On this edition of In Black America, producer/host John L. Hanson Jr. speaks with Kirk Brown, founder of Melanin MeetUps, a national think-platform where young African-American professionals come together to advance and heal the community through data-driven solutions. Brown started the organization in 2017 as a way for more African-American professionals to network to obtain opportunities in their respective fields. Brown talks about data-driven solutions to advance people within the African-American community; fresh perspectives and compelling ideas that challenge the forces that shape our c ..read more

If you go to KUT.org this Wednesday afternoon you'll notice a few new things. For example, our homepage has a new layout that allows us to highlight important stories and contextualize them in thematic blocks. We also now offer a persistent player that allows you to keep listening to a story even after you leave a page to go to another part of our website. And if you have noticed the beautiful images and videos that accompany our stories, you'll love our new visual displays. Our distinctive font has changed, as well as the location of the share buttons (they are now on the right side on top of ..read more

The FBI is investigating Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton , the Associated Press reported Tuesday evening, the first public confirmation that law enforcement is vetting allegations made by eight of Paxton’s former top aides that he illegally used the power of his office to benefit a political donor ..read more

Updated at 7:48 p.m. ET Christopher Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security director who had spearheaded a campaign to counter rumors about voter fraud, has been fired, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday. Trump, in two misleading tweets about the security of the U.S. election, said Krebs' termination was "effective immediately." In response, Krebs tweeted , "Honored to serve. We did it right. Defend Today, Secure [Tomorrow]." Trump lost the presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden in both the popular vote and electoral vote. Trump had for weeks prior to the election erroneously ra ..read more

The original plan for Thanksgiving was that nothing would be different. Eight members of Jesse Gonzales’ family would come to his house from all over North Texas for a traditional turkey dinner in his Dallas home, just like they do every year. His grandchildren would run around the house, Jesse would watch football with his son, while other family members caught up and retold old stories ..read more

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's foremost infectious disease expert, tells NPR that it's "OK to celebrate" the good news about Moderna's coronavirus vaccine, but warned it's not the time to back off on basic health measures. The biotechnology Moderna Inc. said Monday that its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing the disease, according to data from its clinical trial. "From a scientific and potential public health standpoint, this is an extraordinarily important advance," Fauci told Rachel Martin on Morning Edition Tuesday. The Moderna study has 30,000 volunteers who either go ..read more

Andy Brown is now Travis County's top official. Brown was sworn in at Tuesday's meeting of the Travis County Commissioners Court by interim Judge Sam Biscoe, who served in the same capacity for over 15 years before retiring. He was brought out of retirement earlier this year when then-Judge Sarah Eckhardt made a successful bid for the Texas Senate ..read more

The City of Austin has launched a new searchable map of affordable housing in the city . Users can input their annual income and the number of people in their household to see a map of income-restricted houses they may qualify for ..read more

From Texas Standard : As colleges across the United States have struggled to maintain coronavirus outbreaks on their campuses, Rice University has been able to keep its COVID-19 infection rates the lowest among colleges in Texas. The university credits its newly formed, student-based COVID Community Court for helping keep its cases down ..read more

From Texas Standard: The number of COVID-19 cases in rural Texas keeps going up, taxing medical resources and challenging the notion that living in relative isolation protects against the disease. Four Texas counties – Hale, Maverick, Childress and El Paso – have among the highest rates of coronavirus cases per 1,000 people in the state. Jones and Gray counties are also on The New York Times list of top 10 hot spots for the highest number of recent cases per capita ..read more