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.
Housing
We’re tracking Texas cryptids all October
From guns to religion, free speech and more, a very loaded docket awaits the Supreme Court as it begins a new term.
Why a race for Houston’s top financial officer is getting so much attention.
A plan to consolidate schools in San Antonio could leave behind almost 20 empty buildings – and the district needs to figure out what to do with them.
As the dollar strengthens, other currencies weaken. But there’s a notable outlier: We’ll look at why the Mexican peso seems to be doing so well.
Also, as the spookiest month of the year gets started, a look at why Texas is so full of mysterious creatures unconfirmed by science.
What you need to know about viewing the upcoming solar eclipses from Texas
Though Attorney General Ken Paxton has been acquitted on all impeachment charges, whistleblowers say they’re not giving up. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán of the Texas Newsroom shares more.
It’s rare for an eclipse to be visible at the same location within several years, much less a few months – but the skies over a portion of Texas will be ground zero for observing both an annular and a total solar eclipse.
At the Rescue Mission of El Paso, plenty of food is coming in – but it’s not to feed people experiencing homelessness. Instead, those people are feeding others. Texas monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn shares the mission of Hallelujah! BBQ.
KUT Morning Newscast for September 26, 2023
Central Texas top stories for September 26, 2023. Austin affordable housing developments up in the air. Future of Barton Springs’ iconic tree uncertain. Ex-employees of Attorney General Ken Paxton go to state Supreme Court.
Migrants’ arrival at Eagle Pass underscores Biden’s challenge on immigration
An emergency is declared in Eagle Pass as more than 6,000 migrants entered the small town in less than two days, and the Biden administration sends active duty troops to the southern border. Gaige Davila of Texas Public Radio with the latest.
With open acrimony between the Texas House and Senate, what’s likely to get done in the next special legislative session?
There’s less competition for homebuyers, but that doesn’t mean it’s getting easier to buy a home. We’ll hear the latest.
A new exhibit celebrates the “Big Bang of Texas music” 50 years after the seminal album “¡Viva Terlingua!”
Also: The week in politics with the Texas Tribune.
KUT Morning Newscast for September 15, 2023
Central Texas top stories for September 15, 2023. Possible final trial day for Ken Paxton. Austin City Council approves new EMS contract. RVs and Tiny Homes now legal to live in in Austin.
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.
After a pandemic boost, what’s the next chapter for independent booksellers?
Fort Worth ISD temporarily closed its school libraries as the district worked to comply with a new state law over adult content.
Texas is one of only 10 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid. Why?
The pandemic boost for books, and its aftermath: the Standard’s Sean Saldaña on the next chapter for independent booksellers.
The most dangerous jails in Texas may not be the lockups that get the most attention. Eric Dexheimer of the Houston Chronicle shares more.
And the Texan trying to redefine travel TV, and what travel looks like in the real world, too.
Grow or Die
(Episode 7) Now that the machine has done its job, what now? We explore some of the existential questions that Austin’s housing market has wrought.
How to prepare and stay safe amid high wildfire danger
With low humidity and winds picking up across Texas, a growing wildfire threat has prompted officials to raise the state’s preparedness level. What should Texans be doing to prepare for the danger of wildfires?
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is facing not one but two Democrats with considerable name recognition as he prepares to try to retain his Senate seat.
A conversation with Ire’ne Lara Silva, Texas’ poet laureate.
And there are growing concerns about artificial intelligence in Zoom amid recent changes to the app’s terms of service.
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.”
There Go The Neighborhoods
(Episode 6) Austin last re-wrote its land development code in 1984. Sounds boring, right? Well, that rewrite made it harder to build denser forms of housing. We explore the history of zoning in Austin and the opposition to changing the rules today, which could make the biggest difference in fixing Austin’s affordability crisis.
Welcome to Silicon Gulch
(Episode 5) Not that long ago, Austin’s economy was sleepy, to put it mildly. People came here for UT, to work for the state or for the military.
A little more than 50 years ago, a bedsheet changed everything — including the housing market.
KUT Morning Newscast for July 21, 2023
Central Texas top stories for July 21, 2023. Abortion hearings over Texas law ends. Austin ISD plans to hire more school police officers. Austin reduces lot sizes for houses in order to increase affordability.
New movie reminds us we’ve all been living in a Barbie world
Emotional scenes unfolded in what’s believed to be the first open court testimony by women challenging Texas’ abortion ban.
Reporters statewide offer an update on how Texans are coping with this record heat.
Details on a massive release of greenhouse gases in West Texas brought on by the heat.
How does the new movie ‘Oppenheimer’ stack up against history?
And as the ‘Barbie’ movie premieres, a look back at how the world’s most famous doll has been a source of both inspiration and debate for over 60 years.
Fertility Drugs for Cars
(BONUS) We talked in episode 2 about cars and roads — and how they affect where we live. We didn’t talk about one other way that cars affect housing: making places to put all the cars.
KUT Morning Newscast for July 18, 2023
Central Texas top stories for July 18, 2023. Unhoused folks in Austin struggle with heat. Austin city budget looks for feedback. Lt. Gov Dan Patrick issues gag order over Ken Paxton trial.
KUT Morning Newscast for July 13, 2023
Central Texas top stories for July 13, 2023. DPS and Austin partnership suspended. High power demand for ERCOT as temperatures soar. Affordable housing projects on pause.
Smart Growth or Dumb Growth?
(Episode 4) When a new mayor came to power, he found what he thought would be a compromise — a way to bring new businesses and build housing for all the people coming to Austin without threatening the city’s ecological gems. It turned out to be more complicated than that.
Is Paycheck Protection Program fraud partly behind the home price spike?
A planned buoy barrier along the Rio Grande designed to prevent migrant crossings faces legal obstacles of its own.
What’s known and what isn’t about the man who had been reported missing in the Houston area for eight years – who had only really been missing for about a day.
Could pandemic-era abuses be partly to blame for rising home prices?
And, how to lose friends and alienate the Legislature: Austin journalist Christopher Hooks on Gov. Greg Abbott’s legislative strategy and why he’s had so much trouble passing some key items on his agenda despite Republican majorities.