PNS Daily Newscast - January 20, 2021
On this Inauguration Day, civil-rights groups urge Congress to pass the "For the People Act;" Leader McConnell puts blame on Trump for riots at the U.S. Capitol.
2020Talks - January 20, 2021
The nation honors lives lost to COVID; America's 46th President set to take office; and the Senate begins confirmation hearings for Biden's cabinet.
Public News Service - TX: Disabilities

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas is one of only 10 states that allows juvenile justice centers to use solitary confinement indefinitely to punish children, according to a new report. The survey by the national law firm Lowenstein Sandler found 21 states now prohibit punitive isolation and 20 others impose ti


AUSTIN, Texas - Patients who get "surprise medical bills" after a trip to the hospital now have recourse, thanks to a new Texas law passed in the last session. Trey Berndt, associate director for advocacy with AARP Texas, says people can get bills they weren't expecting, for example, when outsour

AUSTIN, Texas - Dramatic increases in exposure to toxic chemicals over the last four decades is threatening human reproduction and health. That's according to a global federation of women's health physicians meeting in Vancouver, Canada this week. Tracey Woodruff is professor and director of the U

AUSTIN, Texas - With more than four months left in this year's hurricane season, the state Department of Public Safety is reminding Texans that now is the time to review emergency plans. DPS Sgt. Lonny Haschel said it's important to make plans before a hurricane or tropical storm enters the Gulf.

HOUSTON - The latest figures show the preterm birth rate in Texas continues to fall, but the progress is slow and that could hamper goals nationwide for healthier babies. As of last year, the U.S. premature birth rate had fallen to 11.4 percent. In Texas the rate was nearly a percent higher, says Dr

AUSTIN, Texas - This is National Pro Bono Week, and while it will soon come to a close, the dramatic need for affordable legal services in Texas is a real struggle that continues each and every day. Attorney Harry Reasoner, chair of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, says with around five-mil


AUSTIN, Texas – It's a finding that's being called dismal, as a scorecard on long-term care ranks Texas 49th in the nation for quality of care and quality of life. Trey Berndt, associate state director of AARP in Texas, says among the factors in that low quality rating were the high staff tu