Local dance-rock troupe Clap! Clap! is throwing in the towel. “Having eight people, as much as it helped us with the live shows, was too difficult to manage,” says frontman Joshua Mills.

For those who missed the group’s set at Fun Fun Fun Fest, the Clap! has a final round of applause scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 8, at Emo’s with the Always Already, Prayer for Animals, and Haunting Oboe Music. “We want to leave people wondering what comes next,” Mills concludes.

Texas Democrats have made no secret they plan to target Republicans in the 2008 elections over cash they took in 2006 from right-wing political action committees: Groups like the HillCo PAC, a right-wing lobbying body famous for its close connection to House Speaker Tom Craddick and heavy donations from Republican sugar daddy Bob “Swift boat” Perry. HillCo dropped $1,015,704 into the 2006 elections, and Dems have already said they’ll use that against Republican candidates next November by linking them to the conservative cash machine. But several high-ranking Dems also received HillCo donations, and now that’s coming back to haunt them in the primaries.

One recipient of HillCo’s largesse was Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, D-Mission, who received $3,500. Now primary challenger Sandra Rodriguez is using that cash against him, saying in an Oct. 30 press release that the incumbent “needs to stop the shell game and tell the voters where he is getting his money and what he is providing in exchange for these contributions.”

Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, is also defending his HillCo connections. In 2004, he fought off primary challenger Eddie Sáenz. Now Sáenz is back, saying that Peña “lined his pockets with thousands of dollars from a political action committee funded by Republican politicians’ top money man.” Peña fired back that he should be judged on his voting record, but squeezed in that, next session, he promises to vote for a Democrat house speaker.

This schism could still hit closer to home. According to Texans for Public Justice, in 2006 Austin’s own Dawnna Dukes took $3,000 from HillCo and another $10,000 this September. She faces no primary challenger yet, but with filing not ending until Jan. 2, it’s not impossible one could appear.

The excitement thus far: Well, I'm not sure if testimony on water drainage engineering qualifies as excitement, but that's what we got – first Responsible Growth for Northcross President Hope Morrison testified on how a Wal-Mart at Northcross will negatively impact quality of life for the neighbors, with very little cross-exam from Casey Dobson (of Scott, Douglass & McConnico, hired to represent the city). Dobson asked whether she was an expert on the engineering concerns relating to the redevelopment, to which she answered "no."

Then Lauren Ross, who holds a doctorate in water resources engineering, gave testimony on how she believes Lincoln Property's site plan is not in compliance with city regulations because it could slightly increase flood runoff from the property, based on her own floodwater calculations. Judge Orlinda Naranjo broke for lunch before Dobson or the Lincoln attorneys could cross-examine.

The real fireworks came from Dobson in his opening statement: "This city, to the point of distraction sometimes, loves a conspiracy theory. And if all you hear about this case was what was on RG4N's website and what you read in the Chronicle and what you heard in the media, you would believe that this site plan was approved because the City Council lacks courage, the city staff are feckless developer lackeys, and everybody was just out to get them. … This site plan was approved because that's what the law required the city to do. Period."

Three years ago today, Ol' Dirty Bastard, not surprisingly, passed away. I doubt he would've ever been spotted flashing euros in his videos.

I'm blogging this morning from the Travis County Courthouse, where Responsible Growth for Northcross awaits the start of its trial in its suit against the city of Austin and Lincoln Property. RG4N is suing on four points, claiming: 1) Lincoln's site plan to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the site of the former Northcross Mall violates a plat note on the tract protecting Shoal Creek; 2) city staff failed to review the site plan to ensure compliance with traffic and public-safety provisions of the city's Land Development Code; 3) the Wal-Mart's garden center is a conditional use that was improperly approved by city staff, which did not have the power to do so; and 4) the site plan violates the city's Protected Tree Ordinance.

The trial is being heard in the 419th District Court before Judge Orlinda Naranjo. I'll update throughout the day as time permits.

While Texas Recycles Day may not be a state holiday just yet, HEB is commemorating it in a big way. This Thursday, Nov. 15, Austin HEB stores will celebrate by giving away free reusable shopping bags to customers bringing in at least five disposable plastic grocery bags for recycling. Better yet, customers bringing in 10 disposable bags can score two reusables, but that's the limit. (Once HEB's 20,000 free bags are gone, customers can purchase them for 99 cents.) The giveaway coincides with an added push by the grocer to expand their own plastics recycling program; also beginning today, bins go up outside Austin H-E-Bs for recycling most No. 2 and No. 4 plastics, including grocery-store and dry-cleaning bags, six-pack rings, "outer-wrap" on products like toilet paper, and more. Widely maligned as a waste of petroleum resources and cause of pollution, the move comes as the city of Austin considers ways to lessen disposable bags' use.

(And on another note, we gotta say that attaching your press release to a reusable bag stuffed full of Central Market treats like veggie chips and chocolate truffles is a move more PR firms need to emulate. Bon appétit!)

On Veterans Day, there are some sobering new figures about what happens to ex-military personnel when they leave the forces.

The Homeless Research Institute released a report on Friday that, on any one night in 2006, there were up to 195,827 homeless veterans on the streets of America. In total, almost half a million ex-service personnel were homeless at some point during the year, and another half a million were spending more than half their income on rent, placing them at high risk of becoming homeless.

With 1,612,948 registered veterans in Texas, the institute records that 15,967 were homeless in 2006, up more than 500 from 2005. On top of that, 28,745 faced severe housing costs burdens, meaning 2.8% of all veterans were either homeless or in serious danger of becoming so.

Even though veterans only account for 11% of the population, they account for 26% of the homeless population or possibly even higher: In August the National Coalition of the Homeless put that figure up around 40%. There is a strange leveling effect hidden in the numbers. Among the general population, black nonveterans are 2.9 times as likely to be homeless as white nonveterans. Among veterans, that's down to 1.4 times. Homeless veterans are also more likely to be better educated and more likely to have been or still be married.

If you like the fact that, for all the soaring developments in Austin, you can still see the Capitol from many points around town, you should thank Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin.

The Heritage Society of Austin has given her its merit award for her campaign to keep Capitol view corridors intact. Capitol view corridors are what they sound like: stretches of the city that have an uninterrupted view of the entire dome of the Capitol (just being able to see the top point of the star held aloft by the Goddess of Liberty doesn't count). There are 30 such corridors defined by state and 26 by council, and they restrict development along the line of sight.

According to a society press release, in the last session, Dukes derailed a bill that would have eliminated protections for the East Austin corridor views. She also got 143 (although Dukes' website says 146) out of 150 state reps to sign a letter to the city of Austin about protecting the views.

But according to a Downtown Commission report to council on Oct. 11, there are conflicting definitions for five of those views and issues for developers being raised by relative topography of certain viewpoints. For example, in some areas, a building in a corridor could go up to 75 feet with no issue, but around Wooldridge Park they would have to max out at 25 feet. But it should be noted that the commission was also in favor of the bill that would have removed the East Austin view status.

So what do I know? In this week's "Playing Through" column, I suggested that the University of Texas women's soccer team didn't have the offensive firepower to win the Big 12 Championship. Turns out I was sort of right – in the three conference title games played last week in San Antonio, the team scored only three goals in regulation – but, happily, the Longhorns won their division anyway with a 2-1 win over the Texas A&M Aggies. Tellingly, it was the team's goalie, Dianna Pfenninger, who was selected as the tournament's offensive MVP, having registered an assist in the conference final, as well as scoring the deciding penalty kicks in the quarterfinal win over Colorado and the semifinal win over Oklahoma State. Another telling stat: Texas A&M had 33 shots on goal against UT's eight. Still, thanks to Pfenninger, the Longhorns managed to pull out the win. "She scored goals, she had an assist, she saved the ball – what more could you have asked her to do" said coach Chris Petrucelli. "The only thing she could have done would be take my spot and coach the team." Well, now that you mention it, coach ….

The first round of the NCAA Division I Women Soccer Championship starts Friday, Nov. 16. The bracket will be announced tonight on ESPNews.