Headlines

• City Council shakes off spring break cobwebs for a meeting today, Thursday, March 25, to consider extending the city's current recycling contract, among other things. See "City Hall Hustle."

• Smart grid innovators Pecan Street Project released a report Wednesday envisioning the energy-distribution system of the future and recommending how best to get there. Several guidelines are for Austin Energy, including a new rate structure and business model, a focus on water treatment and transport, "solar ready" construction standards, and much more. See www.pecanstreetproject.org.

• Quick-witted Austin resident Liz Carpenter, former press aide to Lyndon and Lady Bird John­son, died March 20. A public memorial service will be at 10am Friday at the LBJ Auditorium.

• After two years of delays, Capital Metro opened the Red Line commuter train March 22, offering riders a week of free trips. The transit agency reported 2,942 boardings on the first day, exceeding its initial prediction of 2,000.

• If you've got a neglected stack of mail piling up in your house, odds are there's a Census form in there that's so easy to fill out it's almost disappointing. It's a once-in-a-decade event that passes by in the blink of a ball point pen (black or blue only), and you can't draw it out much longer. The deadline is April 1. Remember: It's the law.

• Austin ISD is reported to have narrowed to two the number of potential sites for a new $40 million performing arts center – the Mueller development and the University Park development project on the former Concordia University campus. The project was approved by voters in a 2008 bond election.

• The city this week started construction on the long-awaited northwest extension to the Pfluger Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge.

• Indie Internet radio broadcaster WOXY, which relocated from Ohio to Austin less than a year ago, announced March 23 that "economic realities and the lack of ongoing funding" have forced it to suspend its live broadcasts.

• Responding to the newly inked health care reform bill, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott joined a 13-state lawsuit challenging the law on constitutional grounds. Meanwhile, Texas leads the nation in uninsured residents, with 25% of its population lacking coverage.

Quote of the Week

"Attorney General [Greg] Abbott today sued to block 4.3 million Texans from receiving health care insurance."

– Barbara Ann Radnofsky, Democratic candidate for state attorney general