Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, Oct. 30, 2023:
Private school vouchers ‘dead’ in the Texas House with days left in the session
Texas lawmakers appear to be at an impasse over private school vouchers. It’s a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott, and the state Senate already passed a bill that would funnel public dollars to private schools.
As Houston Public Media’s Dominic Anthony Walsh reports, the program is at an apparent standstill in the House.
The Hispanic council member running for Houston mayor
Robert Gallegos is the only Hispanic member of the Houston City Council. He’s a native Houstonian who now says he wants to be mayor.
Houston Public Media has been introducing us to the candidates this election. Today, Patricia Ortiz reports how Gallegos points to his Houston roots and his knowledge of the community as his biggest strengths:
This week in Texas music history
Psych rock musician Roky Erickson gets a nod this week. Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University takes us back.
How artificial ocean reefs can help fight climate change
There are lots of naturally occurring ways to capture carbon and reduce global warming. Trees are good carbon sinks, naturally, but so are ocean reefs.
New research from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is pointing to their possibility. There, marine science professor Richard Kline is leading a project to build an artificial reef. He joins the Standard with more.
The spookiest thing about Spirit Halloween is what is says about urban development
With over 1,500 locations across the United States, Spirit Halloween bills itself as the largest Halloween retailer in North America. And its growth is indicative of our nation’s flawed urban design.
That’s the argument from Strong Towns, an urban planning think tank. Program Director Rachel Quednau joins the Standard to talk about what Spirit Halloween says about America’s urban development pattern.
Let’s go into the field with a Bigfoot tracker
He’s an archaeologist by profession, but Paul Bowman is also a Bigfoot expert.
He’s tracked the elusive sasquatch all over East Texas and Oklahoma. He spoke to the Texas Standard’s Michael Marks as part of our Tracking Texas Cryptids series – and even shared some of his Bigfoot field recordings with him.
With the last of nine base renamings, the Army helps cast aside the myth of the Confederacy
The last of the nine Army bases originally named for Confederate generals has now been renamed. As Fort Gordon in Georgia becomes Fort Eisenhower, an entire category of memorials venerating the Confederacy will be gone.
Jay Price reports for the American Homefront Project.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
