Headlines

• City Council decamps to David Crockett High School, 5601 Manchaca Rd. (at Stassney Lane) for its meeting today, Thursday, April 28. On the agenda: attempting a final recycling agreement bestowing 60% of blue bin contents to Balcones Resources and 40% to Texas Disposal Systems, the controversial Holly Street Power Plant demolition contract, and a resolution preparing for a City Charter election. See "City Hall Hustle."

• Election time already? Early voting begins May 2 for the May 14 council elections. Incumbents Laura Morrison, Chris Riley, and Randi Shade all face challengers. See voting info and Chronicle endorsements, and "The Action's in Place 3."

• A straw poll taken after the council candidates forum hosted by the Real Estate Coun­cil of Austin turned up some interesting results: Randi Shade was the only one of three incumbents on the ballot winning RECA's vote of confidence, along with first-timers Roger Chan (challenging Chris Riley) and Eric Rangel (opposing Laura Morrison).

• Good and bad news for teacher contracts: House Bill 400, giving school districts the power to furlough teachers and increase student-teacher ratios, may be in trouble after falling victim to points of order on April 26. The night before, the Austin ISD board agreed that the district would no longer offer multiyear contracts to its employees.

• The director of the Blanton Museum of Art has resigned just two years after taking the position. Ned Rifkin, whose resignation takes effect May 31, will remain with the University of Texas, turning his existing work as a professor and researcher into a full-time post.

• Comptroller Susan Combs has fired four staff members, including the heads of Information Security and Innovation and Technology, after the agency accidentally released private data for 3.2 million current and former state employees. The Comptroller's Office has already spent $1.8 million on new security and sent letters notifying those who may have been affected – but that may only be the start. Both the FBI and the Texas Attorney General's Office are investigating while a raft of civil suits are headed to the courthouse.

• Watergate journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were joined by Robert Redford in a whirlwind tour of Austin on April 21 to mark the 35th anniversary of the release of the film All the President's Men. Woodward and Bernstein also presented a new box of material to the Harry Ransom Center containing their interviews with Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff Al Haig.

• Perhaps playing off of Mayor Lee Leffingwell's desire to land a new convention center hotel in Austin, San Antonio City Council Member John Clamp suggested that South by Southwest relocate from Austin to the Alamo City, where there are hotels aplenty.