Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, January 20, 2022.
The new election law that’s wreaking havoc for county clerks
Election officials across Texas say they’ve been forced to reject hundreds of mail-in ballot applications due to confusion over the state’s new election law. On top of that, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office is blaming supply chain issues for a shortage of voter registration forms. Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir is navigating these issues, just 11 days before the deadline to register to vote in the March primary. She joins us today.
Republican primary to replace Kevin Brady a test for Texas GOP
Last April, Republican congressman Kevin Brady announced that after a quarter century in office, he’s retiring. It led to a crowded primary contest for his district seat north of Houston. Andrew Schneider of Houston Public Media says the primary race sheds some light on how the Texas GOP is evolving in the aftermath of the Trump presidency.
Vaccinations up among nursing home workers, despite mandate confusion
Despite previous uncertainty over the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, many nursing homes across Texas saw an increase in employee vaccinations over the past few months. The Texas Standard’s Caroline Covington has more.
Why fertilizer prices skyrocketed this year
Farmers across Texas are preparing to plant spring crops. This year, one of their key tools is far more costly than it used to be: fertilizer. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s Steven Klose stops by to tell us why.
New tech coming to a TV near you
Between football playoffs and news from the Consumer Electronics Show, January is a big month for TV shopping. If you’re thinking about a new screen in the living room, you’ve probably noticed just how many kinds of TVs there are these days. Our tech expert Omar Gallaga is here to help us make sense of terms like QD-OLED, eArc, 8K and more.
The Sounds of Texas: Filmmaker April Maxey
The Sundance Film Festival kicks off today. Among the films at the fest with Texas connections is writer/director April Maxey’s “Work.” Maxey was born and raised in San Antonio and says it’s where she discovered art and creativity. She tells the Standard about her short film and the impact she’d like to make on the film industry.
They’re the world’s only cross-border baseball team. Could they take their ball and go home?
The Tecolotes dos Laredos have a unique arrangement for their home games. As part of the Mexican Baseball League, the Tecos play half of their home games in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. But they play the other half of their home schedule across the border in Laredo – making them the world’s only binational pro baseball team. This arrangement could be in jeopardy, however, due to a contract dispute between the club and its U.S. ballpark. Joining us with more is Garrett Kroeger, sports reporter for The Laredo Morning Times.
Texas slow to adopt potential solutions to keep rural hospitals open
In much of rural Texas, there are no hospitals, and few, if any, emergency medical services. Texas Tech Public Media spent the past year examining the problem. Reporter Jayme Lozano looks at some of the potential solutions to the health care drought in parts of rural Texas. This report was done in collaboration with The Texas Newsroom, APM Research Lab and FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
