Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, August 2, 2021.
The federal eviction moratorium is expiring. In Texas, billions of dollars are sloshing around for rent relief – but getting it into the hands of tenants and landlords is a different story. The Texas Tribune’s Allyson Waller joins us with the latest.
Migrant Transport Executive Order
One of Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest executive orders prohibits anyone other than law enforcement from transporting migrants, citing the dangers of COVID-19. Friday, the Justice Department sued the state of Texas over the order, asking a judge to block it. For more on what it means, we’re joined by El Paso-based immigration attorney Iliana Holguin.
Texas state Rep. Jake Ellzey was sworn in as a U.S. congressman last week, and many are looking at how he overcame so many obstacles to win the special election to fill Ron Wright’s District 6 seat. How did Ellzey pull off the upset? KERA’s Bill Zeeble went looking for answers.
Cinco Puntos Press The Wedding Story
After 36 years, El Paso-based Cinco Puntos Press is shutting its doors. The pandemic ravaged the family owned and operated small press – but all is not lost. Another family owned and operated publishing house bought Cinco Puntos and plans to expand on its mission of publishing books in many languages, including Spanish. The Standard’s Joy Diaz has the story.
UT to SEC: Impact on Student Athletes
It’s official: both UT and OU are heading to the SEC in 2025. We’ve talked quite a bit about the financial ramifications of this decision, but what about the people it affects most – the student athletes? For more on that perspective, we’re bringing in Daron Roberts, founding director of the Center for Sports Leadership and Innovation at the University of Texas at Austin.
Book: ‘Borderland Curanderos’
At the turn of the 20th century, two curanderos – Mexican faith healers – changed and connected the Texas border community in a way that still resonates. Even though their healing practices were not sanctioned by the church or the government, they provided healing and spiritual sustenance to ethnic Mexicans, indigenous peoples and Tejanos alike. And that didn’t make Mexico or U.S. officials happy. A new book, “Borderlands Curanderos: The Worlds of Santa Teresa Urrea and Don Pedro Jaramillo” explores their impact. In this extended Q&A we’ll talk to the book’s author, Jennifer Koshatka Seman.
As the U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the State Department plans to offer visas to interpreters and others who aided allied forces – Afghans fearful of being left behind as the Taliban advances. Houston has resettled some 1,700 of these Afghans and their families. Houston Public Media’s Elizabeth Trovall sat down for tea with some of them in Southwest Houston.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
