Here are the stories on Texas Standard for Thursday, March 27, 2025:
The latest on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
The Trump administration is deporting scores of alleged gang members to El Salvador – without due process and in violation of court orders, critics say. But it’s not just suspected gang members and violent criminals caught up in the immigration crackdown. Students at some U.S. colleges here on visas have been detained for their roles in campus protests, and some green card holders have been targeted for deportation as well.
For more we’re joined by Texas-based NPR reporter Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, who covers immigration.
Five years after COVID, Texans continue to navigate toll of the pandemic
Five years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, public health experts and people affected by the virus say there’s still a lot to learn. However, cuts to research at the National Institutes of Health and growing vaccine skepticism have some worried about fighting future pandemics.
KERA’s Kailey Broussard spoke to public health officials and people affected by COVID-19 about the road ahead.
Behind ‘The Wretched and Undone’
We’ll hear from J.E. Weiner about her debut novel “The Wretched and Undone,” a southern gothic western that spans three generations of a family of Polish immigrants in Texas.
What is a vertical greenhouse? Cleburne farm uses less land and water to grow more produce
In the future, population growth is expected to increase food demand. As KERA’s Elizabeth Myong reports, the North Texas company Eden Green’s new approach to farming is trying to meet that need head on
What 23andMe’s bankruptcy could mean for you and your DNA
Back in 2007, a company called 23andMe began offering customers a simple trade – send in a sample of your saliva (and $99) and they would return details of your genetic makeup and ancestry. The product was so popular that it became Time Magazine’s “invention of the year” in 2008.
But now, the company has filed for bankruptcy, and millions of people who sent in their DNA for analysis could be at risk of having their information put up for sale. Tech expert Omar Gallaga breaks down the implications.
Historical marker recognizing Sherman riot to be unveiled
This weekend, a historical marker will be unveiled at the Grayson County Courthouse to recognize the Sherman Riot of 1930, during which a Black man accused of raping a white woman was lynched and set on fire by a mob that then burned down the Black business district.
On Saturday there will also be an interactive reading of Sherman native Njoki McElroy’s last play called The Ninth Day of May, which is about Sherman’s Black community and the lynching. Njoki’s daughter, Marian McElroy, joins the show today with more.
Federal investigators were preparing two Texas housing discrimination cases — until Trump took over
A pair of investigations alleging egregious violations of civil rights laws in Texas are now likely to be dropped by the Trump administration. In one case, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said that the state’s General Land Office had steered relief funds away from communities of color after Hurricane Harvey. And in North Texas, another investigation found that a homeowners’ association created rules designed to exclude Black residents.
We’ll hear from Jesse Coburn, who reported for ProPublica on the investigations and what’s likely to happen next.
All this, plus the Texas Newsroom’s state roundup and Shelly Brisbin with the Talk of Texas.
