supreme court

Everything you need to know about cedar fever

Arguments are set for today in a challenge to Texas’ near-total abortion ban. Eleanor Klibanoff of the Texas Tribune with more about a major abortion case before the state Supreme Court.

A securities case before the U.S. Supreme Court could destroy the U.S. government, according to some critics. We’ll try to sort the hyperbole from the facts.

A Texas-based international relations expert weighs in with more on the extended ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

They call it cedar fever season – only there’s no fever, and for some, the suffering lasts more than a season. Top tips for dealing with a Texas scourge.

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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.

Why thousands of dead fish washed up along the Gulf Coast

Who implements a new law that bans “sexually explicit” material in Texas public school libraries – and how? We’ll talk with the president of the Texas Library Association about what’s being described by proponents as a child protection move, and by critics as the latest attempt to censor and ban books for young people with limited access.

The annual meeting of the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., Southern Baptists, debates women pastors and how to address abuse allegations.

Plus, what’s behind the tens of thousands of dead fish washing up on Texas Gulf Coast beaches.

KUT Morning Newscast for January 9, 2023

Central Texas top stories for January 9, 2023. ERCOT Texas Supreme Court. Austin ISD registration postponed. Voting Bills in the Texas Legislature. Rep. Hinojosa on school funding. COVID-19 Omicron sub-variant. UT mapping deep space. Longhorn Men’s Basketball.

Texas Standard: November 22, 2022

Texas has more residents without health insurance than any other state; now a Wall Street Journal investigation shows how obstacles are put in front of patients who would be eligible for financial aid. We’ll have more. And the US supreme court mulling a case out of Texas that involves Native Americans and foster care. Also, a new report on a nursing shortage in Texas. And what the city of Dallas is trying to do to cut down on street encampments. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:

SCOTUS

A leaked draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade has dominated this week’s headlines. It was the inspiration behind this week’s Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Texas Standard: September 20, 2021

A rough and tumble year in Texas politics is set to get even tougher as Texas lawmakers gather today to redraw the states political maps. As redistricting takes center stage again in Texas, a major change in how those maps will be redrawn has many worried communities of color and interest stand to lose their strength without federal oversight. We’ll hear more. Also why so many companies, eager to position their brands, are avoiding weighing in on Texas’ new abortion law. And a new documentary on a woman who changed the face of the Supreme Court, but is seldom thought of as a native Texan. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: August 25, 2021

One of the first moves of the Biden administration was ending the so-called remain in Mexico program. But the Supreme Court says the program must remain in place for now. We’ll hear more. Also, tens of thousands of Afghans set to arrive in the U.S. Many of them to be resettled in Texas. We’ll hear how the process works. And what’s behind the sudden rise of Regeneron? Why the Covid-fighting therapy is getting new attention. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: June 8, 2021

More than 40-thousand Texas immigrants have Temporary Protected Status. A unanimous Supreme Court ruling affects some of them, we’ll have details. Also, in the first legislative session since mass shootings in El Paso and Odessa. We look at what lawmakers did on the issue of guns. And houses across Texas are flying off the real estate market sometimes more than $100k above asking. What’s the perspective from real estate agents? And what’s the Internet infrastructure look like to serve Texans moving further from the city centers? Plus, a new book challenges the myth behind one of Texas’ most prominent symbols. The argument that we should forget the Alamo. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: November 12, 2020

Texas crosses a critical 1 million mark in COVID-19 cases, and the governor sends help to Lubbock as hospitals reach capacity, we’ll have the latest. Other stories we are tracking: a post-election push to update voting machines in Texas’ biggest county. What’s wrong with the old ones? We’ll follow the paper trail, or lack thereof. Also the top vote getter in Texas history and what it says about the intersection of politics and how top judges get picked in Texas. Plus he was a Texas sharecroppers son in a Jim Crow Navy. Now a super carrier will bear his name. 8 decades after his heroics at Pearl Harbor, Dorie Miller gets his due. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: November 11, 2020

It is perhaps fittingly called the case of California versus Texas. At issue: whether the Affordable Care Act will survive. We’ll take a closer look at likely outcomes. At stake in a closely watched case heard yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court: something much bigger than politics, namely health insurance for more than 20 million Americans, protections from denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions and more. How convincing was Texas’ legal case against it? And a woman in Houston set to make space history with the next moonshot. Plus are you ready for some football? Texas voters seem to be having second thoughts. Those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: October 6, 2020

A police shooting in a small north Texas town over the weekend now. A 22 year old police officer charged with the murder of Jonathan Price. We’ll have more. Also, another sort of Supreme Court battle, this one happening at the polls in Texas. We’ll explore. And it wasn’t so much the wind, but the rain–a researcher sounding the alarm over hurricanes that stall, a new normal? Plus the case of the missing students, during a pandemic. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died September 18. She is remembered as a force in the legal community — staunchly working towards gender equality. She was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.

Texas Standard: September 21, 2020

She was a fearless voice of dissent and change, and left a lasting mark on history. What comes next with the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg? President Trump has promised to announce her replacement as soon as this week. We’ll explore the Texas nexus of a story with enormous implications on the home front and beyond. Also the high tech fight between the U.S. and China over TikTok and why the stakes for Texas may be higher than some realize. Plus a relief for families with loved ones in eldercare centers, but a recipe for disaster? Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: June 18, 2020

The high court pushes back on a DACA rollback, but leaves open many questions about the future of the program that protects hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation, we’ll take a closer look. Also, understanding Juneteenth: a firsthand reflection on its importance. Plus the first FDA approved video game: a high tech prescription to help young people with attention deficit challenges. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: May 19, 2020

Bars, tattoo parlors and rodeos. What a return to normal is shaping up as in Texas as Governor Abbott moves to the next stage in reopening. Reopening dates vary by industry and rules aren’t being relaxed everywhere at once. Tony Plohetski of KVUE and the Austin American Statesman spells it out. Also, is the U.S. Government fast tracking child deportations? And why are so many small businesses having trouble getting promised aid? Plus the Hill Country spider that caught the attention of the Texas Supreme Court. Those stories and more today on the National News Show of Texas:

Spencer Haywood (Ep. 11, 2020)

This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. presents a 2015 interview with ground-breaking and record-setting NBA legend Spencer Haywood. Haywood was inducted into The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2015.

The Republic of Texas is No More

Later this year, way later this year, we’ll mark the 175th year of Texas statehood. That will be on December 29th. That’s the day in 1845 that Texas officially joined The United States of America, or, as the proudest of Texans say – the day the U.S. was allowed to join Texas.

Though the 29th was the day that President Polk signed the joint resolution that made Texas a state, there was some confusion as to the official moment that the Republic of Texas passed into history and statehood status began. Then President of Texas, Anson Jones, said that February 19th, 1846 was the actual day. He presided over a ceremony in Austin where the Republic of Texas flag was lowered for the last time and the U.S. flag was raised in its place.

As you might surmise, the almost two months difference in official transfer of power led to problems. For instance, who should you pay import duties to, Texas or the U.S.? Lawsuits followed. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually weighed in on the matter and the official date of statehood was established as December the 29th, 1845. Make your checks payable to the U.S. Treasury, please.

You might see the discrepancy in statehood as the difference in marriage dates between a couple marrying first at the courthouse and later in church. One is legal and official and the other is ceremonial and spiritual.

Texas couldn’t just let President Polk’s signing of a document 1500 miles away be all there was to the moment. They couldn’t allow the Republic so many had died for to pass into history without memorializing the moment in some proper way. So President Anson arranged a ceremony in front of the Texas Capitol, really just a house, that would turn out to both mourn the passing of the Republic and celebrate Texas as the newest state in the union.

What was needed here was what linguists call a speech act, a moment in time where something is made real by virtue of pronouncement. Speech acts are generally used by people of authority who have the power to make the words true by just saying them. “I pronounce you man and wife” or “I sentence you to twenty years in prison.” Anson Jones began with “I, as President of the Republic. . . am now present to surrender into the hands of those whom the people of chosen, the power and authority we have some time held.”

Here is what transpired in that brief ceremony. Noah Smithwick, a blacksmith in attendance, remembered the moment the Texas flag came down.

“Many a head was bowed, many a broad chest heaved, and many a manly cheek was wet with tears when that broad field of blue in the center of which, like a signal light, glowed the lone star, emblem of the sovereignty of Texas, was furled and laid away among the relics of the dead republic.”

The United States flag was raised and the mood changed dramatically. Noah wrote:

“We were most of us natives of the United States, and when the stars and stripes, the flag of our fathers, was run up and catching the breeze unrolled its heaven born colors to the light, cheer after cheer rent the air” — the people celebrated statehood.

I like that Noah tended already toward that creature still common in Texas—the exceptionally proud Texan. He said that he thought “the star in the lower left corner [of the U.S. flag] should have been especially dedicated to Texas.” It’s as if he wanted it framed and separated in some way. How Texan of him.

So the flag raising complete, President Anson Jones announced, “The Republic of Texas is no more”—making it politically true, but never absolute, because the residual influence of the Republic resides in the minds of many Texans today who still think of her as their country, their nation.

No doubt it was a bittersweet day, but 94% of Texans did vote for statehood, a level of agreement we haven’t enjoyed since. There was great happiness on the whole. Tyler, Texas, was founded that same year, in gratitude to U.S. President John Tyler, who started the movement for Texas annexation.

For a more in-depth look at this day, see:
When Was the Republic of Texas No More?: Revisiting the Annexation of Texas by Keith J. Volanto & Gene B. Preuss, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 123, Number 1, July 2019, pp. 30-59

Texas Standard: January 25, 2019

Slate magazine claims the supreme court is preparing to make every states gun laws look like Texas, but is that claim on target? We’ll take a closer look. Also, when was the last time a nuclear arms treaty was making headlines? Why some are warning of a renewed arms race with Russia. And we’ll take a look at the week that was in Texas politics, plus an original Cosmic Cowboy comes home again: singer songwriter Michael Martin Murphy teams up with who’s who of Texas talent in search of old Austin. All those stories and a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

Texas Standard: January 23, 2019

The Supreme Court appears to take DACA off the table in shutdown negotiations, but where does that leave thousands of DACA recipients in Texas? We’ll explore. Also in the Texas Standard newsroom, another Supreme Court order we’re assessing: the impact of the reinstatement of the Trump administration’s so-called transgender military ban. We’ll take a look at the impact of those seeking to serve. And police, veterans, cancer research, political action committees have formed around lots of worthy causes. But where’s the money going? A look at so called scam pacs and more today on the Texas Standard: