SUNDAY DIGEST

Dallas-Fort Worth area highway improvements come with a heavy toll

Lindenberger writes it's going to get worse before it gets better on North Texas roads:
Dallas-area traffic has been among the worst in the nation for years, and for many commuters it's about to get a lot worse before it gets better.


Call it growing pains, or just one big mess, but construction has either already started or soon will on no fewer than a half-dozen of the most heavily traveled – and already backed up – traffic corridors in North Texas, as the region embarks on what may be the most aggressive road-building program in the country.
http://tinyurl.com/y798v6y
 
SEC probe of Stanford Ponzi scheme is faulted

Dave Michaels reports:
WASHINGTON – Fort Worth-based regulators of the Securities and Exchange Commission knew as early as 1997 that R. Allen Stanford's offshore bank was probably operating a massive Ponzi scheme, according to a new report on the agency's mismanagement of the case.
http://tinyurl.com/y2q43ut


Bill White derides Texas education board's actions

Stutz reports:
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White on Friday joined in the criticism of the State Board of Education for its version of new curriculum standards for history and other social studies classes.


Speaking to several hundred teachers, White attacked Gov. Rick Perry and his appointed chair of the education board as he called for a new direction in public education in the state.
http://tinyurl.com/y2gzzcs


5 airlines won't charge for carryons, senator says

The Associate Press reports:
ATLANTA (AP) -- In a remarkable gesture to fee-weary air travelers, five major U.S. airlines are committing to actually not charge a fee for something - the sacred carryon bag.


The announcement Sunday comes despite the fact that some of those same airlines are expected to report first-quarter losses next week amid significantly higher fuel prices and the beating they took from the heavy February snowstorms. Add-on fees for things like checked bags, pillows and food are a key revenue stream for them.
http://tinyurl.com/y4zdf2a


Ron Kirk says Trinity River Project will happen
Gromer Jeffers Jr. filed this in the Trail Blazers Blog Friday:

U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk said today that the beleaguered Trinity River Project, first conceived during his tenure as Dallas mayor, will become a reality.
http://tinyurl.com/y7hukos


Sebelius on Texas' estimate of costs under health care bill: "That number seems wildly high"
State editor Ryan Rusak shared this WFAA interview with Sebelius:

Brad Watson, the host of WFAA's Inside Texas Politics (and a faithful Friend of Trail Blazers) had an interview today with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius about Texas officials' opposition to the new federal health care law.
http://tinyurl.com/y5rxvvx