• Former Attorney General Jim Mattox, “the people’s lawyer,” passed away in his sleep last week. Mattox lay in state Monday at the Texas Capitol; funeral services were held Tuesday morning at the First Baptist Church Downtown.
• Rhoda Mae Kerr has been confirmed as the Austin Fire Department’s first female chief. Ironically, the Austin Firefighters Association is set to conclude voting on Wednesday on whether to accept a new contract where changes to female and minority recruitment and promotion are at issue; see “Naked City.”
• The Live Music Task Force presented its recommendations to City Council last week, chief among them creation of a municipal Music Department. See “City Hall Hustle.”
• The new Downtown Cap Metro station, near the Convention Center, was completed this week; it’ll be one of nine stations on the MetroRail Red Line to begin commuter rail service in March 2009.
• The whiplash ride on Wall Street continued, as markets plummeted along with Citigroup‘s stock price last Friday, then rebounded on word of a Citi bailout – potentially exceeding $300 billion – and Barack Obama’s announcement of his economic team, headed by Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers. The Federal Reserve also announced plans to purchase $800 billion of mortgage debt and loan-based securities.
Quote of the Week
“People who are militant Darwinists … want to pull out that language and treat evolution separately than how we teach all other theories.”
– State Board of Education member and creationist Terri Leo, who supports changing the way science is taught in public schools
This article appears in November 28 • 2008.