Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Listen on your Texas public radio station, or ask your smart speaker to play Texas Standard. We’ll have full posts for each story, including audio, a little later today.
The leaked draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade
The conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority has privately voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision granting constitutional federal protection of the right to an abortion, according to a rare leaked draft opinion first reported by POLITICO. While Roe currently remains in place, the opinion could signal the end of a half a century of federal abortion rights. SMU law professor Seema Mohaptra and UT-Austin law professor Elizabeth Sepper join us to discuss what it means.
A crawfish crunch is costing businesses and consumers
Crawfish prices continue to rise in Texas as crops have suffered from multiple natural disasters. Houston Public Media’s Haya Panjwani says the pandemic has also caused problems for the industry.
A cluster of businesses are slated to be forced out by Austin’s light-rail line
When Austin voters approved building the largest expansion of public transit in the city’s history, they signed up for higher property taxes to help pay for it. But now another cost of Project Connect is coming into focus: the loss of local businesses in the path of light-rail.
KUT’s Nathan Bernier reports on the plan to transform Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas campus and how it could displace about a dozen businesses, including one of Austin’s most famous burger joints.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security project balloons to $2 billion
Leaders of Texas’ border security mission, dubbed Operation Lone Star, are set to receive $500 million more in state funding – funding cobbled together from other state agencies. Jasper Scherer has been covering this story for the Houston Chronicle and joins us with an update.
🎵 It’s the time/of the season of kittens 🎶
Houston friend to felines Kerry McKeel reminds us it’s “kitten season” – and why taking a lost kitten to a shelter should be your last resort.
Flying to win: College drone teams face off, 30 feet up
You’ve probably seen videos before of robotics competitions – usually a robot scooting across the ground to accomplish a task. But drone technology is taking those sorts of competitions to new heights. KERA North Texas’ Bill Zeeble reports on some university students and the drones they built and programmed themselves.
Mexico derails plans for Texas train crossing after Abbott’s inspection fracas
In response to Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to ramp up border inspections – creating time-consuming and expensive traffic jams – Mexican officials said they intend to reroute a rail link through New Mexico instead of Texas. For more on this latest development we’re joined by Alfredo Corchado, who covers U.S.-Mexico issues for the Dallas Morning News.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
