Bloggers convene in Austin

Melissa Noriega is convinced that Texas left-wing bloggers propelled her husband's U.S. senatorial campaign. While deployed in Afghanistan with the National Guard, Rep. Rick Noriega, a Houston Democrat, nominated his wife to serve in his place in the Texas House of Representatives.

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Walk Score includes Austin in nation's 40 most 'walkable' cities

Residents in the University area and Austin's downtown district can get by easily without a car, according to a study released Thursday. WalkScore.com, a project of Seattle-based civic software company Front Seat, ranked the "walkability" of more than 2,500 neighborhoods in 40 of the largest U. Full Story

University

Blackboard will expand, link to another system

A new software link added to the Blackboard system will soon enable users to access a competitor's educational learning system. Sakai offers the same tools as Blackboard but is an open-source system, which allows universities to change and add content and applications to the system to meet specific needs. Full Story

NEWS BRIEFLY: "School of Information receives grant for digital librarianship"

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World & Nation

Iraqis face unemployment hurdles

BAGHDAD - They fan out across Baghdad in summer's scorching heat - men in blue overalls picking up trash, mowing the sparse grass in parks, and standing on ladders to paint highway underpasses and prune palm trees. Iraq's government has launched a job-creation program in recent months in a first step to address high unemployment and revive the economy - moves that U. Full Story

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Opinion

Loving thy neighbor

When I first arrived in Austin, I managed to find a nice, affordable apartment where I live to this day. The people I meet on the compound are generally cordial. There's a gym and a swimming pool. The police patrol the area nightly. Recently, they erected an electronic gate, assuring us in our minds that we're truly safe. Full Story

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Sports

Johnson enshrined in Hall

Until Johnnie Johnson, just about the only thing La Grange, Texas, was famous for was "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." "I didn't know of anybody that had ever gone on to play football in college," Johnson said. "For that matter, I didn't know anybody who had played any sport in college. Full Story

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Life & Arts

A Long day's journey into knight

My dad was Batman. When I was 3, I got "Batman," the 1989 Tim Burton film, for Christmas. Before the movie started, Batman had a message for me saying that I needed to be a "good boy" for my parents and that the tape was for me, and me alone. I later (like 10 years later) realized that underneath the cape and cowl was my dad. Full Story

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