In the first segment:
Texas' constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is in the courtroom. Two same-sex couples have sued for the right to marry. One couple is from right here in San Antonio. Yesterday, the long-awaited suit heard arguments in a San Antonio federal district court.
The case is similar to those in Louisiana, Utah, and Oklahoma, which are all challenging a constitutional ban on such unions -- in Utah and Oklahoma, the bans have been struck down, but are still in place pending appeal.
Will Texas be next? Not if Sen.Ted Cruz has anything to do with it. Todayhe introduced legislationon the subject in Washington, D.C.
We talk with Neel Lane, the lawyer who represents the same-sex couples challenging the ban.
In the second segment:
Traveling from Dallas to San Antonio in less than two hours sounds pretty good, right? While Europe and Japan have had functioning high-speed rail lines for years, the United States has fallen behind without a single line to show. Questions of feasibility and cost have plagued projects across the country.
The oft-touted bullet train in Californiahas been mired in controversy for years. As Texas lines are proposed and studied, is Texas ready? Can we learn from the mistakes of California?
Both private companies and the Texas Department of Transportation have investigated the subject and a flurry of activity the past few years has occurred. A Japanese company, the Texas Central High-Speed Railway, says it won't take public funding to build its line between Dallas/Ft. Worth and North Texas. TxDOT has created a special High-Speed Rail Commission and appointed its first director, former Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows.
We talk with author, journalist, professor and all-around train enthusiast -- he even wrote a book called "Train" that just came out -- Tom Zoellner.
Joining him is University of Texas at Arlington Professor of Civil Engineering Steven Stephen Mattingly, who wrote the recent feasibility study of all the lines the TxDOT is considering.
*The Source airs at 3 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM -- audio from this show will be posted by 5: 30 p.m.
