Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022:
New standard for winter power preparedness following 2021 winter blackouts
Eighteen months after the state was brought to its knees by weeklong blackouts during a winter storm, the Texas Railroad Commission voted to adopt a new set of requirements for weather emergency preparedness. Texas Tribune reporter Mitchell Ferman joins us with more.
El Paso County DA faces petition for removal
Turmoil is rocking the El Paso district attorney’s office. Yvonne Rosales was elected DA in 2020 and shares responsibility for prosecuting the 2019 mass shooting at a local Walmart. Last week, another local attorney filed a petition to remove Rosales from office, citing her handling of the Walmart case, as well as hundreds of other cases that were dismissed due to inaction. We’ll hear more from Aaron Montes, producer and newscaster at KTEP in El Paso.
Monkeypox spread faces hurdles in schools
As several Houston-area schools deal with monkeypox cases involving students, local health officials say they’re not too concerned about a big increase in cases. As Houston Public Media’s Celeste Schurman reports, there’s a reason the spread doesn’t happen easily on campus:
Mexico eclipses China as U.S.’ main fentanyl supplier
While China has been the primary source of most of the illicit fentanyl in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reports that fentanyl from Mexico – made by two cartels in particular – is now dominating U.S. supply. The Journal’s José De Cordoba shares the details with us today.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the final president of the Soviet republic, has died at 91. What can we make of his complicated legacy? UT-Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs professor Jeremi Suri shares his thoughts with us.
Hearing from the author of ‘Why They Hate Us’
Texas author Aaron H. Aceves’ debut novel is about a bisexual Chicano teenager who struggles with mental health. Hear his thoughts on the importance of books that speak to marginalized teens in this Texas Standard show ID.
Is this question combatting online misinformation?
“Would you like to read this article before sharing it?” It’s a prompt Twitter added a few years back, and Facebook has since followed suit. The companies cited the move to prompt informed discussion. Now, new research out of UT-Austin shows there may be something to that. Marketing professor Susan Broniarczyk has more.
A fact-check on teacher raises
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said, teachers have made a $29 increase in their salary over the last 25 years. Is that a fact? Joining us to go over this fact-check from PolitiFact National is PolitiFact Texas’ Nusaiba Mizan.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
