Headlines

• Less than 5% of registered Travis County voters turned out for the April 13 primary run-offs: That's down from a still-disappointing 15% for the March 2 primaries. For full results, see "299th," "Around the House," and "SBOE & Supremes."

• City Council is off this week – and they can use the downtime, following a meeting last week riddled with debate over minority outreach at the Austin Fire Department, "crisis pregnancy centers," and cultural arts spending from the Holly Good Neighbor plan. For more, see "City Hall Hustle," "Naked City," and "Pregnant? Scared? Misinformed?."

• Lee Leffingwell is in Taiwan, trekking to capital Taipei and Austin's sister city Taichung. The trip's timing is serendipitous – in the mayor's absence, his candidate, Mindy Montford, lost to Karen Sage in Tuesday's run-off.

• City officials launched a campaign this week encouraging city employees to get mammograms. According to the city, only 37% of eligible female employees had mammograms last year – despite city insurance covering the exam 100%.

• Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez was embroiled in a flame war with restaurateur Rob Lippincott last weekend, after Lippincott's music patio at Güero's Taco Bar was shut down Friday for having been built without a permit. Lippincott said the city overreacted, as after-the-fact permitting is currently winding through the city. Martinez posted to Twitter: "They've had 14 months to fix this. It was built w/o a permit. Plain and simple. Idiots!" The message was deleted, but Martinez has since tweeted: "We absolutely support small biz and live music. This is about one man who thinks he is above the law. We offered any way to help."

• Gov. Rick Perry has finally started complying with state law – a law he signed – by posting records of his office's federal stimulus spending online. Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco – chair of the House Federal Economic Stabilization Fund­ing Select Committee – described the delay as "the governor publicly distancing himself from the federal stimulus while accepting the majority of the money."

• The State Preservation Board voted 5-1 on April 13 to install X-ray machines and metal detectors at the state Capitol, with Gov. Perry the sole nay vote. This decision will give the Capitol the same level of security that City Hall and most state agency offices have had for years.

• Surrounding himself with right-wingers, this week Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, formed a new legislative group called the Independent Con­serv­ative Republicans of Texas. It's already been condemned by centrist Republicans as an effort to radicalize the GOP while only further marginalizing and dividing it.

• Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced April 9 that he will retire from the court this summer. Stevens, who will turn 90 this week, leads the court's progressive wing and was appointed to the high court in 1975 by President Gerald Ford.

Quote of the Week

"I don't want it on my conscience that some innocent person visiting the Capitol got hurt by a nut.”

– Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the decision to put metal detectors in the Capitol – not next session’s budget