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Texas Standard’s commentator remembers the Academy Award-winning actor who was not born a Texan, but played a heck of one on TV and film.
Stories From Texas is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas.
You can support our work by donating at supportthispodcast.org.
There may be no personal income tax in Texas, but property tax? That’s another thing. And perhaps, the next big thing in Texas politics. The Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey joins us with more on what’s emerging as a new theme in Texas politics for 2026: Property taxes.
4 million Texans signed up for health plans from the Affordable Care Act marketplace, and all are expected to be paying more for their premiums in the new year if subsidies are allowed to expire.
And look back at some of the big stories in TV and film in Texas as we close out the year.
Texas A&M President Mark Welsh is resigning after a week of turmoil over a viral video and a clash over gender identity content in the classroom.
What’s behind Texas’ redistricting push? KUT’s Mose Buchele reports on a political strategy started decades ago.
The flesh-eating new world screwworm, a parasite once eradicated from Texas, has been detected within striking distance of the border. What species may be most vulnerable.
The new documentary “When We Were Live” reflects on public access TV in Austin through rare archival footage and interviews with local producers.
At the Texas Capitol, a big shift in focus as the spotlight swings from bare-knuckle politics to long-delayed flood relief.
Food is labeling set to change in Texas as a sweeping new law takes effect aimed at, among other things, alerting shoppers to ingredients long the focus of concern in other countries.
Austin-based filmmaker Noah Hawley likes to play in the worlds of some of his favorite directors – and he’s doing it again with Ridley Scott’s “Alien.” Hawley joins the Standard to talk “Alien: Earth.”
Alpha School, an AI-focused private school in Austin, puts an emphasis on parental choice. The Standard’s Zachary Suri has the story.
Plus: How the looming college football season is looking for Texas teams.
Texas Standard is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas.
You can support this podcast at supportthispodcast.org
At the Capitol, an intraparty rivalry between Republicans explodes into the open. The dueling charges between Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dade Phelan are so personal and serious, some longtime Capitol watchers are characterizing the battle as among the most significant in Texas political history. Lauren McGaughey of the Dallas Morning news will have details.
After a scandal at a Bastrop foster care facility, Texas lawmakers pass two new bills to crack down on abuses.
We’ll have more on a vigil last night in Uvalde marking the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
The Texas Legislature will finish its session having made lots of new laws. But there are plenty of old laws on the books that seem pretty weird by today’s standards.
And debt collectors get a new high-tech tool.
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”.
Five men are handed over in Mexico along with a letter purportedly from the Gulf Cartel apologizing for the “senseless crime” of violently kidnapping four Americans, leaving two of them and one Mexican dead. U.S. officials say the apology seems authentic, though perhaps not sincere.
What’s being done to combat the nation’s shortage of truck drivers.
A sneak peek at the start of SXSW Film as the festival kicks off in Austin.
And the week in politics with the Texas Tribune.
Nearly 400,000 homes and businesses are still without power in Texas, but the worst of the freezing rain may be behind us. Mose Buchele of the Disconnect podcast and KUT Austin joins us with more on the power situation.
A new poll suggests a disconnect between the headlines and what Texans really think of the state’s public schools.
Our focus on the push to cut property taxes in the Texas Legislature turns to how schools are funded in Texas.
And an effort to turn attention to a largely forgotten story of how Chinese labor helped to build West Texas.
Oh the weather outside is gonna get frightful, how low could temperatures go? And what should Texans do now to be prepared? All of the state expected to be affected by plummeting temperatures. We’ll check in with the Dallas Fort Worth office of the national weather service for the latest. Also a standoff between the U.S. and Mexico over corn. Most of Mexico’s corn comes from the U.S., but Mexico’s president is considering a ban, one that could have major ripple effects for both countries. Also, the latest on a newspaper strike in Fort Worth. And Michael Marks with the story of one very expensive Longhorn. All that and then some today on the Texas Standard:
A record setting state surplus. So how do Texas lawmakers plan to use it? With just 40 days to go before the Texas legislature gets back to work, education and energy at the top of the list of priorities for the most powerful figure in the Texas senate. Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune helps unpack the latest. Also high drama in an El Paso courtroom where the top prosecutor in the case against the accused Wal-Mart mass shooter is a no show and the judge threatening possible arrest of the DA. And a shout out for amateur skywatchers to help Texas researchers find galaxies. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
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:
The Supreme Court rules in a case involving death row inmates and the involvement of spiritual advisors at executions. We’ll look at the implications. Other stories were tracking: after a court ordered stay, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton appeals to the Texas supreme court to permit child abuse investigations into parents who help their transgender kids access gender-affirming care. Also, with the expiration of pandemic bans on evictions, something somewhat unexpected happening in some courtrooms. We’ll hear the backstory. Plus the week in Texas politics and the search for the ultimate roller coaster. All that and more today on the Texas Standard:
Urgent meetings between President Biden and NATO officials. What’s next in the pushback against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? Other stories we’re tracking: a new Omicron variant sparks new concerns for Texans, as health officials alter their approach in the fight against COVID-19. We’ll have the latest. Also how the pandemic is changing the nursing profession. And Texas’ missing ocelots. Only a hundred or so are believed to be living free in south Texas, but experts are hoping to turn things around. How they plan to do that plus Omar Gallaga on tech dramas taking over video streaming menus and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Confusion and widespread rejections of mail-in ballot applications statewide as a registration day approaches. Also, Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir on the early impact of changes to voting laws. And why the world’s only binational professional baseball team may say bye-bye for good to its Laredo home. All that and more today on the Texas Standard:
She was a new Texas attorney with little experience who won her case before the Supreme Court setting a precedent on reproductive rights. The passing of Sarah Weddington comes as many across the nation wonder how much longer the rights established in her best known case, Roe vs. Wade, will endure. We’ll have more. Also, with winters’ return an investigation of the hazards of portable power generators linked to fatalities during the statewide blackouts. And researchers in South Texas seek answers to the question ‘why are Latinos disproportionately affected by Alzheimer’s?’. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
The 2020 Olympics (taking place in 2021) have, as usual, been filled with stories of challenge, triumph, disappointment. Kari Anne Holt has been watching it all. And that was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Lights camera, Texas! In 2020, the eyes of Texas were on small screens everywhere as streaming video reached a new peak. From Selena revisited to a journey inside Texas Boys State, from a drag queen in Paris, Texas to the untold story of Johnny Cash’s first wife who hailed from San Antonio. Texans and Texas itself took center stage as the world went on lockdown and turned to the big streams. This hour, we’re looking at TV and film with a Texas twist in a special year end edition of the Texas Standard:
A stern warning from the federal judge overseeing reform of Texas’ foster care system: further resistance will be worse than futile. We’ll have the story. Also, the president makes it clear he won’t be cooperating with the house impeachment process. What’s less clear: what this means for what many have predicted to be a transitional election season in Texas politics. We’ll explore. And skyrocketing heat-related injuries in the military. Now there’s an attempt at a radical ‘about face’. Those stories and so much more today on the Texas Standard:
By W. F. Strong
Ever heard of the Gunsmoke Rule?
It was created several years ago by TV ratings guru Bill Gorman. He noticed that sports cable channel shows like ESPN’s “First Take” were being beaten by Gunsmoke reruns. In fact, Newsday found in a sample a few years ago that all but seven of the 276 sports programs on cable television one day were being beaten by Gunsmoke reruns, even though the show went off the air more than 40 years ago. So the message to sports show programmers was, “If you’re not beating Gunsmoke, you’ve got little to crow about.”
And that’s just Gunsmoke reruns.
When Gunsmoke was actually on the air in prime-time during its 20 year run, it was often the number one show on television. It was enormously popular in Texas. As a kid I remember it being the last show I could watch Saturday night before being rushed off to bed. I always felt deeply connected to the culture of the show and I recently learned why.
Not long ago I was I visiting with an old friend and colleague, Dr. Jack Stanley who wrote his dissertation on “Gunsmoke.” We were discussing the show and he said to me, “Did you know that Matt Dillon was a Texan?”
“No,” I said, “I didn’t.”
Dillon is the central character of Gunsmoke — the U.S. Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas. In the series, he often goes to Texas to bring back a bad guy. I didn’t know, though, that Matt Dillon was from Texas.
It’s true. Jack told me that in the last made-for-TV Gunsmoke movie, which aired in 1994, “One Man’s Justice,” it was revealed that Matt was born in San Antonio.
His father was, in fact, a Texas Ranger and was killed in the line of duty. But Matt didn’t move immediately in the direction of becoming a law man. The movie reveals he spent some years in the Texas Panhandle where he sowed his wild oats and crossed paths with outlaws who tried to corrupt him. He resisted and moved on to Kansas where he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a U.S. Marshal, the iron-handed law man of Dodge City.
Another thing you might not know is that, originally, the show was on the radio. It opened with this line from the narrator:
“Around Dodge City and in the territory on West, there’s only one way to handle the killers and spoilers … with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gunsmoke.”
William Conrad played Matt Dillon on radio, but when the show moved to TV, another Texas favorite, John Wayne, was supposed to play Matt Dillon. He decided against it, though, and convinced James Arness, a man who was often his double in movies, to take the role.
On TV, the show opened in its early seasons with no narration. It showed a quick-draw gunfight between Matt and an outlaw, which Matt won, of course.
There is a close-up of Matt’s post-fight grimace that seems to say, “Business as usual. Bad guys making bad choices.”
Gunsmoke still has enormous viewership, almost half a century since it quit putting out new episodes. It’s on TV-Land these days and based on my own survey of Texans, including my brother Redneck Dave and his crowd of six retirees, it’s on several hours a day in their households. I myself subscribe to the Western Channel just so I can watch Gunsmoke. And now that I know that Matt was a Texan, which I always suspected, I will enjoy all the more.
This Typewriter Rodeo poem is for all the ‘Game Of Thrones’ fans who just don’t know what they’re going to do with themselves on Sunday nights now that the show has concluded.