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April 13, 2023

Texas county may shutter its library before it returns banned books to the stacks

By: David Brown

Attorneys for a man convicted of fatally shooting a Black Lives Matter protester in Austin in 2020 are asking for a retrial – a request that comes after Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to review the conviction.

The debate over school vouchers, or a variation called education savings accounts, has just passed by the Texas Senate. Are there parallels with a decades-old debate over charter schools in Texas?

In Llano County, after a federal order to return books with LGBTQ -and race-related content to library shelves, commissioners today take up whether to close down the library system altogether.

Also: What could be a new tipping point in offshoring jobs.


Episodes

April 6, 2026

What Trump’s election executive order could mean for voting

A runoff in the Houston area between challenger Christian Menefee and longtime incumbent Al Green is being seen as part of a much bigger fight for the future of Texas Democrats.Also, an executive order from the Trump administration may put the postal service in the middle of election-year politics.Also — explosions on the other side […]

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April 4, 2026

Texas Extra: City manager remains optimistic in the face of Corpus Christi’s water crisis

David Brown speaks with Corpus Christi city manager Peter Zanoni about how the city plans to beef up its water supplies, the state’s role and why no water emergency has been declared.

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April 3, 2026

Corpus Christi official says the city will never run out of water

Despite warnings of a water crisis, Corpus Christi’s top official overseeing water says “we will never run out.” Gov. Greg Abbott has warned of a state takeover if the city can’t deal with a water crisis. The city manager tells Texas Standard why he’s so reluctant to declare a water emergency. The maker of a […]

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April 2, 2026

What the Artemis II liftoff means for the future of space exploration

Control of Artemis II has been handed over to Houston: we’ll hear about the launch and what appears to be a big boost in interest in the space program. But it’s getting a little tight up there above the air: concerns about orbital traffic jams after a second Starlink satellite breaks apart. Texas prisons without […]

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April 1, 2026

Artemis II mission builds on lunar exploration legacy

What does it mean to born in the U.S.? It’s a question the Supreme Court is considering today. We’ll dig into what’s at stake.Guilty verdicts in the North Texas ICE shooting case meant a victory for the Trump administration in its fight against “antifa,” but how do we even define that movement?We’re heading back to […]

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March 31, 2026

New book on Selena explores the enduring impact of the Queen of Tejano

The Senate race may be capturing all the attention, but don’t forget there’s another election coming up: A look at a couple of the big races on the May primary runoff ballots.Water woes for more Texans: We’ll hear what’s happening in part of East Austin and why.Abandoned wells are all over the Texas oil patch. […]

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March 30, 2026

What Cornyn’s absence at CPAC could signal for Senate race

Tens of thousands of Texans statewide participate in “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration as Texas Republicans try to coalesce for the midterms.Conservatives gathered at CPAC in Grapevine this past weekend, hoping to fend off what may be the most serious Democratic challenge to the Republican monopoly on statewide offices in decades.A conversation with […]

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March 28, 2026

Texas Extra: Talking with NASA ‘Spacewoman’ Eileen Collins

It’s not everyday you meet someone who has been to space — let alone someone who led a mission and broke barriers for women who might want to do the same. Still, not everyone knows about Eileen Collins and her accomplishments. A new documentary aims to change that. Here’s an extended conversation with Collins and […]

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