Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, July 29, 2021.
CDC Guidelines and COVID Latest in TX
The news and guidance around COVID-19 is changing. We’re talking with Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital, in an extended interview today.
San Antonio Film Festival
Across the state, art performances are slowly returning after suffering from closures and financial losses during the pandemic. And now that the summertime heat has arrived, one air-conditioned cinematic San Antonio tradition returns. Texas Public Radio’s Arts and Culture Reporter Jack Morgan has more.
Employees at one of the biggest video game developers – Activision Blizzard – staged a one-day walkout yesterday. Their goal was to draw attention to claims of widespread sexual harassment and a “frat boy” culture inside the company behind “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty.” Activision Blizzard has some 9,500 employees and operates several game studios in Texas. Our tech expert Omar Gallaga joins us now to tell us more about what spurred the walkout, and what we’re learning about employee grievances in the game industry.
Known among legions of fans as “the bottom to the Top,” ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill died at his Houston home yesterday at the age of 72. Hill was a Dallas native who played cello in high school. In 1968, he relocated to Houston with fellow musician Frank Beard. It was there they teamed up with guitarist and singer Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top was born. For more on Dusty Hill and the legacy of ZZ Top, we’re joined by Chris Vognar, culture writer at Texas Monthly.
“Visible” Exhibition Highlights Asian and AAPI Artists
The rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and the Atlanta shootings earlier this year prompted a new exhibition in Dallas. It’s called “Visible” and it features the works of 17 Asian and Asian American artists. But as KERA’s Elizabeth Myong reports, the show isn’t meant to be an explicit political or social commentary. Instead, the artists hope to invite viewers into a conversation.
Commentary: Peniel Joseph on Robert Moses
Robert Parris Moses, who died this week at age 86, is the most important civil rights activist most Americans have never heard of. Texas Standard commentator Peniel Joseph says that even though Moses shunned the limelight, for a time during the first half of the 1960s, it came to him anyway.
This week, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the National Guard to assist law enforcement in arresting migrants at the border who break state laws. And yesterday he issued an executive order instructing DPS officers to stop and re-route vehicles suspected of carrying migrants, citing the risk of the spread of COVD-19. James Barragán has been it for The Texas Tribune, and he joins us today.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
