A design plan is now under consideration for a reconstructed, state-of-the-art rail bridge that will link Ojinaga, Chihuahua and Presidio, Texas. After numerous delays, construction is now expected to begin next year following the plan’s release at the Presidio County Rural Rail District in Marfa, Texas. Fronteras Desk reporter Lorne Matalon of Marfa Public Radio and West Texas Public Radio spoke with County Judge Paul Hunt and Marfa architect Mike Green after the design plan was released. Green is a noted architect who has significant expertise in designing international road and bridge crossings.
Reporters Karen Bernstein and Pete Szilagyi, middle and right, with producer David Alvarez at the studios of KUT-Austin. (Photo by Emily Barrett, KUT.)
Friday Interview: Marfa Public Radio is at SXSW for its 27th Year
Austinites jokingly call it Spring Break for Geeks, but the South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Festival and Conference celebrates knowledge, ideas, careers, futurism and science mixed with the arts, film, music and celebrity appearances, often spilling over into downtown streets, pubs and parks with music and live performances.
SXSW celebrates its 27th anniversary today and continues for 10 busy days and nights. KRTS and KXWT reporters Pete Szilagyi and Karen Bernstein, assisted by KUT-Austin Senior Producer David Alvarez, are there to cover the festival from start to end. Today’s first report at 10 a.m. tells listeners what to expect during the week ahead.
Talk At Ten is generally broadcast live at 10 am and repeated at 6:30 pm each weekday.
David Beebe and Carol Wallace
Thursday Interview: Carol Wallace And David Beebe Perform The Johnny Mercer Songbook
St. James Episcopal Church in Alpine will be hosting a concert on March 9 at 4 p.m. The program will feature Carol Wallace, on piano and David Beebe singing baritone from the Johnny Mercer Songbook.
Mercer, one of the most prolific lyricists of 20th favorites as “Laura,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Moon River” and “Satin Doll.” His lyrics, often written for movies, were performed by such music greats as Louis Armstrong, Paul Whiteman, Michel Legrand, Eubie Blake and Lionel Hampton.
Mercer was known for writing lyrics to his own tunes, in collaboration with other composers and to melodies that had been written without words as well as writing English lyrics to popular European songs such as “Autumn Leaves.”
The free concert will be followed by a reception with the artists. St. James is located at N. 6th St. and Ave. A in Alpine.
Talk At Ten is generally broadcast live at 10 am and repeated at 6:30 pm each weekday.
Texas Purple Thistle in in San Antonio, TX. (Lauraprl/Wikimedia Commons)
Winter Adaptations of Herbaceous Plants
Herbaceous plants may seem to die in the winter, but those brown stems and dried leaves are only the ghosts of last year’s plants. Waiting inside the seed or the roots are the beautiful plants you’ll enjoy this year. Learn … Continue reading
Nature Notes is broadcast Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:35 am and 4:45 pm, and again on Thursdays at 7:06 pm.
Mexico Drilling Exploratory Wells Across From Presidio: Texas Economic Benefit Expected
Mexico’s state-owned oil and gas company – Pemex — is drilling 29 exploratory wells along the Texas border. Pemex says it needs help from the U.S. to do the work because Mexico doesn’t have the experience with the cost-effective technology of fracking.
Presidio County Judge Paul Hunt on Election Loss
Presidio County Judge Paul Hunt has lost his re-election bid to challenger Cinderella Guevara, currently a Justice of the Peace. Fronteras Desk correspondent Lorne Matalon spoke with Hunt after the final tally was in.
Hunt says he was proud about his record of promoting bilateral trade with Mexico and professionalizing several county departments. Matalon asked about his plans for the rest of his term and about his loss after a cordial but difficult campaign.
Here is the full interview recorded within sight of his office at the Presidio County Courthouse.
All About the Texas Ag Commissioner: Farms, Gas Pumps and School Lunches
When Texans – mostly farmers and ranchers – sat down to write the state constitution in the 1800s, they didn’t see the need for an elected Agriculture Commissioner.
That oversight was quickly remedied.
Texas agriculture, crops and cattle are known across the country and around the world. Its “Go Texan” campaign can be seen in grocery stores and TV ads across the state: Why buy vegetables from California, when you can pick from that (noticeably labeled) batch from Texas?
The Texas Ag Commissioner’s role is about much more than just farming. (Credit: Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images)
But the office does more than sell the product. It also helps farmers and ranchers successfully grow it.
Cinderela Guevara defeats incumbent Presidio County Judge Paul Hunt in Democratic Primary
On Tuesday night in Presidio County, Cinderela Guevara won the election for County Judge, defeating incumbent Judge Paul Hunt. Guevara, the current Justice of the Peace, won the Democratic Primary and faces no further opponents. KRTS News caught up with Guevara on Election Night outside the county courthouse in Marfa.
Remembering Cowboy Chris Calvin
Chris Calvin, better known as Cowboy Chris, is Terlingua gold. Over the years, he’s built Cowhead Ranch – which resembles an old western town – to include several cabins, the Nine Point Social Club, a place to gather and cook meals, an old time saloon (BYOB), a stained glass crafted church, and a cemetery he calls “Return to Sender.”
After a long life, Chris Calvin did just that. He “returned to sender” on January 22nd 2014, departing the planet on the same day he entered.
Excerpted from the audio above, Chris confirms what many know to be true, “This is my home, this is where I leave my bones. My heart and spirit is right here.”
There will be a memorial celebration of Chris and his generous spirit at Cowhead Ranch on Saturday, March 8th at 10 AM. The service will be in the morning and friends are encouraged to bring food and music to share as the day rolls on.
Cowhead Ranch is 53 miles south of Alpine TX on the east side of 118.
Jessica Lutz is a citizen reporter for KRTS, Marfa Public Radio.
Donate to the KRTS Youth Media Project
Last year, KRTS Youth Media student producers pitched, wrote and produced their own radio stories. Students acted as editors on each others pieces and participated in a seminar-style class. We read about radio. We listened to radio. We breathed, ate and dreamt radio.
Now we need your help to make the second year of the KRTS Youth Media Project a reality. The seed funds we received from the American Graduate Initative were put to good use – we have a curriculum, partnerships with local organizations, the facilities and interested students and mentors.
Become a Community Correspondent, learn new skills and make new friends.
Become a Marfa Public Radio Community Correspondent
Never miss a city council meeting? Always finding interesting stories in the Big Bend? Go to a lot of community events or concerts? If you’re interested in sharing your knowledge and experience with Marfa Public Radio listeners, become one of our volunteer Community Correspondents.
We’re looking for engaged citizens from across the Big Bend. A Community Correspondent assists Marfa Public Radio with news gathering and producing stories from the community you live in.
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Healthcare Navigators Explain Coverage Options for West Texans
As the March 31st deadline for having health insurance under the Affordable Care Act approaches, health care navigators are out in communities across the country explaining how residents can get covered under the law’s new online exchanges.
Like most states, Texas chose not to set up its own health exchange, choosing instead to offer residents coverage plans under the federal exchange.
The El Paso-based Project Amistad is visiting towns across West Texas to talk with residents about what those coverage options are, and to help guide them through the process of signing up. This week, the group’s hosted a couple enrollment and education sessions in Alpine and Presidio.
Roy Ortega, Community Relations Manager for Project Amistad. (Credit: Tom Michael/KRTS)
We caught up with Community Relations Manager Roy Ortega, who spoke to us during Morning Edition about the sessions and what the health care landscape in West Texas looks like.
Project Amistad will be offering advice and information on health care options at the Marfa Public Library today (March 6) until 3 pm.
Primary Results for the Tri-County Area
The final results are in, and the Tri-County Region is looking at a new set of judges.
Eleazar Cano will be in a runoff with Kathy Killingsworth for the Brewster County Judge seat. Fred Granado is the new judge for Jeff Davis County, and Cinderela Guevara won out over incumbent Paul Hunt in Presidio County.
Follow the link for a full breakdown of the votes from Tuesday’s primary election.
Primary Results: Republican Railroad Commission Races Goes to Runoff
A four-way primary race has narrowed to two. Former State Representative Wayne Christian will face off against Ryan Sitton to become the Republican nominee for an open seat on the Railroad Commission of Texas, the agency that regulates Texas oil and gas industry.
Pump jack in Pierce Junction oilfield south of downtown Houston (Credit: Dave Fehling/StateImpact Texas)
Christian and Sitton, an engineer who owns a consulting firm that works with oil and gas companies, have mostly campaigned on red-meat issues like criticizing the Obama administration and touting their conservative credentials, rather than rather than highlighting their positions on oil and gas regulation.
In the Democratic primary, Steve Brown, a former legislative aide, defeated Dale Henry, and will advance to the general election ballot for November. Brown is the only major party candidate so far to suggest that the Railroad Commission should do more to limit the recent surge in earthquakes in Texas linked to oil and gas disposal wells.
Brown and the eventual Republican nominee will be running for the seat currently held by Barry Smitherman, who did not run for re-election on the Commission to pursue an unsuccessful bid for State Attorney general.
Primary Results: Runoff for Ag Commissioner Gets Kinky
It’s possible that come November, voters will get to choose between a pro-weed Jewish troubadour and a horse scandal-plagued businessman with Ted Nugent as his treasurer in the race for Agriculture Commissioner. Both primaries for Agriculture Commissioner are headed for a runoff on May 27.
“There’s nothing in this world more serious than a comedian when he’s telling the truth,” Kinky Friedman says. (Credit: Mike Lee/KUT)
On the Democratic side, poll watchers were surprised to see Jim Hogan, a cattle rancher from Cleburne who raised zero dollars for the race and spent few more, in the lead with 39 percent (with 84 percent of precincts reporting). That’s despite having little to no profile in the race. (Many of the state’s Democratic heavyweights endorsed Hugh Fitzsimmons, who is placing a distant third.)
Hogan will likely face Richard “Kinky” Friedman, who’s running on a platform of hemp and pot legalization, and who state Democrats had actively tried to stop from winning. Friedman wasn’t far behind Hogan, getting 38 percent of the vote (with 84 percent of precincts reporting). We talked to Friedman about his plans to turn Texas “green” in February:
Wed. Mar 5 Interview: Marfa One-Act Plays
Marfa Live Arts will be presenting one-act plays performed by Marfa High School students. The event will feature the works of award-winning playwrights Tristen Anderson, Jeremy Guevara, Gisselle Lujan and Orlando Sanchez. The free event takes place at the Crowley Theatre, here in Marfa, at 7:30 p.m.
Talk At Ten is generally broadcast live at 10 am and repeated at 6:30 pm each weekday.
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