By Shelley Kofler, KERA News & Wire Services
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-948993.mp3
Dallas, TX – Dallas County Elections Adminstrator Bruce Sherbet says he doesn't want more money but he's willing to stay in his job if the county will give him a 2-year contract.
Sherbet resigned yesterday after County Judge Clay Jenkins quietly called a meeting of an obscure committee whose only task is to hire and fire the person in Sherbet's position.
Sherbet's overseen Dallas county elections for 24 years and says the support he's received has made him reconsider his resignation.
Sherbet: The love, adoration from everybody this week has been overwhelming to me. And I think I owe to the people who stood up to support me to tell them I'm willing to face the challenge but I can't do it unless they are at least willing to protect me with some kind of a contract.
Sherbet says he's been given no reason Jenkins and Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price might want to replace him. Republican leaders claim the top democratic officials want their own person in a position which can determine election disputes.
The election committee meeting is scheduled for 3:30 this afternoon.
Dallas police say baby found, not a kidnapping
Dallas police say a woman's report that her friend's infant was kidnapped was false and the baby turned up safe with the mother.
The woman who made the report Friday could face charges.
Police issued an Amber Alert when a woman reported a baby girl was in a car that was stolen after she went into a beauty supply store.
Police initially identified the woman who made the report as being the mother. But hours later, after an exhaustive search that included police helicopters, officers determined the baby was with the mother the whole time at the family's home.
Police are investigating whether the woman who reported the abduction had money in the car and made up the missing baby story to get more officers involved in the search.
All-clear issued over package near Cowboys Stadium
Arlington authorities have issued an all-clear after a suspicious package reported near the site of the Super Bowl was deemed safe.
Arlington fire Lt. Pete Arevalo said a package that a witness reported was thrown into a drainage ditch Friday morning near Cowboys Stadium turned out to be trash.
Arevalo said the area around the stadium was closed minutes after the 911 call around 8 a.m. He said bomb squad personnel were used to examine the package on a street along the north side of the $1.3 billion stadium.
The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 6.
TCEQ using Barnett Shale to test drilling rules
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will use the Barnett Shale area to try out proposed tougher regulations on natural gas drillers.
The rules, meant to limit toxic chemicals released into the air, will take effect April 1 in the 23-county Barnett Shale region of North Texas. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the TCEQ expects to apply the rules to the rest of Texas in early 2012.
TCEQ commissioners voted Wednesday to beef up air emission limits on toxic chemicals associated with natural gas drilling and required producers to do expanded testing of their drilling sites.
Celina Romero of the Texas Pipeline Association told commissioners that testing the rules in one area will allow the agency to make changes if they prove too complicated or burdensome.