By W. F. Strong The Llano Estacado is an enormous mesa. It covers more than 37-thousand square miles of Texas and New Mexico. On this side of the state border it starts north of Amarillo and ends south of Odessa. But how did it get its name and what exactly does it mean? Turns out,…
Texas Standard: June 30, 2020
A plea to Governor Abbott as COVID-19 cases set new records in Texas: do more to curb the spread, or let us take steps to do it. A return to stay at home orders? That’s one thing leaders in Travis county are asking for the power to enforce, as hospitalization rates in and around the…
Texas Standard: December 13, 2019
Houston’s police chief blames the boyfriend loophole for the on duty death of an officer. What is the boyfriend loophole? We’ll explore. Plus, the president appears to be hours away from impeachment: where are other presidents getting impeached? Why many western democracies don’t have it. Also, what could be the next boom industry in Texas:…
Texas Standard: September 26, 2019
A newly declassified complaint at the center of an historic hearing on Capitol Hill may test the question, is a cover up really worse than the crime? We’ll have a Texas perspective on the rising push toward impeachment. Also, after two major flood events more residents of the biggest city in Texas are asking, is…
Texas Standard: September 3, 2019
We’re learning more about contact between the Permian Basin shooter and law enforcement before the shooting spree started. We’ll have the latest on the investigation into the second mass shooting in west Texas in a month, and a conversation with the mayor of Odessa. Also, some say we should batten down the hatches for an…
Texas Standard: July 2, 2019
Congresswoman Escobar talks with us a day after touring detention facilities and finding out she was the target of comments on a secret Facebook group. That secret Facebook group reportedly made up of at least some current and former Border Patrol agents. The content, at times disturbing. We’ll have more. Plus, it looks like a…
Texas Standard: April 17, 2019
Just Where do you draw the line? Gerrymandering may be legal in Texas, but now there’s a pushback in the Texas legislature, we’ll have the latest. Also, we’ve been hearing about brick and mortar stores shuttering and big box retailers leaving old spaces, so who’s filling those vacancies? To an increasing extent, it’s immigrant entrepreneurs….
Texas Standard: March 25, 2019
No collusion, no exoneration. The Mueller report promised to get us closer to the truth, what’s the reaction in an increasingly polarized Texas? We’ll discuss the implications of the Mueller report and reaction here in the Lone star State, a place increasingly seen as turning to a purplish hue. Also, gas prices on the rise:…
Texas Standard: January 2, 2019
More migrants sprayed with tear gas as money for a border wall remains at the center of the government shutdown. We’ll have the latest. Also, the measure to allow Texans to donate to address the huge backlog of untested rape kits passed with bipartisan support. But now it’s reached a real-world roadblock, we’ll tell you…
Texas Standard: October 10, 2018
As a Category 4 hurricane bears down on the Florida panhandle, parts of Texas Hill Country try to recover from flash flooding. Also, after family separations at the border, a new concern grows: an AP investigation finds deported parents in danger of losing kids to U.S. adoption. Plus, do student athletes have a fundamental right…
Texas Standard: October 5, 2018
Zero hour in one of the most contentious confirmation battles in American history as the Senate moves on the Kavanaugh nomination. Plus, one school official calls it the thermonuclear option: mass closing of schools under consideration in Dallas. Also, communication breakdown: a quarter century after the dot-com revolution, rural Texas is still waiting for reliable…
Texas Standard: July 5, 2018
A new outbreak in Texas of a fast spreading parasitic disease. How bad is it and where’s it coming from? We’ll hear about the search for answers. Also, critics are calling it the treason trip. A group of Republicans from Capitol Hill spending their Independence Day break in Moscow meeting with Russian officials to discuss…
Texas Standard: June 27, 2018
A court order: the government has 30 days to reunite families separated at the border…and it appears some big changes are already happening, we’ll have the latest. Also, a surprise upset win by a socialist candidate over a high ranking congressman in New York’s primaries last night is reverberating across the country. What about right…
Texas Standard: June 8, 2018
Never before has help been more readily available and yet suicide numbers continue rise. What’s going on? We’ll explore. Also, the disappearance of 43 Mexican college students in 2014 is considered an international scandal. Now a court has ordered a new impartial investigation and a truth commission to get to the bottom of it. It’s…
Big Bend
It’s feeling like summer — time for a Texas road trip. That was the inspiration for this Typewriter Rodeo poem.