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NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

TODAY’S GAME

Baylor vs. Old Dominion 4:45 p.m. (Ch. 11)

SPORTSDAY: Complete game coverage, 1C, 7-10C BUSINESS: Offices try to balance work,
play during March Madness. 1D

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

Texas A&M..................69 Utah State ..................53 Georgia Tech ...........64
Oklahoma St. ............59

Next for A&M: vs. Purdue, Sunday, 4:10 p.m.

The Dallas Morning News
Texas’ Leading Newspaper $1.00
Dallas, Texas, Saturday, March 20, 2010

Falling temps, chance of snow

HEALTH CARE OVERHAUL

ECONOMIC STIMULUS | UTILITIES
A strong cold front is expected to arrive at daybreak, bringing a chance of snow
later today. 1B

Complete weather, 10B

NATION
Ruling adds twist in inheritance battle
Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall II never intended to bestow his fortune on his wife,
Anna Nicole Smith, a federal court ruled, marking another twist in a convoluted inheritance
battle. 4A

Shining future or burning tax cash?
Solar panels on public projects stoke payback debate
By CHRISTY HOPPE
Austin Bureau choppe@dallasnews.com

World Trade Center settlement rejected
A federal judge rejected a legal settlement of more than a half-billion dollars for
people sickened by ash and dust from the World Trade Center. 8A

METRO
2 who testified get prison sentences
Two bit players who testified during the Dallas City Hall corruption trial were sentenced
to prison on extortion charges. 1B

AUSTIN — When UT Southwestern Medical Center finishes its $2.4 million solar energy
project early next year — largely funded with federal economic stimulus dollars
— the panels will help provide shaded parking. It’s a much more immediate benefit
than the cut in the school’s utility bill, because at an annual savings of $27,500,
it will take 88 years to realize a reduction in electricity costs. And solar panels
last about 30 years. UT Southwestern is one of 32

public entities just awarded a total of $32 million in stimulus money to go green
in Texas, but it’s costing a lot of taxpayer green to make it happen. Advocates
point out that the grants are designed not just for reducing utility bills, but as
a first step in creating jobs and kick-starting an industry that could be vital to
the region’s environmental and energy needs. But fiscal watchdogs get heartburn
over projects that include Texas Parks and Wildlife spending $4.7 million to save
$73,000 annually in
See SOLAR Page 2A

PRO-CON Funding
Advocates of the stimulus-funded solar energy projects say the grants will help create
jobs and reduce pollution. Critics say such projects should be funded by the marketplace,
not taxpayers, and utility savings won’t recoup the cost.

Dems trying to seal votes
Deal for tighter abortion limits may be needed to win passage, but that could alienate
other lawmakers
FROM WIRE REPORTS

Posthumous pardon given man’s family
A decades-long fight by the family of a man convicted of rape finally ended as Gov.
Rick Perry presented them with the state’s first posthumous pardon. 4B

WORLD
Taliban move spurs shifting of troops
The Taliban’s comeback in Kunduz has spurred plans to shift some troop reinforcements
to northern Afghanistan. 9A

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders late Friday were exploring the possibility
of a deal with abortion opponents that would clinch the final votes to pass major
health care legislation, but they faced stiff resistance from lawmakers who support
abortion rights. It was not clear if the bill could win approval INSIDE without some
concessions BILL would to Democrats seeking increase tighter abortion restricMedicaid
tions. payments to More than 200 House doctors. 1D members have announced NUNS’
action they will vote against the exposes Senate’s health-care bill long-running
Sunday. That leaves Demrift in church. ocrats little margin for er14A ror as they
attempt to Q&A, 15A gather the 216 votes needed for passage among the few dozen lawmakers
who remain publicly undeclared. In similar late-hour wrangling in November, Rep.
Bart Stupak, D-Mich., succeeded in winning tight limits on insurance coverage of
abortions in the House health care bill. Stupak has said he would oppose the current
measure without similar limits. Other Democratic opponents of abortion have said
they are
See DEMOCRATS Page 14A

Pope apologizes in letter to Ireland
Pope Benedict XVI addresses Ireland today in a letter apologizing for the sex abuse
scandal in that country. 16A

MEXICO BORDER

BUSINESS
Common myths of tax filing
As the income tax deadline approaches, we take a look at some common myths. 1D
DAVID McNEW/Getty Images

U.S. seeking to build on security pact
Strides made under 2007 Mérida initiative aren’t matched by aid; talks to focus
on improvements
By TODD J. GILLMAN
Washington Bureau tgillman@dallasnews.com

ECONOMY & YOU
Consumers keep paying more
The cost of cable and satellite service has risen 42.5 percent in the last 10 years,
but consumers haven’t shown much willingness to drop their subscriptions. 19A

PROSTITUTION CASE

Little Elm sex ring full of intrigue
Pimp suspect who skipped out on trial still on the lam
By SELWYN CRAWFORD
Staff Writer scrawford@dallasnews.com LARA SOLT/Staff Photographer

GUIDEDAILY
Company salvages wood for flooring
A Dallas company salvages wood from doomed structures and turns it into flooring.
1E

INSIDE
Lottery 2A Texas 3A Nation 4-5A, 8A World 9A, 16A, 18A Editorials 20A Letters 20A
Reg. Roundup 2B Sports TV Market Day Jumble Dear Abby Movies TV Comics 2C 4D 3F 2E
2E 7E 7-9E

Î2010, The Dallas Morning News

The details read like a cheap novel: a nationwide prostitution ring with high-priced
hookers working in fancy hotels; a clientele that supposedly included pro athletes
and politicians; all orchestrated by a pimp nicknamed “Cross Country Redd” who
operated from the unlikeliest of locales — Little Elm, Texas. The pimp, authorities
say, is Marcus Choice Williams, who was scheduled to go on trial Feb. 1 in Dallas
on federal prostitution trafficking charges. But on the eve of the trial, Williams
skipped town and hasn’t
See LITTLE Page 6A

Dutchley Rosier, 3, looks out his tent in Les Cayes, Haiti, with his cousins, Stefani
Jean, Jina Jean, Madona Frederic and Guerlince Jean, who were orphaned in the earthquake.

COMING SUNDAY

Quake alters course of lives
Fedia Cherisier spent most of her 17 years in Port-au-Prince with her parents and
four younger siblings, poor but never afraid of the future. Until the day the earth
shook. Cherisier held tight to her brothers and sisters: “We knew our parents were
dead.” About 1,800 miles away in Dallas, the earth shifted under Esther Dureus-Reynolds,
too. The Haitian-American had been feeling the tug of her homeland. Then her phone
rang. Thus began two journeys, and a mother with an indefatigable spirit took the
first steps toward her new children.

WASHINGTON — Drug cartels have expanded their war for control of Mexico faster
than the U.S. has been able to pump in aid. In the time needed for roughly 18,000
Mexicans to die in the violence raging just south of the Rio Grande, the United States
has delivered about a fifth of the $1.3 billion promised in late 2007 under a security
pact known as the Merida ´ Initiative. Officials on both sides of the border say
Meri´ da has fostered major strides in U.S.-Mexican cooperation, but complaints
about the pace of spending were rampant long before last weekend’s murders of three
people with ties to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez. Now, policy´ makers in
both countries see an urgent need to expand and improve the aid. “There’s a tremendous
amount of frustration that we simply aren’t taking these national security challenges
seriously,” said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, a former Border Patrol chief
and chairman of the Intelligence committee. Washington and Mexico City have been
quietly preparing a more flexible, robust and above all, speedier, approach.
See MÉRIDA Page 10A

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