Texas Matters

Are Texans living in a state of voter suppression? We look at a pattern of legal action by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that seek to limit voting. And we see why Texas is one of the toughest states to vote in.

TPR reporters David Martin Davies and Kayla Padilla spent the year following the passages that many Texans take to obtain an abortion. They documented what happens when they evade the Texas abortion ban.

The Texas identity is powerful, popular and built on the stories of the Lone Star State. The stories are about small towns and quirky characters who overcome adversity. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Joe Holley has spent a career collecting and writing about the stories of Texas. His latest book is Native Texans Stories from Deep in the Heart.

Today on Texas Matters. How Texas public school curriculum could be teaching Christianity. In Texas It will be harder to vote in this presidential election than it was four years ago. And how Arkansans are fighting to put abortion on their ballot.

How secret is the ballot in Texas? A voter fraud conspiracy advocate says she's cracked the code of the Texas secret ballot. And as the school year starts, will an uncertified teacher be assigned to your child's classroom? A new study shows it could mean a four-month loss of academic progress.

After 13 years of fighting a lawsuit over Texas’ troubled foster care system, state lawyers are trying to remove the judge from overseeing the case.And do you remember when a little girl fell down a Midland well in 1987? There’s much more to the story.

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.

He was a witness to the U.S.-Mexico War. Not the 1846-to-1848 invasion, but the 1914 U.S. invasion and occupation of Mexico. It was documented by an American postcard photographer. He left behind a compelling visual record of a U.S. atrocity. Susan Toomey Frost joins us to tell the story.

During the American Civil War there were Texans who faced persecution and violence for their beliefs, but their courage helped preserve the United States. These Texans defied the Confederacy and fought for the Union.

Today on Texas Matters, could the West Texas Chihuahuan desert be greened? One Texan is trying to restore his 320 acres of West Texas hard scrabble into a desert forest.

The Smokehouse Creek fire was the largest wildfire in Texas History burning over a million acres in the Panhandle. The fire has been out for over a month, but the disaster continues. We are going to get an update on the recovery and what needs to happen to prevent other massive wildfires.