As noted by Kevin, the DA's office has announced it will drop all charges against those arrested in the Roundup last month and to vacate the convictions of those who already pleaded guilty. I'm glad to hear it. Now let's figure out how this mess happened and make sure it doesn't happen again.

On a whim, I answered the Chron's poll question, which is "Were the Aug. 17-18 arrests at the Westheimer Kmart justified?" Out of 8991 votes cast, 15% said "They needed to be done", 19% said "A well-intentioned mistake", and 65% agreed with me that "It was an outrage". Not scientific, of course, but interesting nonetheless.