Several neighbors and friends of the show attended yesterday's public hearing of the Texas State Board of Education down in Austin in advance of today's evolution vs. creationism vote -- which ended in a 7-7 draw, meaning the board will not add, at the moment, language that requires public schools teach the "strengths and weaknesses" of evolution. (Dallas's Mavis Knight voted against the amendment favored by chairman Don McLeroy and Cynthia Dunbar, among others.)
For those so interested, go to the 11-minute mark of the testimony to hear what one Dallas Independent School District parent has to say on the subject; the whole recording is available here (and runs about two hours, for those with the time). And the Texas Freedom Network is live blogging all of today's proceedings, which are still taking place and sound utterely riveting. And, as the TFN notes, today's vote isn't the end of this:
This is a huge victory for sound science, but not the final word. The final vote will be taken on Friday. And board members may now offer additional amendments to the standards, so there is still room for mischief by anti-evolution board members. So Act 1 is over with a victory for science advocates. Stay tuned as Act 2 begins.