Texas Standard

December 13, 2024

A special broadcast from Abilene

Today we come to you from one of Texas’ once great railroad towns – and though the trains aren’t so much a central part of life here anymore, something else has happened that’s been bringing people, prosperity and a sense of renewal back to Abilene. An AI-focused facility could transform the Big Country region. Ahead […]

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December 12, 2024

Trade schools thrive as electric vehicle demand grows

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued two giants of the chemical business, 3M and DuPont, over so-called forever chemicals contained in household objects.A new kind of car needs a new kind of mechanic. The Standard’s Kristen Cabrera goes inside a school for hybrid and electric vehicle repairs.The old art form of tintype photography is […]

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December 11, 2024

Big Bend seeks artists to capture park’s rugged beauty

Last night’s chill has many Texans asking how the state’s power grid is looking for the winter. How much has changed since the freeze and blackouts of February 2021? Mose Buchele of KUT News has been keeping tabs.The Texas legislative session hasn’t even started, yet more than one representative claims to be the de facto […]

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December 10, 2024

Cold snap grips West Texas and the borderlands

What possible cuts to Medicaid under the new Trump administration could mean in Texas, which already limits coverage.A cold front is blowing through El Paso, bringing high winds and freezing temperatures.Princeton’s growing pains have led to tension in its mayoral runoff election.Most of those involved in high-speed chases by state troopers going after suspected smugglers […]

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December 9, 2024

What exactly does the Texas House speaker do?

Dade Phelan is out, and a bruising battle for speaker of the Texas House is set to begin – unless it’s already over? Over the weekend, GOP members backed David Cook, but Dustin Burrows claimed he had enough votes to override the caucus. What does a House speaker do, anyway?In a stunning turn of events, a coalition […]

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December 6, 2024

House Speaker Dade Phelan bows out of leadership reelection bid

Facing a challenge from fellow Republicans, Dade Phelan says he’s dropping his bid for re-election as Texas House speaker.Texas has some of the most expensive insurance in the nation, forcing homeowners to pay more for less coverage.Desert bighorn sheep return to the Franklin Mountains of El Paso, a major milestone in restoring the species.While the […]

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December 5, 2024

Uranium mining poised for a comeback in South Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about restrictions on gender-affirming care for young people. What a ruling could mean.Texas elected officials will soon have to start disclosing more information about the properties they own – changes that could reveal more about Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent real estate transactions.Houston-based Enron went very publicly kaput more […]

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December 4, 2024

Texas’ ghost towns spotlight rural population shifts

Martial law has now been lifted in South Korea – Texas’ fourth-largest trading partner – but the effects may not be as short-lived. A top Texas expert tells us why.Ongoing casualties in what was long touted as the war on drugs: Kevin Krause of The Dallas Morning News analyzed a decade of meth sentencing data […]

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