DMN INVESTIGATES

CNN has a new audio message from Fort Hood massacre defendant Nidal Hasan's imam, Anwar al-Awlaki (left).

It largely reiterates stuff we reported months ago -- calls for "jihad against America" and claims that the U.S. "is leading the war against Islam and Muslims."

But al-Awlaki also tries a new tack: urging the government to release his pre-massacre e-mail correspondence with Hasan and challenging claims that the Army psychiatrist's November attack was the act of a lone wolf.

President Barack Obama's "administration tried to portray the operation of brother Nidal Hasan as an individual act of violence by an individual," the new audio message says.

When news started trickling out last month about Southern Methodist University's arrest of Bill McNutt (right), you could guess that the back story was long and messy. No school wants to get nasty with a rich alum.

All SMU would say at the time was that it had ordered McNutt to stay off campus late last year; that young women had complained about him; that he'd served alcohol to minors; and that he'd gotten caught back on campus.

Now DMN reporter Lori Stahl is learning that McNutt, 54, was kicked out of an SMU foreign study program in the late 1970s after female students complained about "inappropriate" sexual behavior.

McNutt, part of the family behind the well-known Collin Street Bakery fruitcake operation in Corsicana, said the old allegations were "completely false." He described himself as "embarrassed" by his recent trespassing arrest, which led to his resignation as chairman of the Texas Commission on the Arts just weeks after Gov. Rick Perry appointed him.

Any idea what's coming next in this developing story? Send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Today's DMN story about a giant Dallas-area mortgage fraud scheme and the U.S. attorney's press release identify only one of 40 defendants -- John Barry, a Florida man already convicted of a similar crime in Collin County.

So we're going to list many of the other names, focusing primarily on licensed professionals in North Texas. For a full list and details of the allegations, read the indictment.

"Title company attorneys or escrow officers": Daniel Ayers, Anthony Flores and Debbie Fernie. Ayers and Flores describe themselves as 1996 graduates of SMU's law school and "warriors for justice" on their Farmers Branch firm's Web site.

Real estate agents: Joy Beckner, Sheri Brower, Julie Hanley, Elaine Powers and Michelle Strickland.

Mortgage brokers: Azza Bassiouny, Tim Dreslinski, Jared Gowans, Chris Howard, Kamilla Kirch, Patty Peery, Liz Smittle and Allison Ridgeway (also known as Allison Raymond and Allison Hutsell).

Property appraisers: Elizabeth Altizer, Pamela Ford, Joshua Melton and William Doug Mitchell.

Recognize any of the names? Send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

If you're trying to figure out whether one of the more common names is someone you know, check out this list of defendants' birth dates and hometowns.

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Members of the faculty association at the west Oak Cliff school declared last week, in a 47-9 vote, that they have no confidence in Zamora. They accused him of mismanagement and disrespecting them.

Zamora's on vacation and not responding, DMN reporter Tawnell Hobbs says today.

Also last week, faculty at Denton-based Texas Woman's University overwhelmingly denounced their president-chancellor, Ann Stuart.

Earlier in Denton, University of North Texas president Gretchen Bataille resigned under pressure from UNT System boss Lee Jackson.

Do you have more info about any of this? Send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

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So I'm driving to work this morning through a pleasant part of East Dallas, just outside Lakewood, and see a townhouse for rent -- $795 a month, the sign says. Flashback to my colleague Steve McGonigle's story Sunday: Taxpayers, via the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, are paying more than $850 a month per unit to subsidize rent at a west Oak Cliff complex that a City of Dallas lawsuit said had exposed wiring and rotting floors.

That, HUD says, is the fair-market rate.

The beneficiary is Ridgecrest Terrace owner Rene Campos Jr., the guy with rock-star looks pictured at right. He says he has invested heavily in improving the complex since he bought it in in 2004.

Here's a quick bio on him from Steve's story: "Campos, 46, lives in a $1 million home in University Park. He owns a $4 million vacation property in Hawaii. He plays polo, rides a custom motorcycle and drives a Land Rover."

Yes, I know. Gas drilling in the Barnett Shale has made some homeowners extra spending money and created jobs for local workers. We also need to expand our sources of energy.

But news events of this week, in addition to past items we've blogged, are making me wonder:

1. Those low-grade earthquakes in the area last year? Scientists at UT Austin and SMU say a well used to dispose of saltwater brought to the surface during drilling might be to blame. (Good news: They did not find evidence linking the quakes to drilling of production wells or the process, called hydrological fracturing, that forces trapped gas upward.)

2. Companies that want to run gas pipelines through public land in Flower Mound and Haltom City have filed lawsuits to get the access they say they need. The News' Wendy Hundley reports that the heart of the issue is the controversial eminent domain practice.

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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.

Ray Sumrow was once the State Bar of Texas' Prosecutor of the Year. But in 2008, his career headed for oblivion as he was convicted twice on separate theft charges and sent to prison.

News reporter Richard Abshire -- who, as an ex-cop, knows a thing or two about the law -- is reporting this afternoon that Sumrow has won parole just 20 months into his sentence.

Typically inmates must serve a quarter of their sentence, in Sumrow's case 15 years. But he built up 18 months of "good time" for behaving himself and another 10 months for "work time" through labor, helping him qualify for early release.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, however, wasn't obligated to release him. We don't yet have word what led the members considering his case to rule in his favor.

A recent column explained how some firms make money off of knowing when people have long-lost bank accounts or property tax refunds due to them.

Several people wrote to me about the property tax exemptions asking if the over-65 exemption is available outside Dallas County.

The short answer is yes. There is a statewide exemption for people over 65 years old that knocks $10,000 of your home's total valuation for school taxes. And depending on where you live, it can be worth far more. Many cities and counties also will cut your taxes if you're over 65.

To get instructions on how to apply and find out whether you deserve a refund, call your county tax appraisal district. Some numbers for appraisal district workers in nearby counties include: Dallas 214-631-0910; Ellis 972-937-3552 and 866-348-3552; Denton 940-349-3810; Tarrant 817-284-8242; and Collin 866-467-1110 and 469-742-9200.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scott Goldstein, one of the DMN's terrific crime reporters, reveals today that Dallas police have made it much harder for the public to research violent crime data online.

This isn't just a matter of protecting minors or sex-crime victims. DPD's search tool also has removed homicide from its drop-down menu of offenses.

Why? And where is this coming from --- the chief's office? Dallas City Hall?

So far, no one is owning it.

Do you have more info about this? Send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

When an electric meter is cut off, it's hard to accept being billed for electricity.

That's what happened to Damian McDowan. He shut off his own meter and left town for four months, but then he received a bill of $409 for usage from TXU Energy. He paid, but argued for seven months that it was an erroneous charge. Finally in frustration, he called me. He was ultimately refunded his money.

McDowan also was frustrated that he had to sign up with a different electricity provider during that time period. TXU Energy did want him back as a customer and paid the money to get him out of his cancelled contract.

A recent brush with catastrophe at DISD's Samuell High School didn't teach several principals elsewhere in town any lessons.

After Samuell students fleeing a blaze found an exit chained shut, local fire officials performed surprise inspections on 31 public high schools. Eight were caught locking fire exits, reports The Dallas Morning News' Diane Rado.

Michael Hinojosa, superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District, said he was "livid" about the findings and ordered principals to obey the fire code. But what are officials going to do about the crime concerns that led principals to lock doors in the first place?

The eight high schools cited for violations were:

* A. Maceo Smith
* Carter
* Kimball
* Molina
* Pinkston
* Roosevelt
* Skyline
* South Oak Cliff

Please let me know if you get more information about what's going.

One of Texas' top tourist attractions opens for the season Saturday. But will SeaWorld San Antonio's best known show go on?

Company officials aren't saying what the future holds after a killer whale lived up to its name yesterday at SeaWorld Orlando. Horrified tourists watched as trainer Dawn Brancheau (right) perished, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Tilikum, the orca that killed her, had been involved in the deaths of two other people -- a trainer in 1991 and a visitor who sneaked past security in 1999.

SeaWorld isn't saying much today on its Web site -- just this: "SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego will be open Thursday, February 25 as scheduled (SeaWorld San Antonio is not yet open for the season) but Believe shows and Dine with Shamu experiences at all SeaWorld locations have been suspended; no decision has been made for future dates at this time."

Do you have a tip about amusement park safety? Send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

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