WHITE COLLARS UNCLEANED

Thousands of white-collar criminals across the country are no longer being prosecuted in federal court — and, in many cases, not at all — leaving a trail of frustrated victims and potentially billions of dollars in fraud and theft losses.

It is the untold story of the Bush administration’s massive restructuring of the FBI after the terrorism attacks of 9/11. Five-and-a-half years later, the White House and the Justice Department have failed to replace at least 2,400 agents transferred to counterterrorism squads, leaving far fewer agents on the trail of identity thieves, con artists, hatemongers and other criminals.

“There’s a niche of fraudsters that are floating around unprosecuted,” said one recently retired top FBI official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They are not going to jail. There is no law enforcement solution in sight.”

In most cases, local law enforcement agencies haven’t been able to take up the slack. Seattle police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said his department isn’t as equipped to handle complex white-collar investigations — particularly when officers must also join anti-terrorism efforts and when federal funding for local police departments has shrunk.

– Seattle Post-Intelligencer

TREND BUCKING

In a year when national home prices are expected to drop, a research economist with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University predicts Texas will emerge as one of the brightest stars in the housing market.

The National Association of Realtors announced that home prices across the United States will probably fall in 2007 — a first in at least 38 years. But the Center’s Dr. James Gaines says Texas’ home prices will likely buck that trend.

Although it is too early to know exactly how 2007 will play out, Gaines said the year is off to a good start. Texas’ median existing home price increased by 3 percent from February 2006 to February 2007, and the state has less than a five-month inventory of unsold homes.

Gaines said Texas benefits from not having experienced the run-up in prices that other areas saw.

– press release from the Real Estate Center, Texas A&M University.

NOT CO-OPTED

If you live in an area where you don’t get to choose your electric company, it’s likely you’re paying less for power than residents with more options.

A Dallas Morning News review of residential electricity rates shows that investorowned companies, which are competing for customers, nearly always charge more than municipal and cooperative power services, which are exclusive providers operating within territorial boundaries.

Critics of the state’s decision to deregulate electricity say this shows how competition did not transform the state’s energy market or make Texans’ electricity bills any cheaper. They contend the state forfeited its ability to oversee rates, while promised benefits didn’t materialize.

– The Dallas Morning News

BEEN THERE

“Knowing most of the Senate, I can understand that.”

– U.S. Sen. and presidential candidate John McCain, asked by the Washington Post why no senator has been elected president since John Kennedy.

THE GREAT AMERICAN CRIME DECLINE by Franklin E. Zimring. Why did crime drop in the 199 0s? Population shifts? Incarceration policy? Good economy? All these and everything else is the conclusion of law professor Zimring, who analyzes all sorts of data but finds no magic bullets. Oxford University Press.

WEST FROM APPOMATTOX: THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AMERICA AFTER THE CIVIL WAR by Heather Cox Richardson. Historian Richardson explains how Southerners, Northerners, and Westerners gradually hammered out a national identity and developed a middle class that defined what our nation would stand for. Yale University Press.

TEXAS MONTHLY ON TEXAS TRUE CRIME, compiled by the magazine’s editors. This paperback features the best articles on lawbreaking (and, by implication, law enforcement) since the publication was started in 19 73. University of Texas Press.

LONE STAR PASTS: MEMORY AND HISTORY IN TEXAS by Gregg Cantrell and Elizabeth Hayes Turner. Historians examine how various folks’ memories affect how we view the state’s history, from the Alamo to the Klan to LBJ. Texas A&M University Press.

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