With more people than ever flooding into Central Texas, our rivers are experiencing higher numbers of visitors. And with that comes all the usual problems: littering, trespassing, noise violations, underage drinking and public intoxication. In an effort to combat that, the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics has named the Lower San Marcos River as a national hot spot to raise “awareness about outdoor recreation ethics” in our open spaces. Next month, the group, in conjunction with state Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo), will host a week of events that will include a river tour, training sessions and outreach events. Find out more, plus a full schedule of the events, on the group’s website.

We mentioned it in Monday’s story about departing Music and Entertainment Division head Don Pitts’ departure, but for those who didn’t bother to click on the link, the city is updating its Spring Festival (normal people usually call this “South by Southwest”) events, online, here. Use it as you will.

Though there isn’t a City Council meeting this week, there is a City Council meeting. Council members will convene Wednesday morning to talk about CodeNEXT, and the “optional” meeting will feature a presentation on “the new zoning districts [transect and nontransect (use based) districts] and how they will work with the zoning map, the administration and procedures of the Conditional Use Permit process and the new Minor Use Permits, and zoning variances, and the expanded use Special Exceptions. The briefing will also overlay zones and regulations specific to specific land uses, connectivity, open space and parkland, parking and landscaping,” according to a very helpful post on the City Council Message Board from Mayor Steve Adler. Those who are unable to attend the meeting in person can, of course, watch the meeting on ATXN or stay tuned to the Austin Monitor for ongoing CodeNEXT coverage.

We might be taking it easy today, but the truth is that no one really knows how to celebrate Presidents Day. Taking advantage of that fact today is Conversation Corps, which will be using the day to host a series of conversations across the city. Today’s “Day of Dialogue” will take place from 7 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. and cover such things as transportation, CodeNEXT, journalism and the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Project Connect. Check out the map below for a conversation nearby, or head over to the Conversation Corps website for more details.

City of Austin offices including City Council, City Hall, Vital Records, the Austin Public Library, non-district rec centers, arts and cultural centers, and museums and senior centers are closed today to observe Presidents Day. Austin Independent School District students get the day off. The Entrepreneurial Center in Brodie Oaks Shopping Center and One Texas Center are both closed. Austin Resource Recovery maintains its normal schedule, as will the Recycle and Reuse Drop-Off Center (open 9 a.m.-5 p.m.). The Zilker Botanical Gardens, the Austin Nature and Science Center, Stacey and Deep Eddy pools, city-operated golf courses and the Austin Animal Center are among the facilities open. Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority offices are closed, as is the transit store, but buses are running on a normal schedule.

One of the options for expanding the Austin Convention Center would incorporate the old Palm School campus into the project. The convention center is 25 years old and has been in need of more square footage for some time. The Palm School was an elementary and high school from 1902 to 1980, and before that, in the Republic of Texas days, served as an armory and military base. On Saturday, the city and Travis County will host an open meeting to get public feedback on that specific proposal and the expansion plans in general. The meeting will take place on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 10 a.m. in the Austin Convention Center (500 East Cesar Chavez, Room 9ab).

Add another festival to the list of spring festival season. On March 18, night sky advocates will gather in Dripping Springs for the Texas Night Sky Festival. According to a press release, “All attendees will join in fun citizen science activities, learn from engaging speakers and exhibits, see examples of good lighting for their home or business, view school projects and competition entries focused on protecting the night sky, feast at the food trucks, take home a book or work of art inspired by the night sky, earn a related scouting badge, or explore the stars” in an effort aimed at increasing appreciation of night skies and increasing awareness about their preservation. The next day, March 19, will feature discussions about preserving dark skies with speakers from the McDonald Observatory, the Texas Astronomical Society, the Texas Night Sky Coalition and the Hill Country Dark Sky Reserve. Tickets, information and a chance to reserve breakfast are available online.

Austin native Richard Moya, a trailblazer in local politics, died Thursday at the age of 84. Moya was the first Mexican-American to serve on the Travis County Commissioners Court. He was elected to represent Precinct 4 in 1970 and served continuously in that job until 1986. His protégé, Margaret Gómez, is currently serving as commissioner for Precinct 4. After leaving the Commissioners Court, Moya served as one of three deputy chiefs of staff for former Gov. Ann Richards. He attended Austin High School and graduated in 1950. According to records at the University of Texas, Moya was trained as a printer and worked in that profession for 15 years. After that, he took a job with the Travis County Legal Aid Society, where he developed an interest in politics and government. Moya was one of four Mexican-Americans to change the face of Austin politics. The others are former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, former Mayor Gus Garcia and former City Council Member John Trevino.

City Council postponed the Austin Oaks planned unit development once again at its most recent meeting and is now planning to hear the case on March 2. Council Member Alison Alter, whose district includes the proposed development, explained that last-minute changes and “a lot of moving parts” made both sides amendable to the two-week postponement (though the developer’s representative, attorney Michael Whellan, explained that they were “grudgingly” supporting the latest postponement). Not supporting the postponement was Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, who cast the lone vote against the delay. “What’s our end game here?” he asked. “What’s the target here?”

Don Pitts will stay on as leader of Austin’s Music and Entertainment Division through the end of April. The city announced the consulting agreement late on Thursday, two days after Pitts submitted his letter resigning from his director position following a monthlong paid administrative leave and investigation into a staff disciplinary issue. Pitts had intended to vacate the job immediately upon his letter’s submission, and in interviews said he was looking forward to returning to the private sector after seven years with the city. Now he will remain in place through April 29, which will provide the city with much-needed expertise during South by Southwest events that will stretch from March 10-19.

More than a year after a district judge shot down an outdoor music festival’s lawsuit against Travis County, an appeals court has upheld that decision. After a fashion. The organizers of Euphoria Music and Camping Festival sued the county in 2015 over the new mass gathering permit guidelines the Commissioners Court had just approved. On Dec. 2, 2015, Judge Tim Sulak tossed out the suit, ruling that his court lacked jurisdiction over the matter. In a 17-page decision issued on Wednesday, Justice Scott Field of the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals determined that the lawsuit was invalid in part because it alleged that members of the Commissioners Court acted ultra vires, or without legal authority, by attempting to enforce the new guidelines. “Suits alleging ultra vires acts cannot be brought against the state or its political subdivisions, which retain immunity, but must be brought against the state actors in their official capacity,” Field wrote. Both County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and representatives of Euphoria declined to comment on the decision.

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Today, City Council will vote to approve emergency funding for immigrant legal services in the midst of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests and Texas becoming the first state in the union to signal its official support of President Donald Trump’s so-called “travel ban.” The measure would allocate an increase of $200,000 to Catholic Charities of Central Texas for things like family immigration legal services, asylum assistance and deportation defense. A press release from Council Member Greg Casar’s office read, in part, “Due to harshening federal immigration policy, there is an urgent need for legal services for immigrants and refugees in the Austin community,” and continued with Casar’s own words: “The federal government attacked Austin’s immigrant families last week. Now, it’s up to the City to step up and take care of the families that our federal leaders are targeting for political gain. … Austin will not back down on our principles of justice, public safety, and constitutional rights. We want everyone who comes to the US to be protected to the fullest extent of the law.”