David Martin Davies

On Wednesday, August 21, the State of Texas prepared to execute Larry Swearingen. He was convicted of the abduction, rape and murder of Melissa Trotter, a 19-year-old college student in Montgomery County.

In a murder investigation, establishing a time of death help can lead to arresting and convicting the perpetrator — or exonerating someone wrongfully accused. That's why getting it right can mean life or death for someone like Texas death row inmate Larry Swearingen. He is facing execution Wednesday for a murder he says he didn’t commit.

The science of “time of death” is something studied every day at the Forensic Anthropology Center in San Marcos, also known as “The Body Ranch.”

Larry Swearingen is scheduled to be executed Wednesday by the State of Texas.

It was 19 years ago that Swearingen was convicted of the abduction, rape and murder of Melissa Trotter. This is the sixth time that Swearingen had a date with death in the Texas prison system. But lingering questions about his guilt have caused the courts to repeatedly step in.

Jim Cullum Jr.’s musical talent, positive demeanor and love of jazz has been a definitive part of San Antonio since the early 1960s. On Aug. 11, the 77-year-old Cullum passed away at his home of an apparent heart attack. TPR’s David Martin Davies spoke with Cullum in 2009.

In July 1931, Texans were wondering if their state was going to war with Oklahoma. The two neighboring states were in a showdown over a bridge over the Red River. While many saw this Red River Bridge War as a farcical episode it was also a watershed moment in history.

County Judge Nelson Wolff said the Bexar County Democratic Party made the right call to not boycott the Bill Miller restaurant chain.

How did the family name of a founding father of Texas become synonymous with an independent-minded person?

Find out on this episode of "Texas Matters."

It was in 2003 when Republicans took the majority of the Texas House of Representatives. The GOP had already won the Governor's seat and control of the Senate. The House was the last piece of the state government to secure the trifecta that’s been in place ever since. Controlling all three vital centers of state power makes it much easier for the dominate party to pursue its agenda and essentially operate without aggressive oversight.  This was not unlike how the Democrats ran Texas when they had a power trifecta during their era of single party rule which ended in 1994.

The world’s rising heat is creating a serious problem for the United States Military. Despite the fact that the commander in chief, President Donald Trump, calls climate change a hoax – the Pentagon sees it differently. The U.S. top military brass calls climate change as serious threat to national security.