Austin Stories

The City Council will not meet until next Thursday. In the meantime, Mayor Gus Garcia, Council Member Raul Alvarez, and select city staff have traveled to Saltillo, Mexico, one of Austin's sister cities. -- L.A.

Austin attorney Brad Rockwell spent his first days on the job this week as the new deputy director of the Save Our Springs Alliance. Rockwell will fill in for Executive Director Bill Bunch, who leaves next month for a yearlong sabbatical in the Czech Republic. Until recently, Rockwell practiced law with the firm of Scanlan, Buckle & Young, specializing in civil litigation on behalf of municipalities trying to fend off developers. Bunch and his wife, who is a Czech native, leave Austin around the first of September. -- Amy Smith

Council Member Daryl Slusher apparently has rediscovered his reporter's pencil. On Tuesday afternoon, the former Chronicle writer and his executive aide, Tina Bui, hosted the first installment of the Daryl Slusher Show (Channel 6), which will feature news segments (heavy on council issues), interviews with special guests such as Toby Futrell, and Slusher's responses to constituent mail. No word on whether Slusher plans to incorporate weather reports, sports highlights (political football?), or other typical news-show features. -- L.A.

The Travis Co. Sheriff's Office is looking for volunteers to join the office's victims services unit as part of the crime scene response program. Applicants must be at least 21 years old and willing to submit to a full background check. Training seminars begin August 26 and run for 10 weeks, meeting Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9pm. If interested, call TCSO at 854-9709 for the volunteer info packet. -- Jordan Smith

Last week Mike Clark-Madison picked up two awards for a Chronicle feature story -- "What's Wrong With Public Housing: Nothing -- When It's Working With and For the People Who Live There" (Aug. 31, 2001) -- reviewing the public housing situation in Austin, and focusing on the progress made in the last several years by the city's Housing Authority. The story won Media Recognition from the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), as well as the Best Feature Article award from the southwest chapter of NAHRO. Clark-Madison is currently on vacation, and his byline will return to the Chronicle in two weeks. -- Michael King