host: we just have a few minutes left with lake ellis and melanie hicken's. -- lake ellis and melanien. radical taoist writes on twitter -- went is a collective for debt? guest: it can happen over a missing court appearance and it can happen for parking ticket and speeding tickets. i think the most common way that it is issued is if you miss a court appearance. in the case of david jackson who went to jail three times over the unpaid speeding ticket, he got the award because he missed -- war it because he missed -- warrant because he missed the court hearings and he was aware that he cannot pay these debts. guest: in texas, we were confused by this. they said, i do not miss a court hearing, i just got this letter. it seems like in texas that when you get a traffic, you have 10 days to pay or challenge it. it seems like that if someone does not do either of those things, that is basically considered mere -- missing a court hearing because they're not settle the debt or challenged it. guest: it is not as simple as some make it sound. in texas, there are thousands of people with outstand

. >> i'm joined now by the journalist behind the investigation, cnn money's melanie davis and melanie hickenmonths on this extraordinary reporting and journalism. congratulations to you both. >> thank you. >> start off with you, mel any. it's hard to understand and imagine you would have a government working with a firm and they would go through so much effort over what started as potentially a $1 toll. why is this happening? >> we thought it was really crazy, too. but a lot of these governments are really cash strapped and are looking for revenue. they see this as a no-brainer. it's a way to hire these firms. they don't have to pay anything most of the time. and they say this important money is going to help fund really important things like teacher salaries police force budgets. and they're pretty steep about like getting this money. they want it. >> these are local governments, state government that is we're talking about here? >> things like school boards or cities towns, really everything from the city of new york to small school districts in texas. >> and blake, let's talk about the ci

after that blake ellis and melanie hicken of cnn money talk about state and local government debt collection practices. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern and you can join the conversation with your calls and comments on facebook and twitter. >>> the c-span cities tour takes book tv and american history tv on the road traveling to u.s. cities to learn about their history and literary life. next weekend, we've partnered with comcast for a visit to galveston, texas. >> see ya at home! >> with the opening of the suez canal in 1869, sailing ships were almost dealt a blow. with that opening of the canal coal fired ships had a shorter route to the far east to india, to all of those markets. so sailing ships really needed to find a way to make their own living. so instead of high value cargo, they started carrying lower valued cargoes coal, oil, cotton, et cetera. so alyssa really found her niche in carrying any kind of cargo that did not require getting to market at a very fast pace. the connection to galveston is really unique in that she sailed and arrived here in galveston, proba

after that, blake ellis and melanie hicken of cnn money talk about state and local government debt collection practices. "washington journal" is live every morning at 7:00 a.m. eastern and you can join the conversation with your calls and components facebook and twitter. federal reserve chair janet yellen disfers the bank's monetary policy report to congress tuesday morning. we'll have her testimony starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern live on c-span3. >> this sunday on "q&a," baltimore police commissioner on the challenges of policing the city. >> it was very clear to me that i still had an issue with public trust and people believing things that were said and regardless of the fact that i stand in front like i did for you today and say use of force is down 46%, that discourtesy complaints are down 63%, that lawsuits are down, that officer involved shootings are dramatically down, people in communities say we don't believe it. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's "q&a." >> funding for the department of homeland security is set to expire friday at midnight. monday, president obam