Trustees for the Arlington school district discussed the proposed budget for the 2006-07 school year at Thursday's board meeting. Included in the discussion was how to save or spend a $3.6 million surplus that came from higher property values on the tax rolls. Trustees have several options to consider, including giving all employees raises, increasing health insurance contributions to employees, raising the starting salary for teachers, adding school personnel, and beefing up security with more security cameras or more school resource officers. Trustees could vote on the proposed budget at their Aug. 17 meeting.

Toya Lynn Stewart

A Carrollton resident has filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission against City Council member Herb Weidinger, saying Mr. Weidinger failed to disclose who paid for and authorized a political advertisement mailed out before May's council election. Tom Washington, treasurer of the Citizens for Enforcing Carrollton Term Limits political action committee, also said in the complaint that Mr. Weidinger misrepresented the identity of two groups listed on the ad as having endorsed him. The ethics commission does not comment on pending complaints. Mr. Weidinger said Thursday that the failure to identify the source of the mailer and who paid for it was discovered after the initial mailing and corrected before subsequent mailings.

Stephanie Sandoval

A Collin County grand jury has indicted a Dallas man accused of kidnapping a truck driver at gunpoint and leading police on a three-county chase. Samuel Scott Jones, 32, has told reporters that he pointed a gun at Christie Kay Bundren on July 23 and forced her to drive her 18-wheeler through the counties of Collin, Dallas and Tarrant, where the chase ended. Mr. Jones said he wanted police to kill him because he was distraught over financial problems. Ms. Bundren, 51, of Allen said Mr. Jones told her he planned to kill her and allowed her to call her children to say goodbye. She said that when the truck stopped, she grabbed the gun and escaped. Shortly afterward, Mr. Jones turned himself in to police.

Tiara M. Ellis

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced three Dallas women who pleaded guilty to ringing up more than $260,000 in charges on 83 fake credit accounts at local office supply stores in the last two years. Linda Sue Whatley, 51, Angelique Iante Oliver, 25, and Kimberly Renee Bryant, 44, pleaded guilty in April to one criminal count each in the scam that lasted from August 2003 to October 2005. The judge sentenced Ms. Whatley to 24 months in prison, Ms. Oliver to 17 months and Ms. Bryant to three years' probation. They were also ordered to pay restitution.

Tim Wyatt

An assistant principal at Samuell High School in Dallas was arrested this week and accused of pawning school district equipment. Willie L. Henderson Jr., 36, is believed to have pawned laptops and possibly other equipment, said Dallas school spokesman Celso Martinez. Mr. Henderson has been placed on paid administrative leave, Mr. Martinez said. Mr. Henderson was released from jail Thursday, according to the Dallas County Sheriff's Department. He's been charged with theft of more than $1,500 and less than $20,000 by a public servant, a third-degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 or both. Mr. Henderson could not be reached for comment.

Tawnell D. Hobbs and WFAA-TV

The TV show America's Most Wanted will revisit the death of an Oklahoma woman whose body was found two years ago in Grapevine. Casey Jo Pipestem was last seen Jan. 28, 2004, at a truck stop on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma City. Three days later, the 19-year-old prostitute's nude body was found in Big Bear Creek just off State Highway 360 in Grapevine. She had been strangled. On Aug. 12, the show will air a follow-up episode to a serial murder investigation first profiled in June 2005, said Grapevine police Sgt. Bob Murphy. Tips from the 2005 program led officers to Neshoba County, Miss. There, investigators interviewed a jailed murder suspect, John Robert Williams, who said he had some involvement in Ms. Pipestem's death. Police believe Mr. Williams and his girlfriend, Rachel Cumberland, may have been involved in a string of prostitute slayings.

Debra Dennis

Grapevine-Colleyville school officials issued a warning to residents Thursday about a man posing as a district employee going door to door in area neighborhoods. School officials have asked the Grapevine and Colleyville police departments to investigate reports from parents about a man conducting surveys on the student code of conduct and student-parent handbook, according to a district news release. He also has represented himself as a district business partner selling educational materials. The district isn't conducting a survey nor has it established a partnership with any company that sells educational materials door to door, officials said.

Marissa Alanis

A man who police say beat an acquaintance to death May 12 with a steering wheel locking device is in the Denton County Jail on a murder charge. Corbitt Nettles, a 32-year-old Roanoke airplane mechanic, is charged in the beating death of Robert Campbell in his Sanger mobile home. Mr. Nettles is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail on the murder charge and $1,000 on a separate charge of possession of a controlled substance. Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree said Mr. Nettles had been a suspect since the beginning of the case but has not cooperated with officers. A motive in the slaying isn't known. Mr. Campbell, who was crippled by arthritis, had lived in the mobile home since 2002.

Donna Fielder,

Denton Record-Chronicle