Businesses encourage voting, Gas Pipe goes to court: Your Tuesday evening roundup

September 25,  2018 By Tommy Cummings and Todd Davis Good evening! Here is a look at the top headlines of the day. Prefer the online view? It's [here](. The new rules would prohibit deals like the 2014 job awarded to City Wide to manage a property now known as Gurley Place, a 24-unit apartment complex for senior citizens. (Louis DeLuca/Staff photographer) INVESTIGATIONS Dallas housing agency gave deals worth at least $50,000 to its board members An obscure city housing agency has been awarding thousands of dollars of contracts — and in one case a bonus — to members of its board, [a]([Dallas Morning News]([investigation has found.]( The Dallas City Council may take steps to rein in such inside deals at its meeting Wednesday. The agency — the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation — is one of the city’s tools to address the lack of affordable housing for people with limited incomes. Over the years, the agency has issued over $180 million in bonds that have financed more than a dozen apartment complexes around the city, and it has an ownership stake in several of those properties. In 2014, the board voted to give a $14,000 contract to a nonprofit controlled by one of its members, Sherman Roberts, a developer in southern Dallas. When the contract to do maintenance and other work at senior-citizen apartments near Fair Park ended late that year, [Roberts’ nonprofit received a $25,000 “exiting bonus.”]( Editorial: When things blow up, [public hearing are needed on the gas lines in the Dallas area.]( courts Did Gas Pipe defendants know they were trafficking drugs? Jurors will decide Over the next month, jurors in the Gas Pipe drug trafficking trial in Dallas will hear a lot about the number and position of atoms in various molecules. They’ll listen to testimony from chemists about molecular structure. And they will be told about drugs with names like XLR-11 that carry labels like “Assassin Revolution.” But in the end, the federal jury will have to decide a basic question common to even the most routine drug case: [Did the defendants sell products they knew contained illegal substances?]( In the case of the Gas Pipe, the products are smokeable leafy products known as Spice and K2. The synthetic marijuana drug trafficking trialofficially started Tuesday with opening statements from the government and defense attorneys. Also: [A former DeSoto nurse]( pleaded guilty to using social media to meet Arlington girl for sex. business and politics From Levi’s to Southwest to Walmart, business tries to turn out the vote Business columnist Mitchell Schnurman writes: Employers want to tilt the election — toward higher voter turnout, not a particular candidate or party. Local groups, led by the North Texas Commission, launched an effort earlier this year to help companies encourage employees to vote. Dozens of members participated and reached over 300,000 local workers, the commission said. And turnout for the March primary was up 44 percent in North Texas compared with four years earlier. “We feel like this helped move the needle,” said Chris Wallace, CEO of the North Texas Commission. “It’s encouraging that people will get more engaged and turn out. I think we’ll see a large number of people voting in November.” [That would be especially welcome in Texas, which ranks next to last among the 50 states in voter participation.Â]( Exempt from blame: [Why North Texas real estate agents aren't blaming Trump's tax cuts]( for housing slowdown. Neck and neck: [Pete Sessions and Colin Allred]( are in a dead heat for Dallas' 32nd District, a poll shows. (Michael Hogue / Staff artist) 2018 election 14 days left until the Oct. 9 deadline to participate in the Nov. 6 elections The stakes are high for Democrats and Republicans as Texans head to the polls this November to decide this year’s midterm elections. Do your part to have a say in what happens next in your town, your state and your nation. [Find more on the process, what's up for you to consider and if you're eligible with our primer on voting in the midterm elections.]( (Tom Fox / Staff photographer) Photo of the Day Judith Oehme of Germany takes advantage of the cool and cloudy morning to take a nap outside the Terminal D drop-off at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesday. Oehme was vacationing in Hawaii and had a layover in Dallas on her way home. Tuesday provided a break from the rain in most areas, but [there are lingering effects of downpours that happened earlier this month where you live](. editors' picks - It's a different world: [Bill Cosby gets 3 to 10 years]( in state prison for 2004 sex assault. - What comes after Today? Tamron Hall comes back big with [a talk show scheduled for next fall](. - Immigration: “We are not inventing the wheel: Migration is a right,” [says Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú](. - Prices rose only 5 percent: Dallas-area home price[gains continue to dwindle in latest Case-Shiller report.]( - Fatal crash in Red Bird: Two people were killed Tuesday morning in a [crash involving a wrong-way driver on Interstate 20.]( - Package deal: [Amazon tells its Coppell warehouse workers]( it's time for a raise. - Crash leads to arrest: A drunken driving suspect was arrested Tuesday after [she rear-ended a car along LBJ Freeway in North Dallas and pushed it under an 18-wheeler](, seriously injuring the other driver. - Curious Texas: [Why did Texas have a poll tax]( and when did it end? Bob Stiegler, 88, brushes his wife's hair at Sliverado Plano Memory Care Center in Plano this month. (Ashley Landis/Staff photographer) Finally ... Night after night, this Plano man visits his wife who has Alzheimer's Bob Stiegler isn’t certain whether Norma recognizes him. As husband and wife, they shared their lives for 58 years. Now, he visits her every night in a memory care center in Plano. She has Alzheimer's. He'll take a brush from the bathroom drawer and stroke her silver hair. She'll smile. He'll adjust her pillow, and lower her bed, then fluff the cushions of her wheelchair. The disease knows how to hurt. It targets those closest. [But this is still a love story.]( [Subscribe to our Real Estate newsletter]( 👋 That's all for this evening! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. Share the love! If you like this newsletter, please [check out our other newsletters here](. Do you have feedback? Send your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to [newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com](mailto:newsletter-feedback@dallasnews.com?subject=Evening%20Roundup%20Feedback).[Dennis Jansen](mailto:djansen@dallasnews.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) STAY CONNECTED WITH US  [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [LinkedIn]( [Reddit](  [OTHER NEWSLETTERS]( [SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS]( [Unsubscribe](  |  [Manage Preferences](  |  [Privacy Policy](  |  [Contact](  |  [Advertise]( You received this message because you signed up for this Dallas Morning News newsletter or it was forwarded to you. Copyright 2018 - [The Dallas Morning News]( | [1954 Commerce St., Dallas, TX 75201](#)