The Biden administration has announced a policy that will protect about half a million undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens from deportation. NPR’s Sergio Martínez-Beltrán has the details on the new directive. Juneteenth is a holiday about visibility – and some people use the occasion to turn the spotlight on communities that have been overlooked.…

It’s been a year since the state took over the Houston Independent School District. How has that affected student scores on the STAAR test? How the state’s rules on diversity, equity and inclusion may put an end to some university scholarships. Why more hedge fund managers are making their home in Texas, rather than New York. A new book examines a …

Just in time for high summer, a surge in COVID cases? What officials are saying about a new subvariant. It could be a very wet 72 hours of so for much of Southeast Texas and beyond as meteorologists focus on what could be the first big storm of hurricane season coming together in the Gulf of Mexico. In Amarillo, phones at City Hall are answered by …

The Supreme Court has struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks – devices that can be attached to a semiautomatic gun to make it fire more quickly – in a case brought by Michael Cargill, a U.S. Army veteran and owner of a gun store in Austin. The State of Texas wants to replace the judge overseeing the lawsuit over its foster care system, Judge Ja…

The U.S. Supreme Court makes a key decision on abortion access, but is it the final word on the matter? The highest court in the land makes a unanimous decision on the abortion drug mifepristone, in a case that was originally filed in Amarillo. The producers of the hit Broadway musical “The Outsiders” wanted someone outside the theatre world to sco…

We’re taking a look at the remaining Supreme Court decisions this term, on gun rights, abortion, freedom of speech online, and homelessness, just to name a few. Texas Democrats and Republicans build bipartisan consensus to tackle the state’s affordable housing crisis. A petition drive in the Valley aims to change the McAllen city charter, to give v…

Texas leads the nation in deaths of kids left in hot cars. Research explains why it happens and how to prevent it. A heat dome hovers over parts of Texas, baking the state. What can we expect as summer starts? Regulators will decide if the sport of slap fighting – in which two people stand across a table and slap each other in the face as hard as t…

Texas Democrats reconvene for their annual convention, plotting an election year comeback. What’s the plan? The Texas Newsroom’s Julián Aguilar tells us more about the Texas Democratic convention that just wrapped up in El Paso. A change in the state’s Medicaid rules would eliminate several major nonprofit health plans from the program. UT’s flagsh…

Finance titans BlackRock and Citadel Securities are teaming with investors to raise $120 million to open the Texas Stock Exchange. The group still has some regulatory hurdles to clear before opening but plans to start listing stocks for sale as early as 2026. On its fourth try, SpaceX achieved a breakthrough for its Starship rocket with a successfu…

As heat replaces rain as the top weather concern, East Texas is still weathering the remnants of our stormy spring. You’ve heard about a shortage of mental health facilities and doctors, but for those who do get treatment, what comes the day after discharge? How little-known clubs are filling the gap. In a year that started with excitement for the …

Some top politicos are sensing that, for the first time in decades, this could be the year Texas sends a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. Texas lawmakers are lining up to clamp down on hemp-based products like Delta 8 and Delta 9 being sold statewide. Last fall, Edinburg City Council Member David White won re-election by just 10 votes. His challenger c…

Mayors from South Texas are in DC today to join President Joe Biden as he announces a plan that would limit the number of people who could request asylum at the southern border. Is it more political, or practical? It’s getting hot out there – and if you haven’t noticed, your pets certainly have. We’ll hear from an expert about how to keep them cool…

We’re bringing you the latest on Mexico’s historic presidential election in today’s edition of the Standard, hosted by Angela Kocherga from Mexico City. How will Claudia Sheinbaum, the country’s first female president, approach governing and U.S.-Mexico relations? Is Attorney General Ken Paxton using consumer laws to promote his political agenda? I…

The Trump verdict is in, and Texas political leaders are responding as expected along party lines. A snapshot of the fallout in the Lone Star State. The Texas Supreme Court has ruled against 20 women who said they were denied medically necessary abortions. Mexico voters head to the polls this weekend, poised to elect the country’s first female pres…

You check in with your ID, find an empty booth and cast your ballot in secret. But have Texas voter transparency laws challenged that privacy? Depending on where you live in Texas you might pay taxes to a local hospital system. Understanding how that works. Storm chasers have enormous followings on social media, many copycats and, increasingly, eve…

In the most expensive primary runoff in Texas House history, Speaker Dade Phelan hangs on to his seat, but many GOP incumbents lose after opposition from the far right. What do the primary results tell us about the state of the Texas GOP? The latest on storms moving across the state and what to expect today. A Texas college is stepping up its effor…

Deadly storms, including a tornado, ripped through North Texas over the weekend, killing at least seven people and injuring 100 others. We’ll have an update on the latest recovery efforts. The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins this week, will be “extraordinary,” forecasters warn. Our monthly deep dive into investigative reporting, The Dr…

Texas is changing, and so is the world. If we squint to try to look at the future job landscape, what do we see? There are more than 15 million working Texans right now, but while the state boasts steady growth and “record high levels” for jobs and the labor force, there are always unknowns on the horizon. Among them: tech advancements and the impa…

There’s infighting among Texas Republicans over the next steps in their efforts to stop abortions in the state. Canada is Texas’s second-biggest international trade partner, behind Mexico. We’re talking to Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of export, trade and economic development, during her visit to the Lone Star State this week. After the Alabama Supre…

After an apparent tornado strike in Temple last night, it’s looking to be another day of severe weather across large parts of the Lone Star State. A ransomware attack on the Ascension hospital network is still having a big impact on staff and patients almost two weeks later. After online reports and videos of women giving up the birth control pill,…

The May 28 primary runoff elections are fast approaching – we’ll have an update on contests in North Texas and a contentious battle over who will head the Texas GOP. With Texas school boards at the center of culture wars, a closer look at how those boards operate. What’s so funny about Texas? Laredo native Vanessa Gonzalez is featured in a PBS docu…

After spring storms drenched Southeast Texas, the state is offering to buy out flooded homes. Why some are saying no thank you. Early voting is underway for primary runoffs, and Gov. Greg Abbott’s battle over school vouchers continues as he backs candidates against those who oppose his plan. A look at how the military trains for tunnel warfare. Dom…

We’ll have the latest on relief and recovery efforts in Houston days after deadly storms hit the region and left hundreds of thousands without power. A new plan for mental health care in Texas and what some Texans say needs to be a shift in priorities. The Texas delegation to Congress is set to up the stakes in a water fight with Mexico. A small gr…

Deadly and destructive storms sweep across downtown Houston, killing four and leaving hundreds of thousands without power. We’ll have an update on the latest as damage assessment and recovery efforts are underway. A new controversy surrounding Houston Superintendent Mike Miles is getting the attention of state lawmakers and the Texas Education Agen…

The border buoys case in court: Why the arguments surrounding Texas’ river barrier were not about immigration. El Paso County residents are concerned a proposed highway expansion project could imperil the Rio Bosque – a marshy area along the Rio Grande that has been “re-wilded” to support native plants and wildlife. What will soon be one of Texas’ …