Wade Goodwyn

Okla. Tornado Survivors Try To Collect Lives After Storm

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:43:00 +0000

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

In Moore, for the many people whose homes were destroyed, the top priorities are finding a place to stay, some clothes to wear, and food to eat. NPR's Wade Goodwyn has been talking with survivors in Moore, and he sent this story.

WADE GOODWYN, BYLINE: Jamie Martinez(ph) is a retired police officer who still does security work, and that's where he was when the tornado slammed into his neighborhood yesterday.

JAMIE MARTINEZ: Our house is gone. It's leveled. Our - missing six pets; the least of our problems. I mean, we're alive; that's what counts.

At NRA Convention, Dueling Narratives Displayed With Guns

Wade Goodwyn — Sat, 04 May 2013 09:51:00 +0000

The National Rifle Association is holding its annual convention in Houston this weekend. More than 70,000 people are expected to attend for speeches and demos and acres of guns, ammo and camo.

The NRA is coming off of a major victory: the defeat of gun control legislation in the Senate.

Mourners Pack Arena To Honor Victims Of Texas Explosion

Wade Goodwyn — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:17:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

Nearly 10,000 mourners gathered yesterday to honor the men who died fighting a fire in a fertilizer plant in Texas. They packed the basketball arena on the campus of Baylor University in Waco.

Thousands Attend Memorial For Plant Explosion Victims

Wade Goodwyn — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 00:16:00 +0000

President Obama visited Waco, Texas, on Thursday day to take part in a memorial for those killed in the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last week.

Officials Seek Answers In Aftermath Of Deadly Explosion

Wade Goodwyn — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 09:21:00 +0000

With the house-to-house search over and the living and dead largely accounted for, the town of West, Texas, began the transition from shock and disbelief to communal grieving.

On Friday night, mourners gathered at St. Mary Church of the Assumption to remember the dead. Many of the dead were first responders who were fighting a roaring fire for 30 minutes before the explosion, which was felt 80 miles away in Fort Worth.

Texas Sen.

Investigators Search For Clues In Texas Plant Explosion

Wade Goodwyn — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:55:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And let's turn now, briefly, to West, Texas, the scene of this week's fertilizer plant explosion. Many questions remain unanswered there. In fact, it's still hard to estimate how many people were killed. We do know that regulators had a few concerns with this plant in the past, though it's not clear if anybody questioned the plant's location near homes and a school.

And amid all these questions, the people of West are picking up and taking stock.

Texas Contractors Say Playing By The Rules Doesn't Pay

Wade Goodwyn — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:21:00 +0000

This story is part of a two-part series about the construction industry in Texas. Find the first part here.

Homes in Texas are cheap — at least compared with much of the country.

Construction Booming In Texas, But Many Workers Pay Dearly

Wade Goodwyn — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:20:00 +0000

Like almost everything in the Texas, the construction industry in the Lone Star State is big. One in every 13 workers here is employed in the state's $54 billion-per-year construction industry.

Homebuilding and commercial construction may be an economic driver for the state, but it's also an industry riddled with hazards. Years of illegal immigration have pushed wages down, and accidents and wage fraud are common. Of the nearly 1 million workers laboring in construction here, approximately half are undocumented.

Many of those workers have been in the U.S. for years, even decades.

Texas Study Points To A Longer Natural Gas Boom

Wade Goodwyn — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:01:00 +0000

There are few things in life more joyful than discovering a giant oil or natural gas field in Texas. You're suddenly rich beyond your wildest dreams. When the scope and size of the natural gas reservoir in the Barnett Shale in North Texas first became apparent, there were predictions that the find would last 100 years.

Well, that was over the top.

Texas Court Of Inquiry To Decide If Prosecutor Lied

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 11:10:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

In Texas, a court of inquiry has been convened to consider prosecuting a Texas judge. He's Ken Anderson. He used to be the district attorney in Williamson County, Texas, and he could face criminal charges for concealing exculpatory evidence. That's evidence that could clear a defendant of guilt. The inquiry concerns his conduct during what has become an infamous case - the prosecution and conviction of Michael Morton. Morton was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife.

Another George Bush Plans To Try His Hand At Politics

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:26:00 +0000

Another member of the Bush family is throwing his hat into the political ring: George Prescott Bush, 36, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has announced he is running for office in Texas.

The Bush name is still strong in the Lone Star State: George P. has already raised nearly $1.4 million, though he still hasn't said which statewide office he will run for.

At the age of 12, Bush led the Pledge of Allegiance before the 1988 Republican National Convention, when his grandfather George H.W.

Tea Party Texan Cruz Gives GOP Hope In Hunt For Hispanic Votes

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Sen.-elect Ted Cruz of Texas is a bright young Hispanic star who will be sworn in this week in Washington. The Republican Party nationally hopes Cruz will be part of the solution to its growing problem luring Hispanic voters.

Almost nobody had heard of Cruz when he began his campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Amid Calls For Gun Control, Some Push For Weapons At School

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 21:56:00 +0000

A growing number of lawmakers are indicating they are open to considering new gun control measures in the wake of Friday's school shooting in Newtown, Conn. But while much of the national debate has focused on limiting access to guns, others are suggesting that schools should arm themselves to defend against attacks.

David Thweatt, school superintendent for the small Texas town of Harrold, northwest of Fort Worth, decided in 2006 that it was time to arm his staff. There's only one school in Harrold, a K-12 with 103 students.

Before 2006, there had already been enough carnage at U.S.

Teenager's Faith At Odds With Locator Tags In School IDs

Wade Goodwyn — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:33:00 +0000

A federal court in Texas on Monday will take up the case of a high-school student who refuses to wear her location-tracking school ID.

The 15-year-old sophomore says the ID badge, which has an embedded radio frequency identification tag, is a violation of her rights.

GOP Governors Say Party Lost On Strategy, Not Issues

Wade Goodwyn — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 10:50:00 +0000

Republican governors got together in Las Vegas last week to take stock of the election results, which continue to sink in.

Going into Election Day, Republican confidence was high that the Grand Old Party would sweep President Obama aside, retake the U.S. Senate and reshape the country in the aftermath.

So on Nov. 6, when the results came in, many if not most Republicans were shocked by the president's victory. Pat McCrory, the newly elected governor of North Carolina, however, saw it coming.

"I knew it would be close.

American Airlines Fliers Fed Up As Labor Clash Rages

Wade Goodwyn — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:24:00 +0000

Pat Henneberry is an airline's dream customer. She flies all week, every week, and buying an $800 ticket so that she can have full flexibility is standard operating procedure. She's an American Airlines platinum customer. But she is fed up with the endless delays and cancellations.

"On Monday I didn't get on the plane. Basically, they said they're going to be late, then an hour later they said they're canceling. It's a direct flight to Chicago. It's easy to get equipment. They said it was maintenance.

Smoke Cleared, Texas Gun Owners Remain Wary

Wade Goodwyn — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:21:00 +0000

Texas state Rep. Wayne Christian was born two blocks from where he now lives in what is called Deep East Texas.

"We were not wealthy people, [we were] common laborers, but that was typical in rural East Texas at that time," he says.

When he was growing up, Christian says, by first or second grade, an East Texas boy would accompany his father or grandfather on a hunting trip. But before a boy got a gun, he had to learn how to act — how to address the other men respectfully, to watch how it worked.

In these rituals of the woods, you saw and were seen.

Many Texans Bereaved Over 'Dead' Voter Purge

Wade Goodwyn — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 10:23:00 +0000

Quite a few Texas voters are seeing dead people in the mirror these days when they go to brush their teeth in the morning.

In Houston, high school nurse Terry Collins got a letter informing her that after 34 years of voting she was off the Harris County rolls. Sorry.

"Friday of last week, I got a letter saying that my voting registration would be revoked because I'm deceased, I'm dead. I was like, 'Oh, no I'm not!' " Collins says.

In order to stay on the rolls, the 52-year-old nurse had to call and inform the registrar of her status among the living.

Court Paves Way For Texas Planned Parenthood Cuts

Wade Goodwyn — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:30:00 +0000

Officials in Texas say they will cut off state funding to Planned Parenthood following a federal court ruling last week. The decision by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the state can defund the health clinics because Planned Parenthood is associated with abortion.

Planned Parenthood warned that the cuts threaten access to health care for more than 50,000 poor women.

When The Ship Comes In To Brownsville, Rip it Up

Wade Goodwyn — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:54:00 +0000

This fall, the U.S. Navy will contract three Cold War-era aircraft carriers — the USS Forrestal, the USS Saratoga and the USS Constellation — for scrapping. Often called "supercarriers" owing to their massive size, the ships contain nearly 60,000 tons of steel and other metal each.

All three carriers are likely to be sent to the landlocked city of Brownsville, Texas, to be ripped apart.

The deepwater Port of Brownsville lies inland at the end of a 17-mile channel connecting to the Gulf of Mexico.

Rain Over Texas Quenches Dry Lone Star State

Wade Goodwyn — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 07:40:00 +0000

While severe drought is taking hold in the Midwest, Texas is doing better. At this time last year, the state was on fire, crops were desiccated in the field and livestock were slowly starving. But recent rains have almost ended more than a year of record drought.

"If you look at the way we were thinking and feeling on the last July 16, that was desperation. That was despair," says Gene Hall, public relations director for the Texas Farm Bureau.

If you want to find true despair in a drought, talk to farmers. The Texas Farm Bureau represents nearly 100,000 of them.

In Bankruptcy, American Airlines Looks At All Options

Wade Goodwyn — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 07:29:00 +0000

Imagine going into bankruptcy with billions of dollars in cash still in your bank account. That's what American Airlines did last November. The thinking was that management would gut the company's pensions and union contracts and emerge from bankruptcy ready to compete.

But then US Airways said it could take over American and be profitable, and it wouldn't have to hurt American's employees nearly as bad in the process. American's pilots, mechanics and flight attendants loved that idea.

James Little is the president of the Transport Workers International Union of America.

Lake Lures Fishermen ... And Drug Traffickers

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 20:40:00 +0000

On the long drive to Falcon Lake, it slowly becomes apparent why it's ranked the No. 1 bass fishing lake in America: It's in the middle of nowhere.

The lake straddles the Texas-Mexico border, and San Antonio, the closest city, is a four-hour drive away.

A fisherman has to have some serious "want to" to take on Falcon Lake, as they say around here.

But plenty of anglers do. And the trek pays off, because the bass here are big.

With One Wish, Banishing Memories Of Jim Crow

Wade Goodwyn — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:17:00 +0000

As the sun beams down, Dorothy Flood, 75, stands on the steps of the Royal Gorge Route Railroad train, smiling like a 1940s movie star.

"Right there! Then turn around, right there!" photographers call out, jockeying to snap her picture. "Here we go, count of three — one, two and three!"

And with a tip of his cap, a porter offers Flood his hand, and her "Wish Of A Lifetime" begins.

Many are familiar with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that grants wishes to terminally ill children.

Texas Senate Hopefuls Woo Republicans Of All Stripes

Wade Goodwyn — Tue, 29 May 2012 07:02:00 +0000

It's high noon in Texas at the Stephenville Community Center out on Highway 67, and the Cross Timbers Republican Women's Club Candidates Forum is about to begin.

Time has run out on this Republican Senate primary. This is a last chance for the candidates to make an impression before Tuesday's vote. They're vying to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is retiring after serving for nearly 20 years.

First up: former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert. "Why, it's great to be with you, and I appreciate the opportunity," he tells the crowd. "We are at the cliff, and the clock is running.

Free After 25 Years: A Tale Of Murder And Injustice

Wade Goodwyn — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 09:03:00 +0000

The past few years in Texas have seen a parade of DNA exonerations: more than 40 men so far. The first exonerations were big news, but the type has grown smaller as Texans have watched a dismaying march of exonerees, their wasted years haunting the public conscience.

Yet a case in Williamson County, just north of Austin, is raising the ante. Michael Morton had been sentenced to life in prison for murdering his wife.

Bankrupt American Airlines Spars With Unions

Wade Goodwyn — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:39:00 +0000

With US Airways breathing down its neck, making nice with its unions as well as its creditors, American Airlines came to New York City on Monday to ask a federal bankruptcy judge for relief. Mostly, American wants relief from its unions — 13,000 jobs would be eliminated under its reorganization proposal. American has been hemorrhaging money for years and wants to lower its costs to compete.

"The fact is that our labor costs are the highest in the industry," says American spokesman Bruce Hicks.

George H.W. Bush: It's Time To Get Behind Romney

Wade Goodwyn — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0000

In Houston Thursday, former President George H.W. Bush endorsed Mitt Romney's run for the Republican presidential nomination. Bush's endorsement is one more signal from the Republican establishment for the party to close ranks behind Romney.

Lots Of GOP Money Flowing From The Texas Two

Wade Goodwyn — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:01:00 +0000

The latest reports from the Federal Election Commission shed new light on the political largesse of two Texas businessmen who have become common names in the world of Republican fundraising.

With a $1 million check in February to the superPAC backing Rick Santorum, Dallas nuclear waste dump owner Harold Simmons and his wife, Annette, have now contributed to groups supporting all three of the top GOP candidates.

And Houston home builder Bob Perry tripled his 2011 investment in the superPAC supporting Mitt Romney: His $3 million donation made up nearly half of Restore Our Future's total t

800-Year-Old Frescoes Leave Texas For Cyprus

Wade Goodwyn — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 19:47:00 +0000

A set of 13th-century Byzantine frescoes — plundered after Turkey invaded Cyprus and on display in Houston for the last 15 years — is headed home at last. It's the closing chapter in what turns out to be a remarkable odyssey.

It all started in the summer of 1974, when the Turkish army invaded Cyprus and nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots became refugees fleeing south.

"And so all the churches and homes and art was left behind," says Josef Helfenstein, director of the Menil Collection in Houston.