David Martin Davies

With population shifts revealed by the latest census numbers, it was time to re-draw city council districts. David Mendez is the man charged with drawing the new boundaries and making sure everyone has equal representation in San Antonio. The race for Bexar County Sheriff features Democrat incumbent Amadeo Ortiz and Republican Retired Air Force General Susan Pamerleau.

Dead voter letters are one way that Texas scrubs its voter registration rolls. Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector and voter registrar Don Sumners says he’s not going along with the Texas plan to scrub the voter rolls, and the state says he is violating the law. Gardner Selby with Politifact Texas talks about how they check statements made by politicians.

Bill Moll, who today is KLRN’s president and CEO, was the first person to speak on the carrier wave half a century ago. He has a lot to think about since that first broadcast, and reflects on the past and future of KLRN – including what would happen to public broadcasting if the CPB federal funds are cut off.

More from the Democratic National Convention from TPR's Ryan Loyd. Is Texas on the verge of being a fertile ground for Democratic candidates? The Quorum Report's Harvey Kronberg shares his thoughts on future elections in Texas. An update on the Texas juvenile justice system five years since the scandal broke at the Texas Youth Commission.

Democratic National Convention - Mayor Julián Castro

Tuesday night San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro stepped into the national spotlight by delivering the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The prime time spot at the convention has turned Castro into a national political figure and has spurred talk that he’ll soon seek a statewide elected office. However, Texas has not elected a democrat to a statewide office since 1997.

The Waco State Home was established as the State Home for Dependent and Neglected Children by the Thirty-sixth Legislature in 1919. It was in operation until 1979. Anglo children adjudged by district courts to be neglected were declared wards of the state of Texas, and they were admitted to the home for care, education, and training.

At San Antonio's Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, Marabel Vasquez is monkeying around—but that's her job. She is the chimpanzees' behavioral specialist at the private research facility. She visits with the chimps, provides environmental enrichment and assesses their social dynamics.

On this January morning, it's overcast and 38 degrees, but the chimps brave the cold. Many are outside in their enclosed play area and welcome Marabel with hoots.

It looked like the opening of the television show "M*A*S*H" —a helicopter flying over a mountainscape carrying a passenger in need of care.

Personnel run out to meet the chopper, grab the patient and get to work. 

But this is in West Texas at the Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area, and the patients are desert bighorn sheep.  

“This is why I got into this business in the first place. It's landscape-level conservation is what it is,” said Mike Hill, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Fort Davis Regional Director.