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On Thursday’s edition of Houston Matters: For nearly a year, News 88.7 education reporter Laura Isensee has been tracking efforts by Furr High School principal Dr. Bertie Simmons. She led a national experiment at Furr to transform the high school.
Last fall, the school won a $10 million grant from the XQ Institute, a foundation led by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. But Simmons' fate – and the fate of that experiment – are now in doubt. Laura Isensee shares the latest in this developing story.
Also this hour: The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides low-cost health insurance for many low-income and middle-income families. But Congressional authorization for the program expired Sept. 30, and Texas only has enough funds to run the program until February. We learn what it would take to renew the program — and how it might affect Texas families if that doesn’t happen.
And the annual Bayou City Art Festival Downtown is Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 14-15, 2017). The festival showcases the work of numerous local artists, including Tony Paraná, a Brazilian artist who now calls Houston home. We talk with him about his work and a Houston-inspired piece he created for the festival.
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