Y'all-itics

Will Texas Governor Greg Abbott run for president in 2024? Will he win re-election this November? What drives the 64-year-old politician and expert fundraiser? Does he get along with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick? In the May edition of  Texas Monthly , executive editor Mimi Swartz carefully and comprehensively lays out the political rise of Greg Abbott and asks the question; how much do Texans really...

Texas simply fails when it comes to taking care of foster children. Sure there are success stories that should make us all proud. But the state, admittedly, has too many major problems with it and no one has indeitified a workable solution. WFAA’s Cynthia Izaguirre has covered this issue for years. On this episode, Cynthia joins host Jason Whitely for a frank conversation. They called Heidi Brugel...

Looking for that next, great technology breakthrough? Maybe the next Uber or Airbnb? Supporters of Blockchain technology say look no further than the real estate industry. They claim Blockchain is democratizing real estate by opening it up to average, everyday citizens who can buy and sell real estate like rich folks. And they say they can do this because Blockchain makes transactions more secure...

In his first interview of record since getting released from federal prison, Dwaine Caraway gets into everything on this special episode of  Y’all-itics . Caraway, at one time, was among the most powerful politicians at Dallas City Hall. He spent more than a decade on city council and served briefly as the 60th mayor of Dallas. But he resigned and pleaded guilty to taking $450,000 in bribes. Now a...

Get ready for an raw, insightful, and in the weeds conversation about how Latinos might save the U.S. democracy. Mike Madrid, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, and Chuck Rocha, senior strategist for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns, get into the nitty gritty of The Latino Vote – which is also the title of their new podcast series. In this episode of Y’all-itics, the two veterans of national...

It may seem like a world away. But experts say the crisis unfolding all along Ukraine’s border will eventually find its way to Texas. And in this special release of Y’all-itics, we take you to Moldova, a small country to the southwest of Ukraine, that’s also Europe’s poorest. If the same number of Ukrainian refugees that have flooded Moldova, percentage-wise, suddenly crossed into Texas, it would...

SYNOPSIS: This week marks one month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Most of what we see and read about it is focused on military movements. But Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is still bustling with more than two million people who have not evacuated. In this episode of Y’all-itics, we called a 24-year-old photojournalist who decided she wanted to document what is underway. While air raid sirens a...

What if your natural blonde or red hair suddenly meant you couldn’t get that job you always wanted? Or what if that same hair color got you suspended from school if you refused to change it? African-Americans say they’ve been fighting this type of discrimination for hundreds of years. And an attempt to ban race-based hair discrimination recently failed in the U.S. House of Representatives with 188...

Le Roy Torres remembers the last words his Sergeant Major told him; Don’t give up the fight. There are at least 31,000 Texans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and came home with rare cancers, debilitating headaches and severe breathing problems after inhaling toxic smoke from piles of trash that the U.S. military burned at most every large base. Torres’ symptoms got so bad that he had to leave...

Tuesday night brought some surprises in the Texas primary elections. The top of your November ballot is already decided. Greg Abbott will face Beto O’Rourke for governor. But runoffs will settle a number of other big contests including the Republican race for Texas Attorney General. Joining the Jasons for this podcast is a team of Texas political experts who have context and analysis on the result...

When it comes to war, everyone seems to lose. But Texas could come out a big winner if our oil and gas industry have to step in and help supply energy to Europe that has regularly relied on Russia. The oil patch in West Texas is already seeing increased demand as we come out of the pandemic. But war could now accelerate it. In this episode, Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Associatio...

In this special episode of Y’all-itics, a former colleague puts us in touch with a Ukrainian mother who wants to speak to an American journalist. Maryna, 41, decided not to evacuate and is now stuck at home outside Kyiv with her 8-year-old daughter. In this compelling interview, Maryna gives a ground level description of what life is like as Russia invades. She and her daughter have about a week’s...

$150 Million in tax revenue in 2021. $53 Million into education. More than 8,100 growers. More than 2,200 dispensaries. And it’s estimated that 10% of the population now has a medical marijuana card. In just a few short years, medical marijuana has become big business in Oklahoma, a state that is far more conservative than Texas. And now, our neighbors to the north are poised to become major playe...

The right-wing is trying to takeover public schools. Texas superintendents are quitting. Boards have banned books. The once obscure term Critical Race Theory is now part of our lexicon. Why is public education under attack? Who’s behind it? And how did we get here? In this episode of Y’all-itics some pastors are now pushing back. The Jasons put down their pint glasses after seeing an evangelical g...

Can Ken Paxton survive without a runoff? The Republican race for Texas Attorney General appears to be tightening. For the first time in recent memory, the GOP primary for the state’s top cop is crowded with high profile candidates. And three weeks before the March 1 primary, the gloves are off. George P. Bush, Louis Gohmert and Eva Guzman all recently joined our weekly political program  Inside Te...

It is the siren song of Texas: lower taxes, more land and more jobs. And it’s luring folks from all over. But is our promise too good to be true? And can policy keep up with this explosive growth? In this episode of Y’all-itics, hear the confessions of a Texas transplant. The Jasons are joined by a recent transplant whose family moved here from a NYC suburb thinking they were about to experience T...

Have you recently quit your job? Wanted to quit? Still plan to quit? We ask because in recent months, Texas has been racking up huge numbers of job quitters. In just three months, 1,280,000 Texans said I quit…I resign…see y’all later…take this job and shove it. It looks like many of them aren’t headed to South Padre to kick back at the beach…or to the Texas Hill Country to sip wine and hike the ro...

We are celebrating a Y’all-itics first this week!  This episode if the first Y’all-itics recorded before a live audience, both in-person and virtual.  It was all part of the Texas Conference of Urban Counties, with  County Judges and County Commissioners meeting in College Station for three days to discuss policy and politics.  If you want to get a pulse on Texas politics, this would be a great pl...

From ambulances to airlines, school buses to paramedics, and garbage pickup to water main breaks.  The latest wave of COVID in Texas is, fortunately, not killing as many people as other variants.  But Omicron is certainly disrupting many aspects of our daily lives. Despite your job title, many Texans are picking up new responsibilities at work as businesses and governments try to remain open.  In...

2021 was quite a ride… even after many of us thought things might quiet down after 2020.  Now that 2022 is upon us, will the political news calm down at all?  Not.  A.  Chance.  In our first episode of the new year, the Jasons speak with a couple of experts who know Texas politics.  They’re breaking out their crystal balls to give us an idea of what to expect in the year ahead.  And things will es...

The holiday season is upon us and the Y’all-itics team is taking a break to spend time with family.  But for a couple of weeks, the Jasons wanted to share their favorite episodes of 2021 with you.  It’s now Jason Whitely’s  choice and his rewind episode focuses on legendary WFAA sportscaster Dale Hansen, who retired earlier this year after a distinguished career.  “Dale Hansen Unplugging” original...

The holiday season is upon us and the Y’all-itics team is taking a break to spend time with family.  But for the next couple of weeks, the Jasons wanted to share their favorite episodes of 2021 with you.  We start with Jason Wheeler.  And naturally, being the “Right On The Money” guy, his rewind episode has to do with… money, and how much it takes to move into even a small home in Texas.  “We’re O...

This is the farthest away from home Y’all-itics has ever been!  Legendary and award winning former WFAA journalist Byron Harris joins the Jasons from the Drake Passage, one of the stormiest bodies of water on Earth.  Byron had just left Antarctica after participating in a climate change research mission.  If you watched any of Good Morning America’s recent extensive coverage from Antarctica, those...

In less than 60-days, one of the titans of Texas business is retiring. Gary Kelly will depart as CEO of Southwest Airlines on February 1, after 17-years leading the company. He helped transform it to the largest domestic carrier in the country, opened Hawaii and international destinations and got rid of the Wright Amendment, among other things. Now, as Southwest celebrates the 50th anniversary sin...

Known as the Texas Triangle, the area from Dallas to Houston and over to San Antonio/Austin would be the 15th largest economy in the world, producing $1.2 Billion in economic output.  That’s equivalent to Mexico or Spain.  And seven in 10 Texans live there.  So, if it is the economic engine driving our state, why isn’t it also driving our politics?  And because the politics outside of this Triangl...