Government in Action | Awesome!

• Texas state Rep. Dawnna Dukes' corruption trial is scheduled for Oct. 16, when she will face charges of giving a taxpayer-funded raise to a legislative aide as compensation for ferrying Dukes' daughter between school and home. The Austin American-Statesman reports that prosecutors in Travis County also plan to present evidence of 19 additional "extraneous acts," including accusations that Dukes spent $51,000 in taxpayer money on an online psychic, was absent for roll call 65 percent of the time, and appeared impaired at a House committee meeting when she showed up late, explaining: "I know I'm talking a lot. I'm full of morphine and will be headed out of here soon." [Austin American-Statesman, 9/20/2017]

• The Greene County (Tennessee) Sheriff's Department alerted drivers along Chuckey Pike on Sept. 20 not to be alarmed by a body that appeared to have been crushed by a house's garage door. "THIS IS A HALLOWEEN DECORATION!" the department's Facebook page warns. "Do NOT call 911 reporting a dead body." Officers had rushed to the scene with sirens blaring after a caller reported the body, but then discovered the clever (but really early) holiday tableau. [FOX News, 9/21/2017]