KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts
KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond
An oil spill in the Gulf is considered to be among the worst in U.S. history. After two weeks, why is it getting so little attention?
We’ll hear about an unintended impediment to the growth of electric vehicle manufacturing in the U.S.
After a political fight over a school voucher-like program, salary bumps for Texas teachers are off the table. Why some teachers say they’re OK with that.
Also: What’s behind Mark Cuban’s sale of the Dallas Mavericks, and what could it mean?
Central Texas top stories for November 28, 2023. Austin Energy rate increase. Developer agreement for site in St. Johns. Texas Supreme Court abortion case. University of Texas teacher pinning ceremony. Hill Country Studios. Giving Tuesday.
For the first time in modern memory, the Texas House is set to take up a school voucher-like plan.
How do you put a price tag on a state park? We’ll hear more about the challenges facing Texas Parks and Wildlife as it tries to reclaim parkland purchased by developers.
In a dramatic U-turn this week, China’s president appears to be trying to warm up to the U.S. Some clues as to why might be found in a new report from the Dallas Federal Reserve.
Also: What some forecasters are calling a “super El Niño” is coming soon to Texas.
New Texas schoolbooks are raising concerns about the long-term implications for attitudes about climate change.
The state-appointed board now running Houston’s independent school district is dealing with more than what’s happening in the classroom, but also struggling to regain trust.
Apple weighs in on a push to give consumers the right to repair their gadgets. What that means for a growing “right to repair” consumer movement.
Plus, plans to build a major energy plant on the Texas coast on hold after a court rules Texas regulators should have applied stricter emissions standards.
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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.
As the first week of a fourth special session draws to a close, the Senate passes a voucher-like plan for education.
A teacher shortage and what a new study tells us about the implications of past plans to bring in and retain teachers in Texas classrooms.
The independent market monitor for the Texas power grid steps down after blowing the whistle on what she claims were artificially inflated energy prices.
Texas, once a red-hot housing market, has lost a lot of sizzle, yet many still struggle to get a house of their own. We’ll take a closer look at what’s happening.
Plus, the week in politics with the Texas Tribune and poetry with the Typewriter Rodeo.
The fourth largest earthquake on record in Texas struck Wednesday out west, renewing concerns about fracking and seismic activity. Erin Douglas of the Texas Tribune with more on yesterday’s temblor and what researchers and regulators are saying about it.
The latest on a runoff for mayor in Texas’ biggest city.
In San Antonio, plans to close several public schools getting pushback from communities targeted for closure.
The economics of electric vehicles: Is the race to EVs losing power?
And voters in Ohio approve ballot measures on abortion and marijuana this week. Why such measures aren’t likely to land on Texas ballots anytime soon.
Central Texas top stories for November 7, 2023. Election day is today. Education propositions. Austin parks funding. San Marcos downtown plan. Longhorn basketball season openers.
Texas governor Greg Abbott’s prediction a school voucher bill would pass now looks unlikely as the latest special session winds down.
Legendary running back and three-time Super Bowl champ Emmitt Smith teams up with NARCAN to reduce opioid deaths.
How Texans cross into neighboring New Mexico for abortions. We’ll have a special report.
A Texas town’s long-lost photos go on display. What residents hope to learn about their past.
And how a notorious monster has helped generations of parents get children to behave – especially at bedtime. Kristin Cabrera explains the Cucuy.
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.
Central Texas top stories for October 25, 2023. Proposition 2. Water project funding proposition. Decker power plant. APD officer’s murder trial continues. Taylor ISD names new superintendent. More wet weather inbound.
A plan to boost payments to retired teachers will be up to Texas voters next month. We’ll have the backstory and details on Proposition 9.
Five thousand union workers walked off the job at the Arlington General Motors plant, which builds some of GM’s most profitable vehicles.
College football pay to play? Not OK, says the NCAA. Yet an investigation of recruitment shows how officials look the other way – and it’s happening a lot in Texas.
And just in time for Halloween, something wicked is coming to Garland: A celebration of Texas’ role in the horror film genre.
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.
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.
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.
Central Texas top stories for October 4, 2023. New housing development in North Austin. Austinites react to student loan payments restarting. Councilmember Kelly hosts public safety meetings.
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.”
Central Texas top stories for September 29, 2023. University of Texas enrollment grows. Updates on Barton Springs tree Flo. Austin Energy behind on tree trimming.