Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 1

NOAPLAYOFFS: SPURS ON BRINK OF ELIMINATION SPORTS, CI iUtsfm Americaii'Statemai mJ I I FINAL EDITION SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009 $1.60 Ostatesman.com IN SPORTS I NFL DRAFT I CI Hll 3 Ufl ARTS I Kl PRODIGY He's only 16, but i Anthony Ortiz is already an accordion wizard IN PARADE UNLEASHED 'Wolverine' star Hugh Jackman excited about life and new film I 1 Washington takes former UT star with 13th pick of NFL draft PUBLIC SAFETY ff in 1 nnn p3lliS Jl CI ELECTIONS CIVIL RIGHTS Garage to Supreme Court Lawsuit challenging Voting Rights Act began in Austin suburb U.S. CONSUMER AGENCY SAYS IT WILL EXAMINE T0PPLINGS IN TEXAS Math errors, redesign could be to blame, some engineers say By Eric Dexheimer WOlCAYST-VrDiM STAFF They keep coming down. On Monday, when the field and track at Bill Power Stadium in Uniontown, are nor-maUy busy with students and joggers, an 80-foot athletic light tower crashed to the ground, crushing bleachers. Its huge lights shattered in the football field's end zone. It was only good luck that the day was rainy and windy, leaving the usually bustling stadium empty, school Superintendent Charles Machesky said.

"That's our phys ed facility," he said. "The potential for some really nasty stuff was there." Two weeks ago, an American-Statesman investigation found that in the past three years eight athletic lighting poles, all designed and fabricated by the same Fort Worth companies, had fallen across the country six of them in the past six months. The American-Statesman since has confirmed that five other poles made and designed by the same companies have fallen, the Uniontown pole among them. No one has been injured. The U.S.

Consumer Product Safety Commission, which can issue recalls, announced Thursday that it will conduct an investigation into the toppled poles In Texas. Spokeswoman Kathleen Reilly said engineers would look for the cause of the failures. As word of the unstable poles has spread, Texas engineers working for another pole manufacturer have examined design specifi- See LIGHTS, A6 iff A il i fiHi iS IF" I IT 1 if. 0 1 JayJanner amkkica.vstait.sm.vn Jack Stueber offered his garage in Northwest Austin for a Municipal Utility District election. An attempt to move the polling place triggered a court battle.

Stueber has not taken sides. Case that could redefine civil rights law is about moving a polling place 3 blocks COMING THURSDAY Goodbye, XL. Hello. Austi n360. On Thursday, we'll introduce our revamped entertainment tabloid, and we're giving it a new name Austin360, the same name as our award-winning entertainment Web site.

Austin360 will be a true going-out guide, with expanded calendar listings, including movie times. We'll still have reviews from our writers, but we'll want to hear from you, too. To celebrate, on Thursday we'll also launch our Austin360 concert series at Stubb's with the Black and White Years and the Mercers. To find out more, go to austin360.comimusic. TEXAS LEGISLATURE Chisum finds middle ground on environment Lawmaker works to shape rules before federal action By Asher Price AMEKICAN-STATHSMAN STAFF The sole rule at meetings of the carbon management caucus, organized ment that any change in voting practices does not harm minority interests.

It is being described as one of the most important civil rights cases to hit the court in years. And it all began with a 2002 election in Stueber's two-car garage in Canyon Creek, a middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood in Northwest Austin that launched the Supreme Court review by suing to overturn Section 5. "We've joked about putting up a historical, or hysterical, plaque," said Stueber. whose garage has been photographed by The Wall Street Journal, CBS News and other media. The attention has dragged Canyon Creek into the center of a heated debate over race relations See CASE, All By Chuck Lindell AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Anderson Cooper's people recently phoned Jack Stueber about sending a CNN crew to his suburban Austin garage, joining a media pilgrimage to what might be the least likely racial battleground in America.

This Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case from Stueber's neighborhood that could redefine the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark legislation that outlawed decades of ballot-box discrimination against minorities. At stake is Section 5 of the act, which forces places with a history of discrimination, including Texas, to prove to the U.S. Justice Depart A .111 1 PUBLIC HEALTH by state Rep. Warren Chisum, is that none of the 40 or so members may talk about global warming.

"If we did," he said, "it'd consume all our time." That rule gets at the political savvy of Chisum, a Panhandle Republican who was stripped of his power as a budget writer but re-emerged as a IN THIS SECTION I A6 Swine flu concerns grow in Texas Warren Chisum supports incentives for businesses. 'Golden Girls star Bea Arthur dies at 86 TRAVEL INSIDE LIFE ARTS H14-1S Garden of the Gods celebrates 100 years Cibolo high school is shuttered; Perry asks for extra medicine ASSOCIATED PRESS A Central Texas high school where two students were confirmed as having swine flu is temporarily closing after a new possible case of the worrisome disease was identified there, state health officials announced Saturday. New U.S. cases of swine flu were confirmed in Kansas and California and are suspected in New York City. But officials said they didn't know whether the New York cases were the same flu strain that has killed as many as 81 people in Mexico and probably sickened 1,324 since April 13, according to figures updated late Saturday.

Gov. Rick Perry announced Saturday that, because of the outbreak, he was asking the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to give Texas 37,430 courses of antiviral medications from the Strategic National Stockpile. "As a precautionary measure, I have re- See FLU, A7 pivotal player in the future of Texas' energy economy. With ever more likely federal rules limiting emissions of carbon dioxide, which have been associated with global warming, Chisum has teamed up with Democrats and some Republicans to make business-friendly proposals that would give subsidies to companies that capture greenhouse gas emissions. Chisum, in short, has sought out See MIDDLE, A13 jjfliyiHJ Man's green interest turns into a career opportunity irrru INSIDE BUSINESS Dl DEATHS B4-5 INSIGHT Fl LIFE ARTS Ml SPORTS CI TRAVEL H14-16 WORLD NATION A2 CLASS1HEDS El.

Gl TO SUBSCRIBE Call 445-4040 62009. Austin Amwtcan atisman 7 CHANCE OFSHOWERSiwJ 8469 B8 lyiis LIFE ARTS COMING TUESDAY l6566810101IIH 7 BETWEEN NETWORKING AND VOLUNTEERING, FINDING A JOB IS FULL-TIME WORK FOR NFJ AUSTINITE.