Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, June 3, 2025:
The 89th Texas legislative session wraps with major bills passed
After 140 days, lawmakers have passed thousands of bills, including measures on school vouchers, public school funding and a THC ban. Many now await Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature.
Blaise Gainey, state politics reporter for The Texas Newsroom, joins Texas Standard with more.
Education overhaul: funding, vouchers and more
Texas lawmakers made sweeping changes to public education this session: passing a billion-dollar school voucher program and a major funding overhaul. But those headline items are just part of the story. Reporters from across the state are tracking how these measures will impact Texas classrooms.
We’ll hear from the Standard’s Sarah Asch, KERA’s Bill Zeeble, and the Texas Newsroom’s Nina Banks and Lucio Vasquez on what to watch going forward.
This Texarkana program tackles literacy by fixing the bigger picture
The 100 Families program helps adult learners succeed not just in school, but in life. Their approach? Getting social service groups to actually talk to each other.
In the second and final part of her story, the Standard’s Sarah Asch reports the model may soon expand across the state.
Houston startup eyes two-hour flights across the Pacific
Venus Aerospace is developing hypersonic aircraft powered by rocket engines, and it just completed a successful seven-second test fire. The Houston-based company hopes to one day fly passengers from the U.S. to Asia in just two hours.
Andrea Leinfelder, space reporter for the Houston Chronicle, joins Texas Standard with more.
Texas helped make the West wild – and deadly
Blood feuds. Revenge. Shootouts over slights real and perceived. The Old West may have been even more violent than the movies let on. In his new book “The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild,” author Bryan Burrough argues Texas was ground zero for much of that lawlessness.
He joins the Standard to explain how killers and outlaws helped shape the mythology of the American West.
State takeover of Houston ISD extended another two years
The Texas Education Agency says Houston ISD district has made progress – just not enough. The board of managers installed in 2023 will stay in place through at least 2027.
Megan Menchaca, senior Houston ISD reporter for the Houston Chronicle, joins the Standard with the story:
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
