Another interview with our governor: he tells the Washington Post, "just because you're a liberal doesn't mean that you can't be loyal, trustworthy and kind and obedient." Good to know. Federal judge decides to suspend the law preventing groups from raising funds to lobby for the ouster of the Texas Speaker. Is Craddick soon to be outta here? Dukes campaign manager complains about Thompson's big donors; Dukes herself has received a chunk of change from GOP donor Bob Perry. Double homicide on East Sixth Street early this morning. Firefighters fighting garage fire in Northwest Austin this morning find a body inside....

We mentioned the plan a while ago, but it appears to have legs, so here we go again. Brewster is proposing creation of what he calls the "Austin Parking Enterprise." The city would partner with developers to own parking garages in buildings being developed. Initially, it would operate the Seaholm garage and any in the Green Water Treatment Plant redevelopment. We're scared that this proposal will mean more parking gets built, making downtown more car-centric and pedestrian-unfriendly than it already is. According to the proposed policies, the Parking Enterprise "should seek to maximize the availability of public parking" and "may finance more parking spaces than are required for an associated private development."...

Zookeeper is the perfect nom d’arte for Chris Simpson. Technically Zookeeper is a band, a group effort, but Simpson is the one constant. He acts as frontman and ringleader for a pack of ragamuffin rockers associated with projects like Bishop Allen, Zykos, The Glass Family, 1986 and Sad Accordions. And Simpson knows how to write songs that capitalize on this unique amalgamation of talent. Zookeeper is more into performing than practicing, which makes each show a distinct and fantastic musical circus....

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......

Photo by Matt Wright on flickr Sunday morning, a Cap Metro passenger was stabbed by another rider with a screwdriver. Gas line break off of Riverside this afternoon is being repaired. Cold front on its way tonight? Habitat for Humanity of Williamson County is starting its first Women Build in February. Even though Tejano music is popular among locals, it has been overtaken on the airwaves by Norteño. Shady fliers telling people to vote this......

Senator Barack Obama is coming back to Austin in November. This time around, you'll have to show a little monetary support if you'd like to hear what he has to say—judging from his rousing speech at Auditorium Shores last February, it'll probably be worth it. The charismatic statesman still trails behind Clinton in the national polls, but a recent survey indicates that "rock star" Obama has garnered the most positive press. Tickets are $25 for......

Brewster McCracken is pushing city council to create a program to build more parking garages downtown. There are already a lot of parking garages downtown, and every new development includes several floors of parking, but it is often not profitable to open these garages to the public. Similarly, it doesn't make economic sense for developers to build public parking garages. According to the Statesman, McCracken estimates that the proposed Seaholm garage would cost $3.78......

Red light cameras (the traffic cameras that capture instant images of cars who run red lights) are catching on, it seems. Round Rock is now planning to join the other Texas cities that use the devices, once the city decides which vendor to use and which intersections need them most. It is very likely that, once approved, a camera will be placed at the intersection of Greenlawn Blvd and Louis Henna Blvd. During a......

One of the country's biggest private mortgage companies goes belly-up, leaving 120 Austinites newly jobless The Texas Department of Transportation releases a list of over 2,000 "structurally deficient" bridges across the state, with 10 in Travis County Nicole and Jeffrey Rank of Corpus Christi are awarded $80k after being wrongfully arrested at a Bush rally in 2004 Tax-free holiday weekend starts on Friday Whole Foods gets the go-ahead to buy out Wild Oats The......

For 2008, Capital Metro is planning to double bus fare for adult passengers from 50 cents to $1. Other fares would increase in proportion (students would have to pay 50 cents instead of 25 cents for local/rapid routes); the Dillo would remain free for everyone. In their informational brochure(.pdf), Capital Metro makes a point of saying that the current fares have been the same since 1985, while operational costs keep going up. Is this......

Austin ticket broker TicketCity.com has published a list of the top 25 hottest college football games of 2007, based on the average price per ticket, and two University of Texas games are on the list. The Longhorns' game with Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on October 6 is currently #8 (average ticket price $555), while the November 23 game with Texas A&M in College Station is #18 ($402). The face value of......

Newsweek ranks UT Austin as "Hottest for Saving America's Schools" A woman dies while tubing on the Blanco River Sunday night Keith Williams, 33, and Charkora Gentry, 31, attempt to steal brisket from an H-E-B, end up kicking a store employee in the back The good news: Karl Rove is resigning. The bad news: he's moving back to Texas. Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Central Texas are searching for a few good male mentors Former......

"If you want a young girl for sex, call this number," read the business cards passed out to potential customers. Austin police did just that, and discovered a human trafficking ring that forced illegal immigrant women to work as prostitutes in exchange for being smuggled into the country. After a year-long investigation and two undercover operations, police last Friday arrested Gustavo Gonzalez Luna, 50, and Javier Torres Cruz, 24, on charges of aggravated promotion of......

Austin and Round Rock bested nearly 400 metropolitan areas to be named the number one place for business in the country, according to results recently released by independent research firm Economy.com. Since 2001, Economy.com has published the Economic Vitality Index, a closely-watched ranking of the nation's largest metropolitan areas based on current economic conditions, future trends, and potential risks. The Index also takes into consideration such factors as employment growth (Austin's job market grew by......

LaGrange, Texas says 'good riddance' to Houston reporter whom they believe responsible for the closing of the infamous Chicken Ranch (aka Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) Austin ranks 13th among office building sales in the US, with transactions totaling $1.44 billion in the first half of 2007 alone Fire Department officials believe the fire at a Dollar General in North Austin was arson The Feds discover another massive marijuana field near Dallas Elsewhere in......

Mohawk, how we love thee. Let us count the ways ... With so many great shows and events, we don't know how you keep up. Yet on any given evening you offer us a great band, a film screening, secret and not-so-secret shows, a cheap drink, or simply a place to hang our hats before we trudge into the chaotic maw of the Red River District. Tearing up here, so we're gonna quit with......

Saturday night's alright for fighting, but Sunday night? Well, last night APD was called to the Pleasant Valley/Quicksilver Lane area in Southeast Austin after someone reported hearing gunshots. So they were on the scene when the driver of a pickup truck attempted to drive over a group of people, and then tried to run over some police officers. When the driver, Reynaldo Loredo Gonzalez, started towards the cops, he was fired at by a......

Downtown Austin played host to a minor car chase this past weekend, when a man who'd approached several people at gunpoint attempted to flee in his SUV. A some point around closing time early Saturday morning, a 9-1-1 caller alerted police that a man waving a gun had been hassling a group of folks in the Red River District, between Sixth and Seventh streets. Police later tried to flag down his Ford SUV after they......

In our ongoing efforts to make it as easy and intuitive for you folks to see just what's going on around town, today we're pleased to launch the newest version of our Weekly IST List. Instead of appearing on the front page with the rest of our daily articles, the Weekly IST List now has its own dedicated place on the site: you can access it through the navigation menu at the top, or......

Just like last year, Austin's in for another rainy July 4th. With Lake Travis still hovering around 700 feet above sea level and an estimated 2-4 inches of rain on the way, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is keeping all area lakes closed for boating, including Lake Austin and Town Lake. "Debris and high water from floodwaters make the lakes unsafe," reads the news bulletin post to LCRA's site this afternoon. "LCRA will......

Daron Shaw, a Government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, recently asked the question: Do Texans hold the same extreme opinions on certain hot-button issues as many of our state representatives and senators would have us believe? Are the polarizing stances on issues like, say, immigration, gay rights, abortion and religious expression taken by our state lawmakers actually reflective of the voters that they represent? Or are Texas politicians just creating fault lines......

Today, Governor Rick Perry officially recognized that when it comes to filmmaking, cash does indeed rule everything around us. After months of determined effort from the Texas Motion Picture Alliance, the Texas Film Commission, Rep. Dawnna Dukes and Sen. Bob Duell, Perry signed the dotted line on House Bill 1634, freeing up some $20 million in incentives to lure production crews--and the myriad jobs they generate--to the Lone Star State. The gaming industry also scores......

Several East Austin groups are asking the city to wait to implement the VMU ordinance until October 1. Their primary concern is that "East Austin is experiencing rampant gentrification ... and that the application of vertical mixed-use zoning will further speed the loss of affordable housing and locally-owned businesses." East Austin is certainly experiencing rampant gentrification. Property values (particularly in 78702) have risen faster than almost anywhere else in the city. However, VMU zoning......

A day after President Bush vetoed a bill that would have allocated $124 billion for the Iraq/Afghanistan war funds but required the total withdrawal of U.S. troops by March, hundreds of local grassroots organizations and individuals have mobilized to stage simultaneous protests across the country. At least a dozen different rallies will take place within a 300-mile radius of here. Austin Operation Democracy Council, the local MoveOn group, is staging its protest in front of......

Traffic this morning is as bad as it gets. Due to a fire at the Army testing lab, a bunch of escaped infected monkeys are roaming the expressway. Despite the sweltering heat, don't unroll your windows, 'cause those monkeys seem confused and irritable. In other news, Nick Paumgarten has an essay on commuting in this week's New Yorker. Some interesting stats: approximately one out of six American workers commutes more than forty-five minutes, each......

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, a woman was pulled over for failing to signal at a turn on Loyola Lane. A deputy noticed a joint in her hand while he was talking to her. He handcuffed her and put her in the back of his car while he talked to her passengers. As the deputy was chatting with them, the woman found a way to get to the steering wheel, and, still......

The generous excitement and anticipation that met the release of 2001’s The Wash was well warranted. A cameo by Eminem as “the crazy, homicidal white guy” was just the glistening cherry on top of a large, delicious sundae of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s combined raw talent, served in a sparkling, crystal bowl of DJ Pooh's writing and directing skills. It seemed an infallible recipe for success. In the end, the quality of the film's......

An man collapsed in a 6th Street bar and later died in a nearby hospital early Sunday morning, according to the Austin Police Department. Officers were investigating a disturbance at The Co-Op Bar, at 6th and Nueces, and talking to individuals involved when one of the men "passed out." After begin rushed to the hospital, the man--who remains anonymous pending notification of family members--was pronounced dead. Authorities are awaiting autopsy results before discussing the......

News Askew, the official news source of View Askew Productions, pointed us to the possibility of Kevin Smith hosting a Clerks double feature in Austin next month. Kevin gave a blatant hint on his message board last Friday, indicating that he would be showing a double feature of his Clerks franchise here this coming February. He's spoken quite fondly of both Austin and the Alamo Drafthouse in the past, so we certainly wouldn't put......

Our favorite posts by local bloggers for this first week of January: Wipeout celebrated New Year's at Emo's and has the photos to prove it. Ken (from Cheap Thoughts by Ken) tells about being towed next to DPS. I Blame the Patriarchy has Oprah all figured out. We agree with Diane Holloway. Why are people still watching Trump? We prefer to ignore him and hope he goes away. Ultra8201 looks forward to seeing The......