Are Democratic lawmakers on the verge of a walkout to stop Republicans from redistricting during the special session? We’ll have the latest. We’re also tracking possible federal funding cuts to legal aid organizations that could leave thousands of Texans who can’t afford a lawyer without the help they need. Going beyond armed security guards, some Texas schools are turning to drones to increase security. The changing role of social media influencers was on display in the aftermath of the July 4 ...
Jul 30, 2025•51 min
The Trump administration releases billions of dollars in education grants it previously withheld. What it means as students head back to school. How the U.S. military is responding to a new kind of warfare that uses small, inexpensive drones. The story of a Cuban man who raised a family in Texas and spent years working for a school district near Abilene – and now is locked up in an ICE detention center. A high school student’s plan to help schools coping with a shortage of mental health counselo...
Jul 29, 2025•49 min
A peek into the week ahead for the Texas Legislature’s special session: We’ll hear the latest on a much-talked-about possible walkout by Democrats. A plan to relieve congestion in Austin was approved by voters years ago – but so far, there’s not much to show for it. Is Project Connect off the rails? The rollback of USDA diversity programs is impacting East Texas, which is home to more Black farmers than anywhere else in the U.S. Plus: A big deadline for tariffs with Mexico on the table. If a dea...
Jul 28, 2025•51 min
As Texas lawmakers move to consider regulations on THC products, what’s legal, and what’s not? KUT News reporter Nathan Bernier joins us to break it down. As many see the future of energy as cleaner renewables, why many in the city of Port Arthur are pinning their hopes for a comeback – on oil. At the Austin YMCA, adults are conquering their fear of water and gaining life-saving skills through swim lessons designed just for them. Texas Standard producer Sarah Asch has the story. Plus: Two years ...
Jul 25, 2025•51 min
Texas lawmakers hear 12 hours of testimony as they take up what happened before during and after the devastating Hill Country floods. Repeated plans to improve flood warning systems were repeatedly scuttled in the years leading up to the July 4th weekend. Neena Satija of the Houston Chronicle with what she’s learning about why. As the Americans with Disabilities Act marks 35 years, advocates say we need to go beyond “accessibility” to build truly inclusive spaces – especially in disaster plannin...
Jul 24, 2025•51 min
The Epstein controversy has federal lawmakers taking an early recess, putting off important business. Summer heat means some Texans have to choose between paying for air conditioning or basic necessities. Is a violent protest at an ICE facility in North Texas the new normal as the country copes with a rise in extremism? What’s happening in Harris County jails, where a dozen people have died so far this year. And: A preview of Major League Soccer’s All-Star Game, happening tonight in Austin. Texa...
Jul 23, 2025•51 min
Over the weekend, the number of missing in the Texas Hill Country dropped drastically. What happened? Checking in with those whose livelihood is at stake after the flood, including farmers and ranchers in the region. Why so many Texans don’t have flood insurance. The governor ordered an end to remote work for state employees, but now he’s backtracking. What happened? We’ll break down the research on remote work. Could your medicine one day be made in space? And we’ve all heard two heads are bett...
Jul 22, 2025•51 min
Lawmakers recently ended a regular session of the Texas Legislature, but on this Monday, they’re back. They call it a special session: 30 days to complete a long list of action items including a response to the Hill Country flooding, the regulation of THC consumables, and a rare mid-decade push for redistricting that has some Democrats complaining the fix is in for next year’s midterms. A hold on billions of education dollars sends Texas public school administrators scrambling. Also, European sa...
Jul 21, 2025•51 min
As lawmakers return to Austin for a special session, who got the most accomplished in the regular? Why the numbers don’t tell the whole story. With state legislators set to take up flood relief and related matters, we’ll hear how the region’s fairing two weeks after those deadly flash floods, and we’ll hear about efforts concentrated on the Spanish-speaking community in one of the hardest-hit counties. A longstanding effort to provide healthcare services at the border, shut down over cutbacks. P...
Jul 18, 2025•50 min
As lawmakers get ready to return to the Capitol in a special session, a new report shows billions more are needed to address flooding. Who are the most productive lawmakers in the Legislature? The Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey takes a closer look. Remember when there were growing concerns about a population explosion? In a new book, UT economist Dean Spears is sounding the alarm about quite the opposite. Plus: Director Ari Aster on his new western, set in an era of pandemic and protest. Texas S...
Jul 17, 2025•51 min
Online rumors are blaming cloud seeding for the deadly Texas floods, even though the science doesn’t support it. Along with flood recovery and THC regulation, Texas lawmakers are tasked with redrawing congressional districts in their special session. The connection to racial gerrymandering. Volunteers and rescue workers have descended on the Hill Country to help with flood recovery – and unfortunately, so have scammers. What experts say everyone needs to know. The impact of recent budget cuts on...
Jul 16, 2025•50 min
With the Hill Country devastated by deadly floods, many are asking: What’s a 100-year or 1,000-year flood, and are these terms outdated? A closer look at how first responders from Mexico are helping in Kerr County. A new report from the University of Texas at El Paso warns of growing job losses in Juárez’s maquiladora industry. The health of America’s youth has “significantly worsened,” according to a new study. What’s driving the decline? And: Fire up the grill – Valley pitmaster and YouTube st...
Jul 15, 2025•51 min
More rain pummels the waterlogged Hill Country, putting a pause on search efforts and bringing a new wave of weather warnings to the region. We’ll talk with James Hartley of KERA, who’s been in Kerrville this weekend. Stuffed animals are strewn across flood-ravaged Texas. People are trying to get them to their owners. The Trump administration is enforcing an English-language requirement for commercial drivers, and some Mexican truckers are losing their licenses. Plus: Why is it so tough to get d...
Jul 14, 2025•51 min
A week after the Hill Country floods, the president and first lady will visit Kerr County as the search for the missing continues and storms are in the forecast for the weekend. Talking to kids about tragedy: A Dallas-based pediatric psychologist on how to deal with their questions and their anxieties. Gov. Greg Abbott has added flood response to the call for the upcoming special session of the Legislature, along with another new item – mid-decade redistricting. Plus: The week in Texas politics ...
Jul 11, 2025•51 min
The Texas Newsroom finds that responders to the Hill Country floods called for a public alert early Friday, a warning some say came hours too late. The upcoming special session of the Legislature, which originally looked like it would focus on regulating THC, now includes several emergency preparedness topics. And: Gillian Rodriguez with the Texas Counseling Association in the Hill Country has been pulling together resources to help fellow Texans process the range of emotions surrounding the dev...
Jul 10, 2025•51 min
A bill in the Texas Legislature this past session would have created a grant program for emergency communication. It didn’t pass. In the days since the deadly flooding, engineers have already modeled what happened on the Guadalupe River. What they say about how we should rebuild. A harrowing story of survival: Our conversation with a woman at the center of the devastation and the person she says saved her family. Hope House, a home for the profoundly disabled, was damaged by the storm in Liberty...
Jul 09, 2025•50 min
In Kerr County, local officials say they have all the resources, equipment, food and personnel they need, but with constantly changing numbers of people still missing, search and rescue teams continue to slog thru the debris of what is almost certain to go down as one of the deadliest natural disasters in state history. The Texas Newsroom’s Paul Flahive reports on the deep cultural imprint of Camp Mystic, a 99-year-old Christian girls camp that sits along the banks of the Guadalupe River – direc...
Jul 08, 2025•50 min
Rescue and recovery efforts continue following devastating Guadalupe River flooding that has killed at least 75 people. More than two dozen campers and counselors died at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp, and 10 campers remain missing. Flash flood warnings are in effect for many parts of Texas, and officials fear that the waterlogged soil may lead to more intense flash flooding ahead. To the east, closer to Austin, rescue teams are trying to locate untold numbers of missing reside...
Jul 07, 2025•51 min
Mason LaDue raises cattle on family land in Central Texas. But before he was a rancher, he was mostly on the road, managing tours for artists like Curren$y and Wiz Khalifa. His journey from the Dallas hip-hop circuit to the homestead is the focus of today’s special program, Rap to the Ranch: The Ballad of Mason ‘Bric’ LaDue. Texas Standard is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas. You can support this podcast at supportthispodcast.org The post Rap to the Ranc...
Jul 04, 2025•50 min
Federal education funding is put on hold, leaving administrators scrambling to evaluate what programs may be affected and what comes next – not just for young students, but Texans in adult education programs as well. What could rural schools teach the rest of us about how to better get along? New research by the George W. Bush Institute offers insights. And just in time for July 4th: the Brazilian BBQ smoker many Texas pitmasters are calling the bomb. Texas Standard is a listener-supported produ...
Jul 03, 2025•51 min
Elon Musk may be on the outs in D.C., but closer to home, his political influence appears to be on the rise: The state’s richest billionaire scored some quiet but rather significant victories in the last legislative session. Legislative support for wind and solar may be on the wane, but Texas lawmakers appear to be warming up to geothermal energy. Don’t like tariffs? Commentator W.F. Strong tells us how some earlier generations of Texans didn’t, either – and what they did to fight them. And: Rem...
Jul 02, 2025•51 min
As we continue our yearlong 10th birthday celebration, today we’re broadcasting before a live studio audience at a place that’s been called the “Athens of Texas” – Waco, itself celebrating 25 years of public radio from our partners at KWBU. We’ll be sampling some of the sights, sounds and tastes of this historic Central Texas city. After all, when you’re the birthplace of Dr Pepper, home to a national monument marking an epic concentration of mammoths, and with a growing population and national ...
Jul 01, 2025•51 min
The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the Texas law that requires age verification for porn sites. We’ll take a close look at the law. As the U.S. and China negotiate a new trade agreement, farmers cope with the uncertainty. Plus, how some of the best and brightest in Texas collaborated to build the Giant Magellan Telescope. Also, fresh off his listening tour of Texas, we’ll hear from one of the state’s best-known Democrats: Beto O’Rourke. And a record number of travelers are expected to hit th...
Jun 30, 2025•51 min
In a 6-3 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court rules against nationwide injunctions, likely to be read as a major victory for the Trump administration. UT constitutional law professor Tara Grove helps us parse out today’s big news from the high court. Texas underwater? After boom times in real estate, many Texas homeowners are upside down on their mortgages. What cities have been hardest hit by the rapid drop in home values? Singer-songwriter Joshua Ray Walker, after a cancer diagnosis, makes a studio ...
Jun 27, 2025•51 min
A new Texas law requires posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. We’ll look at the looming legal battle. Where do Texans stand on how well state legislators are doing their jobs? What about how well the president is doing his job? A new poll by the Texas Politics Project offers a look. The Mexican flag, long flown at restaurants and at cultural events, is more recently making a prominent appearance in protests. We’ll talk about perspectives on symbolism and cultural expression....
Jun 26, 2025•51 min
Gov. Greg Abbott’s last-minute veto of a proposed ban on THC-derived products has opened a rift with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the powerful leader of the Texas Senate who championed the ban. More autonomous vehicles are now on Austin streets – and these Tesla robotaxis are a little harder to spot than their Waymo counterparts. Some Texans are finding relief from high grocery prices on the other side of the border. License plate readers have become popular with police departments around the state, bu...
Jun 25, 2025•51 min
State lawmakers passed several bills affecting how Texans vote. What that means at the ballot box. Among the allegations detailed in a lawsuit about conditions inside immigrant detention centers in Texas holding families: fighting for drinking water and children denied medical care. Why an effort by a Las Vegas company to legalize gambling in the Lone Star State failed. How cuts to federal funding will affect adult learning programs. The Standard’s Sarah Asch reports from Waco. And: some good ne...
Jun 24, 2025•37 min
A closely watched bill to ban THC products gets vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott – but that’s far from the end of the story, with the governor calling for a special legislative session aimed at regulating THC. After U.S. airstrikes targeted against Iranian nuclear facilities, what comes next? One of Texas’ top foreign policy experts suggests this war could be ending more quickly than many fear. And Texas energy prices may be a leading indicator. Also: a conversation with Laredo-born Adrian Quesada on ...
Jun 23, 2025•52 min
The Texas Lottery Commission faces a reckoning after a string of scandals. We look at what’s next for one of the largest lotteries in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a controversial private facility in Andrews, Texas, to temporarily store high-level nuclear waste. The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to open a facility in South Texas to help defend against the new world screwworm, a destructive pest that is working its way north through Mexico toward the southern ...
Jun 20, 2025•50 min
President Trump considers a move that has brought together resistance from the left and the right. The stakes for U.S. involvement in a new Mideast war. Juneteenth is a holiday marking freedom for people enslaved in Texas, a proclamation announced in Texas on this date 160 years ago, now celebrated across the U.S.. The Texas Standard’s Sean Saldana takes us to the city where that event took place. A new audit reveals widespread failures in how complaints about local jails are overseen by the sta...
Jun 19, 2025•50 min
