Photo of Caritas by Beard Papa on flickr APD successfully halted a home burglary in-progress this morning. Plane crash this afternoon in Fort Worth. Yesterday the United Way Capital Area announced that it is cutting funding to 21 area non-profits; Brewster McCracken says that the city may step in with an emergency appropriation to help. Town Lake Animal Shelter seeks donations of blankets, toys and money. 237 dogs found at the home of a 70-year-old......

About a month ago, we reported that Rep. Warren Chisum was pushing another weird bill through the Texas House, this time one that would force all Texans to either take a State-approved marriage counseling course or pay an increased marriage fee in order to be married in this state. This bill eventually passed the House, but minus a lot of Chisum's heavy-handed language, thanks to the alert efforts of House members from both parties. Job......

The Texas House of Representatives voted 118-16 for a bill amendment that would suspend the $0.20 per gallon gas tax for three months. This would cost the state $500 million to $700 million, which would come funds earmarked for transportation and public education. The amendment has not yet passed in the Senate. As far as taxes go, the gas tax sucks less than most. People generally have some level of control over how much......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

“Currently, students' voluntary religious expression is being treated as second-class speech, and sometimes worse, in public schools. School children are being censored and reprimanded at school, leaving them in fear of punishment for their religious beliefs. Due to hostility toward religious expression, children are being forced to defend their First Amendment rights in courtrooms all across Texas, and throughout the nation. “School districts' practices and policies continue to violate the free speech rights of students,......

Yesterday, on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives, Rep. Warren Chisum (R-Pampa) raised House Bill 2685, a bill that seeks to encourage couples to undertake "education courses" that would provide them with "the skills necessary to resolve marital conflicts, which will make for stronger marriages that are less likely to end in failure." Under this bill, Texans will be faced with an ultimatum under the law: take a State-designed marriage counseling course, or......

Governor Rick Perry's much-harangued executive order of mandatory HPV vaccines for Texas schoolgirls has drawn the ire of Attorney General Greg Abbott, who yesterday declared that the order was merely "advisory" in nature, and devoid of legal substance. The Texas House is expected to vote on a bill today that would effectively hinder government officials from enforcing the vaccine requirement. More: Mandatory HPV Vaccination Under Attack in the Texas Legislature on Tuesday Photo by xandert......

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......

Moneyed interests from across the state of Texas are donating huge sums of cash to the renovation of House Speaker Tom Craddick’s capitol apartment. For those who, not long ago, suggested that Speaker Craddick’s power grip in the Texas House of Representatives was loosening, this story should serve as strong evidence to the contrary. So far, the who’s who of the Texas corporate elite have made over $1 million in tax-deductible donations to the......

Estimated damage of last week's hailstorm in San Marcos: $100 million [link] Percentage of Austin school district students who went on to college, in 2005: 57 [link] Final count of UT students whose private information, including SSNs, was compromised, according to official figures: 106,000 [link] Estimated value of electronic equipment stolen from Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church by a former church employee and his cohorts: $13,000 [link] Approximate horn span, in inches, of MooTube's world......

Austin - The city's proposal to build $227 million water plant on 30 acres of the Roy G. Guerrero River Park is heading for the scrap heap. A majority of the Austin City Council members who opposed the plan, will now begin to look at other alternatives such as stricter water conservation rules and drawing from other water sources. The city has said that it will need more drinking water by the year 2011.......

The results are in from the Democratic and Republican primary runoffs. Valinda Bolton doubled Jason Earle's vote count in the Texas House District 47 Democratic runoff. Jeff Fleece defeated Don Zimmerman's by less than 200 votes in the Texas House District 50 Republican runoff; while Rep. Terry Keel's 14-year run of election success ended Tuesday when incumbent Judge Charles Holcomb slithered ahead in the Republican runoff for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Statewide......

The Hill Country Alliance, along with the Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods, is hosting a debate with all of the candidates running for Texas House of Representatives, District 47. The region included in District 47 is under a tremendous amount of pressure from growth and development pushing out of Austin. We need to make sure we find a candidate who will protect the natural resources, scenic beauty and camp grounds for all the hippies.......

The Republicans aren't the only lying liars in town. And while that is not news to us, we were still a little shocked to hear the news about longtime Democratic political aide Kristi Willis and her "liberation" of $166,000 from Congressman Lloyd Doggett's coffers, along with more than $25,000 from other Democratic candidates and causes. Maybe she was saving up to buy a new condo in the swank new high-rise at Third and Nueces.......

In the race to represent House District 48, Democrat Donna Howard and Republican Ben Bentzin made it through Round One on Tuesday and will meet in a runoff election to see who will replace Todd Baxter in the Texas House. Democrat Kathy Rider and Libertarian Ben Easton finished third and fourth and are now free to vote for Donna Howard. She received 49.5% of the vote, against Bentzin's 37.8 % which might shock some......

Scoop Jackson was kind enough to point this out to us: for those of you residing in House District 48, today's your chance to vote for Todd Baxter's replacement in the Texas House. Baxter resigned last Fall, leaving his seat open to four contenders: Republican Ben Bentzin, Libertarian Ben Easton and Democrats Donna Howard and Kathy Rider. A run-off election will be held later if no one candidate receives a strong majority; the winner......

This Tuesday, the Texas House will vote on HB 1212 (written by Rep. Phil King). Texas currently has a law in place a law which requires parental notification but HB 1212 will require parental consent for teens seeking an abortion. Austinist wonders what this means for victims of incest who become pregnant as a result. To send your representative an e-mail, telling them to vote no on this bill, you can go here. Remember that......

The Texas House has just passed a bill outlawing "overtly sexually suggestive" cheerleading. Highschool cheerleaders will now be limited to jazz hands, standing on tip-toes, and smiling. Edwards argued bawdy performances are a distraction for students resulting in pregnancies, dropouts and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. 1. Does there really need to be a law saying this? Do you know how much money it costs to pass a law? 2. Isn't Texas supposed to......

The Texas House voted 83-63 yesterday to approve a bill that would require voters to show up to three forms of identification before being allowed to vote. In addition to the standard voter registration card, a person would need a photo ID card or two other documents without a photo. Currently, only five states require photo identification in order to vote. Some members of the House (cough*Republicans*cough) are behind the bill, claiming that it would......

The Texas House and Senate may be arguing over the best way to offset revenue shortfalls due to property tax relief, but they do agree on one thing: Boozers and Smokers need to pay higher taxes! HB 3 attempts to generate more money for public education while reducing property tax by $6 Billion over the next two years. To gather the extra cash both legislative bodies agree we need to increase taxes on cigarettes (from......

While we're on the subject of gay marriage and pop idols this week, international diva Elton "That's Sir to You" John was in town yesterday showing his support for Andy Roddick's Foundation to harvest black market organs save the children. This came only a day after announcing plans to wed longtime partner David Furnish, which we're guessing won't take place anywhere near here. The Texas House of Representatives electing to ban gay marriage on the......

In an incredibly dissapointing vote of 101 to 29, Texas House lawmakers have passed a constitutional ammendment to ban gay marriage. HJR 6, the Defence of Marriage Act, basically states the following: Sec. 32. (a) Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. (b) This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage. So,......