Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023:
Texas foster care system experiences record high turnover
Foster case caseworkers are leaving their jobs in droves, citing low staffing, low pay and job-related stress. The turnover is exacerbating significant problems in the system: Last fiscal year, over 1 in 4 caseworkers had less than one year of experience, according to an investigation by the Texas Tribune.
Tribune reporter Sneha Dey joins the Standard with more.
Texas law banning public drag performances found unconstitutional
A federal judge has ruled that a Texas law severely restricting drag performances is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. Under Senate Bill 12, “sexually oriented performances” would be banned from happening in front of minors, including performances that appeal to a “prurient interest” and those that use “accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics.”
South Texas College of Law professor Charles “Rocky” Rhodes joins the Standard with more.
The U.S. has a new top trade partner: Mexico
Mexico has replaced China as the United State’s No. 1 trading partner. What does this mean for Texas?
Raymond Robertson, a professor at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, joins the Standard to talk about how our closest trading partner took the top spot.
The mystery of the Osage murders
Director Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” premieres next month. Commentator W.F. Strong first profiled the story when it was told in a bestselling book by the same name.
Why booming Austin is offering business incentive packages
If you’re a city wanting to create jobs and boost economic activity, you can issue economic incentive packages: money, tax breaks and services that governments hand out to attract businesses and investments. The City of Austin has just handed out its first major economic incentive package in six years to NXP Semiconductors, a $10 billion company based in the Netherlands.
Austin Monitor reporter Chad Swiatecki has been following the deal and joins the Standard with more.
The week in Texas music history
In September 2000, country singer Maren Morris made her big debut at Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue in Arlington. Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University takes us back.
The Hill Country is where the bats are
You’ve probably heard about the giant bat colony that lives under a bridge in downtown Austin. It’s the largest urban colony in the world. But in the Texas Hill Country, there’s an even bigger rural colony.
KUT’s Mose Buchele spent the night with millions of bats at the Bracken Cave Preserve.
Delta-8 is a psychoactive substance produced by cannabis plants. Most popular in the form of gummies and vape cartridges, it can produce a similar high to traditional marijuana, or delta-9. The Food and Drug Administration has never formally evaluated it. So, what do we know about delta-8’s health impacts?
UT Health San Antonio professor Brett Ginsburg joins the Standard with an overview.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
