Get ready to cast your ballots. Local elections are scheduled in Texas for May 4, with early voting beginning on Monday. Katya Ehresman, voting rights coordinator at Common Cause Texas, gives us the lowdown.
What a trial run of a four-day workweek in the UK tells us about how well such a shift might work.
Don Louis, a Texan who once hoped to score big in the NFL, has moved the goalposts – now aiming for the country music charts.
Plus: The week in politics with the Texas Tribune.
El Paso
Judge overseeing struggling foster system fines the state $100,000 a day
A federal judge says Texas’ foster care system is still broken – and has fined the state $100,00 per day.
The new book “City Limits” examines the effort to rethink urban highways in Texas and traces a history of racism and inequality in three of the state’s’ largest cities. We’ll hear from author and journalist Megan Kimble.
Over the past two decades, developers in Austin have built hundreds of windowless bedrooms. But now some elected officials want them banned.
And: The next generation of mechanics is getting ready to work on the next generation of cars.
How big events like the pandemic lockdowns can warp our sense of time
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to get business records from Annunciation House, a group that helps migrants, is blocked by an El Paso judge.
As firefighters move closer to containing the blazes that have consumed large parts of the Panhandle in recent weeks, many locals are looking more closely at the causes and asking hard questions about why more wasn’t done to prevent those fires.
As politicians bicker over federal funding, members of the military and their families struggle with worries and fears amid a near-constant threat of a government shutdown.
And: Anyone else feeling a post-COVID time warp? What the science says about perceptions of time.
Is the industry ready for Beyoncé’s country music album?
As Texans prepare to cast their first ballots in 2024, a conversation with Colin Allred, one of the top Democratic challengers for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Ted Cruz.
Lubbock throws the switch to join Texas’ open electricity marketplace – for better, and some fear, for worse.
A new ‘queen’ of country music? Houston-born Beyoncé generates buzz with a stylistic shift.
Also: Commentator WF Strong on a notorious Texas partnership in crime, and a love story at the heart of it.
Why El Paso Mexican food hits different
There’s a six-way race in Houston for the Democratic bid to represent part of the city in the Texas Senate. We’ll look at how it’s shaping up.
A case involving a Navy SEAL is testing a Pentagon policy designed to keep extremists out of the military.
Change is coming to a corridor in the Texas Hill Country known for its wineries. Why it could just be the beginning of more development.
Megan Thee Stallion’s new single, “Hiss,” is her first solo track to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s also being received as a “diss” track.
And: El Paso, with its proximity to New Mexico, does Mexican food a bit different. We’ll hear about some of the people contributing to its unique flavors.
Residents fight proposed Brazoria County primate facility
Is artificial intelligence coming soon to Texas government? A new report says it’s already here.
More than 300,000 immigrants arrived at the southern border in December. Angela Kocherga of KTEP takes a look at one of the busiest border crossing areas year-round: the El Paso sector.
Volunteer pilots are helping abortion-seekers get out of Texas.
A biomedical company wants to build a massive facility for primates in Brazoria County. But locals are fighting back.
And: remembering the music and legacy of Rocky Morales.
Bonus Episode: Regional Taco Flavors of Texas
From border to border, El Paso to Brownsville and a little in between, we’re gonna talk tacos regionales and just like the musica itself, there’s many elements and things that go into them. Our guests include Miguel Cobos from Vaquero Taquero and Paola Gabriela from Visit El Paso.
The Texas discovery of a new, dog-sized dinosaur
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.
Children’s Grief
Children often have it the hardest in terms of personal loss, and kid gloves can only go so far. In this penultimate episode, Ike interviews Laura Olague and Kathy Revtyak of the Children’s Grief Center of El Paso to discuss ambiguous grief, secondary loss, bereavement, coping processes and more.
Fall is finally here. What does that mean for Texas’ drought?
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has faced increasing pressure to resign since Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial – and a special session of the Legislature starts next week.
El Paso, a city with a reputation as welcoming to migrants, is now at a breaking point, according to its mayor. Angela Kocherga of KTEP El Paso has details.
About 24 million Texans are living through some level of drought right now, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor. What’s on the horizon as fall weather moves in?
The former Texas Memorial Museum on UT Austin’s campus, shuttered in March due to COVID and cutbacks, returns in grand style with a new name and focus.
What happened in the dramatic Day 7 of Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial?
House prosecutors rested their case in the impeachment trial of Ken Paxton, but that appears to have been a mistake. A surprising twist at the Paxton impeachment trial, one that could have brought proceedings to an early conclusion. We’ll hear what happened and what it means for the trial going forward.
An investigation by Houston Public Media finds bus shelters in the city, built to protect riders from the elements, offer inconsistent protection from the searing Texas heat – and in some cases, make things worse.
And Texas leads the nation in AMBER Alerts, but how well do they work?
San Antonio nonprofit forges community for veterans through knife-making
An increasing border presence by state troopers has led to a rise in police chases ending in crashes in El Paso.
A once-pregnant prison guard who says she was told she couldn’t leave her shift as she was experiencing contraction-like pains is now suing over the death of her child. Texas Tribune reporter Jolie McCullough joins with more.
In the wake of a San Antonio police shooting of a woman with mental health issues and an investigation of officers involved, questions remain about how well the department polices itself.
And a San Antonio nonprofit, Reforged, helps veterans forge ahead through knife-making classes and a peer-support group.
A Texas program pushes drivers to pay old tickets – and over 600,000 have lost their licenses
A federal courtroom was filled with anger and tears as relatives of the victims of the 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart faced the gunman ahead of his sentencing. Julián Aguilar of the Texas Newsroom shares more.
A program aimed at helping Texans pay off old tickets has left hundreds of thousands without driver’s licenses and tangled in red tape.
Amid a stalemate between House and Senate Republicans over property taxes, House Democrats weigh in with a plan.
A new study has found air pollution from U.S. oil and gas production is responsible for $77 billion in health impacts every year, with Texas among the states with the highest proportion of health damages.
Houston is celebrating 50 years of hip-hop with an exhibit and film screenings at the Houston Museum of African American Culture.
And the week in politics with the Texas Tribune.
‘Lone Stars Rising’ profiles 50 Texans changing our world
The sheriff of Bexar County is pushing for charges to be brought over migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard.
Where did high-profile bills dealing with higher education wind up this legislative session? Kate McGee of the Texas Tribune joins with an overview.
An investigation has revealed a culture of sexism and discrimination in the El Paso Police Department.
Is air travel getting bumpier, or does it just seem that way? A Texas A&M expert explains what’s known as clear air turbulence.
Texas Monthly editor Jeff Salamon discusses “Lone Stars Rising,” a look at 50 Texans who have made a lasting impact in the past 50 years.
And stop the presses: A one-day walkout at the Gannett-owned Austin American-Statesman turns the spotlight on journalists in Texas moving to unionize.
What we know about the mass shooting at an Allen outlet mall
Another Texas community is reeling after a mass shooting that killed eight people, this time at an outlet mall in Allen, outside of Dallas.
Following local elections across the state, we’ll have reports on some closely watched propositions in San Antonio, El Paso and Austin.
Fort Hood in Central Texas is formally set to be renamed Fort Cavazos for the nation’s first Hispanic four-star general. Hispanic and Latino civil rights groups are applauding the move but looking for more substantive change.
And the the University of Texas at Austin is getting a new school of civic leadership – but some questions are being raised by some students and faculty.
The ‘forever chemicals’ used in fracking in Texas
Calls for justice in Ciudad Juárez after dozen of migrants die in a fire at a detention facility. New details emerge about what happened just across the border from El Paso on Monday night.
Texas school districts banned hundreds of books last year. Now, the Legislature is looking to create standards that could pull even more books off the shelves.
Research increasingly shows that “forever chemicals” are making their way into our environment – especially in Texas, where they’re used in oil and gas extraction.
Plus an update from commentator W.F. Strong and a climate referendum in El Paso.
Documentary highlights competitive high school mariachi
There’s a push in the Texas Senate to raise the penalty for illegal voting despite a widely reported absence of evidence that it’s a major problem. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán of the Texas Newsroom shares his weekly lookahead at what’s happening at the Legislature.
A bill filed last week would abolish the Texas Juvenile Justice Department and close down the state’s youth prisons.
There was chaos Sunday on the pedestrian bridge connecting El Paso with Juárez, Mexico. Lauren Villagran of the El Paso Times joins us to discuss what happened.
By many measures Texas is at the top of the pack for renewable energy, yet gas and oil likely remain big in the state for some time to come.
Plus we’ll hear from the directors and a student star of a new documentary that had its Texas debut at South by Southwest, “Going Varsity in Mariachi.”
What Texans think lawmakers should prioritize this legislative session
Texans say the border should be the top priority for the state Legislature this session, according to a new poll. We’ll dig into the results.
Questions about how the Center for Law and Human Behavior at the University of Texas at El Paso selected two Border Patrol agents for fellowships.
Taco expert Mando Rayo talks about his favorite traditional mom-and-pop eateries across the Lone Star State.
Piano music fills the air as El Paso hosts the Borderland Chopin festival spotlighting the beloved composer.
Why Fort Worth ISD is canceling sex ed this year
Fallen trees and branches, downed power lines and more as Texas weathers the first statewide winter storm of 2023. The worst of the weather stretches along a line west of I-35, but most Texans are feeling the impact one way or another, with driving extremely hazardous and scattered outages leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
There’s been lots of talk about property taxes in this legislative session. How’d they get so high in the first place?
Fort Worth ISD scraps its plans for a sex education course after spending millions in the ramp-up. So why the reversal?
Also a PolitiFact check of gun violence claims.
New NSA recruitment effort underway in San Antonio
Sticker shock at the grocery store. We’ll explore whether and how pandemic disruptions continue to affect the food supply chain. Also the race-motivated mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 ruptured a community and captured the world’s attention. But the prosecution of the shooter has languished. What’s happening now? We’ll explore. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine kicked off a series of events that are now having an impact on the Texas Gulf Coast. We’ll explain. Plus one of San Antonio’s biggest employers is hiring. Now the secretive National Security Agency is sharing a bit about its Texas operation. And the playoff win on the road that broke a decades-long streak for the Cowboys. All of those stories and more today on the Texas Standard.