By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
A former Dallas city councilman is trying to combat claims by federal prosecutors that he led a scheme to extort hundreds of thousand of dollars in bribes from developers seeking to build apartment complexes.
The attorney for former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill questioned an FBI agent Monday as the trial into alleged corruption in Dallas City Hall resumed after a nearly week-and-a-half break.
The agent acknowledged that two Hill associates who collected a $50,000 bribe from a developer told the FBI they had no plans to share the money with the mayor pro tem. Hill's attorney also questioned why the FBI did not target former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, who accepted campaign contributions from a developer under indictment in the case.
Federal authorities have said they do not believe Miller was doing anything improper.
Shuttle Launch Scrubbed, Again
Thunderstorms have once again forced NASA to call off the launch of space shuttle Endeavour.
Launch managers halted the countdown just minutes before Endeavour and seven astronauts were supposed to blast off Monday evening. The same thing happened Sunday. It was not immediately known whether NASA would try again Tuesday or wait until Wednesday.
This was NASA's fifth attempt to send Endeavour to the international space station with a new piece for Japan's massive lab. The shuttle should have flown last month, but was grounded by hydrogen gas leaks. Then storms interfered.
NASA has until Tuesday or possibly Wednesday to launch Endeavour. After that, the mission will have to wait until July 27, so Russia can launch supplies to the space station.
Sen. Hutchison Raises $6.7 Million
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she raised $6.7 million the first half of this year for her 2010 bid to try to oust Republican Gov. Rick Perry.
Hutchison made the announcement Monday while speaking to supporters in Dallas. Her campaign posted a brief note about her fundraising total on the online message site Twitter and on her campaign Web site.
Last week, Perry announced his campaign raised $4.2 million over a nine-day period at the end of June. That's the only time he could raise money the first half of the year because of the Texas legislative session.
Hutchison and Perry are facing off in a Republican primary in March 2010 that's expected to be rough and expensive.
Texas Sets Electricity Usage Record
Another day of triple-digit heat has fueled another record day of electricity consumption on the electric grid serving most of Texas.
The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas says electricity consumers used an hourly average of 63,453 megawatts of power between 4 and 5 p.m. Monday. That beat the previous record of 62,786 megawatts set last Wednesday.
Before last week, the record day had been Aug. 17, 2006, when ERCOT consumers used 62,339 megawatts.
ERCOT is the electric grid operator for much of the state. ERCOT officials said they expected continued high electricity demand Tuesday.
Monday was the hottest day so far this summer in many Texas locations, with temperatures reaching as high as 107 in north and northwest of Fort Worth in the towns of Bridgeport and Graham.