News: November 2008 Archives

We at Austinist were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Josh Talbot, the 21-year-old RTF major at UT for whom a large-scale platelet drive had been scheduled tomorrow.

• Latest news on the attacks in Mumbai.
• Condi's compliment to Sen. Clinton.
• Facebook status update: I'm anorexic

Thousands are expected to attend the Feast of Sharing downtown this evening. On this busy travel weekend, APD is keeping an eye out for aggressive drivers. City of Austin now looking into the financial impact of city employees who drive their work vehicles to their out-of-town homes. Next year's Parade of Homes will focus on million-dollar homes in the Mueller area. Jim Mattox's body laid in state at the Capitol yesterday; his funeral was today. Texas' renewable energy economy likely to benefit when Obama's economic team takes over. Teen mother from the FLDS compound refuses to tell authorities where her child is.

• Potential new RNC chair belonged to whites-only country club. In other news, bears tend to choose forested areas to relieve themselves.
• Ironically, just when we finally get a president who believes in science, the economic downturn may threaten climate initiatives.
• Still don't care about global warming? Maybe the thought of never eating moules frites again will change your mind.

From the online version:

• Chicagoist took umbrage with a New York Times article, explored the Korean food Disneyland, examined Rahm Emanuel's Charades game-face, and checked out a cookbook that focuses on an, er, unorthodox ingredient.
• Phillyist covered Philadelphia's Prop. 8 protests and continued to debate Eagles fandom.
• Gothamist bemoaned plans for a fare hike , and how he hates hugging fans.

• Viva Geithner, ostensibly.
• Forbes: Meow!
• Who will Bush pardon?

American global dominance is expected to decrease in coming years; China, Russia and India may challenge US influence. Attorney General Mukasey collapsed during a speech last night. Verizon workers sneaked a peek at Obama's old cell phone records. We should know Hillary Clinton's status in the Obama administration later today. Maybe. Sarah Palin pardons one turkey, while another unfortunate turkey faces a different fate behind her comments afterward. Best cranberry relish recipe ever? Say it ain't so, ABC! Pushing Daisies cancelled.

Former Texas Attorney General and Democratic politician Jim Mattox died last night in his sleep; he was 65. Water tower explosion in Giddings leaves 3 injured (one critically so). Rhoda Mae Kerr is now officially Austin's first female fire chief. Arrest warrant out for RRISD Special Education TA after he allegedly had an improper relationship with a 17-year-old student. North Village branch of the APL is closing as of Monday, Dec. 1 (until the new building is ready in the spring). Woman showering in an East Austin group home was injured by a bullet from a drive-by last night. Eyewitness ID process needs improvement in Texas.

In a story that could only be described as utterly heartbreaking, Josh Talbot, a junior Radio-TV-Film student at UT, is in desperate need of both white blood cells and a bone marrow donor. What started out as a case of mononucleosis in September has morphed into a very rare complication from Epstein-Barr called Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). We’ll spare you a long-winded medical dissertation and sum it up for you: HLH overproduces infection-fighting white blood cells and results in organ failure. HLH can be fatal. Though HLH is not cancer, treatment protocol calls for chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

• As if flying isn't bad enough these days, pilots are now having in-flight mental breakdowns.
• Huckabee = FAIL. Again.
• Cabinet talk.

State Board of Education holding a hearing today in Austin on the teaching of evolution. In these troubled economic times, don't our state legislators deserve to spend $140,000 on chandeliers and expensive granite countertops for their members-only lounge? Progress Coffee is selling food for donations tomorrow (from 6:30am-7pm); all proceeds will go to Bread for the World and Capital Area Food Bank. Family security lanes now in use at ABIA. Federal officials holding a hearing on the South Texas border fence. Seven Katy varsity cheerleaders indicted for hazing charges. Will Smith and Tony Romo stopped by a pep rally at Lake Highlands High School yesterday.

Former adjunct professor Loye Young was fired from Texas A&M International University in Laredo after posting the names of six students on his blog whom he caught plagiarizing.

The book in question is written as a series of instant-message exchanges between a gaggle of teenage girls, and titled "TTYL"—internet shorthand for what-a-total-beating.

• Al-Qaida No. 2 insults Obama with racial epithet
• Consumer prices fell last month; biggest one-month decline in 61 years
• Former president Clinton offers concessions to help Hillary become secretary of state

As part of KUT's 50th anniversary celebration, BBC has been in town since Monday doing their live show, . Yesterday they were on the air from UT's Communications Courtyard, discussing capital punishment, when KLRU's Docubloggers found them. They will be in town through Friday - their show is airing throughout the week at noon on KUT.

• Revelation for rich people: not having money makes marriage hard!
• Now, this just doesn't seem right.
• As many as 4 million people may pack the National Mall for Obama's inauguration.

This week is Homeless Awareness Week.Local non-profit Front Steps asks for donations of sleeping bags and blankets; they will be distributed at ARCH (Austin Resource Center for the Homeless). Travis County owes the City of Austin $4,820.50 in unpaid parking tickets and the City wants its money. WilCo State Rep. Krusee cleared of drunk driving charges. Drunk Austinite makes terroristic threats (whilst wearing a ski mask) on a flight to Dallas. SEC charging Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban with insider trading. The New Yorker's Calvin Trillin stops by Lexington for the best Texas BBQ in the world.

A. Nelessen Associates and the Austin Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department will present a preliminary concept plan for the East Riverside Corridor on Tuesday, Nov. 18 from 6 to 8 pm at Baty Elementary School, 2101 Faro Drive. The presentation will include suggested new roadways, transportation changes including bike lanes and mass transit, open space, urban design enhancements and land use and development scenarios.

Austin may soon cut a policy that gives away a scarce resource to the lucky few: downtown street parking, which is free to those lucky enough to find a spot after 5:30 pm and on the weekends. In connection with the plan to install a new type of parking meter, free times may be cut, perhaps to after 8:30 pm and on Sundays. People park then too, but charging at night might incur the wrath of angry boozehounds and charging on Sundays might incur the wrath of God (or at least the wrath of downtown churches).

• Turnabout is fair play.
• Bobby Jindal states the obvious.
• Bond kicks some box office butt.

The dozen or so speakers at the rally, including representatives from Equality Texas and "straights for gays" alliance Atticus Circle, supplanted vitriol with grace and tact. Instead of an angry backlash against those who supported California's Prop 8, the focus was on family, respect, and the need for our entire community, regardless of sexual orientation, to demonstrate to others that the only "gay agenda" at hand is, simply and genuinely, to be granted the right to love.

In Texas, at least nine cities are participating in this unified effort, and, though we're missing from the map on the left, Austin's looks like it's going to be huge.

• Hillary Clinton, possible Secretary of State, what?
• Sarah Palin can't quit Joe the Plumber.
• Automaker bailout chances dwindling.

City Manager Ott chooses Rhoda Mae Kerr (currently of Little Rock FD) as the next fire chief. Once approved by the council, she would be the first female fire chief in Austin history. APD on the lookout for the suspect in a stabbing on West Campus that happened Sunday. Yesterday UT staff and faculty rallied for domestic partnership benefits. Bye bye, old-school downtown parking meters? This farewell article brought back childhood memories of seeing Ralph the Swimming Pig at Aquarena Springs. Dear Cyclist with the Cat on Your Back...

Michele Norris, host of NPR's All Things Considered, will be in town next week. The Mary Alice Distinguished Lectureship, William Randolph Hearst Endowment for Visiting Professionals and the School of Journalism at UT Austin are sponsoring her lecture titled "Listening to America in an Election Year: Did the Press Get it Right?" Her lecture next Thursday is free and open to the public.

For such a self-touted "oasis of blue," Austin still has its fair share of folks of a decidedly more conservative persuasion, which is why we weren't terribly surprised to learn (via our twitter friends—follow us @austinist!) that at least twenty Austinites voted with their pocketbooks in favor of passing Prop 8. Chief among them is a rising star at Dell (and newly-minted local Google search phrase), who contributed an astounding $25,000 to ensure that marriage was wrested away from the cloven hooves of heathen homosexuals and safely cloistered with the breeding half. Perhaps this Marketing Manager and his hatemongering brohams, as the joke in the Austinist office goes, were so disappointed by their own nuptials that they meant to spare the rest of us the misery. Hard to say.

• Strayhorn looks to run for mayor (again) in 2009.
• She will just not shut up and go away.
• Group calls for cleaner Austin festivals.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is suing Darque Tan owner Robbie Segler and his affiliates for false marketing claims stating that searing your flesh with carcinogenic light bulbs is actually good for you and can reduce your risks of some cancers. In a follow up to a story that originally broke in May, Darque Tan’s marketing material in both print and online video ads suggests that their tanning beds increase Vitamin D levels in the body, thereby reducing customers’ risks of contracting cancer. The state is arguing that those claims violate the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Texas Health and Safety Code which prohibits tanning salons from saying that their tanning devices provide any benefits of the health or medical variety. The FDA has not approved tanning beds as a way to reduce cancer risks or absorb more Vitamin D. Any advertising claims that state otherwise are considered false and in violation of the law.

• Judge clears way for gay marriages in Connecticut
• US House votes next week on a plan to prop up the automobile industry
• New mortgage programs may help some troubled borrowers, but they won't restart the housing market

Two bills submitted to the state Lege by Republican lawmakers would require doctors to show ultrasounds to women about to get abortions, and would have the doctor play the audio of the baby's heartbeat. Another bill submitted to the Legislature would re-regulate tuition increases at state schools. Middle-schooler's mom takes complaint on TTYL to the Round Rock School Board. It seems the Dallas reunion this weekend at Southfork stunk; people are blaming the Austin-based event organizer. Grapevine pastor asks married couples (and only them) to have sex once a day for a week. Houston man breaks through sheetrock in vacant apartment's wall to stab woman living in neighboring apartment.

• Obama asks for help for auto industry; we get pictures of Bush/Obama walk-and-talk.
• The American South: marginalized again.
• Obama to have an office of urban policy.

Domestic disturbance in Dripping Springs trailer park leads to SWAT standoff with one death. 22 Bastrop students and their bus driver sent to the hospital after the vehicle drove off the road and into a barbed wire fence this morning. Austin sex offender arrested after not staying at home on Halloween. About half of those who were pulled over on "No Refusal Weekend" had over 2 times the legal amount of alcohol in their systems. If you ride the bus, you likely already know, but the CapMetro strike is over. Really, the headline says it all. Lame duck George W. Bush will give the December commencement speech at A&M.

Seeing as how we didn't get the kicky flying cars or space-age food pills we were promised, this sounds kind of nice. This just in: Someone thinks Rush Limbaugh peddling 'Shameless Lies.' The turnaround begins. President-elect snubs Fox News. It's a bit like Mean Girls. Sweet. Suffocation aboard Russian nuclear submarine enters long list of not-fun ways to go. The numbers game: some Democrats not that mad at Lieberman. Spitzer gets off again.

Drunk man with truckload of guns arrested at Hays High School. More details released on what led to the cops closing down a section of Windsor Park yesterday. CapMetro strike negotiations resumed today. Distillery shed "a total loss" after explosion in Dripping Springs this morning. State Rep. Kino Flores under criminal investigation for sketchy travel deals.

• 24 hours after being elected, Obama faces a threat from Russia, a warning from Israel... and an armed guard to go to the gym.
• President-elect Obama to hold press conference this afternoon after meeting with his Transition Economic Advisory Board.
• Unemployment rate at 14-year high after big October losses.

Burnette, self-described as being "very conservative" in his beliefs, was so confounded by Obama's victory on Tuesday night that he immediately logged on to Facebook and updated his status with his take on the results. His stance?

• Oh, snap!
• Oh, snap! (Part Two)
• How much did it cost to create the CNN hologram?

Cornyn wins a second term in the US Senate. Seriously. Will Craddick keep his gavel? Governor's mansion is ready for restoration now. Tomorrow the city is expected to settle the lawsuit with Kevin Brown's family. Some drivers are crossing the CapMetro picket line. It's that time of year again: city workers today began setting up the Zilker Tree of Lights. Improvements to Zilker Park begin in January.

• Texas statewide turnout of voters in 2008, in millions: 13.6 8.0
• Turnout in 2004, in millions: 7.4
• Margin by which McCain won Texas in 2008: 11.8%
• Margin by which Bush won Texas in 2004: 24% [info]
• Margin by which Obama won Travis County: 30%
• Other major counties in Texas that Obama won: Dallas, Harris (Houston), Bexar (San Antonio) [info]
• Number of these counties that Kerry won in 2004: 0
• Margin by which Proposition 2, which sought to prevent the city from giving tax incentives to retail developments, failed: 4% [info]
• Number of Republicans holding office in Travis County after last night: 1 [info]
• Number of net seats won by Democrats in the Texas State Legislature: 3 [info]
• Net ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the Texas House of Representatives after last night: 74:76
• Number of votes by which California's Prop 8, which sought to discriminate against gay marriage, won, in millions: 0.4 [info]
• Estimated number of absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted in California, in millions: 4 [info]
• Number of "Special Election Edition" papers the Austin American-Statesman is printing: 10,000

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1091, the union that represents many Capital Metro bus operators and mechanics, went on strike this morning. Talks are expected to resume on Friday. Buses are operating on a reduced schedule. UT shuttle routes will not be affected.

• Relive Obama's speech last night with video and transcript
• Thousands jam Chicago's Grant Park for victory celebration
• How did he do it? Journey to the presidency marked by organization, discipline

We're just sayin', but the scenes being played out on TV stations around the country are not unlike the end sequence in Return of the Jedi.

Now that you have voted (and picked up your freebies rewarding you for participating in our democratic process), perhaps you are wondering where you can watch the election results with people of like mind. Here are some options for you:

It's all going to go down much faster than you might think (well, hopefully). Everywhere, everywhere! Well, now, wasn't this convenient! Chicago really might be the place to be tonight. Japanese Obamatown is set to celebrate. Expanding ozone hole reminds us of how much this election matters (does Palin believe in ozone holes? Doubtful). Acorn's not alone.

Obama's grandmother died this morning of cancer. Travis County projects 80% voter turnout for the election (50% of registered voters already voted early). Public Safety Task Force met today to discuss crime statistics and red light cameras. Scalpers scammed 500 fans with counterfeit tickets to the UT-Tech game Saturday night. Robert A. Caro wins the Bookend Award at the Texas Book Festival this past weekend. "Watch the early vote totals. They likely will tell you whether Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain will carry Texas and by how much." Woman in camper at Texas Motor Speedway hit by stray bullet.

The Downtown Austin Alliance has announced three winners in its bike rack design contest. The chosen racks were submitted by Ann Armstrong, Ben Harman and Kezia and Tom Simister. They will be installed at 401, 600 and 816 Congress Avenue. The winning designers are in the process of meeting with the DAA and working with the fabricators. Installation of the final racks is expected to happen next spring.