Lone Star State

Texas Standard: February 24, 2021

As Governor Abbott prepares for a statewide televised address on the blackouts, many wonder why they haven’t heard more from him before now. Rapid fallout from the blackout of 2021 already happening, as 5 ERCOT board members say they’ll tender their resignations. We’ll have the latest. Also more on the implications of last weeks blackout in the fight against COVID-19. And could last weeks disaster actually lead to changes in labor laws? A labor historian on what history tells us about past patterns. Plus commentator W.F. Strong rethinks his list of Texas-themed tunes, a Politifact check of Beto O’Rourke and more today on the Texas Standard:

Things Shaped Like Texas

Texans tend to love the shape of Texas — and to buy items, including food, in that shape. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Green Room: Come and Take It!

Come and Take It!’ It’s more than just a motto on an historic Texas flag: it’s a rallying cry that resonates with the independent spirit of the Lone Star state. Little wonder, then, that politicians are invoking the phrase in a growing protest over what some ranchers see as a ‘land grab’ by the federal Bureau of Land Management. Jim Malewitz of the Texas Tribune recently visited the land in dispute–and he says the case may alter the Red River border between Texas and Oklahoma.