Jill DeYoung, chief of staff for District 8 Councilman Reed Williams, is leaving Williams’ office this month to join the Valor Club, the Pecan Valley Golf Course redevelopment designed for disabled veterans and senior citizens.

Williams, a popular and well-regarded Northside rep, announced early in 2012 that he wouldn’t seek a third term on Council. The news came as a surprise in no small part because DeYoung’s resume fueled speculation that Williams would seek a higher office. She has more than 20 years of political experience, including working as a consultant for then Commissioner Lyle Larson in his unsuccessful race for Congress, and 13 years as political director and treasurer for Congressman Henry Bonilla.

“I have consistently tried to talk [Williams] into running for something else, or staying on Council,” DeYoung said.

Controversial anti-rail advocate (and doctrinaire libertarian) Randal O’Toole swooped through San Antonio last week to lay out the case against VIA’s proposed downtown streetcar system. In response to a Thursday morning press conference organized by a coalition of free-marketeers, VIA announced a 2 p.m. rebuttal, which consisted mostly of VIA Board Chair Henry Muñoz III declaring that we don’t need the opinions of outsiders in San Antonio, and County Judge Nelson Wolff launching an assault on Mr. O’Toole’s associates at the Cato Institute.

Muñoz’s provincialist rhetoric struck the wrong chord to my ear — we should welcome all serious experts who want to weigh in on the most effective ways to update our transit system. Wolff attempted to undermine the seriousness of O’Toole’s work, drawing attention to the more extreme positions held by his colleagues at Cato, which have little or nothing to do with his research. (The County Judge chose not to mention Mr. O’Toole’s fellowship at Yale.)

During a brief conversation with O’Toole and his local allies during his whirlwind media tour of San Antonio, it was apparent that his reputation as one of the more important voices against urban passenger rail was built on significant study and his ideas should not be dismissed out of hand. At the same time, his ideological agenda is quite clear, and his ornery approach to policy discussion is unlikely to win him much goodwill.

Political operative JoAnn Ramon was climbing into her car to leave a campaign event at a San Antonio hotel when her cell phone started ringing. The call was from a candidate she'd recently helped elect to the Texas House of Representatives.

"He said, 'Help me!' I said, 'Where are you?'" Ramon recalled. "He said, 'Look up.' And I went 'Oh, my god.' I said, 'I'm coming.'"

The official was sitting in his car in the hotel parking lot with the doors locked. A woman was splayed across the hood, screaming for him to get out of the car. The official, who was married, was having an affair, and the woman he was cheating with had shown up to confront him over a lovers' quarrel.

A state representative who was riding with Ramon offered to handle the situation. "And I said, 'No, I don't need two of you in trouble,'" Ramon said. She peeled the woman off the other representatives' car and told her candidate to get out of there. He sped off.

The November election numbers are in and while they confirm a lot of what we already know, some interesting details are emerging. Most notable are results from the citywide Pre-K 4 SA initiative, which could help determine voter sentiment going into the May municipal elections. Breaking down the data also yields a deeper understanding of how voter turnout could be leveraged in the city, depending how the campaigns are run.

This election trended much like other presidential years, with turnout increasing slightly from 2008. The majority of support for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s – just over 55 percent – came from the three Northside districts, where Romney won across the board with an average of 58 percent.

Obama’s support in the other seven districts was much stronger, averaging 67 percent. From 2008 to 2012, Republican support in the three Northside districts did increase by an average of 2 percent, but Obama won Bexar County with 51.5 percent of the vote and the city with 54.7 percent.

Straight-ticket voting was the real winner in November, with more than 63 percent of voters sticking to their party lines. Democrats were the favorites by a narrow margin, grabbing 53 percent of the straight-ticket vote. The phrase “straight-ticket voting” is something of a misnomer, since voters can select the option but still cross over down the ballot for specific races. It’s impossible to determine exactly how many voters did this, but the results indicate it happened in key races, including the contest for sheriff, where Republican Susan Pamerleau unseated Amadeo Ortiz.

Bexar Towing lost another round in court over the fees they are allowed to charge. Municipal Judge Robert Lipo denied a motion Tuesday from Bexar Towing, asking him to dismiss more than 400 tickets issued to it and other towing companies by police for alleged over-charging.

Earlier this year the city started enforcing a towing ordinance that has been on the books since 2002. That ordinance says towing companies cannot charge more than $85 for a tow from private property.

Bexar Towing has also caved in and started paying back customers who complained about its hefty charges. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation says the company has sent refunds to about 50 people, for a total of $9,647, for over-charging, improper signage and other violations. It's the first time TDLR has ordered tow companies anywhere in the state to pay refunds to consumers. The agency says more refunds are possible because of other pending complaints.

In August, the San Antonio City Auditor released a report that calls into question the much trumpeted success of the Haven for Hope homeless campus.

To be fair, Haven may be doing a great job, but according to the audit it’s hard to tell because much of the data the organization has produced to date is unreliable, based on entries to an information system that had too few quality controls and little backup evidence. The auditor concluded that the City is partly responsible for the lax accountability. San Antonio gives more than $6 million annually to the campus and the agencies that serve it, but it has attached few strings to the money, especially the operational funding that goes directly to Haven for Hope.

As a result of the audit, the City’s Department of Human Services (DHS), which oversees the Haven grants, has changed its reporting requirements. Haven says it was already on top of the problems. But the auditor’s report raises the possibility that data the City and other funders relied on to make decisions was inaccurate.