Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, March 20, 2024:
The latest on Texas Senate Bill 4, which puts immigration enforcement in the state’s hands
After a tangle of technical rulings from multiple courts yesterday, Senate Bill 4 – the state law that would give local and state law enforcement officers broad power to detain and deport those suspected of being in the U.S. illegally – is back on hold.
As we go to air, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing aspects of a case that was returned to them by the Supreme Court. University of Texas School of Law professor Stephen Vladeck joins us with the latest:
She was jailed for fighting City Hall. Can the people behind it be shielded from lawsuits?
The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case that has its roots in small-town petty politics. But it could have implications for the future of free speech and what’s known as qualified immunity.
Still, at the heart of the case (Gonzalez v. Trevino) is a simple question: Should government officials be shielded from lawsuits when their critics are jailed? Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has the story.
The SXSW where Spoon and Johnny Cash played down the block from each other
On March 17, 1994, the South by Southwest Festival in Austin was reaching fever pitch as a cultural force.
Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University shares how.
An afterlife for Magic Island, Houston’s Egyptian pharaoh-themed nightclub
For decades, commuters along Houston’s Southwest Freeway have passed by a peculiar landmark: the head of an Egyptian pharaoh, leering at drivers on the upper deck.
This was Magic Island: a private club that treated patrons to intimate performances and fine dining. It opened in 1984 and closed in 2008 after Hurricane Ike. It appears to be on the verge of second act, however. Freelance journalist Jef Rouner joins the Standard with the story.
They look and act like cops, but Houston’s ‘contract deputies’ are different
Houston’s contract deputy program is designed to ensure fast response times and police visibility for neighborhoods willing to cover most of the cost of hiring them.
However, Harris County officials are debating whether the resources put into constable programs could be better spent. Reporter Mike Morris worked with a team of reporters at the Houston Chronicle in a special series called “Unchecked Forces.” He joins the Standard today.
‘Chasing the Panther’ is a new memoir from a Hollywood trailblazer
“Chasing the Panther: Adventures and Misadventures of a Cinematic Life” is a real-life coming-of-age story of the tomboy who became a powerful Hollywood executive.
Autobiographer Carolyn Pfeiffer joins the Standard with more.
With fake weapons and phony uniforms, they helped win WWII. Now, they’re finally getting medals.
On Thursday, the U.S. will bestow the Congressional Gold Medal on men who have been called “combat con artists.”
Jay Price of the American Homefront Project reports on a long-secret Army unit that helped win World War II with battlefield deception.
New accounting of deadly fire in Juárez detention center that killed dozens
A year and one week ago, a fire broke out at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez. Forty people died that night, and many questions about the incident remain unanswered.
A months-long investigation by El Paso Matters, La Verdad and Lighthouse Reports details the chaos of that night, showing several lapses in safety protocols beyond the cell door key authorities allege could not be found. El Paso Matters reporter Cindy Ramirez joins the Standard with the details.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
