Starting today, the Austin Police Department will be cracking down on drivers not wearing their seat belts. The “Click It or Ticket” initiative begins Monday, May 18 and ends Saturday, May 30. Additional officers will be on patrol, educating the public in the use of occupant restraint devices and writing citations and warnings to unbuckled drivers and passengers.

The City of Austin Fire Department has instituted a watercraft ban on Barton Creek and Lady Bird Lake through noon today, May 18. The ban was declared due to unsafe conditions created by heavy rains and flooding. It applies to all commercial and navigational boating as well as recreational usage. Watercraft operating illegally in the Flood Ban Area are subject to impoundment. According to a statement, anyone wishing to secure property in the Flood Ban Area should contact Austin Police Headquarters at 715 E. 8th St. during business hours. Proof of ownership or occupancy is required.

Despite urging from the neighborhood to proceed, City Council granted a developer’s request to postpone the Waller on Swede Hill rezoning case. Louisa Brinsmade, secretary of the Swede Hill Neighborhood Association, asked Council to either move forward or hear it at next week’s meeting. She said Council has been dealing with the case since August 2013, and that it has seen “multiple delays and postponements” during that time. Peter Cesaro, representing developer Wes Peoples, explained that his client is working to address the concerns of the neighborhood, and needed to postpone to continue that. He suggested postponing the case to September 10. Though the meeting is not currently scheduled, Council Member Greg Casar suggested the case could move to the May 28 meeting, since next week’s Council meeting is not a zoning meeting and September is months away. There was a push from some Council members not to postpone the case at all, despite it being the first postponement request from Peoples. Mayor Steve Adler pointed out that Council members should be clear that they would not be granting one postponement to each side without question, as had been the practice of previous City Councils. They did not clarify their position, but did vote to postpone the case to the May 28 meeting.

City officials say that since recent rainstorms, more than 200 animals have entered the already over-capacity Austin Animal Center. The city has a shortage of 68 kennels for large dogs at its Levander Loop location and no more space at the overflow kennels at Town Lake Animal Center. Officials are encouraging anyone who has lost a pet to come to the shelter as soon as possible to reclaim their animal. There will be no fee for people looking to find their pet. The center will also provide free identification tags, collars and microchips for reclaimed animals. Officials say that when a pet is lost, owners should visit the shelter or call 3-1-1 immediately. The shelter also lists lost-and-found pets on its website. The Austin Animal Center, 7201 Levander Loop, is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Town Lake Animal Center, 1156 W. Cesar Chavez St., also is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. For more information, go here.

Austin’s Recycling and Reuse Industries generated $720 million in economic impact to the city in 2014, according to a new study. The recycling and reuse industries also support over 2,600 jobs, according to a newly released study commissioned by the City of Austin’s Recycling Economic Development Program. In addition, the sector has the potential to grow more than 50 percent to over $1 billion and 4,200 jobs. In 2011, City Council adopted the Austin Resource Recovery Master Plan, which called for the creation of economic development initiatives to support the city’s zero waste goal of 90 percent landfill diversion by 2040. The full report is available for download here.

A video recording of a city-sponsored panel discussion on secondary dwelling units (also called accessory dwelling units or ADUs) and their potential impact on affordability in Austin is now available online.  Panelists included Marya Crigler, head appraiser, Travis Central Appraisal District; Mark Rogers, executive director, Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation; Jake Wegmann, professor, University of Texas Community and Regional Planning Program; and Mary Ingle, president, Austin Neighborhoods Council. Approximately 100 people attended and posed questions to the panel on topics ranging from tax exemptions and assessments to the effects of ADUs on surrounding neighborhoods. The video of the panel is available here.

The city’s Emergency Medical Services branch is pointing to a recent incident as evidence that preparedness can save lives. EMS officials say a 59-year-old man participating in a downtown cycle spin class suffered cardiac arrest during the class. A fellow class participant, who happened to be a Seton Emergency Room nurse, performed CPR and used an Automated External Defibrillator, or AED, that was stationed at the gym and successfully restored his pulse. Austin-Travis County EMS continued treatment and transported the patient to the cardiac catheterization lab at the University Medical Center Brackenridge, where he was diagnosed with a heart blockage. Doctors cleared the blockage and the patient was discharged the following day. In honor of this incident and others like it, Austin EMS officials are holding a survivor meet-and-greet at 10 a.m. today in the third floor conference room at the University Medical Center Brackenridge, 601 E 15th St. EMS will celebrate this CPR save through the use of a public AED device and promote the value of bystander CPR with public AED use for rapid responses to people suffering heart attacks.

Don Rios, a sergeant with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, has officially announced his candidacy for Travis County Sheriff. Rios is a 23-year veteran of the Travis County Sheriff’s office, having worked in the county jail, as a training and evaluation officer, in the warrants unit, as a SWAT team member, on the child protection team and currently the special operations west command. Rios said, “I look forward to bringing my 23-year law enforcement experience to the Sheriff’s Office.” Current Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton has held the office since 2004 and was last re-elected in November 2012. Hamilton has not said whether he plans to run again in 2016.

On Friday, an Honor Flight will depart Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, transporting 50 Vietnam War veterans from the Austin area to Washington, D.C., to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This is the 24th Honor Flight Austin trip, the third of this year and the first for Vietnam vets. There will be a welcome-home event at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday on the balcony overlooking baggage claim between American and Southwest airlines’ ticket counters. The flight is operated and sponsored by Southwest. The Hilton Austin Airport is also a sponsor of Honor Flight Austin. Trips on Honor Flight are free for veterans and paid for through donations. Honor Flight Austin is a nonprofit organization created to honor veterans by transporting them to visit and reflect at their respective war memorials. To support Honor Flight Austin or learn more, go here.

Former Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole announced Tuesday that she has relaunched the Cole Law Firm. In a letter to supporters, Cole said she plans to focus her practice “on community affairs, government relations and public finance.” Cole was the first African-American woman elected to the Austin City Council, for which she served two three consecutive terms. Before serving on Council, she practiced as a certified public accountant and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Texas Law School in Austin.

City Council Member Leslie Pool will hold a town hall meeting Saturday to discuss the issues in District 7. A news release from Pool’s office promises that this will be the first of a series of events for North Austin. All Austinites are invited to attend the event. Representatives from the city’s Budget Office, Capital Metro and first responder teams will join Pool in discussing recent Council actions and answer questions. The meeting will take place from 10 a.m. until noon at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, 12041 Bittern Hollow.

Travis County Commissioners Court took a tentative first step Tuesday in a process that could transform a large section of county bureaucracy. At their regular voting session, commissioners approved a resolution that directs County Purchasing Agent Cyd Grimes to start shopping for consultants to “conduct an organizational review” of the departments that answer to the court. Grimes told the commissioners that the review would likely cost more than $200,000. The consultant would be tasked with assessing the current organizational structure at divisions such as Transportation and Natural Resources and the Planning and Budget Office. A proposed second phase that would have implemented those findings was removed after concerns were raised at last week’s meeting about committing the commissioners to recommendations sight-unseen. County Judge Sarah Eckhardt replaced that with instructions for the consultant to merely make recommendations on how to implement its recommendations. Commissioner Gerald Daugherty was the sole “nay” in the 3-1 vote, with Commissioner Ron Davis absent.