Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Monday, May 20, 2024:
What’s next for Houston after deadly storms
Deadly and destructive thunderstorms and high winds last week left a path of destruction in parts of Southeast Texas, claiming lives and leaving hundreds of thousands without power.
We’ll have an update on the latest from Tom Perumean of Houston Public Media:
Activists say Texas needs to rethink its strategies for treating people with acute mental illness
Texas is creating a plan to rethink the housing and treatment of people with debilitating mental illness.
As KUT’s Andrew Weber reports, the plan will be finalized this summer, and some Texans say the state needs to shift its priorities:
Ash borer’s swath of tree destruction spreads across Texas
For more than two decades, a small green bug has steadily decimated forests across the U.S.
The ash borer was first found in Northeast Texas in 2016, but foresters recently found it has spread to five new counties. Demian Gomez, regional forest health coordinator for the Texas A&M Forest Service, joins the Standard with more.
The librarian working to archive oral histories and memorials in Uvalde
Libraries can be a quiet refuge, a gathering place for the community, or both. That’s the case in Uvalde, where El Progreso Memorial Library has served both purposes since the mass shooting at nearby Robb Elementary School two years ago.
Librarians have been working with the National Endowment of the Humanities to archive memorials and donations made after the shooting. They’re also keeping an oral history. Library director Tammie Sinclair shares her story.
This week in Texas music history
In the spring of 1963, Texas’ own Roy Orbison hit the road with The Beatles. Not bad for your first tour, right?
Jason Mellard with The Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University shares the tale.
Music boxes of old play San Antonio history
Before Spotify, the iPod or even radio, if you wanted music on demand, there were few options. But there was one possibility: automatic music machines.
Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies offers a listen to a remarkable collection of tune-playing inventions that are part of San Antonio history.
Texans in Congress want to withhold aid in Mexico water dispute
Texas members of Congress say they’re fed up with what they call violations of a water rights treaty with Mexico. Now they’re threatening to withhold millions of dollars in U.S. aid unless Mexico makes good on its treaty obligations.
Dina Arévalo, a reporter with the McAllen Monitor and MyRGV.com, joins the show with the story.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Wells Dunbar with the Talk of Texas.
