Daily News - The Austin Chronicle (2024)

Vermont Votes Hemp

On May 29, Vermont became the second state to legalize industrial hemp farming when Republican Gov. Jim Douglas allowed H.267 to become law without his signature. The bill creates a regulatory scheme similar to that enacted in North Dakota, the first state to reauthorize agricultural production of the non-narcotic cousin of marijuana.Under the new law, farmers must be licensed by Vermont's Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets; hemp must be grown from seeds provided by the ag secretary, on land the secretary has approved for hemp production. And farmers must agree to submit to random inspection by the ag department and/or state police.

Texas and the Numbers Game

While the eyes of the politerati are set on next week's primary states for settling the Democratic presidential nomination, there's a statistical possibility (read "long-shot") that the whole shooting match could come down to the Texas Democratic Party Convention next weekend.Howso? Well, according to CNN's latest estimates, Obama still needs 42 delegates to clinch the nomination. Out of next Tuesday's primary states, Montana only has 16 pledged delegates and South Dakota 15, while non-state Puerto Rico (living in the political equivalent of 'good enough to date, not good enough to marry') which goes to the polls Sunday only has 55. Texas, however, has 67 pledged delegates (and four supers) yet to be locked down: they'll be apportioned on the day of the convention, following the preferences of delegates when they sign in.Depending on how the remaining primaries break, and whichever way the party's rules committee settles the whole Florida and Michigan (aka the "party rules are for other people" states), and which super-delegate wants to be the one that puts the candidate over the top, that could mean it gets settled next weekend at the Austin Convention Center. And in this campaign season, stranger things have happened.

Richies for Obama

Big news (and bad for the Clinton crowd): Texas Democratic Party chair Boyd Richie and his wife Betty Richie, both superdelegates, have officially endorsed Sen. Barack Obama.But why is this latest paired announcement so important? Because, with a week to go before the state convention, the party head honcho has made a definite statement, and tied the two presidential candidates in declared Texas superdelegates (14-14, with 4 hold-outs.) While he talked about his "great respect for Senator Clinton and her Texas supporters," Boyd reiterated what many other observers have said: that Obama has a better grass-roots campaign that can be turned into the essential get-out-the-vote operation, and that benefits other Democrats running in November.Which is something the Clintons might have a difficult time arguing against. After all, having a Clinton in the White House didn't have such a great down-ballot effect in the Congressional elections in 1994. Or 1996. Or 1998.So, the question now is whether the Clinton campaign and its proxies will accuse the Richies of being traitors or of driving away the Hispanic vote.See below the jump for Boyd's full statement.

Cravey Goes Camping

It ain't exactly Al Gore's beard, but check out Place 4 City Council candidate Robin Cravey's thoughts on his unsuccessful run. His biggest regret? "The many hours I spent in meetings, when I could've been out hiking!" Uhh, has he seen how long your average council meeting lasts nowadays?

Meet the Candidates. Again.

For anyone who missed any of the slew of candidate forums during the first round of council elections: Never fear, the run-off is here! The City of Austin Ethics Review Commission will be hosting a Place 4 run-off candidate forum tonight (Thursday, May 29) at 6:15pm, in the Council Chambers. Expect special guest appearances by Laura Morrison and Cid Galindo.The public is "encouraged to attend" the event, which will be moderated by the League of Women Voters of the Austin Area. For anyone without the time or inclination to hunt for downtown parking, the whole thing will be carried on Channel 6.Further info on the election can be found at the city's election pages, and, of course, our own elections page.

Democrats and Abbott Settle in Voter Suppression/Fraud Case

Don't you love it when everyone wins? Dueling press releases from Attorney General Greg Abbott and the Democrat-affiliated Lone Star Project are both spinning a settlement agreement between the AG and the Texas Democratic Party as victories for their respective sides.In 2006, six individuals and the TDP filed suit in federal court alleging that Abbott was enforcing a provision of the Texas Election Code too tightly. The provision forbids an individual from possessing another person's ballot, and Abbott prosecuted 26 cases. But the six plaintiffs in this case shot back by saying that they were merely trying to deliver the mail-in ballots of a friend or relative, and that the law was overbroad. They also noted that the majority of the Republican AG's prosecutions were against racial minorities, and all of them were against Democrats – and thus, they charged, this was more about suppressing and intimidating Democratic voters than preventing fraud. (Click here for a more detailed rehashing.)Today, the suit was dismissed in Marshall by District Judge T. John Ward after a settlement was reached. Abbott's press release claimed that this was "the latest in a string of victories for the State of Texas, which consistently maintained that its efforts to protect the integrity of the elections process were entirely constitutional," while the Lone Star Project's statement was headlined "Plaintiffs Win Favorable Settlement in Abbott Vote Suppression Case."

Farewell, Joe Allen

Have Your People Tweet My People, Luke

Dealing with online social networking is like a bad blind date. You’re never quite sure what you’ll get.For the uninitiated, Twitter is the place to be in the world of social networking right now. (Except when it's down, and you have no place at all to be. That's been happening a lot lately.) Every few minutes, ADHD-driven technogeeks gleefully inform you of their every thought and move, all in a 140-character limited haiku format.And guess what! There are some bonus benefits from this headlong rush into this self-indulgent navel-gazing. For instance, it does appear that someone who has named himself Luke Wilson is carrying on a Twitter account.Do we really think Luke Wilson's publicist suggested he Twitter? Do we think he’d list a Wikipedia entry as his bio? Does it matter? Imagining is half the fun. (And if you're interested in a real-live Twitter celeb, stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody has her own account and appears to talk a lot about lingerie and sushi. I'm not including Cody's picture because I'm not that interested in running into her at Club DeVille.)If you are above all the social pandering but still want to try out Twitter for its educational value, the Mars Phoenix lander has its own account, with real-live updates.In the meantime, if you are signed up on Twitter, they’ve created an All-Austin-All-The-Time Twitter channel at Aus Twits. They call themselves “Tweeple.” Yep, it’s like a cult. Or the next big thing after MySpace, soon to be replaced by the next tech trend.

Bill White Has Himself An Austin Moment

Seems that Houston Mayor Bill White woke up this morning and decided to have himself an Austin Moment. What else to explain the man's sudden penchant for words like "sustainability," "quality of life" and "energy efficiency" in a town that couldn't be happier with the smell of petroleum on the air and gridlock on its freeways?It appears, from the front page of this morning's Houston Chronicle, that White is suddenly on the bandwagon for making Texas' smog capital a Truly Green City. He's talking a hybrid city fleet, a citywide recycling program and a fight over benzene emissions from local power plants.It's like a sudden incarnation of Will Wynn, just without the good hair.But not to worry. Houstonians have this strange malady figured out. White must be running for Governor in 2010. Well that explains it.