Texas Standard For January 25, 2021

The Texas attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over immigration enforcement changes. And: New findings on pregnancy and COVID-19. We’ll talk with a Texas-based maternal-fetal medicine specialist. Also: Should funding for Texas public schools be based on attendance, or enrollment? A Democratic lawmaker calls for a shift from the former to the latter. Plus: Though the push for racial justice has brought down statues across the U.S., a new one is going up in College Station. We’ll hear from the student leading the push to honor a founding figure at Texas A&M. All this and much more, today on the Texas Standard:

By Texas StandardJanuary 25, 2021 9:48 am

Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, January 25, 2021.

Paxton Suing Feds Over Immigration 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden administration over a temporary halt on deportations. Barbara Hines, founder of the University of Texas Law School Immigration Clinic talks to the Standard about the latest.

School Funding Measure

Texas is one of a handful of states that still bases its public school funding formula on student attendance. But after a school year where attendance was erratic at best because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some lawmakers say the best time to  change that formula is now. State. Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who proposes the state make its school funding formula based on enrollment and not attendance, talks to the Standard.

Every 30 Seconds: Inauguration

Every 30 seconds in the United States, a young Latino turns 18 and therefore becomes eligible to vote. KERA in North Texas have been tracking this quickly changing demographic through a nearly year-long project. Reporter Stella Chavez has been following one such young man through the end of his senior year in high school and his first election cycle as a voter. Chavez checks in with him as he’s now in his freshman year in college during a pandemic and watching political unrest in the nation’s capital.

LNG Demand in Asia

Disruptions to the energy market usually come in the form of seasonal shifts or natural disasters, like hurricanes. But long past hurricane season, there’s another seasonal phenomenon from across the Pacific, that is impacting Gulf Coast production. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, talks to the Standard about it.

Matthew Gaines

In recent years, most of the news involving statues on college campuses has been about them coming down, not going up. But at Texas A&M University, there’s a group of students working to memorialize a black Texas lawmaker who was instrumental in establishing the university in College Station. Erica Pauls, a political science major at Texas A&M talks to the Standard about the Matthew Gaines Initiative.

COVID and Pregnancy Latest

Pregnancy wasn’t always considered a condition that put people at higher risk for COVID-19. The information surrounding those risks have changed over the past year as scientists learn more about the disease and its effects. The Standard talks to Dr. Alison Cahill, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at UT Health Austin to talk about the latest information surrounding pregnancy and COVID-19.

Haunted Houston Library

Libraries are quiet places. where you can hear the quiet rustles of book pages turning or the soft typing on keyboards. But in the Julia Ideson Building of the Houston Public Library, you might also be able to hear the distant strains of a violin playing a romantic Strauss waltz. However, here’s the thing, the purported violinist died in the library’s basement apartment more than 80 years ago. Writer Martha Deeringer, who wrote about the haunting for Texas Co-Op Power magazine, talked to the Standard.

Watson Explosion Anniversary

A year ago this week, an industrial explosion at the Watson Grinding & Manufacturing facility rocked northwest Houston, killing three people and damaging more than 470 homes. Houston Public Media’s Katie Watkins checks in with residents and looks at what’s being done to prevent future disasters.

All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.

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