Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023:
A pregnant Texas prison guard wasn’t allowed to leave her post after experiencing contraction-like pains last year. Salia Issa alerted her supervisors right away, but didn’t get relief for over two hours. By the time Issa made it to the hospital, her baby was delivered stillborn. Medics on site revealed afterward that a quicker hospital visit could have saved the baby’s life.
Issa and her husband are now suing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and prison officials. But despite decades of championing the rights of “unborn children,” Texas is fighting the case.
The Texas Tribune’s Jolie McCullough joins us with more.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent additional state troopers to El Paso in December as part of Operation Lone Star, his border enforcement effort. One result has been a growing number of high-speed chases by troopers targeting smugglers. People living in areas where the pursuits have ended in crashes say that’s making El Paso streets less safe.
KTEP’s Aaron Montes investigates.
The forecast for the rest of hurricane season is anyone’s guess
The next month-and-a-half is peak hurricane season in the Gulf of Mexico, but a local forecaster says two opposing factors are making it difficult to predict if things will stay quiet or fire-up between now and the end of September.
Houston Public Media’s Jack Williams explains:
Is the age of cheap stuff coming to an end?
In the realm of hyper-consumerist social media, “haul” videos spotlight cheap products like clothes and trinkets from Shein. These trends thrive on affordable goods, fueled by low-cost labor. But as this labor becomes scarcer, is our era of inexpensive products waning?
Joining the Standard from Singapore is Jon Emont, Southeast Asia correspondent from the Wall Street Journal.
New questions over how SAPD managed officers arrested for Melissa Perez shooting
The investigation into the police killing of Melissa Perez continues as San Antonio waits to see if any of the arrested officers will be indicted over her death. Meanwhile, questions remain on how the San Antonio’s police force polices itself.
Texas Public Radio’s Paul Flahive explores concerns about how the department manages officers.
How vets and first responders find support in bladesmithing
If you think it’s hot where you are, try standing next to a thousand-degree furance. Veterans and first responders are doing that at Reforged in San Antonio this summer. There, they learn the traditional art of bladesmithing – and find support among one another.
Texas Standard intern Molly-Jo Tilton joins us with the story.
Life-sustaining water stations are vanishing from the borderlands
The scorching heat in Texas poses life-threatening risks for migrants traveling its desert borderlands. With triple-digit temperatures this year, the situation has turned especially dire.
Despite reduced crossings after the end of Title 42 deportation policies in May, humanitarian organizations persist in maintaining water stations along the border – a practice dating back to the 1990s – in a bid to prevent casualties. However, a recent report from The Associated Press reveals a disconcerting development: the disappearance of these vital water barrels.
Eddie Canales, executive director of the South Texas Human Rights Center, joins the Standard with more.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
