Hemp flour and other smokable
forms of cannabis are no longer
allowed to be sold in Texas.
What hasn't changed, however, is
Texas law that says it's legal to
possess those kinds of products.
So can Texans procure these
smokables from other states?
It's a complicated answer, we're
going to have more about that.
And UT Austin's Mexican American and
Latina Latino studies will soon be
consolidated into a new department.
Latino studies scholars and
researchers are protesting the
changes while planning for the
future.
The impacts of consolidation at UT
Austin, and in Texas public schools,
coming up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production of
KUT News, hosted by Jerry
Quijano.
Plus, a neighborhood park in West
Austin that was once segregated is
now named for a black Austinite
and Austin High legend.
Come hear his story up next,
right here on Austin Signal.
Howdy out there!
You are tuned in to Austin
Signal. Thanks for spending part of
your day here with us.
I'm your host, Jerry Kehannel.
It is Wednesday, it is the first
day of April.
Hopefully you haven't been fooled
too bad.
We're only bringing you the truth
right here on Austin Signal,
so thanks for being here with
today.
Let's get into the show.
Hemp flour, extracts, and other
smokable forms of
access.
But the Texas law that makes it
illegal to possess smokable
hemp products?
Well, that hasn't changed.
So that leaves open a big question
for Texas consumers.
If state stores cannot sell these
products anymore, can Texans still
order them online from out of
state?
As we hear from KUT's Nathan
Bernier, that answer is
a little bit complicated.
Even though Texas is banning
smokable hemp products, it does not
mean bongs across the state are
going silent.
The new regulations only affect
sales and manufacturing.
For those who want to order out of
state, it's a bit confusing.
State regulators say, no you can't.
Cannabis attorneys say, yes you can,
but acknowledge it's gray area.
These rules are concerning
licensing, not
criminal liability.
Susan Hayes is a lobbyist and
lawyer specializing in cannabis law.
So whether anyone can be criminally
prosecuted for
buying products from out of state
is still gonna be
doubtful and difficult.
And I say difficult both for
legal reasons and also practical
reasons.
Most prosecutors, many
cops, certainly the
majority of the people living in
Texas are over this
idea of criminalizing a
plant.
But the Department of State Health
Services says the new rules
governing sales and manufacturing
also apply to any out-of-state
business selling hemp products into
Texas.
In a statement to KUT News, DSHS
spokesperson Lara Anton said,
quote, There is no carve-out for
mail order, end quote.
In other words, not only are out-
of-state businesses expected to stop
sales of smokable hemp flour into
Texas, but they're also supposed
to start paying the new fees imposed
on hemp businesses.
For retailers, that's $5,000
per location per year.
Attorneys working for the Texas
cannabis industry say enforcing that
across state lines is going to
be hard.
Andrea Steele is with The Banks Law
Firm in Houston.
Had to think about the feasibility
and practicality of enforcement and
the low-hanging fruit is going to be
the enforcement of the people that
they can touch right away.
And so it's going to be more
difficult to locate and
get jurisdiction over an
out-of-state company who's shipping
through interstate commerce, which
is expressly protected in
the 2018 farm bill.
Is there life for me?
That was from the Emmys.
I sang Green Acres.
President Trump signed the 2018 Farm
Bill into law during a big ceremony
at the White House.
It was a
bipartisan success,
something you don't hear too much
about. The 2018 Farm bill
legalized hemp nationwide.
It also prohibits states from
interfering with the transportation
of hemp across state lines.
Texas adopted a very similar law in
2019.
Now, hemp, by the way, is really
just a legal term.
It's used to describe cannabis that
does not have a lot of Delta 9
THC, which is the main ingredient in
weed that gets people high.
Less than 0.3%
Delta 9 by dry weight,
that's legal hemp.
More than 0,3%
delta 9 by dried weight,
that's illegal marijuana.
But cannabis has dozens of
psychoactive compounds, not just
Delta 9.
There's also something called THCA.
And THCA converts
to delta-9 when heated or smoked,
and that's really where most delta-
9 comes from, even in states where
marijuana is legal.
So the new Texas rules basically
treat THCA as delta-
9 for the purposes of selling
and making hemp products.
That's why flour and concentrates
are banned, and it's why edibles
remain legal to sell.
But this is where it gets even more
confusing.
Those are just regulations, not
laws. And they only apply to
licensing and registration.
The Texas law defining what hemp
is has not changed.
So possessing smokeable hemp remains
legal.
And that's why police departments
like Austin's have not changed how
they approach enforcement.
Lieutenant Patrick Eastlick oversees
APD's Tactical Intelligence
Division.
No one, an officer or
even anyone highly trained can
tell the difference between him and
marijuana.
So just by looking at it, you're not
going to be able to determine that.
They're the same plant.
And Austin doesn't have expensive
testing equipment to measure Delta-9
levels and doesn't even prioritize
marijuana arrests anyway.
Eastlick and his colleagues are too
busy tracking down fentanyl and
methamphetamine.
So if Austin police catch someone
with cannabis flower or extract,
they ask to see the packaging.
Usually, it will say that it has
less than 0.3% THC
concentration, so it's the labeling
is the easiest way for
officers to be able to distinguish
between the two.
So it's why it's very important for
folks who have legal
hemp to have the packaging with
them when they're out and about.
If people don't have the packaging,
whether it's hemp or marijuana,
the cannabis will be confiscated and
destroyed.
The Austin cannabis shop ATX
Organics is one of the few hemp
retailers in Texas that grows
their own plants and makes their own
products.
Smokable hemp accounted for about 75
percent of the business, according
to Brandon who owns ATX
Organics.
75% of our
business is going to be
ordered from out of state.
Taxpayer money to money
that we've used to grow this
industry is just going to funneled
into other states, which is
just ridiculous.
And then you're killing jobs,
you're destroying industries.
It's a lot of damage.
So the Texas hemp industry is
planning to fight these regulations
in court, but had to wait until the
rules took effect to file suit.
The Texas Hemp Business Council
plans to seek an immediate
court-ordered pause on the rules,
and that suit is expected in the
coming days.
I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
Education in Texas at the
collegiate and K-12 level
is rearranging, rethinking,
and consolidating what students
learn from social and ethnic
studies.
UT Austin, for example, is
consolidating their ethnic and
gender studies department, while the
Texas State Board of Education is
revising its social studies
curriculum.
For more about what's changing,
we're talking with Greta
Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez.
She is KUT's education reporter.
Greta, thanks for being back on the
show with us.
Hey Jerry, happy to be here.
So let's start first with what's
happening here at UT Austin.
Can you remind us what has been
going on with the UT ethnic studies
departments?
Yeah. So back in February, UT
announced the consolidation of seven
departments into two.
And one of those departments is the
Mexican American and Latina Latino
studies known as mouse.
That's how I'm going to talk about
it. Mouse.
Okay, mouse.
And it will be consolidated with
other three departments including
African and African Diaspora
Studies, American Studies, and
Women's Gender and Sexuality
Studies, and they will become the
Department of Social and Cultural
Analysis.
And so when this was announced back
in February, U.T.
President Jim Davis also said the
curriculum would be reviewed to
determine what majors, minors, and
courses would be offered at the
new departments.
Okay, and you have been following
this story all along.
You can find more from Gretta's
reporting at KUT.org.
Your most recent story was about a
conference that took place here in
Austin.
And along with that conference,
there was also a protest held on
campus. What was that protest about?
Yeah, so I want to talk about the
conference first because yeah,
last week UT hosted the bi-annual
national Latina Latinx Latino
Studies Association meeting and
organizers said that more than 600
academics registered to
come to the conference making it one
of the biggest Latino studies
conferences in the country.
Okay.
And so during that conference, yes,
there was a protest, so researchers
from all over the country protested
the elimination of Miles.
And the president of the
association, David Vasquez, who's
a professor at American University
in Washington, DC, told me
that it was important for them to
hold a meeting at UT as
part of to show solidarity
with the UT community, but also
to show the importance of
the program at UT.
And let me give you context.
So at UT, Latino studies started in
the 70s, and it started because
of community pressure.
And so it started with the Center of
Mexican-American Studies.
And since then, it has been home to
some of the best Chicano, Chicana,
and Latino scholars
in the world, in the country, but in
the word. And it became a department
in 2014,
and students have, PhD students
I have talked to have noted that
it's the only department in Texas.
One of the few in the country to
offer a PhD in Latino studies.
So for them during this protest it
was important to say this is
a very important department
not only in Texas but in the
country.
Well, what is the future
of that department look like?
The consolidation was announced back
in February and things have been
happening slowly.
What does the future look like for
that department?
So we know that it will be
eliminated, but there's still a lot
that we don't know.
When the announcement was made, UT
officials said current students
would be able to graduate from the
programs that they're involved in.
But as I said, I've talked to PhD
students and they worry that that
might not be the case.
They have tried talking with UT
official, but have not succeeded to
have in-person meetings.
And they worry about their research,
research funds, and also of course,
undergraduate students in which
classes they'll be able to teach.
And we've also heard from some
faculty, including Karma Chavez,
who teaches at Miles, that told us
that faculty have been asked to
review current majors and propose
what majors will be offered in
the future.
And we're currently looking into
this, and we hope to know more
about it soon.
Okay, well we will bring you that
reporting here on Austin Signal
whenever we have it.
Again, you can read the latest from
Greta over at KUT.org,
and we're going to have a link in
today's podcast, Show Notes.
I want to ask you now about the
Texas State Board of Education.
What's going on there with their
social studies curriculum,
excuse me?
Yeah, so the State Board of
Education is reviewing the K-12
Social Studies Curriculum, and it's
also known as the Texas Essential
Knowledge and Skills.
So sometimes you hear about people
talking about TEKS, that's what they
mean, the curriculum.
Yeah, this is something that happens
every few years.
State education officials review
standards, not only for social
studies, but also for math, for
English, for other things.
And the Board of education tasks
nine appointed content advisors
to guide the curriculum
and also two workgroups.
Group A and work group
B that will give feedback on
the changes.
And I have talked to some content
advisors and some members of the
work groups who have raised concerns
about the process and how changes
are said to happen this time.
Yeah, whatever they had to say.
Yeah, so the biggest change that is
happening is the framework.
Now students will learn things
chronologically.
So that means kinder through second
grade, they will learn about
what they called American Indians
because there are certain words
they're not using, like indigenous.
One of the content advisors
told me that they're are not allowed
to use indigenous or Native
American.
And they're also going to learn
about the exploration of America and
Texas. And then third to eighth
grade, once again, Chronologically,
we'll learn about the U.S.
And Texas.
Starting with the birth of Western
civilization.
Okay, okay, so what
happens next?
Is that a done deal or is that
curriculum still being worked on?
What happens next.
They're still working on the
curriculum.
They're taking feedback from people.
People have worried that it's too
heavy, that there's a lot of
content, that it takes us focus,
that the chronological order doesn't
really work out in education because
they might be too abstract for
little kids.
But the board is set to
do a first reading on April
6th, so next Tuesday.
And they also have to vote on
it no later than
June. Sorry, that's next Monday.
April 6 is a Monday.
Okay, okay, yeah, it's just today's
April 1st.
Lots going on.
Okay, so April 6th is the Monday,
and then, can you repeat that last
part about June?
Yeah. And they have to vote on it
now later than June.
So we still have a long way to go.
And I must also say whatever they
approve won't go into effect until
2030.
It's not something immediate because
they also have to create
textbooks and all these changes.
So it's going to take a little bit.
Okay, well, we will bring you
those changes whenever we know more
about them.
And we have been speaking with Greta
Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez.
She is KUT's education reporter.
We're gonna have more about her
reporting in today's podcast, Show
Notes, in at kut.org
slash signal.
Thank you, Greta.
Thank you, Jerry.
And thank you out there for tuning
in to Austin Signal.
We will be back after a break.
This is Austin Signal, welcome
back.
The Sir Douglas Quintet got its
start down I-35 in San Antonio,
but the band and its characters have
become inextricably linked to the
Austin of yesteryear,
when maybe things really were cooler
and weirder.
And though there's no argument that
the quintet's sound is
quintessentially Texan,
they had to blend in to the British
Invasion to grab some attention.
Here's Jason Medlard from
the Center for Texas Music History.
At Texas State University.
This weekend in Texas music history,
San Antonio rockers joined the
British Invasion in disguise.
On April 2nd, 1965, the Sir
Douglas quintet single, She's About
a Mover, entered the billboard
charts.
Doug Sam led the quintet and the
young man was no stranger to the
spotlight. He'd been a steel guitar
prodigy, learning the instrument at
five, hanging out with Hank
Williams, and earning an invitation
to the Grand Ole Opry.
He'd pivoted to garage rock after
turning the invite down and was
joined in the 1965 quintet by
Augie Myers on Vox Organ, Jack
Barber, Frank Marin, and Johnny
Perez.
The group made music in the mold of
San Antonio's Chicano soul and
westside sound, but Orquesta Tejana
met rhythm and blues.
You can hear it in the track, the
way that Augie's organ and Barber's
bass line play off one another just
as an accordion of Bajos Sexto would
in conjunto, all the while
channeling Ray Charles' What I'd Say
and the coasters' hit, Searchin'.
Huey Moe, who produced the track,
didn't give it that San Antonio
frame, though.
Moe had seen his regional record
business suffer in the face of the
British invasion, and so, in his
words, "'I took a little Philips
phonograph, bought all the Beatles'
LPs, went to a motel with a case of
Thunderbird wine and sat down to
figure out what these cats were
into. After two days of drinking
and listening, I got it.
They were playing the beat on the
beat.'" He then called up Doug Som,
told him to start growing his hair
in a Beatle Bob and write a song
like that.
The band dressed in mod suits and
Chelsea boots and wouldn't reveal
their drawers with stage banter.
The Sir Douglas quintet would come
off as British lad.
Hallabaloo proudly presents, the
Sir Douglas Queen Tip!
The thin ruse may or may not have
been why the song caught fire.
It didn't last long, though.
The quintet appeared on the TV
program Hullabaloo, hosted by fellow
Texan Trini Lopez.
On a stage that continued the
faux-British theme of fabricated
castle, models in knight's armor,
Sam and the Boys in full Mercy Beat
mode, Lopez came on after the
song and told the audience, but I
have a surprise for you.
Before unmasking Sir Doug as a
Texan, I bet we even fooled
Lyndon Lopez-Quist.
You can hear music from the Lone
Star State 24-7 on the
Texas Music Experience at TMX.fm.
Whoa, yeah, what I
say!
While football may roll in
Texas and basketball is too much
fun in March-April,
Texans also love them some
baseball.
The Astros and the Rangers have both
won championships in recent years,
and Texas is home to eight minor
league teams, the third most in
the country.
Now an Austin baseball legend
is getting renewed recognition for
his historic career.
The city renamed a park
in honor of Hall of Famer Don
Baylor recently.
Texas Standard's Justin Doud heard
from Baylor's son Don Baylor Jr.
About his dad's enduring legacy and
why having his name on this
particular park is especially
meaningful.
Me out to the bar
game take
0-1 to Baylor.
Curveball missed outside from Tia.
I tell you, Baylor has always been
one of my favorite players in the
big room. I've really enjoyed
watching him.
He's a hard player Howard, he's a
tough guy.
He grew up here in Austin,
attended Austin High School,
integrated O'Henry in the
mid-60s, got drafted.
His first full season was 1972
with the Baltimore Orioles.
Fast forward to 1979, that was
his MVP year and
really kind of a magical year.
Don Baylor.
Don Baylor
That gets the crowd up.
As a kid, I remember some of that.
I was only about six or seven
at the time. But I do remember how
exciting that particular
year was.
And then got traded to the Red Sox
in 1986.
I remember that like it was
yesterday. It was a very
heartbreaking year.
I'm sure people always remember
game six of the 1986 World
Series when the ball goes through
Bill Buckner's legs.
Five five in a delirious
10th inning.
Can you believe this ball game a
shame. Oh brother three
and two to Mookie Wilson little
roller up along first behind
the bag.
It gets through but.
That year started the first of
three years where he was in
three consecutive World Series but
with three different teams.
Went on to the Twins
later in 1987 where
they ended up winning the
World Series and you know he played
a pretty prominent part.
To deep left!
Watching baseball, I probably
thought that was the best team I'd
ever seen up until that point.
Don Baylor's first home
run as a twin,
as that graphic showed you, the last
one, a grand slammer, and Boston
off Steve Pearl.
He was born in 1949
in Clarksville.
Clarksville was the oldest
Freedmen's community west of the
Mississippi, so it is kind of
a cloister, if you will,
in West Austin.
There were no parks in Clark'sville.
They played in the street,
they played in vacant lots.
Sometimes they would go to Butler
Park in South Austin to play.
Clarks'ville had few
amenities, but a lot of love.
Finally, when desegregation
began to come to
Austin, this is probably about
eight, nine years after
Brown versus Board,
is when I think most
campuses became to be desegregated
and one of those was O'Henry.
He was over the moon
that he could actually go.
He could actually walk to school.
So he was one of three to integrate
that, integrate O'henry.
You know, I think he had good
fortune to be
going to Austin High when he did,
but baseball's a different sport.
It's not like football where you go
to a game and you come back.
Baseball, you gotta go on road
trips. You have to stay in hotels.
That was not something that was
even feasible at that
point. You know, every time
we would drive
on Wednesday,
he would point out
that park as being
really a symbol of Jim Crow.
Right? He's like, you know, that was
where the water fountains were
segregated. That's where the
bathrooms were segregated, but
that's also where I couldn't go and
play.
If you look at the map, right, this
is right across
the railroad tracks from
Clarksville.
And back then before Mopac,
you could just walk across the
railway tracks.
And so that park
has, you of really
deep significance.
Not just for him, but I think for
the whole family that grew up in
Clarksville, when that
park was really off limits.
He's had the most accomplished
sports career of anyone that's
ever was born or raised in Austin.
So I think it was only a matter of
time before we found the
right moment and found
the the right forum to
recognize his accomplishments.
That was the voice of Don
Baylor Jr., son of Austin
baseball legend Don Baylor.
The story was produced by Texas
Standard's Justin Doud, we're going
to have a link to more in our
podcast show notes and
at kut.org
slash signal.
Before we get out of here today, we
didn't have enough time in
yesterday's show to mention that the
Texas women's basketball team
advanced to their second consecutive
Final Four.
The Longhorns are in Phoenix and
will take the court again on Friday
against UCLA.
The Bruins have only lost one
game this season.
That was an 11 point loss to the
Longhorn in the early part of
the year.
Texas vs UCLA Friday
night tip off scheduled for
6.30. That is it for today's
show. Thank you for making us
part of your Wednesday.
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
director and Kristen Cabrera is
our managing producer.
I'm your host Jerry Quijano, we will
be back with you tomorrow,
have a wonderful day.