Central Texas top stories for September 18, 2023. Ken Paxton’s trial ends and is acquitted. Austin ISD to take vote on special education plan. Georgetown school board discusses if Chaplins can be school councilors.
education
What happened to Juarez-Lincoln University in downtown Austin?
Before there was an IHOP, there was a university that attempted to revolutionize higher education for immigrants at the corner of I-35 and Cesar Chavez Street.
Historic heat makes Texas’ ailing water infrastructure even harder to fix
A plan for state officials to take over special education in the Austin Independent School District is being reconsidered. Becky Fogel of KUT in Austin shares more.
Record heat this summer statewide has led to widespread water leaks amid an already pressing need for repairs – but will a fund earmarked for fixes be enough?
With five deaths from fentanyl on average in Texas each day, a growing number of those deaths is among young people. The Dallas Morning news turns a monthlong spotlight on a growing crisis.
KUT Morning Newscast for September 8, 2023
Central Texas top stories for September 8, 2023. Excessive Heat Warning. ERCOT Weather Watch. Rent numbers. TEA proposal reactions. Paxton Trial Day 4. Narcan Distribution. Zilker Relays Closures.
A budding pipeline fight highlights activists’ changing tactics
What does the first day of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s historic impeachment trial tell us about what remains ahead? The Texas Newsroom’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán joins us from the Capitol with a recap.
We’ll hear the latest on a new fight over a natural gas pipeline in West Texas – and how new strategies by opponents of such development are getting traction.
Among the new laws now in effect in Texas is a requirement for those who want to run for county sheriff.
The sister of Botham Jean, who was killed in Dallas five years ago, has written a new memoir, “After Botham: Healing from my Brother’s Murder by a Police Officer.”
Plus an update on wildfire dangers statewide.
Adoptees fight to gain access to their original birth certificates in Texas
The impeachment trial of Texas’ attorney general is set to begin on the floor of the Senate tomorrow, but supporters in Ken Paxton’s home county, Collin, are standing firmly behind him.
Meanwhile, almost half of Texans think Paxton should be removed from office, according to a new poll from the Texas Policy Project.
Lots of folks from other states are moving to Texas – but numbers suggest Texans are, by and large, staying put.
And there’s a push to change Texas law so that adoptees can access their original birth certificates.
Dr. Sarah Washington O’Neal Rush (Ep. 40, 2023)
On this week’s In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with Dr. Sarah Washington O’Neal Rush, author, educator, and great-granddaughter of former slave turned famous educator and founder of Tuskegee University and became on of the most influential African American leaders of the 19th and 20th centuries, Booker T. Washington.
KUT Morning Newscast for August 28, 2023
Central Texas top stories for August 28, 2023. Education summit for Black educators and students. 60th anniversary of MLK’s I Have A Dream. Women focused health clinic under threat.
An old shipwreck was found in coastal East Texas. What’s in it?
The Pentagon says it is likely that the head of a failed coup in Russia was killed, though questions swirl around the incident.
The digital divide in Texas was brought into sharp relief during the height of COVID. Now lawmakers are trying to bridge the gap between those with broadband and those without.
As the water line recedes along the Neches, a shipwreck emerges outside of Beaumont.
With the return of Friday night lights across the Lone Star State, there’s a new effort to protect referees from overly aggressive fans.
KUT Morning Newscast for August 24, 2023
Central Texas top stories for August 24, 2023. Excessive heat warning returns for Travis County. Austin Community College and Round Rock ISD eye property tax proposals. Hays County debates a new police force.
A New Teacher’s First Week at School
The new school year typically focuses a bunch on the students. But this Typewriter Rodeo poem takes the perspective of an educator.
What’s changed for migrants on the border after Title 42’s end?
Students get grades, but so do Texas schools – and with a change in evaluations, administrators are concerned.
Critics say a state lawsuit against Planned Parenthood is an attempt to completely wipe out what was once a prime provider of abortion services in Texas.
How people experiencing homelessness are trying to cope with life-threatening temperatures.
The end of pandemic restrictions against migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. prompted a lot of speculation about how the situation at border would be affected. We’ll take a look at what’s actually changed on the ground.
Also, what put a once-sleepy town in the shadow of Dallas on the fast track to becoming one of Texas’ biggest cities.
Chronic wasting disease threatens deer and Texas’ hunting economy
With an impeachment trial looming, suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing new scrutiny from the feds in San Antonio, with a federal grand jury convened to hear from witnesses close to him.
Emergency steps are being taken due to a disease threatening the state’s $4 billion deer hunting industry. The Standard’s Michael Marks has more.
In the final month of the hottest season in Texas, DJ Susan Castle weighs in on the question: What’s the ultimate Texas summer song?
Also, the week in politics with the Texas Tribune.
Examining the skills gap in a post-pandemic workforce
Border Patrol agents say Texas efforts to address migration are disrupting their work. Troopers say complaints are overblown.
We’ll have an update on the state’s wildfire risk as the dangerous pattern of hot and dry conditions continues.
How one Texas school district spent the the summer addressing safety concerns.
Reports of a concerning trend in the workforce: new employees that just aren’t ready to do the job.
There’s bipartisan support for rolling back some environmental regulations to speed up the production of U.S.-made semiconductors.
And we’ll hear from Kiana Fitzgerald, author of the new book “Ode to Hip-Hop: 50 Albums That Define 50 Years of Trailblazing Music.”
Unraveling the ‘Iron Pipeline’ of gun smuggling from Texas to Mexico
Following the state’s takeover of Houston schools, a plan to eliminate libraries and use the space for kids who misbehave in class.
Watch that water bill: Not only is use up, some municipalities are raising rates to try to drive down demand.
A three-part series explores how the Texas Attorney General’s Office became an incubator for conservative legal strategies that are reshaping Texas and the nation. Eleanor Klibanoff of the Texas Tribune joins with more.
A new focus on trying to cut down the flow of arms from Texas into Mexico.
And we’ll talk to Sethward, the Texan who’s become a viral sensation for losing on “America’s Got Talent.”
KUT Morning Newscast for August 1, 2023
Central Texas top stories for August 1, 2023. Excessive heat warning and fire conditions for Central Texas. High school bands look to beat the heat. Fans and misters installed in Austin park.
Booksellers sue Texas over law that will restrict school library books
On Capitol Hill, a former military officer-turned-whistleblower shares out-of-this world claims about UFOs and what he says the government’s hiding.
Following sex discrimination lawsuits over Texas’ border security crackdown, the state has started placing migrant women in state prisons as well.
The Austin school district is considering nearly doubling the size of its police department to comply with a new state law that takes effect in September.
A lawsuit by booksellers and publishers targets new book restrictions for Texas school libraries.
New research on Alzheimer’s finds Texas a hot spot, with border counties hit harder than the rest of the state.
And a women’s soccer champion from Georgetown weighs in on the women’s World Cup.
KUT Morning Newscast for July 27, 2023
Central Texas top stories for July 27, 2023. Heat warnings for high school sports and band practices. Ascension Seton nurses start bargaining sessions. Push back on new mental care facility.
What we know about Ken Paxton’s upcoming impeachment trial
The Department of Justice has sued the State of Texas over its floating border barrier near Eagle Pass, alleging Texas doesn’t have the authority to place barriers in the Rio Grande. Gov. Greg Abbott’s reply? “See you in court.”
Sergio Martínez-Beltrán of the Texas Newsroom brings us the latest developments in Ken Paxton’s upcoming impeachment trial.
Congressman Greg Casar is calling for federal regulations to protect workers against heat-related illness in light of state law that will undo local rules starting Sept. 1.
And why a goat that went missing from a livestock show has captured the imagination of lots of folks in the Rio Grande Valley.
KUT Morning Newscast for July 25, 2023
Central Texas top stories for July 25, 2023. Texas congressman urges better OSHA protections for heat. Austin Community College finds new Chancellor. Fire conditions spread.