CAPITOL LETTERS

Trying to get into downtown Austin this morning? Don't bother. Congress Ave -- the city's main drag -- is in lockdown after more than a dozen dead birds were found early this morning. Authorities are taking samples from the birds and saying it's just precautionary. But they're not letting anyone into offices up and down the strip until close to noon. Word is the birds started acting funny -- wandering aimlessly in the middle of the street in a two to four block area. Then one after another, they just started to croak.