Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, July 24, 2023.
Examining Texas’ decision to withdraw from ERIC, the national voter roll database
Last Thursday, Texas made headlines by resigning from ERIC, a record-keeping tool used by over half of the United States to maintain accurate voter rolls. Once praised for preventing fraud, ERIC has faced election conspiracy backlash in the past year.
With Texas being the ninth and largest state to withdraw, what does this mean for election integrity? Find out as Mimi Marziani, an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, joins us on the Standard.
Texas wants to go it alone on carbon capture management – but it’s facing Democratic opposition
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is gaining momentum as a method to limit emissions responsible for global warming. The process traps emissions, storing them underground. The Environmental Protection Agency oversees carbon sequestration plans, but states can propose their own plans for approval.
Now Texas wants to manage its CCS independently – but Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett oppose this move, urging EPA denial. Mitchell Ferman, Bloomberg’s energy reporter, joins us with more.
Galveston County’s redistricting plans go to trial next month, in a major test of the Voting Rights Act
A federal trial in Galveston next month will mark the first serious test of the Voting Rights Act since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a key portion of the law in June. The case – a trio of lawsuits consolidated as Petteway v. Galveston County – could have implications not only for redistricting in Galveston County, but across Texas and around the country.
Houston Public Media’s Andrew Schneider reports.
Does cooling inflation mean raises will carry more economic weight?
More Americans have received raises after the pandemic, but record inflation eroded many of those wage gains. But now inflation has cooled to 3%, and wage growth, as reported by Amara Omeokwe from The Wall Street Journal, has now outpaced inflation for the first time in two years.
What does this mean in practice? We’re delving into the economic details today.
Texas schools are experiencing an ever-worsening teacher shortage – including Brazosport Independent School District, located about 60 miles south of Houston. Like other smaller districts, Brazosport has a hard time competing with bigger districts in more urban areas for staff. So the district did something few other districts attempt: it created its own new teacher pipeline.
Could Brazosport ISD be a model for other districts struggling with teacher vacancies? Texas Tribune education reporter Brian Lopez joins us with a look.
Haven for Hope reaches out to San Antonio’s most vulnerable amid heat wave
Bright orange heat advisories are blanketing the National Weather Service map, hitting Gulf Coast, Panhandle and Central Texas counties. Out west, El Paso is scorching with a record 38 consecutive days above 100 degrees.
In San Antonio, the record-setting heat is having a profound impact on unhoused residents. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies reports.
50 years later: Dallas pays tribute to 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez, recalls his murder
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Santos Rodriguez by a Dallas police officer.
Handcuffed and in their pajamas, Santos and his brother were taken from their home after a burglary call. Officer Darrell Cain held his gun at Santos’ head while questioning him, before firing and killing him. Dallas residents now remember Santos and contemplate police-community relations, while weekend events, including a march, honor his memory.
KERA’s Stella Chávez reports the importance of preserving this tragic history for future generations. (Note: KERA TV in Dallas, Austin PBS and Panhandle PBS will air the film “Santos Vive” at 9 p.m. tonight.)
The bipartisan appeal of psychedelic research into treating veteran PTSD
Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw has sponsored a bill in the U.S. House to fund research on drugs like psilocybin and MDMA for veteran mental health treatment. Co-sponsored by well known House Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ro Khanna, the bipartisan backing speaks to interest in how psychedelics compare to typical treatments like antidepressants.
Army Ranger veteran Jesse Gould, founder of Heroic Hearts Project, shares his transformative experience with psychedelics for PTSD and more with us today.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
