Pam Thompson's blog

Singer and guitarist Will T Massey, accompanied by Richard Bowden on violin, performed his song "A Soldier's Love" on this week's Austin News Real program. Both were part of the Million Musicians March for Peace that took place in Austin on March 21, 2009. Along with host Pam Thompson, Will and Richard discussed that event over video footage and photographs. Featured in a number of photographs was Wavy Gravy who was in Austin for a SXSW screening of a documentary about his life.

Bon Davis, Technical Producer of Plutopia, talks with Pam Thompson as they watch video footage she shot at Plutopia on March 16, 2009 at the Palmer Events Center in Austin.

"What was once the SXSW Interactive EFF-Austin Official After Party has morphed into a multifaceted extravaganza called 'Plutopia', an exciting convergence of technology, DIY, music, and art performance." - www.plutopia.org

This episode of Austin News Real focuses on Dirty Coal. The first part is a phone interview with James "Guin" McGuinness from Rock Creek, West Virginia, where he is working with www.climategroundzero.org in a campaign to stop mountain top removal strip miniing by coal giant Massey.

The second part features Public Citizen's Ryan Rittenhouse and Travis Brown of Neighbors For Neighbors, who talk about what's going on with coal strip mining and coal powered electricity generation in Texas. See www.coalblock.org and www.stopthecoalplant.org.

The new MetroRail train was parked at Saltillo Plaza Station so that folks could walk through it in advance of the commuter rail operation set to begin on March 30, 2009 by Capital Metro. It's called the "Red Line" and can hold almost 200 people and meets up with buses scheduled to stop at the stations to help folks use an intergrated transit system to get around town. Some of the stations have Park & Ride lots to leave your car at so you can catch the train and then the bus. For the schedule go to www.capmetro.org.

In this episode of Austin News Real, Texas Public Citizen Director Tom "Smitty" Smith and Deputy Director David Power bring us up-to-date on solar power and renewable energy initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels.

They run the gamit from the proposed solar power plant on Austin-owned land in Webberville, to the slate of bills now under consideration in the Texas state legislature, to the impact of the latest federal stimulus package on renewable energy development in Texas generally and the Austin area particularly.