Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, June 25, 2024:
El Pasoans rally to help residents of Ruidoso after fires ravage community
Last week, residents of New Mexico’s Village of Ruidoso were forced to evacuate after two devastating wildfires broke out. Now, residents of the community can return, but likely to widespread damage and disrupted utilities. Rallying to provide relief to Ruidoso residents are several El Paso organizations.
Mica Short, vice president of development for the Paso del Norte Community Foundation, joins us to tell us more about the efforts.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee wages reelection fight amid cancer battle
Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee – one of the two-longest-serving members of the Texas delegation – revealed earlier this month that she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Houston Public Media’s Andrew Schneider looks at the implications of Jackson Lee’s announcement, which comes as she runs for her 16th term in office this November.
Family of man killed by corrections officer plans to take case to civil court
The family of Joshua Wright, a man killed by a former Hays County corrections officer in 2022, plans to take their case to civil court. That’s after the Hays County Criminal District Attorney dismissed the case.
KUT’s Lucciana Choueiry reports:
Property management software drawing ire of the FBI
Property management software like Texas-based RealPage has changed the game for landlords and real estate investors. But with rental prices becoming increasingly unaffordable for many Americans, that software has been drawing scrutiny – including being investigated by the FBI.
Maureen Tkacik, investigations editor for the American Prospect, has been looking into this story and joins the Standard to discuss.
After having execution halted, Ramiro Gonzales’ death appears imminent again
In July of 2022, a Texas death row prisoner named Ramiro Gonzales was just days away from being executed. Gonzales was convicted of raping and killing a woman in 2006 when they were both 18 years old.
Before the state could take his life however, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution so that a lower court could review part of the case. This was prompted by a report from the Marshall Project, which found that a psychiatrist who testified at Gonzales’ original trial said he no longer believed Gonzales to be a danger to society. That revelation bought Gonzales more time, but his death appears imminent once again. His execution is scheduled for this Wednesday, June 26.
Maurice Chammah, an Austin-based journalist for the Marshall Project, joins us with more.
Decades after a murder changed his life, Reginald Reed Jr. reflects in new memoir
At just 6 years old, Reginald Reed Jr. lost his mother to a brutal murder – and it was not solved for four decades until 2019, when his father was arrested and charged with orchestrating her killing.
For Reed, the shock of losing both parents proved a heavy burden to bear. He has since written a memoir titled ” The Day My Mother Never Came Home.” He joins us today to talk about the book.
The controversy surrounding GOP Rep. Troy Nehls’ military badge
Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls served in the U.S. Army, both in the Wisconsin National Guard and in the Army Reserve. He went to Iraq in 2004, and Afghanistan in 2008.
In the halls of Congress, Nehls often wears a medal on his lapel from his Army days – the Combat Infantryman Badge, awarded to infantry or Special Forces members who see active combat. Whether Nehls is eligible to wear that badge, however, seems to depend on who you ask.
John T. Seward, a reporter for the Washington-based non-profit news outlet NOTUS, joins us with the story.
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Raul Alonzo with the Talk of Texas.
