Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Friday, Aug. 1, 2025:
Kerr County emergency officials were sleeping when flood hit July 4
Kerr County’s emergency management coordinator acknowledged Thursday that he was ill and asleep when rain inundated the Hill Country community early July 4.
The Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey joins with more from yesterday’s legislative hearing in Kerrville.
Move to hand-marked ballots in Collin County could become a national trend
Remember filling out your vote with pen and paper? Collin County is bringing that back – and it’s part of a growing national trend.
Caroline Love of KERA reports.
Conjunto music icon Flaco Jiménez dies at 86
The legendary Texas accordionist known for helping to expand the reach of the Tex-Mex style of conjunto music has died at age 86 following a long illness.
Texas Public Radio’s Marian Navarro shares a remembrance.
Cyclists ride for care in Buffalo Gap
The Tour de Gap isn’t just a scenic summer bike race – it’s a charitable event with deep community roots.
KACU’s Alexsis Jones shares how it’s helping expand health care access:
Screwworm threat returns to Texas
Parasitic flies once pushed out of Texas are creeping back toward the border. The Standard’s Michael Marks joins us with the latest on efforts to protect livestock.
Randy Mallory’s new book chronicles decades of Texas travel photography – from racing crawfish to camel patrols – but all started with a search for brooms.
He shares more about “The Fifty-Year Texas Road Trip: On Assignment from Earth to Uncertain.”
The parrots of the Rio Grande Valley
Red-crowned Amazons squawk through summer nights in Brownsville – and they’ve been the city’s official bird since 1992.
Texas Monthly’s Joseph Palmer explains how they earned the honor.
The gang delivers another custom poem. Reach out to Texas Standard with your topic suggestions!
The week in Texas politics
Texas Tribune politics editor Jasper Scherer joins the Standard with a recap of the week that was in Texas politics:
The Talk of Texas: Redistricting
Wells Dunbar surveys Texans’ reaction to the mid-decade redistricting push:
