Headlines

Hundreds of ralliers showed up at the Capitol on Feb. 26 to speak out against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting measures. The Austin event was part of a nationwide day of support for public-sector employees and union rights. See austinchronicle/newsdesk for more photos from the rally. (Photo by Richard Whittaker)

• Capital MetroRail's experiment with weekend service begins this week. Every Friday in March, the Red Line will run into the evening, with the last train leaving Downtown at 11:30pm. Also, the Red Line will run on the two Saturdays of South by Southwest (March 12 and 19), 11:30am-11:30pm, but excluding service to Leander. For full info, go to www.capmetro.org.

• The AISD board of trustees adopted a resolution of financial exigency on March 1. While it will take another vote to approve any staff cuts, many district employees have already been contacted by human resources to tell them their jobs are on the list. See "AISD's Next Step After Exigency?."

• All heck broke loose when the Austin American-Statesman published about a year's worth of City Council e-mail correspondence, material the daily had requested after the Austin Bulldog had done the same. The Bulldog then sued the city for failing to comply fully with its public information request. See "City Hall Hustle."

• City Council convened for another Wednesday work session prior to its Thursday, March 3, meeting, taking up the controversial matters of increased paid parking hours and final approval of the Park planned unit development. See "City Council Preview: Don't Bogart That Space."

• Former Austin Police Officer Leonardo Quintana endured another arbitration hearing last week, to appeal his termination by APD Chief Art Acevedo following allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-fiancée; see "Quintana: Abused or Abuser?"

• The Austin Police Department "bought back" hundreds of firearms with grocery vouchers at a Guns4Groceries event over the weekend, despite a fledgling counterbid project by Texans for Accountable Government – because you just can't have too many guns on the street.

• Austin Energy installed two 240-volt charging stations this week in the AE parking garage at 721 Barton Springs Rd. Available for use by anyone with an electric vehicle, the stations are the first of more than 100 to be installed around Austin by the end of the summer.

• As the state budget shortfall crisis continued, House members debated Gov. Rick Perry's "emergency" legislation: voter ID for minority voters and mandatory pre-abortion sonograms. See LegeLand.

• So much for open government: Eleven people were ticketed for criminal trespassing at the Capitol on March 1. Their offense? Protesting against planned sweeping cuts to disability services outside the Governor's Office.

• The Texas Windstorms Insurance Associa­tion – the state's insurer of last resort for storm damage – has been placed under administrative oversight by Insurance Commissioner Mike Gees­lin. The agency is under investigation for potential fraud after allegations that outside claims adjusters were being paid for work that was never done.