A mysterious kidney disease is hitting Central American migrant workers in Texas

0:00A big Texas County seen by some is key in the upcoming midterms cuts the number of polling places. The backstory and more today on the Texas Standard. Texas Standard is a production of KUT Austin, KERA North Texas, Houston Public Media, and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. I'm David Brown. After a heated public debate, Tarant County commissioners take a step that critics are falling at deliberate barrier to voting. We'll hear more. It's not political convention season or is it what looks like an unconventional convention set for Dallas. Also more than a mysterious kidney disease that's arrived in Texas hitting young men from Central America especially hard. We'll hear what health officials are saying. Plus the Texas speech-comer, the tacos of Texas, and a whole lot more. When the Texas Standard gets underway, right after it is.

1:01No matter where you are, it's Texas Standard time on this third day of September 2026. Happy Thursday on David Brown. Election Day may still feel a ways off, but we are now just two months from midterms that will decide control of Congress to say nothing of some of the most powerful offices in Texas. And with questions about voting access, election security, and public confidence already looming large. One of the state's biggest counties has just made what appears to be a consequential change in how people will cast their votes. Officials in Tarant County, the third most populous county in Texas, have approved a plan to reduce the number of polling locations by 92, roughly a third compared with the previous midterms in 2022. What does this actually mean for voters in wise Tarant County becoming such an important test cases, November 3rd approaches. Here to tell us more, Rachel Royster, who reports for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Rachel, welcome to the Texas Standard.

2:01Hi, David. Thank you so much for having me. So what changes are being made to polling places and what seems to have prompted this decision? So the Tarant County Commissioners Court decided Tuesday during their marathon, 10-hour meeting to cut polling locations back by nearly a third as you had stated. The county commissioners decided this along party lines. So the three Republicans on court voted to approve. The two Democrats voted that this was not what they wanted. This decision comes nearly a month after the proposal was first suggested to the county. I understand that the session on Tuesday was rather contentious. What did you hear from folks who came to that hearing? Contentious is definitely the word for it. There were roughly 115 people who came out to speak on this specific topic. Only 10 of those approved of this plan. The rest were all criticizing it.

3:03The critics said that this would intentionally limit voter access to black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the southern precincts, precincts one and two. They also said that reducing locations when the population is growing is ridiculous. They said that this is bad budgeting if this is what the necessary cost savings are for the county. The roughly 10 proponents said that this would be the fiscally responsible choice. They said if there are less polling locations, then more of the poll workers will be more capable and that this would make the whole experience more efficient. Is it clear how much money Tarant County would save by cutting the number of polling places? They did not say at the Tuesday meeting though they do spend roughly a couple of thousand dollars per polling location per day that it's open. Have you heard of other counties are doing this to or is Tarant County an outlier? I know that a lot of folks are talking about what's happening here in Tarant County.

4:08Tarant County is a bell weather perhaps. I'm not sure bell weather is the right word in this context though. Tarant County has made national headlines because of the fact that it's such a large Republican held county. But no to answer your question. I have not heard of any other Texas county deciding to cut polling locations. I want to go back to something that was said at the public hearing. Where are these cuts being made? Are they happening evenly across the city or why is it that some believe that particular voting groups are being targeted? They believe that because there are more locations being reduced in precincts one and two those southern primarily black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Though this does give an equal distribution of polling locations across the four county precincts. When I looked at the election day centers from the 2022 election the locations with the fewest number of voters turning out were actually in these southern precincts.

5:19There were 21 election day voting centers that had fewer than 150 people voting. That was one of the main things that the Republicans on court said that they had an issue with. The fewest voters that showed up to vote were 37 at one of the locations and that was in the southern part of the county. Where can people find information to see if their usual place is going to be closed in this next election? If you go to TarantCountyTexas.gov and go to their current elections page there are links there where you can find the election day polling locations as well as the early voting sites. And then once we get closer to early voting you'll be able to find an interactive map where you can put in your location and you can find the closest polling location to you. Rachel what do you see is the big picture here? So as you mentioned before TarantCounty is a very important county in Texas. The saying goes as goes TarantCounty so goes Texas and so goes the nation.

6:28As far as the polling locations go that means that we may see more counties decide to cut back on polling locations. We'll just have to wait and see to November 4th to see if this affects turnout or if it makes the whole process more efficient. Rachel Royster reports for the Fort Worth Star Telegram will link to her latest reporting at TexasStandard.org. Rachel thanks so much. Thank you have a great day. Too young to be this sick. That's the headline on a story about chronic kidney disease often leading to renal failure that requires dialysis. It's hitting young men from Central America especially hard and it's now been detected in those working in Texas and other parts of the US. Mariana Hernandez has done extensive reporting on this for the nonprofit news organizations, Puente News Collaborative and Public Health Watch. She spoke with the Texas standards Angelico Cherga. So first tell us about this disease from what I understand it's exact cause is still somewhat of a mystery.

7:32Yes so this disease has its own specific name it's Mesoamerica Nephropathy because it is a form of chronic kidney disease but it is not tied to the common causes that are diabetes and hypertension. It appears in Central America so it means the Pacific coast specifically from Costa Rica to Guatemala even the southern part of Mexico. And the experts that have studied these disease for decades have pointed to a combination of likely causes. The first one that they found was agrochemicals. The exposure of agrochemicals in workers in the fields and then they notice that not only people working on the fields were having these disease so it's not only the exposure to agrochemicals but they did find a common cause and heat stress. And from this heat stress also inadequate hydration that's why they say these disease is here to stay because the world is only getting hotter and that area specifically is getting very very warm.

8:34So the damage can start as early as adolescence but the symptoms take longer to appear. So some of the patients are now showing up in US emergency rooms and clinics. Tell us about that. Yes so what happens is that people in countries like El Salvador which is the country that I reported on they start working in fields from a very young age. So they are they have these heat stress on them from I don't know 14 15 years old and then when they they're older they already have a damage in the kidneys that they haven't noticed which is for example creatinine high creatinine levels which is one of the indicators. And then they go to the United States searching for other economic opportunities and they continue working on these jobs that they that cause heat stress because the US is also getting warmer right. So they they have these jobs and later on they start having fever and they start having trouble breathing and they they cannot work they don't have the same energy and when they go to the hospital they already have kidney disease.

9:47So they need dialysis they need some other form of of treatment so they have carried these disease with them from their countries of origin and they have transported it it has migrated with them to another health system. So yeah that that's what happened that that's why it presents in other countries like Mexico and the US. So there's another complication for the young man who need treatment since many are migrants in the US tells about that because they often end up going back to their home countries. Yeah so the main complication that they face when they're in the US is that they don't have health coverage. So when they're in the US this treatment is very very expensive and they're not they don't have a family that's able to send them money because the the average minimum wage in El Salvador is very low. So they're usually the people sending money to El Salvador and they have to go back to El Salvador to their countries of origin and and this is what happened in one of the people that I talked to and that I learned about their stories.

10:52His name is Alberto he went to the US and he had a lot of jobs he had worked in the fields with his sister Evelyn. When he was in the US he started presenting this sentence and he was not able to afford health care. His mother said like we have to find a way to get him back to El Salvador because I don't want him dying there he has to die in his home country. So when he went back he started treatment and they they paid for scissors like no spaces in the Salvadoran hospitals they started paying for private care now he's stable and he's in public care. So that's some of what they find when they return home and this also affects their families because as you pointed out the men are often the primary breadwinners tell us about that. So the women and in the families are usually the ones that have to take the baton to help these men because this is not found in women some have it but it's not the common case.

11:54So the wives have to pay for these treatments help their husbands and help with the children even even the children are helping right so one of the families that I that I met and he's a family of Pablo Rivera. And I got to talk to his wife and he told me like when he got sick it was time for us for the whole family to start going out and selling cakes working construction I met another wife that worked in construction with with her son who at 16 was already presenting like creatinine levels very high but they they have to pay for Pablo's disease for example no in the case of young so. This is a team effort and and the women are really carrying these these communities these towns. Mariana Hernandez is a Mexico City based journalist who reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center on crisis reporting to read her full story visit texasstandard.org. Mariana thank you so much for joining us.

12:54Thank you very much for having me. Thank you very much. This is the texas standard I'm Laura Rice Republicans are breaking decades of precedent in American politics by hosting a national convention in Dallas next week. KERA's James Hartley reports the convention itself is expected to be rather unconventional. The Republican and Democratic national conventions are where delegates officially select the parties nominees for president and vice president as well as vote on party platform issues.

13:58It's something that typically happens every four years but Republicans are going off script this year ahead of the midterm elections. Thomas Gray is a political science researcher and professor at UT Dallas. He says this year's Republican national convention at American Airlines Center won't have any delegates nominee confirmations or votes on party platforms. It's going to be a big campaign rally for you know, a G patched in or for a variety of other house and senate candidates who hope to get name dropped or get you know get up on the stage to give a quick speech. Gray expects to see a small boost in Republican polling numbers after the convention but says that traditionally only lasts a few weeks and that's during presidential election years. Cal Jilson is a political science researcher and professor at SMU he says the issues that seem to matter most voters won't change between now and the midterms and Republicans are going to have a hard time satisfying those voters concerns like Gray Jilson says Republican candidates will probably pull slightly higher immediately following the convention but then life continues and you're still having trouble with the grocery store that still costs too much and so a lot of that bump fades away.

15:08We'll see whether that happens this time. Grace is there's another problem for Republicans while the convention will give them a platform to share talking points and create sound bites those same moments they'll want to spotlight will be useful to Democrats. You get this little pop of eagerness from the from the party hearing the messages and once it's all been repackaged and did you hear what he said in his speech to the other party. It all kind of gets washed out aren't see chairman Joe Grooters wrote in an online statement that the convention will be a quote Trump a polluza this is something jilson says might impact the outcome of the convention to it's hard to know how that will hit Americans because Donald Trump's job approval ratings are in the low 30s which is very low for president going into a midterm. Jilson and Gray both agree the full effect of the convention may not be clear until after all ballots are cast I'm James Hartley.

16:15And you're listening to the Texas standard. I'm Angela Cochera Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX has made a major imprint on South Texas now its footprint is poised to get even bigger the company recently made a deal with its neighbor the city of Brownsville to receive more than 400 acres of city property in exchange for money to fund future water projects that's over 200 million dollars all told the Brownsville city commissioners accepted the deal in a marathon meeting last Saturday. And not everyone was happy about the decision joining us now to tell us more is Kristen Mossbroker Garza reporter for the Rio Grande Valley business journal welcome to the Texas standard Kristen. Thanks so much for having me and we really appreciate it. Well first just give us some more details about the nuts and bolts behind this exchange that SpaceX and the city of Brownsville are making who's getting what. Right so this deal came together very quickly SpaceX has a lot of employees here right they have their new emerging city of starbase and the land is actually privately owned but it just happens to be within the city of Brownsville city limits and so they have zoning control right so SpaceX.

17:34When to the city of Brownsville leaders and our public utility that handles both electricity and water and they said hey we understand that we are growing we have increasing water demands and there may not be enough water for all these industrial users or electricity frankly for all the development and growth that we're getting and so the nuts and bolts of the deal is that space X is donating 220 million dollars. Like cash over six payments to the city of Brownsville now city of Brownsville under the contract is required to spend that money on existing utility improvement projects such as improving a brackish well water facilities a brackish desalination plant is what it is up to 20 million gallons of water per day and so that plus a water reuse project it's where they take waste water and they turn it back into drinking water. We'll add about 28 million gallons of water to our water supply for a city that right now only needs about 21 million gallons of water per day so it's massive investment but it came together so fast I think it shocked a lot of the public it was a lot of outcry there was all a concern but city leaders really took a hard stance in they were like this is the

19:02once in 100 year opportunity well tell us about the scene of the meeting itself and the reaction to the decision so there was an outcry after city commissioners made this decision yes so it was a six hour long meeting and during that meeting we had dozens of people from the community who stood up and they were just like first of all why are we meeting on a Saturday that's not when typically you know we're going to be able to do that. The government business gets done but the commissioners themselves actually didn't even get a copy of the contract from the company until after the public comment during the meeting so they didn't even get a chance to really read it before being asked to make a decision about it that was essentially an ultimatum so the general public was really upset very emotional very angry they really felt like a large corporation that is not even in the city of Brownsville was really getting preferential treatment over the citizens of the community well had this been in the works for a while it sounds like that the even the commissioners didn't really have all the information up front that's correct now I will say the legal teams between the company of city sex and the city of Brownsville we're working on the concept of an agreement and the utility commission it's called the Brownsville public utilities board they did kind of pay the commissioners.

20:31So it's a rich to space X what they would like them to fund so it didn't come completely out of thin air but the details of the contract we're not shared until during the meeting and then you know some of the commissioners asked they said hey can we look at this for 24 hours 72 hours you know and space X is representative at the meeting said no is it clear why space X wants this specific piece of land and what they plan to do with it. Yes and no so with a lot of what space X does because of the company that they are right they are a defense contractor they they have a lot of restrictions on what they can share and cannot share this site is very close to the port of Brownsville they have a lease to ship in an out rocket parts and sometimes even manufactured rockets and then they'll they set a sign some land within city limits for the city of Brownsville.

21:31There's some other contractors and subcontractors so there's a lot of heavy industrial development there water uses about to be two million gallons or so per day and by comparison the oil refinery America first refining that is proposed at the port of Brownsville would potentially use more like 4.5 million gallons per day just for scope. And speaking to Kristen Mossbroker Garza who reports for the Rio Grande Valley business journal and will have a link to her full story on the deal between space X and Brownsville over at texastandr.org. Kristen thank you so much for your reporting. Thank you. Support for Texas Standard comes from half price books a Texas bread new and news bookstore proudly supporting public media and sustainability by keeping books music and other media in circulation. And more information at hpp.com.

22:31Live from the Texas newsroom I'm Shelby Rose a new poll finds there are some tight races at the top of the ballot in Texas including the high profile contest for US Senate and Texas governor KUT's Craig Shaw has a look at the latest numbers. It's the latest in a string of polls finding tight races in Texas in some cases tighter than they've been in years. In the survey of likely voters from over to an insights on the Texas Public Policy Foundation Austin State Rep James Tallarico is ahead of Texas Attorney General Kim Paxton by less than 1 percentage point in the race for US Senate. But when undecided voters are asked which way they're leaning Paxton has the edge combining those findings the race is 50 50 in the contest for Texas governor if the election were held today governor Greg Abbott would be ahead of Austin State Rep Gina in a house by just over 1 percentage point campaigns and campaign ads traditionally start ramping up after Labor Day early voting starts in less than seven weeks on October 19th. I'm Craig Shaw in Austin.

23:32And a Fort Worth man is facing misdemeanor charges for allegedly threatening James Tallarico in a rest of the day if it claims 29 year old Billy McFat Ridge sent violent threats through email in Instagram in August investigators say McFat Ridge admitted to owning accounts and ascending the messages but claimed he only wanted to scare the lawmaker. A new regional alliance says the rapid growth between San Antonio and Austin is creating opportunities neither city can fully capture on its own speaking on TPR's the source central Texas Alliance CEO AJ Rodríguez says San Antonio has a particular advantage. I 10 crosses I 35 I 10 goes coast to coast I 35 goes from country to country and that is a major trade route. It's the crossroads of trade for America. If you think about it's right here in San South side of San Antonio the newly formed alliance is bringing leaders together across a 13 county region to coordinate growth in economic development transportation water and housing. After more than four decades a man has been found guilty connected to the Texas killing fields case a Galveston County jury convicted 61 year old James Elmore of felony manslaughter in the death of 16 year old Laura Miller.

24:41Laura's father Tim Miller has been fighting for justice all this time. I thought I was ready for a verdict until it was read. Then it made it all real. And 42 years Elmore faces up to 20 years in prison tropical storm Edward may have moved out of the state but flooding continues in parts of Southeast Texas. Polk County remains one of the hardest hit areas nearly two feet of rain and some locations thousands remain without power. I'm Shelby Rose in the Texas newsroom. This coverage is only possible because of support from listeners like you. You can help sustain and grow Texas news coverage by donating to your local public radio station today. 33 minutes past the our Texas standard time I'm David Brown president Trump says communities that oppose data centers risk becoming in his words backwards and poor. This full-throated defense of large scale AI facilities comes as many politicians on both sides of the aisle have been feeling backlash from their constituents data center opponents fear massive energy use water shortages noise and other environmental damage and have questioned the data centers economic upside.

26:00Our tech expert Omar Guyaga has been looking into the latest data center divide and he joins us now to talk about it Omar welcome back. Hi David things are having me we've talked about this before how widespread the backlash to data centers has become among both Democrats and Republicans for that matter. You think politicians have been surprised by the way that every day folks have reacted to all the data centers going up. I think they're surprised by the speed at which the sentiment has shifted. I mean I think a year ago people were not really talking about data centers this year it is just swiftly shifted toward very negative sentiment across the aisle Republicans and Democrats and independence. A majority of them in all the polls that I've seen do not favor data centers being built you know in their location they people don't want them in their areas. Why do you think the president made this statement about if you oppose data centers you must want us to be backwards backwards and poor what do you think he was trying to do.

27:00I think he's seen those same polls and and it's seen you know Republicans like governor Greg Abbott put a moratorium on you data centers you know or at least auditing them. So I think he's seen that this could be a problem with the midterms I think that's what everyone you know politically is concerned as far as data centers is this a big enough issue to influence those elections and in the I'm looking at the post right now that that Trump posted I mean he blamed China as kind of stirring up this anti data center sentiment and he called it the golden goose you will only have yourselves to blame you know if we killed the golden goose so that that's sort of I think a reaction to it to probably what he's seen on on the TV. On the TV channels that he watches well you mentioned governor Abbott there I know he's gone from being a real booster for bringing data centers to Texas to you know I was going to say skeptical I'm not sure he's skeptical about data centers I think his concern if I understand it correctly is that these companies pushing the data centers wanting to build have not been working with local communities is that how is that how you understand it that's how it's being framed yeah and and I think that was a bit surprising that the governor who's been so.

28:08Pro business is asking that they be studied more closely but you know we're seeing these protests and these communities you know San Marcos and other places just completely deny you know data center projects and this is happening in other states like like Illinois California Ohio I think the political reality especially for Republicans is you know we have to acknowledge that people are concerned that people don't like data centers this post from Trump really throws a monkey wrench into that you know there's the political reality and there's the digital world. The political reality do you think that there's the possibility that because of this backlash we're going to actually see fewer data centers built and you know you mentioned China earlier there is a kind of digital arms race or an AI arms race right now and and you have to have the the processing power if you're going to win it no. So I think what you're going to see is some of the bigger companies you know your X.

29:10A. I. Is you know Elon Musk's company your meta's your open A. I. Is just build their own huge campuses you know with these data centers and try instead of trying to integrate them into communities but you know those have to be put somewhere you know so I think what you're going to see is is these AI companies you know by more and more and more land you know or or leasing land and building them in places where they're there. There won't be that kind of community out outcry you know I wonder if this is if the midterms aren't going to be a kind of plebiscite on on data centers and AI. Yeah that's something that I just wrote about for scene at and that we've really been keeping a close eye on is this influx of money that we're seeing going into advertising to advocate for data centers we're seeing the tech companies that the billionaires start to put in a couple hundred million dollars into into these ad campaigns so I think especially in communities where there's policy issues for a vote. Or candidates who are you know pro or anti data center and that's part of the election I think you're going to see an influx of ads trying to convince people to change their mind about data centers and there was just a story in political that just ran you know as I was putting in finishing the story up.

30:12Republican House leader I think he went from okay we're going to do something about data centers to no no we need to educate the public about data centers and how great they are like that it's already shifting. Oh you're talking about Johnson yeah I knew who you talking about. Yeah yeah yeah and so there are either Republicans are sort of like okay well Trump put this bomb out there now we got to like own it and I think it was very disruptive. Serious. Oh no but my my article I mean I talked to four five six you know advertising and marketing experts and they all told me like this is hard is this a uphill battle like you people have already made up their minds and you're trying to convince them that they're wrong like that's a really hard marketing challenge. Oh Margaigaga writes about tech for CNET and he joins us here each week on the standard we're going to link to his reporting on those ads that data centers are starting to run over at Texas standard dot or g. Oh Marth thanks so much for joining us. I sure appreciate it thanks David. Support for Texas Standard comes from Texas Mutual Insurance Company a Texas based workers compensation provider committed to providing care and support for injured employees.

31:19More at texasmeachle.com slash Texans deliver. It's the Texas standard I'm David Brown when the Texas Beach Comer heads out along the coast he never quite knows what he'll find most weeks. Jace Tunnel is out there exploring on his own but sometimes the discoveries find him courtesy of other beachgoers with something strange to report. This week I received calls from a couple surfers who had an unusual complaint something that looked and felt like fiberglass was covering the beach and poking into their skin. When I went to investigate I quickly found the culprit sea butterflies millions of them for at least 20 miles of beach the tide line was thick with their tiny delicate shells and a single pinch of sand and shells between my fingers I counted about 50 sea butterflies. After handling them several of the sharp little shells became stuck in my fingers and had to be pulled out explaining exactly what the surfers had experienced.

32:23Sea butterflies are small marine snails known as terrapods unlike the snails we normally think of crawling along the bottom sea butterflies spin their lives drifting and swimming in the open ocean. Their name comes from the wing-like structures they used to move through the water there are many species of sea butterflies in the Gulf ranging from those with tiny coiled shells to species with more elongated needle-like shells. Despite their small size they are an important part of the marine food web sea butterflies are eaten by fish and other marine animals including some whales. I scooped Gulf water into a glass jar and found live sea butterflies actively moving through it. Seeing them alive made it clear that this wasn't simply a mass of empty shells washing ashore large numbers of living animals were being carried right to the beach ocean currents, winds and waves can concentrate enormous numbers of small drifting organisms along the shoreline. That's one of the fascinating things about beach combing. A beach can look completely different from one day to the next. Millions of sea butterflies may line Texas coasts today but after a shift in wind or current they could be gone tomorrow.

33:33Wherever Texas meets the tide you'll find this guy, Jace Tunnel, the Texas Beach Comer, Jace's director of community engagement at the Hart Research Institute, Texas A&M Corpus Christi. For a long time the great Taco Bargain seemed pretty straight forward, cheap, fast, delicious but the way Americans think about food has been changing more broadly, more folks want to know where the ingredients come from, how much processing is involved, what the dishes that we eat say about the people who put these dishes together. And Tacos certainly have not escaped that conversation. In fact one Texas success story may be a bit ahead of the curve, having started with a food truck and growing into one of the better known names in Texas Tacos and now a cookbook has put Vera Cruz all natural in the spotlight. On the latest Tacos of Texas podcast hosted by Mando Raya, Mando welcome to the Texas standard. Good to talk with you again sir.

34:33Thanks David, happy to be here. So in this episode you talk with chef Reyna Vasquez, one of the co-founders of Vera Cruz all natural in Austin before we get to the food, where is she from? What's her story? It's a similar story that you hear around immigrants crossing the border wanting to come to the US for a better life. So they're they're originally from Vera Cruz hence the name growing up in in a kind of that tropical area of Mexico with fresh ingredients, fresh fruits, but also like you know learning to cook from their mom and grandmother early on. And you know when they came to the United States she was Reyna who's on my podcast. She was only 16 you know well they left everything. You know and they crossed the border and you know that's something that you know what what we did really with this episode is to have that interview in Spanish.

35:33So that way she can share her story and her language that you know of her choice, but also like so other immigrants can see that like look there is a better way and you know there is hope for people especially in the times we're in. It's not just the what's on the plate right you're starting a business. I mean yeah yeah. What sort of pushed her in that direction and how did Vera Cruz all natural become what it is today? Right when they came here you know she was 16 years old she worked at a restaurant in East Austin for many years and she always kind of she told me she had a yearning for something else something more and and she really wanted to you know have her own business, her own restaurant and what better way definitely you know back 20 years ago right was through a trailer or a truck a taco truck and for them they actually started with with a juice stand to be honest on that was for escas and juice stand on says our chavis on East says our chavis and and that's the way they started to be honest and then you know they obviously the two sisters Mariza and rain were kind of working full time trying to cover the trailer and then also

36:56infusing the recipes from their mom and that's how they kind of got started you know they they you know part part of this learning process for them is they just had the the gun asked if you will right the will to do it. The motivation to do it and you know for two two for two years they didn't pay themselves they were like kind of going back and forth between jobs and covering you know the trailer and really focusing on you know the style that they wanted the style of food that they wanted you know says the name Betacruz all natural yeah and let's talk about that all natural because that seems to be at the heart of this of this cookbook are they are they recreating what you I mean making it possible for readers to recreate what you would find at Vera Cruz all natural or is this sort of moving more broadly into the natural food that perhaps they grew up with or their parents grew up with. Yeah it's actually a mix of both so you can you know if you love Betacruz all natural and you've been there you know they're known for their me gas not just like running me gas with loaded cheese the chips are still crunchy you know the eggs are runny and they top everything with an avocado and so you get that but you also get you know more of the tropical recipes from their home you know it's everything from zero.

38:21You know it's everything from zucchini calabacitas con queso or maybe a cauliflower al pastor recipe for the more involved home cooks yeah but there's also some some great salsa that you can use so it has kind of like the basics of what you can get at Vera Cruz all natural and then it goes into more elaborate dishes. We're out of time and I encourage folks to check out the tacos of Texas podcast but before we let you go do you see the sort of all natural element as a trend or the way the taco scene is moving more long term how do you see it. Yeah I mean to be honest everybody asked me all the time or tacos a trend and like no they're not they've always been there's more generally but but but all natural that's what I like. Yeah yeah you know I think I think it's it's also like this idea of going back to the roots of the the origins of of the recipes you know before the mass production of tortillas just kind of this idea around like everything has to be quick.

39:24No more shops more restaurants are really digging into like a slow cooking but also getting the recipes right using more natural ingredients because we want to we are we eat right so we want it to be healthy. You should check out the tacos of Texas podcast and add a few more episodes so you're listening menu Mondo rios host of the show and we're going to have a link to more Texas standard dot or G. See you check it out Mondo thanks again for joining us. Thanks thanks David. Support for tacos of Texas comes from H.E.B. Who's meet you into sauces, marinated meats, tortillas, casos and more are inspired by the authentic flavors of Mexico. H.E.B. Here everything's better. It's the Texas standard I'm David Brown. What is a river no longer a river. That's an important question posed in the latest issue of Texas monthly in the case of the Rio Grande which stretches from Colorado to the Gulf.

40:43This isn't just some idle riddle. This river is one of the most threatened in the country and its fate is very much tied to the future of the Lone Star State. Here to tell us more about the article he wrote for Texas monthly is Jack Herrera. Jack welcome to the Texas standard. Thank you David. Good to be here. In the introduction to your article the situation with the Rio Grande's characterized is worse than most people realize what would you say to give folks an idea of where things actually stand and how it compares to that mental image we many of us have of this grand flowing river. You see the Colorado River in a lot of the national headlines you we know that there's a crisis on that river. But what most people even in Texas don't understand is that the Rio Grande isn't a greater state of collapse the threat to this river is makes it one of the most endangered in the entire world. And even though it's got grand in its name at this point in its history each year less than 15% of the natural flow of the Rio Grande makes it to the Delta and in huge stretches hundreds of miles of stretches along this river it's already running dry.

41:50And this is a huge problem because over 15 million people depend on the Rio Grande for their drinking water and the worst estimates see millions of these people running out of their drinking water potentially within the next year this is not a problem that's a decade off this is happening right now. What we talked about this issue on the show before the there's a treaty that the U.S. has with Mexico over water rights and I think a lot of people may be wondering how that treaty has affected water levels in the Rio Grande and where things stand on that issue right now are you familiar with it. Yeah so I think the best way to explain this is I spent the last year traveling the entire length of the Rio Grande so I started way up in the head waters 13,000 feet up in the mountains in Colorado and I traveled along the river following that water all the way down through Colorado through New Mexico to a Paso and when you get about 70 miles south of a Paso the Rio Grande goes away it most of the year it runs dry through a stretch that locals called the forgotten reach and so this is dry filled with reads.

42:56No river but there's something like you know 3 million Texans 2 to 3 million Texans who depend on it for their drinking water downstream so where's that water coming from the answer is you keep following the Rio Grande and you get to Presidio Texas just outside a big band national park yeah and there another river from Mexico called the Rio conchose hits the Rio Grande and rejuvenates the river and for the last few decades really the last 100 years most of the water we're talking about almost all the water we're talking about. We're talking about in South Texas where so many people rely on this river for their drinking water is coming from the Rio conchose and so today Mexico controls the spigot of the water that Texas relies on. I want to ask you more about that incredible trip that you were describing what is it it's got to be like almost 2,000 miles. Yeah the rivers rivers a 1900 miles a little almost exactly from its origin point to the Delta and what we realize is that the water is almost exactly from its origin point to the Delta. And what we realize on the course of this trip or we you know we saw pretty much the length of it the the some of the most important parts of the river are not actually the Rio Grande itself it's the real contros and other Mexican tributaries that contribute so much water this river.

44:10There are so many constituencies for this river you've got the water that's needed for agriculture you got the water needed for drinking and obviously there are political dimensions to all of this. I think someone looking from the outside in might say well as someone who has taken this trip what would you say is the biggest impact on the state of the Rio Grande today worsening drought perhaps human needs wildlife something else. You know the incredible thing is when I first started reporting the story the first impacts I saw were the effects of the climate of drought when you go up to the Rio Grande I was there in June and it's still the these mountains are still covered in snow. And that water that snow pack is becoming the Rio Grande and over the last 20 years last 26 years we've been in a state of persistent drought that climateologists will call a mega drought and these days aren't even calling a drought anymore they're calling it a notification there's a lot of researchers who argue that this isn't a temporary drought.

45:16This is a fundamental shift in the climate where this part of the world is getting drier and we can expect less rain and less snow and so that has been a significant source of stress of the Rio Grande it's one of the worst droughts in the record the last time North America. Was being affected by a drought of this scale was back in the year 800 but the thing that's shocking is that that is not the greatest threat to the Rio Grande the real engine of this crisis is over use downstream. Wow specifically where so when you follow the Rio Grande out from its head waters pretty much you know of 20 miles passed out of out of its origin point it's all damned in a damn called the Rio Grande reservoir and that is the first of string of pearls of reservoirs across the whole whole length of the Rio Grande and the vast majority of that water we're talking you know 87% and more of it is going agriculture it fuels a multi billion dollar industry across the whole length of the river and this industry is so important. The heritage of states like Colorado New Mexico and of course Texas so if we're talking about a fundamental shift in what the Rio Grande is if we're talking about.

46:23Reification I believe was the word that you used I want to go back to the original question is the Rio Grande still a real I think that at this point it's already two rivers there's the upper Rio Grande and then it runs dry and then it becomes a lower Rio Grande and now you see both of those rivers also beginning beginning to come. You have the Rio Grande doesn't run in El Paso for many months of the year it runs dry in parts of the Rio Grande frequently it doesn't reach the Gulf for months at a time and so you see this river really in a state of complete collapse that this is we're not just talking about it dying in the future it's essentially dead and we're waiting for the remaining supplies to dry up. Is there anything that can be done is there any indication that that things can return to the way they used to be or is use made it such that that's not going to happen. You know I think I want to start this by saying a lot of people who don't live in farmland look at this issue and I see that 87% is going to agriculture here's simple we can solve the problem we get rid of agriculture then there'll be enough water to keep the river healthy and enough water to keep the people who need it for drinking water.

47:32They don't have their supplies but that's obviously such so much a much more complicated issue or these farmers didn't create the system didn't create the property system of over use they they live within it you know they a lot of people that I met they are there because they're great great grandparents established their farms and so it's an enormous ask a sacrifice for farmers to make but the only solution to this problem is finding out a way that we can use less water specifically in agriculture but other industry. There's no future the Rio Grande where we can continue using water at the rate we're currently using it. A stunning article by Jack Herrera who is reporting on this for Texas monthly we're going to have a link to it at texasstandard.org. Jack thanks so much for joining us we certainly do appreciate and congratulations on the store. Thank you so much David. Well we're about out of time for today's broadcast but before we go on yesterday's show we talked about a proposal in front of the Texas wind storm insurance association the insurer of last resort for Gulf Coast property owners.

48:37The proposal would have required the association to only issue policies on primary homes eliminating coverage on second houses and rental properties. We've been informed the association board has rejected the idea earlier this week however so that's no longer on the table. We've got a terrific program we're working on for tomorrow hope you can join. Phil and Dropick support for Texas standard comes from Casey and Scatto Hare the Winkler Family Foundation. Lindopson and Greg Waldridge, Adrian Killam the George Huntington family and the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. Thanks so much for listening to the Texas standard KUT and the Texas standard are members of the NPR network. It's an independent coalition of public media podcasters.

49:37You can find more shows in the network wherever you get your podcasts. I'm David Brown we'll see you tomorrow. Thank you.