Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, December 9, 2021.
Abbott Polling Very Well Against O’Rourke
A new Quinnipiac poll indicates current Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is ahead of Beto O’Rourke by some 15 points. Jeremey Wallace has been writing about this for the Houston Chronicle, where he covers Texas politics. He joins us with more.
Houston-area Republican Rep. Kevin Brady’s congressional seat is up for grabs in 2022, after he announced he wouldn’t seek reelection. The news has drawn a nine candidate Republican primary that’s also exposing some riffs among the GOP. Brandon Rottinghaus, political science professor at the University of Houston, joins us with his analysis.
The Sounds of Texas: Rachelle Meyer
The holidays are always crowded with competing performances of Christmas Carols and Nutcrackers. But Fort Worth’s Jubilee Theatre has developed a different holiday show. From KERA North Texas, Jerome Weeks reports the theater may start its own new tradition.
Parental Controls on Instagram
Senators grilled the head of Instagram yesterday about the social media platform’s impact on children. Lawmakers have taken bipartisan aim at the photo sharing site, ever since in-house research came to light showing harm to teens from prolonged use of the platform. Just one day before his appearance in D.C., Instagram’s Adam Mosseri rolled out new parental controls for the platform. Our tech expert Omar Gallaga has an overview.
Code of Silence
When the Me Too movement went viral in 2017, it meant a reckoning over the ways in which sexual harassment and abuse were ignored and tolerated within systems of power – from the boardroom to Hollywood to major league sports. Now, a new book shines a light on abuse within the judicial system. “Code of Silence: Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System That Protects Them, and the Women Who Blew the Whistle” is the new book from author Lise Olsen, investigative reporter at the Texas Observer. We welcome her back to the Standard today.
The area around Imperial, Texas – some 50 miles southwest of Odessa – is dry and desolate. It’s one of the last places you’d expect to find a shimmering blue lagoon. But there is one: over 60 acres of shallow, inviting water, covering the scrub and sand of the desert. But it’s no oasis. Joining us with more is Russell Gold, senior editor for Texas Monthly.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
