Maybe it's Mayor Will Wynn's absence from the dais, but today's council meeting is particularly lackluster – with no discussion items, no presentations, not even anything to discuss in Executive Session, they adjourned after passing the consent agenda, to reassemble at noon for citizens communications.

The most interesting item this morning, aside from unveiling the new survey effort to collect citizen input on what the city's website should look like, was a Richard Suttle sighting. And, in a sign he's taken his Halloween appearance on the Chronicle cover last week with a grain of salt, he showed Chronic the Phantom mask he carried around in his coat pocket. Gruesome!

The word was “nescience.” “N-e-s … um could I have a definition, please?” Spurred on by the delayed request, shouts emerged from the crowd. It was a tense moment and the first one in which a contestant paused in the middle of spelling a word to request relevant information regarding it: language of origin, repetition of the pronunciation, and the definition. But it was also the last word of the sixth annual Austin Chronicle/Fadó Adult Spelling Bee, Thursday, Oct. 25, and wordsmith Geoff Thevenot was unwilling to extirpate his chances at a third win (and consequently, another pint-a-day-for-a-year prize generously offered by Fadó). The delivered definition, “lack of knowledge or awareness” was appropriately followed by an “oh, how ironic” from one of Thevenot’s friends. “N-e-s-c-i-e-n-c-e,” he finished, correctly.

Thursday’s bee was, as always, entertaining and slightly tinged with alcoholic determination and briefly marred by a gaffe or two. Several second-round entrance spelling tests were unintentionally distributed among the first-round tests. There were also predictable sound problems: Contestants sitting inside Fadó could not hear the deejay outside, and contestants sitting outside could not hear relevant information spoken inside. But once the proverbial ball began to roll, 43 people performed well enough on the sexually-transmitted-disease-laden first test to take the more challenging test, and 16 advanced to the proper bee. And there, in the belly of the bee, they began to drop like flies. The Chronicle’s own proofreaders judged, while former ACFASB champions Erika Allbright and Laurel Martinez mellifluously pronounced the words, among them: “saurischian,” “ranunculus,” “stromatolite,” “fremitus” – audience members swooned upon hearing the definition, “a sensation felt by a hand placed on a part of the body (as the chest) that vibrates during speech” – “guimpe,” and, finally, “nescience.”

If you live in Precinct 206, this message from the Travis County Clerk is for you:

Please note the NEW Election Day polling place for Precinct 206.

Precinct 206 will be at Pfluger Hall - 203-B E. Pecan St. (instead of the Education Annex - 201-B E. Pecan St.).

There has been much media and legal speculation about how the State Department decided that they had the authority to grant private security consultants Blackwater USA functional immunity from prosecution over the deaths of 17 Iraqis on Sept. 17. It seems to have raised a fog of confusion over whether the U.S. government has the right to sue a private security firm responsible for potentially criminal activity in Iraq.

Which is interesting, another private security firm is being sued in the U.S. courts for potentially criminal activity in Iraq. The difference? The person who died was American. In October 2005, Army Specialist Christopher Monroe was hit and killed in Iraq by a vehicle driven by employees of Erinys International, a British-run and -staffed security firm that is currently estimated to have 1,000 personnel in-country. On the night of the accident, their vehicles were reportedly traveling at 80 mph down a darkened road with only parking lights. Monroe's family are now suing Erinys through the Houston courts. In a bitter twist, in January 2006, four month's after Monroe's death, Erinys opened a new office in Houston, specializing in "challenging oil and gas environments."

But the case could create a legal and political dilemma. Blackwater's defense could depend on saying the American courts have no jurisdiction, but that would cripple the prosecution over the death of an American serviceman. A decision either way could cause howls of outrage, either from security firms who will say they are being hamstrung by civilian law, or private citizens fearing an unfettered mercenary army, protected by legal precedent.

The first step toward eliminating the much-reviled 100-to-1 crack-to-powder-cocaine sentencing scheme will take effect tomorrow, Nov. 1, when federal sentencing guidelines for crack will decrease by an average of 16 months for most defendants.

The new rules, adopted by the U.S. Sentencing Commission earlier this year, downgrade possible punishments for crack by two so-called “guideline levels” and are expected to effect 80% of all federal crack defendants, said Mary Price, general counsel and vice president of the nonprofit group Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which has been at the forefront of the fight against disparate sentencing for crack-cocaine defendants. Notably, however, the new guidelines do not effect mandatory-minimums – rather, they effect all cases that fall above and below the mandatory sentence triggers, and they are not retroactive – although the commission is preparing to tackle the question of whether they should be. If they were to be applied retroactively, Price says that approximately 19,500 current federal inmates would be eligible to have their sentences reduced – including some 1,500 inmates that would be eligible for immediate release.

Something we should have posted hours ago, but better late than never: Infamous radio curmudgeon Sammy Allred has been canned from his position at KVET, which he has held for 35 years. The Sammy & Bob Show is no more. I guess for now it's just the "Bob Cole Show." We'll bring you details as we learn them.

This image from the John Edwards campaign is a sure to give you a sleepless Halloween night.

Last year's UT superstar is this year's Seattle Supersonics rookie. Kevin Durant, one year removed from high school and second overall pick in the draft, makes his National Basketball Association debut tonight on national television. Cable TV that is. After becoming one of the most dominant players in UT basketball history, we'll see how KD adjusts to playing with the big boys. Durant is suffering from sprained left ankle but will most likely participate in tonight's game. Catch his debut tonight on ESPN at 9:30pm against Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. For more, check out this AOL sports blog about KD and his youthfulness.

Two years after leaving UT for the bigs, LaMarcus Aldridge had a career game for the Portland Trailblazers in a losing effort against the San Antonio Spurs last night. Aldridge played 36 minutes shooting 12 of 19 from the field, a perfect three of three from the free-throw line picking up 27 total points as well as two blocks. With first overall pick Greg Oden out for the year, Portland will need all they can get from Aldridge.

When it comes to combat sports, fighters always worry the promoter will take off with the purse. But since King of Kombat CEO Ron Hernandez has also run a payroll company, the money for this weekend's event at the Crockett Center may be a bit more secure. For the start-up entrepreneur, bringing an MMA promotion made sense – business sense. "Dallas has a league, Houston has a league, but there's a lot of fans here and some good gyms."

Even with a 90% sell-out for their first event, back in September, Hernandez has tweaked the product. With three bouts less than the monster 13-fight debut card, Hernandez said he'd learned a lot about pacing the night. "It's organization. We learned about security, about what worked with the fights. We missed out by not interviewing the winners, which we're changing, so they can thank their parents, thank their sponsors. We're putting a bit more emphasis on the fighters, rather than having them going one after another."

What hasn't changed is the ethos of designing the card, because the hard-hitting style worked so well for the fighters and the audiences. "The biggest thing that people talked about was the explosiveness of the fighters. There were seven knock-outs, which is a lot for one card. There was nobody just walking around each other, because we picked the fighters for that."