Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Friday, March 26, 2021.
Gun Measures in the Texas Legislature
Mass shootings have left 18 Americans dead in the past week, which has reignited the debate over gun control. Despite four recent mass shootings in a three-year span in Texas: in 2019 at a Walmart in El Paso and in Midland-Odessa, in 2018 at the Santa Fe High School and in 2017, at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, there’s a bolder effort by Texas Republican lawmakers to expand gun rights. Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, talks to the Standard.
What Census Delays Mean for Texas Redistricting
The release of population counts from the 2020 Census has been delayed until September because of the pandemic. That puts the Texas Legislature – which only meets every other year – at a disadvantage when it comes to resetting political boundaries based on population. Are we looking at an autumn special session? Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, where he focuses on redistricting, talks to the Standard.
Climate Change and the Texas Grid
The Texas electricity grid failed because it wasn’t ready for climate change. But conversations about climate change at the state level are often vague and imprecise – or don’t happen at all. With more extreme weather on the horizon, experts say the Texas energy grid needs to adapt, as Texas Public Radio’s Dominic Anthony Walsh reports.
Appearing on “Jeopardy” is a bucket-list item for many trivia buffs. Just getting on the show is sure to be a thrill but imagine actually winning not once but twice. That is exactly what Morgan Briles has done. She’s a digital repository librarian at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches. The two-time Jeopardy winner talks to the Standard.
Texas is opening up vaccine registration to everyone over the age of 16 on Monday. But we’ve all heard some nightmare stories about getting signed up. So is that really going to work? Texas Standard has been tracking the rollout thus far through a project that collects your submitted stories. Laura Rice has the latest.
The Week in Politics, with The Texas Tribune
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
