Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Friday, Oct. 20, 2023:
What happened at Houston’s mayoral debate last night
Early voting starts next week for November elections in Texas. In addition to a statewide election on constitutional amendments, Houston voters will choose the next mayor.
Big names in the race include Texas Sen. John Whitmire and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. Houston Public Media hosted a debate with candidates yesterday; reporter Andrew Schneider joins the Standard with a recap.
San Antonio’s Reproductive Justice Fund at the center of Texas’ latest abortion battle
Since abortion became illegal in Texas – first with the passage of state law, and later with the fall of Roe v. Wade – organizations have been working to help Texans access abortion care in other states.
But anti-abortion groups are looking to shut those efforts down. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies reports.
American Airlines suffers revenue loss following pilots’ union deal
American Airlines took a financial dip of more than half a billion dollars in the third quarter of 2023.
KERA’s Pablo Arauz Peña reports airline executives say the fall in profits is a result of pressures from increased wages and benefits for some employees:
These are the national security concerns over Chinese crypto mining in Texas
As bitcoin mining operations have sprawled across rural Texas, questions have arisen about their impact on the power grid. Now a new concern is on the horizon, as Chinese-owned companies, banned from mining crypto in their own country, have opened facilities in the U.S.
Gabriel J.X. Dance co-reported on Chinese crypto mine ownership for The New York Times. He joins the Standard today.
The new wood product replacing concrete and steel
On some East Texas construction sites, concrete and steel are being replaced in favor of wood.
A new kind of wood product, called mass timber, is strong and flexible enough to be used in the construction of commercial buildings. The Texas Tribune’s Pooja Salhotra joins the Standard with the story.
Joppa residents say study shows what they already know: Their air is heavily polluted
People living in the southern Dallas community of Joppa have said the heavy industries that nearly surround them are polluting their air.
KERA’s Nathan Collins reports that new research appears to support their claims:
Why Texas school funding still isn’t fair
Thirty years ago, Texas lawmakers created “recapture” as a court-mandated fix for the state’s unequal system of funding public schools.
But according to a Texas Public Radio analysis of state data, even with recapture, today’s school funding system still isn’t fair – and the things that make it unfair aren’t very well understood.
As reporter Camille Phillips explains, that’s because the funding system is also really complicated.
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.
