Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023:
What the new federal Farm Bill covers
Congress has reached a budget deal that averted a partial government shutdown. The stopgap bill that President Joe Biden signed extended funding to scads of federal programs, including many of those funded by the Farm Bill, a half-trillion dollar law that Congress passes every five years.
Agri-Pulse editor Philip Brasher joins the Standard with a look at what’s in the bill for Texas.
Police indictments rarely lead to convictions
As social justice protests questioned the nature of policing across the country, reformers applauded the number of cases being tried for police shooting deaths. But when the cases reached a courtroom, acquittals occurred more often than not, an Austin American-Statesman examination found.
Statesman reporter Tony Plohetski joins the Standard with more.
San Antonio residents flock to city’s first gun buyback event
Hundreds of San Antonians took advantage of the city’s first-ever gun buyback over the weekend. Many saw it as a way to safely offload unwanted weapons.
Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies reports.
The story of Wild West legend Judge Roy Bean
Texas has no shortage of colorful characters – but sometimes, the stories can get a little mangled. Take, for instance, Judge Roy Bean, known to generations of Texans as the inspiration for a Paul Newman movie, or a Six Flags roller coaster.
Texas Standard commentator W.F. Strong helps us make sense of the legend.
Does SpaceX glean valuable info from its destructive rocket launches?
A SpaceX test launch of the largest rocket ever made ended on Saturday when a booster exploded and the company’s Starship craft self-destructed, high over the South Padre Island launch site.
Eric Berger, who covers space for the tech site Ars Technica, says the way the flight ended gave SpaceX knowledge about how to redesign and re-engineer its systems. Berger joins the Standard with more.
How this man survived in the desert for 27 hours
In the midst of this summer’s record-breaking heat, a Texas hiker defied deadly odds and survived for 27 hours lost in the West Texas desert. Jeff Hahn, a 59-year-old marketing executive, and his daughter Harper found themselves disoriented and out of water while hiking in Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Here to share the details of how he defied the odds to stay alive is Jeff Hahn.
Fentanyl is deadly – so why don’t drug tests screen for it?
It’s the fastest growing cause of drug deaths in the state. So why is fentanyl left out of routine drug testing in Texas?
The Dallas Morning News investigated why as part of its series exploring the fentanyl crisis in North Texas. City columnist Sharon Grigsby joins the Standard with more.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
