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Texas Matters

Texas is a big state with a growing, diverse population and as the population grows, the issues and challenges facing its residents multiply. Texas Matters is a statewide news program that spends half an hour each week looking at the issues and culture of Texas.

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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 families, erode homeownership stability and weaken communities. And how the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s five state secure facilities continue to fall short.

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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 election. Quorum Report's Scott Braddock breaks down the Texas political landscape.

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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 government that threatened to take over the city. In Adler's new book, "Hot Seat — Hot City," he reflects on his days at city hall and warns about coming threats to democracy in Texas.

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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 pushing for stronger safety standards.

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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 the flooding hit? The region is called "flash flood alley," and there is a long history of tragic floods on the river. We hear the second episode of the Texas Newsroom podcast, “After the Flood.”

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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 Central Texas flooding that killed more than 130 people over the Fourth of July weekend in 2025.

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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 says Texas oil producers are not significantly increasing production despite higher oil prices.

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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 controversy is not abstract. It is something she says she lived through with her 7-year-old daughter.

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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 Republican Ken Paxton.

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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 Texas the efforts to build the border wall in Big Bend Country continues.

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