› With the City Council elections on Saturday, May 12, there is no regular council meeting this week, but Wednesday was devoted to another budget review work session, focusing on these often controversial departments: Austin Water Utility, Austin Energy, and Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services.
› Speaking of elections, registered Travis County voters can vote (or not vote, as seems more likely) in not one but two elections this month: Saturday’s May 12 municipal event, and the May 29 Democratic and Republican primaries. See endorsements; “Primary Primer,” or austinchronicle.com/elections.
› The last day of early voting for the May 12 municipal election saw a slight spike in turnout, bringing the total across the nine days to 23,257 – 4.9% of the county’s registered voters, and up 56% from last year’s turnout. Early voting for the May 29 primaries begins Monday, May 14.
› The GOP primary in House District 47 got bloody as incumbent Paul Workman and challenger Ryan Downton released attack ads. Workman says Downton was “a staffer for a liberal Democrat” (he actually worked on the House Technology, Economic Development and Workforce Committee in 2009 under Rep. Mark Strama); Downton accuses Workman of backing amnesty for illegal immigrants.
› The three-judge federal panel in D.C. has blasted Texas for being too slow to hand over documents in the preclearance hearing for the voter ID law. In a May 7 ruling, the court wrote that Attorney General Greg Abbott‘s failure to comply had endangered the July 9 trial date and belied his claim that he wanted a speedy hearing.
› Travis County State District Court Judge Lora Livingston ordered the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to grant a contested case hearing over the license granted to Waste Control Specialists to operate a radioactive waste dump in West Texas’ Andrews County, reversing a three-year-old TCEQ decision.
› IDEA Public Schools have scheduled an entry lottery for applicants to Allan Elementary on May 17. The charter school group, which takes over the Austin ISD campus starting in the 2012-13 school year, has been criticized for recruiting outside of its area to boost numbers.
› The U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association held a ceremony Wednesday morning to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Gus Garcia becoming the first Latino elected to the AISD board of trustees. Garcia was instrumental in the grassroots movement toward quality education for Latinos.
› On Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced his support of same-sex marriage. He’s the latest in a string of public officials (including Vice President Joe Biden) to publicly endorse marriage equality. Tuesday, North Carolinians voted in favor of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
This article appears in May 11 • 2012.