Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024:
Even though he’s not fighting the charges, a second impeachment’s unlikely for Ken Paxton
Republican state Sen. Drew Springer asked his colleagues to reconsider restarting impeachment proceedings against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week, after the AG announced he would stop contesting the whistleblower lawsuit that led to impeachment.
But as The Texas Newsroom’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán reports, it’s unlikely impeachment proceedings could be reopened.
The Hill Country faces ongoing drought
With an extremely hot summer in 2023 and little rainfall, last year saw drought conditions across much of the state. Conditions have improved, but Texas is not out of the woods yet, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
One area of Texas facing continued drought? The Hill Country. San Antonio Express-News reporter Liz Teitz joins the Standard with more.
Census nixes changes to disability survey after pushback
A plan to overhaul the way the U.S. Census Bureau counts people with disabilities has received so much pushback that the agency is rethinking the updated questions it had planned to include on the next American Community Survey.
The Standard’s Shelly Brisbin reports:
Texas foster care system faces penalties for lack of reforms
Texas’s foster care system has been troubled for years. A federal court is now weighing whether to impose hefty fines over the state’s inability to make progress on court-ordered reforms.
Paul Flahive of Texas Public Radio has the story.
Venezuelans in Houston have no consulate
More than 600,000 Venezuelans call the U.S. home, and Texas has the second biggest Venezuelan population in the U.S. after Florida. But for many, access to consular services like renewing Venezuelan passports or registering a newborn as a citizen is nearly impossible.
Houston Landing’s Anna-Catherine Brigida brings the Standard the story.
How frontline workers fared during COVID and how best to protect them
The first COVID-19 case was reported in the U.S. around this time four years ago. A new report looks at how COVID-19 affected frontline workers in the U.S. – and how to better protect them in future.
David Michaels, a professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, joins the show with the findings.
It’s an election year, as you’ve no doubt heard. And you’ll be hearing a lot about the presidential contest at the top of the ballot.
But in North Texas, Dallas Morning News political columnist Gromer Jeffers points to three downballot races that will have an outsize impact on local politics. He joins the Standard with more.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
