HOUSTON -- It's good to have friends in high places. Just ask State Senator Joe Nixon and Farmers Insurance Group.

They sure looked like they were scratching each other's backs during the last legislative session, according to published reports.

Nixon backed tort reform favorable to insurance companies. And Farmers took care of Nixon's household mold claim with a generosity that a former employee said was reserved for influential people.

Nixon and Farmers deny any wrongdoing. But there are those e-mails made public by the former mold manager who is now suing Farmers.

They allegedly show that Farmers brass pressured claims officials to pay for some repairs that were not covered in Nixon's policy -- supposedly because Farmers wanted his friendship during the legislative session.

A Travis County grand jury is looking into this case.

Channel 2 expects it to get to the bottom of any possible influence peddling. Meanwhile, the rest of us looking out for mold will have to get by without special friends.