Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Friday, April 12, 2024.
The move away from fossil fuels may exacerbate water scarcity in South Texas
Hot, dry summers – due, in part, to climate change – have created persistent drought and shrinking reservoirs in South Texas. Now, a chemical company has bought the Nueces River’s last remaining water supply in the area.
Ironically, the water will go toward making clean energy with hydrogen and ammonia. Inside Climate News’s Dylan Baddour joins the Standard with the story.
After decades of neglect, Dallas moves to recognize places important to people of color
The Dallas City Council has voted to expand efforts to preserve historic and cultural spaces that are important to communities of color.
Leah Waters, who covers housing and government for The Dallas Morning News, joins the Standard with the story.
New background checks are being required for gun show purchases
A gun safety law that was passed after the school shooting in Uvalde is now being used to close what’s been called the “gun show loophole.”
Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has more.
How many landlords pad the rent with ‘junk fees’ – and what can be done
From mandatory valet trash fees to punitive charges for minor violations, “junk fees” are becoming a rampant issue in the rental market.
Heather Way is the director of the Housing Policy Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law and one of the authors of a new report called “Combatting Junk Fees in Texas Rental Housing.” She joins the show with more.
Cities, suburbs or both? Where in-state migration affects Texas most
The Houston and Dallas areas added more new residents than any other metro in the country last year. And 5 of the top 10 counties that Americans moved to in the last year are in the Lone Star State. So why all of this in-migration?
Matt Zdun is a data journalist at the Houston Chronicle and he joins us to look into these numbers.
Share your poems with Texas Standard
It’s National Poetry Month, and Texas Standard is collecting listener poems all through April.
Standard listener Maria Smith share her own today.
What happened when workers tried to unionize at a punk and underground print shop
Houston’s Night Owls print shop started as a small project built around Houston’s punk and indie music scenes. 14 years later, it’s a popular institution with a rabid social media following and clients nationwide.
Their growth was fueled in part by the company’s eco-friendly water-based printing and DIY ethos. So when workers at the print shop launched a unionization drive last fall, its fan base took notice. The Texas Standard’s Raul Alonzo reports what happened next came as a surprise to many.
Typewriter Rodeo
The gang delivers another custom poem. Reach out to Texas Standard with your topic suggestions!
Texas Tribune managing editor Matthew Watkins stops by with a recap of the week that was in Texas politics.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
