Texas Matters

Texas Matters: Ectopic pregnancy deaths rise, maternal mortality report delayed and ICE at polling places

This week on Texas Matters: Ectopic pregnancy deaths are increasing in Texas. Is there a link to abortion bans? The Texas Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committe

Texas Matters: Rep. Goodwin on Texas voter suppression and how the petrochemical industry burdens Gulf Coast cities

This week on Texas Matters: Will it be harder to vote in Texas in the coming midterm elections? We hear from Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, Vikki Goodwin. And the

Texas Matters: Why so many Texas schools are closing and the new 'right to repair' in Texas

This week on Texas Matters: Why are so many Texas public school campuses closing? We hear about the impact of vouchers, charter schools and the underfunding of the public

Texas Matters: Ken Paxton corruption questions and Texas transmission lines

This week on Texas Matters: Is the Republican nominee for Senate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, exceptionally corrupt? One group is calling out Paxton’s alleged hist

Texas Matters: Home insurance costs skyrocket and Texas juvenile justice problems persist

Texas home insurance costs are skyrocketing and becoming a barrier for housing affordability. Rising insurance costs disproportionately burden low- and moderate-income fa

Texas Matters: The politics of data centers

This week on Texas Matters— How data centers have become a hot-button issue this political cycle and how that controversy could tip the rural vote in the 2026 midterm ele

Former Austin Mayor Steve Adler reflects on the capital city's explosive growth, homelessness and threats to democracy

During his time as mayor of Austin from 2015 through 2023, the capital city grew by 20%, saw homelessness become a crisis and faced off against a Republican state governm

Texas Matters: 'After the Flood' Episode 3 — Investigating the Camp Mystic deaths

Nearly a year after the July 4, 2025, floods in the Texas Hill Country, the families of children and counselors killed at Camp Mystic are still seeking accountability and

Texas Matters: 'After The Flood' — Part 2

It has been one year since the tragic flash flood on the upper Guadalupe River that took over 117 lives. Why were local officials caught off guard when the rains came and

Texas Matters: 'After the Flood' tells the story of the deadly 2025 Hill Country floods

The Texas Newsroom and FRONTLINE (PBS) are collaborating on a new five-part podcast series, After the Flood, an intimate and deeply reported look at the catastrophic Cent

Texas Matters: TX Ag Commissioner Sid Miller blasts screwworm response and why Texas isn't producing more oil

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says the screwworm will continue to spread unless officials adopt a more aggressive response. Also, energy economist Ed Hirs say

Texas Matters: Canadian mother says Dilley ICE detention center is a 'prison,' not a family facility

The ICE detention center in Dilley, Texas, is again at the center of a national fight over the detention of migrant families and children. But for Tania Warner, the contr

James Talarico and the race for U.S. Senate

This week on Texas Matters we hear from the Democratic nominee for Senate — James Talarico. We also hear from Scott Braddock about the race between Talarico and Republica

Texas Matters: SB4 is blocked, and West Texas border wall moves forward

This week on Texas Matters: Sections of SB4 are blocked — which would have allowed local police to arrest suspected illegal border crossers. And Despite outcry in West Te

Texas Matters: Pass The Biscuits, Pappy - Part Two

“Pass the Politics Pappy” explores the remarkable political rise of W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, a flour salesman who used his popular radio show and catchy slogans to rocket

Texas Matters: Watering down FEMA, abortion pill access, Texas prisons' compassionate release and questions about Texas ocean desal

This week on Texas Matters: How the Trump administration is watering down FEMA. The prison system's compassionate release program is called a "failure." The threat to mai

Texas Matters: Sharia law rhetoric, abortion care fallout, and a contested death row case

This week on Texas Matters: Why “Sharia law” has become a flashpoint in Texas politics. How the state’s abortion ban is tied to new scrutiny after three doctors were disc

Texas Matters: A populist history of Texas

This week on Texas Matters — The story of Texas that we typically hear is one with a conservative bias.But there are parts of Texas history that reflect a more progressiv

Texas Matters: Larry McMurtry and the making of the modern Texas myth

This week on "Texas Matters," the life and writing of Larry McMurtry and how he refined the myths of being a Texan. David Streitfeld has written a biography of Texas writ

Texas Matters: Music from behind the walls of Texas prisons

This week on Texas Matters — forgotten songs from Texas prisons. Heartfelt tracks written, performed, and recorded by incarcerated men. The resurrected recordings from th