Headlines

› There's a lull at City Hall, with no City Coun­cil meeting this week. Winter hibernation's nearly here, as the gang returns to the dais Nov. 3 for their fourth-to-last meeting of the year.

› With City Hall quiet, Mayor Lee Leffingwell made some noise of his own with a fiery speech to the Real Estate Council of Austin, castigating low voter turnout, recent council action to preserve a May 2012 election, and the single-member district petition under way. See "City Hall Hustle."

› Austin ISD is suing the state of Texas over its failed school finance system. On Oct. 25, the board of trustees voted to join a group of school districts in hiring the law firm of Thompson & Horton, arguing that the current system is unfair and inadequate. Two other coalitions, the Texas Taxpayer & Student Fair­ness Coalition and the Texas School Coali­tion, have filed similar but separate suits.

› In view of Formula One's announcement it would add a second U.S. Grand Prix race in New Jersey in 2013 (mounted without public funds), Austin attorney Bill Aleshire has formally asked Texas Comptroller Susan Combs to disqualify Formula One's eligibility for state dollars. "By our state law," he wrote, "the Texas tax kickback is available only if Texas has the only F1 U.S. Grand Prix."

› There's an election in progress, although the physical evidence is slim: Through Tuesday, a few more than 3,000 Travis County voters (0.52%) had weighed in on constitutional amendments and bond proposals. Early voting runs through Nov. 4; see details and Chronicle endorsements here.

› Some opposition to the generally popular proposals has surfaced: Gadfly Brian Rodgers is opposing the Travis County road bonds as sprawl subsidy, the state Libertarian Party is opposing all the constitutional amendments "to keep Texas' taxes and government power to a minimum," and a GOP-led group in western Travis County has come out against the $158 million Lake Travis ISD school bond proposal.

› Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Council Member Laura Morrison each appointed former political candidates to city commissions last week. Leffingwell tapped Darwin McKee, a former Travis County Commissioner and former Water and Wastewater Com­mis­sion chair, for the Urban Renewal Board, and Morrison appointed Jason Meeker, who challenged then-Council Member Leffingwell in 2008, to the Zoning and Platting Commission.

› State Sen. Wendy Davis has filed a legislative inquiry into energy giant Valero's request for a $92 million tax refund from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, based on a state constitution amendment giving industrial plants a free tax ride on equipment purchased to reduce pollution.

› As his GOP poll numbers sank deeper into single digits, Gov. Goodhair Perry grasped for old reliables: a flat-tax plan that would engorge "job creators" (the rich) and feeble hints about President Obama's birth certificate. Can you smell the flop sweat?

› As the drought continues, all city parks, greenbelts, playgrounds, etc., are again under a burn ban ordered by Parks and Rec­re­ation Director Sara Hensley, prohibiting smoking and grilling with the exception of propane grills and stoves. Violation is a class C misdemeanor.

› Bowing to reality and a defiant Iraqi government, President Obama announced the withdrawal of (nearly) all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year, marking the official end of a disastrous nine-year war. Remaining will be major U.S. embassies, several thousand mercenaries, and a broken country.