› City Council meets today (Thursday) with a daunting agenda – most notably, consideration of a proposed interim rate increase for Austin Energy and a possible phase-in of the long-debated single-use plastic bag ban, a slew of proposed event fee waivers, a sturdy brace of zoning cases, additional taxi permits, and a boathouse concession contract. Should be a regular butt-numb-a-thon.
› Austin ISD is giving parents more time to withdraw their kids from the controversial charter school at Allan Elementary, run by IDEA Public Schools. The district has extended the opt-out deadline to March 9, but critics suggest this just gives IDEA more time to convince people to opt in.
› New redistricting maps were released Tuesday, Feb. 28, opening the door to a May 29 primary. Democrats and minority voting rights activists were left reeling after a San Antonio court signed off on a congressional map that splits Travis County five ways. However, the map still needs preclearance by the Department of Justice.
› The Circuit of the Americas, the purpose-built Formula One race track under construction in Southeast Travis County, suffered its first serious accident when a rolling machine operator was injured on Feb. 28. The man, whose name has been withheld, is in critical condition.
› The execution of Anthony Bartee, scheduled Feb. 28, as been delayed while DNA testing is done on hair found clutched in the hand of murder victim David Cook, a friend of Bartee’s. For more on the case, see “Rick Perry Death Watch,” Feb. 24.
› The Austin Police Department crime lab is the subject of another complaint, from an independent lab, that alleges APD employees mishandled – or lost – samples sent for drug testing. APD has said it can’t comment on the specific cases at issue but has filed a response with the state’s Forensic Science Commission.
› Less than Super Tuesday: 10 states hold their primaries on March 6. It was supposed to be 11, but Texas dropped out after the latest GOP gerrymandering sabotaged the election calendar.
› Mitt Romney gained a little momentum when he won the Feb. 28 GOP presidential primaries in Arizona and his home state of Michigan, but not enough to completely shake radical right winger Rick Santorum.
› WikiLeaks began to release what is reported to be 5 million emails stolen by “Anonymous” hackers from Austin-based “global intelligence” firm Stratfor; the early returns reflect grandiose ambitions to outdo the CIA, as well as corporate accounts (Dow, Coca-Cola) paying the firm to provide information about potential protests.
› Hays County commissioners this week amended a local ordinance that now gives dog owners due process if their pet kills chickens, livestock, or domestic animals. The code change followed the international outcry over county authorities’ decision to euthanize two dogs for killing a neighbor’s chickens.
This article appears in March 2 • 2012.