Dallas developer bribed council members, OU's win over Texas: Your weekend roundup

Federal prosecutors on Thursday released transcripts of talks between an indicted affordable-housing developer and the two former Dallas City Council members he allegedly bribed — one of whom is dead, one of whom sits in federal prison.  [Morning roundup]( 10/13/2019 By Chelsea Watkins and Narda Pérez Good morning! Here is a look at the top headlines of the weekend so far. 🌤️ Weather: Partly cloudy. High: 76. 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here.]( Dwaine Caraway, left, and Carolyn Davis in 2014 — around the time Davis said she took money from developer Ruel Hamilton. Caraway got a $7,000 check from the developer four years later. (Mona Reeder/Staff Photographer) DALLAS [Dallas developer Hamilton ‘eagerly’ paid Dallas council members Caraway and Davis, say U.S. prosecutors]( Federal prosecutors on Thursday released transcripts of talks between an indicted affordable-housing developer and the two former Dallas City Council members he allegedly bribed — one of whom is dead, one of whom sits in federal prison. Prosecutors say the transcripts, culled from recordings made in person and over the phone, show that developer Ruel Hamilton knew exactly what he was doing: "actively pushing Dallas City Council Members to take official actions to benefit him financially and politically and eagerly paying them for doing so." Hamilton has insisted that the $40,000 he paid to Carolyn Davis and another $7,000 to Dwaine Caraway weren’t bribes at all, [just harmless charitable donations](. Prosecutors filed the transcript excerpts to rebuff those claims.  Also: Here's a peek inside the newest green refuge in downtown Dallas [as Pacific Plaza opens Monday.](   Editorial: Can VisitDallas be saved? [We’ll soon find out.](  ADVERTISEMENT POLITICS [Beto O’Rourke raised $4.5M last quarter, an uptick but still far behind 2020 front-runners]( Beto O’Rourke raised $4.5 million in the last three months, his campaign said Friday -- topping the $3.8 million that donors sent during a lackluster spring. That’s a welcome shift for the former El Paso congressman, who has yet to carve himself a spot among the front-runners in the 2020 Democratic presidential field. [But it’s not enough to lift him out of a distant third tier in polls and cash.]( "We have a path to the nomination and through that, a path to the presidency, but we’ve got to break through," O’Rourke told campaign staff at a meeting livestreamed Friday night from his headquarters in El Paso. "We’re going to make the most of this moment, of the momentum that we have, this wonderful trajectory that we’re on." O’Rourke and top campaign aides emphasized that during the three-month reporting period that ended Sept. 30, he took a two-week hiatus from fundraising after the Aug. 3 rampage at an El Paso Walmart, where a gunman targeted Hispanics and left 22 people dead.  Also: Militia-style group, Oath Keepers, [will be in Dallas for the upcoming Trump rally]( to provide protection for Trump supporters.   Editorial: [Beto O'Rourke embraces divisions]( by wanting to tax religious organizations over gay marriage.  (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) ADVERTISEMENT PHOTO OF THE WEEKEND [5 takeaways from Oklahoma’s win over Texas: CeeDee Lamb’s legendary day clinches victory]( Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (2) scored on a 51-yard pass play past Texas defensives back B.J. Foster (25) and Chris Brown (15) during the second half of the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday in Dallas. [Oklahoma beat Texas 34-27.]( AROUND THE SITE - Courts: A Dallas mother was sentenced to six years in prison [for faking her son’s illnesses.]( - Officer-involved shooting: Video shows a Fort Worth police officer [fatally shoot a woman inside of her home.]( - Return of the Blanc: [Diner en Blanc made a decent comeback in 2019]( after last year’s rainy disaster. FINALLY... [Twenty-two turntables memorialize black people slain by police in ‘American Monument’]( Last Sept. 16, Dallas artist Lauren Woods abruptly walked out of the reception for her multimedia installation American Monument at California State University Long Beach’s University Art Museum. After the firing of the museum’s art director, Kimberli Meyer, five days beforehand, Woods decided to put her show about police brutality and the killing of African-Americans on hold indefinitely, in an act of protest. A year later, however, her exhibit has resurfaced at the Beall Center for Art + Technology at the University of California, Irvine. Meyer was Woods’ chief collaborator on the exhibit in its original incarnation, and her dismissal, for which Cal State did not initially provide an explanation, led Woods to believe the university was attempting to kill American Monument. A statement released later by Cyrus Parker-Jeannette, dean of the university’s College of the Arts, made no mention of any connection between the show and Meyer’s termination. (Meyer appealed the decision, but the university did not change its mind. She now works as an independent curator.) 2018 was a rough year for Woods even before the fallout from Meyer’s firing. As part of the process to create the work, she spent several months filing Freedom of Information Act requests in order to obtain court records and police documents. [She then spent 36 grueling hours editing audio samples for the centerpiece of the exhibit, 25 turntables.](  👋 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=). STAY CONNECTED WITH US [Unsubscribe]( | [Free newsletters]( | [Dallasnews.com]( | [Subscriber login]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact us]( Copyright 2019 - [The Dallas Morning News, 1954 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75201, United States](