Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025:
Where Texas’ foster care lawsuit stands as judge’s removal is upheld
Earlier this month, the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision to remove U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack from a lawsuit filed in 2011 on behalf of children stranded in the state’s foster care system. Judge Jack has been overseeing the case for 14 years.
Paul Flahive, who’s been following this story for our partner station Texas Public Radio in San Antonio, joins us with the latest.
Controversies and resignations at the Texas Lottery Commission
A bill has just been introduced in the Texas Senate that would ban the use of third-party apps to sell lottery tickets, and Lottery Commissioner Clark Smith resigned from the department late last week.
Dallas Morning News watchdog columnist Dave Leiber, who has been following the various controversies at the Lottery commission over the past few years, joins us today with a breakdown.
Where blocking of Biden-era SAVE plan leaves student borrowers
Last week, a federal court blocked the SAVE plan, a Biden-era initiative aimed at lowering – and in some cases, erasing – student loan debt for millions of borrowers across the United States.
Persis Yu, deputy executive director & managing counsel for the Student Borrower Protection Center, joins us to break down what this means.
Small-scale reactors could position Texas to be a nuclear energy leader
Recent buzz in Abilene stemmed from a new nuclear reactor being built there – an advanced, relatively small one-megawatt molten salt reactor beneath a new lab at Abilene Christian University. It is one of only two companies with federal permits to build these examples of a new kind of small-scale reactor.
As Dylan Baddour reports for Inside Climate News, they may represent the next phase in a long-running effort to resuscitate nuclear energy in the U.S. He joins us with the story.
Meet Austin artist Anastasia Hera
February is Black History Month, and all month long, our partner station KUTX is highlighting Black artists, innovators and places that helped shaped the Austin music scene.
Miles Bloxson has this profile of Anastasia Hera.
Teacher pay raise bill leaves some educators skeptical
Average teacher pay in Texas is about $9,300 below the national average. At least one bill before lawmakers would raise salaries for the first time in years.
KERA’s Bill Zeeble reports North Texas teachers welcome the law – but some aren’t convinced it’ll pass.
Lawmakers mull bill to convert vacant office spaces into living spaces
A debate about going “back to the office” after the COVID-19 pandemic has popped up in headlines for the last five years. But the fact of the matter is, many of Texas’ major urban areas still grapple with a glut of vacant office spaces.
Now, state lawmakers are considering a bill that may make it easier to transform empty office and commercial space into living spaces. Joshua Fechter, who covers urban affairs for the Texas Tribune, joins the Standard with the details.
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Raul Alonzo with the Talk of Texas.
