Austin Director Richard Linklater Tackles Bathroom Bill in Digital Ad

Our daily roundup of Texas headlines.

By Michael MarksFebruary 21, 2017 11:08 am

The Standard’s news roundup gives you a quick hit of interesting, sometimes irreverent, and breaking news stories from all over the state.

The bill that’s arguably garnered the most attention this legislative session? That would be SB6 – the so-called ‘bathroom bill’ – which would prevent transgender people from using the restroom which matches their gender identity.

Now the bill is the target of a new digital ad from Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater.

Linklater’s ad coincides with a poll from the Texas Tribune and the University of Texas that shows most Texans believe people should use the restroom that matches their birth gender.

Fifty-four percent of those polled said people should use the bathroom of their birth gender, while 31 percent said they should use the one that matches their gender identity.

That said, the issue isn’t a priority for most Texans – 51 percent of respondents in the same poll said this issue is not important, while only 24 percent said passing a measure like SB6 is very important. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points.




Six tornadoes touched down in Texas on Sunday night – four of them hit near the north side of San Antonio. No major injuries or fatalities were reported, but hundreds of structures were damaged. Now, residents will start to rebuild. Texas Public Radio’s Joey Palacios has more:

Sawing and hammering echo along Linda Drive on San Antonio’s North Side. Dozens of homes have been ransacked by a 105 mile per hour tornado that struck this neighborhood Sunday night.

Brandy Campos and her family has lived in this neighborhood since 1955.

“It sounded like there was jet airplane outside or train or something like that that. It was so loud,” she says.

Down the street, damaging wind ripped the roof from a yellow house   Debris littered the front yard.

Resident Greg Goza says this house – where his mother in law lives  – is no longer safe.

“We shouldn’t even be in here right now. The ceiling is still collapsing,” Goza says.

Goza’s own home a few doors down was destroyed.

“The whole front part of my house just blew away. You could hear the pillars the rafters, you could hear everything,” he says.

San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor has declared a state of disaster in the city, in order to potentially access state and federal resources for the rebuilding effort.