Daily - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

2009 Early Voting Substantially Higher Than Last Year

A big surge on the last two days of early voting in Travis County for the May 9 municipal elections resulted in significantly higher numbers than last year. The final day saw 9,240 go to the polls in person, bolstered by 259 mail-in ballots received.Final totals:2009 – 30,971 (5.89% of registered voters)
2008 – 19,613 (3.47%)Bear in mind: These are Travis County totals, including not only the Austin city council races, but also elections in Bee Cave, Cedar Park, Lakeway, Leander, Pflugerville, Rollingwood, Round Rock, and other communities.If you haven't voted yet, Election Day is Saturday, May 9. You must vote in your neighborhood precinct sometime between 7am and 7pm. Go to Election Central for all sort of election information and coverage. And be sure to join us online after the polls close for results and reports from the election night parties.

Rose's SBOE Bill Fails, Then Passes

There go those darn malfunctioning voting machines again. For the second week in a row, an Austin-area legislator benefited from a vote result changing upon verification of the vote, with several lawmakers claiming their machines had “malfunctioned” – code for not present during the original vote, but returning to cast one, or changing their minds.This time, it was Patrick Rose’s HB 710, one of the many bills before the 81st Legislature trying to rein in the shenanigans at the State Board of Education, which has drawn national attention (and ridicule) in recent years for certain members’ religiously motivated agendas. HB 710 narrowly passed the House, and that only after a recount.The bill by Dripping Spring’s Rose – co-written with Austinites Donna Howard and Valinda Bolton and Round Rock’s Diana Maldonado, among others – would place the SBOE under periodic review by the Sunset Advisory Commission, “to look at process, and the way public input occurs," Rose said. "For example, how the State Board of Education intersects with the Texas Education Agency, how it intersects with school districts, how it intersects with the public, how decisions are made.”

Bills Build Up Blame

With over 6,000 bill filed this session, it's a given that the legislature isn't going to pass or even hear most of them. Frankly, considering how bad some bills are, being ignored is their best fate.Yet no lawmaker like to feel that their bill is falling through the cracks. So imagine the uproar when an entire chamber is worrying where its bills are.The House kicked off the grumbling today during an exchange between Reps. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, and Byron Cook, R-Corsicana. As of this morning there were approximately 200 House Bills still waiting for Senate committee hearings, some for over a month: By comparison, the House has yet to process 90 Senate bills, mostly recent arrivals. Hartnett pointedly asked his fellow members, "Any idea why the Senate is trying to make our bills rot over there?" Cook replied that he thought the Senate expected the House to do all the work for them.Meanwhile, some in the Senate are lightly fuming that they're taking up almost nothing but House bills in committee, and there's not that many getting to them.

Attempt to Derail TCEQ Appointment Fails

The Senate this afternoon approved Bryan W. Shaw’s nomination to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, despite the objections of El Paso Sen. Eliot Shapleigh and some other Democrats. Shaw, appointed to the commission by Gov. Rick Perry in 2007, won confirmation 22-7.Shapleigh drew upon his experience in trying to deny an air permit to the Asarco copper smelter in El Paso, which he said was approved against the recommendation of TCEQ staff. Shapleigh said the incident was evidence that the agency has become a “lapdog of polluters.”

Mother's Day Alert: Art of the Pot

Stumped for Mother's Day ideas? Start early and take the fam on over to Westlake High this Saturday for Art of the Pot's sixth annual pottery extravaganza. The Westlake High School Pottery Festival goes way beyond the candy dish to feature a student clay store as well as demonstrations and exhibits by nationally known ceramic artists whose work is not often seen in central Texas. If you're still thinking pinch pots and coasters, dial up Art of the Pot's artists samples page here.

Filmmaker to Talk Valentino, Man of Many Pugs

Matt Tyrnauer, Vanity Fair special correspondent and director of the documentary Valentino: The Last Emperor, will be at the Arbor Theatre on Wednesday (5/5) and Thursday (5/6) to conduct Q&A sessions at the 4:50 and 7:15 shows. (See the Chron's review here.) Tyrnauer followed the legendary fashion designer around with a camera for 3 years; we're betting he's got some scoop that didn't make the final cut.Speaking of scoop (rimshot!), check out this video of Valentino's five pampered pugs. 'Cause there's nothing like watching a pug get his teeth brushed to the sound of a Fellini-esque score to really jumpstart your afternoon.

Rock the Casbah

The Festival International de Louisiane, in Lafayette, LA., the last weekend of April, is the other wondrous musical event this time of year in our neighboring state. In no way comparable in scope, grandeur, or commercial appeal to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, this far more modest fete is still basically a regional event, although it's grown considerable in size and attendance in the 15 years since I last trekked to Acadian.The free annual festival celebrated its 23rd year in the usual manner: music and arts from the French-speaking parts of the globe, including Africa, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, Canada, France and, of course, Louisiana. South Africa, Ireland, Jamaica, Belgium, and several South American countries were also represented.All told, this year’s fest featured close to 500 artists from 15 different countries performing on six stages spread around downtown Lafayette, including day-long activities for children at a local schoolyard. It’s even expanded in recent years to include a French film festival and related art exhibits. And let’s not forget the scrumptious eats.

Ladies Night(s)

Alissa DeRubeis was sitting at one of Church of the Friendly Ghost's workshops on running live sound when she had an epiphany. "It was me and eight or nine other men," she recalls, "and there was a spot open to curate a series, and when the guy next to me leaned forward to say he wanted to do one, I couldn't help myself. I said, 'Me!'"That moment of clarity hatched a monthly summer series focusing on local female artists, the first of which starts Sunday at the Salvage Vanguard Theater. DeRubeis and her curating partner, Amanda Lewis, hope to incorporate art, film, and dance as well in the months to come, but they clearly had no problem finding diverse musicians for the inaugural show."Lisa Cameron, I love watching her make music," DeRubeis says. "Aditi Tahiti, not many people know her name yet, but she's a great experimental talent. Amanda Mora's perhaps a bit more representative of female musicians in this area; she comes from a musical family and lives out in the hill country. And Amy Annelle just has a great voice, So, I hope it covers a few bases."

'Skins' Bares It All

Skins is the best (and hippest) British teen drama you've never seen. And if you have had the good fortune of catching it on BBC America or on DVD you most certainly concur. Skins ended its first season with one of the lead characters getting hit by a bus, which is an effect the show tries to impose on viewers through the implementation of more outlandish plot twists each week. Each episode focuses on one of the many characters of the ensemble cast, expertly weaving their stories together to create a promiscuous world of teenage drinking and drugging wherein these kids (only a step up on the morality ladder from the youth of Larry Clark's Kids) deal with some adult issues. Sexual confusion, pregnancy, disabling health issues, sex with teachers, drug addiction, abandonment, what to wear, etc. – just the typical slate of problems most kids face these days. American viewers will recognize the outstanding and hilarious Dev Patel from his breakthrough performance in Slumdog Millionaire; he is just one of the many impressive actors featured in Skins. If you like your teen dramas edgy, decadent, and fun, head to your nearest indie DVD retailer or your Netflix queue: Season two premiered on a three-disc DVD (BBC Warner, $39.98) on April 14.