Headlines

Workers begin the long-awaited disassembly of the Holly Power Plant, which the city closed in 2007 after decades of Eastside neighborhood complaints about noise, fires, and other hazards. The dismantling, which started July 20, is part of a $2.4 million capital improvements project planned for the nine-acre site on Lady Bird Lake. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

› City Council next meets formally on Aug. 2, when there will be plenty of potential kindling for controversy – charter revision and districting, short-term rentals, and a November bond election. Formal budget review begins in an Aug. 1 work session.

› Early voting continues through July 27, for the July 31 primary run-offs. In the first two days, 8,317 (mostly Republicans) cast ballots – 1.39% of registered voters.

› After DNA and fingerprints linked him to the scene, Steven Alan Thomas, 53, was charged with capital murder in connection with the 1980 rape and murder of Mildred McKinney inside her Williamson County duplex.

› Austin Police are looking for a suspect who fired a gun during an altercation on East Sixth Street just after 2am Sunday, injuring several. APD also wants information regarding William Roy Greer, who was killed early this week along the Hike & Bike Trail. Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 472-TIPS.

› Austin might be getting a second People's Community Clinic, if City Council approves and voters endorse a $2 million addition pending the November bond proposal. Clinic CEO Regina Rogoff hopes to leverage federal funding and donated land on the Mueller neighborhood site.

› Retired UT and NFL football star Ricky Williams is in town this week, "accessing consciousness" with schoolkids and a controversial California "mind healing" program that purports to transform lives. See "The State of the Ricky Williams Foundation," The Score sports blog, July 23.

› The academic independence of a UT study into oil industry fracking has been criticized after the Public Accountability Initiative reported that author Charles "Chip" Groat is a director and shareholder in fracking firm Plains Exploration and Production. UT says it will commission an independent review.

› Texas ranks 44th among states in overall children's health and well-being, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reports in its annual Kids Count Data Book. One in four Texas children is living in poverty, and 14% of kids are uninsured.

› Texas is rolling out the "Texas Classic" license plate in a dozen counties statewide. The new new plate is black and white and features an easier-to-remember seven-character layout.

› Another blow to voter ID: As Texans await the D.C. Circuit Court ruling on the state's tough rules, lawyers in an upcoming defense of the Pennsylvania state law have admitted they have no evidence of in-person voter fraud.

› Texas natives Gordon Cowden and Jessica Ghawi were killed in a shooting spree in Aurora, Colo. During a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, 24-year-old James Holmes opened fire on the crowd, killing 12 and injuring 58, police say.

› Sally Ride, the first woman to travel to space, died this week after battling pancreatic cancer. Ride has been honored as a role model for young girls interested in science.