  Recent sum rule determinations of |V_us|, employing flavor-breaking
combinations of hadronic tau decay data, are significantly lower than either
expectations based on 3-family unitarity or determinations from K_ell3 and
Gamma[K_mu2]/Gamma[pi_mu2]. We use lattice data to investigate the
accuracy/reliability of the OPE representation of the flavor-breaking
correlator combination entering the tau decay analyses. The behavior of an
alternate correlator combination, constructed to reduce problems associated
with the slow convergence of the D = 2 OPE series, and entering an alternate
sum rule requiring both electroproduction cross-section and hadronic tau decay
data, is also investigated. Preliminary updates of both analyses, with the
lessons learned from the lattice data in mind, are also presented.
