Texas Standard

July 11, 2023

2024 Senate race comes into focus as Gutierrez announces candidacy

In a second special session, Texas House and Senate leaders reach a deal on property tax relief. What does it add up to? State Sen. Roland Gutierrez has announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate, making him the second high-profile Democrat – along with Rep. Colin Allred – to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz. How Texas has […]

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July 10, 2023

Is Paycheck Protection Program fraud partly behind the home price spike?

A planned buoy barrier along the Rio Grande designed to prevent migrant crossings faces legal obstacles of its own. What’s known and what isn’t about the man who had been reported missing in the Houston area for eight years – who had only really been missing for about a day. Could pandemic-era abuses be partly […]

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July 8, 2023

Texas Extra: More from a Texas intersex advocate about what we all need to know about bodies

We’re experimenting with bonus episodes here at the Standard. This one is another extended interview. This conversation with political consultant and intersex activist Alicia Roth Weigel first aired Thursday. We had so much to talk about when it came to her experiences in life and with her new movie — “Every Body” — and we […]

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July 7, 2023

A Texas program pushes drivers to pay old tickets – and over 600,000 have lost their licenses

A federal courtroom was filled with anger and tears as relatives of the victims of the 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart faced the gunman ahead of his sentencing. Julián Aguilar of the Texas Newsroom shares more. A program aimed at helping Texans pay off old tickets has left hundreds of thousands without […]

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July 6, 2023

Houston sues state over ‘Death Star’ law that will block local ordinances

Houston has sued the state to try and block the “Death Star” law that will block local regulations from being enacted at the city and county level. Why several homes and businesses flooded during Hurricane Harvey may be passing up a last chance for compensation. A new documentary, “Every Body,” turns the spotlight on people […]

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July 5, 2023

How the Legislature’s property tax cut proposals differ

A regular session and now two specials – what will it take to get lawmakers to agree on a property tax cut plan? A closer look at why the two approaches are at the center of a political battle. Sentencing begins in a federal courtroom this week for the gunman who killed 23 people at […]

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July 4, 2023

Pumped: Food, fuel and the future of Texas – A Texas Standard special

We don’t think of gas stations much, yet they are fixtures across Texas, and tell us a lot about who we are and where we’re going. There are more than 11,000 of them scattered across the state – along major highways and tiny backroads alike, they fuel up long haul trucks, hungry commuters and sometimes […]

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July 3, 2023

How to keep yourself and your pets safe this Fourth of July

Texas prison heat is an issue we’ve highlighted on this program for years. Why it’s not being solved quickly. Abortion access is one of the top political issues in Texas. So how did state lawmakers manage to quietly pass a bill clarifying exceptions to the ban? On the eve of July Fourth, we’ll give you […]

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