Texans want better roads but don't want to pay higher gas taxes or tolls for them, a recent poll shows (and we already assumed). Men's Health says Austin is the #7 best city for men to live. Georgetown makes This Old House's top-12 list of best cities to buy an old house. Police say the Austin hotel manager who is accused of sexually assaulting two boys showed the children threatening photos in an attempt to keep them quiet. Cottondale man duct-tapes his stepdaughter to a tree (with tape over her mouth), says they were "playing". Sunset Advisory Commission thinks DPS needs a management overhaul. Secret proceedings taking place under tight security while the grand jury (possibly) looks into alleged sexual abuse at the Eldorado FLDS compound....

Central Texas truck dealers trying to come up with enticing deals to move the vehicles off the lot. State police guarding the home of state District Judge Barbara Walther after Arizona and Utah authorities warn of FLDS "enforcers". Judge says that Billy Carroll needs to provide his own attorney because he can't prove that he doesn't have access to funds. Four homebuilders to pay fines after EPA goes after them for failing to control runoff from construction sites; Texas will receive part of the settlement. Employee killed at Houston chemical plant explosion this morning. And Texas goes back to executing felons after a nine-month halt....

TxDOT is using eco-friendly asphalt to repave SH71. Sunset Advisory Commission finds that TxDOT "could not be an effective state transportation agency if trust and confidence were not restored." Obama aide tries to keep the current vice-chair of the Texas Dems from running for chair of the state party at convention this weekend? FLDS says they will no longer marry off underage girls to older men in the sect. Killeen's trash may be on its way to Hutto. ...

Austin places #6 on Kiplinger's 10 Best Cities (Houston is #1). Suspect on the run after shooting someone in Southeast Austin yesterday afternoon. Early voting for the city council runoff starts today. Round Rock Roller Rink going out of business. FLDS kids on their way back to their families....

Police have filed new charges against Billy Dan Caroll, who kept videotapes of his sexual assault of women and girls. The ex-boyfriend of Deysi Gonzalez Hernandez has been charged in connection with her murder. He allegedly told a friend, "I was drunk and I killed her because she made me mad." Test scores were up this year, but that may not save Johnston High. Some of the FLDS kids can go back to their parents starting on Monday, judge in San Angelo says. "He's a very disappointed person in that he knew what could have been and what can be," Carole Keeton-Strayhorn says of her son, Scott McClellan. ...

Students at Clayton Elementary win national math championship. Pedestrian dies after being hit by two cars (neither of which stopped) last night near Riverside and Montopolis. The shoe with human remains found this weekend near Lake Travis matches one found a mile away in 2007. Chief fires fireman who chose to pick up food from a restaurant before responding to a respiratory distress call. A New York state judge rules that Dell engaged in false advertising practices....

Former convention center director pleads guilty to tampering with governmental records. State Board of Education deciding on English curriculum in a difficult and somewhat hostile process. Baseball player traded to Laredo minor league team for ten bats. Yes, you read that correctly. CPS is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn yesterday's ruling by the Third Court of Appeals on the removal of the children from the FLDS compound. Williamson County developers are funny....

Red light cameras start working at midnight. Of the more than 7,000 AISD employees whose background was checked, 652 have criminal records. The City Council voted today to ban plastic water bottle purchases by City Hall. CPS workers barred from entering FLDS property near Eldorado. And the Third Court of Appeals ruled today that the state had no right to remove the kids from the FLDS sect....

The Texas House is looking at ways to curb "ghost voting". Hutto residents speak out against the proposal to set up high-voltage transmission lines through the town. At least ten of the "girls" removed from the FLDS sect are really adult women; officials have been told that there may still be some children at the YFZ compound. Preliminary autopsy results are inconclusive for Raymond Moxley (the 81-year-old with 50 bee stings); officials think the toxicology results will provide them with answers. Nuclear waste will soon be on its way to West Texas, and some New Mexico residents aren't happy about it....

Professional basketball players are real people too: after their victory, the Spurs had to spend last night at the New Orleans airport. Area home sales were down last month (for the tenth month in a row). Former Georgetown police officer sentenced to two years in jail for sexual assault. State senate committee discussing the costs of the Eldorado FLDS raid....

The hearing on LULAC's suit against the TDP cancelled; judge says, "numerous gallons of $4.00 a gallon gasoline would be expended for a significant number of persons to appear with the result being an oral presentation of already written arguments." Fortune names Georgetown the #2 place in the nation to live and set up business. Austin Symphony Orchestra receives grant from NEA to fund the season-opening work by Theofanidis. Hearings started today regarding the custody of the children from the FLDS sect. Loss of controversial Texan campaign staffer Loeffler could hurt McCain's fundraising ability....

Owner of the Salt Lick going forward with his plans to develop the area surrounding the restaurant, 215 acres of which will remain green space. Shooting at a Decker Lane apartment complex this afternoon leaves one man in the ICU; the shooter is on the run (as of this writing). US District Court in Austin hearing case of a KBR worker found in possession of child porn while in Iraq. Twenty-something who didn't signal his turn was arrested while driving in Melissa over the weekend....

First the traffic cams, now this: Chief Acevedo wants surveillance cameras on high-crime zones. Rep. Krusee from Round Rock, who fought for harsher DWI laws, was arrested last night on DWI charges. Blame a water main break on why you were stuck in traffic this morning near Lavaca and Fifth. American Lung Association gives our city a D for ozone pollution....

Perry names two (including his former chief of staff) to the Texas Transportation Commission. Authorities say some boys from the FLDS compound may have been sexually abused there. Four people died in a head-on collision near Bastrop last night. 21-year-old man tries to get a Ft. Worth bank to cash a $360 billion check that a) was forged (obvs) and b) not even made out to him....

UT student charged with making a terroristic threat after telling a pal he wanted to hit the campus "Virginia Tech style." Postal worker upset over loose dogs in his neighborhood leaves a Chihuahua on the Irving mayor's doorstep over the weekend. One of the teenage girls from the FLDS sect is giving birth in San Marcos today. $3 million worth of pot found by Border Patrol in El Paso as the driver attempted to truck it into the States in a shipping container....

State officials say that over half the teenage girls removed from the Eldorado FLDS compound are either pregnant or already have children. FLDS sect leader sends a letter asking Perry to block judge's order keeping kids away from the compound. 2 former Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat members will serve time in jail after the death of Tyler Cross in 2006 brought to light the hazing going on in their fraternity. Two other former members were put on probation....

Former Austin State Rep. and Texas Railroad Commissioner Lena Guerrero dies; she was only 50. Randi Shade complains about incumbent Councilmember Jennifer Kim's spending of tax dollars. Your phone bill may go down a little next year; the PUC is expected to lower the Texas' Universal Service Fund tax. Del Valle High School teacher suspended for hugging a student?...

Harvard scores papers related to Norman Mailer's sex life three years after the author sold his official archives to UT. Yo-Yo Ma will play with the Austin Symphony later this year; maybe some of the parking issues evident this Sunday will have been dealt with by then. Burnet Road Farmer's Market land for sale (again). Hope you didn't try to bribe a fake cop downtown earlier this month. Infant asphyxiation deaths at an increase this year in Travis County, Austin's Center for Child Protection reports....

Cabela's has to return $173,000 in local tax incentives after failing to meet job goals. After failing to update their billing system after annexations, Time Warner Cable owes the city over $1 million. Three armed robberies in three weeks on the UT campus; police think the robber may be targeting Asian students. Some of the kids removed from the FLDS sect will be placed in foster care in Austin....

Rep. Doggett broke his leg in a cycling accident over the weekend. City to provide shower and locker facilities for people who bike to work downtown? UT Center for American History awarded grant from National Park Service to go towards restoration of Stephen F. Austin documents....

Ethics Reform Commission hosting City Council candidate forum Thursday evening. UT student in trouble with campus police after bringing his gun on campus. Copperas Cove High School student suspended after answering a call from his dad (who is stationed in Iraq) between classes; the school doesn't allow cell phones. Richardson man arrested for traffic violation, mistakenly chosen from a lineup by victim of another crime and jailed for 23 years has been cleared by DNA evidence....

The South Texas Project - a nuclear energy facility containing two nuclear reactors - may be expanding soon. Why New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson chose to endorse Obama over Hillary. Interesting little expose piece on the polygamist farm out in West Texas. Yesterday, down Uruguay way, meat enthusiasts set the new world record for the largest amount of beef ever cooked at once. It was 26,400 pounds. Yeah. This is gonna be good. The......

McCallum High School student arrested after bringing gun and knives on campus. 18-wheeler drove into San Marcos River from IH35 this morning. Another reason not to live in Dallas: Dubya and Laura are moving back there. Schleicher County Sheriff tells why he didn't raid the FLDS compound earlier than last week. Storms (including some tornadoes) tear through West Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma....

Photo by slopjop on flickr More information has been released about some of the goings-on at the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) compound near Eldorado. A witness told authorities that beds at the "temple" there was used by older men to deflower their young (underage) brides. When authorities stormed the "temple", they discovered a bed in a dishevelled state, with a long hair therein. Found in the "temple annex" were......