Texas Public Radio

For the first time, Texas public schools are pausing for Holocaust Remembrance Week. That's because last June, Texas legislators passed Senate Bill 1828, which requires the inclusion of the Holocaust in Texas public school curriculum. Texas State Senator José Menéndez carried the legislation, and he told TPR's David Martin Davies he learned of the need for the law while listening to Texas Public Radio.

A largely-forgotten court case about race discrimination in Texas schools is brought to life in a documentary.

It’s been a personal journey for the film’s executive producer.

This flu season has turned out to be a tough one for children. There have been twice as many pediatric flu deaths so far this season than at the same time last year. Eight of those have been in Texas. 

2020 is going to be a busy election year. So we have compiled the most important dates in one place — you'll never have to worry about missing a headline.

The Trump administration has lifted a ban on public and press access to immigration hearings in tented courts in Brownsville and Laredo.

Former San Antonio Mayor and HUD Secretary Julián Castro is now also a former candidate for president. He announced last week that his campaign for the Democratic nomination lacked the money and the poll numbers. But Castro told Texas Public Radio he isn’t finished having an impact on national politics.

San Antonio is readying itself for 5G networks from big telecoms like AT&T and T-Mobile.

The Trump administration has expanded its new asylum claim review program to the Rio Grande Valley.

The Prompt Asylum Claim Review program, or PACR, has been in effect in El Paso since October.

Migrants in the PACR program are kept in U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities instead of detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Brooks County is just under 1,000 square miles. It’s almost entirely dry, barren and rugged. Some call it the Texas Death Valley, but it’s not a valley. However, there certainly is death in this South Texas county. 

On the banks of the Llano River, just south of Junction, Texas, amongst the cactus and mesquite trees sits a house that researchers hope will change the face of conservation.

For months, asylum seekers have waited at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Trump Administration’s Remain In Mexico policy  — and they’ll still be there throughout the holiday season. 

Health officials and aid workers from the U.S. and Mexico want to find out how many asylum seekers at the border are living with HIV. 

The remains of three bodies have been unearthed at the Alamo in San Antonio.  The remains were discovered during an archaeological dig as the Alamo undergoes a multi-million dollar redevelopment.

Four women — including one from Texas — are running for Congress and have dubbed themselves the “conservative squad.”

Saying she had “no choice but to act” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she wanted House committee chairs to proceed with articles of impeachment.

Ahead of the 2020 U.S. Census, a new state-wide collaborative aims to engage community partners to reach Texans that have been traditionally undercounted, including the 25% who live in hard-to-count areas.

The Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, has so far forced more than 57,000 migrants to wait in Mexico while their immigration cases wind through U.S. immigration court.

Porfa please. Pero like. Janguear (to hang out).

These Spanglish phrases are all the results of contact between Spanish and English. In a Texas college classroom, students are learning that Spanglish — a version of Spanish that's influenced by English — is just as valid as any other Spanish dialect.

Christine Rollins, 59, was found dead Sunday morning in the front yard of a Chambers County home belonging to an elderly couple who she cared for. Rollins bled to death after what appeared to be, and has now been confirmed, as a grisly feral hog attack.  

"In my 35 years, I will tell you, it’s one of the worst things I have ever seen," said Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne at a Monday press conference.

Authorities believe a group of hogs attacked Rollins when she arrived for work before dawn on Sunday, a time when they are most active.

A report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general said the DHS did not have adequate technology to track families separated during the implementation of the Trump administration’s Zero Tolerance Policy across the U.S.-Mexico border.

“These ecosystems harbor some really amazing species,” said Dr. Ben Hutchins at the most recent Texas Water Symposium forum on Wednesday, November 13 at Schreiner University in Kerrville.

The Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas has granted death row inmate Rodney Reed a stay, meaning he will not be executed on Wednesday, Nov. 20 as previously scheduled. 

Authorities on Thursday issued a warrant for the arrest of state Rep. Poncho Nevárez, an Eagle Pass Democrat, on felony drug possession charges. A state special investigator claims in the warrant, which was obtained by The Texas Tribune, that Nevárez was caught on surveillance footage in September dropping an envelope with cocaine as he was leaving the Austin airport.

On Wednesday NPR will broadcast the public impeachment hearings — so listeners won't be hearing the daily programs on Texas Public Radio. The question being explored is: Did President Donald Trump abuse his office and should he be impeached for pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival while withholding U.S. aid? Texas Public Radio commentator Yvette Benavides urges Americans to fight off news fatigue, pay attention and be a juror. 

Dozens of residents packed the old Tarpley school house in Bandera County on Sunday to continue their efforts to block a Christian summer camp from receiving state water permits they claim will harm a creek and threaten water wells. 

While Texas is responsible for educating more rural students than any other state in the country — nearly 700,000 — it’s not doing as much for those students as most other states in two key areas. That’s according to a new report from the Rural Schools and Community Trust.

Updated Nov. 7, 2019

An East Texas jury found Wells Fargo willingly infringed on mobile check deposit patents held by USAA.

A jury found unanimously in favor of the United Services Automobile Association Wednesday and ordered Wells Fargo to pay USAA $200 million.

Related | Texas Court May Decide Who Owns Mobile Check Deposit

Thousands of banks, millions of customers and billions of dollars rely on remote deposit capture (RDC) through smartphones or tablets. San Antonio-based USAA went to federal court this week against Wells Fargo over who owns mobile check depositing technology. 

Voters across Texas will vote for and against 10 state constitutional amendments on Tuesday.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect the location of the shelter. It is at a gymnasium at Alberca Chavez.

There are more than 1,500 migrants living in squalid conditions on the streets in Matamoros, Mexico. They’re forced to wait there for their day in U.S. immigration court under the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy.