It's been a tough week Merseyside, as Londoners Arsenal blew into town and blew out Liverpool in two straight games, sending them tumbling out of both of the English cup competitions just a week into the new year. First came Saturday's FA Cup fourth round, where the Reds were defending champs, but the visitors went up 2-0 at halftime, then got a clinching goal from captain Thierry Henry, just back from a lengthy injury rehab. Adding insult to injury, the Gunners came back on Tuesday with a largely reserve lineup – including no less than six teenage starters – and trounced their hosts again, this time by an eye-opening 6-3 scoreline, in the League Cup quarterfinal.

Most of the rest of Europe's still in winter break; an exception is Spain, where Real Madrid has sagged to a couple of losses in a row, and David Beckham is being reported to be on his way out.

The long winter break takes its toll locally as well. It's been four long weeks since the fall season ended, but at last, the spring season is here: Austin's men's, women's, and co-ed leagues start up this weekend, as do local high schools. Read More | Comment »

In Fact Daily is reporting the city will abandon its efforts to build Water Treatment Plant 4 on the Cortaña tract in the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. The tract was the city's initial choice for the plant, but Travis County disagreed with their selection for environmental reasons; their acquiescence was required as they co-manage the BCP with the city. Travis County commissioners were slated to hold a hearing in February where they possibly could have revisited the Cortaña option, yet, if as reported, the city has dumped Cortaña and plans on building WTP4 at Bull Creek, it seems unlikely that hearing will occur. Read More | Comment »

Hide the women, children, and non-English speakers! Red-blooded rocker Ted Nugent ("If you can't speak English, then get the fuck out of America") will play Rick Perry's Inaugural Ball on Tuesday. With all the wound-licking going on over the speaker's race, perhaps you’ve forgotten that the gov and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will be sworn into office next week. A full day of festivities are on deck, starting with a swearing-in ceremony at 10am Tuesday on the south steps of the Capitol. Barbecue will be served. The marching bands strike up at noon for the traditional Congress Avenue parade. And that's where the public participation ends and the invitation-only events begin, my friends. Dancing, drinking, and covert cruising get underway after dark, with an inaugural ball bill featuring former Supremes Mary Wilson, country singer Clay Walker, and, of course, the Nuge, whose gun-toting, foul-mouthed, freedom-loving, immigrant-bashing, Christian values puts him in good stead with this crowd. Wonder if Perry seeks the caveman's counsel on immigration issues. Just a thought. Read More | Comment »

As Beside the Point discusses in print this week, creation of a homestead preservation district for east Austin came before the council today; it was summarily approved earlier this morning. While the city pencils in the boundaries of the district, they must wait for some of the heavier lifting to be done in the recently convened House. Austin Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, author of legislation creating the district last session, must also guide a follow up bill through the Lege cleaning up some of its provisions – which hopefully shouldn't be complicated by his vote against Tom Craddick in the Speaker race. As he told Council and onlookers earlier today, "After my vote on Tuesday I feel more comfortable here, at least for a week or so."

Press release from Mike Martinez's office on the HPD below the fold. Read More | Comment »

Would this have happened if Vince Young hadn't been the Heisman Trophy bridesmaid for a second year in a row? We'll never know, but VY has a history of responding to snubs by getting mad, and when he gets mad, he gets amazing. And amazing he was in securing a second straight national title for the Longhorns. Down by 20 at the half and oddly unable to run against Ohio State, Vince instead stuck with what has worked all season – long passes, and lots of them, to Ramonce Taylor.

Taylor's final 49-yard catch and run was almost as pretty as Vince's gallop last year. Almost. But the VY-RT combination is a big part of why the Horns bounced back from that early season, ugly 1-point loss to the Buckeyes at home. And that loss is what gave Buckeye Troy Smith the Heisman and put the fire in Vince's belly. He wanted a rematch, and that's what he got. Don't stand in Vince's way. Ever. Read More | Comment »

City Council is currently receiving a hearing on chronic homelessness in the Austin area, the chronically homeless being those with debilitating illnesses or conditions that have been on the streets for an entire year, or have had four episodes of homelessness in the past three years. Let's revisit some of the statistics on Austin's homeless population:

Over a 12 month period, there were over 6,200 homeless people in the Austin area. Between September 12, 2005 and September 12, 2006, 6,242 unique individuals received services from Austin area homeless service providers. (Homeless Management Information System - HMIS)

On any given day, there are approximately 4,000 homeless individuals of which 1,900 are downtown. (Homeless Count 2004)

Over 1,500 children are affected by homelessness in the Austin Independent School District. In the 2005-2006 school year, AISD Project Help served 1,556 homeless students. (AISD Project Help)

There's many proposals, but they're currently discussing use of "travel trailers," wherein a trailer is donated as housing, but residents keep up with the lot fees. A unique and seemingly smart idea, but only one of several if the city's to meet its goal of ending chronic homelessness in the next decade. Read More | Comment »

From: John Razook
To: Shawn Badgley
Time: 9:52pm, Jan. 9


Take a look at these ...

jhr Read More | Comment »

From: Shawn Badgley
To: John Razook
Time: 11:47pm, Jan. 9

John:

How could I forget the crazy mofo known as Bob Huggins? He is now officially the most troubled and unfit mentor of young athletes in the Midwest since former Iowa State Cyclone coach Larry Eustachy blew through Columbia, Mo., kissing coeds while guzzling double-fisted Natty Lights.

After a road loss.

In a turtleneck. Read More | Comment »

So tonight our president is poised to announce his plans after painful weeks of "decider" mode: deploying 21,500 extra troops to Iraq, mostly into the cauldron of Baghdad. I suppose tonight he'll lay out some ostensible reason or goal for putting that many more Americans in the middle of an Iraqi civil war, but I hold little hope we'll get much beyond the same shopworn bullshit about standing up and sitting down.

Of course, it's thought one reason for the escalation is to dismantle the Mahdi Army, lead by Muqtada al-Sadr. You know, the same guy Saddam Hussein's executioners were cheering at the hanging supposedly administered by Iraq government. The strongman undoubtedly helps the meager Shiite government there hang on to power. That's gotta put president Nouri al-Maliki in an odd spot – not to mention the troops sent over there. So are they risking their lives to take out one of the president of Iraq's supporters? What exactly are we supposed to accomplish over there?

It's not surprising that Bush, who claims to administer war plans based solely on Army needs and demands (but promptly canned his top general after he said escalation was a bad idea), has basically been reduced to bribing them into going along with his face-saving plans to escalate, dump the whole mess in his predecessors' lap, and claim that he didn't lose Iraq. It's obvious what Bush is trying to do, but I repeat: what the hell else are we doing in Iraq?

UPDATE: So this is how billion dollar, life and death decisions are made: the "surge" was trumpeted by Bush in part to spite the Baker/Hamilton Iraq Study Group. For shame. Read More | Comment »

Of course, there was more going down yesterday than Jim Pitt's speaker hopes; a stone's throw away from the Lege at the County Court, Travis County commissioners revisited their most contentious issue in recent memory: Water Treatment Plant 4.

Commissioners last dealt with WTP4 back in October, when they rebuffed the city's plans to build the plant at the so-called Cortaña site; the city requires county approval to do so as the agencies co-manage the nature habitat Cortaña lies in, the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. In making their denial, commissioners sited the fact that Cortaña lies in the BCP, and is home to the endangered black capped vireo bird; additionally, some felt the city hadn't exhausted its search for other sites, an allegation underscored by a report from the city auditor stating an additional site did fit city criteria, but wasn't properly vetted. Still, the city says they'd prefer to build the treatment plant at Cortaña over the tract they've currently sited, nearby at the headwaters of Bull Creek. Critics allege that the city's decision to stake out the even more ecologically-delicate Bull Creek site has been a gambit to force the county's hand on approving Cortaña, but if it was, it hasn't met with success. Read More | Comment »

Starting today, you can sign up for e-mail alerts on breaking news from the Chronicle news staff. Don't worry, we won't flood your inbox with the results of every single meeting of the Sign Review Board – we just want to alert you to the Big News. To sign up, click here or the link near the bottom of the left-hand column of this page. Read More | Comment »

Lotsa chatter out there following yesterday's re-election of Tom Craddick as House speaker.

The Texas blogosphere is filled with righteous anger and indignation against the so-called "Craddick Ds" (which include Dawnna Dukes and Patrick Rose in their ranks) who supported him in his bid.

In a press release, the Texas Freedom Network says "this unprecedented challenge to Speaker Craddick sends a clear message. House members are tired of seeing the legislative process manipulated to benefit special interests at the expense of public schools and other things important to Texas families."

Also, Paul Burka does his thing, recounting yesterday in a larger historical framework.

UPDATE: I'd be remiss not to point out the miniature Burka rebellion in the comments on the last link. There's some controversy as to whether Burka's calling the race for Craddick influenced the actual election – after all, as he notes, Burka's supposed wisdom was referenced on the floor during the debate. After all, he is no mere Texas blogger hiding behind a pseudonym. Read More | Comment »

Well, looks like Craddick gets to keep the gavel. Jim Pitts, the only contender for the speaker's chair, looked behind him, saw that his supporters would only support him if they didn't have to do it publicly, and now he's standing aside. Read More | Comment »

From: John Razook
To: Shawn Badgley
Time: 10:40pm, Jan. 8

Apologies for only now getting back to you. The sad truth is twofold. One, I got cut off from my free Internet access. The neighbors finally got hip to my freeloading ways. Two, I was waylaid with whatever foul illness is going around these odd first days of 2007. I’ve been basically bedridden since our last communique, suffering from a series of bad sensations. Alas, my days of mainlining Jack Daniel's seem behind me ... at least for the immediate future. We’ll see how I feel come Wednesday.

It’s been rough. And knowing I missed the O-State game on TV doesn’t help. Luckily, I have access to a Sirius Satellite Radio, a fine and noble invention if ever there were one. I like radio. It’s an interesting format, and we are often spared the ignominy of the broadcast teams the networks assail our senses with, à la Fox with their rough team of Emmitt Smith and Eddie George doing this national championship game, and the horrors that await us with CBS’s offering of a Phil Simms-Greg Gumbel Super Bowl – with Dan, Shannon, and Boomer waiting for “analysis” at the half. Read More | Comment »

Point of order, people!

Oh great, now it's going to be 15 minutes until they resolve the amendment. Get familiar with the previous entries below, if you will. Thanks to Richard for blogging in my absence.

So for those of you just tuning in, here's what you've missed: jack-fucking-shit. We've spent almost four hours now delicately tinkering with the machinery of the speaker election, and getting copies xeroxed, along with any manner of assorted ephemera and goings on. It's next to impossible not to suspect that this has been a ploy for some last-minute lobbying. I don't know why we held out hope anything would be different, though. Call us romantic.

Is it just us, or has the gavel gotten bigger this session? The clerk is reading the opinion on King's objection to the secret ballot. You can't tell me they didn't think of this until now. It's a constitutional crisis!

Oh, for fuck's sake, secret ballots have been used 50 times before, we learn. King needs to loose his Craddick-inspired boner for "transparency."

The legal prattle goes on. My toss-off joke about Florida is looking more apt.

"The members must make these decisions themselves." Point of order overruled. Thank fucking God. Roger Williams looks like he's in waaaaay over his head. Still, the Craddick-heads can't let it go. Unbelievably, there's another pause to consider whether their hope that three requests for a record vote can overturn the secret ballot. Didn't we just learn no? Follow us below the fold. Read More | 2 Comments »

And the fun begins … well, not really. Just finished reading a resolution kicking House floor onlookers outta chambers. We waited so long for this?

The ceaseless pauses give credence to speculation that Craddick's using the time to squeeze every pair he can get his hands on. Hmmm, that's a pretty nasty image.

Secretary of State Whitey Williams says a document delineating what both parties agree to in the election is coming to members' desks. Seriously, let's get some amateur videographers on those House staffers and throw that shit up on YouTube, à la the Craddick D's – maybe it'll speed things up a bit.

Still nothing. What BS. If Craddick isn't using this time to bust out the vise grip, I'll be the next speaker. Ten bucks he poured a Diet Coke in the Xerox machine.

HR 35, the voting procedure bill, is finally laid out and ready to take amendments.

Voting procedures: Paper ballots. Counted on House floor. Gotta have name and signature though. Still, I don't put a Florida-style fiasco outta reach here.

"A group of House has-beens" from the Senate invade the House to pal around. Buffet's on in 20 minutes, says Jim Keffer. You know Elliott Naishtat's ears perked up at that one.

So save some pretty egregious amendment, the ballots are secret. Doesn't bode well for Craddick, no? Eiland says one amendment would make votes public today, whereas one from Geren would make it confidential until after committee assignments. Still, a third would shred 'em once they're tabbed, secret forever! Good gawd.

Continued below the fold. Read More | Comment »

Here in the Chronicle news-heap, Channel 6 is blaring, it's five minutes to game time, and we're giddy with anticipation to see what the speaker race will bring. Will it be a nail-biter, or, as Lee Nichols compared it to the bowl game last night, a bona fide ass-whupping? We'll update here live as it happens.

Bells are ringing! And there's that creepy biker dude with the face tats who's on Public Access all the time in the gallery.

The House will convene shortly, says the screen. The house looks like a phalanx of worker ants circling around.

"Welcome to the 80th session of the Texas House of Representatives!" Lovely 1980s-era Betamax graphics of the dome.

Looks like Craddick's making it to the podium. Very surreal with no ambient or background noise; they only turn the mics on when someone's at one.

Gaveled to order. Who is this at the podium? Secretary of State Roger Williams. Invocation time. "Let's pray for some of that Roger Williams money." Is he the used car salesman?

"The Star Spangled Banner." Pax Texana. Dude belted that out. Pledges to the flags. When does Caligula's horse get sworn in?

The rest continued below the fold. Read More | Comment »

Who doesn't love a swearing in? From the Sara Eckhardt camp, here's a picture of the new county commissioner's initiation at what looks like the hobo camp called Wooldridge Square. Grace it with a caption in the comments section. Read More | 1 Comment »

Sure, I heard reports that a photographer was camped outside of Tom Craddick's soirée last night, documenting everyone that showed up. But did I know it was on YouTube? Oh hell no! Check out this video of the "Democrats for Craddick."



No word on who filmed the video, its stars sure to reappear in a Democratic primary attack ad near you soon. A second video of everyone arriving, available here. Read More | Comment »

Just getting off the phone with a council member, I'm contemplative of long term planning for North Austin. With JC Penney gone, surrounding buildings boarded and disused, but commuter rail rounding the corner, how long can it be before Wal-Mart makes an offer on its next underutilized shopping center – in this case, Highland Mall? Read More | 9 Comments »