The top local stories this evening from KERA News:
About 4.3 million Texans, or 40 percent of the statewide workforce, do not have paid sick days, according to a new paper from the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Mia Ibarra is with the Austin-based group, and points out there are some workers even likely to get paid sick days.
“Fifty percent of Hispanic workers lack access,” Ibarra said. “Which is incredibly alarming considering the state’s demographics.”
Austin is the first city in Texas to pass a city-wide paid sick day ordinance and it’s set to take effect in October. In Dallas, there's an effort underway to put a paid sick leave ordinance on the November ballot. Supporters are working to gather nearly 65,000 signatures to get the item before voters.
Other stories this evening:
- Health officials began a program this week aimed at reducing maternal mortality in Texas. More than 160 hospitals around the state are going to start using a new set of guidelines for treating pregnant women who are at risk for hemorrhage, hypertension and opioid abuse. In Austin, KUT’s Ashley Lopez has more.
- LSD enthusiast Timothy Leary was the ideal bad guy for President Richard Nixon in 1971. Nixon deemed Leary the most dangerous man in America. Today on Think, author Bill Minutaglio talked with Krys Boyd about discovering Nixon's motives for going after Leary.
- On Tuesdays, KERA's One Crisis Away project looks at life on the financial edge. A lawsuit brewing in West Dallas, where dozens of former renters purchased homes last year. These low-cost rental properties owned by HMK Ltd. had racked up numerous code violations and were slated for closure after the city of Dallas tightened housing standards. As KERA’s Courtney Collins reports, HMK sold many of those homes to tenants and now a lawsuit filed in federal court by two of the homeowners alleges the mortgage contracts are predatory.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
