Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.
Legal fight over access to the Cutoff continues
A small lake in Henderson County, long used by locals for fishing and hunting, has become the center of a legal battle over public access. After a landowner fenced off entry, lawsuits followed and now, powerful interests are backing the landowner.
The Standard’s Michael Marks brings us the latest developments.
Amid federal cutbacks, a college program to train Pentagon civilian workers faces uncertainty
Despite widespread layoffs and hiring freezes in federal agencies, a pilot program has given young people interested in Defense Department service a reason to be optimistic. Virginia Tech students are gaining hands-on experience through a Pentagon-backed initiative – but will it survive Trump Administration cutbacks?
Jay Price of the American Homefront Project reports.
In the early 1900s, Shiner, Texas farmers tried brewing beer – with disastrous results. But things changed when a Bavarian brewmaster arrived and transformed the operation.
Texas Standard commentator W.F. Strong shares the story of how Shiner beer found its flavor.
New study takes critical look at kids’ motor skills
New parents are familiar with milestones: Lifting a head and rolling over, climbing stairs, finding balance. But a new study out of the University of Texas at Arlington finds those might not tell the whole story.
Priscilla Tamplain is an associate professor of kinesiology at UT-Arlington and a researcher whose latest findings state that simply meeting developmental milestones may obscure other issues. She joins the Standard with more.
How local police targeted civil rights activists
A new book explores how not just federal agencies, but local police agencies, surveilled and sabotaged civil rights movements in cities like Houston. Joshua Davis details how local forces used violence and surveillance to suppress activism in his new book “Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back.”
He joins the show with an overview today.
Ideologically-driven ousters in UT-Austin leadership raise questions
A wave of administrative exits at UT-Austin is raising concerns about leadership stability. Among those ousted is longtime psychology professor Art Markman, who said “ideological differences” were the reason he was forced out.
Lily Kepner of the Austin American-Statesman joins the Standard with the story.
