Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. Check back later today for updated story links and audio.
Thousands of North Texas voter registrations challenged by just a few people
A handful of people in North Texas are responsible for challenges to many thousands of voter registrations, piling extra work on elections staff who already update the voter rolls regularly, county officials and experts say.
Experts say that a driving force behind many of those challenges is True the Vote, a conservative nonprofit based in Houston that has peddled what many describe as baseless theories about election fraud. KERA’s Caroline Love reports.
A drill down into voter challenges across Texas
Similar challenges to voter registration are being made throughout the state and across the nation. As part of The Drill Down, our series taking a closer look at investigative journalism in public newsrooms across Texas, KERA’s Caroline Love joins the show with more:
New allegations of market manipulation during 2021 Texas winter blackouts
Texans who endured the devastating 2021 winter blackouts remember the unusually cold weather blamed for the crisis. But new lawsuits suggest the disaster may have had a man-made cause: market manipulation.
An ongoing legal battle alleges Texas fossil fuel companies intentionally diverted natural gas to drive up energy prices. Defendants include companies like CenterPoint Energy, BP and Morgan Stanley. Saul Elbein, energy and politics reporter for The Hill, joins the Standard with more.
A 19th century military fort is the Texas Historical Commission’s newest historic site
There’s not much that’s new about Fort Martin Scott itself. It was founded in Fredericksburg back in 1848 as part of a string of military installations to protect frontier settlements from attacks by Comanche and other Native peoples.
What is new is that the fort is now the Texas Historical Commission’s 39th historic site, ensuring its long-term preservation. Fort site director Shannon Smith joins the Standard with more.
Remembering songwriter, actor and outlaw legend Kris Kristofferson
When Kris Kristofferson passed away Sunday at 88, fans mourned not just a legendary songwriter, but an iconic figure in country music’s outlaw generation and a prolific actor with nearly 50 films to his name.
Though born in Brownsville, Kristofferson spent much of his life away from the Lone Star State. Yet his Texas roots always shone through, especially alongside fellow Highwaymen like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Longtime Texas Monthly senior editor John Spong joins the Standard with more.
Sheriff among those calling for justice as deadly shooting case stalls in Sierra Blanca
It’s been two years since a deadly shooting at a watering hole near Sierra Blanca, and the case has stalled. The man who pulled the trigger was the warden of the nearby prison. He was with his twin brother, and the men say they were hunting wild animals when they killed a man and wounded a woman, both of whom were migrants.
KTEP’s Angela Kocherga reports from Sierra Blanca, where doubts about what happened persist.
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
