Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024:
Jefferson County braces for potential impacts from Hurricane Francine
As Hurricane Francine nears the Gulf Coast, Jefferson County is keeping a close eye on the storm’s potential effects. Though Louisiana is expected to take the brunt of it, officials are preparing for possible changes in the storm’s path.
Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick joins the Standard with updates on local precautions, including evacuation plans, livestock relocation and more:
Cy-Fair ISD’s libraries are frequently closed after trustees cut librarian positions in half
Campus libraries across Cy-Fair ISD are open only part of the time this year. The school board for the Houston-area district has exerted more control over library and instructional materials since politically conservative members won a 6-1 majority last November.
Houston Public Media’s Adam Zuvanich has more.
Mexico’s judicial reform bill passes Senate, could disrupt U.S. trade
Outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is pushing for a major judicial reform that would allow judges to be elected by popular vote. The bill passed in the Senate early Wednesday and could have significant implications for Mexico’s relationship with the U.S., particularly in trade.
Critics argue that the reform might undermine judicial independence and disrupt key agreements. Texas Public Radio’s Pablo De La Rosa has the story:
Plastic piles up as advanced recycling program in Houston struggles to get off the ground
Some 20 miles northwest of downtown Houston, hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic waste sit behind a gate, supposedly waiting for what’s been billed as “advanced recycling.”
But since its start in 2022, residential garbage has piled up into bailed heaps at a waste handling business that’s failed three fire safety inspections and has yet to gain state approval to store plastic. Inside Climate News’ Jim Bruggers co-reported the story with CBS News and joins the Standard with more.
What Elvis Presley owed West Texas
Texas is known far and wide for its vast musical talent: Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson, Selena, Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Beyonce, to name a scant few.
Elvis Presley wasn’t a Texan – but commentator W.F. Strong says he owed the state a lot.
This week in Texas music history
New Orleans pianist Professor Longhair played the Soap Creek Saloon, a ramshackle honky-tonk in the West Austin hills on what was then a sleepy Bee Caves Road, this week in 1975.
Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University shares his story.
Diving deeper into the lore of gators in Austin’s Zilker Park
Yesterday, we heard the first part of a story from KUT’s Mose Buchele investigating a listener question: Have there ever been any sightings of gators in Zilker Park?
In part 1, we learned about a gator who lived at a restaurant down the street that people might have confused memories of being in the park. In part two, Mose explores … other possibilities.
Reactions to the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump
Over 50 million people tuned in to watch Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on the debate stage last night, according to Nielsen estimates. This audience is roughly a 30% drop from the Biden-Trump debate earlier this year, and the smallest since a 2004 debate between John Kerry and then-President George W. Bush.
Still, if you read the news this morning, or go on social media, conversations about the debate are ubiquitous. So what are the big takeaways? Mark Hand, political science professor at UT-Arlington, joins the Standard with more:
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
