Here are the stories for Monday, June 30, 2025.
Supreme Court upholds Texas law requiring age verification for adult sites
Texas age verification requirements for websites with sexual content will stand, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the state law. Critics warn of First Amendment concerns, while supporters say it helps protect minors.
Josh Blackman with the South Texas College of Law in Houston joins us to unpack the ruling.
Produce exporters wrestle with Trump tariff effects
China is the third largest export market for U.S. agricultural products. But negotiations between the U.S. and China over new trade agreements have meant months of uncertainty.
Harvest Public Media’s Hope Kirwan reports that’s left some specialty producers worrying about the future.
This week in Texas music history
Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University consults the calendar.
Texas astronomers help build one of the world’s most powerful telescopes
The Giant Magellan Telescope promises to deliver images 10 times sharper than the Hubble – and Texans are playing a major role in building it.
McDonald Observatory director Taft Armandroff tells us what makes this telescope special and how it could reshape our view of the universe.
Expect packed highways this Fourth of July weekend
The roads are expected to be especially crowded this Independence Day, continuing a travel surge that began after the pandemic.
Energy analyst Matt Smith of Kpler explains what drivers can expect at the gas pump and how this year compares to past holidays.
The idea that people should be having more children has some powerful backers, including Elon Musk. But the overlap between the so-called natalist movement, eugenics and even Musk’s “transhumanist” endeavors has some concerned.
Historian Michael Phillips explores the story of eugenics and its modern implications in his new book “The Purifying Knife: The Troubling History of Eugenics in Texas.” He joins the show with more.
What Beto O’Rourke learned on his Texas listening tour
Former congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has been crisscrossing Texas on a listening tour, from Laredo to Amarillo.
O’Rourke joins the Standard with what he heard from voters – and what it may signal about the political mood ahead of 2026.
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
