As one reform-minded defense attorney predicted back when PDA started following the County's fractured attempt at improving its indigent defense system, the Commissioners are exploring implementing a contract system — in which the County selects individual attorneys and/or private firms take on clients who can't afford a lawyer — in place of the wheel, a rotating list of attorneys approved and used (to some extent anyway) by the judges.

On Saturday, U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, told PDA in a written statement that he expects to file in the newly created District 35, which will run from South Austin to San Antonio, if it survives legal challenges. But we also hear that he's meeting this week with representatives of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) to discuss a possible 2012 run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. Aside from ensuring that the race would have plenty of fireworks, a Doggett senatorial campaign would be fascinating because it would come 28 years after his last bid for the Senate, when he edged out Kent Hance for the Democratic nomination and lost to Phil Gramm in the general election.     

In the "no good deed goes unpunished" department, seven protesters on the corner of Commerce Street and Main Avenue serenaded visitors to Council Chambers Thursday morning with chants opposing the City Council's recent decision to change the name of Durango Boulevard to honor Cesar Chavez.

Unlike historical preservationists and Durango Boulevard business owners, who maintain that the Council went too far in their effort to pay homage to Chavez, these demonstrators complained that the City didn't go far enough.

We hear that Congressman Henry Cuellar is a happy pol because his congressional district, as it's been remapped, includes a bigger slice of San Antonio. Why would that warm the Laredoan's heart?