This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Violence Against Women Act. The occasion comes the same week Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was suspended indefinitely by the NFL following the surfacing of a second video showing him hitting his wife Janay (they were not married at the time of the incident; they are now).
With the topic high on everyone's mind, we talk with Houston-based author Lacy Johnson about her experience with domestic violence, and some of the difficult thoughts, challenges, and decisions facing Janay Rice, and women like her, who experience such acts of violence.
Also: Schools around the Greater Houston area say they're struggling to hire and keep enough bilingual teachers for their classrooms. Some districts are using incentives and other strategies to attract bilingual educators. We hear about their efforts.
Then: A lot can happen in a week — some good, some bad, some ugly. We turn to our panel of “non-experts” to discuss The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly in the week’s news. On this week’s panel: Houston Chronicle writer and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! panelist Kyrie O’Connor, MochaDad.com blogger Fred Goodall, and ComedySportz Houston‘s Dianah Dulaney.
And: Ever wondered where the name Delano comes from? You know, the middle name of FDR – Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Turns out, the Delano family, perhaps overshadowed by the Roosevelts, have their own claims to fame, as we hear from Dr. Thomas Cox, an associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. (Ken Burns’ latest documentary, The Roosevelts, premieres Sunday night on Houston Public Meda, TV 8, and continues all next week).
