Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, March 24, 2025:
Texas prison staff falsified temperature logs, investigation finds
Employees at a Texas prison in Beaumont faked temperature logs used to assess safety conditions for inmates and staff, an internal investigation revealed. Some logs were missing or altered; others falsely recorded temperatures as low as 58 degrees when the real temperature never dropped below 76. Investigators believe the warden and other prison leaders were aware.
The Texas Newsroom’s Lauren McGaughy joins the Standard with the scoop.
Houston man spent 18 years in jail without a trial
Edric Wilson sat in the Harris County Jail for 18 years, accused of a 2006 murder but never tried in court. His case, which involved the killing of a relative of Pastor Joel Osteen, was seemingly forgotten by the legal system.
How did this happen? The Houston Chronicle’s Neena Satija has been investigating and joins us with the story.
This week in Texas music history
This week in 1928, early record scouts captured a Mount Rushmore of roots music in San Antonio. Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University has the story.
Five years after COVID shutdowns, Texas restaurants have changed — but survived
Texas restaurants were hit hard by the pandemic, with nearly 1 in 5 closing in North Texas alone. But while beloved eateries were lost, an ever-larger wave of closures many feared never fully materialized.
Sarah Blaskovich, senior food reporter at The Dallas Morning News, joins us to discuss.
Scientists create a woolly mammoth-mouse hybrid in a lab
Meet the woolly mouse: a tiny, fluffy rodent created by splicing woolly mammoth DNA with a modern mouse. The project is part of Colossal Biosciences’ effort to resurrect the extinct mammoth.
Is it a breakthrough – or just a gimmick? We’ll ask Colossal chief science officer Beth Shapiro.
Who owns Texas? A new tool maps the state’s biggest landowners
Texas is vast, but just who controls all that land? The Houston Chronicle has developed a first-of-its-kind tool analyzing property records from all 254 counties to find out.
Real estate reporter Marissa Luck and data editor Alexandra Kanik join us with the surprising results.
Trump is urging oil companies to boost production. Will they listen?
President Donald Trump met with top oil executives last week, urging them to ramp up production. But with shifting global markets and industry uncertainty, will his push make an impact?
Energy analyst Matt Smith from Kpler joins us to break it down.
All this, plus Alexandra Hart with the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
