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About James Drew

James Drew is an Austin-based member of the investigative team at The Dallas Morning News. He and two colleagues won the best investigative report award for 2010 from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors and the Headliners Club for projects examining Gov. Rick Perry. As Statehouse Bureau Chief for The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade, he and a projects reporter broke Ohio’s “Coingate” scandal, which was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for public service. He is a graduate of Indiana University, with degrees in journalism and political science.

Evidence heard on two other CPRIT awards, but grand jury chose not to issue indictments

Austin Police Department mugshot of Jerry Cobbs

AUSTIN – The indictment of Jerald “Jerry” Cobbs, the former chief commercialization officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, was part of a wider, year-long investigation that prosecutors say is over.

Cobbs was indicted last week on a felony charge accusing him of deceiving two of his CPRIT colleagues in 2010 when he failed to disclose that an $11 million grant to Peloton Therapeutics did not undergo a required business or scientific review.

CPRIT made that disclosure last November after an internal review and as The Dallas Morning News was preparing an article on irregularities with the award to the Dallas-based biotechnology firm.

A Travis County grand jury also heard evidence and testimony related to two other awards that CPRIT made, but the panel chose not to issue indictments.

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Texas Democrats launch attacks on Abbott after CPRIT indictment

AUSTIN – Texas’ cancer-fighting agency already was a hot issue in the 2014 governor’s race before last Friday’s indictment of a former high-ranking official.

Attorney General Greg Abbott's office had a seat on CPRIT's Oversight Committee.

But the felony charge against Jerald “Jerry” Cobbs, who served for three years as the chief commercialization officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, has raised the temperature significantly.

The governor’s race is expected to pit Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott against state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat.

After Cobbs’ indictment by a Travis County grand jury was announced, Democrats released a torrent of statements.

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Former high-ranking official at Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas indicted on felony charge

Jerry Cobbs

AUSTIN  — A former high-ranking official of Texas’ cancer-fighting agency was indicted on a state felony in connection with a $11 million grant to a Dallas-based biotechnology firm, prosecutors announced Friday.

Jerald “Jerry” Cobbs is accused of securing execution of a document by deception. State law prohibits a person from causing another to sign a document affecting a financial interest.

Cobbs worked for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas as chief commercialization officer for three years, resigning in November, 2012. He was the agency’s point person in efforts to help for-profit companies try to develop better ways to treat cancer.

The indictment by a Travis County grand jury could be a major blow to CPRIT and Gov. Rick Perry if Cobbs is convicted.

CPRIT is considered one of Perry’s signature accomplishments. Corruption in an agency that the governor championed could shadow Perry on the presidential campaign trail if he seeks the GOP nomination for President in 2016. Continue reading →

In wake of West, Dewhurst orders committee to examine regulatory requirements for ammonium nitrate

AUSTIN – Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Wednesday assigned a Senate committee to examine the regulatory requirements for the storage of ammonium nitrate, in response to April’s explosion in West that killed 15 and injured more than 300.

Dewhurst said the review, which could result in recommended legislation, would include the roles of the Office of the Texas State Chemist and the state Department of Insurance.

The Dallas Morning News reported Nov. 3 that a state law designed to keep ammonium nitrate secured from would-be terrorists sets a lax standard for keeping Texans safe. Rep. Joe Pickett, the El Paso Democrat who is chair of the House homeland security committee, has said he’ll introduce a bill next year that might take enforcement of the law away from the state chemist and give it to the State Fire Marshal’s office, which is housed in the state insurance department.

Reached for comment, State Chemist Timothy Herrman said in an email: “We are prepared to operate under the laws and obligations set forth by the state, in the future as we do, today.”

The assignment to the Senate Agriculture, Rural Affairs, and Homeland Security Committee came as an “interim charge” – which is a research assignment that committees receive leading to the next legislative session.

Dewhurst also told the committee that in the aftermath of the West explosion, he wants it to probe the role of state and local governments in recovery operations. That work will include identifying “essential personnel and resources needed to increase existing response capabilities, Dewhurst’s office said.

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House Speaker chooses Dallas attorney for final seat on CPRIT Oversight Committee

AUSTIN – A partner in the Dallas office of Jackson Walker LLP was appointed Wednesday to the governing board of Texas’ cancer-fighting agency.

House Speaker Joe Straus filled the final seat on the nine-member board by his choice of Will S. Montgomery, whose practice focuses on commercial litigation and arbitration.

A law went into effect this year requiring a new oversight committee be seated for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which was overhauled after the agency awarded some grants without the required business and scientific review.

“Cancer is a scourge that has touched families throughout Texas, including my own,” Montgomery said in a statement. “My father was a cancer researcher, ironically contracting cancer later in his life. My brother recently died of cancer. I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the state and to help accomplish CPRIT’s mission to educate, prevent and discover causes and possible cures for cancer.”

Montgomery’s father, Dr. Philip O’Bryan Montgomery, Jr., played a key role in development of the UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Department of Pathology. He died in 2005. Dr. Montgomery and his wife, Ruth Ann, had four sons. Philip O’Bryan Montgomery III, a Dallas businessman and philanthropist, died in October of brain cancer.

Follow @jamesjdrew and @DMNInvestigates on Twitter. Like the DMN Investigates page on Facebook.

 

Caller to radio show offers local control solution to regulation of fertilizer facilities that handle ammonium nitrate

A backhoe at a rubble pile in West, Texas

A backhoe operator works in the recovery and rebuilding of West, Texas.(Mona Reeder/The Dallas Morning News)

Earlier this week, I was a guest on a Texas Public Radio program to discuss last Sunday’s articles in The Dallas Morning News about Texas’ regulation of fertilizer facilities that carry ammonium nitrate.

The segment of “The Source,” which you can listen to here, focused on the small state agency that enforces a 2007 law designed to keep ammonium nitrate secured from would-be terrorists.

Founded after Texas enacted its first fertilizer law in 1899 and housed on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, the state chemist’s office has a written mission of “protecting consumers and enhancing agribusiness.”

The agency’s 14 inspectors sample animal feed and chemicals that fuel ranches and farms, and cover companies ranging from small mom-and-pop shops to large industrial complexes.

The agency was little-known to Texans until 15 people died and more than 300 others were injured in April when ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded in the Central Texas farming town of West.

Similar ammonium nitrate fertilizer facilities are all over Texas, mostly in rural areas. Many of them — as in West — are near homes, schools, and other structures where the human toll could be high in the event of an explosion.

State Chemist Timothy Herrman estimated that overseeing ammonium nitrate facilities accounts for about 10 percent of the agency’s work.

The News’ investigation found that the law sets a lax standard for keeping Texans safe. The state chemist’s office said it has acted only once to temporarily bar a facility from selling ammonium nitrate that had recurring problems.

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Law’s lax standards may also pose liability risk for fertilizer facility owners

The site of the West Fertilizer Plant explosion is nearly cleared of debris from the deadly blast that left hundreds homeless and injured, and killed 15 people in West, Texas in April 2013. A fence still circles the property along the railroad tracks. (Mona Reeder/The Dallas Morning News)

As we reported on Sunday, more than half of all facilities licensed last year by Texas to carry ammonium nitrate lacked either secure fencing or locked storage areas for the potentially explosive chemical compound.

The state didn’t consider them a security risk, though. A 2007 law designed to keep ammonium nitrate secured from would-be terrorists says a facility must be “fenced or otherwise enclosed and locked when unattended.”

The agency in charge of regulating those facilities – the Office of the Texas State Chemist – says a facility fails an annual inspection if it lacks both secure fencing and locked storage areas.

Now, an Austin attorney and a real estate appraiser are questioning whether the law’s lax standards may pose liability risks for fertilizer facility owners that handle ammonium nitrate.

In an article published in the newsletter of the California-based Forensic Expert Witness Association, attorney Joe K. Longley and appraiser Rudy R. Robinson III raise two issues about the consequences of April’s tragedy in the Central Texas farming town of West.

Can a property owner near a fertilizer facility that handles ammonium nitrate recover monetary damages, including any drop in their property value, in a lawsuit filed against the facility?

Could that same property owner also be required to disclose that potential danger to prospective buyers?

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Perry, Dewhurst announce picks for rebooted CPRIT governing board

 

Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Thursday appointed six members to the revamped governing board of Texas’ cancer-fighting agency, including a high-profile donor to their campaigns, a North Texan and two who previously served.

A law went into effect this year requiring that a new oversight committee be seated for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which has provided hundreds of millions in state money for public and private cancer research.

Lawmakers sought the legislation after The Dallas Morning News reported that Jimmy Mansour, chairman of the previous board, invested in Gradalis, a Carrollton-based firm, that later received a $748,905 award from CPRIT. Mansour said he sold the stock at a “substantial loss” before he and other oversight committee members ratified the grant.

Legislators also expressed concern that six committee members were on the panel in 2010 when it ratified an $11 million award to a Dallas-based biotechnology firm without the required business and scientific reviews.

The third appointing power, House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, is expected to announce the final three appointments to the board soon. Perry, Dewhurst, and Straus are then expected to lift a freeze on CPRIT grants that has been in place since December 2012.

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Governor orders investigations into small-town Texas hospital chain

My colleague, Miles Moffeit, examined last Sunday how it took four years for regulators to rein in Dr. Tariq Mahmood, a specialist in buying financially ailing hospitals in Texas.

Dr. Tariq Mahmood has been indicted for health-care fraud

On Friday, Moffeit learned that the governor’s office has ordered a “deep and comprehensive look’’ at health care facilities owned by Mahmood, whose chain of rural  hospitals avoided serious regulatory action despite years of endangering patients.

The inspector general for the state Health and Human Services Commission and one of the agencies it oversees, the state health department, will conduct separate investigations, officials said Friday.

The disclosure came after The Dallas Morning News sought the governor’s response to comments made by Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. She called on Gov. Rick Perry and other lawmakers to not “drag their feet’’ in seeking a quick determination of “the scope and severity of patient abuse and deaths’’ in Mahmood’s hospital chain.

Perry’s spokeswoman, Lucy Nashed, said the governor expected the inspector general and the health department “to thoroughly review this and any other allegations to ensure Texans are receiving safe and effective medical care.’’ She did not say when Perry requested the investigation.

“We’ve been in verbal communication with both agencies,’’ Nashed said in an email. “We asked them to coordinate efforts to investigate these allegations and determine what steps are necessary to prevent a similar situation.’’

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Legislative response to West explosion begins with registry

Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso

AUSTIN – The state plans to compile a registry of businesses with dangerous chemicals so citizens can learn about hazards like the fertilizer plant in West, where a fire triggered a massive blast of ammonium nitrate.

The online database is among a handful of proposals, aired at a hearing Monday, that legislators said would not involve new laws or regulations, or increases in state spending.

“Wouldn’t you want to know if there’s a chemical facility in your neighborhood with hazardous material, ammonium nitrate, or other types of chemicals? And the answer is yes,” Steve McCraw, director of the Department of Public Safety, told the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee.

The registry would be on the state fire marshal’s website, but state officials have not decided which chemicals would be included. Media outlets, including The Dallas Morning News, have published databases of facilities with ammonium nitrate and related chemicals based on information filed with the state health department.

Rep. Joe Pickett, the El Paso Democrat who is the committee’s chairman, said he expects residents will use the state website to pose questions about safety to their county judge, city council, or fire chief.

“We’re looking for something that is visual, quick, so that they can find it by maybe entering a zip code,” he said. Continue reading →