Local

A massive data center in Taylor is moving forward

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit in a case centered around the construction of a data center in Taylor on land that had been set aside for a park. We’ll hear from KUT Williamson County reporter Kailey Hunt, who has been following the story and speaking with the folks looking to put a halt to that development.

A group of volunteer musicians, the Viva Palestina Orchestra, is raising money for aid in Gaza by playing Palestinian music.

Need to yell out your feelings? How to join the next meeting of Scream Club Austin.

34 years later, Austin reflects on the impact of the yogurt shop murders

It’s been 34 years since Austin was rocked by the violent yogurt shop murders. Now, after a recent breakthrough in the case, the impact of the crime and the push to find justice is reverberating throughout the city.

KUT’s Andrew Weber has an exploration of the many feelings running through the minds of folks trying to make sense of such a senseless act.

Plus: We hear from a Lockhart pitmaster and look ahead to weekend two of the ACL Music Festival.

How Austin leaders hope to fund nonprofits’ efforts to ease homelessness with Prop Q

The discussion around Austin’s upcoming tax rate election is picking up as voters head to the polls in the coming weeks. That tax rate hike, on the ballot as Proposition Q, goes above what local officials are normally allowed by state law.

It’s all part of the City of Austin’s effort to generate revenue to offset a budget deficit and to continue funding a variety of things like public safety, local parks and homelessness services.

KUT’s Luz Moreno-Lozano has been reporting on how the city is planning to fund services like these, whether or not Austin voters approve the tax rate increase.

Greg Stoker, the Austin activist who was detained by Israel while attempting to deliver aid to Gaza, is heading back home.

And: We’re chatting with one of our multimedia mavens, Patricia Lim, about what it’s like to photograph the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Austin ISD proposes 13 school closures to curb $20 million budget deficit

Howdy out there, Austin! This episode is the first live radio broadcast for Austin Signal.

We’re discussing the proposed campus closures announced by the Austin Independent School District. More than a dozen schools would be shut down ahead of next school year as AISD works against a budget shortfall. We’ll dive into those details with KUT’s Katy McAfee.

Speaking of budget: If buying meat is in yours, you’ve probably noticed the price is on the rise. Will it fall anytime soon? Texas Standard’s Michael Marks joins us to talk more.

And KUT’s Jimmy Maas talks college football with UT’s loss to Florida and more in today’s sports wrap.

Bastrop asks Elon Musk for tunnels to connect city trails

ACL Fest is just one day away, but if you’re looking to take in EVEN MORE live music this weekend, KUTX Program Director Matt Reilly will stop by to talk with us about the shows happening tonight and outside of the festival gates.

Also, we’re talking tunnels! Bastrop is looking to have Elon Musk’s Boring Company build a pedestrian tunnel connecting the area’s trail system. The Texas Newsroom’s Lauren McGaughy will dig into it and give us the lowdown about what’s happening in Bastrop.

Plus, we’ll have an update on an Austin veteran and activist who is believed to be in the custody of Israeli forces after attempting to deliver aid to Gaza by flotilla.

Texas starts taxing seller fees on sites like eBay, Etsy

Buying new? In this economy? Shopping secondhand is the go-to for many these days. But things are about to change for sellers using online retail platforms in Texas.
KUT’s Nathan Bernier joins the show to tell us why the next thrifted gem you purchase may cost you more than it used to. Plus, we prepare for the October festival season in Austin with tips from Nathan and KUTX’s Maile Carballo ahead of the first weekend of the Austin City Limits music festival.

And longtime Austinites have legends about folks who once lived in the hills west of Austin, known as “cedar choppers.” Many of those stories aren’t exactly positive ones. KUT’s Maya Fawaz looked into their history for our ATXplained podcast series. Syeda Carrillo guest hosts on today’s Austin Signal.

What is Proposition Q on Austin’s ballot this November?

Election season is upon us once again. It’s not midterm time and we don’t have a president to pick, but voters in Central Texas will have a reason to cast their ballots. Here in Austin, folks will be deciding whether to approve a tax-rate hike above the normal threshold allowed by the state.

Why is the city asking for so much? And how are folks feeling a week out from early voting? KUT’s City Hall reporter Luz Moreno-Lozano joins the show to answer those questions.

And a new bird just dropped! Texas Standard’s Raul Alonzo talks Austin birding and the new “Grue Jay.” Plus catching us up on Austin FC’s run for the U.S. Open Cup championship with the co-host of the Vamos Verde podcast, Juan Diego Garcia.

34 years later, police identify suspect in yogurt shop murders

For the families of the girls killed in one of Austin’s most notorious murders, justice seemed to be slipping away as more time passed. But now, almost 34 years later, a new break in the case of what’s known as the “Yogurt Shop Murders” yields the name of a suspect, identified through DNA.

KUT’s justice and accountability reporter Andrew Weber tells us how this decades-long cold case that captured the attention of the city – and the nation – was broken open once again.

We’ll get the latest on the case and look back at the impact to Austin when the crime first happened.

HAAM Day takes over Austin and Central Texas

Most Austin area drivers have a love-hate relationship with Interstate 35 – or they avoid it completely, and have no relationship at all. The latest round of I-35 construction is hitting its stride.

Live music at the grocery store, hospital, your favorite sandwich shop or taco joint? It’s HAAM Day, benefitting health care coverage for Austin musicians.

Jennifer Stayton is in the host chair today on Austin Signal from KUT News.

Documentary tells story of landmark Texas archaeological site

As the clock ticks down on the legislative session, how close is Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to completing his wish list?
Weekend balloting across Texas brings some big local changes. We’ll hear from reporters statewide.
Texans dominate at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney.
The documentary “The Stones Are Speaking” tells the story of Michael Collins, the man who helped open the Gault site to researchers.
And: Who’ll be the next mayor of San Antonio? Voters have narrowed a field of 27 candidates down to two.

Texas Standard is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas.

You can support this podcast at supportthispodcast.org

Groups suing over SpaceX’s explosions, environmental impact

Published reports say the Biden administration is set to send 1,500 troops to the border with Mexico ahead of Title 42’s repeal.

As the Texas Legislature enters the home stretch of the 88th session, we’ll hear about the latest on efforts to pre-empt local government regulations.

The South Texas liftoff and explosion of the SpaceX Starship on April 20 has sparked legal action from environmental groups against the Federal Aviation
Administration. We’ll hear from one of the attorneys suing the government.

And a prominent member of Congress asks a judge in northern Texas to change the way the courts there do business.

The questions on local ballots across Texas this May election

Early voting is underway statewide for the May 6 elections. What’s at stake? A roundtable of reporters survey the landscape.

New emissions rules from the EPA could mean some big changes coming to Texas coal plants.

Changes to a bill restricting purchases of property by citizens of China, North Korea, Russia and Iran aren’t good enough, says Texas State Rep. Gene Wu. He says it’s discrimination.

And an axe murder in a North Texas suburb in the 1980s is now the focus of a new HBO Max series. We’ll talk to the director of “Love & Death”.

Lawmaker Gene Wu using Reddit to explain Texas Legislature

The clash between city leaders and state lawmakers is set to reach a new level at the Capitol. How state lawmakers are trying to crack down on policies by local prosecutors not to pursue certain cases.

A Texas researcher is pursuing a key to fight aging with the help of small monkeys.

We talk with Rep. Gene Wu, whose videos about how Texas politics actually works have blown up on social media.

In West Texas, concerns about growing tourism and the environmental impact spawn a plan to expand Big Bend National Park by purchasing adjacent land and giving it to the park.

Plus the legacy of San Antonio businessman B.J “Red” McCombs.

Las Jefecitas: using comida to sustain immigrant households.

Many immigrants have leveraged the delicious cuisines of their países as a means of income and work when they first arrive in the United States. Even before setting up a taco truck or even a brick and mortar, we see vendedoras earning their income by selling tacos out of their hieleritas in grocery store parking lots or wherever they know they’ll find foot traffic. In this episode we explore what motivates these women to leave their kitchens and go out into these parking lots. We discuss these informal economies and how they look in today’s digital age. We also spend time at La Mujer Obrera and Cafe Mayapán to see how the organization supports immigrant and indigenous women by training and employing them.

Decolonizing Maíz

Corn is the most important crop of the Americas. It sustained the Western Hemisphere for centuries, and with the colonization of its lands, came the colonization of corn. In the past century, corn went from maíz production to mass production, with companies modifying it and depleting it of its natural riches. In this episode we rally with masa makers on a journey to reconnect our comunidades with the nutrients and flavors of the superfood in a more pure form than the mass-produced maseca, with which many of us are familiar. We talk to Andres Garza, now Nixta Taqueria’s Director of Masa Development and Fermentation, Olivia Lopez, chef and co-owner of Molino Olōyō in Dallas, Texas, and Julian Maltby of Mercado Sin Nombre in Austin, TX about decolonizing the once magical maiz and the many shapes of tacos being made with their corn tortillas.

Smoked Beef Barbacoa

Barbacoa, from Sunday traditions to everyday goodness, barbacoa continues to evolve and surprise us. In this episode, we talk barbacoa basics before chatting with Joel Garcia, owner and pitmaster at Teddy’s Barbecue in Weslaco, Texas. Joel shares his barbecue and barbacoa story and how smoking beef heads takes barbacoa to the next level.

Vitamina T

Don’t forget to take your Vitamin T! That’s T for Tacos, Tortas, and Tamales. In this episode, taco journalist Mando Rayo and bilingual educator Suzanne Garcia-Mateus sit down and browse through the spanglish children’s book that they co-wrote called Vitamina T for Tacos. They connect over their shared experiences of growing up bilingual and speaking spanglish and how that motivated them to write a book that represented the complex culture that they didn’t see in children’s books when they were growing up.

Taco Identity

Latino culture isn’t exactly known to be LGTBQia+ friendly. We’ve seen this through some of our biggest cultural icons, who remained closeted their entire lives. Much of the intolerance is driven by machismo in our culture, which can be prevalent in spaces like taquerias. We connect with Angel Cabrera, owner of Tacos Doña Lena in Houston, and Kristen Martinez, owner of MB Foodhouse in Minneapolis, about their experience in the taco community. They share with us how they have persevered and risen above the odds… even during a pandemic.

Texas Standard: May 9, 2022

Texans overwhelming approved two constitutional amendments promising some tax relief. So what happens now? We’ll take a look. We’ll also dive deep into one Dallas neighborhood for some understanding of the challenges facing lower-income renters everywhere. And the head of the state’s juvenile justice department resigned just over a week ago. Why the timing has some advocates worried. Plus eyes are on an annual celebration in Russia this year, we’ll have what a Texas-based expert is watching for. And Lockhart, Texas is synonymous with BBQ, but it’s a veggie-growing enterprise there that’s caught our attention. We took a trip to find out why what’s going on there is so cutting edge. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: March 15, 2021

Texans 50 or over, get in line. New rules take effect opening up vaccine eligibility, the trouble? Finding enough doses. Coming up disputes between the feds and state officials over whether Texas is getting enough vaccine doses in its fight against COVID-19. Also, efforts by the republican legislature in Texas to curb the powers of the governor during a pandemic. Now a priority item in the house. We’ll hear why. Also more listener questions about COVID-19 and the vaccine , plus our conversation with Austin mayor Steve Adler, the power of the Black church in Texas politics and so much more today on the Texas Standard :