Brazos Matters

KAMU Studios

Join host Jay Socol for Brazos Matters, a KAMU original production featuring a variety of guests from the Bryan-College Station and Aggieland community. Discussions focus on healthcare, education, economic development, traffic management, quality of life and other topics important to residents and businesses.

  1. 1d ago

    Brazos Matters: Rethinking Justice with College Station Municipal Court Judge Ed Spillane

    Ten years ago, College Station Municipal Court Judge Edward Spillane III wrote a Washington Post op-ed — ""Why I Refuse to Send People to Jail for Failure to Pay Fines"" — that struck a national nerve and pushed cities across the country to rethink how they treat people who genuinely can't afford their fines. In this episode of “Brazos Matters,” host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy ’26 ask Judge Spillane to look back on what's changed since then — and what hasn't. Spillane, who has presided over College Station's municipal court since 2002, walks through the roughly 30,000 Class-C misdemeanor cases his court handles each year and the alternative sentencing programs he's built to keep people out of jail: community living classes, warrant amnesty periods, payment plans, and a peer-run teen court that he says outperforms even felony boot camp at preventing repeat offenses. The conversation also digs into some pressing modern issues facing the court system: how booking photos and public records now get bought and sold by data brokers long after a case is resolved, how court-impersonation scams and fraudulent texts have become a daily nuisance, and why College Station sees a strikingly disproportionate share of the state's minor-in-possession cases — nearly 20% of all MIP filings in Texas — tied largely to the Northgate entertainment district. “Brazos Matters” is a production of Aggieland's Public Media — KAMU-FM and KAMU-TV — members of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.

  2. Jul 12

    Brazos Matters: How TEEX’s Public Safety Wellness Program is addressing PTSD in first responders

    An estimated 400,000 first responders across America are living with symptoms of PTSD — yet stigma, cost, and scheduling keep many from ever asking for help. In this episode of "Brazos Matters," host Jay Socol and student contributor Kaleigh Mazy sit down with Alisa McDonald, program director of the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service's (TEEX) Public Safety Wellness Program, to discuss how first responders process trauma — and what's being done to support them. Alisa, a licensed professional counselor who came to TEEX from the Texas Department of Public Safety, was tasked from day one with a daunting mission: help end first responder suicide. She walks through how the program built its "Support That Saves" peer support training, why mixing firefighters, police officers, EMTs, and dispatchers in the same class turned out to be the key to breaking down silos between disciplines, and what her team encountered when they deployed to support responders during the devastating Kerrville floods in 2025. The conversation covers the real barriers responders face in getting mental health care, the warning signs loved ones should watch for, and the difference between "commiseration" and genuine peer support. Alisa also shares her vision for expanding the program to reach first responders' families and retirees, and offers guidance for local officials considering wellness programs of their own. A candid, informative conversation about the hidden toll of first responder work — and the growing effort to make sure no one has to carry it alone. TEEX Public Safety Wellness Program: https://teex.org/public-safety-wellness/ "Brazos Matters" is a production of Aggieland's Public Radio 90.9 KAMU-FM, a member of Texas A&M University's Division of Community Engagement.

  3. Jun 28

    Jennifer Nations, Water Resource Coordinator, City of College Station

    Jennifer Nations, Water Resource Coordinator, City of College Station discusses her role with the city, water availability, student awareness of water conservation, local water quality, wastewater challenges, scaling water infrastructure with population growth, irrigation check-ups, incentivizing water conservation, & water conservation practices at Jennifer's home.

  4. Jun 14

    May 2026 Graduating Seniors

    Victoria Taylor, Sarah Lankford, and Giulia Goerigk discuss their experiences as student athletes in the Texas A&M Swimming program, their paths to A&M, majors at A&M, how they got acclimated to college, hosting team recruits, what inspired them to be swimmers, culture shocks encountered when coming to A&M, things that they would have liked their freshman selves to know, what they would have done differently in college, greatest challenges, things they will miss about College Station, how A&M has prepared them for the future, and their post-grad plans.

  5. May 31

    Anne Black, Executive Director of OPAS at Texas A&M University

    Anne Black, Executive Director of OPAS at Texas A&M University discusses how OPAS looked when she started, how OPAS took over Broadway programming from MSC Town Hall, recruiting high-level acts & Broadway shows to Bryan/College Station, OPAS' impact on the local economy, kids programming, where OPAS advertises, programming events for our specific local community, and how she got started at OPAS.

  6. May 17

    Craig Huffhines, Director of the Institute for Equine Sciences at Texas A&M University

    Craig Huffhines, Director of the Institute for Equine Sciences at Texas A&M University discusses his background & path to Texas A&M, the beginnings and scope of the Courtney Cares program, program partners across campus, benefits of hippotherapy, the types of clients who can benefit, student outcomes, identifying horses that exhibit traits that make them a good fit for the program, areas of research in equine science, funding needs, and the difference between therapy dogs and horses.

  7. May 3

    Maggie Hostetter, Performance Dietitian with Texas A&M Athletics

    Maggie Hostetter, Performance Dietitian with Texas A&M Athletics discusses her background, why she chose a career in college sport nutrition, her path to Texas A&M, what all is involved in a typical day either in or out of season, nutrition options made available to student athletes, common misconceptions and mistakes made in nutrition, protein needs, cherry juice, and guilty food pleasures.

  8. Apr 19

    Darby Roberts & Robert Tirso, Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research at Texas A&M University

    Darby Roberts, Director, Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research at Texas A&M University & Robert Tirso, Data Analyst, Student Affairs Planning, Assessment & Research at Texas A&M University discuss the WISHES Survey & Aggie Wellbeing Survey, their roles in this office, trends that they're currently seeing, first generation students vs others, the importance of fostering a sense of belonging, positive vs negative survey responses, confidentiality of responses, the option of having follow-up from the university, faculty & staff student support, some of the questions in the survey, who the survey is sent to (and how), and where to find data from the survey.

See All (91)

About

Join host Jay Socol for Brazos Matters, a KAMU original production featuring a variety of guests from the Bryan-College Station and Aggieland community. Discussions focus on healthcare, education, economic development, traffic management, quality of life and other topics important to residents and businesses.

Information

  • Creator
    KAMU Studios
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    91
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © KAMU-TV/FM
  • Show Website
    Brazos Matters

You Might Also Like