Here’s are the stories on Texas Standard for Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023:
The latest on Texas’ ice storm
The ice storm sweeping across much of Texas brings more frigid weather Wednesday. Many Texans are without power as freezing precipitation and downed tree limbs cause outages at the local level. Matt Lanza, a forecast meteorologist and managing editor of Space City Weather in Houston, has more.
How did property taxes get so high?
Homeowners in Texas pay some of the nation’s highest property taxes. State lawmakers say addressing this is one of their main priorities. How did property taxes get so high to begin with? The Texas Newsroom’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán has more.
Gay and bisexual men might be able to donate blood soon
Federal officials want to change the guidelines on donating blood for gay and bisexual men. KUT’s Sangita Menon has more on how those changes could affect the local blood supply:
What happens when a public park goes private
Fairfield Lake State Park, about two hours southeast of Dallas, may not be open to the public for much longer. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department only leases the land, and its longtime owner has decided to sell the land to a buyer who plans to make the whole property private. TPWD executive director David Yoskowitz shares more.
Veterans accuse ‘legal advisor’ of former El Paso DA of fraud, harassment and threats
Former El Paso District Attorney Yvonne Rosales faced plenty of questions before resigning amid chaos. One unanswered question: What was Roger Rodriguez’s role with the DA’s office? Rosales called him a legal advisor. But relatives of a man killed in the Walmart mass shooting say Rodriguez harassed and threatened them. Now, some military veterans accuse Rodriguez of similar actions. KTEP‘s Aaron Montes reports.
Why Fort Worth ISD is canceling sex ed this year
Fort Worth ISD will no longer offer sex education this year, after the superintendent canceled plans to adopt the nearly $3 million curriculum the district purchased last year. The Fort Worth Report’s Jacob Sanchez has the story.
The book of adages and aphorisms
It could be said that Texas is a state of natural philosophers. Many people have maxims or aphorisms at the ready for every situation – and Tom Hoskins was one such person. He made it his late-in-life mission to record all of the adages he came across. Texas Standard commentator WF Strong has some of them.
PolitiFact’s gun violence fact-check
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom is saying the U.S. has a gun homicide rate 26 times that of our peer countries. Is that a fact? Joining us to go over this PolitiFact National fact-check is PolitiFact Texas reporter Nusaiba Mizan from the Austin American-Statesman.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
