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Williamson County is making changes to avoid the chaotic scene that unfolded last month on primary Election Day. The new change is going back to the ways things were before the most recent election. We’ll dig into why it happened and how the county is trying to avoid a repeat.
The Karst Canyon Preserve is offering new public access to trails and open space in Hays County. The property near Jacob’s Well was previously slated for residential development.
Plus, the region needed this weekend’s rain showers — both to help with drought and to clear cars of springtime green tint from oak pollen. Why does the pollen get everywhere? We’ll get to the answer today.
Jason Mellard from The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University goes over Ronald Shannon Jackson records ‘Texas’ LP in Dallas from the the late 80s.
Onboard the Artemis II spacecraft right now are three Americans and one Canadian, including someone set to be the first woman in history to journey beyond low Earth orbit and travel around the Moon. Texas Standard Host, David Brown, asked Mission specialist Christina Koch what it felt like to be selected for the Artemis mission.
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:09] Williamson County is making changes to avoid the chaotic scene that unfolded last month on primary election day. The new change is going back to the way things were before this most recent election, why it happened, and how they’re trying to avoid a repeat. And the Karst Canyon Preserve is offering new public access to trails and open space in Hayes County. The property near Jacobs Well was previously slated for residential development. We’ve got an audio tour for you that’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:35] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:40] Plus, we really needed those rain showers over the weekend, both to help with drought and to clear my car of its springtime green tint, courtesy of all the oak pollen. Why does that stuff get everywhere? Well, we’ve got the answer. Coming up for you next, that is right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal, thank you for spending part of your Monday here with us. It is the sixth day of April, we are glad to have you along. Thanks for starting the week here with us! We are a month removed from primary election day, and up in Williamson County there are changes happening to avoid the long lines and frustration that some voters endured there back in March. KUT’s Williamson County reporter Kaylee Hunt was on the ground until late in the night, back on election day, and she’s been following the fallout since then. Thanks for being back on The Signal with us, Kaylee.
Kailey Hunt [00:01:40] Yeah, thanks for having me, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:42] So tell us first off about this latest change in Williamson County ahead of the upcoming May runoffs.
Kailey Hunt [00:01:48] Yeah, so the, you know, the big thing we obviously heard a lot of those horror stories coming out of the March 3rd primary election night, all those long wait times and confusion about polling locations. As a result of that, both the Williamson County Republican and Democratic Party chairs, as well as county elections officials have decided to revert back to countywide voting for the runoffs. So that means we’ll go back to the way things have essentially operated over the past 10 years or so.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:20] Okay, so a lot of people have had opinions on the way things played out on Election Day. You mentioned a few people there. Let’s start with the Williamson County Election Administrator, Bridgette Escobedo. She was one of a group of folks who spoke recently about what happened back in March. What did Escobed—Escobedo have to say?
Kailey Hunt [00:02:37] Yeah. So there was actually a special commissioner’s court meeting a couple weeks ago now, and Escobedo, she sat down along with the elections attorney and did quite a lengthy statement just about the election, everything she experienced. She called it less secure than any other election she’d ever seen in her career. Really emphasize to the commissioner’s court and the party chairs who were also in attendance that it just cannot happen again. And yeah, so there were several issues that she brought up with that, one being death threats that she and her election staff themselves received just due to misinformation that was going around online that was making their jobs harder during that Also, party officials not following proper instructions. On Election Day.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:34] Yeah, yeah, can you mention your story talks a little bit about like how ballots were delivered to that was part of the failure
Kailey Hunt [00:03:40] Yeah, yeah. So the difficulty came when the Republican Party decided to use a different method of voting. It’s the same voting system, but different methods. The Republican Party in Williamson County used pre-printed paper ballots, which were then filled out and bubbled in by hand on primary election day and then put into these boxes. Not the typical boxes that that contains scanners that the Williams County Elections Department, you know, usually you go in and you put your ballot in through a scanner and after it scans, it drops right into a box. Okay, so the Republican Party did not have that. And so, there’s, you know, these two different methods going on that election workers had to contend with. And yeah, there was just missing paperwork, she said, on several of the boxes that the Republicans turned in, that actually led to 69 votes initially. Going missing, they were later found and counted. So, you know, don’t worry about that. They were counted before the official canvas. But yeah, just a lot of widespread chaos.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:52] Yeah, and it sounds like you’re really describing that feeling of being a less secure election. You mentioned poll workers. Both parties admitted that there weren’t enough poll workers nor polling locations. Why was that the case this time around?
Kailey Hunt [00:05:06] Yeah, well, I mean, it’s important to acknowledge that when you adopt a precinct based voting model, essentially that means you need a polling location for each precinct within the county, right? So Williams County has 177 precincts. So ideally you’d have at least 177 polling locations strategically placed in each of those precinct throughout the county. Logistically, like that’s just really hard to make happen, right. And then you also have to account for all the extra poll workers. So yeah, logistically, because of the precinct-based bullying. That was hard, but also, as Cabello mentioned, just like within this current political climate that we’re in, a lot of the back and forth, the talk online and in person, a lot folks just aren’t up for either, you know, working the polls or offering up their locations that they have, their businesses, or even schools not feeling comfortable, you now.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:09] Hosting, hosting a location. What else did you hear at that special meeting of the county commissioners?
Kailey Hunt [00:06:16] Yeah, so before the meeting even began, Jerry, we had about an hour of public testimony. Room was packed. And there were people from both the Republican Party, the Williamson County Republican Party and the Williamston County Democratic Party. And so, you know, there were, there was a little bit of name calling, right, between members of both the parties, kind of shifting blame for some of the issues. But Um, overall though… We were hearing much of the same things, and much of that was just the confusion and the frustration of what voters had to endure. A lot of folks said that this was something that could have been prevented. It wasn’t well thought out. And yeah, they were very understandably frustrated.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:10] Well let me ask you, what else are you watching between now and then? The runoff is set for May 26th. Is it now the case that this county-wide voting is in effect? Does anything else need to happen before that’s made official?
Kailey Hunt [00:07:23] No, that is official all now. So, yeah, I mean, for every election, the parties will have contracts. So, of course, this issue could theoretically come up again in the future. But for now, we’re set for the May 26th runoff election. We’re going to have countywide voting. But also just want to plug into, we have the May 2nd election, which is run by the county, not the political parties. So countywide vote. You can expect countywide Odin.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:50] Okay, so no confusion or less at least a little bit less confusion there. There’s no you don’t have to go to a specific precinct You can just go and vote wherever you can For the May 2nd not for or that will be the case for the May 26 as well But was not previously back in March. Alrighty. Well, we have been chatting with Kaylee Hunt She is KUT’s Williamson County reporter. We’re gonna have a link to her latest reporting in today’s show notes. Thank you, Kaylee
Leigh Walden [00:08:16] Thanks, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:24] Every year around this time, clouds of green pollen descend on Austin. You can find it on sidewalks, on cars, maybe even in your hair. Basically everywhere. KUT’s Moe’s Bouchaud wanted to find out more about it, and now he’s never going to think about trees the same way again. A warning, this story does include some discussion of reproduction of human and tree varieties.
Mose Buchele [00:08:48] It can be frustrating.
Deandrea Bowens [00:08:50] Yes, you know, I just got my car washed.
Mose Buchele [00:08:52] Just ask Deandrea Bowens, I caught up with her on her way to the office.
Deandrea Bowens [00:08:56] Literally got up the next morning my car was covered with this green you know stuff and even when you put water on it it just it makes an awful mess
Mose Buchele [00:09:03] It can be startling.
Trey Schar [00:09:04] I was sitting on the balcony and I looked at this tree just as a gust of wind caused this explosion of pollen from it. Just ask my coworker, Trey Schar. Never seen anything like it.
Mose Buchele [00:09:12] Like it, and I went, whoa! It can even be sneeze-inducing. Just ask me. Excuse me. So we know this stuff is pollen this time of year, oak pollen, but why does it get everywhere? I’m standing in front of the biological laboratory at UT Austin. Even the front steps of the building are dusted with green. I came here for answers.
Norma Fowler [00:09:35] Do you want the answer for the freshman or for the after dinner party or the scientific answer? You’re gonna cut that out.
Mose Buchele [00:09:41] Professor Norma Fowler studies and teaches plant biology at UT. Give me the after-dinner party answer to start with.
Norma Fowler [00:09:48] Plants have sex. They really do.
Mose Buchele [00:09:50] So you’re saying we’re surrounded by tree sex.
Norma Fowler [00:09:54] Acorns come from somewhere, they come from sex.
Mose Buchele [00:09:57] That was a new way of looking at things. Here’s how it works. When humans want to reproduce, they choose a partner. Trees are a little less discriminated. Oak trees have both male flowers and female flowers. The male flowers, you see piles of them on the ground this time of year, they’re these little strands called catkins.
Norma Fowler [00:10:21] What they do is they just throw the pollen, which is what the male flowers produce, throw it out into the wind.
Mose Buchele [00:10:27] Then, basically, just hope for the best.
Norma Fowler [00:10:29] And then the female flowers are very small, they look like little brushes, and they just strain that pollen out of the wind. That’s plant sac.
Mose Buchele [00:10:39] It’s also why the pollen gets everywhere. Trees need to produce tons of it if any is going to reach the female flowers.
Norma Fowler [00:10:46] But an awful lot of the pollen doesn’t get to the females. It lands on the sidewalks, it lands on cars, it gets in our noses.
Mose Buchele [00:10:52] It works well for the trees but not always for the people that live near them
Norma Fowler [00:10:56] I’m, uh, I have allergy.
Mose Buchele [00:10:58] Wiping your nose.
Norma Fowler [00:10:59] Yes, sorry, it’s a bad day today.
Mose Buchele [00:11:01] That’s the price we pay for our iconic oak trees.
Norma Fowler [00:11:04] I’m properly drugged up with proper over-the-counter drugs like everybody else in Austin today.
Mose Buchele [00:11:10] Full disclosure, I am too. Yes. So there you have it. Sex, drugs, and plant biology. I’m Mose Buchel, KUT News. Whoa. Ha ha ha ha
Jerry Quijano [00:11:30] A new nature preserve is now open in Wimberley. The 175-acre property lets visitors explore a network of trails connected to the Jacobs Well Natural Area. KUT’s Hayes County reporter Lee Walden went out for a hike.
Leigh Walden [00:11:46] A sea of birding binoculars and hiking boots compete for real estate near a trail map. We’re at the trailhead for the Karst Canyon Preserve. Around 100 people are here to celebrate the Preserve’s grand opening. Among them is Catherine Sturdivant.
Catherine Sturdivant [00:12:01] I, like a lot of people here today, probably have something in common in that I just spent a lot time outdoors as a kid.
Leigh Walden [00:12:07] Steered of it as the Parks Education Coordinator for Hayes County Parks and Natural Resources Department. She walks me through the two miles of trails. Thankfully, she seems to anticipate my first question.
Catherine Sturdivant [00:12:18] What the heck is karst, anyways? Come find out at Karst Canyon Preserve, where you can walk on it, look at it, and be surrounded by it. To me, it kind of just looks like the woods, but under the surface, there’s a whole different world. Karst canyon preserve is named for the topography it protects, which is this karst landscape, a soft limestone formed by dissolution of water that carves and cuts through this limestone, creating all these beautiful karst features, like these caves. And cracks and fissures and sinkholes. And what’s really awesome about this preserve is that over a hundred karst features have been ID’d on this 175 acres. And you get to see a gigantic one here in the middle of the trail, the Wimberley Bat Cave, where water is pouring down into our aquifers every time it rains. You also get a sneak peek at the Golden Cheeked Warbler, which is just such an iconic bird. If you’re into birding, if you’re just starting birding that’s the one to see. It’s that rare one that everybody’s looking for. That we get to have every single year because it just lives here with us.
Leigh Walden [00:13:22] I don’t know if you can tell, but the golden cheek borbler is kind of a local legend. The small black bird with bright yellow spots on its sides only nests in the Texas hill country. It relies on the bark of ash juniper trees that grow here. Using the bark, spider webs, and what I imagine is a great deal of patience, the songbirds knit their nests. There it is. Mm-hmm.
Leigh Walden [00:13:49] The whole trail hums with birds on. The opening of the preserve connects to nearby Jacob’s Well.
Catherine Sturdivant [00:13:59] The landscape’s beautiful and the trails are great. We’ve only got about three miles of trail at Jacobsville Natural Area, but if you’re looking for kind of a meatier hike, a beefier walk with a little more of a challenge, you can now get more like five, six miles in if you hike through all of the trails that we’ve got. And these give you a little challenge than those flat granite trails. So you’re a little bit more connected to nature out here than it feels like you’re in a park.
Leigh Walden [00:14:25] More trails are going to be opened over time within the preserve, but it is a preserve, so a majority of it will stay off limits to the public. That also means more trails will be opened in the future.
Catherine Sturdivant [00:14:33] There are extra rules. One being that dogs are not allowed. They’re a predator species, they’re sent and their behavior can be disruptive to small prey animals especially during breeding season. We don’t want things like dogs that can be disruptive too their breeding behavior.
Leigh Walden [00:14:49] It seems like Sturdivant knows the name and story for every species we pass, interrupting herself only with the most pressing of new discoveries.
Catherine Sturdivant [00:14:57] Oh, we found some poop. Yes. Oh, look at that. Yeah, it’s like I could be Fox for sure. A lot of fruit, little seeds in there. Oh, you love to see poop on the trail.
Leigh Walden [00:15:12] So if you’re looking for a slice of nature, a peek at the Golden Sheep Warbler, or to experience the rush of fresh trail scat, the Karst Canyon Preserve is now open. From Hayes County, I’m Leigh Walden.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:33] Thank you for spending part of your Monday here with Austin Signal. We’re gonna have a link to the stories featured in today’s episode in the podcast show notes and at kut.org slash Signal. Coming up, the Artemis II mission has captured the attention and imaginations of many Texans and Americans. We’re going to hear from one of the astronauts on that journey. That is next on Austin Signal This is Austin Signal on community powered public radio KUT News. We have been listening to live special coverage of a President Trump press conference. You can find the full episode of today’s show at KUT.org slash Signal and more from us online as well. Let’s get back to the show right now. If someone shows you an album cover of a record called Texas, well what would you the music on that record to sound like. While Jason Mellard from the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University goes over the unique sound of one such album from the late 80s.
Jason Mellard [00:16:49] This week in Texas Music History, we open a new chapter in Fort Worth free jazz. On April 9th, 1987, drummer, composer, and Fort Worth native Ronald Shannon Jackson entered a Dallas recording studio with his Decoding Society band to record an LP entitled Texas. Noted New York producer Bill Laswell helmed the sessions, which took place at January Sound, a studio that had also hosted Willie Nelson and Freddie King. The Decoding Society melded bebop, free jazz, funk and punk into a cohesive unit with plenty of space for solo and group improvisation. The album Texas was released by Caravan of Dreams Productions, the folks behind the then state-of-the-art performance venue of the same name in downtown Fort Worth. It should come as no surprise that Ronald Shannon Jackson attended Fort Worth’s I.M. Terrell High School, an institution known for producing musicians like Ornette Coleman and Charles Moffat, with whom Jackson performed and recorded. Other musical alumni include King Curtis, Prince Lasha, and Dewey Redmond, all testament to the school’s august tradition of musical instruction. Jackson also worked with free jazz giants Albert Eiler and Cecil Taylor before issuing the first of his mini solo records in 1980. Ronald Shannon Jackson and the Decoding Society have taken stages as far afield as the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and as near to home as Oakcliff’s Kessler Theater. Wherever Jackson’s drumbeats fall, it’s proof that Fort Worth’s experimental jazz reaches long and ranges far and free from its cowtown home. You can hear music from the Lone Star State 24-7 on the Texas Music Experience at TMX.fm.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:10] On board the Artemis II spacecraft right now are three Americans and one Canadian, including someone set to be the first woman in history to journey beyond low Earth orbit and travel around the moon. Back in 2023, shortly after she was selected to be part of this program, Texas Standard host David Brown asked mission specialist Christina Cook what it felt like to be selected for the Artemus mission.
Christina Koch [00:19:35] It means so many different things. I think the first thing I focus on is the mission itself. I often say I don’t think I could be any happier about it no matter who was assigned. It’s just awesome that we are doing this mission. We’re going back to the moon, we’re going to stay, we’re gonna take what we learn, apply it to going to Mars, and the fact that we’re doing that right now is just so exciting. It means a great deal to me to be involved in any way that I can in this truly answering humanity’s call to explore.
David Brown [00:20:04] You know, NASA hasn’t sent astronauts to the Moon in the last 50 years, I was saying, but a lot’s happened in the field of space exploration in between that period. Why is returning to the moon so important?
Christina Koch [00:20:16] It’s a great leaping off point for all of our future exploration. The things that we’ve learned since the Apollo era are many, many. We’ve learned that we can go into space and stay for a long period of time and do deep space exploration missions. We recognize now we have the technology to do a Mars mission once it’s developed and we learn how to live in a sustained way on the moon. But I think most of all, what we’ve learnt is that it’s very important. To go for all and by all as we answer humanity’s call to explore. We represent all of humanity and we’re really taking that with us on this journey.
David Brown [00:20:53] You know, something that strikes me, a lot seems to be on your shoulders in particular. I mean, you were talking there about how much of this is about testing out the new equipment and, you know, for the eventual landing. And you are an electrical engineer, your title onboard mission specialist. What are you responsible for in this mission?
Christina Koch [00:21:14] As a mission specialist, I think our big role is twofold. One, we are executing all the skills that we learned as astronauts in followership, which means we’re supporting our commander and pilot who are going to be at the displays, at the controls, and we’re going to make sure that holistically as a crew, we respond to every emergency, to every challenge, to every operation with complete and total high performance and efficiency. And we’re basically charged with making sure that all of the systems operate to their peak performance. And that really takes a crew of four to ensure that that’s true. So anytime we’re tasked with, you know, something like making sure the radiation shielding inside the spacecraft can be configured properly. Making sure that the life support systems and even the exercise equipment can truly support a crew four on a mission like this. Every single person is needed for that. I do hope as an engineer that I get to put some of that experience to bear, and I think a big part of that is going to actually be before we ever even launch. It’s going to be working with the designers of this vehicle to make sure that our plans for operating it are optimized as we go forward, and that is a true exciting thing about the developmental mission.
David Brown [00:22:28] Well, I know that there are going to be a lot of Texans and folks around the world watching you and your crew blast off next year. What should we be looking for? What would you like to see those of us on Earth, especially young people learning from Artemis II?
Christina Koch [00:22:41] Oh thank you for that support and I think the big thing is to see what this mission is as an example of what you can do when you strive for something greater than yourself and you’re not afraid to work together to take on huge challenges. Personal motivation, leaning into the things that scare you, the things you’re passionate about, and supporting the others around you that are doing the same, that’s all part of what’s gonna get us to the moon. And to return us safely back to Earth. And I hope that as an analog, as a metaphor for that journey that everyone’s on, we can inspire.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:20] That was the voice of astronaut Christina Cook speaking with Texas Standard host David Brown a few years back about the Artemis 2 moon mission. She is currently in space right now on her way to orbit the moon. We’re going to have a link to more of this conversation in our podcast show notes send at kut.org slash signal. And that is it for today’s show. Thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. And again, if you missed any part of our show today, you can always find more at kut.org slash signal. And of course, wherever you listen to your podcast, don’t forget to leave us a good rating, help us out, help spread the word about Austin Signal, we appreciate that and we appreciate you tuning in today. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director, Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. And I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We are gonna be back with you tomorrow at the same time. Thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
