Another high-ranking Bush loyalist will be packing his desk soon: Press Secretary Tony Snow will be standing down, effective September 14. He'll be replaced by his deputy and regular fill-in, Dana Perino

Unlike with many recent exits, there's less likely to be something suspicious about his exit. With the return of his colon cancer, the flack has looked increasingly strained and drained in recent months. More intriguingly, he recently told right-wing talkshow host Hugh Hewitt that he may have to stand down for financial reasons.

On Saturday, Sept. 1, when HB 2391 takes effect, Texas police officers will be given a choice to issue a ticket instead of arrest individuals for certain Class A and B misdemeanors – including possession of up to 4oz of marijuana. Authored by Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson – also chair of the House Corrections Committee – and carried by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo – also vice chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee – the bill is designed to ease the burden on county jails and county budgets. The bill would allow an officer to write a ticket in lieu of arrest for certain misdemeanor crimes committed in the same county where the individual lives. Among the new citation-eligible offenses are criminal mischief, theft, theft of service, and graffiti, where the loss of goods/services or damage done is less than $500; bringing and/or possessing “contraband in a correctional facility”; driving with a suspended license; and, possession of equal to or less than 4oz of pot. The Travis Co. Sheriff’s Office estimates that 7,000 people were booked people into jail in 2006 for the offenses listed under the new law. TCSO spokesman Roger Wade said that most of those defendants would’ve qualified for a citation only, which would’ve saved the county about $1.2 million. Additionally, Wade said that the TCSO estimates that each arrest took an officer off the street for an average of three hours per arrest.

A citation written under the new law would require the ticketed individual to appear before a magistrate for a hearing on the charged offense before being released on a personal bond – except in cases where “good cause shown” means a stint in the county lockup. Any failure to appear before the judge at the appointed time would prompt filing an arrest warrant.

The measure received near unanimous support in the Lege. In the House the measure passed 132-1 on a record vote with only Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, voting against the measure; in the Senate the bill passed 29-1 with Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, voting against passage. Gov. Rick Perry signed the measure into law June 15.

The pending execution of Kenneth Foster – scheduled for tomorrow – is some truly debased, embarrassing bullshit for the state of Texas and society as as whole. There's no question as to whether he killed anyone – he didn't – yet under Texas' perverse, antiquated "law of parties," he's as guilty for riding in a car with said murderer. Understandably, people are up in arms. Here's a sampling of what's out there.

"I am no wild-eyed, pointy-headed liberal. I am the former elected Bexar County District Attorney (1983-1987)," Sam Millsap writes the Board of Pardons. "I am responsible for the prosecution of more than a few death penalty cases, all of which produced convictions and executions … Is there no limit to our lust in this state for retribution? How many people must we execute for this crime before justice is served? Having already executed the shooter, what benefit results from the execution of someone who was simply nearby and had no idea that a murder would be committed? As the civilized world watches in amazement that a single American state has executed 400 people in the last 25 years, what does it say about us if we are willing to execute someone who was in the car when this horrible crime was committed? Surely, there is a limit to what we are capable of in this state."

Also, 13 state reps have written in, demanding clemency: Harold Dutton, Mike Villareal, Eddie Rodriguez, Donna Howard, Alma Allen, Terri Hodge and Ruth Jones McClendon singed a joint letter, while Sylvester Turner, Helen Giddings, Dora Olivo, Elliot Naishtat, Lon Burnam and Jessica Farrar wrote in individually.

Lastly, here's some contact numbers for you out there: the Governor is 512-463-2000, while the Board of Pardons and Paroles is 512-406-5852. Fax letters requesting clemency or stay to Maria Ramierez, Legal Support Director, Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles at 512 467-0945.

Godspeed.

UPDATE: With the world watching, the Governor does the right thing:

Gov. Rick Perry accepted a parole board recommendation Thursday to spare condemned inmate Kenneth Foster, the getaway driver in a 1996 murder who had been scheduled for execution within hours.

On Aug. 22, Gov. Rick Perry's press guy sent out a press-release bitch slap to the European Union for daring to comment on the death penalty in Texas. "While we respect our friends in Europe," said flack-in-chief Robert Black, "welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.”

On Aug. 24, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst put out a gushing press release applauding Circuit Judge Richard Howard for handing down the death penalty on John Couey, the Florida man convicted of raping and murdering nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford. "Jessica's murder was a horrible, horrible crime," said Dewhurst, "and I commend the jury and judge for their actions."

So asking a state not to perform executions, bad; encouraging a state to do them, good. Just so we know.

Agenda highlights for the Thursday, August 30, City Council meeting.

Item 8: $1 million plus to repair Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Facility. Eww!

Item 10: Taking a whole shitload (word to Hornsby Bend) of money ($2.8 in one-time funds, $2 million outta Vehicle Acquisitions – I'm so lost!) to buy a bunch of "E85 fuel police patrol sedans." The Corn Cops hit the streets.

Item 19: $5,000 agreement with AISD for Austin Eastside Story camp. When you're a jet, you're a jet, etc… (Hey kids, don't smoke!)

Items 23-25: Lotsa money – over $27 million – for three Austin Clean Water Program repair programs.

Item 28: And the motherload – another $27 million (with a million-plus contingency) for the Waller Creek Tunnel Project.

Items 34 – 66: A Purchasing Office shopping spree, with the city dropping hundreds of millions on 118 police patrol cars, decaled t-shirts, over-the-phone language interpretation services, gas masks and cartridges, tuberculosis case management software and hardware, roadway striping and manhole covers, amongst other things. Item 62 drops $337,000 on new TASERs. Shocking!

Item 72: Setting a public hearing Sept. 27 top consider Jennifer Kim's new anti-panhandling ordinance. Currently, it's only illegal downtown, and we all know how effective that is.

Item 77: 10:30am presentation of the Barton Springs Pool Master Plan.

Item 84: The 2pm utilities and infrastructure budget presentation (Austin Energy, Austin Water Utility, Public Works, Watershed Protection and Development Review, Neighborhood Planning and Zoning, and Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services).

Items 85-86: The entirety of the day's zoning items! Did a bomb go off which only killed developers?

5:30 Proclamations: Grand Opening of the oft-delayed Mexican American Cultural Center. Hmm. Between zoning and this, hell really has frozen over!

As setback variances along Town Lake Lady Bird Lake begin to wind their way through the board and commissions system, City Council members are taking preemptive measures voicing their disapproval with the request. Earlier today Mike Martinez fired off this press release announcing his reluctance to "begin dismantling the Town Lake Waterfront Overlay piece by piece." We also just received an email from Lee Leffingwell stating he agrees.

Below, the text of Martinez's press release:

Today, Council Member Mike Martinez announced he will not be supporting developer requested variances to the Town Lake Waterfront Overlay.

The Overlay was created in the 1980’s through a citizen lead initiative to protect the lake front from encroaching development. It was intended to guide future development to protect the water quality and parklands – the things that make the waterfront such a valued resource to the entire community.

“The Town Lake Waterfront Overlay was a citizen-lead policy initiative that should only be overturned or amended in that same manner. If there are property owners and community members who believe there should be amendments to the overlay, there is a comprehensive public process that should be used. Granting individual property owners requested variances is not good policy for legislation that protects a crown jewel in the heart of Austin’s urban core.”

Has the guv given up on becoming veep?

DC insider Political Wire is reporting that "knowledgeable Republicans" are pushing for Gov. Rick Perry to take over as chief of the Republican Governors Association next year. Now this could be seen as trying to get even more cred on the national stage pre-'08 elections, but it seems unlikely they would shove heir-apparent and RGA vice-chair Matt Blunt out of the way for a short-term appointment. Instead, it seems like all the failed but attention-grabbing big policy initiatives, and attempts to get some foreign policy cred, may disappear in favor of looking more gubernatorial.

Of course, he could be trying to build up a little momentum support before facing re-election in 2010, especially since there seems to be a long-rumored candidate taking about getting into the race. Last Sunday, US Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told The Dallas Morning News that she's not ruled out a run at the governor's seat in three years time. That's got to be a primary that Perry wouldn't want to face without some more friends at the national level.

Tomorrow marks the first day of the new academic year at UT Austin, but the end of this semester could be a little anti-climactic. Since the administrators up in the Tower decided to not bother with this December's graduation ceremony, graduate students may start to feel a little unloved.

The university has gone hell-for-leather to get rebuilding at the Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium at least partially completed for season's start on Saturday. But construction at the nearby Bass Concert Hall, traditional home to the graduate winter convocation, proceeds at a crawl. Although the December ceremonies are usually smaller than the mass Summer event, it's still a big moment in the lives of hundreds of students. However, on that enormous campus, it seems it's impossible to find an alternate venue. So it's just being canceled.

In an August 8 email, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Victoria E. Rodriguez announced that graduating students will be able to attend the ceremony in Summer 2008. This ignores the fact that, almost definitionally, the graduating students will probably no longer be in Austin or even in the state, or (considering how many international students UT attracts) even in the US by then. It also seems to ignore the fact that UT would grind to a halt without its graduate students working as teaching and research assistants.

There's no good way to put this: 63.1% of Texans are overweight. That's according to a new peer-reviewed study from the Trust for America's Health, entitled "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America." On the bright side, Texas may not be getting fatter. The report measures a .5% increase over the 2006 figures, but since this survey comes with a +/-1% margin of error, that's what the expert call statistically insignificant.

However, no reaching for a celebratory chalupa: 26.3% of all adults and 19.1% of kids are obese. (Trust us, Chronic is throwing no stones on this issue: we would, but it seems like a lot of effort. It's that kind of thinking that has helped us become the eighth most inactive state.)

Looking nationally, Mississippi is the fattest and most inactive state. On the health-related diseases front, it also has the dubious honor of the highest rates for hypertension. But West Virginia has the highest adult diabetes rates, and neighboring Washington D.C. takes the title for child diabetes.

For those of you with the energy, the full report can be found here.