Headlines

A Travis County deputy constable looks out over the RunTex floor, where items from the shop were auctioned off Tuesday to pay for back taxes. Tax Assessor/Collector Bruce Elfant said the auction raised more than $60,000 – enough funds to cover overdue taxes and pay down other debt. (Photo by John Anderson)

› President Barack Obama is scheduled to make a whistle-stop visit to Austin on May 9, visiting Manor New Tech High School and Applied Materials. The trip launches his "Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour," part of an effort to put pressure on Congress over economic policies.

› The City Council meeting today includes an unusual logistical challenge: breaking around mid-afternoon to attend President Obama's speech, then returning to work in time for live music, proclamations, and more hashing over Austin Energy governance issues. Several nonconsent items will be postponed.

› Early voting in the May 11 AISD bond election closed with a bang. Over 5,000 Austinites cast their ballots on Tuesday, May 7, the final day of in-person early voting. That brings the pre-election day total to 22,055 – almost double the early turnout for the district's last bond in 2008. See election day information , our endorsements, and a note from the publisher.

› A shirt signed by Lance Armstrong and a pair of President George W. Bush's running shoes went on the auction block May 7 as RunTex tried to clear its debts. The athletic store, which has become synonymous with road races in Austin, owes $80,000 in back rent and $17,000 in unpaid property taxes. Visit austinchronicle.com/photos for images of the sale.

› Austin Police Department Chief of Staff David Carter on May 7 was offered the top-cop spot at the University of Texas PD. Retiring Chief Robert Dahlstrom, like Carter, served as APD's chief of staff before taking the reins at UT.

› Prosecutors on May 3 handed down sentences, ranging from 12 months to 30 years, to more than a dozen members of the Jovita's heroin ring. Jose Pardo, brother of deceased family patriarch and alleged ringleader Amado Pardo, was sentenced to a 30-year prison term.

› The Texas House on May 4 passed Austin Rep. Elliott Naishtat's measure that would require drivers involved in accidents to return to the scene to determine whether a person was struck. House Bill 3668 would amend the Trans­portation Code and serve as a complement to a measure authored by Austin Sen. Kirk Watson (Senate Bill 275) that closes a criminal code loophole that encourages intoxicated drivers to flee from the scene of a hit-and-run.

› House Bill 5 – the biggest overhaul of the state's school testing system in a decade – passed out of the Senate on May 6 after days of long and contentious debate. The plan reduces the amount of standardized testing, and would start grading districts on an A-to-F scale.

› Another nail in the coffin for Gov. Rick Perry's presidential hopes for 2016: Public Policy Polling announced via Twitter on May 6 that, since the governor has consistently polled less than 2% in early primary polling, it is pulling his name off the survey and replacing it with Sen. Ted Cruz.