Naked City

A homeless man at Congress and Oltorf weathers the deep chill that struck Austin last week, sending thousands of homeless men and women to shelters around town and forcing the city to turn recreational centers into temporary shelters. See "Frozen Assets: AWU and the Busted Pipes" for more cold weather news. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

• EPA Gets Tough on Smog, Tough on Tex­as The Environmental Protection Agen­cy has proposed a stronger health standard on smog, drawing praise from environmentalists, scorn from Gov. Rick Perry, and concern from local officials. The current standard is .075 parts per million, and the Austin area barely managed to make that standard this past summer. The new proposal calls for a level of .06 to .07. Nonattainment can bring restrictions on the availability of federal transportation funding. The Sierra Club praised the proposal, saying it will lead to less asthma and other respiratory illnesses and heart disease in Texas. Our governor took a dimmer view: "The EPA's only consistent target has been the target on the backs of Texas workers and taxpayers," he said in a press release. "[T]he Obama administration seems intent upon following flawed science down a road that will lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of Texas jobs, while doing nothing more to protect human health." The EPA will issue the final standard Aug. 31; it is currently taking public input, including at a Feb. 2 hearing in Houston. The Clean Air Force of Central Texas' Technical Advisory Committee will discuss the proposal at its Jan. 28 meeting, 9:30-11:30am, at the Austin Chamber of Commerce. – Lee Nichols

• Quintana Arrested Austin Police Officer Leonardo Quintana, who was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in the May 2009 shooting death of 18-year-old Nathaniel Sanders II, was arrested early Jan. 12 by police in Leander, reportedly after he was in a car accident. He was released that afternoon on bond. Sanders' family attorney Adam Loewy said he deposed Quintana for six hours on Monday as part of the family's civil suit against the officer, and Quintana seemed "very nervous" and "rattled" by a number of the questions. Austin Police Assoc­iation President Wayne Vincent said he could not speculate about what happened, but "I will say that he's been under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure" with multiple investigations and reviews of the Sanders shooting death. "We don't have all the details yet, but we're supporting him just like we would any family member." APD says Quintana will remain on restricted duty while the criminal case in Williamson County and an APD Internal Affairs investigation are pending. – Jordan Smith

• Caught Huffing Austin Police Sgt. Craig Martin is on restricted duty this week, pending the outcome of two cases in which he was arrested for allegedly using inhalants. Martin was popped in a Lowe's parking lot Dec. 16, 2009, after someone reported to the Kyle police that he was inhaling something from an aerosol can; he was arrested again Jan. 12, this time by Cedar Park Police, who reportedly charged the police supervisor with the illegal use of glue or paint. Martin has been on restricted duty since the December arrest, police say, and will remain off the job pending the outcome not only of the criminal cases but also of APD's internal inquiry. – J.S.

• Travis County Delegation to the Rescue With the state of Texas facing falling sales-tax revenues, on Jan. 12 House Speaker Joe Straus announced four new House Select Committees intended to examine spending priorities and find potential savings. The committee charges also glance toward the greatest challenge under the Dome – the state's structural budget deficit, caused by a gap between required expenditures and the current malfunctioning tax base. The Travis County delegation is represented on three of the committees: Rep. Donna Howard, who joins fellow Democrat Elliott Naishtat on the new Federal Legislation committee to study implementation of federal health care reform, said the charges "focus on the most critical issues that we're going to have to address to keep the budget in play and make sure that we have sufficient funds to provide the services that Texans expect." Fellow Travis County Dem Mark Strama joins Emergency Preparedness, while Dawnna Dukes will look for savings on Government Efficiency and Accountability. There are no local reps on Fiscal Stability, which is charged with examining the state's tax base and "whether the shortfall is due to the current recession alone or more systemic problems." While she called it doubtful that any Republican will vote for any tax increases or shifts in an election year, Dukes said, "it will put many on the spot. Depending on the leadership, there will be those that say, 'cut,' but 2003 didn't go well for a Republican majority that made cuts." All four committees must file their reports by Dec. 1. – Richard Whittaker

• A Plea for National Health Care Ex­change On Jan. 11, Austin's Lloyd Dog­gett and 10 other members of the Texas Democratic Congressional delegation wrote to President Obama and the House leadership to urge that the proposed health care legislation, now in negotiation between the House and Senate, include a single, national health care exchange through which citizens can buy insurance, "to protect Texans from second-rate care." The House version of the bill provides for a national exchange, but the Senate version allows individual states to create their own exchanges or even regional exchanges within states. The letter states that the Senate approach "not only reduces the market leverage of the exchange and increases complexity, but it also relies on states with indifferent state leadership that are unwilling or unable to administer and properly regulate a health insurance marketplace." In states like Texas, the members write, where the current leadership opposes the national reforms, the result will be inferior or unproductive. In a statement released with the letter, Doggett wrote: "With 1 in 4 Texans living without insurance, we should not settle for second-rate care. Instead we should ensure access to the lowest cost, highest-quality insurance plans, which means we need a national health insurance exchange." – Michael King