Naked City
Beyond City Limits
Edited By Mike Clark-Madison, Fri., May 9, 2003
Southwest Texas State University and Bastrop Co. have reached an agreement for SWT's Biology Dept. to manage 400 acres of endangered Houston toad habitat. The Paul Welsh estate donated the land under a federal grant to help recovery of the toad, which made headlines recently as a possible stumbling block to Alcoa Corp.'s plan to strip-mine for lignite coal in Bastrop Co. Alcoa did not find any toads on its land, but environmentalists are still concerned that water drawdown caused by the mining will threaten the toad. -- Lee Nichols
Speaking of SWT, HB 1961, which would rename the school Texas State University at San Marcos, was sent to the House floor by a 6-0 vote of the House Higher Education Committee. The bill, authored by Democratic Reps. Vilma Luna of Corpus Christi and Patrick Rose of Dripping Springs (whose district includes SWT), was introduced over the objections of SWT leaders who'd decided to take a go-slow approach on the long-running name-change controversy. Alums and partisans of other Texas universities plan to lobby against the bill. -- M.C.M.
The Texas House on April 24 voted to pass HB 614, under which juries in capital-murder cases will determine during the sentencing phase of the trial whether the defendant is mentally retarded and thus cannot be executed. Opponents of the bill, authored by Rep. Terry Keel, R-Austin, say the determination should be made during a pretrial hearing, by either a judge or a separate jury, and that the after-the-fact determination is likely unconstitutional. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration. -- Jordan Smith
Longtime Bush buddy Clay Johnson, a key aide during Dubya's tenure in the mansion, is the odds-on favorite to be the next White House budget director, replacing Mitch Daniels, who plans a run for governor of Indiana. -- M.C.M.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out the murder conviction of Houstonian Robert Kaupp, sentenced to 55 years for the 1999 slaying of a 14-year-old girl when Kaupp was himself 17. Though Harris Co. sheriff's deputies roused Kaupp from his bed late at night, handcuffed him, and took him in for questioning -- where he allegedly confessed to the crime -- they later claimed they had not actually "arrested" him, since they lacked an arrest warrant or probable cause to do so. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals saw nothing wrong with this reasoning, but the Supremes did; their unsigned, unequivocal trashing of the CCA decision is the third case this term where the court has intervened on the side of a Texas defendant. Harris Co. prosecutors are free to retry Kaupp for the murder, but cannot introduce his "confession" into evidence. -- M.C.M.
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen's nomination to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals remains blocked by a Democratic filibuster in D.C., but longtime San Antonio federal district judge Ed Prado was easily confirmed this week for a seat on the same court. President Bush has nominated another former TSC justice, Xavier Rodriguez, to fill Prado's current seat; Rodriguez was defeated in the 2002 GOP primary by Steven Wayne Smith. -- M.C.M.
The culture jammers who brought Whirl-Mart and Busy Marquee to Austin are taking their subversive, anti-consumerist activism across the Atlantic. From May 8 to 19, seven members of the How+Why? Collective will visit art galleries and universities in Liverpool, London, and other British cities as part of their "Stop Shopping" tour. "We're hoping that by going over there and offering a point of view that's different from 'manifest capitalism,' we'll spread a like-minded conscience," says H+W? member Sean O'Neal. "It's a diplomatic mission." The group's activities have achieved some celebrity in Britain thanks to popular comedian Graham Norton, who has featured Busy Marquee on his BBC TV show. -- Lauri Apple
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