Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, March 18, 2024:
The latest on SB4 and the Supreme Court
Last week, Justice Samuel Alito ordered a stay for SB4, Texas’ controversial immigration-enforcement law, until today at 4 p.m. central time. For the latest, we’ll hear from Stephen Vladeck, Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law:
A Texas NCAA March Madness preview
The NCAA’s annual basketball tournaments kick off this week, and between the men’s and women’s competition, Texas is sending 11 schools to the big dance.
Houston Chronicle sports reporter Matt Young joins us with a preview.
Harris County is sending inmates out of Texas to private prisons with questionable oversight
Harris County is paying millions to private prison companies to send hundreds of inmates out of state, in an effort to reduce overcrowding in the county jail.
But Houston Public Media’s Lucio Vasquez reports Harris County may not be able to protect inmates in these private facilities with seemingly little oversight.
What’s the best song about a place in Texas? Our Music Madness tourney’s going to crown a winner
March Madness is here, but the collegiate brackets aren’t the only tournaments worth paying attention to.
Here at the Standard we’ve set up a little bracket of our own that we need you to vote on. Michael Marks joins us with the details behind the Texas Standard Music Madness tournament, which kicks off today.
When a total solar eclipse was visible in Fort Worth on July 29, 1878, an astronomer worked with a photographer in an attempt to capture it in a tintype photograph.
The result was only marginally successful. Now, with totality returning Texas on April 8, there’s going to be a re-do. This time, John Hall will be behind the lens, at Mesquite’s Solar Rodeo festival. He joins the Standard with more.
Rainbow Book Bus stops in San Antonio to give away banned LGBTQ+ books
A rainbow-colored school bus stopped in San Antonio last week to give away hundreds of books with LGBTQ+ characters.
Texas Public Radio’s Camille Phillips reports the school bus was on a tour of Southern cities impacted by efforts to ban books.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire’s finally contained. What damage has it done to the Panhandle?
The Smokehouse Creek Fire – the largest wildfire in the history of Texas – is finally 100% contained after weeks of blazing in the Panhandle. At last count, the fire had claimed over 1 million acres of land, while another blaze, the Windy Deuce fire, claimed over 140,000 acres.
Two people and an untold number of livestock died from the wildfires, but that wasn’t the only damage caused. Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service professor Jacob Dykes joins the show with more.
Why Ken Paxton is suing the Colony Ridge developers
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Houston-area developers of Colony Ridge, accusing them of deceptive sales, marketing and lending practices.
Colony Ridge has been in the news since last fall, following right-wing media reports that tied the development’s growth to high levels of illegal immigration. Houston Landing reporter Paul Cobler joins the show with the latest.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this web post stated an astronomer tried to capture a tintype photograph of the 1878 total eclipse in Fort Worth. It is more accurate to say the astronomer worked with the photographer on the effort.
