Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025:
Four years after the blackout, podcast probes what’s changed with Texas’ grid
The 2021 winter storm left millions without power and at least 262 people dead. State leaders vowed to prevent another disaster. Now, “The Disconnect” podcast is back for a third season, exploring what’s changed and what hasn’t.
Mose Buchele, the podcast’s host and KUT energy and environment reporter, joins the Standard to discuss.
Alaska Airlines will no longer fly out of Dallas Love Field
Alaska Airlines is set to discontinue service at Dallas Love Field this spring. KERA’s Pablo Arauz Peña reports on what’s behind the decision and what it means for travelers:
The battle over the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is leading a push to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is already spearheading efforts to gut the agency.
But what would that mean for everyday Americans? Chuck Bell from Consumer Reports joins the Standard to break it down.
Stories from Texas: Things Redneck Dave said to me on the drive across Texas
Texas Standard commentator W.F. Strong shares another story about life in our great state – this time, through his brother Redneck Dave.
Lawrence Wright’s latest for New Yorker covers women’s death row
Pulitzer Prize winner Lawrence Wright’s latest article in The New Yorker is about women on Texas’ death row – and the nuns that are there to help them. He joins the Standard with more.
Texas foster care facility shut down after child’s death
A federal report details a history of abuse at a Texas foster care facility linked to the recent death of an 11-year-old boy. Now permanently closed, the facility is the latest example of an ongoing lawsuit against the state’s child welfare system.
Terri Langford of The Texas Tribune joins the show with more.
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
