Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Monday, November 16, 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.
El Paso COVID Surge
Last week, Texas became the first state in the United States to report more than 1 million COVID-19 cases. While numbers are climbing throughout the state, nowhere has been hit quite as hard as El Paso, which is averaging more than 1,000 new cases per day. So many people are sick, the city’s convention center has been converted into a field hospital. KERA’s Mallory Falk has more.
Latest: Paxton Whistleblower Lawsuit
Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton now faces a lawsuit from several former employees who say he retaliated against them after they accused him of using his office to help a campaign donor and friend. The lawsuit was filed under the Texas Whistleblower Act in a Travis County district court late last week. Austin American-Statesman investigative reporter Tony Plohetski talks to the Standard about this latest development.
Latino Youth Vote
During this election, Texas saw a million young adults voting before Election Day. With a young Latino or Latina turning 18 in the United States every 30 seconds, they were a critical part of turnout. The Texas Standard’s Joy Diaz talked to several young Texas Latinos about their reasons for voting.
Biofuels and Restaurant Slowdown
The Sounds of Texas. Keila Rodriguez on COVID Children’s Book
Sherry Kafka Wagner
In 1966, as the United States experienced sweeping social change, Sherry Kafka Wagner’s only novel, “Hannah Jackson,” was published. It turned a spotlight on the oppression of social conventions in a fictional Texas town. Its rerelease this year reveals an enduring relevance—perhaps, especially now. Texas Public Radio’s Jack Morgan spoke with the author, Sherry Kafka Wagner.
No Straight Ticket Voting
The election in Texas looked a bit different this year because of COVID-19: more early voting, drive-through locations in some places and lots of masks and gloves. But one big change had been in the works for a few years: the removal of a straight ticket option. Texas Public Radio’s Dominic Anthony Walsh reports on what may have been ripple effects.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
