy, Michael Granberry writes. I don't remember other major entertainment attractions, like sporting events, having such problems.

3. The Texas House is tightening ethics rules -- targeting lobbyists and political-action committees -- and directing state auditors to oversee how federal stimulus dollars are spent, Emily Ramshaw reports.

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. Looking for broader perspective on the case of the North Texas soldier accused of killing five fellow troops in Iraq? Check out this award-winning investigation by the Hartford Courant.

2. Federal law bars nonprofit groups from engaging in partisan politics. But it apparently allows a foundation funded by some of Gov. Rick Perry's wealthiest backers to court pastors at election time, according to Dallas Morning News writer Wayne Slater. Here's a tax filing by the Niemoller Foundation, which dubbed its wooing campaign the Texas Restoration Project.

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

State lawmakers moved one step closer today toward slashing funding for the state's high school steroids testing program.

The action comes months after 29,000 tests found 11 violators. Critics called the program, budgeted for $6 million in its first two years, expensive and wasteful. Gov. Rick Perry suggested it should be scaled back.

Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano told The Associated Press that lawmakers didn't want to stop testing all together: "I think it's such an issue nationally. To say we tried it for just two years and then trash it would not have sent a good message."

Texas is one of three states nationally with such a program. It came to fruition after a Dallas Morning News series by Gregg Jones and Gary Jacobson, The Secret Edge, found steroid use had trickled down to high schools.

As parents or athletes, do you think this is a good move?

A few things were left out of our story today that shows the state is making millions of dollars a year selling driver information that includes dates of birth, while lawmakers are seeking to hide that same information about government workers.

We've started asking authors of the legislation if they have reactions to our report. But so far we've haven't be able to reach them.

Quick background:

Dates of birth are the key identifier the public can use to identify whether government workers have criminal records. This newspaper has used that information multiple times to show the hiring of people with criminal histories in schools and the juvenile justice system.

Organizations representing public employees across the state say dates of birth could be used for identity theft.

But dates of birth of every Texas voter are public record. And, as the story notes, dates of birth are part of a package of information sold by the state to private companies.

Even the Texas House of Representatives posts their members' dates of birth.

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

1. Have you heard the one about the two judges standing in a courtroom office? The first said he wanted a chat. The second said the first wanted to throw down. Next thing you know, a bunch of investigators and attorneys are called in to sort it out. It's no joke, Kevin Krause reports.

2. An Austin outpatient clinic improperly charged veterans for treating trauma from sexual assaults they had in the military, The New York Times reports. The Veteran Affairs Department was supposed to provide free care.

3. We have blogged about state lawmakers trying to strip date-of-birth information on government employees -- an important tool for conducting accurate background checks -- from the Texas Public Information Act. The concern, they say, is preventing identity theft.

If DOBs were really a culprit, then why would the Texas Department of Public Safety have sold the same information for $50 million last year to country clubs, pizza delivery companies and driving schools, as Ryan McNeill tells us.

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 few of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Dallas ISD faces a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul quandary. Make cuts in 31 specialized programs, including magnet schools and learning centers? Or give up $105 million in federal funding? Tawnell D. Hobbs posted a district report, and Jon Nielsen grabbed board member reaction. The Dallas Observer weighs in, too.

2. AARP has a theory about Texas' high electricity prices, and deregulation is only partly to blame, Elizabeth Souder tells us. The group thinks bills in the Texas Legislature would help, but those haven't been voted out of committee.

3. The city of Fort Worth has failed to collect $167 million in traffic fines during the last five years, the Star-Telegram reports, and some may have to be written off. I'm always scared my permanent record will be ruined if I don't pay. Silly me.

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

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.