Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, June 16, 2021.
Abbott Border Wall Crowdsourcing
Details on Gov. Greg Abbott’s plans for Texas to build a border wall remain limited. Where will the wall be built? Will it be legal? How much will it cost, and who will be paying for it? Well, in regards to that last question. Gov. Abbott is now providing some light. As the Texas Tribune reports, Abbott said on a conservative podcast he’ll use a crowdsourcing mechanism to help pay for the wall’s construction. Patrick Svitek has been writing about this for The Texas Tribune, where he’s primary political correspondent, and joins us with more today.
The family of an Afghan translator, killed by the Taliban while the family waited a decade for a special visa, finally arrived in Houston this weekend. Their story highlights the life-threatening delays that thousands of Afghan translators and their families are facing as the U.S. pulls out of the region. Houston Public Media’s Elizabeth Trovall was at the airport when the family got to Houston.
The Barnett Shale in North Texas is, by many measures, the birthplace of the fracking boom. Hundreds of natural gas wells sit adjacent to houses, shopping malls, daycare facilities and schools. But a recent proposal to drill more has put health concerns in the spotlight. This week, the EPA is holding listening sessions over existing rules covering drilling and potential volatile emissions from these wells. Elizabeth Shogren is reporting on the situation in Arlington for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. She joins us today.
Texas House Lawmaker Rankings, Left to Right
With all the talk and action of the 87th Texas Legislature in the books for now, how did lawmakers vote? On the state House side we have some answers, courtesy of Mark Jones. A political science professor at Rice University and frequent guest of the Standard, Jones has assembled a data visualization of how Texas House lawmakers rank in their politics from left to right. We’ll hear more today.
COVID-19 vaccine mega-sites in Texas have been closing with the continued drop in demand for the shot. They include Potter’s House Church in Dallas and AT&T Stadium in Arlington. The large operation at Fair Park is set to shutter in August. Now, much of the hard work of getting people vaccinated will fall on primary care providers, KERA’s Bret Jaspers reports.
Stories from Texas: People Named Tex
You might have guessed it, but Tex is an incredibly popular nickname in the Lone Star State and beyond. It is so fitting for some that it pushes their given first name entirely out of use. Our commentator W.F. Strong thought it would be interesting to look at a few famous folks known mostly as just … Tex.
PolitiFact: Austin Murder Rate
Central Texas Rep. Chip Roy said police defunding has led to “a doubling of murder in Austin, Texas.” But is that a fact? For more we’re joined by Brandon Mulder of PolitiFact Texas, based at the Austin American-Statesman.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
