Texas Standard
David Brown, Angela Kocherga & Laura Rice
March 24, 2026
How Texas plans to power its AI data center boom
As data centers expand across the state, so does the need for energy. More power plants are popping up with Texas at the center of the AI data center boom.The federal government gives its first briefing on a new border wall planned in the Big Bend region.He helped U.S. troops during the war in Afghanistan […]
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March 23, 2026
Meteor over Texas leaves debris, questions
A secretive project to build a long water barrier in the Rio Grande is revealed as letters go out to landowners to build a Big Bend border wall. We’ll hear what locals are thinking. Look up to the sky: It’s a boom, it’s a flash… and a crash through a roof north of Houston. A […]
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March 20, 2026
A special broadcast from Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi cuts its timeline to a water disaster and the state issues emergency orders to deal with what may be an unprecedented crisis. Today we’re coming to you from the place they call the Sparkling City by the Sea — yet despite its proximity to the water, the region faces the imminent threat of […]
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March 19, 2026
Debate grows over César Chávez Day and public memorials in Texas
Revelations over César Chávez’s reported history of sexual abuse has led to an immediate response across Texas. We’ll break it down. Texas is home to two of America’s four strategic oil reserves. We’ll dive into why the Gulf Coast was the right place for this storage — beyond its oil and gas infrastructure. We’ll take […]
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March 18, 2026
History of Texas prison bands lives on through rare recordings
Time has run out for what many thought would be a game-changing endorsement in the GOP runoff for a U.S. Senate seat. President Trump has yet to weigh in on the race between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton.On the Democratic side of the aforementioned Senate race: What may be a difficult battle ahead for James […]
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March 17, 2026
Bob Odenkirk talks new action role in SXSW film ‘Normal’
A new report says the Trump administration created military zones on the border and charged people with trespassing. We’ll dive into why the cases are often flawed.Today is the deadline to apply for school vouchers. We’ll look at why students with disabilities are running into hurdles.Bob Odenkirk talks about his new film “Normal,” where he’s […]
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March 16, 2026
Would could the Prairieland decision mean for future federal prosecutions?
Fire warnings, scary high winds, dust storms out west, temps plummeting 30 and 40 degrees in some places… We’ll get the latest on a wild weather weekend.Guilty verdicts in a trial involving the shooting of a police officer outside a North Texas immigration detention center. Could the Prairieland decision be a possible template for future […]
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March 13, 2026
Waymo expansion sparks safety concerns in Texas cities
A recent change to Texas law now requires local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.Driverless cabs are making headlines in Austin for all the wrong reasons. What this might mean for Waymo’s plans to expand statewide.Politics v.s. pragmatism in West Texas, long known for its oil, now making a sometimes-begrudging shift to solar […]
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About
Texas Standard is grounded in the best traditions of American journalism: fact-based, independent, and politically neutral reporting. The program is a one-hour daily news magazine that airs weekdays on more than 30 public radio stations across the Lone Star State. Visit texasstandard.org/listen to find it on a radio station near you. Or listen anytime to this podcast. Texas Standard is produced in the state capital in collaboration with KUT Austin, KERA North Texas, Houston Public Media, and Texas Public Radio San Antonio, as well as news organizations across Texas, Mexico, and the United States.
David Brown
David Brown is host of the daily statewide public radio news hour, Texas Standard. He is former anchor of the Peabody award-winning public radio business program Marketplace, and a veteran public radio journalist for more than three decades. Brown has covered national and international affairs for NPR and PRI’s Monitor Radio from bases in Atlanta, Boston, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. He has received numerous Murrow awards, National Headliner Awards, AP Broadcast honors and two Grand Prizes from the International Radio Festivals. Brown earned his Ph.D. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin, his Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University School of Law, and is an active member of the California and U.S. Supreme Court Bars.
Angela Kocherga
Angela Kocherga is KTEP news director and also reports in the field on border issues including migration, the border security buildup, binational health, the trade. Her recent work earned a national and several regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. She is a 2019 recipient of the Maria Moors Cabot prize awarded by Columbia University for courageous reporting in Latin America in recognition of her body of work on the border and across Mexico. Emmy winning multimedia journalist Angela Kocherga is news director with KTEP and Borderzine.
Laura Rice
Though Laura’s official title with Texas Standard is Managing Producer, she actually wears many hats. Listeners will sometimes hear Laura on-air as an occasional host or reporter. More often, her work is behind-the-scenes. She helps make editorial decisions about what’s on the program and gives a second set of ears to the audio that makes it over the airwaves. Laura is passionate about working with the next generation of journalists through Texas Standard’s internship program. She also loves leading special projects for the team — including the National Edward R. Murrow Award-winning documentary “Out Of The Blue: 50 Years After The UT Tower Shooting.” Before joining the Texas Standard team, Laura worked just a few cubicles over in the local KUT Newsroom where she served as the station’s Morning Edition producer and fill-in host. Laura found radio after a start in television news. She worked as an anchor, reporter, and producer at stations in Austin, Amarillo, and Toledo, Ohio. She graduated from journalism school at the University of Missouri-Columbia and earned an MA from the University of Texas at Austin’s department of Radio-Television-Film.
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