By BJ Austin, KERA News
Dallas, TX – A Dallas FBI agent has been fired after his arrest. Federal investigators say 49 year old FBI agent Carlos Ortiz Jr. was arrested at work in the Dallas office yesterday. He's charged with "threatening to assault or murder a federal law enforcement officer on account of the performance of official duty."
Ortiz was fired after an internal personnel review.
Investigators say they cannot comment further about the charge because it's a pending criminal matter.
Judge won't move DeLay trial from "liberal" Austin
A judge has denied former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's request to have his money laundering trial moved from Austin, which DeLay calls the "last bastion of liberalism" in Texas.
Senior Judge Pat Priest ruled Wednesday that appropriate safeguards could be put in place to give the former Republican congressman a fair trial in Democratic-leaning Travis County.
Priest set a tentative trial date for Oct. 26.
DeLay was indicted in 2005 on charges that he illegally sent $190,000 in corporate money through the Republican National Committee to help elect GOP Texas legislative candidates in 2002.
DeLay has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and conspiracy, and says a trial will clear him.
Recycled Grease Runs School Buses
Dallas Water Utilities wants people to use old cooking oil and grease to fuel school buses, instead of sending it down the kitchen sink to clog up the pipes.
The water department is partnering with Dallas County Schools to provide recycled grease to make bio-diesel.
Larry Duncan is President of Dallas County Schools. He hopes this will boost their bio-fuel production in a big way.
Duncan: Hopefully everybody now will turn in their household grease. The potential of that is just tremendous. It's a natural fit, and save your tax dollars while you're at it.
Duncan says last year, they saved nearly half a million dollars in fuel costs by using homemade bio-diesel.
Richland College has just opened a new recycling center that accepts cooking oil and grease. Mountain View College does, too. All Dallas sanitation transfer stations take the grease, and provide recycled containers to use at home.
2010 Finalists For Fair Fried Foods
The finalists for the 2010 State Fair "Big Tex Choice Award" have been announced.
Among the finalists:
Fried Beer; a beer-filled deep-fried pretzel pocket.
Fried Chocolate; a candy bar inside a brownie dipped in chocolate cake batter and deep fried.
Also, Deep Fried Frozen Margarita; Fried Club Salad, Fried Lemonade, Deep Fried S'mores, Texas Fried Frito Pie, and Texas Fried Caviar, which are fried blackeyed peas.
The 2010 winner will be announced Labor Day.
The State Fair opens September 24th.