Headlines

#BlackLivesMatter activists demonstrate during the Community Conversation on Race and Policing on Monday, Aug. 24. Organized by the Travis County Democratic Party, the event featured Mayor Steve Adler, D1 CM Ora Houston, and APD Chief Art Acevedo, who discussed and took feedback on policing issues in the city. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

City Council meets today (Aug. 27) officially at 11am (9-11am scheduled for Austin Energy Committee of the Whole), with a bit of regular business but primarily the second public hearing on the budget, to be followed by first steps in winnowing proposed budget amendments. See "Council: The Public Weighs In," Aug. 28, 2015.

MACC a Park: 64 Rainey St. – and the whole of the Mexican American Cultural Center – is finally dedicated parkland, after Council ratified an agreement with the developer of 70 Rainey St. to use the 64 Rainey tract as a construction staging area, in exchange for various considerations. See "MACC Gets Parkland Status," Aug. 28, 2015.

Spreading the Crazy: City Council recently declined to entertain the anti-fluoridation cult, but thanks to a petition drive, in November (pending court rulings on ballot language) San Marcos voters will consider whether to reject public health fluoridation for their town.

Eastside Memorial High has the axe removed from its neck. Texas Education Commis­sioner Michael Williams formally announced Aug. 25 that, because of improvements made by staff and students over the last two years, he is releasing Eastside from its academic improvement plan a year early.

AISD trustees have set a Sept. 8 deadline for applicants to fill late board member Robert Schneider's seat until the November 2016 elections. After public consultation meetings, trustees will make an appointment on Sept. 28.

Nicaraguan native Bernardo Tercero was issued a last-minute stay of execution from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, just one day before his pending death. Tercero, found guilty of murdering Houston resident Robert Berger in 1997, received his stay after the CCA concluded that questions remain concerning the veracity of certain testimonies presented at his trial in 2000.

Hundreds of new laws take effect Sept. 1. The new legislation, passed in the last legislative session, vary from workplace provisions for state employees who are breastfeeding, to crackdowns on revenge porn and human traffickers.

Rick Perry's presidential hopes stagger closer to collapse. On Aug. 24 his director of operations for the key primary state of Iowa, Sam Clovis, quit.

Ready to Duck: The U.S. stock markets plunged this week, in response to a much bigger decline in Chinese stocks, although analysts are greatly divided over whether the decline is a "correction" or something more ominous; it also remains uncertain whether the bear market will bust its way down into the real economy.