Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. 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.
Georgia Election Could Be A Bellwether for Texas
Georgia, long considered a red state, stands poised to send two Democratic senators to Washington. Could Stacey Abrams’ strategy of getting more people registered to vote be the model to flip Texas blue? Texan Matthew Dowd, who is chief political analyst for ABC News, talks to the Standard.
Texas Republicans’ Positions On Biden’s Certification
Texas Senator John Cornyn says he won’t object to the certification of the Electoral College vote in Congress, splitting with a growing number of GOP colleagues including the state’s junior senator, Ted Cruz. Texas Tribune political reporter Patrick Svitek talks to the Standard.
The Changing Funeral Business
The last year has been tough for everyone. For the funeral industry, it was overwhelming. Houston Public Media’s Florian Martin visited one funeral home in South Houston to learn more about how the pandemic changed everything for them.
Air Force Basic Training During The Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has forced Air Force leaders to scale back basic training. They’ve removed elements like hand-to-hand combat and shortened field training to try to keep troops safe. But some military training instructors say they wish their recruits were better prepared. Texas Public’s Carson Frame reports for the American Homefront Project.
Eradication Of The Pink Bollworm
For the better part of a century, farmers spent untold amounts of money on pesticides each year to protect their crop from bollworms, which is really a moth but gets its name from the tiny larvae that hatch in cotton bolls. New research shows that, after decades of work, efforts to eradicate the bollworm in North America have been successful. It’s a rare success story in the world of invasive pests. Bruce Tabashnik, head of the entomology department at the University of Arizona, tells the Standard more about it.
Issues With Equitable Vaccine Distribution
The national and state strategy for distributing millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines includes the heavy use of chain stores. Across the state, H-E-B, CVS, Kroger, Randall’s and Walgreens make up a significant chunk of the places people can get vaccinated. But KUT Austin’s Ashley Lopez reports this strategy could be leaving out communities of color who don’t have ready access to those stores.
NPR’s NextGen Radio: Reporter Daisy Espinoza On Jon-Ross Treviño
Houston lawyer Jon-Ross Treviño has been on the frontline of the wave of evictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s his job to fight for renters’ rights. Treviño shared his story with Daisy Espinoza as part of NPR’s Next Generation Radio project.
PolitiFact: Christi Craddick’s Claim About Texas Oil And Gas
Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick said the oil and gas industry comprises 35% of the state’s economy. Is that a fact? Brandon Mulder with Politifact Texas, based at the Austin American-Statesman vets the claim for the Standard.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Shelly Brisbin with the talk of Texas.
