Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Listen on your Texas public radio station, or ask your smart speaker to play Texas Standard. We’ll have full posts for each story, including audio, a little later today.
Cornyn on Coronavirus Relief in the Senate
The U.S. Senate is back from summer recess, and divisions between the two parties have held up the passing of another major coronavirus aid package. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans will vote to advance a slimmed-down plan. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn joins the Standard to discuss what that plan will look like.
NPR & Harvard Health Poll
New data on the impact the pandemic is having shows Houston is suffering the most compared to the nation’s other three “biggest” cities when it comes to personal finance and health. Houston Public Media’s Sara Willa Ernst has the first of two reports on what we can learn from a survey done by NPR and Harvard about health in Houston.
Fed Reserve Inflation Rule
When the U.S. economy is doing well, the Fed will no longer try to cap inflation right at 2%. Inflation is the rising cost of things over time. For a better picture of what this means Ray Perryman, president and CEO of the economic research firm The Perryman Group based in Waco talks to the Standard.
COVID-19 and Politicization of Medicine
Odds are that what you think about the drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 says a lot about your politics. Support for other drugs falls along similar partisan lines, as do attitudes about mask-wearing and social distancing. Clearly, partisanship has crept into our conversation about public health – but is this something new? Susan Giaimo, a public health expert and professor of political science at Marquette University talks to the Standard.
San Antonio Students Returning to Campus
Most Texas students returned to school this week. Texas Public Radio’s Camille Phillips tells us why district leaders in Bexar County decided to reopen and how some parents are feeling about sending their kids back to school.
The Tragic Story of Dora Hand
Dora Hand, many said, was the most beautiful woman in Dodge City back in the 70s. That would be the 1870’s. As our commentator W.F. Strong tells us, her murder sent one well-heeled Texas rancher to come to the aid of the accused, his cowboy son.
PolitiFact
President Donald Trump in an interview said that only 6% of COVID-19 deaths were actually from the coronavirus, the rest were from “other reasons” Is that a fact? Madlin Mekelburg with PolitiFact Texas, based at the Austin American-Statesman, vets President Trump’s statement.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
