Headlines

Mayoral candidates field questions about affordability, transportation and property taxes from moderators at the Moody Auditorium on Oct. 15 – one of the final debate forums before election day hits. The "Ballot Boxing" event was hosted by the Chronicle, the Austin Monitor, KXAN-TV, KUT-FM, and Univision. (Photo by John Anderson)

Early voting began Monday, and runs through Oct. 31 – the first Travis County numbers ran about to form for a midterm election, but definitely higher for the first municipal and AISD election to be held in November. Follow Newsdesk for regular updates on the numbers.

A light workload for today's City Council meeting (Oct. 23) – only 56 Items, and nothing that looks like particularly heavy lifting, although a first stab at an outline for land development CodeNEXT is on for a public hearing.

Did a serial killer prey on Austin women before making his way to Indiana? APD announced it would be "conducting a detailed review of potentially related cases" after former Austin resident and convicted rapist Darren Vann confessed to the murders of seven women in Gary, Ind.

Downtown parking may be scarce this weekend, with both the Austin Film Festival and the Texas Book Festival bringing extra people and closing roads, starting Thursday.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will be recording a week's worth of shows at the Zach Scott, starting Oct. 27. The shows are already sold out and, no, we can't get you tickets, so don't ask.

Austin's Housing Authority is taking applications until Oct. 29 for its Section 8 housing voucher program to help struggling Austinites meet their rents. The program is open for the first time in eight years, and the selection of up to 2,500 applicants (from a pool that could reach 40,000) will be made via lottery. Be warned: While applying online may take only minutes, actually landing a rent voucher may take five years or more.

The Supreme Court declined to block enforcement of the Texas Voter ID law, despite a lower court ruling that the law is discriminatory and unconstitutional and a stinging dissent from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg – meaning you'd better bring an "approved" photo ID to the polls.

Rick Perry is free for trick-or-treating after all: His hearing is rescheduled from Oct. 31 to Nov. 7.

Attorney General Greg Abbott made headlines for "dodging" a reporter's question on whether he would have upheld a ban on interracial marriage prior to its 1967 SCOTUS reversal. However, we conclude the GOP guv candidate made his position clear when he responded: "The job of an attorney general is to represent and defend in court the laws of their client, which is the state Legislature, unless and until a court strikes it down."

Clean air is bad for you, the TCEQ's chief toxicologist is arguing as the agency prepares to fight new ozone standards expected from the U.S. EPA by year's end. Staking out TCEQ's outlier position, Michael Honeycutt told the Texas Tribune that current ozone levels aren't actually unhealthy and, in fact, reducing them will lead to more deaths.