Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, September 6, 2022.
Attention turns to race for Texas lieutenant governor
The race for lieutenant governor has not been garnering as many headlines as other statewide contests – but that’s changing, due in part to a high-profile Republican endorsement of Democratic challenger Mike Collier over incumbent Dan Patrick. Carlos Huerta, political science professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, joins with more.
The state of the Texas housing market
The state’s housing market appears to be cooling off, after a white-hot streak. What does the market look like right now? Adam Perdue, research economist at Texas A&M’s Real Estate Research Center, offers an update.
Justice Department launches investigation into complaint over dumping in Black Houston neighborhoods
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating how the City of Houston responds to illegal dumping, following a civil rights complaint accusing the city of being slower to respond to illegal dumping in communities of color than in wealthier, white ones. Houston Public Media’s Katie Watkins visits several dump sites.
How Ukrainian children are adapting to life in Texas
The war in Ukraine has pushed millions of people out of the country to seek refuge elsewhere, including the United States. The refugees that have ended up in Austin include school-age children. To help them with the transition, a group of Ukrainians have created a special school for them that meets on Sundays. The Texas Newsroom’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán reports.
What can Texas do with millions of gallons of oil and gas wastewater?
Texas oil and gas extraction produces a staggering amount of wastewater: nearly 600 million gallons daily are foreseeable for the next four decades. Lawmakers want to know if it can be recycled into local water supplies, but the scope of what needs to be treated – and questions over whether the water can truly be made safe for use – pose enormous challenges. Inside Climate News reporter Dylan Baddour joins with the story.
January 6 was the end of the ‘third Reconstruction’
The U.S. has known three eras of reconstruction: periods of advancement for people of color followed by violent backlash, writes UT-Austin history professor and occasional Texas Standard commentator Peniel Joseph. And the last one ended at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6. He joins us today to discuss his new book, “The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century.”
EPA halts oil export construction along Gulf Coast
Under the Trump administration, the EPA relaxed regulations to allow for the construction of an oil export facility off the Texas coast, near Corpus Christi. The Biden administration changed course by denying the project a permit to continue construction. Texas Tribune reporter Erin Douglas joins us to explain.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
