By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
Gov. Rick Perry acted against the advice of members of a science panel investigating whether Texas executed an innocent man when he decided to replace their chairman.
Perry's shake-up of the Texas Forensic Science Commission last week included replacing commission chairman Sam Bassett with prosecutor John Bradley, a conservative ally of the governor.
Bradley's first act was to cancel a scheduled review of a report critical of an arson finding that led Cameron Todd Willingham to be executed for the 1991 deaths of his three daughters.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that commission member Sarah Kerrigan wrote to the governor praising Bassett's "dedicated leadership" and recommending his reappointment "under the strongest possible terms."
SEC files notice of appeal in Cuban trading case
The Securities and Exchange Commission says it plans to appeal a federal judge's dismissal of the agency's insider-trading lawsuit against Mark Cuban.
The SEC filed a notice Wednesday that it plans to take its case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The outspoken billionaire owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks was accused in a civil lawsuit of selling his shares and avoiding a $750,000 loss after receiving confidential information about the Internet search engine company Mamma.com in 2004.
U.S. District Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater dismissed the case in August. He said the agency didn't allege that Cuban had agreed not to trade on confidential information.
Feds, Texas officials to discuss air pollution
Federal regulators are meeting with Texas state officials in an effort to bring the state's air-pollution rules into compliance with the Clean Air Act.
The Environmental Protection Agency is meeting Thursday in Austin with officials from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, as well as environmental and industry groups. It's their first meeting since the EPA on Sept. 8 proposed throwing out several key aspects of the state's air-pollution permitting programs.
Environmental groups have for years criticized the state's pollution permits as simply a formality for massive polluters and are calling for the EPA to order a massive overhaul of the TCEQ. The state disagrees, saying its permitting program complies with federal law.
Report: Dell to make Android phone for AT&T
A newspaper report says Dell Inc. is working on a "smart" phone for AT&T that runs Google Inc.'s Android phone operating system.
The touch-screen phone could be ready early next year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Representatives for Dell, AT&T and Google all declined to comment.
Dell hired Ron Garriques, a Motorola cell-phone division executive, to lead its consumer technology group in 2007. That sparked persistent rumors that the PC maker was readying a smart phone.
In August, Dell showed off what appeared to be a smart phone at a Beijing event hosted by China's biggest cell phone carrier, China Mobile. The Round Rock, Texas-based PC maker said it was a "proof of concept mobile device prototype."