Race, violence and medicine. Those three words intersect in Dr. Brian Williams’ emergency room. Gun violence is more than a headline or political talking point for him. Dr. Williams sees the aftermath of it every day. What’s most concerning, he says, is the disparities in gun violence. Young black men are half of all gunshot victims. Dr. Williams has set out to change that. He wants to start a conversation about the larger societal issues, and he has the credentials to do it. Dr. Williams, a Black man, was the surgeon on duty at Parkland Hospital on July 7, 2016 when police officers were shot and killed in downtown Dallas. In this episode, he tells the Jasons how that night changed him, and how Race, Violence and Medicine – the title of his own podcast – intersect every day.

Listen to Dr. Williams Podcast here

It is a seller’s market on steroids right now in Texas.  Healthy housing inventory is typically six months.  But some cities in Texas are down to days.  If you’re a seller, you’re likely receiving multiple offers, some significantly above asking.  If you’re a buyer, good luck.  It could take you a while.  Some buyers are even resorting to entering contracts without a guaranteed final sales price.  And at the end of the day, all homeowners in Texas will pay for the housing frenzy through higher property taxes.  In this episode of Y’all-itics, the Jasons discuss tips for buyers and sellers.  And the experts tell them to buckle up, because we’re not living in a bubble.  They say there is no end in sight.  And if that wasn’t enough, learn how the big, stuck boat in Egypt is likely to impact Texas real estate, even though it’s now free.

Todd Tramonte Home Selling Team

Anne Lakusta - Designated Broker - GO Management Real Estate

Election security?  Or voter suppression?  The rhetoric is heating up in Texas as the battle over election reform begins in earnest this week.  While there is a spate of bills lawmakers will consider, Senate Bill 7 is the granddaddy of them all.  Among other things, it would eliminate drive-thru voting, limit voting hours, make it much harder to vote by mail.  In this week’s episode of Y’all-itics, the Jasons are joined by the Executive Director of Progress Texas, an organization that amplifies progressive causes.  Edward Espinoza says if election uniformity is the true goal, why not expand access for voters, instead of making it harder for some to participate.  And the Jasons speak to Republican state Senator Paul Bettencourt, who calls the proposals common sense reform, not some grandiose scheme to turn back what was very successful election… for Republicans.

We’d like to know what you think about Y’all-itics! So, please take the survey the Jasons mentioned: https://bit.ly/3qPjJDO

A Republican leader along the Texas-Mexico border calls the latest migrant surge a repetition of a crisis, the result of “duct tape immigration policy.”  The Democrat leading the oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the U.S. calls it “Biden’s political pinata,” as the 2021 surge includes thousands of unaccompanied minors.   And experts on both sides of the political aisle believe the situation is about to get much, much worse.  The Jasons drill down into what’s driving this latest surge and what the Biden administration should be doing in this episode of Y’all-itics and learn why it could start with waves of social workers.

We’d like to know what you think about Y’all-itics! So, please take the survey the Jasons mentioned: https://bit.ly/3qPjJDO

On the day Texas returned to 100% occupancy and eliminated the mask mandate, Dr. Anthony Fauci sat down with WFAA reporter William Joy to provide his report card for the state.  And William joined a Jason for this bonus podcast to discuss that discussion.  The nation’s leading infectious disease expert warns that getting back to “normal” isn’t like turning a switch on and off.  And he says Texas is taking a risk.  But in this episode, Dr. Fauci will also tell you why Texans shouldn’t be discouraged and when we can head back to a game or eat inside a restaurant without worry. 

Fatigue from COVID-19 and last month’s polar vortex are expected to drive millions of people to Texas beaches as spring break begins this week. Even though Governor Abbott is lifting the mask mandate and allowing businesses to return to 100-percent capacity, many businesses are still adhering to CDC health safety guidelines and still expecting huge crowds. The Jasons called up a couple of Texans along the coast to see what to expect before they put their feet in the sand. Along part of the Texas coast, they also learned to be on the lookout for fainting sea turtles.

We’d like to know what you think about Y’all-itics! So, please take our survey. Cheers!

Call it the Texas restaurant massacre.  The industry has taken a beating during our year of pandemic lockdown.  In human terms, it amounts to 150,000 Texans who have lost their jobs.  And those restaurants that did survive took another hit during the historic winter weather and power catastrophe.  That event wiped out the often-lucrative Valentine’s Day dining.  If this sounds like a horror story… it is.  So why then does the president of the Texas Restaurant Association think this story will have a happy ending?  For one, Texans apparently miss their restaurants more than anything else during the lockdown.  And she talks about the dramatic changes born out of the pandemic that will help the industry thrive on the other side.

We’d like to know what you think about Y’all-itics! So, please take the survey the Jasons mentioned: https://bit.ly/3qPjJDO  Cheers!

In our last episode, a former state lawmaker told the Jasons that Texas missed a golden opportunity six years ago to start planning for extreme weather events.  Current Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson explained how he thinks his bill would have helped prevent the near failure of the Texas electric grid but was killed in the final moments.  One of Johnson’s friends, a former state lawmaker himself on the other side of the aisle, says he remembers the episode too, but with a few different details.  Ron Simmons says while the legislation wouldn’t have hurt, it likely wouldn’t have helped either.  And the Republican says lawmakers likely could have done more all along the way.

We’d like to know what you think about Y’all-itics! So, please take our survey. Cheers!

Texas lawmakers are meeting on Thursday in Austin – pledging to get to the bottom of the massive statewide power outages last week. But a former state lawmaker tells the Jasons that Texas missed an opportunity six years ago to start planning for something like this. Eric Johnson, the current Mayor of Dallas, was a state representative in 2015 and introduced a bill that might have helped prevent the near-failure of the Texas electric grid last week. Johnson explained what his bill would have done and how it was killed in the final moments before it was to have been passed.

We’d like to know what you think about Y’all-itics! So, please take the survey the Jasons mentioned: Cheers! 

As promised, here’s how to find out who represents you. https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

ERCOT called the Jasons super early on Tuesday to offer the first interview with CEO Bill Magness. He’s probably the most sought after newsmaker of the week in our state. Magness manages ERCOT, which is the Texas power grid. And millions of Texans are in the dark right now in below freezing temperatures. We asked Magness many of the same questions you’ve been asking us. When will this be over? Will it get worse before it gets better? Come to find out, Magness’ wife and his child are among the millions of Texans without electricity. Here’s our uncut interview with him.