Yesterday, the Austin Police Department tweeted that, due to the number of applications it had already received, the deadline to apply for the next regular police academy will now be 5 p.m. on Friday, March 24. The next regular police academy is expected to take place this summer. If that’s too far away, the department is still accepting applications for the upcoming modified/lateral academy, which takes half the time of a regular course.

The city is hosting a two-hour public meeting this weekend, for those of us who are still trying to make sense of the CodeNEXT draft. Weeks removed from the release, Mayor Steve Adler has called for patience and optimism from all sides as the process continues. Part of that process is public input, and residents from all City Council districts are welcomed at Stephen F. Austin High School, 1715 Cesar Chavez, beginning at noon on Saturday, March 25, for an open house. Bring all your questions, concerns and patience. Learn more about CodeNEXT on the city’s website, where you can find a copy of the draft text, answers to frequently asked questions and much more.

The current minimum wage in Texas is $7.25 an hour (except for tipped workers, of course, who earn may earn as little as $2.13 an hour). Today group of legislators and advocates aim to bring the issue to the forefront in a session that has mostly been dominated by budget woes, school finance and “sanctuary cities.” At 9:30 a.m., the authors of a host of different minimum wage bills gathered at the Capitol, along with workers’ groups, to explain their different proposals that would change the lives of many low-wage workers in the state. Those ideas include provisions raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour (house bills 285, 475 and 992 and House Joint Resolution 57), raising it to $10.10 per hour (house bills 924, 937 and HJR 56), restoring cities’ ability to raise the rate (house bills 840 and 954) and ending the practice of employers taking a portion of their employees tips (HB 326).

Later this week, the city of Austin is hosting its annual career expo where community members get an opportunity to talk with representatives from public agencies, private employers and temporary staffing companies about jobs. Last year, more than 1,400 area job seekers attended. This year, 85 different entities are registered to attend the expo, which begins at noon on Wednesday, March 29, at the Palmer Events Center, 900 Barton Springs Road. Visit www.austintexas.gov/careerexpo for more information. Interpreters for both Spanish and sign language will be on-hand.

Being at the airport is rough anytime, really, but that’s particularly true for the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport during South by Southwest – which just happens to coincide with spring break. Thanks to a partnership between the consul general of Mexico in Austin and the Museum of Popular Art in Mexico City, South by Southwest travelers will be treated to an exhibit of “fantastical hand-made creatures” made by artists from our neighbor to the south. Find the exhibit between gates 7 and 11. Those who aren’t leaving the city anytime soon can find an example, “Lobo del aire” by Ricardo Linares Garcia, in the city’s announcement from yesterday afternoon.

This week, the Austin Animal Center announced it would be taking part in the North Shore Animal League America’s nationwide adoption event, Tour for Life 2017. The effort, which is sponsored by Purina and visits Austin at noon on March 18, is being billed as the “largest cooperative life-saving” event of its kind. The Austin stop is Birds Barbershop on South Congress, but we’re just one of 54 cities the mobile adoption center is hitting on its 20,000-mile road trip, offering free adoptions to raise awareness about its no-kill mission.

Republican U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith is close to drawing what could be his most substantial challenger in recent history. Austin entrepreneur Joseph Kopser is now openly considering a run against the Kerrville congressman whose oddly shaped District 21 includes much of the Hill Country, northern San Antonio and parts of south, west and downtown Austin. Smith has been in Congress for three decades and won re-election in 2016 with 57 percent of the vote. However, Kopser, who co-founded transportation tech firm RideScout before selling it to Daimler AG, is not cut of the same cloth as the more conventional Democratic, Libertarian and Green Party opponents Smith has repeatedly vanquished. The West Point graduate has an extensive background in business and also enjoys a relatively prominent public profile after years of engaging both the private and public sectors on mobility policy. On a fundraising site announcing his interest in running, Kopser starts off with a strong swipe against Smith and his approach to climate change. “Rep. Lamar Smith has represented Texas since 1986 and built a reputation as Congress’s most persistent climate change denier – a fact that is even more disturbing considering he is the Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Rep. Smith doesn’t believe in facts, and he doesn’t want them reported. Instead, he believes it’s ‘better to get your news directly from the President. In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.’ We can do better,” Kopser wrote. As of Wednesday evening, he had raised more than $12,000 toward a $25,000 goal.

Urbanist group AURA has written an open letter to Mayor Steve Adler detailing some of its concerns about the CodeNEXT Land Development Code rewrite. Mainly, the group is concerned that despite hours upon hours of planned and completed public outreach, no one is listening. “We’re eager to work with City staff, your office, and all of City Council to align the CodeNEXT process with established community priorities for compact and connected growth, but if we’re going to succeed in getting the code Austin needs, Austinites must have confidence that your office, and all of Austin’s leaders, are listening. Is the CodeNEXT outcome a foregone conclusion inside your office—an outcome that will change nothing and help no one? Or do we want a city that prioritizes household affordability and remedying Austin’s staggering walkability, connectivity and traffic problems?” AURA asks. “Mayor Adler, do you think community input on CodeNEXT is a waste of time, since 97% of the city will be exactly the same?”

When the city’s public information manager sent out a press release detailing procedures for requesting public information, she probably thought her intentions were clear. That was not the case, however. The update to the public information request procedure gives two email addresses for requests seeking records from the city. There is the standard request, which is to go to public.information@austintexas.gov, and there is the request for Austin Police Department records, which is to go to management.records@austintexas.gov. The press release says, “Requests sent to any other email at the city of Austin will not constitute an official records request. All city staff have been instructed to respond to requests and direct people to the proper email addresses.” Truly, those are fighting words to attorney and Texas Public Information Act expert Bill Aleshire. Aleshire, on behalf of his client the Austin Bulldog, sent a letter to City Attorney Anne Morgan explaining that City Council had not adopted such a procedure and that only Council could do so. Further, he interpreted the press release to mean that only requests sent to the appropriate email address would be considered “official” requests. But that is not what the city meant at all, according to public information spokesperson Alicia Dean. She said, “Nothing has changed in the PIR process.” But the city is trying to streamline its process to expedite responses. According to Dean, the city receives about 30,000 requests each year for information about APD and only about 6,000 requests for nonpolice matters. She said some people submit as many as 20 identical requests to different people in the city, instead of sending the request to the appropriate email address. That just slows down the process, because city employees have to sift through each one of those to make sure that they are not the same. Dean assured the Austin Monitor that city employees have been advised to pass on any public information requests they receive to the correct email address and to inform the requester about their actions. However, it should be noted that the press release does not say that.

As Senate Bill 4 was on its way to a hearing at the Senate Affairs Committee yesterday, Mayor Steve Adler released a statement reiterating that the city of Austin opposes the proposal and fears what effect it would have in our streets. Adler said Austin is one of the safest communities in the country but that designation will be put at risk by the legislation, which would punish “sanctuary cities” like Austin that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials. “If our local law enforcement is required to participate in voluntary programs that create the perception that they are also performing the functions of federal immigration agents, they will lose the trust relationship that keeps us all safe,” Adler wrote. “I stand with our public safety professionals in opposing a bill that will make our communities less safe by sowing the seeds of distrust.”

The city is on the lookout for four kayakers who handled a bat in Lady Bird Lake on Friday. The group reportedly rented the kayaks from Waller Creek Boathouse and were seen “scooping a bat out of the water” by witnesses. That bat is still at large and therefore hasn’t been tested for rabies. Waller Creek Boathouse staff told officials that the renters in question were possibly from Russia. It’s very important that they be checked out for the disease, the city said in a press release on Tuesday, because it can take weeks for symptoms to show. If you know or were one of these people, call 512-972-5555.

Your typical Wednesday morning pleasure – an update on the hip happenings at Travis County Commissioners Court – will not take place this week. The court canceled its usual Tuesday voting session, putting off until at least next week any new action related to the county’s legislative agenda, its handling of the collapse of the Austin Police Department’s DNA forensics lab and/or the selection of a new site for the civil courthouse. Rest assured that the court – public communications and all – will, like the rest of the city, get back into the swing of things after the final echoes of South by Southwest have bounced off the buildings of downtown Austin and traffic is maybe a bit less of a pain.