Texas Standard

Ben Barnes was first elected to the Texas Legislature at age 22. By 26 he was Speaker of the Texas House — and Lyndon B. Johnson was predicting he’d be president one day. Today, Barnes, who went on to serve as Texas’ lieutenant governor, is still something of a political kingmaker at age 88. His new book, “Get It Done: Seven Decades of Lessons from a Political Legend,” reflects on his time in politics.

O’Dell described Funk as an “eternal optimist,” noting that while Funk seemed frustrated with the limitations placed on women, she’d stay positive and assured that she would do what she wanted to do. “When people — many, many people — said to her, ‘you can’t do this because you’re female,’ she’d just smile and say, ‘okay, watch me.’ You know, it did not ever discourage her,” O’Dell recalled. Funk notched a long list of groundbreaking achievements in her career.

Sen. Ted Cruz is not up for reelection until 2030. But Texas’ junior senator nonetheless appears to be hitting the campaign trail, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Cruz recently campaigned for other Republicans in Iowa, a traditional testing ground for would-be presidential candidates because of its early primary. Cruz has also reportedly asked potential staffers around Capitol Hill if they’d be interested in joining his 2028 presidential campaign.

From KACU: The Cook Political Report rates the race a “toss up,” while recent polling by Texas Public Opinion Research gives Talarico a six-point lead over Paxton. But Democrats are also seeing potential opportunities farther west, in a region that has been a reliably Republican voting bloc since the 1990s. In a typical November election, Republican candidates can expect to receive 70% to 80% of the vote in much of West Texas.

Just across the state line, Wisconsin saw some of the steepest cuts to NRCS staff in the Midwest — losing more than 30% of its workforce. That’s left some highly agricultural counties without any NRCS staff at all, said Anderas with the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.

“America is for Americans, not foreigners trying to cheat the system to claim citizenship,” Paxton said in a press release in April. “The Center’s scheme not only facilitated an invasion of Texas, but it also involved shielding and facilitating violations of immigration law.

Here’s what’s coming up on Texas Standard for Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. Listen on your Texas public radio station, or ask your smart speaker to play Texas Standard. Check back later today for updated story links and audio. Ted Cruz tests the waters for another presidential run Texas Sen. Ted Cruz may be considering another run for president in 2028, having recently traveled to Iowa and endeavored to distinguish himself from potential Republican rivals.

From KERA News: Texas’ 15-member State Board of Education on Friday approved a controversial updated social studies curriculum that Muslims say discriminates against them and that some advocates plan to work to overturn. The new standards require students to learn how “radical Islam” was the motivation behind the 9/11 attacks, and lessons present Islam’s founder, Prophet Muhammad, as a combative and “brutal” warrior who spread the faith through violence and slavery.

This Labor Day holiday marks 15 years since the most destructive wildfire in recorded Texas history — measured not by acres burned, but by homes lost. The Bastrop County Complex Fire was just one of more than 30,000 that ignited in 2011 — by far the worst year since the Texas A&M Forest Service has been keeping track. It was spurred by an unprecedented one-year drought. It had been hot and dry all that summer. But Sunday, Sept. 4, would be the start of something different for Central Texas.

Texas barbecue has never been short on swagger or people willing to argue about who does it best. But San Antonio just picked up some serious new bragging rights. Esaul and Grecia Ramos, the husband-and-wife team behind the acclaimed 2M Smokehouse in San Antonio, just smoked, grilled, and baked their way to the championship of Food Network’s inaugural “Pitmasters” competition. They didn’t play it safe, either.