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With confirmation of cases of the New World screwworm in Texas, plenty of focus is on the potential impact on the state’s cattle industry. But they’re not the only animals vulnerable to the parasite. We’ll have some prevention tips.
Texas Republicans dominated the primaries by going all-in on the MAGA movement. Now they have to sell that plan to Texans come November
A comedy game show at Austin’s Fallout Theater has segments that consistently go sideways, and that’s just how they want it.
And another excerpt from the Accent Unmuted storytelling series, elevating the voices of immigrants.
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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 [00:00:08] With confirmation of cases of the New World screwworm in Texas, plenty of focus is on the potential impact to the state’s cattle industry. But they’re not the only animals vulnerable to the parasite. We’re going to have some prevention tips. And Texas Republicans dominated the primaries by going all in on the MAGA movement. Now they have to sell that plan to Texans come November. We’re gonna have more about these stories coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:33] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:38] A comedy game show at Austin’s Fallout Theater has segments that consistently go sideways, and that’s just how they want it. Did I win? Does it matter? Plus, another excerpt from the Accent Unmuted storytelling series. More about all of these stories coming up next. It’s right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there. This is Austin Signal. Thank you for tuning in to community-powered public radio KUT News. It is Thursday, June 11th. I’m your host, Jerry Quijanoa. Texans have made their picks for which Democrats and Republicans will be on the ballot for the general election come November, which will decide everything from railroad commissioner to U.S. Senator to governor. But what should we make of the results of the primary And what do they tell us moving into November? The Texas newsroom’s Blaise Ganey has this story.
Blaise Gainey [00:01:42] The most conservative Republicans continue to win in Texas, from Senate nominee Ken Paxton to the Republican nominee for Railroad Commissioner Beau French to the GOP candidate for Attorney General Maga Mays Middleton, as he likes to be known. John Taylor, a political scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, describes it as The consolidation of MAGA power In other words, outmagging the Republican next to you on the ballot. That led to the end of political careers for longtime incumbents like Senator John Cornyn, who even claimed to vote with President Donald Trump 99% of the time.
John Taylor [00:02:17] Being essentially the last of the old guard being swept away. Anybody who is not 100% MAGA, 100% committed to Trump, is viewed as disloyal and therefore must.
Blaise Gainey [00:02:30] Must be purged. Michael Adams is a political scientist at Texas State University. He says voters in Texas officially moved into a new political era after the primary.
Michael Adams [00:02:39] It sent a clear signal, I think, to the Republican Party that the Bush or the Perry wing of the Republican Party, what we know as the institutional Republican Party or the traditional wing, I think that has been put to rest.
Blaise Gainey [00:02:55] Outmagging your opponent might have worked in the primary since those elections tend to draw out the most extreme voters in either party. But Nancy Sims, a political scientist at the University of Houston, says Republicans might have to reconsider how they approach November.
Joshua Blank [00:03:09] That’s going to be their challenge. They moved so far to the right to win their nominations that they’re going to have to live with the commercials they made side by side with Trump. And, and all the MAGA promises they made for the general cycle are not going to popular with independent voters in my opinion.
Blaise Gainey [00:03:30] There are several reasons for that. Trump’s approval rating is low, gas prices are soaring, and the country is at war. But for the most part, the MAGA candidates in Texas have ignored those topics, instead focusing on hot-button social issues like gender identity and immigration enforcement. And while that strategy worked during the Republican primary where only 1.4 million voters participated, political scientist Geronimo Cortina with the University of Houston isn’t sure it’ll be so successful with the general electorate.
Geronimo Cortina [00:04:00] Though on the one hand, I don’t know, 97% of folks that did not participate in the run of election, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, support that type of rhetoric or not.
Blaise Gainey [00:04:18] Making things even more interesting are polls showing the Democratic nominee for US Senate James Tallarico beating Paxton by a few percentage points. Here’s Sims again.
Joshua Blank [00:04:28] Today, if you ask me, I would say it looks like Texas may be competitive for the first time in 30 years, but that could shift if Trump’s popularity begins to rise again.
Blaise Gainey [00:04:44] Democrats have their work cut out for them. They haven’t won a statewide race in more than three decades. Here’s Taylor Texas is not
John Taylor [00:04:51] really a red state, it’s a low turnout state, in which you’ve got Democrats who, if they would ever get off their butts and actually mobilize, could actually win elections.
Blaise Gainey [00:05:02] I’m Blaze Gainey in Austin!
Jerry Quijano [00:05:10] As the New World screwworm spreads into Texas, much of the focus has been on its potential impact on the cattle industry, but livestock aren’t the only animals vulnerable to the parasitic fly. Last week, and a case was confirmed in a dog in Andrews County, that’s in West Texas, though the dog was apparently from a household in a neighboring county in New Mexico. Here to tell us more about the risk to pets and how to protect them is Dr. Rachel Gordon, veterinarian with Austin Pets Alive. Dr. Gordon, welcome to the show.
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:05:39] Hi, thanks for having me!
Jerry Quijano [00:05:40] So first, it’s probably important to understand how the New World screwworm is spread. How do animals contract this parasite?
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:05:48] So the main way that it is spread is through the flies itself. So if you have an animal that’s living outdoors or is outdoor at any time, the fly only has to find a little bit of either an open wound or any of our body’s openings, whether that be through the nose, the mouth, the ears, it just needs to find some way to contact some tissue and have time to lay its eggs.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:11] Okay, so why are we seeing this more amongst livestock than household pets right now?
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:06:16] So one of the main reasons is because they do, you know, live outside and as farmers do their absolute best to be able to keep track of everything. A lot of times these can go unnoticed for a little while because there’s very slight symptoms that you’re seeing in the animals. So you might have some animals that in terms of a ranching perspective, they might go down on their feed, they might down on there produce, whether that being milk or gain weight. They might have sores that are popping up, they might show up lame. So there’s a lot of little signs that they might see, but because flies are just part of the environment out there, they’re definitely at a higher risk for getting that.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:55] What are some things that pet owners should be on the lookout for that could indicate an infestation and what should they do if they suspect maybe their animal, their pet does have the new world screw arm?
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:07:06] So the first thing I would recommend doing is, if you have an animal that has a recent injury or has a recently surgery, is just to make sure that you’re monitoring that area for any signs of warmth or inflammation to the area. Mainly you’re gonna see red skin, you might see swelling. In some cases, you will start to see the wound forming because this is gonna be a very rapidly developing wound. These worms are really, really good at finding not just the dead tissue that normal flies would find. But also going after the live tissue. And so it’s going to really affect the animal very quickly and can turn very dangerous, very fast. So being able to keep an eye on everything so you can see from day to day and you’re able to see that change immediately. Now, if you do see those changes, we would recommend going to follow up with your veterinarian as soon as possible because there’s a lot of other things going on right now. You have the changing seasons. So the pets can also have some allergies. You can have some hotspots showing up. So it’s just really important to be vigilant looking out for those symptoms. You might also see some signs of pain. So maybe we’re limping around. Maybe we’re not eating as much. We’re not moving around as much, so if you do see any of those symptoms, I would make sure you follow up with your vet as soon as possible so that they can get the help that they need and get treatment started as soon possible if it were to be the case.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:24] What are some things that pet owners can do right now to prevent possible infestation?
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:08:29] So one of the things you can do is to make sure that your pets are up-to-date on their flea and tick medications. The Isoxazoline class of medications, that’s gonna be your NexGuard, Credelio, Brevecto. Those are actually used to treat, to kill the maggots, but it’s also helpful to prevent them from happening in the first place. So making sure that they’re up- to-date on that. And then just the close visual monitoring. If you are traveling to an area that the screwworm is endemic to, or they live in such as. Crossing the border into Mexico or going further down into Central America, then you might consider maybe not bringing your pet at this time, just to be extra safe, to make sure that they’re at a lower likelihood of even coming into contact with this potential.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:14] Are have you heard any questions from pet owners here in Austin about the screw arm anything that we haven’t asked you about yet?
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:09:20] I know one thing that I have been asked is, so how quickly would I see the symptoms? And it is going to vary depending on each case, but typically, you know, it takes about, you now, 15 minutes or so for the fly to lay its eggs, and then within a day, you’ll have those eggs hatched, and over the next week, you’ll start really seeing those symptoms. So ideally, you would see it within that first week, but it kind of depends on. Where the fly initially laid the eggs, what all tissue is being affected and such like that.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:52] Okay, and what is the prognosis for infestation, like what, have we seen many cases of infestations among pets?
Dr. Rachel Gordon [00:10:01] So thankfully, not for a very long time, this is something that, in vet school, we’re learning this has already been eradicated, so it’s very interesting to be seeing it coming about, but the main thing is going to be the treatment timeline. So the sooner you’re able to get the treatment, the better the prognosis is going be, because these maggots will cause such severe trauma to the entire body. We’re talking about the skin, muscle, even bone going into organs. So If it does get to that severity, it really depends on where that wound is. So a wound on the foot’s gonna have a better prognosis than say a wound the head or the neck area.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:39] All right, we have been speaking with Dr. Rachel Gordon, a veterinarian with Austin Pets Alive. Dr. Gordon, thank you for your time. Thank you. And World Cup 2026 kicks off this afternoon in Mexico City as the Mexican national team takes on South Africa. We had a local preview of the action yesterday with Juan Diego Garcia of the Vamos Verde podcast. You can listen to that at kut.org slash signal and Juan and his co-host Jimmy Moss will be updating the action throughout the day throughout the tournament right here on KUT News. This is listener-supported public radio. We’ll be back after a break.
Nammy Sirur [00:11:28] You’re listening to Austin Signal. I’m Nammy Sirur, creator of the live storytelling event Accent Unmuted. Storyteller Victoria Granduri prides herself on jumping head first into challenges, until one that nearly took the spirit out of her. What came to her rescue was one phrase she kept repeating.
Victoria Granduri [00:11:48] It’s 2019, and I’m in the middle of my MBA. Summer break is just around the corner, and while everyone is scrambling to get an internship, I decide I wanna do something different, something more nourishing. One day, I’m on the phone with my little sister, Julia, and she asks me, do you wanna climb Kilimanjaro together this summer? I pause. You see, I hate hiking. I hate camping and I really hate not showering after exercising. Naturally, I answer, let’s do this. A couple months later, we’re on the plane to Tanzania. I bought my hiking boots a week before the trip, wore them probably two hours. I skimmed through the PDF with the detailed information about our route and remembered nothing. Thankfully, our guides, Oscar and Devoda, would brief us every morning. How high, how far, what to wear. The rest? Was simple. Walk slowly, breathe deeply, and enjoy the sights and the company. Every time Joy and I looked at this immense peak miles away that never seemed to get any closer, we’d point at it and say to each other, piece of cake. It became our thing when the trail got long, steep, windy, piece of cake. And it worked, honestly. Our mental state carried us further than any physical preparation could have. Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro happens in the middle of the night. You wake up at 12 and start walking at one in the morning. It’s pitch dark. And the only thing you can see is a trail of light from headlamps, slowly zigzagging up the mountain. At that point, my head is pounding, my lungs feel compressed, and every decision feels extremely slow. Imagine going on a hike during your worst hangover or food poisoning. Halfway up, people start throwing up. Altitude sickness is hitting hard. And Julia, unfortunately, is a victim of the altitude mountain sickness. Her oxygen levels get so dangerously low, we need to make a call. She’s gonna go back down and I’ll keep climbing with Oscar and Devota. Watching her turn back broke my heart. We’d done everything up till now together, and I couldn’t imagine finishing this without her. Now, alone, every step feels heavier. I’m cold, dehydrated, and exhausted. So, I develop a strategy to trick my mind to keep going. With every step that I take, I name someone I love. Mom, dad, Matias, Joya, friends, family. It goes on and on. On a loop. Three or four hours later, we finally reach a stopping point. Relief floods into my body, and I burst into tears, delirious with joy. Oscar looks at me, utterly confused. Why are you crying? Because we did it. We made it. We’re at the top. He looks over at Devoda, back at me. Ah, no. This is tea break. 40 minutes more! This is what I get for not memorizing the itinerary. So I drink my tea, eat my snack, and those last 40 minutes really were a piece of cake. When I finally reached the summit, it felt anti-climactic. I had already had my moment. Victory wasn’t the photo at the top, it was every little step that got me there. It was learning to slow down, to be in the moment, to laugh at the struggle, and to choose to keep going, one piece of cake at a time. Thank you.
Nammy Sirur [00:16:56] That was Victoria Granduri telling her story to a live audience at a recent Accent Unmuted in Studio 1A here at KUT. I’m Nami Sirur and this is Austin Signal.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:14] If you want to see some comedy here in Austin, you have two main options. Heading down to 6th Street, where you’ll find a lot of stand-up shows set up punchline one performer at a time. Then there are improv theaters. Here comedy is more collaborative, more theatrical, more experimental. Texas Standard’s Sean Saldana takes us to one show where the truth is stranger than fiction.
Sean Saldana [00:17:40] Comedian Quaid Petchi is backstage at Fallout Theater, getting ready for a big show. All right, so you’re pointing a plastic gun at my face right now. It doesn’t have an orange tip on it.
Quaid Petchi [00:17:50] That’s the key right there. You gotta remove the plastic orange part that makes it think it might be.
Sean Saldana [00:17:56] Fake. Outside of this show, Petri is a stand-up comic. Tonight, he’s a police officer in the dimly lit theater.
Quaid Petchi [00:18:04] Paths for a cop. Right, I think I have the somewhat look that like maybe maybe it was like a rent-a-cop.
Sean Saldana [00:18:12] Petchy is on the cast of Did I Win, a monthly show that creator and host Trenton Bradley describes as…
Trenton Bradley [00:18:18] A game show you would never want to get pulled on to.
Sean Saldana [00:18:20] And did I win audience members get called on stage to play games that make no sense?
Trenton Bradley [00:18:25] The game can be anything from maybe a deal or no deal kind of parody spin-off or something as wacky as, you know, give somebody a haircut.
Sean Saldana [00:18:34] When they arrive, people are told to put their names in a bucket. This volunteers them to become contestants.
Trenton Bradley [00:18:40] Not all of our bits go well.
Sean Saldana [00:18:41] Like, there was once where they had somebody come on stage and reach into a box and identify an item without looking at it. The first round, it was a wig. The second was a fake spider. Then finally,
Trenton Bradley [00:18:52] The third run was a mousetrap.
Sean Saldana [00:18:54] And when it snapped shut on the person’s hand, everybody was stunned, but it was totally fine because this contestant was not a paying audience member.
Trenton Bradley [00:19:02] He was a plant. He knew that a mousetrap was gonna close on his hand But he played it off so well that people came up to us and were like that is not funny
Sean Saldana [00:19:12] Every month, Bradley and his co-hosts recruit local stand-up comics to be random people in the crowd. Their segments go sideways, and none of this is ever explained to the audience.
Trenton Bradley [00:19:23] They know it’s a game show, but they don’t really know what that game show entails.
Sean Saldana [00:19:27] Did I win Blur’s reality? In a way that makes it hard for me to interview people in the lobby.
Bo Banaduchi [00:19:32] We’ve got a character out here in the in the foyer that is claiming to be a journalist
Sean Saldana [00:19:39] You’re saying I look like a character.
Bo Banaduchi [00:19:41] I think you’re a character in the show, that’s right.
Sean Saldana [00:19:44] Bo Banaduchi is a first-time attendee, and before the show even starts, he’s learned to stop trusting his own eyes.
Bo Banaduchi [00:19:50] You don’t know what’s going to happen, you can’t expect anything.
Sean Saldana [00:19:53] I am unable to convince Banaduchi that I am a real journalist, so I start talking with comedian Austin Silver. Tonight, he’ll play a savant who can identify celebrities by their feet.
Austin Silver [00:20:04] But I only know the women’s feet.
Sean Saldana [00:20:06] You don’t look like, you look like a normal guy.
Austin Silver [00:20:09] I’m glad that you think that I don’t look like a creep. I appreciate that.
Sean Saldana [00:20:12] But real people might think that of you as they’re walking out of this building.
Austin Silver [00:20:17] You know, I’ve been humiliated so much just as a regular comic that it’s very hard to insult me.
Sean Saldana [00:20:25] Moments later, the audience files into the theater and the show starts. Bradley and his co-hosts start tossing jello shots into the audience.
Trenton Bradley [00:20:33] All right, question for this audience. I’ve been sober for six years, should I relapse tonight?
Sean Saldana [00:20:39] The first game of the night is Guess Who? Epstein Files Edition, and the name they pull out of the bucket is Chris.
Quaid Petchi [00:20:46] Has that started? Oh sh**, is it the man?
Audience [00:20:49] Yes!
Quaid Petchi [00:20:49] Is it an actor?
Audience [00:20:52] Oh
Quaid Petchi [00:20:53] Okay, thank you.
Trenton Bradley [00:20:53] Yes! Donald Trump.
Audience [00:20:56] Ciao!
Trenton Bradley [00:20:57] Couldn’t go that easy right from the start. You gotta try, you gotta try.
Sean Saldana [00:21:01] Chris is a real audience member, and with the crowd’s help, he gets all of the answers right, which means that he wins his very own set of the real board game, Guess Who?
Trenton Bradley [00:21:11] All the way, guys. Give it up for Chris. I think he won. Did he win?
Sean Saldana [00:21:14] For the next segment, Bradley calls up a woman named Demi Chang.
Trenton Bradley [00:21:18] You’re going to fight the-
Sean Saldana [00:21:20] Fresh can! Bradley pulls out a mid-sized plastic can and places it on the floor. Fight! Fight! Without hesitating, Chang raises her leg and kicks it off stage.
Trenton Bradley [00:21:33] Oh
Sean Saldana [00:21:35] Then comes round two.
Trenton Bradley [00:21:38] One, two, three, go! Oh, not this trash can.
Sean Saldana [00:21:42] A man wearing a trash can with arm and leg holes cut out storms into the theater and stomps onto stage. He corners Cheng, but Trenton Bradley does not care. He shoves her into the middle of the stage. Fight the trash, you’re losing the game! You’re losing game! Finally, Cheng forfeits and heads back to her seat. She is a plant, but the audience does not seem to notice.
Trenton Bradley [00:22:09] Boo Demi guys, boo Demi, the trash can wins, the Trash can wins!
Sean Saldana [00:22:13] The next person called on stage is another real audience member named Alyssa.
Trenton Bradley [00:22:18] So these are pictures of, we’re gonna show you pictures of celebrity’s feet. Okay. You gotta guess whose feet they are.
Victoria Granduri [00:22:24] I don’t know any celebrities so this is going to be really hard.
Sean Saldana [00:22:27] Alyssa isn’t lying. She cannot identify any celebrity feet and neither can anybody else in the crowd. They all fail the name LeBron James, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Yoda. Of course, the only exception is comedian Austin Silver, who can immediately identify the feet of every woman they show.
Austin Silver [00:22:46] Margot Robbie. Margot Robby. Margot. Margot! Yes! Yes!
Sean Saldana [00:22:52] Silver really leans into this character. He celebrates and cheers, and people around him are equal parts impressed and horrified. Eventually though, Silver rallies the crowd and gets them on his side. After the show, I check in with Bo Baneducci, the guy who refused to believe that I was a journalist. I asked him if any of the segments seemed planned.
Bo Banaduchi [00:23:18] No, I don’t think there’s anything that totally stood out to me as fake.
Sean Saldana [00:23:21] I gave him an exact breakdown of what was real and what was staged.
Bo Banaduchi [00:23:25] Oh my god, of course! I did not even suspect that!
Sean Saldana [00:23:30] And then he turns to his friend.
Bo Banaduchi [00:23:32] I know you’re not an actor. I invited you to this. Yeah.
Sean Saldana [00:23:36] Did I Win is part comedy, part immersive theater. The humor comes from confusion, awkward moments, and segments that unravel. It’s also hosted by a maniac. If you’re in on the joke, it looks like performance art. If you not, it’s just a train wreck. For KUT’s Art Beat, I’m Sean Saldana in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:57] And that is it for today’s show. Thank you for tuning in. There’s more about today’s stories in the podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director. Alexandra Hart is our producer. And Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We will be back at the same time tomorrow. We will talk to you then.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
