“Crime blog: Government rests in Dallas City Hall public corruption ... - Dallas Morning News” plus 4 more

Crime blog: Government rests in Dallas City Hall public corruption ... - Dallas Morning News
Nokia bolsters phone line-up, prices laptop at $820 - Reuters
REFILE-CANADA STOCKS-TSX dips as bank weakness offsets gold rise - Reuters
Taco Bell Raises $1.8 Million to Fund Teen Programs at Boys & Girls ... - MSN Money
Hawaii libraries to seek donations to keep branches open - Honolulu Advertiser

Crime blog: Government rests in Dallas City Hall public corruption ... - Dallas Morning News

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 07:52 AM PDT

The government finished the presentation of its evidence this morning in the Dallas public corruption trial with veteran FBI Special Agent Don Sherman.

He was the 37th witness for the prosecution, which began its case 10 weeks ago hoping to prove that former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, his wife Sheila Farrington Hill, his plan commission appointee D'Angelo Lee, community activist Darren Reagan and car dealer and businessman Rickey Robertson all conspired to shake down developers seeking to build affordable housing projects in Hill's southern Dallas council district.

Sherman and prosecutor Marcus Busch walked jurors through key elements of the government's case, including a timeline of demands for money and votes by Hill and Lee. Proving this quid pro quo occurred -- votes for cash and contracts -- is crucial to getting a conviction.

The defense argued that Hill received nothing from the scheme, other than some legal campaign contributions.

Lawyers for all five defendants have been cross examining the government's witnesses throughout the trial, raising doubt about the meaning of the words spoken on wiretaps, offering alternate explanations for events and attempting to shred witnesses' credibility, particularly those who have struck deals with the government for reduced sentences in exchange for their testimony.

Starting today, however, the defense begins calling its own witnesses to further bolster their arguments that Hill and the others had no criminal intent and were only pressuring developers to step up their hiring of minority contractors for the betterment of blighted southern Dallas. They point out that Hill was broke throughout 2004 and 2005, the period when he was supposed to be lording over a kickback and bribery scheme that allegedly raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Before the defense begins, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn will hear some motions, presumably for acquittal by the defense.

Here are some highlights from the government's case:

+ D'Angelo Lee, Hill's plan commission appointee and right-hand man, left developer James R. "Bill" Fisher a voicemail seeking thousands of dollars in donations to Hill's birthday party in November 2004. At the end of the message, Lee informs Fisher that his zoning request will be delayed. Fisher, who had up to that point been reluctant to make certain hires that Lee had recommended, kept the voicemail and went to the FBI complaining that he was being shaken down. He became an informant and agreed to wear a wire.

+ Developer Brian Potashnik, Fisher's rival in the affordable housing market, testified that Hill and Lee pressured him into paying Sheila Farrington Hill $14,000 per month in consulting fees. Hill was having an affair with Farrington at the time; the two later married. Potashnik, who has pleaded guilty, said he signed the contract in order to buy Hill's support for his affordable housing projects. Days after the contract was signed and the first payment was made, which Farrington used to open her business account, Hill voted in favor of Potashnik's projects. Testimony has shown that he previously supported Fisher's projects, but flip-flopped, allegedly because Potashnik paid Farrington. Prosecutors say that Farrington's business bank account was a key funnel for bribe payments. Most of the withdrawals were in cash, and, while that's hard to trace, the government says Hill got some of that money.

+ Don Hill was recorded on a wiretap telling Sheila Farrington to say, if asked "under oath," that a BMW she bought for him was really a retainer for legal services. Hill is an attorney, but FBI could find no evidence he ever did any legal work for her business. Prosecutors say that Farrington bought the car for Hill with dirty money from Brian Potashnik. The FBI found that Hill marked out a reference to "Farrington and Associates" on one of his annual city council financial disclosure forms. Using special lighting and computer tools, the FBI read what was underneath the mark-out.

+ Darren Reagan, head of the Black State Employees Association of Texas, was captured on several wiretaps making what seem to be incriminating statements about his alleged role as enforcer to extort money from Fisher. Reagan's group, evidence has shown, represented no employees, and Reagan was known to stage racial protests of companies and withdraw his opposition when donations flowed to his organization. On recordings, Reagan appears to brag about his dealings with Fisher, to whom he was sending deed restrictions demanding money as well as ownership in his developments, all on behalf of Hill, the government contends. "The game has done changed," Reagan told his partner, Allen McGill, as they discussed how white developers had become wealthy off southern Dallas projects. McGill, who has pleaded guilty, told jurors that he and Reagan were on the take. Fisher and Potashnik -- the alleged targets of the bribery and extortion scheme -- are both white. All five defendants are black. "I love to see old Bill sweating like a pig," Reagan says of Fisher. "The days of offering a few donations are over." He likened Fisher to being caught in a bear trap and having to gnaw his own leg off. Reagan also gave regular updates to Hill about his efforts, and told Hill, on wiretaps, repeatedly to pull Fisher's zoning request off the council agenda while he allegedly applied more pressure. Hill, the government points out, never question what Reagan was suggesting.

+ On the morning of Feb. 22, 2005, Reagan got more than $20,000 from Fisher, one of several payments Reagan allegedly demanded from the developer who feared that if he did not pay up, Hill would not support his pending zoning change. Hours later, Reagan met Lee and Hill behind Friendship West Baptist Church and put $10,000 in the councilman's hand -- which Reagan boasted about later on a wiretap to McGill. Later that day, Farrington deposited $5,000 in her business account, then took out about half that amount. On a wiretap she told Lee she had a payment for him. Days later, Hill listed five $1,000 deposits in his campaign account under the names of Farrington, Lee, Lee's wife, Reagan and McGill. McGill testified that he didn't give Hill that campaign donation.

+ Rickey Robertson was part of RA-MILL, which the government contends was a sham construction firm set up to seek lucrative construction contracts from Fisher. In a meeting that Fisher was taping on behalf of the FBI, Robertson told Fisher that Lee was a secret partner in RA-MILL, and in veiled language told Fisher that hiring the firm would mean Lee and Hill would support his pending zoning change. Prosecutors also say that Robertson provided the BMW that Hill was driving when FBI agents served warrants in the case in 2005. Robertson got the money for the car from Sheila Farrington, who, the government says, got the money from Brian Potashnik.

+ Hill and Lee are heard on wiretaps talking about a plan to buy the Lancaster Kiest shopping center and redevelop it. A front company that Lee operated, the LKC, made a pitch to buy the center from its owner in San Antonio, but he didn't want to sell it because he had suspicions about the deal. Meanwhile, Hill and Lee tried to convince the city's police and fire pension board to fund the more than $5 million purchase, without disclosing that they, according to the government, planned to personally benefit from the sale. One of the pension fund's financial advisors told jurors he became suspicious that Lee may have a financial stake in the deal, and told Hill as much. Hill sat on the pension board at the time. Hill never confronted Lee about it in calls and meetings captured on later recordings. Instead, Hill and Lee muse that they want to make $1 million off the deal.

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Nokia bolsters phone line-up, prices laptop at $820 - Reuters

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 07:45 AM PDT

By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

STUTTGART (Reuters) - Nokia on Wednesday bolstered its smartphone line-up to better compete with Apple and said a $820 (505 pounds) laptop will lead its foray into the fiercely-competitive PC market.

The new handsets -- including its first phone using Linux software -- are the latest moves by the Finnish firm to match Apple's innovation in a sector switching focus to services and software, but left market-followers unimpressed.

"Nokia has major challenges on developing user experience, and we might have to wait for a significant improvement until the second half of next year," said Jari Honko, analyst with eQ Bank in Helsinki.

Nokia's offering in the top end of the market worries investors as the firm has rapidly lost market share in the most profitable part of the industry to Apple and RIM.

"We are fighting back. We are on attack," Anssi Vanjoki, head of Nokia marketing, said in a speech.

Nokia unveiled three new phone models and announced further details of its new Booklet 3G, its first laptop.

GETTING INTO PC INDUSTRY

Nokia has seen its profit margins drop over the last few quarters as handset demand has slumped, and analysts have worried that entering the PC industry, where margins are traditionally razor-thin, could further depress earnings.

But Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi said Nokia had no choice.

"Nokia had to do it. You see more and more PC guys getting into the mobile operators' shelves. It's kind of the counterattack, it's not just defensive," Milanesi said.

John Hwang, the head of Nokia's laptop business, said the company aims to bundle laptops with Nokia's new Internet services to better compete with rivals offering just hardware.

With the move into laptops, Nokia is crossing the border between two converging industries from the opposite direction to Mac-maker Apple, which entered the phone industry in 2007 with the iPhone.

Following Apple, Acer and Asustek have also jumped from PC world to cellphone industry.

"We are witnessing a sizeable shift in the overall industry. No one feels considerably safe," Nokia's Hwang said in the interview.

In the laptop business Nokia will face new rivals like HP, Dell and Acer, and some commentators said the market -- from which IBM pulled out in 2005 -- could be too tough to crack. Continued...

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REFILE-CANADA STOCKS-TSX dips as bank weakness offsets gold rise - Reuters

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 07:52 AM PDT

(Refiles to fix spelling error in headline)

 * TSX falls 0.13 percent to 10,676.32

 * Profit-taking in financials outguns rally in gold miners

 * Healthcare up 3.73 pct as MDS sells unit, plans more (Adds details)

 By Ka Yan Ng

 TORONTO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index was lower on Wednesday morning as weak oil prices and concern about the strength of the economic recovery outgunned strength in gold-mining shares.

 Investors continued to take profits in financial stocks after Canadian banks reported strong earnings the previous week, taking the financial group 1.1 percent lower. The group rose about 6 percent last week, and has handed back a slice of those gains in the past two sessions.

 Leading decliners included Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), down 1.1 percent at C$54.93, Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO) down 1.4 percent at C$65.11, and Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) down 1.2 percent at C$21.43.

 "The big banking groups had a run, and expectations are that a pullback is logical and needed," said John Ing, president of Maison Placements Canada.

 At 10:25 a.m. (1425 GMT), the S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 13.46 points, or 0.13 percent, at 10,676.32. Five of the index's 10 main sectors were lower, including a 0.5 percent decline in the weighty oil and gas group as the price of oil slipped below $68 a barrel.

 Private-sector job data showed U.S. companies cut more jobs than expected in August, pressuring already-fragile sentiment about the depth of the economic recovery.

 The index's materials group, home to gold miners, was a bright spot that helped limit the decline. The price of the gold hit a four-week high of $966.20 an ounce as concerns over falling equities pushed the precious metal through technical resistance levels in the wake of U.S. jobs data, and amid weakness in the dollar index. [ID:nL2167301]

 "Golds are the big feature. With the pullback of the markets, gold has been a beneficiary of the move," Ing said. "Expectations are that a lower U.S. dollar, together with the prospect of even more spending by the (U.S.) government is awfully good for gold and the gold stocks."

 The healthcare group was also a big advancer, up 3.73 percent as MDS Inc (MDS.TO) said it had struck a deal to sell its Analytical Technologies division and will seek buyers for its Pharma division as it narrows its scope to concentrate solely on the medical isotope field. MDS soared more than 20 percent to C$7.76. [ID:nN02528673]

 ($1+$1.11 Canadian) (Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Peter Galloway)

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Taco Bell Raises $1.8 Million to Fund Teen Programs at Boys & Girls ... - MSN Money

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 07:38 AM PDT

Initiative to Combat High School Graduation Crisis Included $25,000 College Tuition Giveaway

IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Taco Bell raised $1.8 million in a one-day nationwide fundraiser held in April to benefit Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and their key partner and beneficiary, Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

More than 2 million customers visited Taco Bell restaurants on April 23rd to participate in the fundraiser. Franchisees and company-owned restaurants pledged 15 percent of the day's gross sales to help further the Foundation's mission of raising awareness for the graduation crisis, and supporting programs at Boys & Girls Clubs designed to help at-risk teens.

The money pledged from the fundraiser will help enhance and expand the national Keystone initiative, the largest and most dynamic teen program within Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Keystone Clubs help young people ages 14-18 become productive citizens and leaders by focusing on three key areas: Academic Success, Career Exploration and Community Service. Since 1995, Taco Bell Foundation for Teens estimates its programs have helped more than 500,000 teens stay in school and on the path to graduation.

"The high school dropout rate has reached epidemic proportion in the United States and poses one of the greatest risks to our country's economic future," said BGCA President/CEO Roxanne Spillett. "We are very grateful for the support the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens has provided, enabling us to create greater awareness of this issue, but most importantly the resources to do something about it."

To underscore the value of education, Taco Bell also donated $100,000 to fund four college scholarships that were available to customers who visited the restaurant during the fundraiser. More than 30,000 customers logged on to www.tacobellfoundationforteens.org and entered to win one of four $25,000 college tuition scholarships.

"We're thrilled to play a part in helping people pursue the dream of college," said Bob Fulmer, executive director of the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens. "With the help of customers and all our franchisees, the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens will continue to make a difference in the lives of millions of youth who can achieve success by staying in school and graduating."

Four $25,000 Scholarship Winners

Jacinto Carillo Fagundo, 42, of Fullerton, CA is a chief technology officer for Los Angeles County. Fagundo has two daughters, ages eight and 10, and is planning on using the scholarship money towards their future college education. "It is such a nice feeling to know your kids are going to be able to go to college because this money is going to be there," Fagundo said. "As a parent it takes a lot of the stress away."

Terri Minton, 23, of Norfolk, VA is currently attending school during the day to become a Dental Assistant and works in housekeeping at RBC Central Bank at night. Minton will use the scholarship to attend dental hygiene school in the fall. "My son is the one who pushed me to get an education," Minton said. "It's great that Taco Bell is helping people make changes in their lives."

Tequila Huffman, 33, of Jacksonville, FL is a mortgage loan processor who had entered the contest on a whim the last day of eligibility. "I can't wait to be a full-time student again and get my diploma," said Huffman, who is planning to return to the University of North Florida in the fall to complete her degree in business and economics. Originally enrolled in 2003, Huffman put school on hold after meeting her husband and starting a family. "This is like a dream come true," added Huffman.

Mark Douglas Hover, 52, of Woodland, WA is a technician at Community Tissue Services. Hover will use the scholarship to attend nursing school at Clark College in the fall. "It's hard work switching careers when you are older," Hover said. "This is an opportunity to do something that I never thought I'd be able to do."

About Taco Bell Corp.

Taco Bell Corp. ("Taco Bell"), a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., YUM, is the nation's leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, signature quesadillas, Grilled Stuft Burritos, nachos, and other specialty items such as Crunchwrap Supreme(R), in addition to the 79-89-99 WHY PAY MORE(TM)! Value Menu. Taco Bell serves more than 36.8 million consumers each week in nearly 5,600 restaurants in the U.S.

About the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens

The Taco Bell Foundation, Inc., dba Taco Bell Foundation for Teens (TBFT), a non-profit 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation, is committed to addressing the growing number of high school dropouts in the U.S. by providing at-risk youth with mentors and real-world experiences that will motivate them to stay in school and achieve more in life. Since 1995, TBFT has donated more than $23 million to support teen programs at Boys & Girls Clubs of America with the help of on-going customer, franchisee and employee donations. For more information about TBFT, visit www.tacobellfoundationforteens.org.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of America

For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (www.bgca.org) has helped kids "Be Great," providing hope and opportunity for those who need it most. Today, more than 4,300 Clubs serve some 4.5 million young people through Club membership and community outreach. Known as The Positive Place for Kids, Boys & Girls Clubs can be found throughout the country and on U.S. military bases worldwide, providing young people 6-18 years old with guidance-oriented character development programs conducted by trained, professional staff. Clubs positively impact lives and help young people reach their full potential as productive, caring citizens. Key programs emphasize leadership development; education and career exploration; community service; technology training; financial literacy; health and life skills; the arts; sports, fitness and recreation; and family outreach. In a recent Harris Survey of Club alumni, 57 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta.

SOURCE Taco Bell Foundation for Teens

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Hawaii libraries to seek donations to keep branches open - Honolulu Advertiser

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 08:06 AM PDT

Faced with a $6 million budget cut, the state public library system will be asking library users, corporations and foundations to donate whatever they can to prevent major cutbacks at the state's 51 libraries.

The fundraising effort, "Keep Your Library Open!," is set to be announced this morning by the Hawaii State Public Library System and the Friends of the Library of Hawai'i. Each entity will conduct its own fundraising drive, and the combined effort is intended to ensure that no library will be closed permanently because of projected budget shortfalls.

The Friends of the Library hopes to raise $3 million by getting 1 million library users statewide to donate $3 each. Donations will be accepted through the Friends of the Library office in Kaka'ako and through its Web site and at Bank of Hawaii branches, said Keith Fujio, administrative services director for the library system.

"They are going to be cumulatively collecting the money and it'll go to library operations and to meet the shortages," Fujio said.

The library system will conduct its own fundraising effort by distributing pre-addressed envelopes through the library branches. Patrons may donate any amount they want and designate where they'd like the money to go.

"We will credit whatever library they designate," Fujio said. "We're trying to keep the libraries open, although we will have reduced hours at many of them."

There isn't a goal, per se, but Fujio said that the more than $6 million cut in the library system's budget is what has led to the potential curtailing of hours and intermittent closures at some understaffed libraries.

In July, state Librarian Richard Burns presented a plan to the Board of Education that would have closed five libraries in rural and Neighbor Island communities in response to the cuts. Last week, Burns offered a different plan that called for some library branches to close intermittently and service hours to be cut back, but no libraries would be closed.

Garrett Toguchi, BOE chairman, praised the efforts of the Friends and the Library system to raise funds to preserve the libraries.

"It's really not asking a lot of money from people," Toguchi said. "Whatever it is that you can contribute would be very helpful, and hopefully that will resonate with corporations and foundations and lead to some bigger donations."

Toguchi said the fundraising drives are similar to the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association's "Save our Sports" program, which was launched this summer in response to an announced 36.4 percent budget cut to public school athletics for the 2009-10 school year.

He said while high school sports are higher profile than libraries, just about everyone uses or knows someone who relies on the public library system.

"While a lot of people may not use the library system, I'm sure they are connected with other people who do use it or benefit from it," Toguchi said. "Everybody who has kids, they're probably using the libraries. People who are unemployed now are using libraries because they don't have Internet access at home and are using the libraries a lot to do their resumes and also to send in their applications for job prospects. You have the typical people who are lifelong learners, you have researchers, special-interest groups."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com and Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.