Texas Standard

Texas Standard > All Episodes

August 8, 2024

Federal COVID dollars for schools go away as Texas districts struggle

By: Laura Rice

Texas educators are preparing for the start of a new school year as billions of dollars in federal support expires.
Houston ISD is preparing to go to taxpayers with a bond proposal – but the idea is not without controversy.
Wastewater from fracking is spewing out of abandoned wells. What we’ve learned from a new study that confirms what many living around the oil patch have long expected.
Plus: The new movie “Sing Sing” is a very different take on the prison film. A conversation with Texas-based producer Monique Walton and director Greg Kwedar.


Episodes

July 18, 2025

The rise of Maren Morris

As lawmakers return to Austin for a special session, who got the most accomplished in the regular? Why the numbers don’t tell the whole story.With state legislators set to take up flood relief and related matters, we’ll hear how the region’s fairing two weeks after those deadly flash floods, and we’ll hear about efforts concentrated […]

Listen

July 17, 2025

Who really got things done at the Legislature?

As lawmakers get ready to return to the Capitol in a special session, a new report shows billions more are needed to address flooding.Who are the most productive lawmakers in the Legislature? The Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey takes a closer look.Remember when there were growing concerns about a population explosion? In a new book, UT […]

Listen

July 16, 2025

Conspiracy theorists said ‘cloud seeding’ caused the Texas floods. It did not.

Online rumors are blaming cloud seeding for the deadly Texas floods, even though the science doesn’t support it.Along with flood recovery and THC regulation, Texas lawmakers are tasked with redrawing congressional districts in their special session. The connection to racial gerrymandering.Volunteers and rescue workers have descended on the Hill Country to help with flood recovery […]

Listen

July 15, 2025

Climatologist explains what ‘1,000-year flood’ actually means

With the Hill Country devastated by deadly floods, many are asking: What’s a 100-year or 1,000-year flood, and are these terms outdated?A closer look at how first responders from Mexico are helping in Kerr County.A new report from the University of Texas at El Paso warns of growing job losses in Juárez’s maquiladora industry.The health […]

Listen

July 14, 2025

Trucking industry faces new border bottleneck

More rain pummels the waterlogged Hill Country, putting a pause on search efforts and bringing a new wave of weather warnings to the region. We’ll talk with James Hartley of KERA, who’s been in Kerrville this weekend.Stuffed animals are strewn across flood-ravaged Texas. People are trying to get them to their owners.The Trump administration is […]

Listen

July 11, 2025

In wake of Hill Country floods, how to talk to kids about tragedy

A week after the Hill Country floods, the president and first lady will visit Kerr County as the search for the missing continues and storms are in the forecast for the weekend.Talking to kids about tragedy: A Dallas-based pediatric psychologist on how to deal with their questions and their anxieties.Gov. Greg Abbott has added flood […]

Listen

July 10, 2025

Processing the range of emotions surrounding Hill Country flood tragedy

The Texas Newsroom finds that responders to the Hill Country floods called for a public alert early Friday, a warning some say came hours too late.The upcoming special session of the Legislature, which originally looked like it would focus on regulating THC, now includes several emergency preparedness topics.And: Gillian Rodriguez with the Texas Counseling Association […]

Listen

July 9, 2025

A Guadalupe River regular shares her family’s survival story

A bill in the Texas Legislature this past session would have created a grant program for emergency communication. It didn’t pass. In the days since the deadly flooding, engineers have already modeled what happened on the Guadalupe River. What they say about how we should rebuild. A harrowing story of survival: Our conversation with a […]

Listen