KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts
KUT and KUTX news and music podcasts for Austin, Texas and beyond
Crashing oil prices drain hundreds of millions of dollars from the State Highway Fund. So I can gas up my car for cheap but who’s gonna pay to fix the roads? Also the Texas tax man says the sky is NOT falling, but in many cases cities are left holding the tab for road repair. And why is Texas billionaire Michael Dell placing big bets on tiny TV stations Plus: how Uber and Lyft are forcing cities to bend the rules on background checks. Those stories and lots more on todays Texas Standard:
May 31, 2023
Uvalde mariachi team’s win was a bright spot in a year of darkness
Why couldn’t Republicans who control the Legislature see eye to eye? There’s a cost to Texas taxpayers that comes with the Legislature going into overtime. Professor Mark Jones of Rice University helps us crunch the numbers. The Texas Education Agency is expected to take over the Houston Independent School District on Thursday. We’ll take a […]
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May 30, 2023
What’s in store for lawmakers’ first special session?
The gavels have fallen on the 88th legislative session, yet lawmakers are still in action, as the governor called the first of what are expected to be multiple special sessions. We’ll look at the unfinished business on the agenda, and a special focus on where we stand with several bills related to public education. The […]
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May 29, 2023
Reviewing this session of the Texas Legislature
For the first time in Texas history, the House voted to impeach the state’s highest law enforcement official, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate for Attorney General Ken Paxton. The drama comes as the Texas Legislature gets set to end its 88th session today. But already, with some of the Gov. Greg […]
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May 26, 2023
Texas House committee recommends impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton
As the Texas Legislature moves into the final hours of the 88th session, a Republican-led House committee has issued 20 articles of impeachment against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleging a yearslong pattern of misconduct by the state’s top law enforcement official. What happened to the $30 billion+ surplus lawmakers started out with this session? […]
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May 25, 2023
What are the weirdest laws in Texas?
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 […]
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May 24, 2023
Sen. Roland Gutierrez on Uvalde, one year later
On the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Uvalde that left 19 fourth-graders and two teachers dead, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez says he’s still pushing for gun reform. Meanwhile, trust in police remains frail in Uvalde. A report from Matamoros on migrants in limbo after the end of Title 42. As Austin firefighters rack […]
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May 23, 2023
What do Texans think of the Legislature’s actions this session?
Economists call it political theater, but the implications of failure to reach a debt ceiling deal are very real. As Washington faces a debt deadline, lawmakers in Texas race to beat the clock on the end of the legislative session, and one issue in particular could send them into overtime: The latest on the big […]
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May 22, 2023
Why the Rio Grande Valley is a transit desert
It started 5 months ago, and if all goes according to plan, it ends this week. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán of the Texas Newsroom joins us with his look ahead at the final days of the Texas legislative session. And what happens to the many proposals that didn’t pass? To understand, a knowledge of zombies might be […]
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