Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022:
How student loan forgiveness impacts Texans
The Biden administration will forgive up to $20,000 in student loans for anyone making less than $125,000. The administration also extended the current repayment pause until January 2023. Ben Wermund, D.C. correspondent for the Houston Chronicle, joins us to discuss how it impacts Texans.
After the flood: Balch Springs families dry out, recover belongings and try to find a place to live
Many families in the Dallas County city of Balch Springs woke up this week to find their homes flooded by torrential rain. The water has gone down, but in some ways the struggle is just beginning. KERA’s Caroline Love has more.
Pace of Harris County home buyouts slower than hoped for after Hurricane Harvey
As part of our coverage of Hurricane Harvey’s fifth anniversary, Houston Public Media’s Sara Willa Ernst wanted to learn more about the home-buyout process for flood-prone properties – a process that is notoriously slow and inadequate. In the final installment of Below the Waterlines: Houston After Hurricane Harvey, she introduces us to a Houston family who became a part of Harris County’s mandatory buyouts.
WeWork founder Adam Neumann is coming for residential real estate next
The crash of coworking startup WeWork inspired tell-all articles and splashy miniseries, many focused on the profligate spending and self-dealing of founder Adam Neumann. Well, Neumann’s back with a new company, fresh funding … and he could have his eyes on your home. Our tech expert Omar Gallaga explains.
Nepotism, the act of favoring family or friends for employment, is looked down upon. But are there instances in which nepotism can be a good thing? Bloomberg opinion columnist Allison Schrager says yes, and she joins us to talk about it.
Oil prices fuel UT’s ascent to (almost) richest college endowment
Ninety-nine years ago this week, the University of Texas System received its first check for oil pumped on university lands. Almost a century later, UT’s benefitted so much from the recent surge in oil prices that it could overtake Harvard as America’s richest college. Sergio Chapa, a Bloomberg energy reporter based in Houston, joins with more.
Military housing allowances are lagging rent increases
The housing allowance that branches of the U.S. military give to their members has not kept pace with the cost of rent. And that’s creating major hardships for some military families. R.J. Rico, housing reporter for the Associated Press, shares the story with us.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
