A new Texas law requires posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. We’ll look at the looming legal battle.
Where do Texans stand on how well state legislators are doing their jobs? What about how well the president is doing his job? A new poll by the Texas Politics Project offers a look.
The Mexican flag, long flown at restaurants and at cultural events, is more recently making a prominent appearance in protests. We’ll talk about perspectives on symbolism and cultural expression.
And: Once a company town built around sugar production, Sugar Land is now seeking to preserve its complex history with the city’s acquisition of the Imperial Historic District.
Space
KUT Morning Newscast for April 2, 2025: The City of Austin is working with a non-profit to help improve access to housing.
Central Texas top stories for April 2, 2025. A new nonprofit is using City of Austin money to help house people experiencing homelessness. The Texas Senate passed a bill that would require people to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in state elections. The deadline to vote in May’s local elections is tomorrow. Researchers at NASA are working with an Austin-area company to better understand sever weather patterns on Earth.
Troops may return to Big Bend National Park
With a hot, dry summer looming, how some state lawmakers want to reduce the risk of wildfires.
It’s been decades since active-duty troops patrolled Big Bend. Now they may be headed back to the national park.
Nearly two years after one of the deadliest human smuggling incidents in Texas, a look at how victims’ families and survivors are coping.
And: We’ll check in with the Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey about the week ahead at the Legislature and what’s coming up for school funding.
KUT Morning Newscast for February 12, 2025: KUT’s third season of “The Disconnect” is now available.
Central Texas top stories for February 12, 2025. SIMS foundation, an Austin nonprofit that provides low to no-cost mental health care to musicians, say they’re restarting services, but musicians still have questions. A lunar lander manufactured by Firefly in the Austin area is making its way to the moon, now the company is expanding operations in town. Certain brands of cans of tuna have been recalled by Tri-Union Seafoods, in Texas that includes the H-E-B label and Genova.
Health and Human Services Commission employees accused in data breach
Parts of Texas that seldom see snow may well see frozen precipitation blanketing beaches tomorrow. We’re keeping watch.
Seven employees of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission have been fired for improperly accessing, and in some cases, stealing, from the accounts of thousands of Texans receiving public assistance.
And: TikTok went dark for U.S. users on Saturday night, hours before a ban on the service was due to take effect. But on Sunday, the service returned, with a message crediting President-elect Trump, who said he would delay the ban. We’ll have the latest.
A&M’s next giant leap is the Texas Space Institute
It’s still election season in the Texas Legislature, where there’s a race for speaker of the House of Representatives. We’re taking a close look at the top two contenders this week, starting today with Rep. Dustin Burrows.
Billy Bob Thornton, who’s long been an honorary Texan, has earned his eighth Golden Globe nomination for his role as Tommy Norris in Taylor Sheridan’s new series, “Landman.” He joins the show today.
Plus: Last month, the Texas A&M Space Institute broke ground near NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Director Nancy Currie-Gregg shares the details.
Setbacks stall two big energy projects in the Rio Grande Valley
A Houston housing program designed to increase affordability isn’t helping the lowest earners. Is it a failure – or is it more complicated than that?
Two liquified natural gas projects set to be built in the port of Brownsville are on hold after a court ruling. What that means for the plans long-term.
The safe return of two astronauts aboard the International Space Station remains a top priority for NASA.
We’ll introduce you to a pair of Dallasites working to preserve Black histories in a changing neighborhood, the Tenth Street district.
And: What to do when you need a physical copy of something and just don’t have a printer.
Remembering iconic Texas actress Shelley Duvall
Five days after Hurricane Beryl’s landfall, more than 800,000 Texans are still without power as frustrations and questions rise along with the heat – and officials say half a million people may not get power back until next week.
Thirty-five percent of Texas students scored zero on the writing portion of STAAR test, raising big questions about the jump in low scores as computers take over the grading process.
Remembering Fort Worth native Shelley Duvall, who made a big mark on Hollywood and left it all for the Hill Country.
Also: the week in politics with The Texas Tribune and poetry from the Typewriter Rodeo.
Questions over how to remember an East Texas manhunt
SpaceX successfully conducted a test launch of its massive Starship rocket from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica this morning. We’ll hear from Gaige Davila of Texas Public Radio live from Brownsville.
The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly yesterday to ban TikTok, citing security concerns related to the Chinese-owned platform’s control of Americans’ data. The Standard’s Shelly Brisbin has been following the story, including where Texans in Congress stand.
And: Why a courthouse renovation is East Texas is dividing a community.
What’s ahead for space exploration in 2024
The federal government takes legal action to stop Texas from implementing a new state law aimed at arresting migrants who come into the state illegally. Julián Aguilar of The Texas Newsroom has more.
A new plan to use AI to help explore the effect of burn pits on veterans.
Why 2024 could be the launch pad for a new chapter in space exploration.
How the armadillo, a dormant dog-sized mammal considered a pest by many, won the affection of many a Texan.
Plus: The week in politics with The Texas Tribune.
The best of the year in science & nature
Science and nature are in the spotlight today.
While the worst of COVID-19 appears to be history, scientists and researchers continue to draw lessons about what happened and how well-prepared we might be for the next pandemic.
How a Texan is trying to help answer questions about science in a new podcast aimed at non-scientists curious about the world around us.
Girl Scouts take a deep dive on science – quite literally – with the help of scuba gear.
And our conversation with an astronaut picked for our next return to the moon.
How this man survived in the West Texas desert for 27 hours
What does Congress’ budget deal to avert a partial government shutdown mean for food and the farmers and ranchers who produce it? We’ll hear more on the Farm Bill extension, and the implications for Texas.
The push for police accountability: An investigative report from the Austin American-Statesman reveals that police indictments rarely lead to convictions.
Last weekend’s destructive rocket launch was a big fail for SpaceX – or was it? What explains radically mixed reviews of the Starship test launch.
Plus the harrowing account of a Texas hiker, lost in Big Bend Ranch State Park in triple-digit heat, and his near-miraculous survival.
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Karima Santi: “Space”
No matter how immense a musical talent is intrinsically, sometimes resetting your surroundings can be the biggest catalyst to moving on up. Like, look at singer-guitarist Karima Santi, who cut her teeth in jazz, folk, and punk groups on the other side of the decade up in the Raleigh-Durham area. Sure, those bands kept Karima busy, and yet at the same time, none of them managed to quite suit Santi’s specific niche of styles and tastes. So by the time she moved down here to Austin, COVID creeping up behind, Santi’d already begun zeroing in on solo songwriting, releasing her streaming debut “You in 3/4” that August.
Since then, Karima’s repertoire of indie rock originals has reached the hundreds, and her connections with local industry heavyweights has only expanded after recording at feel flow studio back in 2021. Case in point: Karima’s recently collaborated with a dream team of Austin talent plus Grammy-nominated producer/engineer Chris “Frenchie” Smith at The Bubble to give her Mazzy Star-meets-Cat Power compositions their best set of legs possible. On top of that, she just made her SoFar sounds debut on Veteran’s Day.
So while it’s easy enough to admire Karima Santi in this still-fledgling phase, we can also appreciate the anxiety that must come from starting fresh in a new town with a lifetime’s worth of tunes in tow. And following October’s “Underwater”, Santi speaks to that unease with her deceptively downtempo latest, “Space”. Its overlapping guitars and unwavering drums forge an acoustic-electric garrison around Santi’s emotional vocals for a four-minute masterpiece of moodiness.
The real history behind Goatman’s Bridge is scarier than any ghost story
After almost seven weeks, striking autoworkers reach deals with the Big 3 automakers. Why Texas played a critical role.
Scientists recently got to see a collision of two stars in space – and its aftermath.
The president has released an executive order on artificial intelligence. How far does it go, and will it go far enough?
The tale of Goatman’s Bridge has a history that haunts Texas to its core. The Standard’s Sean Saldana takes us to Denton for the story.
And: What would Texas cryptids look like in real life? We visited an elementary school art class to get some ideas.
The McDonald Observatory
(AKA the stars at night)
This Typewriter Rodeo poems celebrates one of Texas’ most beloved scientific treasures.
NASA mission sounds like a reality show, but it’s gathering data for a Mars journey
One of the state’s biggest counties is looking for a new top election official amid friction over the difficulty of running non-partisan elections. With early voting underway in races statewide, why the resignation of the top elections official in Tarrant County has special resonance.
A closer look at claims of Republican voter suppression in Harris County: how does the narrative square with the data?
In parts of rural Texas, growing opposition to solar and wind farms, where Texas has taken a lead.
And a virtual mission to Mars, in a hangar south of Houston? Four people, one year, and little contact with the outside world.
Largest teacher prep program in Texas at risk of losing accreditation
A long awaited report on Maternal Mortality in Texas is now two months delayed and may not be available for the next legislative session. We’ll have the latest. Other stories we’re tracking: amid a statewide teacher shortage, the biggest teacher accreditation program in Texas now facing the possible loss of accreditation. We’ll hear more. And after several local ordinances to decriminalize marijuana pass on the November ballot, a pushback from many local officials. Also a singer from El Paso who’s new release, Frontera, is turning a spotlight on latino voices in country music. Our conversation with Valerie Ponzio, the week in Texas politics with the Texas Tribune and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: November 16, 2022
With an expected split in power on Capitol Hill, what does that mean for Texans? Coming up, the Texas Tribune’s Matthew Choi on bills that could affect Texas in a big way, and the potential for gridlock In Congress. Also, after the winter power disaster of 2021, Texas officials rolling out a plan to help one of the most vulnerable groups of Texans: dialysis patients. And for the first time since the end of the Apollo program, NASA takes a giant leap to the moon. More on today’s launch of Artemis 1 and what’s ahead. And with interest rates rising and turbulence in the housing market, the Dallas fed raises red flags. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: November 04, 2022
It’s the last day to vote early in the midterm elections but Texans haven’t been showing up at the pace they did last time; we’ll look at why. And one of the races on every Texan’s ballot is for state comptroller. So what exactly does the comptroller do and what separates the two top party candidates? Also on the ballot may be a change to your city charter, what’s that mean and what’s at stake? And we’ll meet a 75-year old Texan running his 75th marathon. These stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: September 27, 2022
One small crash for a rocket, how much of a leap for humankind? Why the dart asteroid mission matters. Other stories we’re tracking, fresh threats from Russia to use nuclear weapons as it creates a pretext for the permanent annexation of parts of eastern Ukraine. A Baylor professor and former advisor to the Ukrainian government talks about what comes next. Also the Texas workforce commission says it overpaid many unemployment recipients. But critics say their tactics to get the money back are heavy handed and in many cases, target the wrong people. Also brand Beto and the gubernatorial race: Dan Solomon of Texas Monthly with a closer look and more today on the Texas Standard: