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Texas Matters
Fridays at 12:30 p.m. & Sundays at 9:30 p.m.

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.

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Latest Episodes
  • At the 2024 Republican National Convention Texans, including Governor Greg Abbott, took to the stage to spin a fact-free story about the state of the Texas-Mexico border and illegal immigration that excited the crowd but paints a grim picture if Trump is elected president again.
  • Hurricane Beryl slammed into Texas and delivered a punch to Houston and its energy provider. Millions of people were left in the dark and without air-conditioning as temperatures climbed over 100 degrees. The disaster recovery has many wondering why Governor Greg Abbott left the state and why FEMA assistance wasn’t requested earlier. It’s the Beryl blame game.
  • Today on Texas Matters: The extra warm waters of the Caribbean and the Gulf are serving up an assembly line of hurricanes. We'll examine how this is all tied to climate change. Also, a divorce case out of Denton has revived the contentious debate over whether frozen embryos are people. And if necessity is the mother of invention, then they are getting extra inventive with Texas rural health.
  • In 1973, Willie Nelson held his first 4th of July picnic. There were some problems. The locals said it was "moral pollution" and Nelson was fined $1,000 for violating the Texas Mass Gatherings Act. But that didn’t stop Willie from doing it again and again. Dave Dalton Thomas is the picnic historian and has written a book about this Texas tradition.
  • Today on Texas Matters: The illusion of exceptions in the Texas Abortion law. Can the Texas Medical Board clear up the confusion? South Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar says he’s being targeted with his indictments. And a Central American teen tells the story of his journey coming to the U.S.
  • A discussion about Juneteenth and Texas with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed
  • How "2000 Mules" is a fake documentary about voter fraud. But will Texas GOP leaders admit that? Juneteenth Rodeo, why 1970s photos of Black Rodeos were ignored for so long. And SA Mayor Maury Maverick on 1939 radio.
  • Can Texas lawmakers rein in sales of THC hemp products like Delta-8 and 9? The products are largely unregulated and widely sold, even to children. And in the time of growing drought, Mexico’s water debt is becoming a bigger issue along the border.
  • A century ago, a one-man wrecking crew on the Texas-Mexico border who inspired hate, violence, corruption and mass murder. The story of William Hanson—a chaos agent in South Texas.
  • Texas Senate holds a hearing to draft new anti-squatter laws. The harmful effects of LED lights for some people and the music boxes of Villa Finale.