We’ve had some tough interviews before but our trip to a Stephenville dairy farm turned out to be particularly interesting. We were in Erath County, the dairy capitol of Texas because of a rash of cattle rustling in the state. With the weak economy, thieves look at cattle as easy money. They’ll take one… or twenty… and sell them at auction for hundreds of dollars each. We were at the dairy farm to interview Joe Riley, a farmer and rancher who’s been hit several times. While Riley welcomed us to his property, one resident bull had obviously not been consulted. No sooner had Kris Gutierrez started the interview, did the bull start to voice his concern. We were unfazed. He kept mooing. Then he got closer. And closer. Finally we asked Riley, “Should we, uh, you know, move?” And he paused and then said, “Yeah. We better …  Holsteins don’t bluff.”

The bull continued his slow advance for a bit and stomped his hoof on the ground once or twice just to show he meant business. We backed up to a safe distance and then started the interview again. After a few minutes, the photographer and I noticed the bull ambling over to our car. He moved in front of it so we couldn’t see him. Then we saw the car rock a few times. When we came around to the other side, the bull had managed to take off an antenna. Riley managed to shoo the bull away before he did any more damage.

Got a buck? If you’re a hurricane Katrina victim, that will buy you a FEMA trailer. It’s the latest in the ongoing saga of trying to transition people from what was supposed to be temporary housing to more permanent digs. Generally, temporary housing should last 18 months after a hurricane, but since Katrina was such an extreme storm, FEMA extended the deadline for returning the trailers again and again. The last deadline passed about ten days ago – and people still are living inside the trailers were worried they were going to get tossed out. Not so with the new program. It allows people already living in the trailers to purchase them for one to five dollars, depending on the size of the trailer.

Sounds like a great deal, doesn’t it? A legal aid attorney told us, it’s not. Sara Marcello says, ” If you’ve ever been inside a FEMA trailer, you know one or five dollars is about al it’s worth.” Marcello says the news of the sale program does put her mind at ease– she says most of the people still living in the trailers are older or disabled. There about 2200 people still living in trailers in Louisiana.

Drive around in New Orleans and you’ll see some neighborhoods pockmarked with trailers. We went to Lakeview, on the north side of the city. On an average street, you’ll see completely redone homes, sprinkled with vacant lots. Trailers aren’t everywhere, but you can find them without looking too hard. We stopped at one and knocked on the door. Out came 83-year old Madge Goff (almost 84), who in 2001 after the hurricane found herself as she says. “80, naked and homeless.”

Goff’s one story house was trashed. Her furniture and a long life’s worth of pictures gone. The water had come up to the ceiling. Goff’s FEMA trailer is now parked out on the front lawn. Her house now is in various stages of completion The kitchen’s redone, the floors and walls look good– but still no electricity, and she can’t move back in without electricity. Goff has had ongoing problems finding a decent contractor– a trick when everyone in town is trying to find one. She’s had people show up, do work, and then vanish for weeks or months. One contractor ran off with about eight hundred bucks without doing anything.

Madge Goff went from 1800 square feet to about 250. The trailer is a cramped space, even for one person. Goff thinks she’ll buy the trailer but wants to get out of it as soon as she can. She’s thankful for a place to stay– but makes a good point. It is probably cheaper for the government to let people buy the trailers than have to pay several hundred bucks to have each of them hauled off.

We’re in Galveston and I have to say — I’m shocked. Nine months after the third most destructive hurricane in U.S. history blew through here, this place is looking good, really good. Cruise on the main drag near the beach and hotels are open and restaurants are bustling. Galveston just came off Memorial Day weekend. Locals felt it was a harbinger of sorts — business was booming. They feel like after a lot of hard work and heartache, the island is back, better than ever. They’re going to make it.

It’s really extraordinary considering that Ike damaged 75% of Galveston’s buildings. Maybe you remember seeing the pictures. The island looked like a repository for construction debris. Mangled homes, boats and trees were deposited everywhere. Now, near the beach at least, you wouldn’t know anything had happened. Venture out into neighborhoods and it’s a different story. The people who have come back have houses in various states of construction. There are also vacant lots for sale where homes once stood. And then there are homes that are empty, waiting to be fixed or destroyed. Residents told us about frustration with insurance companies and with the city’s paperwork. But they’ve hung on and reclaimed their lives bit by bit. I was struck by what one resident told us. Julie Parker says before the storm, you didn’t know your neighbors, but since, people are taking care of each other. They’ve come through so much.  That said, about 10,000 residents haven’t come back.

Hurricane season starts Monday. People are a little leery.  But as the owner of a popular local restaurant told us, it’s the price you pay for living where you live.

I was coming out of a movie theater Saturday when I got word that the Cowboy’s indoor practice facility had collapsed. My boss, the Dallas bureau chief, had notified the FOX News Channel assignment desk in New York what was happening. They were going through the familiar routine that happens when we have breaking news- they try to locate the closest satellite truck and find how how quickly it can get to the scene. Correspondent Kris Gutierrez was closest. He would get on scene first. A freelance photographer we hired arrived next. I came in right behind the satellite truck. The rain was torrential.

It’s hard to describe what we came upon. The Cowboys indoor training facility, which is in Irving, just outside of Dallas, is huge. Usually, the big starred dome dominates the landscape. When we arrived, it was just a jumbled mess on the ground. About 70 people were inside the structure when it collapsed.

Our local affiliate has some incredible footage of the collapse as it happened:

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It’s amazing no one was killed. Three of the twelve people who were hurt are still in the hospital including a Cowboy’s scouting assistant who is now paralyzed. An OSHA team is investigating the accident.

A representative from the National Weather Service said a microburst caused the damage. He said it’s like turning on a huge faucet, full blast, over one small area. Wind gusts probably reached 70-80 miles an hour.

We did about four liveshots and went home a few hours after we arrived. It was still pouring.

In the past few weeks, we’ve heard a lot about the Federal stimulus package — one city isn’t waiting for national stimulus money. It’s created its own plan called “Carrollton Works.” Carrollton, Texas is a city of about 120,000 just outside Dallas. As I write this, I’m sitting at a picnic table in sunny 60-something weather. On the whole, it’s not a bad way to spend a morning. Some of the reason why the park setting is so pleasant is that it’s well kept. That is, in part, where the Carrolton’s stimulus plan comes in. The city has taken money leftover from last year’s budget to create about 250 temporary jobs, things like painting fire hydrants, sprucing up parks, and cleaning graffiti. The pay’s not much, just about eight to ten bucks an hour, but for someone willing to work — it’s a job — and something that might lead to more.

Leonard Martin, Carrollton’s city manager had no idea what he was starting when he began the program. He, like everyone, had been hearing about the bleak economy and thought a WPA-like program in Carrollton might just help a few people out. He’s since been overwhelmed by the number of people who are interested. People like John Racek, who’s been out of work about three months ago and was one of the first employees in the new program. The situation’s win-win.  Racek gets work — and the city gets someone experienced  with irrigation systems. And, for Racek, the temporary work may turn into a full-time gig. The city’s also holding job fairs so other people can find out about Carrollton positions as well as other jobs available in the community.

The city of Carrollton’s program may not be as big as the Federal stimulus plan, but for some folks living in and around Carrollton, it may be just big enough to help them hang on till the economy turns around.