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Roundup: Texas Exoneree Drops Compensation Lawsuit

By BJ Austin, KERA News & Wire Services

Dallas, TX – A Dallas man wrongly convicted of aggravated sexual assault has dropped a lawsuit against the state comptroller. Johnnie Lindsey alleged the state denied him just compensation for his time in prison.

His attorney announced Monday that his client dropped the suit after receiving an additional $408,000 on top of $1.4 million previously authorized.

Now 59, Lindsey spent 26 years in prison before he was exonerated in 2008. However, Comptroller Susan Combs initially declined to pay four years of compensation because Lindsey was serving a concurrent sentence in an unrelated case.

A joint motion filed by both parties cites "new information" as a reason for the payment.

Texas law requires that exonerees receive $80,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration.

Dallas To Audit Ethics Culture

Dallas City Councilman Jerry Allen is asking the city auditor for a fast-track review of the city's "ethical environment."

Allen says citizens have lost trust in city government after a series of scandals, including federal convictions for bribery and corruption. He says the "culture" at City Hall must change.

Allen: And the culture is where you claim the high ground. Anybody who wants to take over that hill, or come up that hill, and they've got the wrong motive we will not be slow to respond.

Allen wants the audit within three months. He also wants the city's Ethics Commission to come up with a list of best practices for the city council to consider.

Mayor Mike Rawlings asked that the budget and finance committee - chaired by Allen - make "ethics" one of its priorities.

DISD: How To Handle Excess Employees

The Dallas School Board met Monday evening to talk about what to do with some 200 "excess" employees.

They are primarily teachers who have contracts, but no classrooms after budget cuts and increased class-sizes in high schools.

Rena Honea, president of the largest teacher-group, Alliance A-F-T, says they could have jobs "tandem-teaching" or assisting in the 33 "academically unacceptable" schools in the district. But she says that offer's not on the table.

Honea: The campus administrators have the authority to hire whomever they choose. And if they choose not to select people out of this pool of excess personnel, they're not being forced to do that by the District because the Board changed that policy just a few months ago.

The Board could declare a financial emergency and layoff the teachers. It's also considering a 3-million dollar incentive package for teachers to resign. That's on the agenda for the Board's Thursday night meeting.

DART And DCTA Get Federal Funds

DART and the Denton County Transit Authority are getting 20 million dollars in federal funds. It's part of nearly a billion dollars in grants to 300 public transportation projects.

DART's 12 million dollars will help pay for new, natural gas buses. The test model will hit the streets early next year, with delivery of 450 natural gas buses starting in 2013.

The DCTA, Denton County Transit Authority, will use its 8 million dollars to build a new bus operations and maintenance facility.

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the grants are a way to keep the nation moving and put people to work.