Doctor shortage
Texas’s primary care doctor shortage has taken a sharp turn for the worse during the pandemic. Now, one rural family doctor is pleading with the state to do something about it. Texas Public Radio’s Bonnie Petrie has more.
The 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, claimed the lives of 26 people, 20 of them children. In widely denounced, completely baseless remarks, Austin-based conspiracy theorist Alex Jones called the Sandy Hook tragedy a “giant hoax” and “completely fake” on his InfoWars program. Several survivors families sued Jones for defamation – and this week a Connecticut judge handed those families a victory. Zack Murdock, criminal justice for the Hartford Courant in Connecticut, joins us with an overview of the case.
New biomedical engineering research facility in Dallas
Learn more from The Dallas Morning News.
Rural broadband and the infrastructure plan
Roughly 900,000 Texans don’t have internet access at home, and approximately 90% of unconnected live in rural areas. But those numbers might soon improve, thanks to the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The plan dedicates $65 billion to broadband infrastructure across the country, and Texas is expected to receive at least $100 million for broadband expansion. Here to explain what Texans can expect is Jennifer Harris, program director for Connected Nation Texas.
The traditional story of the wild west needs a rewrite to make it historically accurate. The cherished fable of the horseback hero of the open range doesn’t reflect the actual racial diversity of the cattle drive. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies tells us how a new exhibit at the Witte Museum corrects that.
Dallas Facebook page launching pad for artists
As the pandemic continues, KERA and The Dallas Morning News are collaborating to document its impact on the arts and culture scene. Last year, COVID-19 led Mikey Abrams to create Quarantined Cabaret. It started as a Facebook page where friends could post their silly videos of them singing songs. KERA’s Jerome Weeks learns it became much more than that.
W.F. Strong: Texas navigator app
On Google Maps you can get navigator voices in English with either an American, British, Indian or Canadian accent. Our commentator W.F. Strong thinks they should offer a Texas navigator accent – one that also offers Texas expressions and colloquialisms too.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that over a million people have been apprehended crossing the border illegally this year – meaning that two or three million total have entered the country unauthorized. Is that a fact? Joining us with a fact check is Nusaiba Mizan with Politifact Texas, based at the Austin American-Statesman.
All this plus the Texas News Roundup, and Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
