Reason the power was out in East Austin Wednesday afternoon: a copper theft gone seriously wrong. The Cowboy Breakfast this morning kicked off the rodeo in town by providing a free breakfast to everyone there at 6am. Slightly reminiscent of "Daisy": Obama campaign unhappy with Hillary's new "Children" campaign ad. Clinton attends funeral of Dallas cop who died while serving in her motorcade. Huckabee makes campaign stop in Waco today. Show your voter registration card and ride the bus for free on election day....

Photo of Rick Noriega by Matt Wright on flickr After the muggy weekend, some Central Texas counties (not Travis) are under freeze warnings tonight. Today Rick Noriega officially launched his campaign against Cornyn for the Senate seat. Cedar Park police going after drivers who skip out on paying 183A tolls. House State Affairs Committee to review TxDOT's "Keep Texas Moving" ad campaign. Gov. Perry is now heading up the Republican Governor's Association. AT&T is leaving......

Power lines by Frenzied Vole on flickr"Texans have shown little interest in nine billion dollars worth of initiatives." Have you voted yet? Sorry, Ice Bats. Cedar Park has another team in mind for their arena-to-be. Upcoming 2008 state anti-pollution law is causing problems already; if TCEQ is too lax on coal/power plants, cities and school districts stand to lose a lot of money. Fed Chairman gave speech in San Antonio today. This morning a suspect......

Texas Parks and Wildlife Expo takes place this weekend. Shuttles will be running from Highland Mall to TPW headquarters on Smith School Rd. Canyon Lake Gorge, formed in 2002 floods, will open for guided tours tomorrow. The next two months' tours are already full. Archeological conservancy v. Cedar Park family: who owns land where Ice Age woman was found in 1982? Some TYC employees, including quality monitors, were fired after deplorable conditions were discovered......

The Spicewood bar where an Austin Police commander and her husband, also an officer, were drinking before dying in a motorcycle crash was shut down by the TABC Today was the 41st anniversary of the UT Tower shootings Six cases of human West Nile Virus have been reported in Texas this year After the scandal earlier this year where UT's financial aid chief Lawrence Burt had improper dealings with a student loan company, the......

Cedar Park, Pflugerville and Round Rock placed among Forbes magazine's fifty fastest growing suburbs in the United States from 2000-2006. Among the many Texas cities on the list, Round Rock was 12th, Pflugerville was 7th and Cedar Park was 3rd. Forbes discussed some of the tradeoffs of unregulated suburban sprawl: low housing costs, but high transportation costs - providing the example that in Houston, transportation costs are the No. 1 household expense, according to......

The fourth annual Texas 4000 for Cancer bike ride will kick off this weekend. Actually, it's less of a "ride" and more of a "trek." The 44-member cycling team, mostly made up of UT students, will cycle from Austin all the way to Anchorage, Alaska (that's 4,500 miles!) to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It's the longest annual charity bicycle ride in the world, and it kicks off this afternoon from the UT......

Earlier this month, Hays County voters rejected a $172 million bond proposal for road expansion. Voters probably aren't concerned about the cost - TXDOT had promised to reimburse the county for $133 million of the $172 million. Instead, Hays County voters appear to be rightfully concerned about induced traffic and a bunch of giant roads mucking up their countryside (both directly and through the strip malls, tract-home suburbs and office parks that are attracted to......

One can certainly gauge the amount of fun happening in Austin by the number of Missed Connections on Craigslist. If the sheer number of posts this past week is any indication then everyone was certainly living it up last week. For us that means more work, for you it means much better reading. We've combed the depths of last week's Missed Connections to find the best just for you... Did anyone see me yesterday?......

The first section of the new toll roads have opened north and east of Pflugerville. They consist of "SH130" which runs north/south east of Pflugerville and will eventually run south all the way to 183 (east of the airport), and extension of MoPac to the north, and "45N" which runs east/west and connects SH130 to I-35 and the MoPac extension, and will eventually connect to 183 near Cedar Park. If you prefer your information......

Earlier this month (see our post), a young Cedar Park boy ate nine LSD-laced Sweettarts while his mother was partying. Upon his release from the hospital over a week ago, he was not returned to his family. The three-year-old was put in foster care and after a custody hearing yesterday will remain in foster care for the time being. His mother has been charged with child endangerment and abandonment, but his father (who is......

It’s been a bad week or so for Austin parents. First one sues MySpace after her daughter went on a date with a man who eventually molested her. Now, this. A Cedar Park mother took her three year-old child to a party in north Austin over the weekend and apparently lost site of her kid for a few minutes. Harmless, right? In the company of other responsible adults, right? Not so much. The poor child......

Austin Earth Month continues this weekend with Austin Nature Day, a "celebration of the beauty, vitality, and diversity of natural resources that contribute to our high quality of life." All around town tomorrow, over twenty local eco-conscious and/or cultural organizations have set up various events -- and, holy crap, there's a lot going on! Some of the events that we think you outta check out include the Xeriscape Garden Tour (Umlauf Sculpture Garden, 3:30pm-4pm), Westside......

Still developing: A woman's body was found in the road in East Austin this morning. Forgione's plan (that we mentioned in January) is rolling along: school officials are looking into turning Porter Middle School into a leadership academy for gals. Cedar Park is picking up more development, including some along what will soon be toll road. Yes, the crisis in Sudan is still going on (and getting worse). The Archbishop of Canterbury is visiting......

Just because this year’s Freescale marathon has come and gone doesn’t mean the running season is over. In fact, this weekend is packed with races for runners of all levels of masochism skill. The 5th Annual Bagelfest 5K starts at 8 a.m. this Sunday and promises to be a great run, albeit a veritable nightmare for Atkins dieters. This race is known for its abundant spread of bagels available to all runners, as well......

At a press conference held today, the Austin Icebats stated that they will be staying in Austin as they continue to look for a more permanent home. As you may recall, the team and the city of Cedar Park had an on-again, off-again relationship for a while. Now, they've apparently reached some form of agreement, and the Ice Bats have temporarily returned home while they look for a bigger place. In a joint announcement......

*UPDATE: The Amber Alert has been called off after Ms. Olvera called police and informed them she would be coming in to talk to them about the incident. Good for you, Jessica. There has been no confirmation of the rumor that Jessica was at Planet K.* An Amber Alert has been issued for a missing Cedar Park sixteen year-old, Jessica Olvera. Her ex-boyfriend Daniel Andrade Jr. is thought to have abducted her around 9:30pm......

: : FRIDAY : : [music] Veruca Salt, The Lovemakers and Porcelain @ La Zona Rosa [birthdayparty] Austin Metrobloggers turn one, 5:30pm @ Casino El Camino [music] South San Gabriel, The Glass Family and My Education @ Emo's [film/comedy] The Sinus Show presents "The Lost Boys," 7pm & 9:45pm @ the Drafthouse Downtown also Saturday [music] Blue October w/ Wideawake and iSOLA @ Stubb's [booksigning] Michael Corcoran signs "All Over the Map", with a......

Austinist finds something indelibly charming about old steam locomotives. Whether cruising along the French Riviera, jaunting across the vast Australian outback, or trekking along the American Southwest, we've always found them mysteriously soothing, relaxing, and, simply put - our ideal mode of transportation when schedule permits. Perhaps it's the rhythmic droning of the wheels on the tracks, or the plushly upholstered wood-paneled lounge cars where we've always conversed with the most fascinating travelers, or......

Austinist despises drunk drivers. But we rest easier knowing that Austin's police force is out on the streets, actively patrolling for scumbag DUI'ers. That is, when they're not hammered themselves. Last week, Cedar Park cops were surprised to catch one of their own - off-duty Austin police officer Daniel Armstrong - visibly drunk in his Ford F-150. In a post office parking lot. As Armstrong wasn't on the road when he was caught, he......

Austin in Action is a little known (at least to us) organization that is aimed at helping busy people make friends, get outdoors, and contribute to the community through a series of on-going social events. Tonight they are having a BYOB Wine Tasting Party out in Cedar Park. Non-Members are welcome. 7:30 PM-10:00 PM (1807 Jojoba Drive) If this type of event goes well, we will do them often with different themes. This month's......