The Democratic primary field in Texas House District 117 added a new member Thursday with Tina Torres, a San Antonio attorney and daughter of pioneering Latino activist Pete Torres Jr., officially announcing her candidacy. Within hours, one of the other contenders — Tomas Larralde — dropped out of the race and endorsed Torres.

Torres, 44, is the fourth Democrat to enter the primary sweepstakes for a shot at first-term Republican incumbent John Garza. Her announcement alters the calculus of a race in which former Councilman Phil Cortez looked to have the inside shot at the Democratic nomination. As Plaza de Armas has previously reported, Torres was approached earlier this year by Annie's List, an Austin-based political action committee that recruits women to run for the Lege, about filing for the legislative seat soon to be vacated by congressional hopeful Joaquin Castro, but Torres declined that offer. Ken Mireles, a former chief of staff for County Judge Nelson Wolff, also has filed for the District 117 seat.

Lloyd Doggett and Joaquín Castro slugged it out in the first test of their fundraising muscle, with Doggett drawing much of his support from attorneys and unions, and Castro dominating the San Antonio business community. Doggett, a veteran Austin congressman, and Castro, the up-and-coming San Antonio state representative, are vying for the Democratic nomination in the newly created 35^th Congressional district, which extends from Austin down to San Antonio.

Castro entered the District 35 race just a week before the third-quarter fundraising cycle began on July 1, and he brought in $511,660, including a $40,000 loan to his own campaign, according to a newly released campaign finance report. Doggett received $372,683, but because he had a head start on Castro, he’s been able to bring in $666,455 this year, and his campaign has more than $3.3 million in the bank. Castro has more than $389,000 in available cash.

On a recent Tuesday evening, the large open foyer at Lanier High School was filled with several long folding tables arranged in a horseshoe, hawking a range of social services, from free food to help with electricity bills. In the reception area just inside the glass doors, another set of tables were manned by school staff with stapled lists bearing the names of more than 600 students who have already missed five or more school days this academic year. It was the city's first truancy intervention event in the San Antonio Independent School District, and Municipal Court Presiding Judge John Bull was expecting as many as 300 people. The district had mailed a letter to each family on the list, inviting them to this "mandatory meeting," but by 6:45, 15 minutes after the event was scheduled to begin, fewer than 40 kids and adults sat at the round tables in the adjacent cafeteria.

Victor Vinton, the court's new juvenile case administrator, kicked off the short program.

The City's Animal Care Services department has compiled an instructive map detailing the number of stray animals reported through the 311 call-in service, by census tract boundary. The map is being used to coordinate sweeps in the areas of heaviest activity – the large blue spots – where ACS teams are conducting educational door-to-door outreach followed a week later by a stray roundup.

Interim ACS Director Joe Angelo estimates ACS will spend four to six weeks in each area, and they'll run a new map about once a quarter, to see if they're making a dent, or if the hot spots are shifting.

The door-to-door campaign advertises free spay-neuter and vaccination services, and promotes the importance of licensing pets.

One of the interesting things the map tells us is that the West and Southwest sides of town combined represent more than 10 percent of the calls received since last October 1 (the start of the City's fiscal year). Despite that big total in the lower left-hand corner – 42,557 calls – Angelo says he expects ACS to bring in about the same number of strays it did last year, around 28,000, the majority of which will once again be dogs.

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Bill sidled up and asked what I knew about the seal on the face of the Federal Reserve building on Nueva Street. It's an eagle hovering over what looks like a sheriff's badge with a dozen stars on it and "11 K". I'd passed by the building God knows how many times but had never noticed it.

I lamely guessed that maybe there are 12 regional banks within the Federal Reserve system – who can remember? – hence the dozen stars. The "11 K"? No idea.

It must've seemed pertinent to Bill because of the circumstance. We were midway through Sunday morning's protest in front of the San Antonio branch of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, playing out in a steady cold rain, and Alex Jones – a libertarian radio talk-show host from Austin who spins vast conspiracy theories – was condemning the Fed as a secretive criminal enterprise. What's a criminal enterprise without its own emblem?

Three months ago, when state Rep. Joaquin Castro announced that he was running for the newly created District 35 Congressional seat, the biggest question about his campaign concerned his fundraising ability.

In his decade-long political career, the San Antonio Democrat has never faced a sufficiently potent election challenge to push him as a fundraiser. This time around, with Castro taking on veteran Austin Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who is seeking the new seat because redistricting has stripped much of his liberal Austin base out of his current district, money is crucial. With that in mind, on Wednesday the Castro campaign preemptively rolled out its third-quarter campaign haul of more than $500,000, partly to answer such questions and partly to make Doggett campaign staffers sweat a bit.