Jennifer Stayton, KUT News

UPDATE: The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning for Western Caldwell, Hays, and South Central Travis counties until 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. A Flash Flood Warning means that flash flooding is already happening or highly likely in the warning area.

You think moving a piano is a pain now: Try doing it over rough terrain ... with no moving van.

Some of the women who came with their families to Texas in the early days of the 1800's insisted on bringing their pianos with them. While many of these women came from more genteel Southern backgrounds, the rough and rugged environment in Texas did nothing to dampen their spirits or enthusiasm.

Sometimes it can be hard to find the right words to show Mom how much you appreciate her. Mother's Day is Sunday, and  a group of Austin writers and storytellers is taking to the stage this week with their personal stories of motherhood, mothering, and being mothered.

You might be familiar with the case of Michael Morton. He's the Georgetown, Texas man who spent more than 20 years in prison for killing his wife. But he didn't do it. And it was DNA testing that eventually freed him.

Ricardo Ainslie says the Mexican border city of Juarez used to be kind of like the state of Texas - with a strong, independent spirit.

But he says the violence of the drug cartels and the government's war hit just about everyone who lives there, and left the city vulnerable and paranoid. Eleven thousand people were killed in Juarez between January of 2008 and December of 2012.

Mirabelle Garret works in economic development in the Rio Grande Valley. In 1983, she takes a business trip to Austin and is the victim of a brutal attack in her hotel room. How brutal? Mirabelle is stabbed twelve times; a plastic garbage bag is stuffed down her throat; and she is hit in the face and temporarily blinded. Mirabelle thought she was going to die. But she lived. And worked hard to heal.

Imagine this scenario: your throat aches; you're sneezing; and you feel chilly and fatigued. A cold? Maybe. The flu? Possibly. You sneeze into a specially formulated tissue, and the resulting color transformation in the tissue gives you your answer.

Louisa Hall left the leafy suburbs of Philadelphia for Texas. And it was this move that prompted her to set her first novel back in those environs - both the good and bad of them.

Remember some of those catchy old commercial jingles: "plop, plop fizz, fizz".... or "you deserve a break today?' Well, a fragmented mass media audience and ever-evolving technologies may be making those a thing of the past.

Bob Garfield is an advertising critic, author, consultant, and co-host of NPR's "On the Media" (quick plug: you can hear it Sunday mornings at 9:00 on KUT 90.5). He says companies have to trade in the old rules of reaching the mass market with the a new set of rules that mimic the way people treat each other. 

Domenica Ruta had a childhood some kids would envy- ice cream for breakfast; shopping trips and movies instead of school sometimes; no real rules at home. But for every dream moment like those, there were the nightmares, too - a drug addicted mother; the constant threat of violence; and the joking encouragement to become a teen mother.

Listeners to the "TED Radio Hour" Saturday afternoons at 2:00 and Thursday nights at 10:00 on KUT will hear a new voice on the show. NPR's Guy Raz takes over as host of the show this month.

KUT’s Jennifer Stayton talked with Raz about the new version of the show. The first episode, “The Unquiet Mind,” airs Saturday on KUT.

It's John Wayne at his John-Waynest. In the film "The Searchers," Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, who relentlessly pursues his niece Debbie after her abduction by Comanche Indians in Texas.  The film's story is based in the life of Cynthia Ann Parker, a nine-year-old girl kidnapped by Comanches from her family's East Texas settlement in 1836. End of story, right? Wrong.

"The Sewer Mayor." It's a label Shirley Franklin wears with pride. She served as Mayor of Atlanta from 2002-2010 and says she worked hard to forge consensus on critical issues such as the city's water supply.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum is releasing never-before-seen love letters written by the former president and his soon-to-be bride.

Regina Greenwell is the senior archivist at the LBJ Library. She says the letters paint a picture of a 26-year-old Lyndon Johnson who made up his mind about Claudia Taylor – then known as “Bird” – on their first date.