SCOTUS Steers Clear Of Texas Abortion Law – For Now
The U.S. Supreme Court has opted not to halt Texas’ near-total ban on abortions. In a late night ruling, it stated that while the constitutionality of the law was in question, procedural issues kept it from acting at this time. For more on the ruling and what it means for the law, we’re joined by Elizabeth Sepper, law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Lawsuit Challenges Redistricting Via Special Session
Two Democratic state senators are employing a novel approach to fight state redistricting, which will be overseen by Republicans. Their argument: it’s illegal under the Texas Constitution to take it up during a special legislative session, so a court needs to draw interim maps. Rocky Rhodes, professor of law at South Texas College of Law in Houston, joins us with more.
Facebook’s VR Push Into The Boardroom
Nobody expected to be doing meetings on Zoom or Skype more than a year after the pandemic started. But with COVID-19 disrupting plans to return to the office, Facebook is launching a new virtual reality meeting platform. Our tech expert Omar Gallaga joins us with a recap.
San Antonio Art Restored
Last May, a storm damaged a nearly 100-year-old piece of art just outside the San Antonio zoo. There are only a few artists still alive who could’ve repaired it. And now the piece is back in its place. Texas Public Radio’s Jack Morgan spoke with the man who brought it back.
Training Wind Energy Workers
Texas leads the nation in wind power. In fact, the industry has grown so rapidly there aren’t enough trained workers to fill the jobs, making hiring difficult for wind power generators. An Austin-based company is trying to change that. The Texas Standrad’s Alexa Hart has more.
Roundtable: 9/11 and 20 Years of War
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, launching a “war on terror” that has drastically reshaped geopolitical alliances. For many, a post-9/11 world is all that’s ever been known. Of the 13 soldiers killed in the airport attack in Kabul during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the oldest was 11 when the September 11 attacks occured; five of those killed weren’t even born before 9/11. For a perspective on 9/11’s legacy, the “forever war” in Afghanistan and how it’s shaped countless lives, we’re joined by Aaron O’Connell, military historian at the University of Texas at Austin, and Yoav Di-Capua, who teaches Modern Intellectual Arab History at UT-Austin. (Learn more about a KUT Austin event featuring O’Connell and Di-Capua.)
Doctors Plea To Waco Area: Get Vaccinated
Like so many places across the country, hospitals and ICUs in the Waco area have been overwhelmed by largely unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. The situation is so dire, the McLennan County Medical Society issued an open letter in the Waco Tribune Herald urging residents to get vaccinated, saying “Ignorance and disinformation are quite literally killing our friends and neighbors.” Dr. Clint McHenry with the McLennan County Medical Society joins us today.
All this plus the Texas News Roundup, and social media expert Wells Dunbar with The Talk of Texas.
