Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, April 11, 2024:
The unfolding international crisis between Mexico and Ecuador
Last Friday night, police in Ecuador broke into the Mexican Embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas. Glas is accused of corruption and had sought shelter at the Mexican embassy back in December, after claiming he was suffering political persecution.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the immediate suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador. On Wednesday, the White House joined other countries and condemned the armed raid.
Dr. Richard Pineda, director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, joins the show with more.
Central Texas is a big player in the push for U.S.-built semiconductors
In 2021, Samsung announced it would build a $17 billion chip fabrication plant in Taylor, 35 miles north of Austin. Now the company has unveiled plans to double its investment in the Central Texas facility – and the Biden administration announced it would award Samsung more than $6 billion for the project.
It’s all a part of the push by federal and state leaders to encourage companies to design and build computer chips in the U.S. Tech expert Omar Gallaga joins the show with more.
How will Austin ISD make up a $30 million shortfall?
Central Texas’ largest school district faces a financial crunch going into next year: a $30 million deficit.
The Austin American-Statesman’s Keri Heath joins the Standard with a preview.
This year’s hurricane season forecasted to be ‘most aggressive’ ever
Researchers at Colorado State University have recently released their hurricane season forecast, calling this year’s outlook the “most aggressive” ever. The forecast claims there’s a 54% chance a hurricane will strike the Texas coast, including a 25% chance that it’ll be “major.”
Justin Ballard, the Houston Chronicle’s newsroom meteorologist, joins the Standard to discuss.
Austinite with ALS will make Boston Marathon his final race
Austin resident Bill Corrigan is a serious runner who’s done marathons all over the world. But his trip to Monday’s Boston Marathon will be his last race after being diagnosed in 2022 with ALS, a disease that causes the motor neurons in his brain to lose connection with the muscles in his body.
He sat down with Texas Standard a few weeks back to share his story.
Many men don’t finish college. This North Texas school is trying to reverse the trend
For years, fewer men than women have been graduating college, according to national statistics. A program at Dallas College is providing support to help students cross that finish line.
KERA’s Bill Zeeble reports.
Dallas’ Old City Park to put thousands of antiques up for sale
The city of Dallas will take over managing Old City Park next month. For the past 57 years, the park and thousands of its antiques have been under private management.
Now, KERA’s Jerome Weeks reports the transfer of operations means later this month thousands of those antiques will go on sale to the public.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Raul Alonzo with the Talk of Texas.
