Headlines

Two women, attending an Oct. 6 rally for 10-1 geographic representation on City Council, study an Austin map that could one day include boundary lines for single-member council districts. The 10-1 proposal and a competing 8-2-1 voting system are on the Nov. 6 ballot. (Photo by John Anderson)

• City Council meets today (Thursday), with a brace of annexations on the agenda, as well as the postponed and now wobbly Rainey Street deal for a parking garage across from the Mexican American Cultural Center. For more, see "Council: Of Public Power and Inside Chess" and "Then There's This."

• Austin police are joining with other area agencies for a stepped-up roadway enforcement initiative targeting drivers who fail to abide the Texas Move Over Act, which requires drivers to change lanes or to reduce speed to 20 mph under the limit when passing an emergency vehicle with its lights activated. The initiative runs from Oct. 15 through Nov. 2.

• At press time, AISD Trustee Christine Brister has reportedly announced that she has suspended her re-election campaign.

• The money laundering trial of the Yassine brothers came to a rapid conclusion this week as lawyers presented their closing arguments on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Attorneys for the three bar-owning brothers presented no defense, instead going after the federal prosecutors' key witness, their cousin Mohamad "Mo" Yassine.

• Montgomery County District Judge Fred Edwards has filed official findings in the case of Larry Swearingen, concluding the death row inmate has not shown sufficient "credible evidence" that he is innocent of the murder of Melissa Trotter outside Conroe. For more on the case, see "The Science of Injustice," Aug. 19, 2011.

• At press time, a panel of the 3rd Court of Appeals was hearing oral arguments in the case of convicted money launderer and former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay. DeLay's defenders are expected to argue that the evidence used to convict him of funneling illegal contributions to Texas GOP candidates was insufficient to support his 2011 conviction. For more on the case, see "Point Austin: A Hill of Beans," Nov. 19, 2010.

• On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal of Fisher v. the Uni­ver­sity of Texas at Austin, an affirmative action in admissions case. Advocates fear that the court could reject all forms of racial consideration.

• The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released its final 202-page report on Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Service Team on Wednesday. It chronicles what the USADA alleges was a long and systematic doping program. The agency has already ruled to ban Armstrong from competitive cycling and void his seven Tour de France titles, but cycling's international governing body, UCI, has 21 days to accept the findings or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. After that, the World Anti-Doping Agency gets another three weeks to appeal.

• The presidential polls tightened this week in the wake of the first Obama/Romney debate and as the Nov. 6 election approached, with Vice President Joe Biden and challenger Paul Ryan scheduled for a debate Thursday night. And if you weren't registered by Tuesday, you're out of luck. Early voting begins Oct. 22.

• Sad news for fans of the online trivia game Qrank. Austin's Ricochet Labs announced Oct. 8 that they're ceasing the popular timewaster.