Visitors bureau issues, Cowboys vs. Seahawks, remembering Herb: Your weekend roundup

 [Morning roundup]( 01/06/2019 By Todd Davis and Dom DiFurio Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines of the weekend so far. 🌥️ Weather: Partly cloudy on Sunday with a high of 68 and low of 60. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here.]( James Reid (left) and Rogelio Gutierrez installed a Christmas-ornament letter "G" at Akard and Main streets in downtown Dallas in 2013. The decorations were part of the Dallas BIG campaign. (Tom Fox / Staff Photographer) DALLAS [Dallas City Hall has very B_G problems with its convention and visitors bureau]( Dallas City Hall has no way of knowing whether the entity tasked with promoting and marketing the city is spending tens of millions of tax dollars wisely — or even properly. That's according to an audit of VisitDallas, made public Friday by the Office of the City Auditor, that says [the agency has received almost $150 million in recent years and spent it without any significant oversight from the city](. A lot of that money has been paid to — and spent by — CEO Phillip Jones, [whose annual salary of almost $700,000]( is based on metrics that can't be proved and whose travel expenses sometimes exceed the agency's own guidelines, the audit says. Like so many audits from City Hall in recent years, this one says the departments tasked with monitoring the convention and visitors bureau lack "sufficient mechanisms" to oversee it. And: [Dallas-based Noble Rey Brewing Co.]( filed for reorganization (chapter 11) in U.S. bankruptcy court, reporting more than $1 million in debt. Also: [Elvis Mason]( a career banking executive who served as CEO of InterFirst Corp., died after struggles with Parkinson's disease and heart disease. ADVERTISEMENT OPINION [How observers, strangers, competitors and friends viewed Southwest's Herb Kelleher]( Business columnist Cheryl Hall writes: In 2010, I wrangled Herb Kelleher into flying to Phoenix to speak at the annual meeting of SABEW, the national professional business journalism association. His speaker’s fee was a bottle of Wild Turkey. I bought two just in case. Good thing. He brought both bottles to the post-banquet hospitality suite, where Herb enthralled some of the nation’s hardest-to-impress reporters and editors with tales of Washington battles, political intrigue and personal foibles. At the time, Southwest Airlines wasn’t flying to Phoenix, and by chance, early the next morning we ran into each other at the same American Airlines gate. [You would have thought from the fawning reaction of the gate agents that they worked for Southwest](. Commentary: Why covering airlines around the genuinely friendly [Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher]( could be 'dangerous'. Commentary: [Herb Kelleher gave this small-town teenager]( the freedom to fly to the big city. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News) PHOTO OF THE WEEKEND [Cowboys defeat Seahawks 24-22]( Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Damien Wilson slaps hands with fans as the team takes the field at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas for their NFC Wild Card game against the Seattle Seahawks, Saturday For the third time in the last five years, [the Dallas Cowboys will play in the divisional round of the NFC playoffs](. AROUND THE SITE - 'Go back to your country': An attack on a Muslim woman and daughter at Reunion Tower [is being investigated as a possible hate crime](. - The border: Mexico's president [plans to raise pay and boost the economy along the border]( so residents will have no reason to cross into U.S. - No crystal lagoon: The dispute between the city of Rowlett and its development partner at Lake Ray Hubbard [crossed into legal territory Friday with the city filing suit]( alleging that Bayside Land Partners refuses to build the project it promised. FINALLY... [Winter Restaurant Week is another chance to eat cheaper for charity]( Restaurants will try to entice people to dine out during the January post-holiday lull — and make some bucks for charity, as well — by offering three-course, fixed-price dinners. Sound familiar? Yes, it's very similar to the DFW Restaurant Week you know and love. [The main different is that this promotion is almost exclusively available in Tarrant County](. A few participants are across the border in Denton County. Like DFW Restaurant Week, Winter Restaurant Week isn't exactly a week. All 33 restaurants will participate from Jan. 7-13, but half will extend their offerings through Jan. 20 and 10 will continue theirs through Jan. 27. 👋 That's all for this morning! For up-to-the-minute news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com](. Share the love! If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [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=). 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