UT students respond after Bo French targets them online

0:00Where do you find your joy? We love to swim, bike, and run. Otherwise known as Traflon, it just is joyful. I am a competitive Barbershop quartet singer. When you're doing it, all the other things sort of melt away. I am super really into glass blowing, and this is my thing. Everybody has a thing they love, and we love talking about them. I'm Michael Lee, the host of This Is My Thing from KUT and KUTX Studios. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We assume the hundreds of new data centers popping up across Texas use quite a bit of water, while we don't know for sure today on the Texas Standard. Texas Standard is a production of KUT Austin, K-E-R-A North Texas, Houston Public Media, and Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. I'm Laura Rice. Texas has a program to help expand access to preschool, why some providers say it's having unintended consequences.

1:02A Texas political candidate put dozens of UT students in an unexpected spotlight with a social media post quickly labeled racist by many, what the students say about the experience. A book first published in the 1940s offered a scathing social critique of the rich and powerful of Fort Worth. It caused a scandal and was quickly suppressed. Now it's getting new life. Plus Netflix plans to remake Lonesome Dove today on the Texas Standard. From Hamlin to Hawkely, Claude to Castroville, data centers are changing the landscape of Texas and demanding its resources, though no one knows exactly how much. It's the Texas Standard for Wednesday, September 16. I'm Laura Rice. Now, data centers have less than a month to respond to a state survey of their water use or face penalty, out supporting to a new order from Governor Greg Abbott. Water use by data centers in drought-prone Texas has been on the radar of the Texas Water

2:03Development Board long before they started to pop up across the state by the dozens. The state agency tasked with overseeing the state's water planning process has been asking for monthly water use information from data centers since 2020. But as the number of data centers has grown from just a handful to hundreds, compliance has dropped significantly. I don't have to tell you that water is precious in this state. The latest drought monitor map shows the portion of the state in some stage of drought is nearing 75 percent, and our aquifers often need rain in just the right place to refill. So what's the governor's proposal for tracking the water use of these facilities? Alejandra Martinez has been covering this for the Texas Tribune. Alej, welcome back to the Texas Standard. Thanks for having me, Laura. Well, tell us a little more about the water development board. In general, what is it that they do? Yeah, so this is a state agency that's really tasked with planning for our future water needs.

3:05So what that entails is a five-year process where the state agency has divided the state into regions and those regions look into their water needs. Those regions inform the state water board on our future needs. And part of that information, along with those regional groups, pointers, is this state-wide water survey. So this has long been part of the state's water planning process. It asks for where they get that water from. Is it surface water? Is it groundwater? And particularly for data centers. Since 2020, the state water board has been asking for this monthly information at a yearly basis. And as data centers grow, I think the first survey was in 2020. It was only like two or three facilities. And that number has grown to now in 2025. 367 operating data centers. I want to be clear on that.

4:05These are not planned data centers, data centers that we'll be seeing in the next three to five years. These are data centers that are currently operating. And of those operating data centers this year, that 367 number, only 30 percent of those have responded to the water survey. So this is where the governor comes in asking for those responses. So these are state mandated surveys. You just said everybody's supposed to report this. Why have so few data centers been responding? I mean, it's really about the follow-through. I mean, the state water code says that, you know, people who are sent the survey must fill it out and submit it or face a class C misdemeanor. During these legislative interim hearings that we've been having in Austin at the Capitol, where lawmakers are asking state agencies and asking data centers for more information on their water use, there have been questions that have popped up of how many data centers have filled out

5:10the survey. Why haven't they and isn't this required? And have we been enforcing this requirement? And the plain and simple is we don't really know, but likely not. The Texas Water Development Board has told me that, you know, we are not a regulatory agency. We cannot do enforcement actions. That is up to local authorities and district courts. But this is the thing. The thing is that, you know, the state water board is also not telling people who is complying or, you know, filling out the survey. So there's a real disconnect right there on, you know, how will local law enforcement and local district courts and so forth know who is filling this out and who to, I guess, chase on, you know, on this enforcement aspect. All right. So I mentioned this less than a month deadline. What does Governor Greg Abbott's

6:13order do and what does it give the water development board some more teeth to sort of fight this fight? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, it's really unclear. The governor is really just telling the board to compel data centers to fill out the surveys, which to me that just sounds like encourage them, which the board says they have, they have, they have milder survey, they have contacted these data center facilities. They did say at an interim hearing that, you know, they have gotten, you know, some responses back, but sometimes it's unclear. They're mailing or, you know, the survey to the right people because it seems to me that they just are trying to gather this information through, you know, the information that's available on these facilities websites, right? And so they mail it to their address on the website and it's unclear if they receive it. Well, I guess backing up, can you help us grasp just how much water we

7:17think that a center's use and why not knowing is such a big issue? Yeah, so I mean, according to the 2025 survey results, the data centers that did fill out the survey, many of them were located in the North Texas region. They were using millions of gallons. I'm thinking about the biggest water user was a bidier facility and rockdale actually and that facility used 300 million gallons. So that's an equivalent of the total water use of like a small town in Texas. In terms of what we are to see, that is like the big question mark because it really depends on obviously the cooling technology, the biggest need for data centers, water use is the cooling technology that they use and data centers are moving from, you know, traditional methods that use a lot of water to a method that circulates and re-cycles that water. But experts say that the

8:25trade-off is they will need more energy to power that and that indirect water use is also something that we need to dig into. So there's a lot of question marks on like what these hyperscale future planned proposed data centers will use, but the only information the state has to plan for future water needs, which is why water experts are really hoping and want, you know, top officials to push and like regulate data centers to submit the information because we might be planning for a future where we think we're going to have more water, but in reality we will have some shortages and some aspects because we can't plan without knowing the full picture. Alejandra Martinez covers the environment for the Texas Tribune. We'll share her latest reporting at texasstandard.org. Alej thanks again. Thank you.

9:28If you do an internet search for the benefits of preschool, dozens of studies pop up claiming lifelong benefits. So expanding access to texas kids is universally considered a great thing. But KERA's Sujatha Dant reports a Texas plan to do just this by encouraging school districts to partner with private childcare centers is having some unintended consequences. In 1954, class of 57, Wanda Lens need points to photographs of children dressed in caps and gowns on the wall of Good Street Learning Center in South Dallas. The Baptist Church opened the nursery in 1952 when Dallas schools were still segregated. For generations, it's provided South Dallas families a safe place for their children to learn. And look how large those graduating classes were. Decades ago, the school had more than 60 preschoolers a year. Today, Sneed has just five in her four-year-old preschool class. Enrollment never recovered from the pandemic, and now she says there's another challenge.

10:32Free public pre-K from Good Street's longtime partner, Dallas ISD. It's more like a competition now. They need seats filled. We need seats filled. That's why Good Street partnered with Dallas ISD when the district reached out in 2008. Sneed says she had already been losing kids to the district's free pre-K program. The school district had literally taken children from us when they began enrolling four-year-olds. And so I had an empty classroom, all of a sudden, because we can't compete with free. Under the partnership, children enroll in Dallas ISD, but stay at Good Street. The district provides the certified teacher while Good Street offers before and after school care for a fee. Texas wants more arrangements like this one. Last year, the state supported more than 200 new partnership classrooms. At the same time, more three and four-year-olds are moving to full-day pre-K on public school campuses. An early education policy expert, Alyssa Morton,

11:37says that's had an unintended consequence for community childcare centers. Three and four-year-olds really anger the business model for childcare. Older preschoolers need fewer teachers and babies and toddlers, so they cost less to take care of. Morton says their tuition helps offset the higher cost of caring for younger children. Take those three and four-year-olds away and centers may have to raise prices for everyone else. And then it gets harder and harder to find childcare, which impacts workhorse participation, but it also impacts cost of living and sort of whether people can afford to live in your city. Dallas ISD was entering these public-private partnerships long before the state began pushing districts to expand them. Assistant Superintendent Debbie Ramos says the district helps its partners recruit families and fill seats. She says their enrollment challenges reflect a broader demographic change. We're seeing a decline in birth rates and just that as a district is, you know, trickling down to everybody. Ramos says the district is trying to keep community centers viable,

12:40and now the state is directing more money to that effort too. Last year, lawmakers began requiring districts to pass most of the state funding for each pre-K student onto their childcare partners, but some longtime providers worry it's not enough. I want to be like a little kid. We were here first. Muriel Webb is the director of Braswell Kids Childcare, another Dallas ISD partner near Fair Park. She says she and Good Street have been caring for South Dallas children long before families had other options. With public pre-K programs, she says they are losing too many kids. It's killing childcare facilities. It's killing. It's choking. As Texas expands free public pre-K, she wants to make sure those community centers that have served neighborhoods for generations aren't left behind. I'm Sujatha Dan and Dallas. Support for Texas Standard comes from Half Price Books, a Texas-Bred new and news bookstore,

13:42proudly supporting public media and sustainability by keeping books, music, and other media in circulation. Store locations and more information at hpb.com. In the next proxy mode, Baffles of Texas, Black and Indigenous Mexicans, a coming together on food, until history and rich identities at the Texas table. Yes, the Texas Standard. I'm David Brown, a coalition of advocacy groups and the city of Denver have filed a lawsuit trying to block the Trump administration from deploying armed immigration and customs enforcement agents to polling sites during the upcoming midterm elections. Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies says the complaint cites previous ICE activity in Texas. Last May, during early voting for the Texas primary runoff, at least one ICE agent appeared in the parking lot of the Los Palmas Branch Library, a San Antonio West Side polling location.

14:47A DPS trooper stopped the man wanted on a warrant for breaking into a vehicle. ICE came to the scene after the suspect could not provide a notification. Mary M. Ducini-Dorsh, Vice President of litigation at Common Cause, said the presence of armed federal agents at polling places would violate the law that protects voters from intimidation. The law for the past 160 years explicitly prohibits armed officers from going to polling places. We have observed from various actions from this administration that they are not following that law. Common cause along with Lulac, who need those U.S. and the city of Denver, are suing to declare unlawful any plans to have armed agents at polling places and to prohibit federal officers from carrying weapons near voting locations. Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullin said recently that ICE officers could enter polling places to serve warrants or to respond to a specific threat. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon has called on ICE to surround the polls.

15:51What we're observing is that this is a policy that has been followed this year, contradicts the law. And so we are hopeful that the law is on our side and the voters will prevail. Trump administration officials had denied that they're planning to deploy ICE agents to the polls. I'm David Martin Davies in San Antonio. And you are listening to the Texas Standard. Well all summer long Texans have been hearing recommendations like stay indoors, drink lots of water, check on your neighbors. It's how many Texas municipalities are trying to keep folks safe through the scorching heat. But what about those people you see out for a run in the middle of triple-digit temperatures? What could drive them to get out there in the heat anyway? Despite all these warnings. KUT's Luis Moreno-Luzano, who's training for a marathon, takes us behind the scenes

16:57of her run club. Even in the unbearable heat, getting together for a Saturday morning long run is ritual. I set my alarm for 445, force feed myself a banana, and a protein bar, and try to hydrate as much as I can on the drive-in. This is pretty much what most Saturday mornings look like for the dozens of foolish people I run with. This summer several of us have chosen to marathon train. We signed up for a race set for the first weekend of October, the Medtronic Twin Cities marathon in Minneapolis. That means hardcore running is taking place in the thick of the summer heat in Austin. On this particular July Saturday morning, it's already 76 degrees at 7am. Humidity is 97%, so it really feels much hotter than that. Now I know what you're thinking. Luce, there has to be a better way. treadmill's a cool right, or what if you just did a half marathon? Well, it's just now what we've chosen to do. This will be my seventh marathon, and I enjoy being able to push new limits and do it with the people that I love. All right, let's do it!

18:00On this run, I've agreed to pace a 10-minute per mile group, so I line up at the front of the pack and we began our 10-mile journey along the Ann & Roy Butler hike and bike trail east. It's a new route for us, so I'm a little nervous about missing a turn. But that's not for several miles, so my focus for now is to keep pace and keep everyone together. My friend Abby Huntune is battling some knee pain on this run. This isn't painful right now, I feel the dot, like where that issue is, I can feel that it's not okay. It's not painful. I mean, real pain is after. Even while managing her injury, Huntune has been pretty consistently training with me all summer long, along with several of our other friends. So she knows the ends and outs are running in this heat. One of the most important strategies is simply slowing down. I have to practice being patient with myself, which is sometimes hard, we can get down on ourselves, it's like, I'm supposed to be running a 350 marathon. Why am I running? You know, a 10-30 minute pace.

19:00Yes. For realistically, you want to be running your long runs. I believe it's one to two minutes slower than your marathon pace. Some days you can push the pace on the mileage a bit. The goal is to avoid bonking. That is what we call the overexertion hitting the wall phase that often comes with nausea, fatigue, and likeheadedness. We came to our first water stop a little more than three miles into the route. Believe me when I say that it is such a beautiful site when there is a truck bed of jugs filled with cold water and gatorade. I use this time to breathe, refuel, and remind myself I can do this, but also to check in on my friend Rob Young. Rob, are you still alive? Still happy you came? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There must be hills for me. We can't stand around for too long where we'll get cold. My friend Kia Simmons hands out one last piece of knowledge before we take off. Running in the heat is free speed. It's like training it out at you to then come on down to sea level. Your body adapts to the training so that you're flying right step. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's one way

20:03to think about it. That's how we go about it. Slowly the miles start to tick down. The conversation bounces around. The temperature starts to rise and eventually there are just a couple of miles left. This can be the hardest part when you're so close to the end and all you want is a huge glass of ice water, a cup of coffee, and a shower. This is when the rubber meets the road. When all the training you've been doing pays off. The mental focus to keep those breaths rhythmic, and you're stride study, and your brain centered on getting there. Here's what my friend Landsmart had to say about it. I feel like an Allied warplane that went on a bombing run was straved. So it's like trying to keep it together. I feel like every part of my body is at war with itself. This far into a long run, it's not uncommon to be deep in thought about why in the world you've decided to do this. Questioning your life choices is a right of passage when you become a runner,

21:06but for each person, the why is different. Martin says he likes the hurt so good feeling afterward. Others are motivated by knowing they have an ice cold popsicle waiting for them out for the big finish. For many of us, it's a good distraction from life, time away from being a parent, a spouse, or a professional. My friend Mike Nicholson, who was just returning from an injury, says runners often find a rhythm whether they need to or not, and it becomes a meditator. And it's like we're a herd of gazelles. Yes, I heard of gazelles. I feel very like can you know, like they're part of this herd. We are a special group of people who do this every week. All right, we're gonna go guys. Man, why do I mind in the hate? Yeah, yeah, let's do it again next week. The totally normal people can get up way before the crack of dawn to marathon train in the dead of Texas. And I think for most of us, we wouldn't have it any other way.

22:14Oh god, guys, that was awful. I'm Luis Moreno-Luzano in Austin. Coming up in a few minutes, we're gonna hear more about a book suppressed decades ago, due to its scathing critique of a wealthy and powerful social class in North Texas, now seeing the light of day once again. We'll hear more, but first we get caught up on everything making news across the Loan Star State with the Texas News Roundup. That's coming up next. And we are fast approaching 29 minutes past the art Texas Standard Time. Support for Texas Standard comes from Texas Casa. For a child and foster care, small moments today can have a big impact tomorrow. More on how lending time and support can help make a difference at becomeacasa.org.

23:15Live from the Texas Newsroom, I'm Shelby Rose. Texas is set to carry out the fifth execution of the year tonight in Huntsville. Forty-year-old Le James Norman is scheduled to be put to death for killing three people during a robbery in the town of Edna, Northeast of Victoria, back in 2005. Norman's accomplice in the killings is set to be executed next week. Federal authorities have charged seven people in Tarant County with illegally attempting to vote. Ryan Raebold is the United States attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Several defendants knowingly and deliberately lied on voter registration forms, provisional voter affidavits, and even driver's license applications by falsely claiming to be in fact U.S. citizens. Four of them are accused of voting in last November's election. Separately, the Texas Secretary of State has sent more possible non-citizen voting cases to the attorney general while confirming that 578 people previously flagged are actually U.S. citizens.

24:16State lawmakers are poised to pass legislation to close gambling loopholes in Texas. Houston Public Media's Rob Salinas reports the main focus is on prediction markets. One of the big issues is whether the state can even pass laws on prediction markets. Right now, the federal government regulates prediction markets setting up a court fight for any state that passes its own regulations. State Senator Bob Hall says Texas already has that authority. Not sure why the law has not even been enforced today because I think the law is adequate to enforce it because it is gambling. Hall says he wants a state law banning prediction markets from Texas. Robert Denalt with Carl Sheen told lawmakers that's a bad idea. You could go the combative route and try to ban something that's here in the United States and already federally regulated, but what you'll end up with is a bunch of customers here in Texas just going offshore. Prediction markets are among the issue state senators are studying as they consider new laws for the next legislative session. I'm Rob Salinas and Houston. The Texas General Land Office could allow small nuclear reactors as well as geothermal

25:19and natural gas plants on state land. Texas Land Commissioner Don Buckingham announced yesterday that her office is exploring that possibility. University of Houston Energy Fellow Ed Hers says it's not surprising as the state already leases land for oil and gas development and renewables. Opening it up for power plant development is just a logical extension of their business model. Money from the land offices leases funds state schools. Residents in the town of Meridian have returned home after they were evacuated last night as the hydrifier northeast of Waco jumped containment and threatened the city before being brought under control. I'm Shelby Rose in the Texas newsroom. You're listening to statewide news from public radio stations across Texas. 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 passed to the hour Texas Standard Time. I'm Laura Rice. News broke last week that Netflix is re-adapting Larry McMartreys beloved novel Lonesome Dove.

26:25It's envisioned as an ongoing series unlike the four part 1989 original TV adaptation. That one starred Robert DuVal and Tommy Lee Jones and garnered a bunch of awards and many forever fans including our commentator WF Strong. It's clear many of you are fans too as one of Strong's most popular stories ever focused on the best quotes from the mini series. With a remake imminent let's revisit. Since I am like mini Texans and amateur expert on Lonesome Dove, people often ask me when I figure the most love quotes from the mini series. However, the list I'm about to share is not just my opinion. I do have data on my side based on feedback from a popular Facebook page devoted to Lonesome Dove. From that page I have been able to tabulate the most popular quotes or excerpts from the mini series. I have 12 which we will do letterman style. Number 12 comes at the end of the mini series. Woodrow has just buried Gus and puts up the grave

27:29marker made from the famous Hat Creek cattle company sign. Woodrow says, I guess this will teach me to be more careful about what I promise in the future. Number 11 is Gus McCray 101. When the boys seem a little shocked by his shall we say manly appetites he says. What's good for me? That's fairly good for the weak mind. Number 10 occurs right after Gus has cut the cards with Laurie and she accuses him of cheating. He says, well I wouldn't say it or wouldn't say it but I will say this a man who wouldn't cheat for a Pope. Don't want one bad enough. Come on, Dirty. 9. Not long before Gus goes guns blazing into Bluduck's camp to save Laurie he says, Number 8 is said the following morning Gus finds July Johnson bearing his son and Jenny and Roscoe. July is naturally distraught blaming himself saying he should have stayed with him. Gus says,

28:34yes to this gun we can't get it back. But he does assure him that if he ever runs into Bluduck again he will kill him for him. Number 7 comes when Gus gets exasperated with Woodrow because Woodrow to Gus's way of thinking is just being dead. The sixth most popular quote punctuates the scene when Jake Spoon must be hanged along with the murdering horse thieves he is thrown in with. Jake pleads his case but Gus has little sympathy he says. Number 5 occurs in a San Antonio bar scene that has several great lines together. So I decided to count them as one quote. The bartender upon insulting Gus and Call gets his nose broken when Gus slams his face into the old bar. Gus explains, besides a whiskey I think will require a little respect. If you care to turn

29:38around you can see how we look when we were younger and the people around here wanted to make a senator. Now the thing we didn't put up with then was dawdling service and as you can see we still don't put up with it. As they wrote away Woodrow tells Gus he's lucky he didn't get thrown in jail and Gus says. Only much of a crime black and a surely bartender. Number 4 is a touching line uttered by Gus as he lay dying he says to Woodrow. It's been quite a bar yeah. Number 3 is a tie. So close I couldn't separate them. The first comes at the first of the movie back at Lonesome Doug when ball and first that Gus may be too old for romance anymore and Gus sets him straight he says. Following soon after that scene comes Call's advice to Newt. Call hands in his first pistol and he says. There's better to have bad not made it than it is. Need it not happen.

30:40Number 2 Gus lays out a prescription for Laurie's future happiness. She is obsessed with going to San Francisco and he wants her to understand that that dream is likely a misguided one. You see life in San Francisco still just live. And number 1 I began with Call and I end with Call. Though Gus gets a great number of the best lines Woodrow gets without question the most powerful most quoted line of ball in the entire miniseries. After Call beat the army scout to a pulp. The horrified townspeople who have never witnessed such violence before are standing around and shocked and seem to require an explanation. Call obliges them he says. The height grew behavior in a man. Won't tolerate it. There you go that's the top 12 according to the data. Now when you write to me to tell me that the list is wrong or that I left out this or that I ask only that you remember Captain Call's admonition. No rude behavior. I'm WF Strong these are stories from Texas. Some of them are true.

31:43WF Strong is a professor of culture and communication at the University of Texas Rio Grand Valley. You can find his stories from Texas at TexasStandard.org and wherever you get podcasts. Support for Texas Standard comes from HEB and the MyHGB app which is available for download and shopping fresh departments like seafood, produce, bakery, and deli and scheduling curbside pickup or home delivery more at HEB.com. Let's try this again. ATXplain live is back this fall. Now in December. Is that fall? I don't know. We said it was October but now it's been... We scheduled. So join us on December 9th at Bass Concert Hall for brand news stories based on your questions told live on stage. I said do you want to see a surprise? We want you to be there. ATXplain live, Bass Concert Hall, December 9th. Get tickets at Texas Performing Arts.org. Support for ATXplain comes from HEB. We are blood and magic pest and lawn.

32:45You're listening to the Texas Standard. I'm Angela Cochera. Philip Atley's debut novel The Inheritors is a scathing social critique of the rich and powerful social class living in Fort Worth. Originally published in 1940, Atley took aim at his own peers in the so-called Dollar Aristocracy. The book's realistic and unflattering depiction of the town's elite caused a scandal and copies were reportedly bought up in mass and banned from the library. The result the book has remained largely unread and unknown. That is until now. TCU Press recently announced it will republish the book. And here to tell us more is ER Bill's, the historian who wrote the forward for the new edition. Welcome to the Texas Standard. Hey, thanks for having me on. So what is this book about without giving away the plot? Set things up for us. You know, the author's name was actually James Young atley. He had grown up there here in Fort Worth.

33:47The well-to-do area is the Rivacrest Country Club, especially back in those days, you know, the 1930s, 1940s. And really, they still, it's still, you know, West over hills, that whole area. It's where a lot of the folks of the warm money live. And so he grew up there. And his father was a lawyer for some of the big oil families in the Fort Worth area. He was also the president of one of the local social clubs and a local bank. So he passed away of pneumonia in October 29 and the family had plenty of money. They had a house there on the, there on the golf course. But then the stock market crash occurred. The one that led to the Great Depression. And so his family, he and his brothers and his mother, they were living as basically poor folks in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the nation. So I think it kind of starts there. You know, they were

34:48fluent in well-to-do and then all of a sudden I think they were still affluent. But things got a little tougher for them and maybe people looked at them and looked differently. And it's sort of changed this perspective maybe on things. Later in life, he would go on to write a very successful spa novel series called the Joe Gaul spa novel series. And it competed with people like John LeCarrr, you know, James Bond type stuff. But that probably wasn't the direction he was heading when he wrote the inheritors. He basically wound up writing about, I don't know, when I was in college and you know earlier we would have called the Fratboy set. These well-to-do kids from well-to-do families who were going in here at money going around and doing things, you know, going to parties, drinking too much, you know, fast money schemes, you know, that sort of thing. What made the books so controversial at the time? I don't remember hearing people

35:51buy up all the copies of the great Gatsby when it was published. That didn't happen because it was published up there. When you talk about the big oil families, the big four here in Texas, one or two of them were in this area and they had a lot, they were a lot of power. So Fort Worth was a central location of many very successful ranchers and lots of oil men. And they had a certain way they were used to seeing things done. And, you know, they carried a lot of water, so to speak. That's why Fort Worth is such a, you know, it's a top 10 destination for our museums in the world, you know. They have the Van Clyburn panel competition. These ranchers wise had top-flights pianos and they sponsored the arts. I think somewhere in the book, this guy says, they bought up, they bought all these books and they bought all this art and they didn't know what it meant. In some cases they didn't even like it, but it was popular art.

36:54So the reason it was so controversial is because unlike Gatsby who was obsessed with acquiring wealth, the protagonists of the inheritors were, they had some contempt for what they called the dollar aristocracy. They weren't terribly impressed. Some of the people they discussed in the book, people who read the book could recognize. So these big to-do, you know, members of what you might call the local oligarchy, I guess. They recognized some of these people from the book. And at one point there was even a key being circulated that indicated which characters were who. It was rather scandalous at the time, but more importantly, you know, it was ahead of its time. You know, you say and stuff that was really, really, you know, biting, really cutting, really pointed and the folks around here just didn't appreciate it. Well, how were those powerful people able to so successfully

37:56relegate the book to the trash heap of history? Okay, so it reviewed well everywhere around the country basically, except here in Texas. And in the four-star telegram, I think they said it suffered from an overextension of candor. Four of it's like a serious old money spot. In the Bush, George W. Bush more money was contributed from the zip code 76102 to his coffers, his election coffers than any other zip code in the United States. There are some seriously moneyed folks that are still here and it was worse before. So that's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about these kind of folks. And if you're those kind of folks, they made it disappear completely. They threatened to press, the dial press. They bought up all the copies. They made it disappear. And the reason that's so important is because he wrote the book when he was 25. And you know, they compared it to F. Scott

38:57Fitzgerald's Gatsby. They compared him to Steinbeck. They compared him to Hemingway. They compared him to all these guys. Well, all those guys were much older than him when they got their their defining books published. This guy wrote this book at the age of 25. Philip Atley was was way ahead of the curve. In fact, they basically called the inheritors Ketter and the Rye 30, 40 years before it's ahead of its time. Well, let me ask you this. You're let's talk about today. Get back to today. And it sounds like from all you're saying, this book is really still worth reading in this modern era. What do you hope modern readers will get out of it? Well, I mean, if you take a look at it, it resonates. There's a line even in the introduction. I think it goes something like we could tell. You know, he's Ryan as a young person in his 20s. He said we could tell the neat destruction that was being built for us. We sensed what was what was coming. What what what our lives were going to be like. I think young people

40:00are there while they concerned about what's waiting for them. You know, that resonates to me. He also had a line in the director from the book and it was my favorite line in the book. You know, maybe they ought to lock the people up in the bank vaults and let the money do the living. I think money's living pretty well these days. I don't know if people are. So it's that hardcore. He has quips in it that rival Steinbeck's. There's a virility to it that's much like him in ways, but he has the poetry of Gatsby. Now, it was written in 1940. There's probably some sexist stuff in it, although it portrays an incident of abortion. You know, this young man in this young woman going to San Antonio to get an abortion. It was just a really out of its time and there are these these cutting quips that just really land profoundly in my opinion and and nobody else was kind of kind of doing that. We've been speaking to Texas historian ER Bills and

41:02he wrote the forward to the new edition of the Enheritors by Philip Atley, originally published in 1940. Thank you so much for your time and your insight. Thank you, ma'am. Support for Texas Standard comes from Texas Mutual Insurance Company, committed to strengthening the state's work for San its communities through safety and wellness grants and education initiatives. More at texasmutual.com slash community impact. There's everywhere else in the United States and then there's Texas. It's big, it's proud, it's got a lot going on and it takes a daily news show to keep up with it all. The Texas Standard tackles politics, business and tech, the arts and the people and things that

42:03make Texas unique. It's smart, fast-paced, relevant and sometimes even a little fun. After all, it's the news from a Texas perspective. Subscribe to the Texas Standard wherever you get your podcasts. It's the Texas Standard, I'm Laura Rice. After UT pulled off a massive come from behind victory over Ohio State this past weekend, Republican candidate for Railroad Commission or Bo French posted a screenshot of one part of the student section. In it are a number of students who appear to be of South Asian descent. French's comment on the scene was quote, I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn't believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined. French's post immediately drew widespread condemnation from state Republicans, the university and students alike. Megan Monschaka covers education for the Texas Tribune and she spent some time over the past few days talking with some of the actual people

43:04French targeted. Megan, welcome back to the Texas Standard. Thank you for having me. You managed to get in touch with some of the students in the photos. French made racist comments about what did they tell you about how it felt to be called out by him. Sure, I spoke to either students who were in that photo that he shared or in the same section or sitting nearby. Those students told me that they're accustomed to seeing racist posts about South Asian people by anonymous accounts online. But what was jarring was to see those sentiments express publicly by a Republican candidate for statewide office. Well, these students were put in a huge spotlight. They weren't expecting what's been the internet response to their situation? Have people come out in support of them? Are they receiving more critical comments from French supporters? Sure. So on one hand, there have been people who have been emboldened by French's remarks and feel more empowered to share similar sentiments to what French has been saying about these

44:06students that these students are foreign, that they're taking spots from other students that they don't belong at the university. But what the students I talked to told me is that they feel they're grateful for the people who have come online and defended them. Oftentimes UT alumni, people who understand what it takes to get into the school, they say they're happy and proud to see that alumni of the school are ultimately defending them and defending their right to be at the campus. In one of his posts, French said UT was, quote, filled with foreign nationals. So what is the composition of UT Austin's student body? Sure. So the demographics of UT's undergraduate student body have definitely shifted significantly over the past decade. The university has seen increases, not just its Asian population, but also its Hispanic populations, while the percentage of white students has gone down, approximately 26% of undergraduate students at UT are Asian, which is up from about 20% a decade ago. Meanwhile, about 29% of students are white,

45:08which is down from 44% in the same time period. It is important to note that the US Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that considering race and college admissions violates the US Constitution, and UT follows that ruling. Well, and it's interesting. I mean, we're talking about race here, but French is talking about nationality citizenship. A lot of the people that you spoke with, they are citizens. Sure. So of course, I don't know the citizenship status of I've rest�ed in that photo, but neither does French. He didn't confirm their citizenship status or lack of several students, including the student, one of the students I talked to told me that they were, they are a US citizen, they were naturalized. It's also important to note that under state law, 75% of undergraduate students at UT are automatically admitted to the university based on being in the top 5% of their graduating class, and it Texas high school. So the university is largely comprised of Texans. And so the vast vast majority of undergraduate students at UT Austin are Texans, people who

46:11at least went to high school in Texas. Well, the University of Texas has also responded to both French's comments. What did officials and UT president Jim Davis have to say? Sure. So the university didn't say anything publicly in response to French's comments during the first day that he made them, but about a day after French's comments, both the UT Austin president and the chairman of the UT system board of regents, and those are the folks that oversee UT Austin, should very brief statements on social media addressing French's comments indirectly. UT Austin president Jim Davis said that the university students were exceptional and that all of them are lawn horns in well Kevin L. Tyfe, who is the UT system board chairman, thanks students at the game for making us proud and said he was proud to celebrate lawnhorn students every day. Neither official has commented further or directly addressed French or the substance of his remarks, despite requests from me and several other reporters to directly address those. Megan Monshaka covers education for the Texas Tribune. Megan, thank you so much for sharing your reporting. Thank you. And you're listening to the

47:16Texas standard. Audience and engagement editor Wells Dunbar joins us now in the studio with the talk of Texas. Wells, I got to say you picked quite the on topic, topic this week as you are want to do. Yeah, we're talking about online gambling and it's explosion this week. You know, just anecdotally, we're earlier this week, we've been talking about that crazy, just right now, talking about that wild UT game and their fourth quarter of win over Ohio State, just staggering to think about all the money that's been changing. I've been trying to find some numbers on that, but I honestly can't. And that gets into one of the issues we're talking about. Talking about online gambling here, these predictions websites and you know what I'm talking about the ads during the games or promotions on your phone, the odds folded into the coverage there at the bottom of the screen. And you know, it's on the, it's just staggering because betting is becoming part of the way

48:18the game is explained to us when we watch it live. And of course, there are these so-called prediction markets where people can put money on sports, but myriad other outcomes. Honestly, that's one of the ways the largest platform, one of the largest platforms, draft kings is able to operate here in Texas as a so-called prediction market, not a sports book, because for those of you all playing along at home, gambling's still technically illegal in Texas, but not the trading of these contracts based on predictions. So something profoundly strange, a foot, I think it's fair to say Laura about this invitation to turn almost any uncertainty into a financial position. So that's what we're exploring this week. And we'd love to hear from our listeners. Tell us at texasstandard.org slash talk. Just open that page on your smartphone, press that orange record button and share your experience. We're hearing from plenty of folks about this one. Getting several emails, this one from Avon Capito, who says, I'm not sure if the online gambling applications are impacting people I know, because there's no way to track or monitor them.

49:23Yeah, I would just say. Yeah, it's calling back to the fact that these are all private companies that are taking this information and doing with it what they will, Avon says, this is concerning to me that there is no way to control addictions or prevent bad actors. Linda Medellin, she voices a concern that I feel a lot of folks share out there. She says, I hate it. That betting is advertised on my TV day and night. I cannot even imagine the harm that it does to someone who was already addicted. Okay, and I'm going to show my own status here, I think. Laura, you know, it's like I see all these ads and I don't know. I feel like I'm supposed to know who these people are in these commercials. Well, sometimes you do like it's like Shaquilla Neal and some of the commentators telling us this is okay to do. Right, right. But oftentimes it's like these younger influencer types and I have no it's like I'm supposed to know who this person is probably. And I think that goes to you know, I was just looking at this study on the CBC Canadian broadcasting website. Canadian study talking about the disproportionate impact of these gambling apps on young men, the people that

50:24these influencers, you know, speak to directly. So lots to talk about here, but of course we can do it without your voice. Go to texasstandard.org slash talk. We'd love to hear your voice and share it on the air later this week. All right, TexasStandard.org is the place to go to share your comments with Wells. You can also keep up with news from across the state there. David Brown will be back in the host seat tomorrow. We'll see you then. Phil and Thropick support for texasstandard comes from Casey and Scott Ohm here, the Winkler Family Foundation, Lindopson and Greg Moldridge, Adrian Killam, the George Huntington family and St. David's Foundation. Additionally, Texas Mutual Insurance Company is a founding sponsor of texasstandard. You've been listening to the Texas Standard, Texas Standard and KUT Public Radio are members of

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