Summer temperatures in Texas prisons
can often exceed 100 degrees,
and lawyers have argued these
conditions constitute cruel and
unusual punishment for incarcerated
Texans.
A federal trial underway this
weekend in Austin Court could decide
whether Texas must provide air
conditioning to all inmates,
and a group of scientists with UT
Austin and MD Anderson Cancer Center
have developed a potential
chemotherapy drug that may prompt
a person's immune system to attack
cancer cells as if they were
infected by a virus.
The work on the drug started a
decade ago and still has many years
to go. We'll tell you about the
progress they've made so far, coming
up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus the lifestyles of Austin's
rich and famous cats,
a catio tour raising awareness about
local birds.
That's up next, right here on
Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, thank you for
tuning in to Austin Signal.
We are coming to you from community
powered public radio.
This is KUT News.
It is Tuesday, excuse me,
Thursday, the second day of
April. This is not April Fool's Day
joke. It really is Thursday.
And I'm Jerry Quijano, I'm glad
you're with us.
We started the day with a bit of
good news. Lots of rain for
lots of Austinites and people here
in central Texas.
And even better news, rain continues
into the weekend.
Right now, the National Weather
Service is forecasting a 100%
chance of showers on
Saturday and some rain sticking
with us through Sunday night,
followed by some cooler than normal
temperatures.
So make the most of it, take it in,
and thanks for spending part of the
day here with us.
This is Austin Signal.
A trial happening this week in an
Austin federal courtroom could
decide whether the state of Texas
must provide air conditioning inside
its prisons.
Temperatures inside can eclipse the
triple-digit mark on some sweltering
Texas days.
Conditions that lawyers have argued
for decades constitute cruel
and unusual punishment for
incarcerated Texans.
KUT's government accountability
reporter, Andrew Weber, is covering
the trial. He's with us now to tell
us more. Welcome back, Andrew.
Thanks, Drew.
So tell us first, what's the
argument being made against the
Texas Department of Criminal
Justice?
It's a really simple argument.
Basically, lawyers are saying that
the heat in these prisons, which
regularly tops 90 degrees
in the summer, that's according to
our former colleague Lauren
McGaughy's work, is
unconstitutional.
That it's cruel and unusual
punishment.
And that the state hasn't
really done anything in a sort
of holistic way to address
those conditions and that people
have died because of it.
Uh, and so this trial is going on
this week, plaintiffs are calling
witnesses and presented arguments
and next week, the state will,
will do the same.
And then it will be, uh, decided by,
by a federal judge, whether that's
the case.
So this week I was in court, I spoke
with, um, one of the attorneys
who's trying this case, Brandon
Duke. And he's said that, yeah,
TDCJ has done something to
address some units.
Uh, but that he's
in his view that the, the,
state is kind of trying to slow walk
this.
They've chosen basically the
slowest, least efficient process
that will take a significant
number of years longer to air
condition the system.
What has TDCJ said that
they've done to provide air
conditioning so far?
Like I said, they have air
conditioned some units.
It's kind of been interesting this
week hearing testimony from
the former head of the agency and
the current head, where they
basically say, yeah, AC
would stop people
dying in prisons because they're so
hot, but they've
said that they're also trying
to do their best with what
they have.
So far, since 2018, they've
air-conditioned 15,000 units.
And they have a plan to do
that for 40,000 more units,
but plaintiff's attorneys say it's
not moving fast enough.
Well, the state agency says that
providing AC to all inmates is
one of many quote competing
priorities or what are some of those
other priorities?
Yeah, security is one,
obviously it's a prison,
and there's also maintenance.
Some of these buildings, one of
these building is, and I didn't
realize this until this week when I
started covering it, was built in
1850. Oh, dang.
Yeah. So there's a lot of upkeep
that is non-AC related.
Also there's healthcare, obviously.
You have to take care of people in
the custody of the state,
but the biggest obstacle
as the state sees it.
Is cost. This would cost $1.5
billion to put AC
in all of its units, and that's
10 times the amount, more than 10
times the amount that they get from
the state legislature.
The trial is being overseen by U.S.
District Judge Robert Pittman.
What do his previous ruling signal
about his position on this matter?
Plainly unconstitutional is what he
called it.
That was in a ruling last year,
almost a year to the date.
And this was basically plaintiffs
wanted to immediately order
the state to do this.
He said, no, let's take this to
trial. And in that ruling, he said,
you know, the state is admitting
that these conditions are dangerous
and they're not doing enough to
address it.
The trial has also garnered the
attention of Austinite and filmmaker
Richard Link later.
How did he get connected to this
cause?
Yeah, the 2011 movie,
Bernie, which is a deeply
Texan movie that is also a
very, very dark comedy.
After that movie, he sort of
connected with Bernie's story.
He's advocated for him, and he helps
sort of spur this lawsuit that
started with Bernie.
And since then, he's been moved to
an air-conditioned unit.
But a lot of other folks have joined
because this is a very
novel case because it would require
all prison units to
have air conditioning.
I spoke with him Tuesday outside the
courtroom.
I think they felt legally they
didn't have to, but morally they
probably should have.
You know, think of the millions and
millions of hours of suffering.
Think of all the deaths, all the
illness.
Not just for the incarcerated, but
the state employees who
work there.
Okay Andrew, about 20 seconds left.
If the judge does indeed rule
against TDCJ, how soon
could we see change inside Texas
prisons?
Unclear. Plaintiffs want it by 2029,
but this will likely go to the Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Alrighty, we have been chatting with
Andrew Weber, he is KUT's Government
Accountability Reporter.
We're going to have a link to his
reporting in today's show notes and
at KUT.org slash
Signal.
Andrew, thanks to you.
Appreciate you, too.
Cancer Research at UT Austin
and MD Anderson Cancer Center
has taken another step forward.
This time, researchers say the
secret may be tricking the
immune system.
For more about that, we are speaking
with KUT's healthcare reporter,
Olivia Aldridge. Howdy, Olivia.
Hi.
So tell us, what have these
researchers found exactly?
Essentially, they discovered that
this new chemotherapy agent
that they were testing appeared to
be causing immune cells to attack
cancer just as they would a cell
infected by a virus,
which could open up a lot of
possibilities for how the science
community approaches cancer research
and treatment.
And your story features one
Jonathan Sessler.
Tell us a little bit about him.
Yes, he has led
this team of chemists at UT.
They've been testing this potential
chemotherapy drug, which they're
calling Compound One.
It essentially stresses
cancer cells by causing this
buildup of toxic molecules.
I'm simplifying it, but.
Thank you
During their experiments with mice,
they saw something unexpected
happening though that they didn't
anticipate, which was that in these
mice, their immune cells were
forming a response and attacking
pre-treated cancer cells.
This is notable because cancer
usually is really good at evading
our immune responses.
The immune system doesn't attack
its own cells usually.
So how do you make the immune system
see these cancer cells as a threat?
And what the researchers believe
is happening with compound one is
it's triggering the immune cells
to activate genes that are
Associated with a protein that
recognizes viruses.
So it's a similar
response as you'd see if you're
infected with something like
COVID-19
Okay, okay, so chemo therapy
traditionally has weakened the
immune system because it kills those
dangerous cells, but also kills
healthy cells.
So as I understand it, this compound
one is helping to
better aim the chemo where it
needs to go, I guess?
Sort of. Okay.
Chemo is good at attacking cells
that are dividing really quickly,
cancer cells do that, but
so do some types of healthy cells
that includes immune cells and
hair cells.
So chemo can weaken your immune
defenses at the same time as it's
killing the cancer.
The questions that Dr.
Sessler and these other scientists
at UT have is, if
we can calibrate the right dose
of chemo, in certain cases, maybe
a lower dose, can we
preserve those immune defenses while
priming the immune system to
actually attack the cancer?
Their hypothesis at this stage is
that maybe there are other chemo
agents that could do this too, not
just this one compound.
And they imagine that this method
could potentially work in
combination with other types of
established immunotherapy out there
that focus on activating
the immune system in cancer
patients.
And this is something he's been
working on for at least a decade,
correct?
That's right.
Okay, and and they published their
findings recently in a peer-reviewed
journal That means other folks
in the field can try to build on
what they're currently doing,
correct?
Yes. So it's been 10 years,
but it's still early research.
Right now they have promising
results and experiments done on
mice. So, it's a long way from
being applied in a clinical setting
with actual cancer
patients.
But they want others in the
chemistry and oncology communities
to take a look and test their
hypothesis and also maybe
look at any observations from their
own clinical practices that might
align with these findings.
Okay, so it sounds like there's
still a fair amount of work to be
done in the development of this
chemotherapy drug.
So now I'm going to ask you the
obvious question.
How long before people might be
able to actually use this?
They told me they're thinking about
it like probably another 10 years.
OK.
But you know, this is a kind of a
good example of how all of this
research that happens at UT and MD
Anderson all the time
happens.
This is this is what's going on
behind the scene with medical
research.
And it's all happening right here in
our backyard.
Very cool. We have been speaking to
KUT's healthcare reporter,
Olivia Aldridge.
We're gonna have a link to her story
in our podcast, Show Notes, and at
kut.org slash signal.
Some great photos in there of
scientists looking like scientists,
you know. If I was gonna have a
photo of me doing a journalism, it
would be what I'm doing right now,
talking to this microphone.
So check out that story, as well
as the reporting from Andrew.
Olivia, thanks for talking with us.
And thank you out there for spending
part of your Thursday.
Yes, it's Thursday here with us on
Austin Signal.
We are proud to be community powered
public radio.
Coming up after the break, we're
gonna take you on a catio tour of
Austin. What's more Austin than a
catiotour?
Well, come find out.
That is coming up next.
It's right here on Austin signal.
This is Austin Signal, welcome
back.
Every year billions of migrating
birds pass through Texas, but
not all of them make it to their
destination.
That's for many reasons, but one of
them is cats.
They are adorable, yes, but prolific
hunters, and it's estimated that
each year they kill more than two
billion birds across the United
States.
An Austin Bird Conservation
Nonprofit hosts an event aimed at
preventing some of these deaths.
Sean Saldana from the Texas Standard
takes us on a caddio
tour.
I'm in Jacob Smigel's backyard, and
we're standing in front of a 10-foot
wooden frame that is covered
in wire.
It's got about 10,000 staples
in it that I put in there, too.
There's a slanted middle roof, a
catwalk that extends out to a nearby
tree, and a tiny pet door for
his three kitties.
I feel like I know people who
wouldn't invest this much in their
children, much less their cats.
You know, I didn't want to go
overboard. What he's showing me is a
catio, an outdoor but enclosed
space for cats.
It's the same concept as yard time
for prisoners, and Smygle introduced
me to one of the inmates.
Hi Quinn.
She's pushing.
Microphone away.
Quinn is a six-month-old tabby
who was sunbathing for our entire
interview like a total diva.
And there are about a dozen people
here to see her and this massive
catio, like Rebecca Wells
and her friend Lexi Somerville.
We both have orange cats, which we
have a theory. I don't know if
you've heard of the orange cat
theory.
Yeah, they all share a brain cell.
Yes, exactly!
But Smygle and his family are the
final stop on a citywide tour put
on by Travis Audubon, where
Kaylee Zazoula is program director.
If anyone is listening to this and
they think, why does Travis Audobon
hate cats, what would your
response to that be?
We love cats.
We think cats are great pets.
This is us trying to
speak to cat owners and
think about the effects
that keeping your cats
outdoors can have on wildlife.
They do this event because it's
impossible for cats like Quinn to
turn off their hunting instinct.
She thinks my
fuzzy microphone is a toy.
Oh, she's biting it.
Cats are known to hunt more than
2,000 species, and have
been linked to the extinction of 40
types of birds.
Cats would be particularly
problematic for species
that spend time near
the ground.
So think larks barrows
here in central Texas or
ground nesting birds in particular.
Grant Sizemore is with the American
Bird Conservancy, and he
explains that cats don't even need
to kill to disrupt an ecosystem.
They do this through something
called the ecology of fear.
When a cat is nearby a nest, even if
the cat doesn't directly attack
that nest, it causes
a change in the behavior of the
adult bird.
When cats are around, birds have
to focus on not getting eaten,
which takes time away from other
activities.
And they're not spending that time
feeding their young.
This year's Catio Tour had an
estimated 350 attendees,
like Rachel and Jonah Jackson.
We have three cats, they're all
named after food.
There is Marshmallow,
Peanut, and Rotten Banana.
That's cute that
you've named your cat Rotten.
I was going to say, we had trouble
with her and then she grew
into her name.
The Jacksons are not birders.
They are catio-curious, and they are
using today to gather inspiration.
We have a little pergola in the
backyard and it's just occurring to
me that maybe we could route them
over there and run them around, you
know.
The Jacksons are just looking for a
home project and to keep their
kitties safe.
Because cats that spend time
outdoors sometimes wander off and
turn into lunch.
It protects them from coyotes, which
we have a lot of.
Nicolette Pink is married to Jacob
Smeigel, whose catio we've been
admiring.
She told me about a Bengal cat they
once had.
Anytime he could, he would slip out
of the house and explore the shrubby
limestone of central Texas.
Then one day, he didn't come back.
The Bengal met his fate.
Oh, really?
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear.
Catios make sure that kitties like
Quinn and her twin sister Clover can
enjoy the outdoors and stay safe.
And if it weren't for this event,
neither of them would be here right
now.
I met the foster for these
about four years ago on the
catio tour. She came here.
I met her. I kept her in the back of
my mind because I knew she rescued.
And then when I was ready to get
more cats, I reached out to her
and we adopted these
two from her.
Quinn and Clover barely acknowledge
the crowd.
Inside the catio, they are just
relaxing.
Outside, they're ruthless
predators and easy prey.
In Austin, I'm Sean Saldana.
Traffic is one of the constants
of life here in Austin, and now
the surrounding area too.
That's just the way it is.
But every so often, there's
something that breaks the monotony
of the brake lights.
A sign off in the distance that
reads, Baby Yoda uses
a car seat.
Be safe, he will.
Baby Yoda is actually here in
studio, but I'm not gonna talk to
him anymore because someone asked
our ATXplain project, who
is behind these?
Sometimes clever signs reminding
you to be safe on the road.
Former KUT reporter Samuel King
has the story.
Like many Austinites, UT student
Evan Hearn spends a lot of time
on the road.
I live up north.
And so I'm a student and I have a
couple jobs.
So I'm constantly either in
the car or on the bus, you know,
going one way or another.
All that time on the road, stuck
in traffic, could make Hearn and
other drivers go mad.
You know you hate
everything about your life in that
moment you hate everybody around you
but then it appears like a beacon of
call sign reminding you that
you're not a candle so don't drive
lit or designate a driver
be vo the
Around the holidays there's always
like some sort of pun that they do
like it's a really there's always
like no offense to the guy but it's
they're really lame like sort of dad
puns that they that they do about
like Easter or like Christmas or the
Fourth of July or whatever
Evan wondered who is behind the
messages on the electronic signs
along Austin's roads.
Who is this mythical, omniscient
person or dad algorithm
who spits out bad jokes
and good advice?
If the sign is telling me, like if
the sign is calling me out on
my bad driving, I should probably
calm down. I'm gonna get home
eventually, so.
Well, who that person is, and it is
a person, not a robot, yet,
depends on the road.
The big highways, it's someone from
TxDOT. On the toll roads, it could
be someone from the Central Texas
Regional Mobility Authority.
On city streets like Lamar and Cesar
Chavez, it's a team from the city
of Austin.
Engineer Joshua Batpuria is on
that team.
He isn't a dad, but he
takes pride in his dad joke.
I enjoy it, but my coworkers
sometimes get a little bit tired of
it, so they just retreat to their
corner.
Oh, so you make bad jokes in person,
too. I do, I do.
Only the best reach the signs, I
would say.
Or worse, it depends on how you
define it.
Thankfully, he doesn't always have
the final say.
It's a group effort.
There's a whole team whose job it is
to come up with these signs.
We would come up with something
simple that everybody understands
like a
Drake reference or Matthew
McConaughey reference and from there
we would just come up a rhyme
or something simple that we could be
like oh this is a quick 15
words that people would laugh at but
then it would also stick the memory
in their head.
It's harder than it sounds.
In 2017, the city asked people to
come up with their own signs.
And while 15 submissions made the
cut, hundreds more were rejected,
including one saying, cars don't
cuddle. Leave some room.
And everyone yearns for signaled
turns.
Joshua's boss, Jen Duthie, says it's
not always fun and games.
Duthy says even the signs with jokes
actually serve a serious purpose.
They remind people the signs are
there. And they often display
serious messages like the recent
signs aimed at reducing traffic
fatality.
So we do get questions sometimes,
you know, why are we putting these
somewhat silly messages up there,
but they always have a
key point that we're trying to get
across.
Even if you haven't eaten at El
Arroyo on West Fifth, you probably
know their other claim to fame,
funny signs.
And they apparently felt Bapuria and
the other road sign artists were
edging in on their turf.
El Arroyo made one of their signs
that said, who's the intern
trying to steal our marquee
thunder?
And I was just like minorly
offended because on the one hand
I was like, we're not a textile
intern, I work with signals, I'm
an engineer.
On the other hand, I was, like,
hey, I got featured on a lot of
a little bit, so I'll take that as a
win. If the jokes get you to notice
the signs, then maybe you'll get the
message they're trying to get
across.
After learning the method behind the
madness, Evan Hearn sure thinks
so.
We can agree that objectively people
who block the box are the worst kind
of people, so maybe by seeing
the sign they will sort
of rethink what they're doing, so
that's like an actual impactful,
like impactful in the real world
sort of situation.
Samuel King, KUT News.
That story was originally part
of an ATXplained live show
back at the Paramount Theater.
Our next one with brand new stories
is coming up on May 21st.
This one is happening at the Bass
Concert Hall.
You can get your tickets at
TexasPerformingArts.org
and I gotta say that the
anticipation is beginning to build
in the newsroom about this upcoming
show. Now I don't have any
permission to tell you anything
about what's going to happen EXCEPT
that it's gonna be a great night, a
community here in Austin.
If you've never been to an A.T.
Explained live show, it is,
first off, it's just a really great
night of storytelling, but I
feel, and I hear so many people
saying I feel better connected to my
community after I go to one of these
shows. And if you just heard Sam's
story right there, you know why that
is. You just get that connection
to the person, and when you go to
an AT Explained Live Show, you get
that collection to your entire
community. Again, the show is
happening May 21st.
Get your tickets at
texasperformingarts.org.
Well, that is it for today's show.
We're gonna have more about the
stories that we shared with you in
our podcast Show Notes, and you can
always find more from us
at kut.org
slash signal.
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
director, Kristen Cabrera is our
managing producer, and I'm your
host, Jerry Quijano.
Thank you for being with us.
Have a great day.