Create Category in a plugin (Help!!)

Hello, plugin-makers and wordpress-extenders

I have created a plugin for filtering posts based on two sets of keywords. I had it working on one wordpress install(2.03) and am trying to test it on another (2.04).

I have looked at what was changed in the changelog, but nothing applied, as far as I could tell. The plugin relies on Feedwordpress 0.98. This doesn’t seem to affect the problem I am having. THe plugin hooks into syndicated_post which feedwordpress provides.

I am trying to check if two required categories exist and if they don’t then to create them as well. here is the code that doesn’t work.
/**************************************************
/* Begin Post Filter Setup */

function pf_set_up() {

// Check if the ‘tier_1_fail’ category exists / create one

$fail_cat_name = “tier_1_fail”;
// print $fail_cat_name + ‘/n’;
if(!get_cat_id($fail_cat_name)){
wp_insert_category($fail_cat_name);
}
// print get_cat_id($fail_cat_name);

// Check if the ‘tier_1_pass’ category exists / create one

$pass_cat_name = “tier_1_pass”;
// print $pass_cat_name + ‘/n’;
if(!get_cat_id($pass_cat_name)){
wp_insert_category($pass_cat_name);
}
// print get_cat_id($pass_cat_name);
}

/* End Post Filter Setup */

NOTE: This next bit is a piece of the plugin code, specifically the first term search. THe category check was built into it at first and worked on 2.03. On 2.04 it doesn’t work.
/*************************************************
/* Begin First Tier Keyword Search Function */

function tier_1_search($post_array) { // First-tier keyword filter for posts being published
// print(‘starting tier 1.. /n’);

// Check if the ‘tier_1_fail’ category exists / create one

$fail_cat_name = “tier_1_fail”;
// print $fail_cat_name + ‘/n’;
if(!(get_cat_id($fail_cat_name))){
wp_create_category($fail_cat_name);
}
$fail_cat_id = get_cat_id($fail_cat_name);

// print $fail_cat_id + ‘/n’;
// Check if the ‘tier_1_pass’ category exists / create one

$pass_cat_name = “tier_1_pass”;
// print $pass_cat_name + ‘/n’;
if(!get_cat_id($pass_cat_name)){
wp_create_category($pass_cat_name);
}
$pass_cat_id = get_cat_id($pass_cat_name);

// print $pass_cat_id + ‘\n’;
*************** end code snip ***** */

I am sorry if this is considered too much code. Perhaps you will see that I am confusing which function to use for actually making a new category within the running plugin.