Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Tuesday, November 17, 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.
Roundtable on Rural Communities COVID-19 Response
Rural Texas has been hit hard this fall by the coronavirus. The Standard speaks with Terry Scroggin, chief executive of the Titus County Regional Medical Center, Dr. Ivan Melendez, Hidalgo County Health Authority and Lorenzo Serrano, administrator for the Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit.
Goats Return to Houston Arboretum
The folks at the Houston Arboretum have 155 acres of vegetation to tend. But instead of using weed-killer or power-mowers to trim back unwanted plants, Houston Public Media’s Katie Watkins reports they’re using a more natural alternative: a herd of goats.
Rice University’s Secret for Containing the Coronavirus
As colleges across the United States have struggled to contain COVID-19 outbreaks on their campuses, Rice University in Houston has been able to keep its infection rates the lowest among colleges in Texas. The university is crediting a student-run community court for keeping cases down. But concerns over whether the court is encouraging the over-surveillance of students’ college experience have come into question. Peter Holley, who’s been writing about this for Texas Monthly, talks to the Standard.
Moon Telescope
Next year NASA will launch the James Webb Space Telescope. The successor to the Hubble Telescope, it will research the formation of the very first galaxies. But what if we could look back in time even further than that? That’s what some astronomers from Texas are hoping to do. They’re looking into an old idea to build a massive telescope on the moon to study the oldest stars in the universe. NASA Hubble Fellow Anna Schauer talks to the Standard.
My Mask: Thora Qaddumi
Antiracist Curriculum
For American high school seniors, the most important history lessons aren’t coming up in class. Instead, young people are learning more about history, like the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, from TikTok or other social media platforms. In Houston, students are lobbying the Texas Board of Education too force schools to provide an antiracist curriculum. Houston Public Media’s Laura Isenee reports on how those efforts are faring.
Boy Scouts’ Sexual Abuse Allegations
More than 90,000 sexual abuse claims were submitted agains the Boy Scouts before yesterday’s deadline. That’s about 10 times the number of accusations the Catholic Church has faced. NPR’s Wade Goodwyn, who has been following the story, talks to the Standard.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
