Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022:
A letter from the Texas Secretary of State warns that Harris County has left unanswered questions about the chain of custody for election materials from the 2020 elections. As a result, the letter says, the secretary of state’s office will be sending inspectors to observe voting and vote counting in this year’s elections. The top elected official in Harris County is calling the timing of this notice “suspicious.” We’ll hear more from Jen Rice, Harris County reporter for the Houston Chronicle.
Texas’ abortion ban adds pressure to already strained Medicaid system
Texas banned abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade nearly four months ago. Many expect the ban will lead to rising numbers of births in the state. And many of those mothers and new children will be living below the poverty line. So is Texas ready to help them? Haya Panjwani of KUT has more.
The feature documentary “Cat Daddies” debuts in Dallas this weekend. The Standard catches up with director and Texas native Mye Hoang to learn about cats, the men who love them and a lot more.
What’s the future of AI-generated art?
If you’ve played around with DALL·E 2 or other websites that use artificial intelligence to generate images based on keywords you enter, you’ve experienced what’s called AI–generated content. AI-based blog posts, ad copy – and, yes, art, – are expected to become a big business; an Austin startup just secured $125 million to pursue its AI content plans. Should that worry consumers? Tech expert Omar Gallaga joins us to share more.
How Hurricane Ian’s impact on Florida citrus will affect Texas
Florida farmers grow the majority of the country’s oranges, as well as a good portion of the grapefruit and tangerines – but Hurricane Ian hit at just the wrong time, when the fruit in many groves was just about ripe enough to harvest. That could have big ripple effects for citrus growers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. We’ll get the latest from Dale Murden, a citrus grower in Harlingen and president of Texas Citrus Mutual.
Texas podcaster behind ‘Susto’ honored among ‘the next generation of storytellers’
The podcast “Susto” from Ayden Castellanos, who’s originally from the Rio Grande Valley and now based in Austin, retells and explores the origins behind many of the spooky stories Castellanos was raised on, particularly those well-known from the Texas-Mexico border region like La Llorona and La Lechuza. Castellanos was recently named to the inaugural class of the Gotham Film and Media Institute’s Gotham/Variety Audio Honors – a designation highlighting “the next generation of storytellers.”
Prosecutorial misconduct accusations in Tarrant County spotlight high stakes in death penalty cases
Two former North Texas prosecutors face accusations that they lied to put a man on death row. Now, Tarrant County’s top prosecutor is asking the state’s highest criminal court to reconsider the sentence of the man, Paul Storey. Miranda Suarez of KERA reports.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
