Photo of Z. Bechtol from statesman.com Man found dead under car at a Round Rock Walgreens. Zenobia Bechtol, 14, has been missing since last night around 10pm. More than half of the state's school districts pass on the teacher merit pay plan. Smoking ban started today at some Central Texas hospitals. The two suspects who broke into McBrides earlier this week weren't after guns. State Rep. Dawnna Dukes receives a $10,000 donation from Bob Perry's......

The Grand Old Party nearly swept the statewide race yesterday, led by Governor Rick Perry, who after beating Democratic nominee Chris Bell and independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn may very well become the longest-serving Governor in Texas. In a press conference this morning, Perry was vague when addressing rumors of a possible vice presidential bid, merely saying it was "up to the good Lord." Bell, who posted yesterday in his blog......

If you vote for Rick Perry, and you’re not a Christian, you’re going to hell. At least according to the coiffed Governor of Texas. Not that we figured there to be a lot of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, agnostics or Sikhs voting for Perry, but, you know...just in case. Following a fire and brimstone sermon Sunday in San Antonio, Perry made it clear that iffin you aren’t saved, it’s H-E-double hockey sticks for you. "In my......

The war in Iraq is an unqualified mess, confidence in elected officials seems to be at a low and Republican leaders are scrambling trying to get some cover. Enter John Kerry. The former presidential candidate made a “botched joke” (his words, not ours) involving college students, the Iraqi quagmire and George Bush, and Republicans are taking the opportunity to turn the tables on the Democrats in hopes of generating some traction before next week’s mid-term......

What do you do if you have a shit ton of money and all of your taste is in your mouth? Well, if you're Governor Rick Perry, the answer is rip-off one of the most asinine advertising campaigns in recent memory to produce a xenophobic and homophobic slander of your opponent Chris Bell. Using voiceover and music approximating the horribly obnoxious Bud Lite Real Men of Genius ads, Perry and his band of communications fools......

President Bush and former President Clinton could be heading to Texas to stump on behalf Rick Perry and Chris Bell. Should Lance Armstrong do more to clean up his dirty little mess? Four ramps near State Highway 45N and I-35 interchange are to be closed this week in preparation for the opening of new connector ramps to SH 45. Iraqi leaders have agreed to develop a timetable for taking over security duties to protect......

A new group in Austin called W.O.R.D. (Women Organizing to Revive Democracy) is throwing a bash tomorrow evening in support of Chris Bell. The event will feature appearances by State Rep. Donna Howard, slam poet Genevieve Van Cleve, and Liz Carpenter’s Yellow Dog Democrat mask. The goal is to provide a place for local Democratic women to gather, learn more about Chris Bell, and hopefully rally behind him. So break out of your Perry-induced......

As the campaigns head to the wire, it's time for our batch of gubernatorial candidates to address the hot-button issues. With this political installment, let's see where the people who want to live in that big pretty house pictured above stand on dealing with sex crimes against children. Prison Sentences: All four Gubernatorial contenders (Kinky Friedman, Chris Bell, Rick Perry and Cougar Strayhorn) favor a mandatory minimum of 25 years to life for first-time violent......

Chris Bell recently received a $5 million donation commitment from Houston lawyer John O'Quinn. That oughta help. But what Bell knows would really help would be for Independent Kinky Friedman to bow out of the race, freeing up thousands of votes for the Democratic candidate. And he called the Jewish Cowboy yesterday to ask him to do just that. We imagine there are quite a few folks voting for Kinky who would normally vote......

The Mexican government last week sent a diplomatic note to Washington criticizing the plan for 700 miles of new fencing along the border and threatened to bring the dispute in front of the United Nations. Garbage, Recycling, and Yard Trimmings to slide one day so that Solid Waste Services (SWS) staff can attend the funeral services of a SWS employee who died in a traffic accident. Democratic gubernatorial Chris Bell has announced his support......

Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman recently stopped by the University of Texas, where he told students he would fight to legalize marijuana, add more National Guards to the border, and stand in favor of abortion rights. It seems that independent gubernatorial candidate Carol Cougar Keeton Strayhorn has been giving money to groups who oppose the very existence of Rick Perry and his policies. Libertarian gubernatorial candidate James Warner is planning on suing Belo Corporation......

That guy in the black cowboy outfit is Kinky Friedman, speaking to students yesterday morning at UT's The Union Ballroom. Outside The Union, students in support of Democrat Chris Bell protest the Kinkster's appearance.......

Independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Cougar Keeton Strayhorn thinks Perry should stop taking money from lobbyists, but apparently it's okay to take money from tax consultants. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell has officially launched his ad campaign and we hope it is larger-then-life. Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman sees no reason to apologize for a racist remark made during a stand-up act he gave 26 years ago. Finally the Democrats are pissed; unfortunately it is......

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell is calling for an increase in the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 an hour. Governor Rick Perry's re-election campaign has set its guns on Kinky, calling him a "flip-flopping politician." Kinky's camp responded by stating that he was offended by being called a politician. A representative of Chris Bell has called Kinky a "cokehead" and the Kinky camp responded by calling Bell "irrelevant." Sen. Arlen Spector's bill authorizing......

It appears that city council members are choosing to pursue a bike safety study rather than moving forward with an law requiring cyclists to wear a helmet. The five redrawn congressional districts are now open and ready for political mayhem with multiple candidates running for office in each district. Democratic goobernatorial candidate Chris Bell thinks that Rick Perry is catering to "polluters who write big campaign checks." In other completely unrelated news, a campaign......

Democratic goobernatorial candidate Chris Bell is demanding that Carole Keeton Cougar Rylander Strayhorn return $29,500 she received from members of the Zachry Family, which owns Zachry Construction Corp. Zachry Construction is involved in a partnership to develop the first phase of the Trans-Texas Corridor, which includes 4,000-plus miles of tollways. What bothers Bell is that this is the same project that Strayhorn has spoken out against publicly. In other Grandma Cougar news: Kinky wants......

We like Chris Bell; we really do. He's a (oxymoron alert - to preempt any comments from snarky readers) great lawyer and a proven civic leader with his heart in the right place. We'd love to see him win the governor's mansion. We really would. We miss the days when the big white house at 11th and Colorado was occupied by a Democrat. We even shed a little tear into our sour cream at Las......

We are saddened by the report that goober candidate Carole Cougar Keeton Strayhorn has decided to relinquish her fight to get her nickname on the Nov. ballot. Mrs. Cougar will always be a "grandma" in our eyes and probably in the eyes of her grandchildren. In other goober news: Democratic candidate Chris Bell is calling UberGoober Rick Perry out on his lack of efforts to fund our state parks. Texas ranks near the bottom......

An anti-tax group called Citizens Lowering Our Unfair Taxes ("CLOUT") has filed suit against state lawmakers alleging illegal spending of our tax dollars over the last 28 years. According to CLOUT, lawmakers use inflated budget numbers to overspend and this leads to Texans being overtaxed. Democratic goober nominee Chris Bell has reported that his campaign received a donation of $100,000 from Houston oilman A. Earl Swift. According to the Texas Ethics Commission for the......

Local: The U.S. Commerce Secretary recently met with local Austin business leaders in an effort to push Bush's platform to control illegal immigration. One concern facing business owners will be their ability to find skilled workers who can claim legal status. In other local news that we mentioned a while back: Your house may now be located in a flood plain. State: Democratic candidate for governor Chris Bell believes that the four-way race for......

For those who think Kinky Friedman is not serious about changing the face of politics as we know it in Texas, he's got news for you. His ideas about taking back government for the people and marginalizing special interest groups have taken form in his recently expressed platform. Some of his main ideas for "taking Texas back to its independent roots," include the following: publicly-financed political campaigns a two-year lobbying ban for state officeholders......

Turnout for the primaries hit about 10% according to the secretary of state's office. Gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell won the Democratic nomination, garnering 338,733 (64%) of the votes cast and Ricky Perry managed to claim the Republican nomination with 601,616 (84%) votes. For complete election results please visit the Travis County website. Kinky Friedman and Carole Strayhorn have until May 11th to get 45,540 signatures from registered voters who did not participate in the......

So it's a primary and you have no clue who's running. Do what we did; go to the League of Women Voters Austin Area site and get their Voter's Guide. We'll even go one step further because we love our readers: here's a direct link to the guide (.pdf). If you care about endorsements, here you go:Austin Chronicle's picks (include Chris Bell for Gov and Charlie Baird for district judge) Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus......

Early voting in the governor's race begins today and we think you need to stay home. Independent candidates Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn could benefit if voters don't participate in the March 7th primaries. The independent candidates need more than 45,000 petition signatures to make the November ballot and they must be from registered voters who did not vote in the Republican or Democratic primaries. For those who choose to early vote (see......

The Austin Lesbian/Gay Political Caucus (ALGPC), whose mission is to "unite and organize Austin-area LGBT citizens and our friends and supporters in political action against all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender expression," recently extended an opportunity to the Democratic candidates running in March's primary elections for ALGPC endorsement. Those seeking endorsements were asked to fill out a questionnaire, answering questions such as: Should you receive this endorsement, would you publicize......

Lt. Gov. Dewy announced that Feb. 14 will be the runoff election date in the House District 48 race. It will be Democrat Donna Howard against republican Ben Bentzin, and the blood will flow my friends. It's real; it's raw. It's the House District 48 showdown! The governor's race is already getting spicy! Independent candidate Carole Strayhorn says that she is against private school vouchers. In fact, Strayhorn has accused Gov. Ricky of dismantling......

Perry stopped in 12 cities last week in his push for re-election. At each stop he delivered his "proud of Texas" speech which usually consists of him reciting his past "accomplishments." I wonder how much the taxpayers were charged for three regular sessions and six special sessions to fix our still-broken, and unconstitutional school finance system. Come on people he doesn't even have an action figure made of him! In other news, it will......

Guess who is shy about having debates with challengers? Come on guess. You're right if you guessed Ricky Perry. Both Carole Keeton Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman have declared that they would debate Ricky anytime, anywhere. You hear that Ricky? We can hold the debates at your secret meeting place where your gang plots the end the world. Our two independent candidates have to collect 45,540 signatures from registered voters who didn't vote in either......

Well Ricky Perry has launched his "Proud of Texas" campaign tour, and we feel it's time to carve out the competition he faces. Perryheads say that Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn is his most potent rival. You may recall that she surprised folks recently by declaring that she is running as an independent. We're somewhat concerned that she misspelled her name on the candidate form, but we're pretty sure Ricky can't spell her name either.......

We are obviously mounted-up and riding high with the Kinky Friedman campaign for governor. (I mean, Why the Hell Not?) But we have the sneaking suspicion that this race will eventually come down to a battle between the two parties of the Establishment. With that said, the Democrats picked up a little bit of optimistic steam this morning as Chris Bell announced his candidacy for governor. In his announcement, Bell brought a breath of......