News: October 2009 Archives

Imagine sitting in prison for a crime you did not commit. Then, ten years into a life sentence, another prisoner confesses, names an accomplice and signs an affidavit. That should be enough to get you out of jail, right? That is not how the system works. In fact, that confession might not matter at all. Two Texas prisoners, however, had the Actual Innocence Clinic in Austin and UT Arlington's Innocence Network dig into their case. They found that affidavit in 2007.

"[Lippincott] stormed into the salon in the middle of business hours, yelling, 'Get out!' at salon employees, and shouting, 'You are trespassing! This business is closed!' Employees were then told to gather their personal belongings and vacate the salon immediately, at which point the doors were locked for good."

• Mayor Leffingwell announces his downtown plan. (PS - No mention of condos!)
• Five arrested in alleged gang rape at homecoming dance in California.
• Get ready for ski season!

• Dallas Police Dept. tackles teen prostitution by looking for teen runaways. The result: "guilty pleas from over 90 percent of the pimps arrested."
• Yikes! Paul Saucido, host of ME TV’s show “Sonido Boombox” has been arrested on charges of sexual assault.
• Yikes! San Antonio teacher charged with sexual assault, after he allegedly created a “secret society” and used the Bible to convince underage girls to have sex with him.

• Militants bomb Pakistan market hours after Clinton arrives in country
• Gunmen storm guest house, kill UN workers in Afghanistan
• San Francisco's Bay Bridge closed indefinitely due to fallen debris

Customers hoping to get dolled up were instead greeted by a darkened storefront outside Ann Kelso Salon on Monday, as the shop was locked by property owners for failing to pay rent.

• In case you didn't hear...public option lives to see another day.
• Recession is "over"...but job losses continue, so who cares?
• Sobering words from a Foreign Service officer who is resigning because of the Afghanistan war.

• Is this a workers’ comp injury? Dude badly cut himself while allegedly breaking into “Big Bang Custom Paint and Body” in Killeen. He was arrested after he got out of the hospital!
• This reads more like an action-movie plot than a headline: “Vehicle crashes into home, hits baby. Baby expected to be OK.”
• Dallas-area church really wanted 18 cohabiting couples to get hitched…so they footed the bill for a big wedding! The wedding was part of a lecture series called, "The Real Flava of Love."

• 16 Americans dead in Afghanistan helicopter crash
• NY Times: Iraqi blast toll worse than feared
• 800,000,000,000,000 pennies in those healthcare couch cushions?

• McCain moves to block FCC net neutrality.
• Still no word from Iran on proposed nuclear deal.
• North Korean leader Kim Jong Il makes summit offer to South Korea.

• This may explain why the Fail Whale keeps appearing this week.
• Al Franken schools Right-Wing Health Care Analyst.
• About time: Treasury to order bailed-out banks to cut executive pay in half.

• Teacher who was killed in his classroom in Tyler had previous concerns about the student who stabbed him.
• Oops! The State of Texas invested with Madoff!
• Emaciated toddler found in Houston. Child Protective Services had previously investigated his mother, but no charges were filed in the earlier investigation.

• University of Texas getting Cronkite's papers and photographs
• Leslie's condition continues to improve; now at rehab hospital
• Underworld in shock as hitman quits Mafia and tells court he's gay

Building A Healthier Austin- Tonight! Time: 7.00-9.00 pm Location: The Independent- 501 Studios @ East 5th and Brushy. Extra's: It's free and open to the public. Local, organic appetizers will be kindly offered by East Side Showroom and free beer will also be provided. The design of our public spaces, the layout of our streets, the distribution and condition of our schools and the availability of affordable housing impact the well-being and economic health of all Austinites? Really? Our urban environment is more than a visual backdrop for our lives— it creates opportunities for where and how we work, learn, gather, commute, eat, and play. By promoting opportunities for healthy everyday living our community can ultimately impact the greater well-being of Austin. Join us tonight at 7.00 pm for a panel discussion that will feature short presentations of visions for a healthier urban future for Austin from six leaders in the community on critical issues such as food access and community agriculture, affordable housing, youth environmental education, alternative transportation, playgrounds and urban connectivity, and access to health care. These presentations will be followed by a discussion of how to implement these visions for a healthy future, and how citizens can advocate and support their visions by getting involved in Austin's current comprehensive planning process.

• Afghan election will happen all over again.
• Attn politicians: Most Americans STILL support the public option.
• Pakistani university gets hit hard.

• Obama offering "incentives" to Sudan
• Flow of Western terrorist recruits increasing
• Administration: Stimulus saving education jobs...

• Interracial couple in Louisiana denied marriage license.
• Bank of America loses $2.24B as loan losses rise.
• Bomb kills 4 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

• Tip on how to get along in life if you are a criminal: Do not fire your replica gun in a police officer’s face. He’ll just have to take you into custody.
• Ewwww, ick! It’s not even Halloween, yet a Houston man was found asleep inside a closet, with a corpse next to him! The corpse may have also been treated "in an offensive manner."
• Being a billionaire won’t keep you out of fights while you are in prison.

The two were discussing the ongoing Zilker Park mud issue when O'Keefe made a suggestion along the lines of, "Why don't they just go hire some wet vacs at Home Depot?"

A month after Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998, New York’s Tectonic Theater Project trekked down there and conducted interviews with hundreds of locals—including those close to the family of the victim and perpetrators—to try and understand why such a horrific hate crime could have occurred. The result was The Laramie Project, a jarring, heartrending play that interspersed dozens of those interviews with journal entries from Tectonic members. Fast forward, ten years later: The Laramie Project became something of a national phenomenon, easily one of the most performed productions of the past decade. HBO even made a film adaptation of it in 2002, starring Laura Linney, Peter Fonda, and Steve Buscemi.

• Health care bill one step closer to reality after passing Senate finance committee
• Retail sales fall after a surge in the previous month, but the drop is smaller than expected
• People magazine features first photo of Jaycee Dugard after her kidnapping

A public vigil for Leslie Cochran has been planned for this evening, starting at 7 p.m, at the driveway of Brackenridge Hospital (Red River between 12th and 15th Street). Various news outlets have conflicting updates on his health—News 8 Austin claims that he has no signs of brain activity, but KXAN reports speaking to a family member who said, "He is improving, and he will probably have to go into some kind of living facility. He won’t be able to live on his own ... but he is going to survive, he is improving. They don’t ever think he’ll be able to live on the streets again."

• Come on, Olympia Snowe. Come into the light.
• US and Russia to Iran: How dare you have nuclear weapons? That's our game!
• Coal plants working towards cleaner air, polluting the water instead.

A Guatemalan man alleges he was held captive in an Austin apartment for the past year and forced to have sex with his kidnapper.

Moments after texting a colleague that he was about to "end it all," a student at UT leaped to his death from the seventh floor of a parking garage at 25th and Nueces earlier this afternoon.

• Irony alert: Governor Perry was against Texas accepting the stimulus package, but the nonprofit group he founded will still receive a stimulus grant!
• Tip: Take the meth out of your pockets before screaming for help while fighting an invisible foe. Trust us on this one.
• There was an early -Monday taping of the Oprah show at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. Check out this photo-set!

The Statesman has confirmed last week's sad news that Leslie Cochran, Austin's beloved cross-dressing celebrity, is in critical condition at Brackenridge.

The third Austin metro-area branch of Sprouts Farmers Market, at 2805 Bee Caves Road in Rollingwood/Westlake, opens this Friday. Like Austin-based Whole Foods and Central Market, the Arizona-based chain of stores differentiates itself by offering natural and organic foods. Its two other existing Austin metro-area locations, in Sunset Valley and Round Rock, opened earlier this year to strong buzz, and another store in the Great Hills area is slated to open next January.

• Civilian goals still unmet in Afghanistan
• Two Americans share Nobel economics prize; this is the first year a female has been awarded the prize for economics.
• Insurance industry advocacy group claims premiums will rise under healthcare reform

An errant malfunctioning power strip sparked a massive blaze this morning in the East Austin home of local band Bankrupt and the Borrowers. Founding member Jon Pettis died in the fire.

Local icon Leslie Cochran collapsed in downtown Austin last weekend, and is believed to still be at Brackenridge Hospital nearly a week later.

• President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.
• NASA's strike on moon worked, mission official says.
• House votes to expand hate crimes definition.

The venerable 117-year-old Waco Tribune-Herald, freshly sold to a local insurance mogul in July, debuted a guest column by the publisher's poodle on Sunday.

Michael Corcoran over at Austin360 managed to get his hands on the contract that C3 made with the city, revealing that the festival producers pay a little under an estimated $100k annually to rent out part of Zilker Park.

• New Zealand athlete finds a profitable way to pay for his Olympic debt.
• Now, even the camels are dying from drought.
• Perry complicates investigation into whether Texas executed an innocent man.

• Is it just us, or does a bank robber fleeing by bike—and making a clean getaway-- seem totally out of place in Houston? In the ATX, you might blend-in while riding a bike, but in H-town?
• Look at the 85 comments on this Statesman story on the closing of the Zilker lawn after ACL! This is an issue that Austin totally cares about!
• That Austin Chronicle cover-art of Bob Schneider is actually a self-portrait. Who knew?

What if you and your neighbors decided one day to turn your street into grassed- over park, replete with pony rides, an oompah band and vegetable gardens? When presented with such a possibility, most would laugh derisively or mention something along the lines of, ‘Have you lost you ever-loving mind?!’. In many respects, this is a completely reasonable reaction. Imagining the possible benefits of greening a street, prioritizing public life over cars through design or even conceptualizing how such a space might look or function is absurdly hard for anyone. For a car-centric culture, greening a street is such a radically different idea that many will reject it out of hand not because they don't like it but because it is so absolutely foreign it is impossible to evaluate; it doesn't match any of our traditional reference points for judging whether something is good or bad, whether it works or doesn't work.

• Acevedo acknowledges bias in police investigation into Sanders shooting
• Obama tells congressional leaders he has no plans to lower troop levels in Afghanistan
• Health secretary declares H1N1 vaccine safe; urges parents to take precautions

With October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Susan G Komen Foundation of Austin is kicking off its first annual "Pretty in Pink" fundraiser at Parkside this Thursday. From 8 to 11 p.m., enjoy pink cocktails, appetizers, the musical stylings of DJ Jeff Strange, and gift bag goodies. 80% of ticket sales go directly to the foundation's outreach and awareness efforts. You can get yours for $50 either online or by calling 512-474-9898. For a chance to win a pair of tickets, fill out the form after the jump!

Austin might lag slightly behind Dallas when it comes to popular cities where people would like to live, but when it comes to smarts, there's no comparison: a recent study by The Daily Beast ranks us as 12th most intelligent among major metropolitan areas.

• Obama confers about Afghanistan with a bipartisan group of legislators (because bipartisanship has been going so well for him lately...)
• Polanski loses bid to be released; court calls him a "flight risk."
• Why are we taking the word "climate" out of climate change legislation?

In yet another move to dismantle Enfatico, the $4.5 billion powerhouse agency created to handle all of Dell's marketing needs worldwide, several of the top executives on the creative side have been laid off.

• The New York Times blogs ACL.
• Cat fancier near Waco may have her home torn down because of the smell!
• This 97 year-old dude got a follow-up visit from the real estate lady who’d sold him his house…and she’d sold it to him in 1956! Talk about customer service!

With much of Zilker Park largely submerged under composted sewage sludge and yard trimmings, the city parks department has declared the Great Lawn off-limits through the rest of the month.

The FBI has opened an inquiry into Gov. Rick Perry's claims that his campaign website was hacked last week during a re-election announcement, according to the Associated Press.

• Three Americans share Nobel Prize for medicine
• Iran playing nice?
• Foreign frenemy policy: Obama delays meeting with Dalai Lama

Some local modern design geeks recently launched Hotel Metrohouse, a nifty alternative to hotels or couch surfing that allows people to rent out super modern, furnished houses.

A judge in Dallas and state Attorney General Greg Abbott are publicly butting heads over a potentially precedent-setting gay divorce case.

"We are forced to cancel our Austin City Limits performance and our pre-show at The Parish. We're so incredibly sorry but I'm afraid celebrities and sports are more important to some people. Fuck!"

The other ACL—the longstanding television program from which this weekend's music festival was spawned—was officially awarded its "historic rock and roll site" status by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday, and today they're hosting an open house to give the public a glimpse behind the scenes. For those who can't make it down there, check out the live stream from the panel above.

The Texas Tribune, a high-profile journalism startup, has received $750,000 in grant money from a pair of foundations.

For those hoping to avoid all of the pre-festival activities around downtown and looking for a dose of heady science (and really, who isn't?), UT Austin is hosting a special lecture by American mathematician Jeffrey Weeks, entitled 'The Shape of Space."