From the APD:

The Joint Terrorism Task Force has arrested an individual in connection with the explosive device located at 1902 South I-35 on Wednesday, April 25th. Paul Ross Evans, 27, has been charged with violations of Title 18 United States Code, Sections 2332(a) Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction; 844(i) Manufacture of Explosive Material; and 248(a)(3) Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. The Joint Terrorism Task Force is comprised of representatives from the FBI, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, Austin Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and University of Texas Police Department.

On the repugnant discovery at the Austin Women’s Health Center:

Had that bomb been found outside a post office or a school, the headlines would have been hysterically running on about ZOMG TERRORISM TERRORISM IS AL QAEDA INVOLVED? And the right-wing warbloggers would be pissing their pants and hyperventilating about profiling Arabs and banning Muslims from public life and dhimmitude and how if they had been there, they’d have stopped it with their concealed carry and their extra-super special powers of righteousness, just like they saw in a movie once and BOMB IRAN! and 9/11 CHANGED EVERYTHING!!! but they still have better things to do than join the military, but they’ll be happy to go into the woods and hunt Russians and shout WOLVERINES!!
But it’s an abortion clinic, so. Ho-hum.

UPDATE: Here's more on the lack of reaction, from the WIMN’s Voices blog, while Pandagon pontificates on the special type of "batshit crazy" Austin produces.

I'll chime in just a little here: We've gotten shit for a lot of the covers we've produced in the last year or so – the dead cats and the Anthony Benesh story come to mind – but never as much as we did for our "New Texas Family Planning" stirrups cover. Some geriatric asshole ambled in here and left a threatening note with the beleaguered front desk, and we actually hired extra security for a week or so. For some sick, semi-inexplicable societal reason, anything having to do with a woman's reproduction does, as Amanda says, bring out the real freaks.

From the Austin Police Department's Public Information Office:

LOCAL AND FEDERAL OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE EXPLOSIVE DEVICE

On Wednesday, April 25th, at approximately 2:15 p.m. APD patrol officers responded to a suspicious package call at the Austin Women’s Health Center parking lot located at 1902 South I-35. The 9-1-1 call was placed by a clinic employee who also notified ATF and FBI per the clinic protocol. The clinic and an insurance agency were evacuated, as well as one apartment building behind the incident location.

The Bomb Squad was notified and examined the package. After reviewing the information collected, the decision was made to render the package safe. All four southbound lanes of I-35 were briefly closed while the package was rendered safe. Closer examination of the package revealed an unknown powdery substance in the device. The Homeland Defense Team and the Austin Fire Department responded with specialized equipment to conduct field analysis to determine the chemical makeup of the substance. After the initial field analysis, it was determined that the powder was an explosive powder, not a biological health hazard.

Another legislative end-run around Roe v. Wade has made its way through the Texas Senate today, with Senate Bill 785 getting through its final vote on a 20-10 split vote.

This over-the-shoulder legislative intrusion into clinics and hospital says that doctors will have to file an abortion-reporting form with the Department of State Health Services whenever they perform an abortion. The form will lack identifying information about the patient, but the procedure data will be collected and, it can only be presumed, used to construct analyses that "show" abortion is dangerous.

If anything goes wrong, the doctor will have to file an abortion-complication form, which requires the doctor distinguish between abortion-related and pregnancy-related complications - something that will not always be easy to work out. It wouldn't just be the medical staff performing the abortion; as the bill analysis puts it, it covers any "physician practicing in Texas who treats an illness or injury related to complications from an abortion." This means if a patient has an abortion at one facility, goes to another one, and the staff there decides that their symptoms are caused by the abortion, in goes more paperwork.

While the financial media has gotten all giddy about the rocketing Dow Jones (it broke 13,000! Woo-hoo!), maybe it's time for some other sobering economic notes. The dollar is plummeting like a stone against many major currencies, including the Euro (which is nearly record-strong against the buck) and the British pound, while gains over the last five years against the Japanese yen are expected to level off or dip fast once the March consumer-price index data set is released. That stability is not a good sign, since the stagnating Japanese economy is suffering deflation.

Now a strong currency isn't automatically a good thing - after all, it's attracting tourists and would make exports much more attractive - but when combined with a sluggish economy and anticipation that the Fed will drop the interest rate, there's no reason to believe that foreign investors are going to be swooping in to bolster employment.

To put this in perspective, in fall of 2005, the pound was buying $1.60. That's now, according to UK-based bureau de change Travelex, $1.94 and rising. That means approximately a fifth of the value of the dollar has been wiped out in two years.

Sources tell the Chronicle that the attorney general has reached a "settlement" with the original managers of Primarily Primates Inc.'s sanctuary outside San Antonio, handing control of the troubled institution back to the original board of directors. Stay tuned throughout the day for more info on the decision. For more info on PPI's recent legal woes, see "Famous Long Ago," Dec. 15, 2006.

It's that time again: Budget season at the city of Austin is right around the corner. City Council's scheduled to get their budget forecast next meeting, the big picture that gives them a sense of the parameters the city's facing this fiscal year. And herein lies today irresponsible, unconfirmed rumor: whispers that the city's potentially facing a budget shortfall. Could this be what the scare-stories on police overtime earlier this year were priming us for? No way to tell for sure now. If you hear anything in the hallways, drop a line to wells@austinchronicle.com.

In other budget news, former council candidate, small business advocate, and avowed fiscal conservative Carl Tepper has penned many a jeremiad to make funds for graffiti removal a priority in the upcoming budget. (How the hell that squares with his hair-away-from-Libertarian principles has us stumped, but, you know, whatever.) Yet in the ensuing round of council-directed emails cc'd far and wide that ultimately landed in our inbox, Texas Monthly Publisher Mike Levy uses Toby Futrell's response to Tepper to bemoan the city's search for a new police chief. Hell, even we're amazed by his ability to get from X to Y on this one, but you gotta give credit where it's due.

You tell us: What should the city prioritize this budget?

Levy's letter after the jump.

One of Austin scenesters' favorite gripes is how we don't get enough national recognition and that for as much coverage local bands get from the coasts, Antone's might as well be in Dallas and Emo's in Waco. (OK, maybe it's not that bad.) But judging by the May 2007 Spin magazine, which hit newsstands this week, we're going to have to find some other complaint. From cover boy Britt Daniel on down, Austin is all over this issue like a cat on a june bug. TCB, frustrated by Houston Astros pitchers' inability to keep the Philadelphia Phillies off the bases, cataloged every last Austin reference, shout-out, and allusion Monday night, including a few that might surprise you.

Cover: Britt Daniel next in line for bathroom!

Also: Lollapalooza, co-owned, managed, and programmed by Austin-based C3 presents, which you may have heard.

And: Jeff Tweedy recorded Uncle Tupelo's last and Wilco's first albums at least partially in town.

We're sure this is totally old hat, but we never noticed the URL in the corner of the "New Wal-Mart at Northcross" flyer until now. But over at www.walmart-northcross.com, they've got a gang of new concept art showing how pretty their new location should be. Seriously, can we institute a moratorium on the limestone and aluminum Hill Country futurism? It's getting old – although it's still light years beyond the budget Frank Gehry meets Pee-Wee's Playhouse "architectural detailing" on all the big boxes at Mueller.

Just sayin'.