CITY COUNCIL LAYS AUSTIN ENERGY CONSULTANT GOVERNANCE PLAN ON THE TABLE

by Clay Dafoe
May 22, 2013

The Austin City Council meets this Thursday, May 23rd when more is expected to be revealed about the elected representatives' plans for either approving, qualifying or denying a plan that would create an independent oversight board that controls decisions implemented by the city-owned Austin Energy utility corporation. A recent op-ed article co-written by Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Councilman Bill Spelman argued that City Council members not be expected to constantly plan electric rates of the taxpayer-funded utility provider "with nearly a million people coming to town in the next 20 years." While Mayor Lee Leffingwell at first supported the plan to have a consultant board of energy experts appointed to make all rate decisions of the utility, he now says that "we would be better off just withdrawing this whole proposition." The plan received fierce opposition from citizens of Austin who last year suffered a nearly 10 percent increase on the average cost of their monthly electric bills.

You can contact each Council member's office at the Austin City Council by calling the Austin City Clerk at (512) 974-2210.

  
http://www.kutnews.org/post/council-tables-independent-oversight-austin-energy-0
http://www.politifact.com/texas/article/2013/may/21/mayor-warns-1-million-people-coming-town/

ISRAEL HEIGHTENS INTERNATIONALLY DRIVEN CONFLICT IN SYRIA

by Clay Dafoe
May 22, 2013

A non-deadly clash at the Syria-Israel border on Tuesday is precipitating heightened tensions of potential international conflict with war-torn Syria. The disturbance occurred along the Golan Heights according to The Australian, where last week Israeli government authorities claimed that strikes caused the closing down of a tourist site at Mount Hermon. Some Syrian troops reported that an Israeli tank that crossed over the border line was a struck, an event that the Israeli Defense Forces deny fiercely. The area involved is land that Israel annexed from Syria after in the 1967 Six Days War.

 Lieutenant General Benny Gantz of the Israeli Defense Forces warned Syria with threatening language that if fire from outside the border is not stopped, they "will have to bear the consequences." While Syria's embattled ruler of the government Bashar Al-Assad has been accussed of war crimes by US government officials, other recent reports have shown that the US military has supplied covert aid to the so-called "rebels" who initiated a contained conflict that has now exploded into a far-reaching and bloody civil war. Some estimates of war related deaths in Syria show that 80,000 have died in the past year alone.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/israel-warns-syria-over-golan-heights-clashes/story-e6frg6so-1226648194510
http://www.smh.com.au/world/israel-syrian-army-exchange-gunfire-20130522-2jzoh.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israeli-syrian-troops-trade-fire-in-golan-heights/2013/05/21/a5a78532-c21d-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html

DEADLY TORNADO TEARS THROUGH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA

by Clay Dafoe
May 22, 2013

A tornado that ripped through Moore, Oklahoma on Monday has killed 51 people. The last tornado of this deadly magnitude killed over 40 people in Oklahoma in the the spring of 1999. Those living in Moore, outside of Oklahoma City, had just 16 minutes warning to prepare for the funnel cloud as noted by Reuters. Winds went beyond 200 miles per hour and affected an area wider than 17 miles. It is estimated that nearly 300 people were injured by the massive storm and others may still be trapped by the rubble wrought by the tornado.

To help those in Moore, Oklahoma, donations can be made locally in Austin, Texas, through the Austin Disaster Relief Network, which can be reached at 9508 Jollyville Road, Suite 103 or by visiting adrntx.org. Also, donations are being accepted through the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma which can be reached at regionalfoodbank.org.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/21/us/oklahoma-tornado-updates/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/oklahoma-tornado-aftermath-moore_n_3311361.html
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/how-to-help-and-shelter-information-red-cross-donate-money-deadly-moore-oklahoma-tornado
http://www.adrntx.org/index.php/about/contact-us/