Texas Matters

Confederate monuments are continuing to be dismantled in Texas. Last week, San Antonio removed a statue dedicated to fallen Confederate soldiers.

This week, the Trump administration announced an end of the Obama-era program which protected young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation. The policy is known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

As the world's largest Baptist university, Baylor is unabashedly Christian. There is a strict code of conduct for all students that forbids, with the threat of expulsion, any sex outside of marriage, alcohol drinking, drug use, pornography and other acts. Students weren't allowed to dance on campus until 1996. During the last several years, however, Baylor officials were hiding a dark secret: Female students were being sexually assaulted at an alarming rate by members of the school's football

Audie Murphy the icon wasn't born on the big screen, but on the battlefields of Europe. Murphy, as a diminutive boy of 17, lied about his age to join the Army—the only branch that would take him—and went on to become the most distinguished and decorated warrior of World War II. Pretty good for a poor Texas boy, who was the son of sharecroppers. It was in San Antonio that the young man would discover his fame, reportedly gobsmacked at the idea that thousands of people knew his name. He was

In the last legislative session a bill to limit city annexations seemed on its way to passing the senate but then it was filibustered by Senator Jose Menendez (D-San Antonio). But for supporters of the anti-annexation movement it was a minor setback. The item was resurrected in the current specials session and it quickly passed the Senate. City annexations is an area of concern for many, especially for those who live in unincorporated areas outside of big cities. These are the communities that

Donald Trump ran for president with chant “build that wall” and the promise that Mexico would pay for it. However, getting Mexico to foot the bill for the controversial barrier doesn’t seem to be happening and the wall’s construction still needs to win congressional approval. On Thursday Texas Senator John Cornyn rolled out legislation that appears to back away in part from the Trump promise of a big beautiful wall that would stretch across the entire U.S. Mexico Border. The Republican Senator

Segment #1 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently began notifying teen pregnancy institutions that their federal funds are being cut to the tune of about $200 million. Many of these programs were awarded five-year grants during the Obama administration but now, they are told one year of funding remains. Texas has the highest number of teen parents in the nation and the state has the fifth highest rate of teen pregnancy. Texas is also number one for repeat teen pregnancies. The

Segment #1 California is restricting publicly funded travel to four more states because of recent laws that California leaders view as discriminatory against gay and transgender people. All totaled, California now bans most state-funded travel to eight states – including Texas. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this month signed a law that allows child welfare providers to deny adoption because of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” a provision that critics interpreted as permitting adoption agencies to

How Election Day Chaos Hurts Texas Voters Long wait times, confusion about voter ID and questions about voter registration – these are just three of the barriers that potential voters ran into during the last November General Election. That’s according to a new report from the Texas Civil Rights Project , a voting right advocacy group. Cassandra Champion is a staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project and helped write the report “Texas Election Protection 2016: An overview of the

June 19 1865 is when word of emancipation finally reached Texas and its slave population. The news was delivered two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and about two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered. But what did "emancipation" mean for the no-longer slaves? Many were quickly reabsorbed into an economic system that looked similar to the slavery life. Others found liberty by establishing Freedom Colonies across the South, town-like

According to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control drug overdosing is the top cause of death in America for those under 50 years of age. The opioid epidemic continues to grow worse and that is also true for Texas. Mark Kinzly is the co-founder of the Texas Overdose Naloxone Initive (TONI) and he's is seeing how street heroin spiked with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are causing more people to overdose. Texas Matters Host David Martin Davies asked Kinzly how bad is the opioid

Every summer there is a drop in the water level of the Edwards Aquifer. This is one of the most prolific artesian aquifers in the world. It is the main source of drinking water for San Antonio and over two million people. But when the water level drops too low springs in Central Texas stop flowing. And the aquifer is about at the point for one special spring that has cultural, historical and spiritual significance. The spring water pulses out of the ground like a heart beat. The cold crystal

This Summer you should consider getting out of the old routine and find some new places to enjoy the sun and water of Texas. The new book “The Swimming Holes of Texas” lays out where the best places are in the state to take a cool dip on a hot day. It’s a practical guide to some of our outdoor hidden gems. Filled with photographs by Carolyn Tracy and written by Julie Wernersbach. It’s published by the University of Texas Press.

I need a book doctor. If you haven’t heard that term before, a book doctor is someone who will take a presumably moribund manuscript, put it on a strict regimen of big picture prescriptions – a look with a tongue depressor down the throat of the thing, shining a light there to see about improving development, structure, organization, and flow. The closer, more surgical examination to get at finer, more granular line edits can go to an editor or proofreader. A book doctor looks at the

In 1964 James White opened the Broken Spoke and on most nights you can still find him there welcoming customers and introducing bands with his Broken Spoke manifesto. The stage at the Spoke has hosted many of country music's greats and hall of fame stars. Author Donna Marie Miller has chronicled the life and times of this historic gem in "The Broken Spoke: Austin's Legendary Honky-Tonk." The fact that the Broken Spoke still stands today is an act of defiance. It defies the economic pressure of