On Thursday's show: Following months-long spats about how to bridge a $200 million gap in the county’s budget, the Harris County Commissioners Court has approved a $2.8 billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year. We learn some details. And we get an update on striking hotel workers in Houston.

Also this hour: A gunman opened fire at an ICE detention facility in Dallas, killing one detainee and critically wounding two others. No ICE officers were injured. This raises troubling questions about safety for both immigration and customs enforcement officers and for immigrants themselves. We discuss the atmosphere around immigration policy, public discourse, and violence here in Houston.

Then, earlier this week, NASA announced that Artemis II could launch as early as February on its mission sending four astronauts to orbit the moon, which would be the first time the United States has returned to the moon since 1972. We revisit a conversation about why returning there is of value for future deep-space exploration with the late Dr. Paul Spudis, author of the book, The Value of the Moon.

And Houston writer Jamie Jo Hoang talks about the children of refugees from the Vietnam War navigating their parents' stories to heal intergenerational trauma. She addressed that topic in her novel My Father the Panda Killer and approaches it from another angle in her latest, My Mother the Mermaid Chaser. She holds a book launch event on Sept. 27 at Blue Willow Bookshop.

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