Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, January 25, 2022.
What are the options as tensions rise over Ukraine?
Concern over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to rise in the aftermath of a Russian military buildup along Ukraine’s borders. Jeremi Suri, professor at UT Austin’s Department of History and its LBJ School of Public Affairs, joins us with the latest.
Ukrainian Americans and expats watch from afar in Texas
For Ukrainian Americans in North Texas, a Ukrainian church has become a place for prayer and solidarity with loved ones back home. Memories of Ukraine under the Soviet Union’s rule remain fresh on the minds of many parishioners. As the Texas Standard’s Jill Ament reports, they’re keeping a watchful eye on what’s happening.
SpaceX’s toll on Boca Chica Beach
Cameron County closed the lone road to Boca Chica Beach for more than 600 hours in 2021 for SpaceX activity. That’s according to researchers with the Coastal Bend and Bay Estuary program. Texas Public Radio’s Gaige Davila reports.
Texas leads in evictions, as federal aid goes unspent
With 2000 eviction cases filed in a single week this January, Houston has the most eviction filings in the country. Princeton-based researchers also place Dallas and Fort Worth in the country’s top five. Taken together, the number of eviction filings statewide puts Texas among the nation’s highest states – but families are being put on the street even as millions of federal dollars earmarked for eviction relief are being sent back to Washington – unspent. He joins us today.
Lawsuit says Google tracks your movements – even if you tell it not to
Texas is one of three states, plus the District of Columbia, to file a new lawsuit against Google. The suit alleges that the internet giant engages in deceptive location tracking – recording users’ movements even after they turn off tracking features. David Shepardson, D.C.-based reporter for Reuters, joins us to talk about the lawsuit.
The Houston artist and animator at Sundance
Our Laura Rice brought you a preview of Texas films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Today, learn more about one of them with this show ID featuring Renee Zahn, animator and director of animated short “Soft Animals.”
It was once a KKK meeting hall. Now it will be a hub for racial healing via the arts.
In Fort Worth, a Ku Klux Klan meeting hall that’s stood on the north side of the city since 1926 will be getting a $40 million makeover. But as KERA’s Jerome Weeks reports, it won’t be remade into a typical history museum or community center.
Fort Worth is center of first redistricting challenge set to be heard in federal court
The first redistricting challenge over Texas’ new maps is set to be heard in a federal court today. It’s a challenge to the redrawn state Senate District 10 in Fort Worth. The lawsuit alleges the new map purposely dilutes the voting strength of minorities. Julián Aguilar has been covering the story for The Texas Newsroom. We’ll hear from him today.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
