The Austin Police Department is looking for more women to join its ranks. To encourage more female applicants, APD is hosting a Women in Law Enforcement recruiting event Oct. 18. Topics include application and training requirements, balancing home and work life, and career paths and promotion opportunities. APD recruiting staff will be on hand to speak with interested applicants. Speakers will include APD Assistant Chief Jessica Robledo, who is also serving as event emcee. Robledo started with APD in 1988 and rose through the ranks to her current role, in which she oversees the Special Operations Units. The recruiting event is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 18 at Cornerstone Church, 1101 Reinli. For more information, visit apdrecruiting.org, email APDRecruiting@austintexas.gov or call 512-974-4211.

The Monitor and our partners at KUT, KXAN, the Austin Chronicle and Univision continue our Ballot Boxing series of in-district Austin City Council candidate forums this week. Tonight, we will hear from the candidates from District 9 at 7 p.m. at KUT’s Studio 1a at 300 W Dean Keeton St.    Also, we will host the District 10 candidates at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Lower Colorado River Authority headquarters at 3700 Lake Austin Blvd. The final event in the series will be the Mayors Forum on Oct. 15. A video of each forum will be posted on the Monitor site soon after the event. Click here to find more information.

All 78 candidates for the Austin City Council are required to turn in their most recent contribution and expenditure reports today. While certainly not definitive in winning an election, money does still make a difference. Exactly how much difference will not be clear until after the November election and possibly, the Dec. 16 runoff. Last week, mayoral candidate Steve Adler revealed that he loaned his campaign $102,000 in September. Adler had previously loaned his campaign $194,000, bringing the total he has invested in the campaign to $296,000. In contrast, Council Member Mike Martinez has loaned his campaign only $25,000 and Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole has not made any loans to her campaign, although she and her husband contributed $700 this summer. District 5 candidate Ann Kitchen loaned her campaign $17,500 on Sept. 25, bringing her loan total to $38,200. District 6 candidate Jay Wiley last week reported loaning his campaign $14,000, for a total of just over $25,000. District 7 candidate Leslie Pool reported loaning her campaign a total of $40,000 in September. Council Member Chris Riley has loaned his campaign $25,000 and opponent Council Member Kathie Tovo had already loaned her campaign about $40,000. Both are running for the District 9 seat. Mandy Dealey, who is running in District 10, loaned her campaign $25,100. Dealey, Robert Thomas and Sherri Gallo will likely fight it out on Election Day to see who will be in a December runoff. Gallo has not reported any loans but Thomas has reported loans totaling around $41,000.

Today is the last day for voters to register in order to be eligible to cast ballots in the Nov. 4 General Election, which includes the Austin City Council election. You must register today to be able to vote either in the early voting period, Oct. 20-31, or on Election Day.  To register, you must complete a voter registration form and mail it to the Travis County Tax Office postmarked by the end of the day. There are a number of places where you can obtain a registration form, including online, at local post offices and at the Travis County tax office on Airport Boulevard. Volunteers will also be registering voters today at all Thundercloud Subs locations from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. For more information, go to the Travis County Voter Information page.

If you want to put in your two-cents’ worth on the city’s rewrite of the CodeNEXT Project, this is your opportunity. The Land Development Code Advisory Group meets tonight to gather public input on the project. CodeNEXT is a City of Austin initiative to revise the Land Development Code, which determines how land will be used throughout the city. The process is a collaboration among Austin’s residents, its business community and civic institutions to align land use standards and regulations with what is important to the community. Go here for more information. Tonight’s meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Milwood Branch Library, 12500 Amherst Drive.

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility announced endorsements Wednesday, choosing five candidates in Austin’s City Council race. They endorse Mike Rodriguez (District 5), Jay Wiley (District 6), Ellen Troxclair (District 8), Erin McGann (District 9) and Bill Worsham (District 10). The group appears to be the nonprofit offshoot of Empower Texans. Their website explains that Empower Texans and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility help inform Texans about “policy solutions consistent with the principles of individual liberty and free markets.” By way of a mission statement, the website expands on this concept: “The greatest threat to our state’s economic growth and competitiveness is the weight of government on the economy. If government and taxes are allowed to grow without restraint, the economy will contract, thereby limiting opportunities for all Texans. We seek policy outcomes that provide increasing levels of economic liberty and opportunity for all Texans by controlling the size of government. Government power and reach must be strictly limited, with elected officials held accountable by active and informed citizens.”

OK, we know that there are a lot of guitar-pickers in Austin. But has anyone really tried to count them all? The Music & Entertainment Division of the city’s Economic Development Department is doing just that, as it launches a new market research study of Austin’s music industry and its workers. Officials say the purpose of the project is to capture an in-depth look at Austin’s music industry workers and its economic issues and opportunities. The city has hired Titan Music Group to conduct the study and deliver a final report. Data will be gathered from focus groups and an extensive survey. Focus groups will begin next week, and the survey will be launched Oct. 30. Officials say the music industry contributes more than $1.6 billion annually to the Austin economy. The Music & Entertainment Division will use the information collected from the study to optimize future city strategy and program planning for industry growth.

The Central Health Board of Managers reappointed Guadalupe Zamora and Hal Katz as trustees to the Austin Travis County Integral Care board on Wednesday evening. The advisory committee addresses community needs for mental and developmental health care and substance abuse. Zamora had replaced Central Health Chair Brenda Coleman-Beattie’s position on the ATCIC board in July. Katz has served on the Integral Care board since December 2010. Their terms expire Sept. 30, 2016.

Austin will celebrate National Night Out this weekend and early next week. This Saturday, Police Chief Art Acevedo will lead a kickoff party at the Mueller Airport Park to get things started. The event, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include live music as well as chances to talk with Austin/Travis County first responders, see the exhibitors’ booths, eat free hot dogs and relax on the shores of Mueller Lake. Then Tuesday, National Night Out moves to Austin’s neighborhoods, where there will be dozens of block parties (Austin had 480 of them last year). This will give you a chance to celebrate and meet your neighbors. Check with your neighborhood association or HOA to see if one is planned on your block. If not, it’s not too late to get one organized. Go to www.nnoaustin.org for information on planning one in your neighborhood.

The Monitor and our partners at KUT, KXAN, the Austin Chronicle and Univision continue our series of in-District Austin City Council candidate forums this week. Tonight, we will take a look at the District 7 candidates at the Village Alamo Drafthouse. RSVPs are available. Click here to find out more. For those of you who will be at the City Council meeting, look for video of the forum to be posted here on Friday.

The first big item on today’s City Council agenda is about forcing landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers for rental units for low-income people. The Council unanimously approved the original resolution, setting in motion the procedure that has so angered some members of the real estate community while pleasing groups like the Austin Tenants Council. At least one Council member is considering offering an amendment to the proposal that would exempt landlords of single-family homes, duplexes and apartment complexes of up to four units. This could prove critical to blunting opposition from the Austin Board of Realtors. Emily Chenevert, director of government relations at the ABoR, said Wednesday that her organization is hoping for just such an amendment, adding, “Where you’re going to have the most participation is in large multifamily complexes.” Single-family landlords are also less likely to have experience in dealing with a voucher program, she noted. ABoR is also interested in narrowing the definition of source of income, Chenevert said, explaining that it does not include less stable sources, such as gambling. . . . Council members will be going into executive session today to talk about the compensation, benefits and evaluation of City Manager Marc Ott, the city clerk, the municipal court clerk and the city auditor. There is little controversy surrounding the two clerks, and City Auditor Ken Morey has already announced that he plans to retire at the end of November. So the Council discussion is expected to center around comments that Council might or might not want to make public about the city manager. . . . Also at today’s meeting, members will discuss whether to hear or postpone the zoning case related to the proposed St. Elmo’s Market and Lofts on South Congress. Another possible postponement is a proposal for the hotel with no parking at Seventh and Congress, but staff was uncertain about that Wednesday. Sometime after 4 p.m., Council will have two public hearings, one related to so-called micro units, the very small efficiency dwellings that have had a rough time gaining traction with neighborhood advocates. The second public hearing involves a request for floodplain variances for development of a multifamily property at 1010 W. 10th St.

Though it hasn’t yet decided whom to endorse in the mayor’s race, Austin Sierra Club released its list of candidate endorsements for the other 10 places on City Council on Wednesday evening. In a news release from the group, members noted the challenge of picking just one candidate per district and commented on the new 10-1 system, writing, “The switch to districts will be a good thing to elevate local concerns, but Austin also needs a Council that will work together for the good of the entire city. We believe that our slate of endorsed candidates will do this.” That slate is as follows: Ora Houston (District 1), Delia Garza (District 2), Susana Almanza (District 3), Greg Casar (District 4), Ann Kitchen (District 5), Matt Stillwell (District 6), Leslie Pool (District 7), Ed Scruggs (District 8), Kathie Tovo (District 9) and Mandy Dealey (District 10).