Representative Stephanie Klick, Chair of the Texas House Elections Committee, is in the Civics Lab, discussing the 2020 Texas Elections and how her committee is preparing for the upcoming Texas legislative session. We discuss mandatory voting, a national election law, student id's as forms of identification, and the lack of a paper trail of ballots in Harris County.
Respond to this weeks Civics Lab @TheCivicsLab on Instagram and Twitter. Next month, the Civics Lab interviews Miroslav Konvalina, the Vice President of the European Union Cultural Institute and author of two books on American democracy.
In this episode, we had the opportunity to speak with State Representative Gene Wu. Gene Wu is a Democrat representing District 137, located in West Houston. It was an enormous pleasure to talk with Gene about the current legislative session, and we hope you enjoy his honesty and clarity as much as we did!
You may be asking, what is the Texas Land Commission? Texas elects a Land Commissioner? Why? In this episode, we have Jay Kleberg in the Civics Lab studio to discuss why he is running for this statewide office and what makes this position important in the fight against climate change, education funding, Veterans' healthcare, and protecting and expanding our access to public lands.
Civics Lab team members went to John P. Ojeda Middle School, in Southeast Austin to discuss a project that teachers and students are collaborating to grow, market and finance the production of salsa. Students and teachers have literally turned computer rooms into greenhouses and are applying the spirit of American entrepreneurship to address access to healthy foods. Join in on this week's quick take!
Websites on what Austin is doing to address food insecurity:
https://www.austintexas.gov/content/austin-travis-county-food-policy-board
https://reeis.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/0219788-central-texas-foodshed-assessment.html
https://www.austintexas.gov/page/food-system-research-reports
Del Valle ISD Link
Join Michael Baumgartner and Esther Heymans as they attend and interview participants at the RevUP Texas (Register Educate Vote Use Your Power!) rally to promote voter registration and raising awareness of disability issues in Texas politics. The Civics Lab team interviews Bob Kafka, organizer and advocate for RevUp. Join them in this quick take!
RevUp! Texas:
https://www.revuptexas.org/
Twitter for RevUP:
REV UP Texas
@REVUP_Texas
Bob Kafka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKK7tIql9us
We sat down for a casual conversation revolving around some of the biggest political stories of the week, and some that might have flown under your radar. Listen in as we discuss the January 6th hearings, Beto's defamation lawsuit, and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In this Quick Take, we sat down with Claire Campos-O'Neal, a candidate for state representative from an Austin district. She discusses her passion for education and the way more women can run for office. And check out Cosmic on South Congress!
Websites:
https://www.clairefortexas.com/
https://annieslist.com/
https://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org/
https://www.cosmiccoffeebeer.com/
Civic Arts is an organization that promotes equity, justice, and civic engagement through the arts. We sat down with Civic Arts' Executive Director Lynn Osgood to hear her thoughts on the state of civics in America, how we can make engagement more inclusive, and how civics and art go together and inspire communities.
Civic Arts website is: https://www.civicarts.org
Ross Ramsey. co-founder and chief editor of the Texas Tribune, sat down in the Civics Lab Studio this week. A lively and information conversation, Ramsey shares his thoughts on the state of Texas politics. We cover the primary voter turnout, controversial statements by statewide leaders, how Denton in the 1970's ended up passing liquor laws and whether Blue Bell Ice Cream is worth fighting over Plus much more! React to the conversation on our twitter feed: @thecivicslab
We did a quick take with Erika Thompson (@texasbeeworks), founder of Texas Beeworks and professional bee keeper, along with advocates from UT and the community, on a recent Austin City Council to make Austin a Bee City. What's a Bee City? Have a listen! If you want to know more about the work Erika Thompson is conducting, take a look at her profile article in Texas Monthly. https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/erika-thompson-beekeeper-tiktok/
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