Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Friday, Nov. 15, 2024:
What’s behind Austin ISD’s budget woes?
Austin school district voters passed increased property tax rates to inject an additional $41 million into the district. Despite this influx of cash, officials are preparing to make about $90 million in budget cuts by the spring of 2027 to lower its deficit.
It’s not the first time in recent years the district has had to make cuts. Keri Heath, who covers education for the Austin American-Statesman, joins us to discuss.
Abbott extends tuition freeze at Texas colleges and universities
Gov. Greg Abbott announced this week that he would not support tuition increases at Texas colleges and universities for the next two years, keeping in place an ongoing freeze.
Kate McGee has been following this story for The Texas Tribune and joins Texas Standard to give more background for the decision.
How bitcoin impacted a Central Texas town
Once upon a time, the abundance of lignite coal sparked a revolution in the sleepy Central Texas town of Rockdale, population 5,100. The company that capitalized on all the cheap energy there left long ago, along with jobs and hopes for the future. But those hopes were recently rekindled by a new and completely different sort of effort to capitalize on the state’s energy abundance. And what’s happened since may serve as a warning.
In the latest installment of Phases and Stages, a podcast tracking the energy transformation in Texas, UT Energy Institute Journalism fellow Andy Uhler takes us to the town 40 miles west of College Station:
Breaking down Texas’ new Michelin-recognized restaurants
This week, 15 Texas restaurants received a Michelin star – which means they have “high quality” food – and two restaurants received a green star, recognizing sustainable practices.
The top cuisines represented, according to Michelin, are barbecue, American and Mexican. Mando Rayo – host of the Tacos of Texas podcast, which just wrapped its fourth season – joins us to break down the selections.
A closer look at the country music Grammy nods
The Recording Academy announced its nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards last week. As you might expect, Texas was well-represented in the country music categories, with artists like Post Malone getting a nomination for his album, “F-1 Trillion,” Beyoncé for “Cowboy Carter” and Kacey Musgraves for “Deeper Well.”
But if that list of nominees raises eyebrows among country music fans, they’re not alone. Lots of ink has already been spilled about pop artists jumping into the deep end of country music, and mainstream pop sounds bleeding into the genre more broadly.
To help us sort out what it means for the present and future of country, we’re joined by Marcus Dowling, who covers the country music industry from Nashville as a reporter for the Tennessean.
The gang delivers another custom poem. Reach out to Texas Standard with your topic suggestions!
The week in Texas politics
The Texas Tribune’s James Barragán joins the Standard with a recap of the week that was in Texas politics:
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Raul Alonzo with the Talk of Texas.
