I left you somewhat in the lurch last week concerning my plans for a weekly column devoted to guests (that would be you), and that was a bit rude of me. But honestly, at the time I wasn’t convinced that I knew exactly what I was looking for....

As Kenneth Foster was facing execution tonight (and as his execution finally started receiving national media coverage), Governor Perry accepted the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles and this afternoon commuted Foster's death sentence to one of life imprisonment. Kenneth Foster had been put on death row for his involvement in a murder in San Antonio over ten years ago: he drove the car the murderer was in, and received the same sentence......

Tonight, unless an unlikely eleventh-hour reprieve is granted, Texas will execute its 400th inmate since the state resumed the practice in 1982. Johnny Ray Conner32-year-old Johnny Ray Conner was convicted for murdering Houston resident Kathyanna Nguyen during a grocery store robbery in 1998. Nguyen, the store's owner, had been trapped behind the counter and was surrounded by a bulletproof enclosure; the killer reached his gun through the change slot and shot her in the head.......

The Cabela's hunting/fishing/outdoors outfitter superstore located in Buda, Texas, is apparently not doing so well. For the second year in a row, the store has missed mandatory employment targets set as a condition of subsidies given to the store by the City of Buda, Hays County and the State of Texas (via Governor Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund). In a nutshell: To date, Cabela's has received over $61 million in government subsidies (read: taxpayer money) as......

Days since rains began: 44 Homes destroyed by flooding: 1,000 Flood-related deaths: 11 Estimated cost of damages in Burnet County alone: $30 million Number of emergency Texas National Guard soldiers activated by Governor Perry throughout the state: 250 Total impacted area, spanning North Texas to the Rio Grande Valley, in square miles: 48,000 Height, in feet above sea level, of Lake Travis when considered "full": 681 Height of Lake Travis on July 4th: 701......

Remember a couple of weeks ago, when we reported that Tom "The Bugman" Delay had gone on the Charlie Rose Show and stated categorically that students should be allowed to carry guns on college campuses to protect themselves from Virginia Tech-esque scenarios? Remember how most of us laughed and laughed, writing off Mr. Delay's suggestion as just "more of the same" from another silly extremist? Well, stop laughing and put on your thinking caps; this......

Martha Stewart's been a busy (and fabulous) bee in the year and a half since being released from Alderson Federal Prison. In these past few months she's: announced a lucrative partnership with Kodak, opened the first in a series of Martha Stewart-designed model townhomes, was crowned "Godmother of Princess Cruises," launched a new line of merch at Macy's ("i LOVE THE NEW CLOTHES LINE" says Maryland fan Dayneisha), published a book, and agreed to take......

Median household yearly income in Austin: $48,267 [link] Equivalent purchasing power, adjusted for cost of living here: $53,275 [link] Money Magazine's average: $43,961 [link] National average yearly salary of an "Associate Store Team Leader" at Austin-based Whole Foods: $73,061 [link] Amount Texas collected in sales tax revenue in June of 2006: $1.49 billion [link] Percentage increase from last year: 15.6 [link] Cost of new Lakeline Station project -- including up to 3,000 homes and......

Taking a page from former governor Bush's political playbook, Rick Perry has been spending quite a bit of time up conservative Christians' asses of late. In his latest move to pander to the far right, Governor Perry announced Thursday that he believes Texas public schools should teach intelligent design alongside the theory of evolution in science classes. Last month a federal judge in Pennsylvania shot down as unconstitutional a school board's desire to teach......

Tom DeLay succeeded yesterday in having Judge Bob Perkins removed from his money-laundering and conspiracy case, complaining that the Democrat had donated over $5,000 to "liberal" causes since 2001. While a new judge has yet to be named, The Hammer's already working on his next weaselly tactic: having the trial moved out of Austin. Ridiculously, his indictment hearings have become something of a farce - it's hard to remember that the whole thing stems......

All clear for renovationWe can't help but laugh at the irony that the airport, which is supposed to help people get places, is having problems accommodating people. Airport officials say cheap parts and the six-year-old airport's small size combined with an unexpected increase in travelers are the reason people are having to wait in lines to use the escalators. Renovations will cost $5.5 million. [Statesman] Hola MoFoPrisoner Robert Carlton Austin III sent Governor Perry......

For quite some time now, both our city and state have been carefully courting Samsung, the international behemoth producer of just about everything requiring electricity, who is now researching cities in which to build its latest chip factory. The proposed manufacturing plant would cost over $3.5 billion - that's like $3500000000000000 or basically a number so egregiously ginormous it means nothing to us - and add over one thousand new jobs. Not surprisingly, both......

From SavePlayers.com The University of Texas at Austin is intending on purchasing Player's and replacing it with a parking garage. Across the street, UT is purchasing the stripmall that includes IT Copy and Radio Shack. Apparently, we really need a hotel there. IT Copy or Radio Shack- we care not about. The hotel could be a great thing for the campus. However, once they try to take away a Player's Combo with cheese and......

The US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Roper v. Simmons earlier this year, abolishing the death penalty for convicted killers who were under 18 at the time of their crimes. As a result, yesterday Governor Perry commuted the sentences of 28 Texas death row inmates to life in prison. Under our state's judicial system, this means that many are now up for parole. Among these wretched vermin is Robert Springsteen IV, who was finally......

Our local film industry has been booming in recent years - "Friday Night Lights", "Sin City", and "The Alamo" being just a few of the dozens of works produced in our city since 2000. Last week, Governor Perry signed Senate Bill 1142, which offers grants and financial incentives to filmmakers shooting in Texas. While SB-1142 certainly looks attractive to producers and directors, they may be sorely disappointed when they arrive here. As of now,......