The best moments from the 2017 Texas Tribune Festival podcasts

This year the Texas Tribune Festival featured a full podcast track for the first time. Broadcasting from the Texas Union Theater at the University of Texas at Austin, hosts and their guests tackled issues ranging from Confederate statues to criminal justice, all in front of a live studio audience.

Here are the top moments from our first-ever podcast track — and information on how to check out the full episodes for yourself.

Anything You Ever Wanted To Know

Host Jeff Whittington was joined Friday by David Courtney, who writes the Texas Monthly column the Texanist. Callers lobbed a series of questions: Where can I drop off donations for Hurricane Harvey victims? How can we make sure Texas high schoolers are registering to vote? And what ever happened to the dolphin crossing sign on Dolphin Road in Dallas, anyway?

He’s got all the answers here.

But first, listen to Courtney take one of Whittington’s questions: Can a non-Texan ever become a true Texan? 

 KERA’s Think

Host Krys Boyd sat down with Esquire’s Charles Pierce, University of Texas political scientist Eric McDaniel and The Texas Tribune’s own Abby Livingston to talk Trump, Twitter and un-truths. The three panelists each took on a question that has become increasingly pressing in what many have termed a “post-truth” era —  “Is there a new definition of ‘truth’ at work in America today?” 

Listen to their answers:

 And check out the full show here.

The Texas Tribune’s TribCast

In The Texas Tribune’s weekly Tribcast, Tribune editors Emily Ramshaw and Ross Ramsey interviewed two slates of panelists: 1) the New Yorker's Lawrence Wright and The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty, and 2) San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg and state Sen. Don Huffines.

One highlight: The San Antonio mayor and the Republican state senator squared off on local control. Nirenberg accused Huffines — who he called “my faithfully anti-city senator” — of filing “one of the most egregious bills” on the topic.

“I don’t have anything against cities at all,” Huffines protested.

Watch the exchange:

And check out the full TribCast here.

Recode Decode

Kara Swisher hosted The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold and The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman for a special recording of her "Recode Decode" podcast. The reporters explained how they fell into the Trump beat and what the challenge has taught them.

Listen to Haberman on the moment she knew the Trump campaign “might be something:”

And check out the full track here.

Black on the Air

Comedian Larry Wilmore hosted Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards for a conversation on the organization’s importance, the current national health care conversation and Richards’ Texas roots.

Listen to Richards talk about a conversation she had with first daughter Ivanka Trump — and the surprising proposal she said the president’s administration floated: 

And check out the full podcast here. 

The Forward Podcast

Three journalists — Pamela Colloff of ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine, Michael Hall of Texas Monthly and Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV — sat down with host Lance Armstrong for a live recording of "The Forward." They discussed a handful of high-profile innocence suits in Texas, including the Anthony Graves case and the case of Greg Kelley, who was released last month on bond three years after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a child.

Many of the most high-profile cases turn on the will of the nine judges of Texas’ Court of Criminal Appeals, the highest criminal court in the state. Listen to Plohetski and Hall discuss the group Hall has called “the worst court in Texas”:

Full audio will be available here next week.

On the Media

Host Brooke Gladstone sat down for two sessions of “On the Media” — one with New York Times reporter Amy Chozick and Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith, and a second with U.S. Reps. Will Hurd and Beto O’Rourke.

Gladstone asked the congressmen: What do you think of attacks on the press? Listen to their responses here.

 And look for the full podcast here later this week.

The Federalist Radio Hour

Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech interviewed Charles C.W. Cooke, the editor of the National Review Online, about the fate of conservatism in the Trump era. The two discussed polarization in media and the current state of play in national political debate.

Listen to Cooke explain how he evaluates Confederate monuments:

And listen to the full podcast here.

With Friends Like These

Host Ana Marie Cox sat down with Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and discussed fissures in today’s Republican party and the characteristics of modern-day racism.

Listen to Steele and Cox recount the conversation they had the day after Donald Trump was elected last November:

And check out the full podcast here later this week.

Slate’s Trumpcast

Three Slate Trumpcast hosts came together Saturday evening to discuss the biggest debates in state and national politics. Is the president of the United States a white supremacist? (Maybe). Is U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro running for Texas governor in 2018? (Still no).

Check out the full podcast here.