Officially, Irene was expected to make landfall Saturday near Morehead City, on the southern end of the Outer Banks, the barrier island chain. But long before the eye crossed the coastline, the blustery winds and intermittent rains were already raking the coast. By Friday evening 50 mph winds were measured at Wrightsville Beach, NC..Still, the extra $1.20 that would be billed to Austin residents each month or "one bottle of water for our children" to borrow the mayor's marketing phrase, portends to some a city that will grow increasingly expensive to live in. Former city planning commissioner and La Prensa publisher Cathy VasquezRevilla sees little in the Smart Growth proposals that addresses needed affordable housing development in East Austin, and says people with marginal incomes may eventually have no place in the mayor's dream city. "We're all going to get pushed out to Del Valle," says VasquezRevilla.

Think it was already dawn in Libya. Are repo