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9:42 pm
Sat December 29, 2012

The Texas Tribune's Top Stories of 2012

Lead in text: 
As 2012 draws to a close, media organizations across the state are reviewing the stories that got Texans talking, and sometimes even taking action. The Texas Tribune, a non-profit online news organization based in Austin, names toll roads, water shortages, education, women's health, and wrongful convictions among its top stories of the year.
For the last week of the year, we picked a sampling of our best of 2012: Hamilton on four-year graduation rates from Texas colleges, Ryan and Galbraith map the troubling levels of the state’s water reservoirs, Galbraith on groundwater fights in the Panhandle, Aaronson on the state insurance commissioner’s turbulent first year, Grissom, Ryan and Dehn on prosecutorial errors in Texas, M.
Lackland Investigation
6:05 pm
Fri December 28, 2012

Lackland Probe Turns Up More Cases Of Abuse Among Instructors

Lackland Gateway walkway
Credit Eileen Pace / Texas Public Radio
The "Gateway to the Air Force" has been under strict scrutiny as more and more abuses of power are uncovered.

More cases have come to light in the ongoing Air Force inquiry of military training instructors at Joint Base Lackland. The investigation that unofficially began 18 months ago has revealed an overall problem with abuses of power by instructors.

The first case of sexual assault was reported in June of 2011, and a year later the air education and training commander ordered a command investigation into allegations against more than a dozen training instructors.

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Fire Warning
2:27 pm
Fri December 28, 2012

Red Flag Warning Issued For Areas Of South Texas - Fire Danger High

Credit National Weather Service
The area in pink is under a Red Flag warning for fire danger until 7 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag warning for the western part of South Texas due to "critical" fire conditions. The warning is in effect from noon to 7 p.m. due to a dry cold front that will drop temperatures across the state.

Winds of 15 to 20 mph are expected and may reach up to 30 mph in some places. These gusty winds make the danger of wildfires especially high when paired with low humidity and very dry air. Outdoor burning is not recommended, and any fires that do start will likely spread rapidly.

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12:21 pm
Fri December 28, 2012

Success After Prison: Business Behind Bars

Lead in text: 
As the major metropolitan counties in Texas push the state legislature to rethink the criminal justice system and reduce recidivism, one program is already seeing results. This special four-part series from KUHF in Houston takes a look at the ups and downs of the Cleveland Correctional Center program.
One in every four inmates released from the Texas prison system is back in prison within three years. But an hour north of Houston, an experiment is unfolding that could slash the rate of recidivism. In the first of our four part series, KUHF business reporter Andrew Schneider looks at the Prison Entrepreneurship Program.
KPAC blog: The Piano
11:59 am
Fri December 28, 2012

Leonard Nimoy and Frederic Chopin?

Credit Wikipedia
Frederic Chopin at 25

When I sit back and think upon my youth my thoughts often turn to television; I am an American after all. One program that gripped me in those days was "In Search of…" where Leonard Nimoy would explore various topics; everything from Bigfoot to the mysterious underwater monoliths thought to be the foundations of Atlantis.

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Texas Matters
10:13 am
Fri December 28, 2012

How Premont ISD Beat The Odds And The TEA To Stay Open

Premont ISD has struggled with low attendance, low test scores and poor finances for years, but when a letter from the TEA came threatening to close the school, everyone knew that something must be done.

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College Registration
10:04 pm
Thu December 27, 2012

Palo Alto College Adjusts Registration Hours For Busy Students

Credit Palo Alto College
The Palo Alto College Performing Arts Center.

Palo Alto College is having a special registration event that will keep the doors open until midnight on Jan. 9; even with night classes, registration normally occurs during regular business hours.

Vice-President of Student Affairs Robert Garza said the school wants to reach more potential students who may have missed registration hours in the past. Garza said new students will especially find the process easier than they expected, but everyone is welcome.

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Fronteras Desk
2:09 pm
Thu December 27, 2012

Unique New Congresswoman From Arizona Prepares For National Stage

Credit Fronteras
Representative-elect Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.)

Kyrsten Sinema, who was homeless for a time growing up, is headed to Congress, and another Arizona lawmaker, Ann Kirkpatrick, is returning to Washington in January after sitting out a term. Some people returning to Mexico are still facing economic struggles in their home country. Also, we report Mexico has its own population of people living in the shadows.

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Classical Spotlight
1:12 pm
Thu December 27, 2012

Ring In The New Year With Texas Public Radio Via Vienna

Credit Roger Mastroianni / IMG Artists
Conductor Franz Welser Most

Live broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic and Franz Welser Most takes place Jan. 1st

The Vienna Philharmonic has selected the General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, Franz Welser Most, to conduct the New Year's Concert 2013. Philharmonic Chairman Clemens Hellsberg said the invitation was extended not only on the basis of the convincing artistic success of his New Year's Concert 2011, but also in recognition of Most's stellar collaboration with the Philharmonic as well as in the Vienna State Opera.

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12:54 pm
Thu December 27, 2012

Higher Education And Preserving The Class Divide

Lead in text: 
A striking look at how three girls from middle to low income families in Galveston are fighting their way toward a college education and success. “Everyone wants to think of education as an equalizer — the place where upward mobility gets started,” said Greg J. Duncan, an economist at the University of California, Irvine. “But on virtually every measure we have, the gaps between high- and low-income kids are widening. It’s very disheartening.”
"I don't want to work at Walmart" like her mother, she wrote to a school counselor. Weekends and summers were devoted to a college-readiness program, where her best friends, Melissa O'Neal and Bianca Gonzalez, shared her drive to "get off the island" - escape the prospect of dead-end lives in luckless Galveston.

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