The president-elect says he might use the military to support mass deportations of migrants in the country without legal authorization. But there are considerable obstacles to such an effort, both legal and logistic.
A new trade policy with an accent on tariffs. How Texas might find itself in the crosshairs.
Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing to boost nuclear power in the Lone Star State.
With the WNBA set to add teams in San Francisco, Portland and Toronto, there’s speculation about a 16th team. Could Austin be next?
And: how to kickstart a Kickstarter campaign.
Birding
Lawmakers slam Texas Lottery for aiding jackpot scheme, prompting policy change
A new policy blocks transgender Texans from changing the sex on their driver’s licenses, unless it’s to fix a clerical error.
The game is up on a Texas lottery loophole that allowed some to buy up tickets en masse, guaranteeing a win. But the door could still be open for abuse.
A new poll on presidential politics in Texas shows Vice President Kamala Harris cutting into former President Donald Trump’s lead.
Midland officials have pushed to figure out how to address a multimillion-dollar deficit in the city’s firefighter pension, but recently efforts to stabilize the fund have slowed.
Plus: Are you in the market for a fitness tracker or a laptop for your kid? We’re talking to the experts and have some tips you should consider for adding them to your cart.
Our staff favorites of the year
Texas Standard producers have made their lists and checked ‘em twice – or more – selecting some of our most memorable conversations with fascinating Texans over the past 12 months.
This hour, we invite you to sit back and enjoy our staff favorites from the past year, including honky tonk heroines, birders in cemeteries, bears making a comeback and a whole lot more.
Rare ‘Cattle Tyrant’ spotting dominates birders’ attention
Traumatic injuries are the leading cause of death in the U.S. for people under 45, and the odds of survival may depend on what part of the state you’re in. Lauren Caruba of the Dallas Morning News joins us to talk about a new investigation.
The Texas Standard’s Sean Saldaña has the latest on what some may see as contradictory signals in new employment numbers in Texas.
Are Texas roads considerably less congested? Why a new state-mandated report may raise some eyebrows.
And why the visit of a Cattle Tyrant to Corpus Christi drew excited fans from far and wide. The Standard’s Raul Alonzo explains.
Exploring the tale of the Chupacabra
A deal over school vouchers at the Legislature – or high political theatre? As Gov. Greg Abbott declares victory, others have their doubts. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán of The Texas Newsroom shares the latest.
You’ve heard of solar farms, but how well do animals share that land? Why agrivoltaic farms are popping up all over Texas.
And our spooky season isn’t over. The Texas Standard’s Kristen Cabrera explores the story of the arguable king of the Texas cryptids: the Chupacabra.
Why bird watchers are flocking to Texas cemeteries
Early voting is now underway in Texas – but what’s on the ballot? We’ll get caught up on the 14 constitutional amendments Texans are being asked to weigh in on, ranging from property taxes to education, infrastructure and more.
First it’s Exxon mobil scooping up Pioneer, now Chevron acquiring Hess. Is it a new era of mergers and acquisitions in the oil field – and if so, why?
Final resting places are also surprisingly active sites for a certain group of hobbyists. The Standard’s Raul Alonzo has more with “Cemetery Birding” author Jennifer Bristol.
And the Texas Rangers are off to the World Series after defeating the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the ALCS.
KUT Morning Newscast for June 21, 2023
Central Texas top stories for June 21, 2023. ERCOT energy demands. Fusion energy grants. Education bills roundup.
Cedar Waxwing
The patterns of wildlife can be indicators of seasonal change. The habits of these animals might also be something humans could learn from. This Typewriter Rodeo poem was requested by Texas Standard listener Steven.
Texas Standard: March 9, 2021
The Speaker of the Texas House intends to fix everything that went wrong during last month’s winter storm. Dade Phelan has a list of priority bills and will tell us how the state could pay for these reforms. And in the aftermath of the storm, experts are carefully counting those who perished, it’s not as straight forward as it may seem. And we are keenly aware of the need to improve our mental health, we’ll tell you how some Texans are doing it. And one thing that will raise your spirits high is the sound of some Texas birds in song. All of that and more today on the Texas Standard:
In Praise Of Vultures
I go for walks in the country often this time of year here in the Rio Grande Valley. This is our Goldilocks season. Not too hot. Not too cold. Just right.
We have a perfectly warming sun in the crisp, cool air of winter mornings. I like to walk along a dirt road that has freshly plowed farmland on one side and a deep motte of mesquite and huisache trees on the other. A committee of vultures watches me from atop the tallest of these trees, far away from civilization. That’s the official name for a group of vultures. A Committee. Sometimes they are also called a venue of vultures. I like that. Based on what I’ve seen of committees and their venues I can see the salience of the metaphor.
In Texas, these birds are often mistakenly called buzzards. This is common but it’s technically wrong because buzzards are completely different birds. We don’t have buzzards in Texas, though I will admit to calling them that myself growing up. I don’t recall referring to groups of birds by their correct labels, either – such as murder of crows or covey of quail or flamboyance of flamingos. I still don’t. I tend more toward my brother “redneck Dave’s” lexicon which is pretty much reduced to the word “bunch.” He says, “You got a bunch of ducks in your yard.” And if there’s more than that he says, “You got a whole bunch of ducks in your yard.” More still are covered by, “You got a mighty big bunch of ducks in your yard.”
Back to the vultures. This committee of vultures – turkey vultures in this case, are perched high up in the trees, like undertakers – eyeing me – sometimes stretching out their wings to display their impressive six-foot span. But mostly I’m a curiosity, not a disturbance. They don’t fly away. I’m sure I would be much more interesting to them if I were dead.
Turkey Vultures don’t have a lot of fans. Many people see them as disgusting birds that eat disgusting things. They have red heads. They’re mostly bald, with faces that only a mother could love – a mother vulture, that is. On the ground picking through road kill, they look ungraceful and ragged and ungainly. But in the air, they are, to me, transformed into graceful, heart-stirring masters of the wind. On the ground they are called committees, but in they air they are called kettles of vultures because in their swirling ride upward on the thermals, they look like bubbles rising in heated water. Ornithologists, bird experts, tell us that it is by riding high on the thermals that they hunt for carrion, or dead things. But they don’t do it by sight. They do it by smell. The smell of the decaying animals is carried up by the thermals and the birds track that smell to the source. Tests have shown that they always arrive on the upwind side of corpus delicti and that’s how experts know that smell is dominant.
Yes, the process is gross to us, but if you consider the scientific name for the turkey vulture – Cathartes Aura – they sound noble. It means cleansing breeze. They swoop in on the wind and clean the earth. And they are disinfectors too, consuming anthrax and cholera bacteria and safely removing it. In this sense they are hazmat teams. But my admiration of these magnificent creatures is fully realized watching them in flight. I can sit in my backyard and watch hundreds of them ride high up in the sky like an avian tornado. They’re having fun up there. They’re not all about carrion, I’m convinced. They’re windsurfers fully elated by this vulture sport they collectively love. The winds do not conquer them. They ride them high into the vaulted blue, cloudless skies. Some, pilots tell us, go as high as 20,000 feet and they rarely have to flap their wings. They just soar and glide, at one with the wind.
You can find them all across Texas, along with their slightly smaller cousins, the black vultures, which prefer the eastern part of the state. Together they are our cleaners, our sanitizers, the avian, last line of defense for our most famous slogan: “Don’t mess with Texas.”
Texas Standard: November 19, 2020
As a new wave of COVID-19 cases sweeps across the state, a strikingly different response from Governor Abbott compared to the last statewide surge. We’ll hear what health experts are saying. Also, more on an emergency treatment approved by the FDA. And as those cases rise, a test of faith for some Catholics called back to the pews. And a forthcoming vote on a new sex education curriculum Texas LGBTQ advocates say falls far short. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: February 17, 2020
More Americans potentials exposed to the Coronavirus coming to Texas. Amid concerns the disease could affect the Texas economy, we’ll have the latest. Also, some may think the opioid crisis is receding, Bexar county is stepping up efforts to help treat those with addictions. We’ll hear why. And The Trump administration calls for additional millions for quantum computing…what does it all add up to? A Texas expert does the math. Plus the story behind Cird City Texas… all four of them. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: April 30, 2019
To be or not to be a Senate candidate. Democrats puzzled why an expected challenge to John Cornyn is slow to materialize, we’ll have the latest. Plus, amid what appears to be growing support for gun control efforts in other parts of the U.S., the nation’s biggest gun rights group takes aim against itself? A leadership struggle at the NRA poses one of the most serious threats to the organization in years. And a Texas senator moves to stop publishing the final words of prisoners facing the death sentence. All that and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard: