Despite some early distractions, the 2007 legislative session was declared fairly healthy for the Travis County Healthcare District, lobbyist Marsha Jones told the district’s board of managers last Thursday night. Overall, funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program is up, as well as hospital reimbursement rates for Medicaid. Most significant to the district, however, was the district’s local legislation, Senate Bill 1107, which did a number of things: addressed retirement benefits for district employees, authorized regional affiliations and entities, and authorized the collection of revenue anticipation notes, among other things. The board of managers has been especially interested in creating some type of regional health-care insurance product, so the cost burden of the growing uninsured population, particularly those who take advantage of Brackenridge Hospital’s trauma services, can be shared with surrounding counties.

Finally, some good news from the Lower Colorado River Authority on the floods.

Lake LBJ and Inks Lake will reopen for recreational use at 8am on Saturday morning. That makes three big bodies of water open this weekend (Lake Buchanan stayed open throughout).

Lake Travis remains closed, partially because it's still so high (even the flood pools are 20 feet deep), fast, and debris-filled and partially because the wake from speeding boats could damage submerged homes and docks. The city of Austin is also keeping Lake Austin, Town Lake, and the Colorado River below Longhorn Dam closed until the floodgates on Mansfield and Tom Miller dams close. Bad news there: The LCRA says they may be keeping them open for several weeks and may have to open more with no or little warning.

On the newly opened lakes, the LCRA does warn boaters and water-skiers to keep an eye out for any potential floating debris and reminds swimmers that the bacteria levels in the water are way elevated. So no speeding and no drinking the lake water.

“I’m going to have to shave you,” nodded the nurse, holding up a little white Bic razor.

We both looked at my chest. Standing there on a treadmill, soon to sport more electrodes than William Hurt in Altered States, I sighed. It took me 30 years to grow that!

“One Way Out,” an Elmore James/Sonny Boy Williamson razor strap, smolders infidelity, but mortality ain’t materializing any great escapes either. There’s only one way out of this life, and “oh, baby, I just don’t know.” The Allman Brothers’ cover of “One Way Out,” Live at the Fillmore East, 1971 (originally from Eat a Peach), chops bone.

Fade In: the whistles, the crowd. The buzz. Dickey Betts’ guitar. Loping just ahead of a swarming rhythm section, his fleet-fingered riffing bounds with animal grace. Airborne. Enter Duane Allman’s slide guitar, dripping with disembowelment.

A singular sound in the rock & roll library, Allman’s Coricidin bottle sliding across steel strings pressed atop steel frets burns ears and brands memory. Once heard, you’ve got the scars to prove it. Allman (1946-1971) wipes the face off “One Way Out” even as he flips its switch. Locomotive on track, baby brother Gregg Allman unwinds his predicament as if Mother Earth herself were reciting the book on tape.

Ain’t but one way out, baby. Lord, I just can’t go out that door.

Ain’t but one way out, baby. And Lord, I just can’t go out that door.

Cause there’s a man down there. Might be your old man, I don’t know.

First, the folks at the Backyard need to be applauded for the solution they’ve come up with to the horrible parking situation. They’ve arranged with a local Home Depot and a church on Bee Cave Road for offsite parking, where you can hop a shuttle bus to the venue. It’s the route I took, and it was remarkably hassle-free, unlike my last visit.

Under a sky that moved from threatening to exposing shafts of sunlight, but thankfully free of rain, this Independence Day celebration began with a much-too-brief set by L.A.’s Particle. The quartet offered but a glimmer of what they're capable of over the course of 30 minutes. Leaning heavily on dancing basslines, they delivered a slab of space funk that moved from high intensity to blissed-out trance with astonishing ease. At set’s end, they upped the cheese factor with a cover of the Commodores’ Seventies disco instrumental “Machine Gun.”

What followed was one of the best sets I've seen this year. File the music of Matisyahu under Hasidic Beatbox Reggae. While that might not make sense, it’s even more difficult to describe its positive nature without sound clips. Beyond the unique image of the Brooklyn-based rapper skanking while clothed in the vestments of his Orthodox faith, the fusion of sounds his fivepiece brought was awe-inspiring. No one mixes dub-wise hypnotics with roaring rock, shifting beats with slinky guitar and authentic reggae into such a delicious whole.

In the latest edition of "news from the shameless," Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Peter M. Holt, chairman and principal owner of the San Antonio Spurs, to become presiding officer of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.

However, environmentalists may blanch a little at Holt's day job. He's chief executive officer of Holt Cat, the biggest U.S. Caterpillar dealership. That means he makes his money selling earthmoving vehicles like backhoes and excavators.

The commission is supposed to set policies for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Holt currently serves as an ordinary member for the nine-member commission and will replace outgoing chair and wildlife rancher Joseph B.C. Fitzsimons.

The beleaguered agency briefly became a cause celebre for the Lege last session when it became clear that many parks and historic sites were crumbling due to a decade of woeful underfunding. But since Fitzsimons' term actually finished on Jan. 31, and Holt's appointment is just a desk-swap, it doesn't seem the governor really put much thought into a major talent search.

Will Courtney was born into the music business, literally. His mother, Grammy award-winning gospel singer Cynthia Clawson, went into labor with him in a studio in Nashville, while his father, Ragan Courtney, a Baptist preacher, penned several of her hits. Raised on lovin’ spoonfuls of the Byrds and Beach Boys, Will, along with real-life sibling Lily, formed the aptly titled country-folk collective Brothers & Sisters as a reflection and extension of their roots. The group’s eponymous debut, released last year on the family label, Calla Lily Records, is rich with pastoral scenery and sun-kissed choruses that are as instantly familiar as they are welcoming. The ensemble recently recorded a new EP, which includes a cover of Neil Young’s “Albuquerque” in Los Angeles, where they recently took up a residency. Off the Record chats up Courtney after the jump.

Press release from the Austin Police Department's Public Information Office regarding the arrest of Kurtiss Colvin in the beating death of David Morales, big news that, being out over the Fourth, we missed:

SUSPECT ARRESTED IN THOMPSON STREET HOMICIDE

Austin Police Department Homicide detectives have filed charges against a suspect in connection to the homicide that occurred on Tuesday, June 19th, at 900 Thompson Street. Kurtiss Colvin, 20 (DOB: 07-28-86) has been charged with Manslaughter, a second degree felony; Theft from Person, a state jail felony; and Assault with Injury, a class A misdemeanor. Bond was set at $215,000 for all three charges.

At approximately 9:31 p.m. Central East patrol officers responded to a person down call at 900 Thompson Street. Upon arrival officers located David Rivas Morales, 40 (DOB: 04-09-67) who was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. According to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, the cause of death was due to injuries received during the assault.

The on-going investigation indicates there was an auto pedestrian collision in the parking lot of 900 Thompson Street. Michael Hosea, Jr., 2 (DOB: 11-28-04) was accidentally struck by a Ford Taurus. Hosea was transported by private vehicle to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Even under editorial impresario Arnold Garcia's tortured, contorted reign, the Statesman's Important Screed today in defense of the new, "radically alter(ed)" Wal-Mart at Northcross is awful. Just godawful, an overflowing drool-cup of know-nothing, pseudo-centrist dribble that applauds the little people surrounding the mall for having made their positions oh so very clear – Wal-Mart even took away the gas station and lube center (although who in their right mind wouldn't want one of those in the neighborhood?) – but it's time for the grownups to get down to the business of commerce; you've had your word, and we've rewarded you with "a more pedestrian-friendly look," so, uhh, get lost: "Northcross gets a face-lift, Wal-Mart gets a more central location, shoppers get more choices and the city gets higher sales and property taxes. In short, the process worked to the benefit of most – though not all – involved." Your public process has "bettered" Wal-Mart, so please shut the hell up!

Under the guise of this craptastic third-way, a surfeit of weasel words: There are "probably" just as many in support of the project as not, we learn. They also glaze over the very real problem of conflicting traffic-impact reports by saying the increase "shouldn't" cause streets to fail, completely disregarding the pervasive history of underreporting and controversy on the subject. And while the whole fantastically flaccid affair manages to mention the lawsuits brought against the project, they stop far short of actually, you know, saying anything about it. If it's such a win-win at Northcross, why not condemn the two suits?

We hear rumors that, as a cost-saving measure, the Statesman's going to shrink by 2 inches. We know what section to start with.

More rain-related news: Barton Springs Pool will be closed today and until further notice, due to flooding.

It's not all bad news: The Austin Parks and Recreation Department Aquatic Division has announced that Deep Eddy Pool will be open 6am-9pm (that's an extra hour in the morning and half-hour at night), and there will be free admission 6am-8am.

For those hoping to bask on its shores today, there's these photos of the springs in warmer days, and an interview with the artist behind them, Will van Overbeek, might help a bit; or you can check out these pictures and more down at Austin Museum of Art on Congress until Aug. 12.