KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts
KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond
Years after peak COVID, Texas lawmakers are taking steps to ban vaccine mandates by private businesses.
Amid a nursing shortage in Texas and beyond, the journey of a new nurse trying to make a difference.
An award-winning novel set near the border takes the western genre to a whole new place. We’ll talk with ‘Valley of Shadows’ author Rudy Ruiz.
Also: As a new NBA season approaches, there are big expectations building for the San Antonio Spurs’ 19-year old Victor Wembanyama.
With the House of Representatives on hold in the absence of a speaker, a possible vote today could be a turning point.
Texas voters are about to face a big decision: a constitutional amendment aimed at boosting the availability of child care options. Lina Ruiz of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tells us more.
Two games in for the Astros and Rangers, what’s Major League Baseball’s first All-Texas league championship looking like?
More than 100 homes and businesses are on the fast track to demolition as the state moves to expand a portion Interstate 35.
A federal judge strikes down a redistricting map in Galveston County, saying it violated the rights of Black and Latino voters, and gives the county until Oct. 20 to fix its maps.
Public school teachers plan to travel to Austin to fight a plan to use taxpayer money to pay for private tuition. Who’ll teach the students when the teachers are gone? You might be surprised.
As Texas’ population swells, so does empty office space. We’ll dig into what that signals.
And: We continue our month of Tracking Texas Cryptids with the spooky story of La Lechuza.
Recriminations over donations and demands for a high-level resignation: What’s behind the latest political fight between Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan?
The Senate green-lights a voucher-like plan to provide public money for private school tuition. Matthew Watkins of the Texas Tribune joins us with more on the week in politics.
How to safely view Saturday’s annular eclipse over Texas.
Ken Burns returns with a new PBS series on the American Buffalo.
And: On Friday the 13th in this spookiest month, why so many folks love to get scared.
Dozens of Texas school districts have sued to stop changes in the A-F grading system used to evaluate schools.
The manager of the state’s power grid is out with a new forecast for winter. How prepared is Texas for another statewide freeze like 2021?
Israel, Hamas and disinformation on social media: Tech expert Omar Gallaga joins us with more.
New numbers in the race for mayor of Texas’ biggest city.
And a new book written by longtime Texas conservationist George Bristol, “Texas State Parks: The First 100 Years,” tells the story of how the state’s parks began.
What the battle over charter schools in Texas 30 years ago reveals about the fight that’s currently underway at the state Capitol over changes in education policy.
Serious questions abound about the reliability of a highly in-demand fighter jet built in Fort Worth.
The legend of La Llorona – the crying woman – no doubt arrived in Texas with the earliest Mexican settlers and has haunted our rivers, lakes and streams ever since. Commentator W.F. Strong shares one version of the story.
Plus, a political crisis in Guatemala and the implications for migration.
A third special session of the Texas Legislature gets underway and it’s not just education that’s on the agenda. Although the governor’s push for a so-called education savings accounts is getting the lion’s share of attention as the session starts, border security is rising fast as a top issue. Julián Aguilar of the Texas Newsroom joins us with more.
As Texas lawmakers offer support for Israel, some Texans are feeling the effects of war firsthand. We’ll talk with the head of a Dallas interfaith group caught in Israel at the outbreak of fighting, now trying to get himself and his colleagues back home safely.
After unprecedented attacks over the weekend, Israel is at war with Hamas. Jeremi Suri of UT’s LBJ school with more on what to expect as fighting intensifies.
A big day at the state capitol as lawmakers are called back into session by the governor. On the table: school savings accounts, what critics call vouchers, that some fear will upend public school funding.
Texas mega ranches hitting the market at what appears to be a quickening pace.
Plus the would be restaurant rivals who formed what they call the Taco Mafia.
He was one of the whistleblowers against Attorney General Ken Paxton, and he says his fight is not over.
What appears to be a 180° turn by the Biden Administration as it waves environmental laws and resumes construction work on a border wall in South Texas.
Hundreds of thousands of Texans dropped from Medicaid rolls post-‘peak COVID’ – some wrongly so, whistleblowers say – due to errors at the state health department.
What could be an epic football battle this weekend: the Red River Rivalry. Are the Longhorns back, for real?
Also, the week in Texas politics with the Texas Tribune.
It was the second hottest summer on record for Texas, but is it safe to ask if it’s over? What to expect as a cold front pushes into Texas. Matt Lanza of Space City Weather with a look at whether today marks a turning point.
Gun violence numbers are changing how many feel about safety in a North Texas suburb. KERA’s Caroline Love with more from Allen.
Google launches an effort to combat spam, but will it work? Tech expert Omar Gallaga with more.
A border bottleneck raises red flags as Texas ramps up truck inspections.
And a Texas Book Festival preview with the author of ‘Good Night, Irene’.
After a swift and historic vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, we’ll hear more about the role of the Texas delegation and what comes next on Capitol Hill.
Will climate change alter Texas’ coastal community landscape? It already appears to be doing just that, says Erin Douglas of the Texas Tribune.
Texan Simone Biles has pulled off a gymnastics move so remarkable that it now carries her name.
After overhunting and creeping development, the number of breeding ocelots in the wild has tumbled to under 100 – with very few in South Texas, where they used to be plentiful. Now, researchers are working on a plan to bring the cats back.
Plus, a conversation with James C. Watkins, the 3D state artist of the year.
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has faced increasing pressure to resign since Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial – and a special session of the Legislature starts next week.
El Paso, a city with a reputation as welcoming to migrants, is now at a breaking point, according to its mayor. Angela Kocherga of KTEP El Paso has details.
About 24 million Texans are living through some level of drought right now, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. What’s on the horizon as fall weather moves in?
The former Texas Memorial Museum on UT Austin’s campus, shuttered in March due to COVID and cutbacks, returns in grand style with a new name and focus.
From guns to religion, free speech and more, a very loaded docket awaits the Supreme Court as it begins a new term.
Why a race for Houston’s top financial officer is getting so much attention.
A plan to consolidate schools in San Antonio could leave behind almost 20 empty buildings – and the district needs to figure out what to do with them.
As the dollar strengthens, other currencies weaken. But there’s a notable outlier: We’ll look at why the Mexican peso seems to be doing so well.
Also, as the spookiest month of the year gets started, a look at why Texas is so full of mysterious creatures unconfirmed by science.
Sean Theriault of UT-Austin with a look at why government shutdowns have become so common, and what needs to happen to avoid another come Sunday.
The summer of 2023 was the second hottest on record in Texas. But for renters, air conditioning isn’t legally required — at least not everywhere in the state.
Over the past couple of years, there’s been a shift in the way that many Texans school their kids, with more folks opting for homeschooling – for reasons that span the political spectrum, or lie completely outside it.
Writer Andrew Leland on losing his vision and the struggle to understand the changes, as told in his new memoir, “The Country of the Blind.”
The Texas Education Agency is moving forward with plans to monitor problems with Austin ISD’s special education services.
What did we learn from COVID-19? We’ll talk to UT’s Lauren Ancel Meyers, who has been tapped to help the U.S. develop a plan to better tackle the next pandemic.
Texas tops the nation in oil industry deaths – but there’s more to the story once you get into the numbers.
Also: Remembering a pioneer of Tejano music, Lydia Mendoza, who earned the title of “Meadowlark of the Border.”
Texas foster kids are sleeping in motels and offices, and Child Protective Service workers are leaving their jobs in droves. Sneha Dey of the Texas Tribune joins us with more.
A ban on drag performances in the presence of minors has been ruled unconstitutional. We’ll hear why and what comes next.
Why Mexico has replaced China as the United States’ top trading partner.
And KUT’s Mose Buschele takes us into the Hill Country’s Bracken Cave Preserve alongside millions of bats.
Though Attorney General Ken Paxton has been acquitted on all impeachment charges, whistleblowers say they’re not giving up. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán of the Texas Newsroom shares more.
It’s rare for an eclipse to be visible at the same location within several years, much less a few months – but the skies over a portion of Texas will be ground zero for observing both an annular and a total solar eclipse.
At the Rescue Mission of El Paso, plenty of food is coming in – but it’s not to feed people experiencing homelessness. Instead, those people are feeding others. Texas monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn shares the mission of Hallelujah! BBQ.
In six days, the federal government runs out of money. Can a shutdown be averted? What’s at stake if lawmakers can’t come up with a plan for short-term spending by Oct. 1.
In Fort Worth and Tarrant County, families are falling into homelessness as pandemic relief funding is running out.
Five things to know before federally guaranteed student loan payments resume next month.
A plan to close nearly 20% of San Antonio ISD’s schools is being pushed in the name of equity. Camille Phillips of Texas Public Radio takes a closer look.
Plus, a crisis for Texas Gulf Coast shrimpers.
An emergency is declared in Eagle Pass as more than 6,000 migrants entered the small town in less than two days, and the Biden administration sends active duty troops to the southern border. Gaige Davila of Texas Public Radio with the latest.
With open acrimony between the Texas House and Senate, what’s likely to get done in the next special legislative session?
There’s less competition for homebuyers, but that doesn’t mean it’s getting easier to buy a home. We’ll hear the latest.
A new exhibit celebrates the “Big Bang of Texas music” 50 years after the seminal album “¡Viva Terlingua!”
Also: The week in politics with the Texas Tribune.
What does Ron DeSantis really want from Texas? Jeremy Wallace of the Houston Chronicle weighs in on the GOP presidential candidate’s curious Texas tour.
Two North Texas school districts, Keller and Carroll, take steps to challenge one of the lynchpins of state education funding: revenue recapture.
What the auto strike means for the evolution to electric vehicles.
Fantastic Fest, a terrifying film festival that’s the biggest of its kind in the world, is back for its 18th year in Austin.
And we’ll meet the youngest reporter to cover Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial.