Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Friday, February 5, 2021.
Statewide Poll On 2020 Election And COVID-19 Vaccine
Kirk Watson, dean of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, talks to the Standard about a new Hobby poll that shows 1 in 5 Texans will not get the COVID-19 vaccine.
‘Hold Harmless’ School Funding
Texas school districts are waiting for word on how much money they’ll receive from the state this semester. Those dollars are directly tied to how many students are going to school. And that number has plummeted during the pandemic. Texas Public Radio’s Camille Phillips explains why districts are struggling with lower attendance and want to see the policy continue.
Walmart Shooting Witness Deported
A witness to the El Paso Walmart mass shooting was deported last week despite having applied for a visa that protects crime victims who help law enforcement. The woman says she told immigration authorities she was helping investigators but was deported anyway. KTEP’s Angela Kocherga has more from El Paso.
Dallas-Kansas City Football Connection
It’s been quite a while since a Texas team has made it to the Super Bowl. The Dallas Cowboys haven’t played for a championship since 1995. And the Houston Texans have never been to the big game. But on Sunday, when the Kansas City Chiefs square off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there will at least be a team with a Texas tie playing for it all. Before the team was based in Kansas City, the city of Dallas had two pro football teams: the Dallas Cowboys and the one that got away. Michael MacCambridge, an Austin-based sports journalist whose books include “Lamar Hunt: A Life in Sports,” talks to the Standard about that other team.
This week SpaceX launched its Starship rocket prototype from its launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. It exploded on landing. A prototype of a similar rocket crashed in December. And both launches, it seems, ran into trouble with the Federal Aviation Administration. In a tweet last week, a frustrated Elon Musk went after the FAA, saying that its “space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure.” Eric Berger, who has been reporting on it for Ars Technica, talks to the Standard.
Owen Wilson On ‘Bliss’ At Sundance Film Festival
A Legendary Public Housing Development Demolished In Fort Worth
The Cavile Place public housing development in southeast Fort Worth was a landmark for almost 70 years. Commonly known as the Stop Six projects, the city is tearing the whole thing down to build new housing as part of a yearslong revitalization effort. KERA’s Miranda Suarez reports on what some people hope – and fear – might come out of that.
Typewriter Rodeo: ‘Getting Tired Of (Writing Poems About) COVID’
In this Week in Texas Politics with Alex Samuels, a political reporter for The Texas Tribune, the Standard discusses the governor’s State of the State address, a new assistance program for renters in Texas and President Biden’s immigration strategy.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Shelly Brisbin with the talk of Texas.
