Headlines

Occupy Austin protesters gathered at City Hall on Sun., Oct. 9, to mark the fifth anniversary of the local incarnation of the anti-Wall Street movement that swept the nation in 2011. The activists caught up with each other over meditation and a potluck "on the big steps." (Photo by John Anderson)

City Council meets today (Oct. 13) with a heavy zoning agenda – some 25 cases, but with the embattled Austin Oaks PUD postponed to Nov. 10 – plus some annexation hearings and a handful of resolutions concerning the city manager hiring process, affordable housing strategies, and opposing "hate speech," especially against Muslims.

District 6 Council candidate Jimmy Flannigan has out-raised his opponent, incumbent Don Zimmerman, in the latest round of campaign finance filings. Flannigan raised $46,651 from more than 385 donors while Zimmerman pulled in $38,996, according to reports filed 30 days prior to the November election. Flannigan also maintains a higher cash-on-hand balance as of Oct. 11. See "30-Days-Out Reports from Campaign Finance Land" for details and more campaign coverage.

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is scheduled to visit Austin on Monday, Oct. 17. She's expected to speak at a town hall event at Huston-Tillotson University with other Green Party candidates down the ballot, and to address members of the American Association of People With Disabilities.

The San Antonio Police Department's Motorcycle Unit came under fire Wednesday after Donald Trump posted a video that shows a number of the unit's officers wearing red "Make America Great Again" hats. Such display is counter to SAPD policy, and SA Mayor Ivy Taylor said she was deeply disappointed. Police Chief William McManus is currently considering discipline.

According to a report released this week by the National Academy of Sciences, human-caused global warming has nearly doubled the U.S. western area burned by wildfires since 1984 – an additional 16,000 square miles, roughly the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined.

In dogs and cats living together news, the liberal think tank Center for Public Policy Priorities has announced that two high-profile Republicans – former Texas Secretary of State Esperanza "Hope" Andrade and retiring state Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland – are joining its board.

Texas may have to shell out $4.5 million to pro-choice attorneys who defended state abortion providers in the U.S. Supreme Court case against anti-abortion House Bill 2. While the bulk of the expenses would go to pro-bono attorneys at the Center for Reproductive Rights, local law firm O'Connell & Soifer also requested more than $111,000. Texas has until Nov. 4 to respond.

The Republican Party and the Trump presidential campaign continued to fracture in the wake of Friday's video release featuring Trump bragging about the celebrity privilege of sexually assaulting women, and a bitter Sunday night debate with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.