Headlines

Education Austin co-president Ken Zarifis (l) and PRIDE of the Eastside co-founder Vincent Tovar celebrate the AISD Bond package's passage at Beto's Restaurant on Oak Springs on Tuesday night. (Photo by John Anderson)

City Council meets today (Nov. 9) for a 96-Item meeting, with plenty of highlights: EMS negotiations, potential sites for a soccer stadium, and more from the now-notorious city manager search. See "Council: Everything Is in the Open," Nov. 10.

Senate Bill 4 was back in court this week – in New Orleans at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals for a hearing on appeals to a previous injunction that blocked much of the anti-immigrant law. Oral arguments concluded on Tuesday, though there's no timetable for a ruling.

The Public Safety Commission punted on a recommendation to City Council of the agreed-to contract between the city and Austin Police Association. See "Activists out to Derail Police Contract," Nov. 10.

A Pot Plant Grows in Austin Compassionate Cultivation, a medical marijuana dispensary in South Austin, recently received the second state license to grow a low-THC, high-CBD strain of cannabis for patients with intractable epilepsy. The company plans to offer products to patients in early 2018.

Rosa Maria Hernandez, a 10-year-old undocumented girl in Texas with cerebral palsy, will finally be released to her family after calls from lawmakers and the ACLU's threat of a lawsuit. In October, Hernandez was detained by border patrol, who waited outside the hospital while she was in surgery, and restricted her from seeing her family in Laredo.

If Texas needed another reminder of its suffering over former Gov. Rick Perry's many gaffes: During a policy discussion last week with Chuck Todd, Energy Secretary Perry suggested that expanding the use of fossil fuels could help prevent sexual assault in Africa. "From the standpoint of sexual assault, when the lights are on, when you have light that shines – the righteousness, if you will, on those types of acts," he said.

U.S. Congressman Lamar Smith is done in Washington. Last week Smith, the Republican who represents a district that includes both Austin and San Antonio, announced his impending retirement after 30 years in office. Smith, a climate change skeptic, still has more than a year to finish up his term.

Traffic Talk: Sen. Kirk Watson and the Texas Dept. of Transportation have announced a new plan for a 33-mile stretch of I-35 running through Austin between Buda and Round Rock. The "Capital Express" would add two north/south expressways, lower the interstate through Downtown Austin, and possibly do away with the upper decks spanning MLK Blvd. to Airport. Public open houses will be scheduled for next spring.