Deaths reported as plane skids off runway at Madrid airport Hua Guofeng, who succeeded China's Chairman Mao, dies at 87 Obama and his new VP choice to campaign together on Saturday Tropical Storm Fay may rebound and hit Florida again Dave Matthews Band sax player LeRoi Moore dies The Bigfoot body captured in Georgia? That's right -- a hoax Olympic spoiler alert: Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins 200 meters in world record time......

Our "heavy" rains have dripped into the burned out Governor's Mansion. Driver dead after hydroplaning and hitting an 18-wheeler head-on in Bastrop. EPPICard/Texas Debit Card users a target for identity thieves. UT team working on a pen-shaped probe that could someday help detect skin cancer. San Angelo judge orders Warren Jeffs' teenage wife to be removed from her mother's care and placed in foster care. exas musician Pat Green knocked out by thrown beer can during a Michigan concert after asking, "Anyone got a beer?"...

After a unanimous vote, the Harrold Independent School District will be the first in the nation to allow teachers to bring guns into their classrooms starting this fall – and not a single parent has contested the new plan....

Now that the Russians took our Humvees, we're really pissed. Will it be Evan Bayh? Please no! Taliban fighters attacked a United States base last night. Shawn Johnson finally takes home the gold. College prez coalition, faced with imminent spectre of illicit orientation keggers, asks for lower drinking age. Amazingly, 50 Cent still makes more money than God. Ellen DeGeneres gets Lindsay Bluth in her kitchen. For life!......

Heh. Pullout. Obama. McCain. Preacher guy. Abortion. Marriage. Oy. Obama meets with Texas oil baron T. Boone Pickens. Say it ... T. Boone Pickens! It's fun to say! Lieberman: Hommina Hommina Whuh? JB4VP? Cap Metro makes riders go ha. SWAT standoff ends in shooting suspect arrest....

9-year-old girl died this morning after being pulled out of Lake Travis. 13 positions cut at Texas Monthly today. Don't forget tax-free weekend started today and goes through Sunday! The area of Cesar Chavez between San Antonio St. and Congress Ave. will be closed this weekend for crosswalk work. This year's BatFest will be held on the First Street bridge....

Preview Okkervil River's new album, The Stand Ins, at their MySpace, where you can listen to "Lost Coastlines." ...

The dollar headed for a fifth weekly gain against the euro. Start packing for London. Germans try to slow glacier melt with giant screen. What to do with traumatized elephant stirs up Dallas. Hillary Clinton's name to be placed in nomination at convention. Poland pisses off Russia. Harry Potter film delayed eight months. Two Georgians say they have bigfoot’s body.......

Northwest Austin condo complex under construction catches fire this afternoon off of 2222. Williamson County deputy shot an 82-year-old man in the groin yesterday morning after the man aimed a rifle at the responders. APD is searching for a man who reportedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted his former girlfriend in mid-July. Dog dies as speeding San Marcos driver is detained by a cop. KBH won't say she's not running for governor in 2010. ...

pboyd04/FlickrIs there still doubt that we are in troubled economic times? Yesterday two sizable Austin employers announced that they would be laying off staff. Gaming studio NCSoft cut 21 product development positions. This after the announcement earlier this week that Midway Games fired 90 workers from their Austin studio. Locally-based Whole Foods is firing 49 of its corporate staffers as part of cost-cutting measures. This week hasn't been the greatest for the business, as news......

In the last week there have been not one but two arrests at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport for attempts to pass through security with a weapon. Though Texans sure love their handguns, the Transportation Safety Administration isn’t having it....

Public presentation on Austin's plan for biomass power set for 7pm this evening. Because of high fuel costs, Round Rock ISD is cutting down on school bus stops. City of Cedar Park will align its watering schedule with that of the City of Austin. Known Austin typhus cases now up to 14. VP buzz good for Waco Rep. Chet Edwards, even if he's not chosen....

Waste Control Specialists LLC made some dangerous headway yesterday in a multimillion-dollar effort to operate a radioactive waste dump in Andrews County. Last May, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave the Dallas-based company a license to dispose of byproduct material, including waste from uranium mining and nuclear weapons processing....

Cox Enterprises, a privately owned national media company, today announced that it is getting rid of its local newspaper brands in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas. The Austin American-Statesman is among the nine newspapers to be sold, which will also include the Longview News-Journal, the Waco Tribune-Herald, and The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel in Colorado. Cox will retain The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a small handful of papers in other states....

This year, ACL Fest is hosting quite a few official after parties and shows, featuring the talents of Gnarls Barkley, Manu Chao, the Butthole Surfers, Conor Oberst, Bill Callahan and Jose Gonzalez just to name a few....

Georgian president says "there is no cease-fire" as Russian convoy advances Phelps makes Olympic history with two more golds; US women gymnasts take silver Opening ceremonies singer, chosen for her cuteness, lip-synched song Retail sales fall for the first time in five months Mark Warner to deliver keynote at Democratic Convention Firefighters douse blaze at Apple's Cupertino campus Unabomber objects to having his cabin on display at Newseum......

Johnston High receives ridiculous long new title: Eastside Memorial High School at the Johnston Campus. Issues already with two-way Cesar Chavez. Man attacked and left for dead in early July on Seventh St, between San Jacinto and Brazos. 20 abuse cases and 50 bigamy cases related to members of the FLDS are being investigated by the Texas Rangers. "Chupacabra" caught on tape in DeWitt County. Houston man arrested for taking pics of topless sunbathers near Hippie Hollow....

TxDOT is holding a public hearing this evening to discuss the planned changes for 290E, specifically for the portion east of 183 and west of 130. TxDOT and CTRMA want to set up six toll lanes and six non-tolled frontage road lanes in this area of Highway 290. Tonight's meeting will be at the TEA education service center, 5701 Springdale Road, with an open house at 6:30pm and a presentation at 7pm. [KEYE]......

A San Antonio court has ruled that Whitney Harper, a now college-age woman sued by the RIAA for using Kazaa to download music when she was 16, was indeed an "innocent infringer," dropping her penalty to $200 per infringement instead of the RIAA's desired $750, asked for in a request for summary judgment. ...

Several employees in the Austin office of Midway Games lost their jobs today as the company canceled an "as-yet-unannounced project" in production at the local facility....

Michelle Obama set to headline first night of DNC Convention. Russia still bombing Georgia. Bush: What, me worry? Fox News decides Edwards affair more newsworthy than thousands of dead Georgians. You decide. Isaac Hayes dead at 65. "Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Bernie Mac's family had expected him to survive....

This couple has so far cost HEB $10,000 in forged checks. Cyclist who ran a red light at N. Lamar and Rundberg is in the hospital after being hit by a police car. Billy Carroll will be granted a public defender after all. Authorities trying to piece together what caused a bus full of Vietnamese religious pilgrims from the Houston area to crash near Sherman this morning....

Austin's Bat Festival may be no more if two local business don't agree to sign a petition that supports the partial closing of Congress Avenue and the Ann Richards Bridge. The festival, now in its fourth year, is scheduled to be held Labor Day weekend and is expected to draw a crowd of 40,000 bat lovers. In order for festival organizers to obtain the necessary permits required to close down portions of Congress Avenue, the city requires that the promoter get a petition signed by 90% of the businesses that will be affected....

After it was thought to be contained last night, the wildfire in Williamson County regained power. Since yesterday the fire has caused over 50 homes to be evacuated and has overtaken 3,700 acres. Various Central Texas fire departments have combined forces to work on the fire near Florence, and a black hawk helicopter will be doing water drops. So far the fire has been burning for over 24 hours. [KXAN]......

13 reported dead in North Texas bus crash. Williamson County wildfire contained. John Edwards' 'love child' sex scandal hits Obama campaign. Mayor in Detroit sex scandal case sent to jail. Olympian posing nude for animal rights generates controversy in China. Georgia calls for US help as Russians invade to defend South Ossetia. SOS turning 16 means free admission at Barton Springs today!......

Your trash collection fee is likely to increase, perhaps by as much as 36%. Planned Oak Hill development would impact water quality, environmentalists and residents say. UT Alumni Center employee threatens that he will blow the building up because his check isn't ready, freaks co-workers out, is arrested. Criminal charges filed against Houston woman who kept 5 children from their mother after helping the family post-Katrina. First out-of-Texas Alamo Drafthouse franchise to be built in Winchester, VA....

After a string of local and national accidents involving construction cranes, Austin's City Council will decide tonight if it should ask the city manager to study whether the city should regulate the safety of cranes. Cranes have towered over Austinites in greater numbers these last few years, showing a city in flux with a dramatically altered skyline. The Statesman counts two dozen on a given day. Of late, however, the greatest concern has not been the long-neck steel eyesores, but whether the cranes won't come down on your head, or the lunchroom in your office building. ...

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Naked_Guy_Screams_BUTT_SLIDE_After_Breaking_Glass_Tasered'; Zilker area residents watched in horror last week as a naked man, seemingly mentally deranged or under the influence of a mind-altering drug, used his body to shatter a window at Barton Hills Market and subsequently proceeded to roll around in the nearby bushes while shouting "Butt Slide!" Police later arrived and had to taser the man three times before finally subduing him. [Video by heinedancer]......

"Political Pundit" Toby Keith: Black society thinks Obama "talks, acts, and carries himself as a Caucasian." The jobless keep getting joblesser! Unemployment tracking at 6-year high. Favre: When you're a jet you're a jet all the way. China to Bush: Mind your own biz. Typhus in Texas! Madonna, Kirk Watson and Prince Albert walk into a bar... Austin based Whole Foods Market stock loses 17 percent....

In a 6-to-4 vote Monday night, an oversight committee made up of local government officials voted in favor of a fare hike, causing base fares to go up from 50 cents to 75 cents. Under the proposal, a second planned increase is scheduled for 2010 when base fares would go up to $1.00. ...