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KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond
It’s Republicans vs. Republicans to decide the speaker’s race in the Texas House of Representatives.
Photographer Melinda Wickman Swearingen, who died earlier this year, captured evocative images of outlaw country musicians. Her work will soon be on display at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University.
And: What’s the deal with these mysterious drones? Should we be worried? Omar Gallaga has answers.
It’s still election season in the Texas Legislature, where there’s a race for speaker of the House of Representatives. We’re taking a close look at the top two contenders this week, starting today with Rep. Dustin Burrows.
Billy Bob Thornton, who’s long been an honorary Texan, has earned his eighth Golden Globe nomination for his role as Tommy Norris in Taylor Sheridan’s new series, “Landman.” He joins the show today.
Plus: Last month, the Texas A&M Space Institute broke ground near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Director Nancy Currie-Gregg shares the details.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued two giants of the chemical business, 3M and DuPont, over so-called forever chemicals contained in household objects.
A new kind of car needs a new kind of mechanic. The Standard’s Kristen Cabrera goes inside a school for hybrid and electric vehicle repairs.
The old art form of tintype photography is being revived in Waco.
And: EA recently made 23 of its accessibility patents freely available to help developers create more inclusive games.
Hurricane Beryl makes its mark on the Texas coast. Now, the cleanup begins. We’ll hear what’s happening from folks on the Gulf Coast.
Tariff talk was all the rage about four years ago. Now, not so much. But is the Biden administration doing business any different from its predecessor?
And: The State of Texas is putting a lot of money and effort into a border wall. But at its current pace of half a mile per week, it will take approximately 30 years to complete. We’ll have the latest.
The Supreme Court has struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks – devices that can be attached to a semiautomatic gun to make it fire more quickly – in a case brought by Michael Cargill, a U.S. Army veteran and owner of a gun store in Austin.
The State of Texas wants to replace the judge overseeing the lawsuit over its foster care system, Judge Janis Jack, saying she can’t be impartial.
There’s been a rash of near-misses between planes at busy airports. A new piece of equipment in Austin could help prevent that.
Plus: A new investigation finds that thousands of Texans live near oil and gas wells that could be leaking excess amounts of hydrogen sulfide, putting their health at risk.
The U.S. Supreme Court makes a key decision on abortion access, but is it the final word on the matter? The highest court in the land makes a unanimous decision on the abortion drug mifepristone, in a case that was originally filed in Amarillo.
The producers of the hit Broadway musical “The Outsiders” wanted someone outside the theatre world to score their play. Magnolia’s own Jamestown Revival stop by to talk about their Tony-nominated songs.
We’ve also got the latest intelligence on Apple bringing AI to its phones.
Mayors from South Texas are in DC today to join President Joe Biden as he announces a plan that would limit the number of people who could request asylum at the southern border. Is it more political, or practical?
It’s getting hot out there – and if you haven’t noticed, your pets certainly have. We’ll hear from an expert about how to keep them cool this summer.
And: Simone Biles’ sweep at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships brings her career U.S. medal count to 41, including 32 golds.
Landowners in southeast Texas say they should be able to sue the state over their flooded property, and the U.S. Supreme Court agrees. People in Winnie, Texas, say their land only started to flood after the state rebuilt part of nearby Interstate 10. Now, they can seek compensation for the damages.
Live music seems more expensive, but are musicians getting paid more? Not really. We’ll talk to someone trying to change that.
And the attorney general crusades against a media outlet on behalf of Elon Musk.
A federal judge says Texas’ foster care system is still broken – and has fined the state $100,00 per day.
The new book “City Limits” examines the effort to rethink urban highways in Texas and traces a history of racism and inequality in three of the state’s’ largest cities. We’ll hear from author and journalist Megan Kimble.
Over the past two decades, developers in Austin have built hundreds of windowless bedrooms. But now some elected officials want them banned.
And: The next generation of mechanics is getting ready to work on the next generation of cars.
Rising temperatures in the forecast this week. Will blackouts come with them? ERCOT, the state’s electric grid operator, says the power might go out this week.
Did a doctor in Houston keep patients from receiving organ transplants? His own hospital is investigating.
And becoming a psychologist is expensive, but Texas is trying to make it cheaper. Could it make mental health care more accessible too?
The Supreme Court finally has its own ethics code for justices following a series of scandals – including a Texas billionaire showering gifts on Justice Clarence Thomas. Will this new code of conduct make a difference?
Bison once ruled the Great Plains of North America before being hunted almost to extinction. We’ll hear about how Indigenous people in Texas are supporting their slow rebound.
For descendants of Black Seminoles – a group whose members included former slaves and the Seminole native people – finding foodways through Texas and Mexico takes care and intention.
And: Colleges can no longer use race as a determining factor in admissions, thanks to a Supreme Court decision earlier this year. What’s the upshot? It may surprise you.
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Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill last week that will do away with COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Medically vulnerable folks are speaking up about its effects.
More than 100 years ago, a regiment of Black soldiers was found guilty of crimes like mutiny and murder after a riot in Houston. Now, the Army has cleared their names.
Pope Francis has fired Texas bishop Joseph Strickland, a rare move that some say highlights the growing divide between the Vatican and more conservative factions of the Catholic church.
Feral hogs can be a common sight in North Texas – and the invasive species loves one neighborhood in Arlington in particular.
After months of stalemate, are the Texas House and Senate finally making progress on school spending?
For millions of years, the bones of a tiny dinosaur lay undisturbed in what are now the shores of Lake Grapevine. We’ll learn about a new species.
El Paso residents are concerned about the growing number of high-speed chases in their city.
And: Are city parks set to decline? A new law could make it tougher for urban areas to procure parkland.
When it comes the electric grid, every megawatt counts during peak demand. Industrial batteries have long been seen as a potential game-changer for energy storage. We’ll have details about how they’re coming online in the Lone Star State.
A new vaccine for COVID-19 will be in pharmacies soon. An epidemiologist lays out what you and your family needs to know.
Plus, Dungeons & Dragons on death row, the latest headlines, and a school finance revolt in North Texas.
The trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues, but not for long. We’ll have details on the latest testimony from the Senate floor.
State senators could start deliberations in Paxton’s impeachment trial as soon as Thursday.
Texas voting laws go on trial in San Antonio. We’ll have details about a case challenging state bans on 24-hour polls and drive-thru voting.
All that, and how to keep your trees fungus-free, the best bean and cheese taco in Texas, and the latest headlines from across the state. It’s coming up today on the Texas Standard.
The Texas Education Agency wants to appoint a management team to help Austin ISD address “systemic issues” in serving students with disabilities, less than a month after the state announced a takeover of Houston ISD.
Some real fish tales out of San Angelo: We’ll tell you about the lake where anglers are catching tons of monster fish.
We’ll hear about the Country Music Television Awards’ Texas debut, the first time the ceremony has been held outside Nashville.
And what to look for from the state Legislature this week.
For the first time in three years, Medicaid recipients have had to re-apply for the benefit as a major safety net installed during the pandemic disappears – and millions of Texans may lose health coverage.
Taylor Swift is coming to town, and the excitement is off the charts for the superstar’s Texas swing, starting this weekend in Arlington.
Also take a deep dive into deep fakes.
Calls for justice in Ciudad Juárez after dozen of migrants die in a fire at a detention facility. New details emerge about what happened just across the border from El Paso on Monday night.
Texas school districts banned hundreds of books last year. Now, the Legislature is looking to create standards that could pull even more books off the shelves.
Research increasingly shows that “forever chemicals” are making their way into our environment – especially in Texas, where they’re used in oil and gas extraction.
Plus an update from commentator W.F. Strong and a climate referendum in El Paso.
A deadly fire burned through a migrant processing facility in Ciudad Juárez, just across the border from El Paso – we’ll hear the latest on the catastrophe that claimed the lives of dozens of people.
Green energy firms are scrambling to snap up federal dollars, but first they need to know what “made in America” really means.
And after the pandemic caused a “she-cession,” the Dallas Fed reports that women entrepreneurs are bouncing back.
The opioid fentanyl has become a scourge for many communities. But where is it coming from? New court filings shed light on the fentanyl supply chain. We’ll tell you where it comes from, and how it’s being smuggled into Texas.
The Texas economy just keeps growing. How does this keep happening, and when will it ever stop?
What if Shakespeare was from the Valley? We kind of have an answer. We’ll hear from the professors who compiled pieces from writer’s who’ve reimagined some of the playwright’s works by setting them along the border.
Plus the latest on the Legislature, the Typewriter Rodeo, and breaking news from across the state.