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Texas Matters Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Texas is a big state with a growing, diverse population and as the population grows, the On The Air (by city) issues and challenges facing its residents multiply. Texas Matters is a statewide news program that spends half an hour each week KVLF - Alpine looking at the issues, newsmakers and culture "The Voice of the Last of Texas. Frontier" 1240 AM Saturday 10:05 a.m. Texas Matters is co-hosted by David Martin Davies and Yvette Benavides. The husband and wife team talk directly with policymakers and newsmakers in a lively KFNC - Beaumont discussion designed to shed light on issues too often overlooked by other media. "The Ticket" 97.5 FM Saturday 5:30 a.m. About the Hosts KETR - Commerce Classical Music David Martin Davies, Texas Public Radio’s news director, is a veteran journalist "Your Station" 88.9 FM with almost 20 years experience covering Texas, the border and Mexico. In 2008, he Friday 9:30 a.m. won three regional Murrow Awards for stories that aired on Texas Matters. He was named the 2007 Radio Journalist of the Year by the Houston Press Club and was KEDT - Corpus Christi awarded a 2007 Lone Star Award for his feature reporting. Davies was also "Public Broadcasting for recognized by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters for his coverage of the U.S.- South Texas" 90.3 FM Mexico border. Davies has filed radio reports for NPR's Morning Edition, APM's Sunday 6:30 a.m. Marketplace and BBC's The World. He is also a weekly columnist for the San KIKT - Greenville The World Antonio Express-News. "Kick FM" 93.5 FM 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Yvette Benavides is co-host and co-producer of Texas Matters. She is also an Sunday 10 a.m. English professor at Our Lady of the Lake University, where she teaches creative KMBH - Harlingen writing and Mexican-American literature. Yvette has had her poetry published in "Classic 88" 88.9 FM journals such as The Americas Review, Texas Observer and Mothering magazine, Sunday 3:30 p.m. among others. Her articles have appeared in the San Antonio Express-News and Latina magazine. She is also a regular book critic for the San Antonio Express- KTXI - Ingram News. Benavides has been a frequent contributor for NPR's Latino USA. "Words & Music" 90.1 FM Comments about the program or inquiries may be directed by e-mail to Classical Music Saturday 5:30 a.m. [email protected] . KHJK - La Porte Airs: 12:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Friday and 6:30 a.m. Saturday on KSTX 89.1 FM in "Houston’s Adult San Antonio. Also at 6 a.m. Saturday on KPAC 88.3 FM in San Antonio and KTXI Alternative" 103.7 FM 90.1 FM in the Hill Country. See the stations list (right) for other air times around the Sunday 5:30 a.m. state. KRTS - Marfa Program Archive: Marfa Public Radio Show #508, May 21, 2010 Download Entire Program 93.5 FM Tuesday 9:30 a.m. Segment 1: Citizens gathered at hearings this week in the run up to the State Board of Education's vote on adopting new social studies curricula standards. Many KHID - McAllen spectators and participants at this week's hearings spoke with KUT Austin. "Classic 88" 88.1 FM

http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

Sunday 3:30 p.m.

KOCV - Odessa Permian Basin Public Segment 2: Peggy Venable is the state director for Americans for Prosperity She Radio 91.3 FM supports the republican majority on the Texas State board of Education as they push Monday 3 p.m. for a more politically conservative social studies curriculum. KDCD - San Angelo "True Country" 92.9 FM Sunday 5:30 a.m. Segment 3: State Representative Mike Villarreal is a democrat from San Antonio. KMDX - San Angelo He is an outspoken critic of the conservative changes the state board of education is "106-1 MDX" 106.1 FM adopting for the social studies curriculum. Sunday 6 a.m.

KPAC - San Antonio "Classical Oasis" Segment 4: Ron Kendall is the Director of the Texas Tech University Institute of 88.3 FM Environmental and Human Health.They have developed a special cotton material that Saturday 5:30 a.m. will be used to clean up the BP oil spill. KSTX - San Antonio "News & Views" 89.1 FM Friday 12:30 p.m. Segment 3: Becky Moeller is the president of the Texas AFL-CIO. The labor union Friday 8:30 p.m. is offering Rick Perry to rent their mobile home in downtown Austin for one dollar per Saturday 6:30 a.m. year. KVRT - Victoria "Public Broadcasting for South Texas" 90.7 FM Sunday 6:30 a.m. Show #507, May 14, 2010 Download Entire Program KWBU - Waco Segment 1: While the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush, "Understand Your threatening coastal areas and the fishing industry, there is a bright spot of energy World" 103.3 FM news for Texas -- wind is thriving. Later this month, the American Wind Energy Saturday 1 p.m. Association will convene more than 20,000 wind industry leaders, government officials, and business executives in Dallas for the Windpower Conference & Exhibition.Denise Bode is the CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. Get the TXM Podcast

Subscribe Segment 2: Grab a bottle of water or can of soda, and when you’re done to the quenching your thirst, you’ve still got that empty bottle or can to deal with.Many do free the responsible thing and drop it in the recycling. Even still, far too many bottles and Texas cans end up in the landfill, along the highway or in our waterways. But what if Texas Matters had a deposit system in place? Patsy Gilham is a coordinator for the effort to pass a podcast Texas Bottle deposit bill. There’s more information online at texasbottlebill.com.

Segment 3: It has been unreal what’s happened to the real estate world these past few years.Houses have been turned upside down and underwater. But living in a house is more than wondering if you are going to make the next mortgage payment. It’s part of the American Dream, and it can be a nightmare. Still LA Times columnist Meghan Daum maintains that there's no place like home. She writes about it in her memoir, Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House.

Show #506, May 7, 2010 Download Entire Program

Texas Matters http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

The women of the Mujeres writing group in San Antonio share their Mother’s Day stories with . The women recently published their third anthology including stories of family and faith.

Segment 1: Belza Elia Ramos – “Boundless Mother Love”

Segment 2: Teri Flores – “Finding Love in Abuelita”

Segment 3: Arleen Garza – “Side-by-Side”

Segment 4: Vangie Alaniz – “My Quest for Knowledge: A Mother’s Day Tribute”

Segment 5: Lupe M. Gonzalez – “The Only Title that Ever Mattered”

Show #505, April 30, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: Debbie Riddle is a republican Texas state representative for District 150 northwest of Houston. She will sponsor a bill in the coming legislative session that could create a Texas law similar to the controversial anti- illegal immigration law now in place in Arizona.

Segment 2: Texas State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte is a Democrat from San Antonio. She is joining in a boycott against Arizona in protest against the new law there that cracks down on illegal immigrants by requiring all non- citizens to carry documents that prove they are in the country legally.

Segment 3: David Spener is a professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Trinity University in San Antonio.He has written Clandestine Crossings: Migrants and Coyotes on the Texas-Mexico Border, published by Cornell University Press.

Show #504, April 23, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: Financial forecasters are predicting a slow but steady recovery in most sectors of the Texas economy. Even though we fared better than other states, lawmakers face a budget shortfall of $10 billion or more when they return to Austin in 2011. In a series of special reports KUT and Texas Tribune reporter Ben Philpott take a look at the big budget buster and some proposed solutions.First up – How Texas got in this fiscal ditch.

Segment 2: When the recession hit Texas many people put away the credit cards and stopped shopping. That quickly dried up state and local sales tax dollars, and it is a big reason Texas is facing a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall. State lawmakers are asking what can they do. And they could be thinking the unthinkable. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune contemplates a hugely unpopular alternative.

http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

Segment 3: Texas lawmakers head back to Austin in January and they will be looking at several options to cover a $10 billion dollar-plus biennial shortfall. Politics aside, it's pure math, the state government has to reduce spending and/or make more money. But increasing the state’s cash flow is never simple in tax-averse Texas. Ben Philpott is a political reporter for KUT Austin and the Texas Tribune.

Segment 4: Legislative leaders are not expected to push new taxes as a cure for the coming multibillion-dollar busted budget. Cutting state social services could be too painful. Advocates for the impoverished say the Texas safety net is already too thin. So where might new money come from? Texas could be willing to roll the dice on a gambling.

Segment 5: There’s no hiding from the ten billion dollar Texas budget shortfall. The state was in a similar sticky situation in 2003. Lawmakers did a little bit of everything to patch up that $10 billion hole. They raided the so-called Rainy Day fund, used some accounting tricks, raised some fees and jacked up the tax on a pack of cigarettes. They also cut spending by billions of dollars. Ben Philpott wraps up his special series with a look at what cuts could be in store this time around.

Segment 6: Texas ranks among states with the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the nation, but recent data shows that unintended pregnancies among women in their twenties is also a growing concern. More than seventy percent of pregnancies among Texas women between the ages of 18 and 29 are unplanned. That’s according statistics released by the Department of State Health Services.

These pregnancies often occur when women are at critical point in their lives, trying to pursue an education or job training to secure their financial futures.

State officials estimate unplanned births in Texas cost Medicaid over $1.2 billion annually. But a new campaign launched by national and state organizations is designed to reduce the number of unexpected pregnancies among this group of young women.

Bill Albert, the chief officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, and Dr. Janet Realini with Healthy Futures of Texas were in San Antonio this week to launch the program. Texas Public Radio’s Terry Gildea sat down with them to learn more.

Show #503, April 16, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: This is the time of year that tomato plants go on sale, and many folks take up the yoke to plant that backyard garden. But something goes wrong and the expected bumper crop gets bumped. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has created a new free online course about growing tomato that will help gardeners get better results. “Tomato 101: The Basics of Growing Tomatoes” was prepared by Extension Specialist Joseph Masabni.

Segment 2: Growing big veggies and beautiful flowers depends on the quality of the soil. It’s not that hard to improve your soil the natural way with some help from the Dirt Doctor. The Dirt Doctor is Howard Garrett who has been researching and teaching organic gardening across Texas for over 20 years. He’s written seventeen books on organic gardening, and you can find him online at dirtdoctor.com.

Segment 3: Texas has always been about producing oil, but there’s a new oil in Texas that comes from the

http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

ground – olive Oil. California has a successful olive industry and now some are hoping the business can take root in Texas. Jim Henry is the president of the Texas Olive Oil Council.

Segment 4: Normally when you have a garden you are trying to keep the insects away from your plants, except when it comes to bees. Honey bees have had a tough year, but this spring it’s hoped the hives will bounce back. Paul Jackson is the state’s chief apiary inspector. An apiary is a place where bees are raised. He’s with the Texas A&M department of Entomology.

Show #502, April 9, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: Tuesday is the run-off election for the primary races where no candidate received the majority vote. Without a high profile contest for the media to focus on there hasn’t been much attention in the news and early voting turnout has been meager.

On the ballot there is only one state-wide race, the republican primary for Texas Supreme Court place 2. The two candidates appear as different as night and day. Former state representative Rick Green is closely tied to the Tea Party movement and a conservative christian effort to erode the separation of church and state.

His opponent is Judge Debra Lehrmann. She is a legal scholar and pushing her experience in the courtroom. In the past weeks Lehrmann has received support from Texans for Lawsuit Reform and a number of former Supreme Court Justices. Green is endorsed by Chuck Norris. We’ll talk to both candidates. We caught up with Green as he was driving to Dallas for a campaign event.

Segment 2: Judge Debra Lehrmann is also busy on the campaign trail. We contacted her while she was riding in a taxi in Lubbock where she was meeting voters.

Segment 3: The winner of the Green-Lehrmann April 13th runoff will face Democrat Jim Sharp in November for a seat on the nine-member court.To get some perspective about this race for Texas Supreme Court we turn to Harvey Kronberg editor of the online newsletter about Texas politics, The Quorum Report.

Segment 4: Texas author John Phillip Santos has written the long-awaited companion to his critically acclaimed memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation. His new book is called The Farthest Home is an Empire of Fire.In the book the San Antonio-native goes on an adventure of self-discovery that drives to the fore questions of identity, race and origin.

Segment 5: Dorothy Allison is best known for her novel, Bastard Out of Carolina which was nominated for a National Book Award in 1992 and was later translated to a dozen languages and adapted to a film directed by Angelica Houston. In 2007 she was awarded the Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction. She is currently the McGee Professor Writer in Residence at Davidson College in North Carolina. Her latest novel, She Who, is forthcoming. Dorothy Allison will have a reading and book signing on Wednesday, April 14 at 7 pm in Thiry Auditorium on the campus of Our Lady of the Lake University.

Show #501, April 2, 2010 Download Entire Program

http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

Texas Dance Hall Memories

Texas dancehalls like Club 21 once peppered the farming communities of Texas. The German and Czech immigrants brought the dance halls with their old world customs. The dance halls were the original community centers of the original European settlements of Texas. They were a focal point for the men and women, when they weren’t trying to survive and conquer the Texas wilderness. Now the classic Texas dancehalls are in trouble. Many have been lost. Can they be saved for future generations? [Original Airdate: December 25, 2009]

Show #500, March 26, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: Although the Health Care Reform bill is law, the issue isn’t settled. Republican congressmen and senators,including some from Texas, are calling for the repeal of the law. Attorneys general from 13 states, including Greg Abbott from Texas, are challenging the law in court. We spoke to Attorney General Abbott about why he’s fighting the health care reform law.

Segment 2: Barbara Ann Radnofsky is the democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General. She supports the health care bill and says its constitutional and good for Texas.

Segment 3: The largest group of women veterans today served in the early campaigns of Iraq and Afghanistan. More than 40 percent of them have enrolled with VA health care. But the battle for many female vets continues on the home front when seeking care at VA hospitals. Texas Public Radio’s Terry Gildea brings us the story of a decorated female veteran and her struggle to find care after being diagnosed with PTSD.

Segment 4: He was due to be executed on March 24. One hour before he was to receive the lethal injection the U.S. Supreme Court intervened.

Show #499, March 19, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: Hank Skinner, who waits on Texas Death Row, is hoping his life will be saved by DNA evidence, but the state’s judicial system is so far refusing to test that evidence. Skinner was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of his live-in girl friend Twila Busby and her two adult sons. Skinner has maintained he is innocent of the crimes, but time is running out for him.He is scheduled to be executed Wednesday, March 24.

Segment 2: Rob Owen is the director of the Capital Punishment Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. He’s the attorney for Hank Skinner, who is scheduled to be executed on March 24.

Segment 3: In 1957, two weeks before Barbara Smith Conrad was to debut on stage in a University of Texas student production of Henry Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas," Conrad was pulled from the production, not because she couldn't sing, but because of the color of her skin.

Some Texas legislators objected to an African-American woman being paired as the love interest on stage of a white singer. The lawmakers pressured UT to pull Conrad from the cast and the university did so. However, over the next 40 years, Barbara Smith Conrad became one of the premiere mezzo-sopranos in the country.

Conrad's story is told in the new documentary When I Rise, which premiered to a sold-out house at Austin's Paramount Theatre during the South By Southwest film festival. Nathan Cone spoke to Barbara Smith Conrad in Austin.

Related Links: TPR SXSW Coverage http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

Show #498, March 12, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: The Texas National Guard is on a five-year mission in Afghanistan to help farmers build a sustainable agricultural economy.The men and women of the Texas National Guard Agribusiness Development Team are trying to win the war by helping Afghan farmers with agriculture, irrigation, and animal breeding projects. In the process, the Texas ADT soldiers are also trying to survive in a place where danger lurks around every corner.Reporter Douglas Wissing was embedded with the Texas ADT forces in Afghanistan. Reporting for KUT in Austin Douglas Wissing brings us a four part series on the team’s mission in Afghanistan’s complicated war zone.

Related Links: Photo Slideshow of Texas ADT in Afghanistan

More reporting from Douglas Wissing

Segment 2: A national conservation group is suing Texas environmental regulators. The Aransas Project filed the federal suit to protect endangered whooping cranes. Jim Blackburn is the attorney for the Aransas Project.

Segment 3: For over 100 years the Historic Herff Farm survived hostile attacks and Mother Nature’s fury.But now the old homestead in the Hill Country is facing a tougher battle against the developer’s bulldozer. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has the story.

Show #497, March 4, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: After months of speeches and millions of dollars spent on political advertising, primary day has come and gone. But it was all just a warm-up for the general election campaign, which is now underway. So what did we learn from the election tallies? Let’s check in with Quorum Report editor Harvey Kronberg to find out.

Segment 2: Texas is the nation’s top producer of oil. But what would happen if suddenly every drop of the sweet crude just vanished? Not just from Texas but from the entire world. That’s a question explored by the National Geographic Channel in a special program called “Aftermath: World Without Oil.” Author Richard Heinberg is featured in the program.

Segment 3: Texans are wild about wildflowers and this spring it looks like we are in for a treat. The forecast from the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin is for a colorful explosion of native blooms. Andrea DeLong- Amaya, is the director of horticulture at the Wildflower Center.

Segment 4: Twisting rock and roll, country and conjunto music, the Texas Tornados produced an infectious sound. But can that magic be recreated now that two key performers have passed on? The surviving members of the Tornados announced yesterday they are giving it a spin with a new CD. Texas Public Radio’s David Martin Davies has the story.

http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

Show #496, February 26, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: It won’t be long now before it’s time to stop the speeches and start the counting of ballots. We’ll finally know who the winners are in the party primaries – unless there’s a run-off. Then the speeches will start again. Bob Moser is a political junky and is enjoying every minute of it. Moser is the editor of the Texas Observer, a magazine that specializes in investigative, political and social-justice reporting. You can read his blog and other Texas Observer articles online at texasobserver.org.

Segment 2: Incumbent Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has no challenger in the Republican primary, but the Democrats have a battle royale going on. One leading candidate is Linda Chavez-Thompson. She is a retired labor organizer and a former leader of the AFL-CIO.

Segment 3: Also seeking the democratic nomination for Lt Governor is Ronnie Earle, the former Travis County district attorney. Earle earned a national reputation for fighting for justice. His most notable and controversial case was the prosecution of former Sugarland congressman and U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay.

Segment 4: Kathryn Borel set out with her father on a road trip through the finest French vineyards. The trip was an education about wine, as well those wonderfully complicated people: our parents. She documents the trip in her book, Corked: A Memoir. It’s published by Grand Central Publishing.

Show #495, February 19, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: This week, Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbott and Agricultural Commissioner Todd Staples held a joint news conference where they announced a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. The lawsuit is a bid to stop the EPA from regulating global warming pollution using the so-called “climate-gate” hacked e-mails to discredit the EPA. Supporters of climate change say the e-mails are disgraceful, but the science is sound. We will hear from both sides of the debate. First, we talk with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples.

Segment 2: The Texas League of Conservation Voters is one of many organizations critical of Texas for filing the lawsuit. The TLCV is the state’s leading environmental organization dedicated to electing pro-conservation candidates. David Weinberg is the director of the TLCV.

Segment 3: The Texas EPA lawsuit wasn’t the only climate change battle in the state this week. On Thursday, the conservative think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, issued a scathing review of possible cap and trade federal legislation that seeks to limit carbon emissions. The report says cap and trade will have a harsh negative impact on Texas industries, jobs and economy. Kathleen White is with the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Read the report.

Segment 4: The liberal organization, Environment Texas, is firing back. Saying the Texas Public Policy Institute is only telling their side of the research. Alejandro Savransky is an organizer for Environment Texas.

http://www.tpr.org/programs/texasmatters.html[5/25/2010 3:42:50 PM] Texas Public Radio - Texas Matters

Show #494, February 12, 2010 Download Entire Program

Segment 1: Harvey Kronberg,editor of the Quorum Report discusses, the latest polling in the primary races for Governor. The Quorum Report is an online newsletter dedicated to following Texas Politics.