Auditor: Leaders failed at $3B Texas cancer agency

AUSTIN (AP) — The state auditor for Texas says a troubled $3 billion cancer-fighting agency unraveled because of poor leadership.

State Auditor John Keel on Tuesday said "individuals failed the system" at the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The agency is under criminal investigation following questionable awards involving millions in taxpayer dollars.

Keel told a powerful Senate panel that fixing CPRIT will hinge most on the leaders hired. As problems mounted at CPRIT last year, its three most powerful executives all resigned.

Republican state Sen. Jane Nelson, who filed the original bill creating CPRIT in 2007, has introduced new legislation that would make significant reforms to how the agency operates.

Nelson said she was disappointed with the "egregious liberties" officials at CPRIT took with agency rules.