"Ann was so cool," Council Member Mike Martinez said atop city hall's second story balcony, the Congress Avenue Bridge hovering behind him like a hologram above shining water this blustery morning. "If we did this when she was still alive, she'd say 'Cool, but it's still the same old bat bridge."

Becoming of the woman it's now christened for, the City Council ceremony naming the iconic structure the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Memorial Bridge suffered no shortage of real talk. It began two stories down in City Council chambers, as they passed Item 40 naming the bridge. Lee Leffingwell remarked how Richards is locally known for teaching at Fulmore High School; indeed, she taught around the same time Leffingwell attended class there, but alas, they didn't overlap. Martinez called her a champion of women and minorities, and Sheryl Cole, further emphasizing the work she did ushering diverse faces into government, said it was "particularly fitting that a bridge be named after her." Ann Richards' son Dan Richards then took to the podium, extending his gratitude.

They'll breeze through it in time for their press conference, or they'll save it for after lunch, but City Council's set to tackle the topic of pay raises today. Councilmember pay was tacked on the agenda as a late addendum, probably in order to lob some softballs Statesman way. Thing is, they didn't need to– it's not that bad an idea.

The subject first arose in their October 5 meeting. Then-sponsor Brewster McCracken had, somewhat awkwardly, positioned the topic as one for the Ethics Review Commission, imploring them to "make determinations... relating to City Council reporting standards, outside employment, benefits, compensation and conflicts standards." It took Lee Leffingwell to point out the obvious – that, as Council appointees, any ERC decision would, however unintentionally, carry their imprimatur. "At worst, I think it creates at least a perception of a conflict of interest," Leffingwell said, noting that the ERC didn't even have "any purview" over the subject.

Sarah Wheat, long-time reproductive rights advocate, will be starting a new job next week when she takes over as public affairs director for Austin Planned Parenthood. For the past six years, Wheat has worked in a similar capacity with NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, where she served as political director for five years before taking over as the group’s executive director last year. In short, Wheat’s new job means moving to a new office where she’ll continue the same fight to ensure reproductive rights for all women.

Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, on Tuesday sliced the state’s Board of Pardons and Paroles during an intense hearing to review the Sunset Commission’s report on the Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice. Whitmire, a member of the Commission, took the BPP to task for its parole decision inconsistencies. “If you’d just followed your own guidelines, we wouldn’t have a [prison] capacity problem right now,” Whitmire told BPP members, reports the Houston Chronicle. Indeed, according to the Commission’s report, the BPP has failed to follow its own guidelines when making decisions regarding parolees – perhaps this shouldn’t come as such a shock, after all, these are the same people who think its perfectly fine to review death penalty cases without ever meeting together as a board, and who apparently think it is perfectly peachy to simply fax in their votes when deciding whether to grant clemency to the condemned.

As is being reported all over Left Blogistan, isn't there a certain troubling irony in having Sen. Trent "We wouldn't have had all these problems" Lott take the title of Minority Whip?

Earlier this week, an item on the forthcoming City Council agenda raised some eyebrows. Item 40 was a vaguely worded ordinance naming the Congress Avenue Bridge – yet for who or what, it didn't say. Well, the cat's out of the bag. At their Thursday meeting, City Council will move to christen the famous structure the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge.

At approximately 11am Thursday, following adoption of the consent agenda (normally a rote matter), Council will take top the "Mayor's Balcony" outside for a press conference, with members of the Richards family in attendance.

In a press release Mayor Will Wynn, Item 40's sponsor, had this to say: “Ann Richards was my friend, an adviser, and an inspiration ... Ann always worked to bridge the divides that separated people and I think it is very fitting that we honor her memory by naming the bridge where she began her inaugural parade in 1991, particularly knowing that we frequently refer to Congress Avenue as the ‘Main Street’ of Texas.”

The rest of the release, including reaction from all council members, continues below the fold.

Oh, how did we miss this one? Thanks to the Houston Chronicle for pointing out that while Gov. Rick Perry won 215 of Texas' 254 counties, the county of his birth – Haskell – wasn't one of them. Haskell County results: Bell 32.68%, Perry 30.61%, Strayhorn 27.48%, Friedman 8.86%.

Austin Business Journal: Cap Metro Goes Wireless

Granted, it's only for Express buses, but I guess the Metro pendulum has swung from broke-ass to cash-flush again. (It's so easily swayed, especially during labor negotiations!)

Grits for Breakfast: Red Light Cameras Targeted for Ban

Scott Henson sifts traffic-camera banning legislation from all the bills freshly filed for the next legislative session. Take that, Jennifer Kim!

ACLU Students Rights Forum

The stalwart freedom defenders host attorney Susan Heiligenthal to discuss zero tolerance policies, safety, searches and more. Thursday, 11/16, 6-7pm, ACLU of Texas headquarters, 1210 Rosewood.

Buried at the bottom of In Fact Daily, we see Rep. Mark Strama is clearing his CAMPO calendar around early February. Turns out his wife is preggers, their child due to arrive February 4. Nice enough – until you remember that his wife is none other than FOX 7 city hall reporter Crystal Cotti.

Damn. That's going to be one good-looking baby.

(For more FOX fun, check out Crystal's web bio here. "Like this copper and limestone building, Austin is weird!")