Even as much of American life has been on pause over the past few months, a plan to move radioactive nuclear waste to West Texas continues forward, with the support of the federal government. The proposal for a facility at a remote part of the Texas-New Mexico border has been up in the air for years, but a new federal report says it should be approved because environmental risks are low.
En el episodio de esta semana de "Ask a Doctor" (Pregúntale al Doctor), el médico del Centro de la Salud de la Universidad de Texas en San Antonio Fred Campbell responde a las preguntas más urgentes de los oyentes del Texas Standard sobre el coronavirus.
A couple of months ago, 30 dead rabbits were found near Fort Bliss.
That's when Ken Waldrup, who works for the Texas Department of State Health Services, as a regional zoonosis control veterinarian in El Paso, where Fort Bliss is located, got a call.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began in Texas, state and local officials have had to make difficult decisions to protect Texans' health and safety. Some of those decisions have had dire economic consequences.
Most Texans have likely experienced some hardship because of the pandemic. But it's hit some harder than others, including those who've actually had COVID-19.
Ray Benson is a guitar player, singer and frontman for the band Asleep at the Wheel, and hehas recovered from the disease. He told Texas Standard host David Brown on Thursday that it took a toll, but he's feeling better.
With so many Texans out of work because of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, food banks are the state’s newest first responders. And the soaring demand is pushing Texas food banks to the limit as they, too, wait for sorely needed state and federal aid to arrive.
With springtime well underway and summer on the horizon, many Texans would typically be planning weekend road trips or even longer vacations within the Lone Star State. But most tourist attractions and beaches are closed for vacationers because of the pandemic.
Trees are scarce in the Texas Panhandle. Big trees are even scarcer.
The region is droughty and windy. Blizzards and hail are common. Adequate soil is hard to come by. So, for some, the few tall trees that survive are precious.
The coronavirus pandemic has become a catalyst for the rapid expulsion of people crossing into the United States illegally at the southern border. Under emergency immigration measures put in place by the Trump administration, U.S. Border Patrol agents have been sending migrants back into Mexico at a rapid clip, according to The Washington Post.
The coronavirus pandemic comes at a time when the access to information is greater than ever before. But that also brings greater risk of misinformation. To combat that, Texas Standard is collaborating with Dr. Fred Campbell, an internal medicine physician and associate professor of medicine at the Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio, to answer listener questions about the coronavirus and their health.
An effective COVID-19 vaccine could help stop or at least slow the spread of the new coronaviru, which the World Health Organization has deemed a pandemic.
Maria Elena Bottazzi co-directs the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. She told Texas Standard Friday that there are several prototype vaccines for COVID-19, including one at her institution. But all of them would still have to go through clinical testing before being used on the public.
Seniors are often more vulnerable to diseases than other people. And that’s especially true when it comes to COVID-19. So when the Renaissance Retirement Center in Austin went into lockdown over the weekend, Maxine Barkan, who is 100 years old, thought it was a good idea.
“I think they’re doing an excellent job trying to keep us safe and trying to minimize the person-to-person contact,” she says.
The future of the school year in Texas is uncertain, but what kids and parents are experiencing now isn't just one long spring break. For some little ones who are used to play dates and fun, uncertainty about the future, changes in routine and missing their friends can all take a toll. So how do you talk to your kids about coronavirus without alarming them?
With the possibility need for social distancing extending well beyond spring break, parents and educators are starting to plan for the possibility of schools being closed through the end of the academic year.
On Sunday, thousands of women protested in the streets of Mexico City, demanding a stop to the growing problem of femicide in Mexico. Femicide – the killing of a woman because of her gender – is also a hate crime. According to some estimates, the demonstration on Sunday, which coincided with International Women's Day, was one of the largest of its kind in Mexico's history.
On March 3, Texas and 13 other states will vote in primary elections. That includes choosing which Democrat will face President Donald Trump in November's general election.
In previous years, especially during the 2018 midterms, education was a particularly important issue for Texas voters. And Noel Candelaria, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, says it's an important topic this year, too, especially for members of his association.
As Super Tuesday approaches, Texas Standard is taking time to examine what issues might be on Texans' minds when they cast ballots this year. From employment, to business, we wondered how voters are thinking about the economy now compared to in 2016.
For some, Austin doesn’t feel like the relaxed, artsy city they knew a couple decades ago. The city’s population has exploded in recent years, and with that has come big-city problems.
Just as it was in 2016, health care is an important issue for voters as they prepare to cast ballots in primaries and in November's general election. And health care is an especially relevant topic in Texas, as the state continues to opt out of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act and faces rural hospital closures and high maternal mortality rates.
Almost 60 years since the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, the group continues to elevate the voices of young African Americans pushing for civil rights.
Now, a photography exhibit at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin looks back at SNCC's early years. Maria Varela is one of the photographers featured in the exhibit, "This Light of Ours," and was the first Latina woman to document SNCC's activism in the Black Belt South.
Getting adequate health care in rural Texas can be a challenge. It might become even harder after the Trump administration's proposed changes to Medicaid rules. If implemented, some hospitals will likely have to cut services or even shut down.
The United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union could mean an opening for new business opportunities between Britain and Texas. For his first overseas trip since Brexit, UK Minister of International Trade, Conor Burns, visited the Lone Star State.
A new study from the University of Texas at Austin finds that a higher number of Texas women are choosing self-managed abortions compared to the national average. That includes using herbs, or drugs obtained without a prescription, in an effort to end a pregnancy.
The nonprofit news organization ProPublica released a database this week of Catholic clergy members "credibly accused of sexual abuse or misconduct." The database is a collection of lists provided by Catholic dioceses across the United States.
Although there’s no shortage of people in Texas planning to get into the hemp industry, many of them have serious concerns about how it will be regulated. There is no regulation right now because it’s been illegal to grow hemp in Texas for almost 100 years.
It's easy to find historical information about the Wichita Falls Spudders baseball club. All sorts of trivia can be found online about the minor league team that formed in 1920 and disbanded in 1957. But the Spudders had a black counterpart, the Black Spudders, and information about them is scarce.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services recently released new internal guidelines that cut the caseloads of foster care workers who have been overwhelmed for years by an unmanageable number of clients. But the department has faced many challenges lately, beyond a struggling workforce.
