Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Monday, September 28, 2020. 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.
Straight-Ticket Voting
A federal judge has blocked Texas’ elimination of straight-ticket voting. Steve Vladeck, the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law, talks to the Standard about what happens next and the impact so close to the November election.
Pat Fallon Special Senate Election Preview
A special election tomorrow for a state Senate seat in the solidly red, rural state Senate district 30 in North Texas is exposing more of the inter-GOP riff in Texas. The seat is being vacated by Pat Fallon, the GOP nominee likely to replace former Texas U.S. Congressman John Ratcliffe. But in the race to be the Republican nominee to replace Fallon, controversy over Gov. Greg Abbott’s COVID-19 response has been front and center. A vocal Dallas-area hair salon owner jailed early during the pandemic because she refused to shut down her business under COVID-19 guidelines is competing for the seat. Texas Tribune political reporter Patrick Svitek has been following this race and talks to the Standard
Latino Icons, part 2
For Hispanic Heritage Month, Houston Public Media is taking a closer look at three trailblazing Latinos. Today, we’ll hear from Johnny Mata. He’s fought against police brutality in Houston’s communities of color for decades. Houston Public Media’s Elizabeth Trovall has more on Mata’s legacy of social justice work.
Federal Survey and Solar
A new survey from the Dallas Federal Reserve says things may be stabilizing. This comes after a major blow from the pandemic and more recently, an abnormally active hurricane season. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at ClipperData, talks to the Standard about the survey and renewables this week.
Rise of The Latino Vote
As the clock ticks down to Election Day 2020, a topic familiar to Texans continues to come up. What will the Latino voting impact be? Benjamin Francis-Fallon suggests the history of this concept of the Latino vote tells us a lot about what the Latino vote actually is, and what it means for our future. He is an associate professor of history at Western Carolina University and author of the book “The Rise of the Latino Vote: A History.”
50 Years of “In Black America”
The month, “In Black America” celebrates its 50th anniversary at KUT. Host John L. Hanson Jr. has helmed the show for 40 of those years.
Exposed
Over the weekend, the Houston Chronicle published an investigative series looking into Harris County’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mike Morris, one of the reporters who examined the county’s response, talks to the Standard.
All this and Texas News Roundup, plus Social Media Editor Wells Dunbar with the talk of Texas.
