Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022:
National Guard Member becomes fifth suspected suicide associated with Operation Lone Star
A Texas guard member in Eagle Pass died from an alleged self-inflicted gunshot wound Tuesday morning. The soldier was part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border initiative, Operation Lone Star, and the fifth suspected suicide since the mission launched in March 2021. Davis Winkie, reporter for Military Times, joins the Standard to discuss the latest.
How rhetoric about bail reform is shaping the upcoming election in Harris County
One of the key issues leading up to the November elections is public safety. Homicide rates rose on average around 30% across the nation within a year of the pandemic; Houston saw a 42% spike. Houston Public Media’s Lucio Vasquez investigated how the rhetoric surrounding crime, specifically bail reform, has politicians pointing fingers.
Are partisan attacks and false claims about voting fraud affecting poll workers?
A rise in threats to poll workers has many counties around the country struggling to hire enough election workers. But as Juan Garcia of KUT Austin reports, with early voting in the Nov. 8 election starting on Oct. 24, counties in Central Texas are not experiencing feared staffing shortages – at least, not yet:
Agriculture commissioner Sid Miller faces legal and ethical questions in re-election bid
Agriculture commissioner is among the statewide offices voters will decide in November – and in a state like Texas, the position is no small potatoes. But questions of corruption and ethics are front and center in the race for agriculture commissioner. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has more.
‘Build to rent’ neighborhoods are popping up. What do they mean for Texans?
It’s a trend sweeping Texas: new homes being built – not for sale, but for rent. Is “build to rent” a boon for families, or fuel for further inequities? We’ll hear more from Washington Post reporter Abha Bhattarai.
What life was like at Marfa’s segregated Blackwell School
The Blackwell School in Marfa was one of many segregated schools across the southwest where Hispanic students were taught separately from their white peers. It’s now set to become a national historic site. Marfa Public Radio’s Travis Bubenik has been talking with people with firsthand memories of attending the school.
This Texan wants to protect bats from climate change and human activity
The severe winter freeze in 2021 killed as many as 300,000 bats across Texas. But the Austin Bat Refuge rescued around 4,000 from the same fate. Dianne Odegard is co-founder of the group. Odegard shared her story with Kevin Vu as part of NPR’s Next Generation Radio project.
A fact-check with PolitiFact Texas
Nusaiba Mizan, an Austin American-Statesman journalist for PolitiFact Texas, fact–checks a Texas politician’s claim about deaths from fentanyl.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
