By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – An anonymous donor has given a Dallas suburb $10,000 along with a note to cover charges on a city-issued credit belonging to a former mayor who apparently shot herself and her daughter.
Coppell officials made the announcement Wednesday when they released the results of an investigation that showed former mayor Jayne Peters charged more than $6,300 in personal expenses on her city credit card.
The note accompanying the donation says, "Please use these dollars to reimburse the city for any and all credit card charges of Jayne Peters, with any remainder to go to the city."
Close to $2,000 of the charges were made two weeks before Peters apparently shot herself and her 19-year-old daughter in their home. The personal items include rental car charges, gas, restaurants, clothes and groceries.
Texas beaches cleaner than most, escape oil spill
An annual report on the state of the nation's beaches says Texas beaches are slightly cleaner than most, but that is largely due to a two-year drought.
Texas has also escaped the worst of the BP spill that has fouled many Gulf beaches, leading to 1,755 beach closings and advisories in the region.
The Natural Resources Defense Council said Wednesday that in 2009, beach closings and advisories were at their sixth highest level in the 20 years they've been tracked.
But Texas saw a drop in such advisories.
The council says the incidents dropped by 27 percent in Texas last year. There were 231 such incidents last year, compared to 318 in 2008.
Environment Texas director Luke Metzger says that was mostly because less rain meant not as much pollution reached the water.
Texas judge sets trial for whooping crane deaths
A federal judge in south Texas has set a trial date for a lawsuit that alleges poor Texas environmental regulations caused record die-offs among endangered whooping cranes.
The case has been brought by a nonprofit conservation group, The Aransas Project.
U.S. District Judge Janis Jack of Corpus Christi set the trial for March 2 on Wednesday.
The case accuses the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality of not restricting the amount of water taken from rivers that feed the crane's coastal nesting grounds. It says the commission has approved too many water-use permits for rapidly growing areas in south Texas.
In the winter of 2008, 23 whooping cranes died. In an average winter, only one dies.
TCEQ has said it diverts river flows based on conditions.