Headlines

• Wednesday rail woes: Capital Metro put the brakes on MetroRail service Wednesday morning after a freight train derailed near Seventh Street and Pedernales in East Austin; meanwhile, buses were dispatched to rail stops along the commuter route to ferry passengers to their destinations. Rail service was expected to be back in service by Wednesday afternoon.

• Two California finalists vying to fill the top position at Austin Energy were in Austin last week to meet with a select number of stakeholders, and City Manager Marc Ott is considering visiting their respective home turfs to get a feel for their leadership abilities. For more, see "AE GM Search."

• The Austin Community College board this week adopted a $235 million budget, eliminating the property tax exemption for designated historic homes and buildings and withholding across-the-board pay raises for employees.

• Sierra Club and Environment Texas announced plans this week to sue Exxon Mobil Corp. in federal court for violating the Clean Air Act. Over the last five years, they say, Exxon Mobil's Baytown chemical plant complex – home to the country's largest oil refinery – has released "10 million pounds of excess air pollutants."

• Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Austin successfully added an amendment to a supplementary war appropriations bill that will prevent Texas lawmakers from diverting federal education funds away from school districts. Last session, legislators used $3.2 billion in federal stimulus funding to backfill the growing hole in the state budget, rather than tapping the Rainy Day Fund reserves.

• As if Gov. Rick Perry wasn't in enough trouble over his $9,000/month rented mansion in Austin, the Texas Democratic Party has filed ethics complaints against the Aggie guv for failing to report his income and expenses for his house in College Station.

• Just another day in GOP politics: Republican operatives with ties to Gov. Rick Perry are not-so-secretly helping the Green Party of Texas secure a place on the state's general election ballot in November. See "Greens Gain Ballot Access in Curious Fashion."

• So much for "Climategate": After anti-environmental activists claimed leaked e-mails from British researchers showed they were manipulating the figures on global warming, a six-month inquiry by the British government has vindicated their research as accurate and fully peer-reviewed.

Quote of the Week

"It was clearly an example of making sausage."

– Council Member Randi Shade, explaining the Public Health and Human Services Com­mit­tee's free-flow process of rethinking the city's social service contracts