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Texas Matters #419 - September 5, 2008

Fri, Sep 5

Segment 1: Texas scrambled as Hurricane Gustav approached the states eastern coastal region, but Gustav kept most of its destructive power in Louisiana. Texas emergency management officials were taking the "better safe than sorry" approach. The Port Arthur/Beaumont region was given a mandatory evacuation order, which meant hundreds of thousands of people needed to leave their homes. Texas Public Radios David Martin Davies was in Port Arthur for the evacuation and has this report.-- Segment 2:...

Texas Matters #417 - August 29, 2008

Fri, Aug 29

Segment 1: Hurricane Gustav is churning in the Gulf of Mexico. And Texas is playing it better safe than sorry. Governor Rick Perry has issued a disaster declaration in response to the significant threat posed by Gustav to 61 Texas counties. The governor’s declaration allows the state to initiate necessary preparedness efforts, such as pre-deploying resources requested by local officials to ensure their communities are ready to respond to severe weather. Even if Gustav avoids Texas and lands...

Texas Matters #417

Fri, Aug 22

Segment 1: Jefferey Wood was hours from being put to death in Huntsville when a federal judge granted him a delay. Serious questions had been raised about the prisoner’s mental competence. Scott Sullivan is the attorney for Jeffery Wood.-- Segment 2: There is now a program called TexasSure that could make it harder for non-insured drivers to hit the road. Jerry Hagins is a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. -- Segment 3: Facing the prospect of federal action on global...

Texas Matters #416 - August 15, 2008

Fri, Aug 15

Segment 1: How likely are students to act up in a classroom if they know the teacher is packing heat? For the first time in the United States, a school district is going to allow their faculty to carry handguns — Harrold Independent School District in Harrold, Texas, 150 miles northwest of Ft. Worth. David Thweatt is the superintendent of Harrold ISD. -- Segment 2: There is growing concern over a powerful hallucinogenic herb that legal and widely available in specialty stores in Texas. The...

Texas Matters #415

Fri, Aug 8

Segment 1: It has been over ten years since Texans got the right to carry a concealed handgun. Now Texas gun rights advocates want to pack their heat out in the in the open. Ian McCarthy has started an online petition that he hopes will lead to a new law in Texas granting open carry rights in the state. More information available at www.opencarry.org. -- Segment 2: For more than a year, oil and gas companies have been approaching North Texas homeowners, looking to buy the rights to natural...

Texas Matters #414 - August 1, 2008

Fri, Aug 1

Segment 1: Senator John Cornyn was once heavily favored to reclaim his office. But there are developing signs of vulnerability which are reflective of widespread turbulence for the Republican party this fall. Polling shows that Cornyn’s support in Texas is dropping below 50 percent. But political pundits say it is unlikely he will lose the seat to his democratic challenger, State Representative Rich Noriega. Cornyn has a major advantage in fundraising; Noriega doesn’t enjoy much name...

Texas Matters #413 - July 25, 2008

Fri, Jul 25

Segment 1: Hurricane Dolly delivered 100 mph winds and extensive flooding. Dolly won't be remembered as a monster storm. It was a Category 2 hurricane when it crashed ashore at South Padre Island. However, the storm could be remembered for its potential for being a mega-disaster. If the storm had been stronger and if the levies had failed the Rio Grande Valley could have been obliterated. Steve Taylor is an editor for the online newspaper that covered the Texas Mexican border, the Rio Grande...

Texas Matters #412 - July 18, 2008

Fri, Jul 18

Segment 1: Texas is already the nation’s leader in generating wind power, but the state has tapped only a fraction of the wind’s potential. The Texas Public Utility Commission is changing that. They voted to tentatively approve a $5 billion dollar plan to build the needed transmission lines so more wind farms can be built. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has the story from the Abilene area. -- Segment 2: Austin is home to many of the state’s most well known bloggers, but this week...

Texas Matters #411 - July 11, 2008

Fri, Jul 11

Segment 1: Tough economic news in Texas. This week Toyota announced it was idling its Tundra pick-up truck factory in San Antonio for three months. Local officials voiced a strained optimism telling the community not to worry. Meanwhile in the Dallas-area, a General Motors factory is looking to hang on. The GM Arlington plant is being handed what is perhaps the company’s toughest assignment: become the sole producer of full-sized SUV's at a time when owners are fleeing to more fuel efficient...

Texas Matters #410 - July 4, 2008

Fri, Jul 4

Segment 1: Only two Texas high school athletes were found to be taking steroids. The bad news is this is costing the State of Texas three million dollars a year to find out. The program was pushed by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, and he still defends it. He calls it a useful deterrent to prevent high schoolers from using the dangerous chemicals to bulk up. However, some Texas senators like Dan Patrick, a republican from Houston, say the program is a waste of Texas tax dollars and should be...

Texas Matters #409 - June 27, 2008

Fri, Jun 27

Segment 1: 2007 was a wet year for Texas, but not so for 2008; it’s so dry. About 95 percent of Texas is now in some stage of drought, with a sliver of two northwestern Panhandle counties garnering the worst status - "exceptional" - on the U.S. Drought Monitor map released this week. For agriculture, the heat and lack of rainfall this year could spell record losses. In 2006, the state sustained $4 billion in losses to crops and livestock. This year that loss could be higher as farmers also...

Texas Matters #408 - June 20, 2008

Fri, Jun 20

Segment 1: The Democrats gathered in Austin — the Republicans in Houston. They flocked together for their state political conventions in this critical presidential election year. Both big parties were trying to mend their grassroots efforts and unite behind their big candidates. Did they succeed? We'll find out by checking in with Harvey Kronberg, editor of the online newsletter that covers Texas politics, "The Quorum Report." -- Segment 2: Look out John Grisham, there is a new challenger to...

Texas Matters #407 - June 13, 2008

Fri, Jun 13

Segment 1: Scorched walls, charred debris, water soaked floors and a collapsed ceiling. The 152-year-old Texas Governor’s Mansion looks almost beyond repair, but it's not. Restoration experts say the building can be saved; much of the building original fabric wasn’t damaged. The fire broke out before 2 a.m., Sunday June 8. Surveillance video shows someone igniting something, possibly a Molotov cocktail, and hurling it onto the front porch of the mansion. Governor Rick Perry and his family...

Texas Matters #406 - June 6, 2008

Fri, Jun 6

Segment 1: The cost of tuition at a Texas public university has shot up an average of 112 percent in the last five years. In 2003, public universities in the state were given the freedom to set their own tuition rates. Previously the state legislature had that authority. But since state tuition deregulation, many Texas lawmakers say the cost of higher education has risen beyond the reach of the middle class. Representative Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) is renewing his call to repeal tuition...

Texas Matters #405 - May 30, 2008

Fri, May 30

Segment 1: On Wednesday a federal judge struck down a Farmer’s Branch, Texas ban on apartment rentals to illegal immigrants. The Farmers Branch council passed the ordinance last year. It would have barred apartment rentals to illegal immigrants and required landlords to verify legal status. The passing of that ordinance has brought to light another problem in Farmer’s Branch — the total absence of Mexican-American representation on the local city council. Now there is a lawsuit underway...

Texas Matters #404 - May 23, 2008

Fri, May 23

Segment 1: Being locked up in a Texas prison is hell and it's even worse when you are locked up and innocent. Due to the work done by the Texas Innocence Project, 33 wrongfully convicted men have been identified and proven innocent by DNA or other new evidence. Critics of the Texas justice system say there’s a pattern of wrongful convictions and more needs to be done to find, exonerate and free the innocent. State Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston recently held a summit to look at other ways to...

Texas Matters #403 - May 16, 2008

Fri, May 16

Segment 1: Texas has a new sales tax holiday — not for school supplies, but for Energy star rated appliances and products. The energy saving sales tax holiday is over the May 24 through 26 — Memorial Day weekend. The holiday offers sales tax exemptions for Energy Star refrigerators under $2,000, air conditioners under $6,000, dishwashers, ceiling fans and compact fluorescent light bulbs. Houston State Senator Rodney Ellis helped pass the law that created the sales tax holiday. The other...

Texas Matters #402 - May 9, 2008

Fri, May 9

Segment 1: Dolph Briscoe was governor of Texas from 1973 to 1979 and is the largest individual landowner and rancher in the state. He is also a well respected businessman with interests in banking, oil and agriculture. Now he’s telling his own story in the book “Dolph Briscoe: My Life in Texas Ranching and Politics.” A rancher, politician, businessman and philanthropist, Governor Briscoe is all those things, but he says what he’s proudest of is being a Texan. -- Segment 2: The Texas Supreme...

Texas Matters #401 - May 2, 2008

Fri, May 2

Willie Nelson may have turned 75 years old on April 30, but, to borrow a line from another Texas legend, George Jones, he don’t need no rocking chair. Nelson spent his birthday rocking Europe with a string of sold out concerts. Texas writer Joe Nick Patoski made note of the day with the publication of an authorized biography, titled "Willie Nelson: An Epic Life." Nelson is bringing his 4th of July picnic back to Texas; this year it will be in San Antonio. In addition, a live album featuring...

Texas Matters #400 - April 25, 2008

Fri, Apr 25

Segment 1: All is right again in the South Texas city of Alice. Puddles is back home with his family. Puddles is a cute little dog who was snatched by the town’s former mayor Grace Saenz-Lopez. The story became an international sensation and brought some unwanted attention to Alice. Nicole Perez is the editor of the local newspaper, the "Alice Echo-News Journal." -- Segment 2: Do you surf the internet to check out political blogs for the latest information on Texas politics? If you are...

Texas Matters #399 - April 18, 2008

Fri, Apr 18

Segment 1: With the cost of a barrel of oil reaching unheard of heights and natural gas prices also fetching a pretty penny, there’s fresh monetary motivation in Texas to drill for hydrocarbons. But that is also causing a conflict from Texas residents who don’t want to have drilling right next to their homes. Rusty Middleton writes in the “Texas Observer” about this collision and how the Texas Railroad Commission is failing to protect Texas homeowners. -- Segment 2: A wildfire burned at least...

Texas Matters #398 - April 11, 2008

Fri, Apr 11

Segment 1: A March 31 phone call from a scared 16-year-old girl triggered the chain of events that would eventually become the largest child custody case in the nation’s history. The girl is not identified, but according to the affidavit which gave the state the authority for the raid, she claimed that she was beaten so hard her ribs were broken and that she was being forced to have sex with a man who was her spiritual husband. After the Texas department of Child protective services completed...

Texas Matters #397 - April 4, 2008

Fri, Apr 4

Segment 1: Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff announced that he is nullifying over 30 environmental laws and government regulations in order to build the border fence in Texas. Chertoff released a statement supporting the action saying "Criminal activity at the border does not stop for endless debate or protracted litigation." Under the Real ID Act, Congress gave Chertoff the authority to waive laws at his discretion. The elimination of the environmental laws spells almost...

Texas Matters #396 - March 28, 2008

Fri, Mar 28

Segment 1: They say, “Make hay while the sun shines.” You can also make energy while the sun shines. The U.S. Department of Energy is naming one dozen U.S. cities “Solar American Cities.” Houston and San Antonio made the cut. Andy Karsner, the Department of Energy’s Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, has details. -- Segment 2: In Amarillo, an HIV-positive patient who uses medical marijuana won an acquittal on possession charges. 53-year-old Tim Stevens was defended...

Texas Matters #395 - March 21, 2008

Fri, Mar 21

Segment 1: Presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama, says we need to have a serious national conversation concerning our feelings about ethnic tensions. You might be thinking “not me.” “I’m not a racist, really.” But Texas State University sociology Barbara Trepagnier says you probably are. She’s written the book “Silent Racism: How Well-Meaning White People Perpetuate the Racial Divide.” -- Segment 2: If there’s a beautiful Art Deco building that you love in Houston, go take a picture of...

Texas Matters #394 - March 14, 2008

Fri, Mar 14

Segment 1: Governor Rick Perry is blasting a newly announced EPA air quality standard that reduces the acceptable level of ozone allowable under federal regulations. Texas has 22 of the 345 counties nationwide that the Environmental Protection Agency will require to step up efforts to reduce smog. Perry said the changes will be a burden on the Texas economy, but environmental activists are critical of the EPA for not following the advice of their own scientists and cut the standards even...

Texas Matters #393 - March 7, 2008

Fri, Mar 7

Segment 1: After weeks of campaign ads, speeches and celebrity endorsements, the 2008 Texas primaries are in the books. But to figure out what happened and who benefits we’re going to need some expert help. That’s why we got "Quorum Report" editor Harvey Kronberg on the line. -- Segment 2: Both Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's camps are accusing each other of influencing the Texas caucus process. The Clinton people say they could take the issue to court to challenge how the caucus...

Texas Matters #392 - February 29, 2008

Fri, Feb 29

Segment 1: The March 4 primary in Texas is turning into a make-or-break state for Senator Hillary Clinton. She struggles to remain a viable political alternative to Senator Barack Obama. As the two candidates campaign in South Texas, they are unintentionally giving a curious spectator an up-close view of presidential politics - American style. From Texas Public Radio, David Martin Davies reports that Mexico also has a lot riding on this election. -- Segment 2: It is not unusual for...

Texas Matters #391 - February 22, 2008

Fri, Feb 22

Segment 1: Senators Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are crossing Texas looking for votes. Early voting has already begun and the Texas Primary is March 4, but only one candidate will leave the state with the majority of the delegates. Senator Clinton is banking that the Latino vote is going to give her the victory that she needs to bounce back from a string of defeats. We caught up with Clinton as she was stumping in Laredo Thursday morning. -- Segment 2: Senator Obama appears to have a...

Texas Matters #390 - February 15, 2008

Fri, Feb 15

Segment 1: For the last 30 years, only one name filled Texas politicians with horror, Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earl. But now Mr. Public Integrity is retiring and the big question is who will take his place? Four Austin attorneys are looking for enough votes to get the office. Dave Mann of the "Texas Observer" is following the democratic primary for Travis County District Attorney. He points out that all of Texas should be following this local political contest that’s not so...

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