Quick Picks focuses on a select few of the day's stories from "Breaking on the Web."

We took a break from watching Inauguration TV, to check out some other news.

• Just before leaving office, Henry Paulson finally cracked the whip...sort of. The Treasury Department has been loudly criticized for not requiring banks receiving bailout cash to lend it out, or even divulge what they're doing with it. But on Friday it adopted the better-late-than-never approach and wrote to 20 bailed-out banks to demand information on how much they're lending, reports Bloomberg News today.
• The Dallas Morning News unveiled the third part of its series on special-interest influence in Texas on Sunday, focusing on the state's environmental agency. According to the News, one of the agency's most controversial permits was awarded to an El Paso copper smelter after that company's lobbyist had three private meetings about the pending permit with the agency's chairman. As the News puts it, "a politically well-connected corporation can get what it wants."

  Check out more of our roundup of the best investigative stories around the Web.

  Was there a story we missed? Please keep sending us stories from your local paper, favorite blog or magazine, etc. via e-mail or Delicious.