Latest on third special legislative session
We’re staring down the end of the Texas Legislature’s third special session. State lawmakers are once again racing to get Gov. Greg Abbott’s priorities — and new district maps — passed. For a picture of where they are now, Texas Standard gathers together two journalists who cover the capitol. Bob Garrett, Austin Bureau Chief for the Dallas Morning News, and Taylor Goldenstein, a state capitol reporter for the Houston Chronicle.
Houston electric vehicles study
Houston has a reputation as a car city. It’s designed around freeways and long commutes. And those long stretches of road between far-flung parts of the region may be preventing some drivers from switching to electric vehicles. Houston Public Media’s Gail Delaughter says a new study is looking at how to make owning an electric vehicle more accessible — particularly for working families.
Carmaker subscription services
If you pay for Netflix, Spotify, or a gaming pass, you’re part of the subscription economy. Your monthly fees boost the bottom lines of businesses from steaming channels, to meal delivery and fitness services. Well, if some automakers have their way, driving could soon come with a monthly credit card charge, too. Our tech expert Omar Gallaga is here to tell us what car companies plan to offer subscribers and why.
Texas is home to fifteen active duty military bases. And while most of the time they pose no danger to surrounding civilian areas, every once in a while, something can go wrong. For example, a plane crash like the one that happened last month when a military jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in the Fort Worth area. Nobody was killed, but the event highlighted the dangers of putting dense neighborhoods too close to military installations. It’s the subject of a new investigation by Emily Brindley of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. She joins the program to explain her findings.
Poet Tomás Q. Morín’s hopes and fears for his newborn child being raised during a time of racial reckoning and a global pandemic inspired his newest collection of poems.
The State of Texas received close to two BILLION dollars to help renters facing financial hardship from the pandemic. The money has helped tens of thousands of Texans stay in their homes…but it’s not perfect. KERA’s Christopher Connelly has this story of a Plano man whose family lost their home…because of a mistake.
On the show we’ve talked about how SpaceX test launches in the Rio Grande Valley were disrupting access to Boca Chica beach. That’s a free shoreline in Cameron County where mostly locals have been going to enjoy the Gulf for generations. Now a nonprofit environmentalist group SaveRGV is suing the county, the Texas General Land Office and its commissioner George P. Bush. They say the frequent beach closures violate the Texas Constitution. SaveRGV board member Mary Angela Branch talks with the Standard.
All this plus the Texas News Roundup and Michael Marks with the Talk of Texas.
