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Our guest is Jill Gonzalez. She is the Executive Director for the Women’s Storybook Project of Texas. It is a non-profit organization where volunteers go into Texas women’s prisons, meet with mothers and have them read a book that is recorded and then brought back to their children. A heartwarming program. An incredible statistic: 80 % of incarcerated women in Texas are mothers. Visits for many families are often difficult or impossible because of cost and distance. Listen in on the interview and more information is available at https://storybookproject.org/

In this episode of the Austin Common Radio Hour we continue our focus on the February 2021 storm Uri and its effect on the Texas Electric grid system – why it failed. The University of Texas at Austin recently published a white paper called “The Timeline and Events of the February 2021 Texas Electric Grid Blackouts. It is available online at “energy.utexas.edu/ercot-blackout-2021”. We had the special opportunity to speak with Professor Joshua Rhodes, one of the co-authors on the study. Professor Rhodes shares insights into what caused the catastrophic failure of the Texas electric utility grid based on their study.

Patricia Bauer-Slate is the founder and former owner of the iconic Swedish Hill Bakery in Austin Texas. For over 30 years Patricia fed the hearts of the people of Austin with her love for well baked goods and specialty coffees She shares her exciting journey and the interesting characters she met along the way on this episode of KOOP's Podcast for People. Patricia will soon be publishing her second book and runs a new initiative called Patricia's Lunchbox, a school lunch service for kids.

In Part 2 we prepare for the CleanTX annual GridNext conference scheduled to be online April 20 and 21, 2021. CleanTX Board member Ken Donohoo, and Executive Director Brandon Cosinteno discuss the conference and some of the new clean energy technologies and energy policies that will be presented during the on-line sessions.