Obama to make a speech on race this morning which will address his pastor's none-too-politic comments on the subject. The Dalai Lama might "resign" if violence in Tibet keeps getting worse. News flash: US consumers are going to become fiscally responsible again! Oh man! The new New York guv has had affairs too! But at least this time, his wife got hers as well. ...

The good thing about Bush's State of the Union speech tonight: it will be his last! St. Austin's Church turns 100. Judge decides against landowners in Brownsville border fence dispute. This has us baffled: Harris County assistant district attorney sends out e-mail using "Canadian" as a racial slur....

Image from City of Austin Watershed Protection Dept. 108,000 gallons of wastewater drain into tributary to Harris Branch Creek, killing fish and possibly harming nearby residents who use well-water. Manhunt on for man who shot and killed someone during a card game in Bastrop this morning. Truck overturns in South Austin, takes power lines with it. Georgetown cop indicted for sexually assaulting a female in custody. Dawnna Dukes may have an opponent in her race......

As we move to the next square on the calendar you're still out there trying to make a connection. Sadly you let most of them slip by without saying a word. We understand, no one wants to be overzealous and get shot down. If only you had some place to find a second chance. Oh yes, Missed Connections. If only you had someone to sort through and find the best of the above. Oh,......

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan blames President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for efforts to mislead the public about the role of White House aides in leaking the identity of a CIA operative. Police Chief: "Missing Student Ignored Due to Race." A drunken man broke into a central London park and attempted to have sex with a fence: Daniel French, 24, made "sexual motions" towards metal railings in Leicester Square Gardens......

Sunday marks the tenth anniversary of Komen Austin Race for the Cure. With 24,000 attendees and a fundraising goal of over $1 million, this year’s event is expected to be the largest in the Austin's race history. Throughout the past ten years, 150,000 Austinites have raised more than $6 million dollars to support those affected by breast cancer in our community. Susan G. Komen for the Cure started as a promise between sisters back in......

Sugar Cane Alley, the third offering of the current Austin Film Society series Torn From the Motherland: Films from the African Diaspora, introduces us to a young boy named Jose who has grown up in the shanty towns of Martinique. Life in his village has been poor in material possessions, but rich with lessons. He has learned about race relations through his friendship with a child of mixed ethnicity, the bastard son of the Creole......

Robert Stikmanz, AKA Jackanapes Plenty, AKA fully human Austin author Robert Lewis, will appear in one of his many guises to preview his new book, Nod’s Way, at BookPeople this Saturday. Nod’s Way is part fantasy, part I Ching manual from another dimension, so if you have any burning questions that Dr. Laura or George Noory can’t answer, here’s your chance to consult a real live ancient oracle. Nod’s Way is a follow-up to Stikmanz’s......

Beirut The Flying Club Cup (4AD) Beirut is Zach Condon, and Zach Condon is right on time. His international folk through every instrument imaginable (except guitar) is rich with cultural consciousness and adventure and is just the reinvigoration the folk, indie, rock and whatever-music scenes need to get over their musical malaise. The resplendent and occasionally haunting sounds of the cello, accordion, violin, mandolin, piano, sax, clarinet, glockenspiel, flugelhorn, trumpet and more ukelele than you......

FACT: In 2007, there will be 181,510 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the U.S. alone. Of those diagnosed, nearly 41,000 will succumb to the disease. AWESOME FACT: When detected early, breast cancer has a 96% survival rate. This Wednesday, join Mayor Wynn and members of Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s Austin Affiliate to kick off National Breast Cancer Month and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Austin’s Race for the Cure. To celebrate......

The University of Texas raised $26 million in athletic donations in 2006, putting it 16th among all U.S. universities. A study by The Chronicle of Higher Education found that money for athletics accounts for more than one-quarter of all contributions to some universities. The Chronicle survey reported that the country's largest athletic departments and booster clubs raised more than $1.2 billion in 2006 and 2007. The University of Texas wasn't the top athletic fund-raiser in......

Editors’ note: The opinions and ideas expressed in this opinion piece are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlook and belief of anyone else in the Ist network. I hadn't initially planned to attend The Flaming Lips show at La Zona Rosa this past Tuesday, opting to avoid possible run-ins with any "Furries", but a last-minute ticket to a Lips show is not something to turn one's nose up......

While lounging amongst hundreds of lesbians at HRC’s Dinah Lakeshore event two weekends ago, we noticed a few people emerge from the mass of tank tops in full-on Western-wear: they were there to spread the word about the Texas Gay Rodeo Association’s Capitol City Rodeo. Hopelessly hypnotized by the man’s Southern drawl and his ability to delve into the most fascinating details concerning the art of calf roping, we were already sold on the event......

The start of the fall season on network television used to be a bigger deal before cable's summer original fare became so juicy and good. We admit we still get a little excited when we read about original ideas heading our way on the big networks. The crop of new shows starting this fall seems like more of the same (sadly), but there are some that don't follow type and deserve recommendation. Pushing Daisies, ABC,......

One last go-round for Zeppelin seems to be in the works. We sort of thought they were all dead. "Why, Britney...why?" Hey, don't ask us. We stopped watching MTV a long, long time ago. Interesting article about doctors that gave an elephant LSD for reasons that aren't exactly clear. If you go swimming in Lake LBJ, you might want to...not do that. Another medical study suggesting that political leanings might actually be attributable to......

We recently had the opportunity to talk to the men behind the upcoming Out of Bounds Fest (and miniature golf tournament!), Jeremy Lamb and Shannon McCormick. The fest, which kicks off next Wednesday and runs for a week, is in its sixth year, and is quickly becoming one of the biggest, must-do comedy events in Austin. Can you give me a little bit of background on the festival and when it started? Jeremy Lamb: Sure.......

Researchers at the University of Texas have found that umpires are more likely to call strikes for pitchers of the same race or ethnicity, according to an article at LiveScience. The study analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major league baseball seasons in an effort to determine whether racial discrimination figured into an umpire's decision to call a strike or a ball. “Umpires judge the performance of players every game, deciding whether......

Ian Ball has a voice that calls to mind a more chipper Jeff Mangum. The veteran musician, best known for his work with Gomezn, tends towards the rich orchestration of Leonard Cohen's lushest work. Ball's solo work sound may owe a debt to the college radio all stars that came before, but the impulse towards low-fi is muted if at all present. Ian Ball United States* Latest Release: How We Operate (with Gomez), 2006......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......

After an intensive manhunt to find the perpetrators of the Juneteenth murder of David Rivas Morales, Austin Police announced on Tuesday that they've arrested the man believed to have delivered the fatal blow that left Morales unconscious. Kurtiss Colvin, a 20-year-old former high school athlete, has been charged with manslaughter—a second-degree felony—as well as several lesser charges. His bail has been set at $215,000. Morales was leaving a Juneteenth celebration when the Ford Taurus he......

If the Italian name of the vampires-in-space sci-fi movie playing tonight at the Alamo Downtown (that would be "TERRORE NELLO SPAZIO") doesn't give you a thrill of glee, how about this line of the description? "...the crew soon discovers the crashed Argos—and learns that her crew died fighting each other!" No? You have a hard and boring heart, my friend. This film, part of the AFS' summer foreign scifi series, "Other Minds, Other Worlds: Global......

Remember how much fun it was to play in the dirt when you were a kid? Well guess what? It’s still fun! Come out this Sunday to the Xterra Dirty Tri and see for yourself. This ain’t no pansy triathlon: this is an off-road extravaganza guaranteed to leave you exhilarated, fit, and totally filthy. Go for the Olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 14 mile mountain bike, and 10K trail run) or the sprint (750......

Last week, Senate Bill 1317 passed the Senate in a highly partisan vote thanks in large part to lobbying efforts by Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. The bill itself, if made law, would limit the scope of a city's jurisdiction by making it illegal for any city to regulate air pollution (or, presumably, anything else) beyond its borders. However, despite what many Senators who voted for this bill will tell you, this bill isn't about municipal......

The weather's been turning your face into Crisco. Gas prices are exorbitant. Truly, there is no better time than the present to sit inside a cool, darkened theater and watch James Taylor (famous '70s male chanteuse!) and Dennis Wilson (the less-famous Beach Boy!) chase Warren Oates (not the dude from Hall & Oates!) across dusty stretches of highway at 140 mph in life-sized Hot Wheels. In Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Taylor and Wilson portray......

Tonight, as the fifth installment in their Spaces Between Realities: the Films of Michael Haneke series, the Austin Film Society presents Code: Unknown – Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys, starring Juliette Binoche. Code: Unknown begins with a group of hearing impaired children playing a seemingly commonplace game of charades, and what is immediately apparent is that these bright young things cannot identify the emotional state that is being acted out in front of them; a......

FRIDAY [13] fashion • RARE Magazine Spring Fling Fashion Show at The Belmont Hi-Lo (Moved due to rain) art/music • Take That!, a show of new images by Lance McMahan, plus music by Amanda Jones, Connie Ball, & Teddy and Marge at The Opera House (7-10pm) art • Hot and Cold: The Best of Canadian Contemporary Art at Art on 5th, 1501 W 5th (10am-6pm) art • Opening Reception for abstract paintings and encaustics......

Peter & The Wolf is/are preparing for a spring tour which will feature not only the soothing sounds of the Austin-based singer/songwriter Red Hunter, but a tour-only CD. Though this 6 week jaunt around the country will feature the same reliable Toyota as previous trips, one notable difference is the permanence of Hunter's accompanying band, which will remain solid throughout the tour. Some lucky locals around hosting towns will be featured as choir members......

Howdy folks, we trust that you have recovered? We had planned on getting an early start on this week's Missed Connections, but we were shut down thanks to a mystery informant. Turns out that it was the mascot of one of the largest events in town, the damn Capitol 10K armadillo. Just because we tried to get our friends too drunk to make the race he decided to sick "the man" on us. Well,......

A British accent could get you everywhere. Rally your sweet Peeps for Easter. If you don't have a sifter or a whisk, forget about it. Happy Birthday to bubble wrap - relieving stress for over 50 years. Good news: slobs are more productive. Obama is winning the Presidential race on YouTube. Looks like the ugly ones might want to aim for a plea bargain. The TSA says no to nail clippers, but lets a......

TUESDAY [6] books • Utter Reading Series with Frances Schenkkan and Lori Aurelia at BookPeople (7:00pm) books • Poetry Reading with Dana Gioia, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts at Harry Ransom Center (7:00pm) books • Nate Blakeslee presents Tulia: Race, Concaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town at Austin History Center (7:00pm) film • For the Love of Dolly at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • AFS Essential screens Turtles Can......