News Ticker: June 10

Judge Edith Jones

Rick Perry rips from the headlines, the Supreme Court ups the tension, and Edith Jones finds a friend. Publicity is on the News Ticker.

• Like volumizing mousse in a palm, Gov. Rick Perry is sometimes surprisingly adept at managing the split ends of a news cycle. On Friday, he got headlines by running his fingers through the NSA Verizon surveillance scandal.

• Perry definitely isn't shy about using celebrity to make sure he gets noticed. Emmitt Smith! Robert Rodriguez! Ang Lee! Well, maybe he isn't eager to revisit that one again.

• He's also good at throwing a good ole fashioned bill signin'. This morning Perry signed HB 5 and several other education reform bills into law, quieting veto rumors that were definitely not started by his office. No sir.

• The Texas Tribune notes that the declared candidates for various statewide offices are all in the red column. We will note that it wouldn't be a Texas summer without at least a little bit of sunburn.

• Above the Law blogger Tamara Tabo and Judge Edith Jones, they have a thing going on.

• Transformers 4, the cinematic equivalent to the Jock Jams mix you recorded over your little sister's Teddy Ruxpin cassette, has begun filming at various Central Texas locations.

• Today is the last day of the Austin American Statesman's free preview of "MyStatesman.com" paywall content. If you ever wondered what ever happened in the Elgin Nursing and Rehabilitation Center's over-easy eggs battle, feast now.

• An APD officer has been suspended for choking a suspect, an action that has fewer comical implications than we were lead to believe by The Simpsons.

• In one day in the future, someone in Austin will start a festival to celebrate the one day of the year when there are no festivals. Until then, we will just all have to pretend this is normal.

• The U.S. Supreme Court again failed to deliver an opinion on the Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin affirmative action case or either of the pending marriage equality cases this morning. Some observers believe this is an attempt to delay the verdict until most Americans are too drunk on summer watermelon margaritas to notice.