education

Lawmakers discuss school savings accounts

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.

KUT Morning Newscast for October 4, 2023

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.

Why homeschooling is on the rise across the ideological spectrum

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.”

KUT Morning Newscast for September 29, 2023

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.

How a UT professor is helping the CDC plan for the next pandemic

The Texas Education Agency is moving forward with plans to monitor problems with Austin ISD’s special education services.

What did we learn from COVID-19? We’ll talk to UT’s Lauren Ancel Meyers, who has been tapped to help the U.S. develop a plan to better tackle the next pandemic.

Texas tops the nation in oil industry deaths – but there’s more to the story once you get into the numbers.

Also: Remembering a pioneer of Tejano music, Lydia Mendoza, who earned the title of “Meadowlark of the Border.”

KUT Morning Newscast for September 28, 2023

Central Texas top stories for September 28, 2023. Ozone day of action for Central Texas. Travis County takes I-35 concerns to the federal government. Texas Education Agency monitors assigned to Austin.

KUT Morning Newscast for September 27, 2023

Central Texas top stories for September 27, 2023. Austin ISD adopts state plan for special education. Central Health votes on new budget. Delayed pay for teachers in San Marcos.

What Texans need to know about the impending government shutdown

In six days, the federal government runs out of money. Can a shutdown be averted? What’s at stake if lawmakers can’t come up with a plan for short-term spending by Oct. 1.

In Fort Worth and Tarrant County, families are falling into homelessness as pandemic relief funding is running out.

Five things to know before federally guaranteed student loan payments resume next month.

A plan to close nearly 20% of San Antonio ISD’s schools is being pushed in the name of equity. Camille Phillips of Texas Public Radio takes a closer look.

Plus, a crisis for Texas Gulf Coast shrimpers.

KUT Morning Newscast for September 25, 2023

Central Texas top stories for September 25, 2023. Hail storms across Central Texas cause power outages and damage. New COVID vaccines are available. Round Rock votes on teacher raises.

Suburban school districts revolt against ‘recapture’ funding

What does Ron DeSantis really want from Texas? Jeremy Wallace of the Houston Chronicle weighs in on the GOP presidential candidate’s curious Texas tour.

Two North Texas school districts, Keller and Carroll, take steps to challenge one of the lynchpins of state education funding: revenue recapture.

What the auto strike means for the evolution to electric vehicles.

Fantastic Fest, a terrifying film festival that’s the biggest of its kind in the world, is back for its 18th year in Austin.

And we’ll meet the youngest reporter to cover Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial.

KUT Morning Newscast for September 18, 2023

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.

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.