Texas Matters

Feb 01 2025 20 ep. 29 mins 336
Texas Matters Podcast artwork

Texas is a big state with a growing, diverse population and as the population grows, the issues and challenges facing its residents multiply. Texas Matters is a statewide news program that spends half an hour each week looking at the issues and culture of Texas.

  Government  News
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Texas Matters: What Tin Pan Alley Says About Life In 'The Wild West'

Feb 01 2025 28 mins  
The song “Life in the West” became popular in the 1840s. The lyrics, written by American poet George Pope Morris, evoke the call of the fertile promised land and celebrates the freedom of living so close to nature.

Texas Matters: How mass deportations impact Texas agriculture

Jan 24 2025 29 mins  
Today on Texas Matters – How the Trump mass deportation anti-immigration crackdown could impact Texas agriculture. We hear from Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller. We also talk to Kathleen Bush-Joseph — a Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, co-author of “With “Shock and Awe,” the Second Trump Term Opens with a Bid to Strongly Reshape Immigration.”

Texas Matters: A progressive agenda for the Texas Legislature

Jan 17 2025 29 mins  
Today on Texas Matters—Can a progressive agenda pass in the conservative Texas legislature? We hear the legislative plan for the Sierra Club, The AFL-CIO and Move Texas.

Texas Matters: Why Texas highway flyovers are so high

Jan 10 2025 28 mins  
We drive over them often, maybe everyday, and they still manage to take our breath away. The highway flyover interchanges that climb up into the sky. But why are they so high? And why does Texas make them higher than any other state? What does that say about us?

Texas Matters: Mexican American voices in Texas music

Jan 02 2025 29 mins  
There is a diversity of styles and musical genres embraced in the book Corazón Abierto: Mexican American Voices in Texas Music. Based on interviews with legendary recording stars and with newcomers who are crafting their own sound, Kathleen Hudson's book documents the musicians' stories.

Texas Matters: Should Texas eliminate all property taxes?

Dec 27 2024 28 mins  
This week on Texas Matters—Governor Abbott has a plan to eliminate your property taxes. That might sound great, but what would that look like? The state would have to take a chainsaw to schools and services. And the sales tax would hit 22%, by far the highest in the nation. Low-income citizens would pay more, but it would be a boon— for big corporations.

Texas Matters: Abbott's border wall is failing; How a predator became a town's police chief

Dec 20 2024 28 mins  
This week on Texas Matters —Governor Greg Abbott unveils a new border security strategy. How the state’s multi-billion-dollar border wall is failing. And a Texas town is recovering from a police chief who used his authority to sexually abuse young girls.

Texas Matters: The emergency powers Trump can use for mass deportations

Dec 13 2024 29 mins  
President-elect Donald Trump promised to declare illegal immigration a national emergency on the first day of his new term. He has said he will invoke both the Insurrection Act and the Alien Enemies Act—which could allow him to deploy the military. We hear from Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. She h

Texas Matters: Can Texas make THC illegal again?

Dec 06 2024 29 mins  
Ban all THC from Texas—that’s what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants this coming legislative session.Patrick says since 2023, thousands of stores selling THC products popped up across the state, and many of these products are getting in the hands of children. But will a ban work?

Texas Matters: How the abortion ban hurts women's health

Nov 29 2024 29 mins  
Texas women are paying the price for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. More stories are coming to light of Texas women dying from treatable crisis pregnancies. Meanwhile the state’s Maternal Mortality task force announced it’s going to ignore maternal deaths for 2022 and 2023. And how OB-GYNs are fleeing the state due to fear of the state’s anti-abortion law.