Headlines

• Results from three town halls gauging citizen reaction to proposed budget cuts are now available. New or increased fees for the Trail of Lights, South by Southwest security services, parking fines, and development permitting were all widely accepted, along with a controversial proposal to close older pools. Soundly rejected: eliminating supervised summer playground programs, with only 21% acceptance. The data's online at www.cityofaustin.org/budget; see chart with "Expect the Unexpected."

• Austin Police officers will vote on whether they should forgo their 2010 pay raises and instead lock in a 3% raise in 2012. The plan is slated to go to Austin Police Association members later this month; the city's EMS union will be voting on a deferral of raises as well. The proposals, which also need final council approval, would save the city roughly $5 million next year – about the same cost of a police cadet academy the police union wants to salvage.

• The City Council continues its summer hiatus, not to return to the dais until July 23, when City Manager Marc Ott presents his proposed 2010 budget.

• On Monday, electricity use in Austin hit its third all-time peak-use record in a week – and it was only June. Austin Energy recommends reducing your kilowatt consumption between 3pm and 7pm to avoid any further energy overdosing – it looks like a long, hot summer ahead.

• The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling Monday finding that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly passed over for promotion may have local reverberations; fire union President Stephen Truesdell says firefighters not tapped for assistant chief in recent appointments may complain to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to In Fact Daily.

• The Texas Legislature is back for the special session, but while the Sunset extension bill to extend the lives of five agencies – including the Texas Department of Transportation – is moving fast, lawmakers are worried about new funds for road construction and extending exemptions to the toll road moratorium; see "Special Session Could End in Fireworks."

• Sen. John Cornyn held a lunch Wednesday with the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and was quizzed by Council Member Mike Martinez on whether he would oppose the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor (Cornyn said he was undecided).

• A raid on a gay bar in Fort Worth last weekend – on the anniversary, no less, of the Stonewall riots that kicked off the gay rights movement 40 years ago – has attracted national attention and calls for a full investigation; see "Gay Place."

• As in life, so in death: Michael Jackson died at the age of 50, both eclipsing the celebrity deaths of Farrah Fawcett and infomercial-pitchman Billy Mays and unleashing a final torrent of tabloid speculation that plagued the entertainer his entire life.

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Quote of the Week

"In my 27 years in this business, and in all the places I've been, I've never seen as hard a demographic line [as I-35]."

– City Manager Marc Ott, speaking on the issue of race. See "Ott Tackles Aus­tin's Racial Divide."