SAN ANTONIO -- The body of a woman was found in south Bexar County on Tuesday.
Sheriff's officials said a CPS Energy employee made the discovery in the 10000 block of Fowler Road at 10 a.m.
The victim's purse was found in a nearby pickup truck that was still running.
Ike is expected to blow ashore early Saturday somewhere between Corpus Christi and Houston, and some forecasts said it could become a Category 4 storm, with winds of at least 131 mph.
Four counties south and east of Houston have announced mandatory or voluntary evacuations, and authorities are moving weak and chronically ill patients by bus to San Antonio.
South Texas is already getting ready for Ike. Some schools have called off classes through the end of the week, and medically fragile residents are getting on buses to head north.
Police said they were running a speed trap on Prue Road when Devon James, 23, came speeding by at 80 mph.
Police said that when James reached Shady Elms, he veered across traffic and into a home where a woman and her mother were sleeping.
"They were not injured, just a little shook up" said Sgt. Ramona Lopez, spokeswoman for the San Antonio Police Department. "They thought a storm was coming or something."
Police say the accused drunk driver came barreling down Prue at 80 mph. He crashed through a fence and into Blanca Trevino-Koester's home. She was awake when it happened.
"I heard this roaring noise," said Trevino-Koester. "It sounded like a tornado to me."
Of all the places to be sitting in the house, Trevino-Koester was in the bathroom.
"The impact knocked me off the commode," she said.
It probably wasn't too difficult for law officers to pinpoint who might have stolen more than $93,000 from an International Bank of Commerce branch in Castle Hills early Aug. 11.
Someone turned the security alarm off and on using a code assigned to a bank employee; $3,256 vanished from the employee's bank teller drawer; and $90,000 was gone from the bank vault (except the marked bills that can be traced after a robbery), according to federal court documents.
What's more, surveillance videotape showed two people leaving the bank at 2:05 a.m. Aug. 11 — and one was identified by the bank as a person resembling teller Andrea Nicole Clawson, 20. The heist took nine minutes.
A federal grand jury indicted Clawson on Wednesday on a charge of theft by a bank employee. The FBI arrested her Aug. 25 upon her return to San Antonio from a road trip with a childhood friend, according to a criminal complaint affidavit unsealed Wednesday.
POTEET, Texas -- A South Texas mayor already convicted of indecency with a child is the focus of a new investigation by the Texas Rangers, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Lino Donato, Poteet's mayor, is a registered sex offender who was sentenced to probation after he pleaded guilty to a child sex offense. Donato is unable to attend council meetings because they're held within 1,000 feet of where children commonly gather.
A DPS representative would not release why Donato is under investigation.
Franchesca O'Neal has filed a lawsuit against speech instructor Charles Falcon for ridiculing her in class and giving her a B when she felt she deserved an A, but the [Alamo Community College District] used statements in O'Neal's legal filing to seek the restraining order.
In the legal filing, O'Neal states she was previously in the military and "can handle a sidearm and a semi-automatic assault rifle," and that "any person of sound mind is not immune to a psychotic break and subsequent killing spree." O'Neal is seeking $300,000 in damages, but the lawsuit states, "in exchange for every penny I have asked for, I would shoot him dead and walk away penniless," and she would, "blow the back of his head out."
O'Neal told KSAT 12 News the legal claim was not a violent threat, but a "spirited discussion in the courts." She said she brought the lawsuit after Falcon allegedly made disparaging comments about her in class and said her reputation and goal of becoming a United States Supreme Court justice is now in jeopardy.
SAN ANTONIO -- Police arrested a robbery suspect in the unlikeliest of places Wednesday.
The man stole cash, lottery tickets and beer from a convenience store on West Avenue, police said.
Officers eventually located the man counting the cash he took in the robbery while swinging on a swing set in a front yard in the 1800 block of West Olmos, police said.
Police are treating this as a homicide.A man was found dead along a sidewalk on the Northeast Side Wednesday morning.
The man was found just after 7 a.m. on Tallulah near Fort Sam Houston.
"I'm not used to seeing stuff like this," said Jeanne Gutierrez.
Gutierrez told News 4 she left the neighborhood to take her daughter to school. She said the man's body wasn't there when she left, but was when she came back.
"I drove up on Tallulah, like I always do normally," explained Gutierrez. "And I saw him lying there."
The robber got away, and the couple is OK, but maybe they'll think twice about picking up hitchers in the future.A couple trying to do a good deed instead ended up helping a man commit a bad one Tuesday morning.
The couple gave a man a ride to a check cashing store in the 300 block of W.W. White Road on the East Side around 10:15 a.m. The man got out and went inside while the couple waited in the truck.
A few minutes later, the man ran out of the store. The couple, believing the man would return for a ride back with them, continued to wait in the truck. Instead, the police showed up, and the couple found out the store had been robbed.
Just before 3 p.m. on Aug. 19, a male subject committed a theft at the Canyon Lake Golf Club, located at 405 Watts Lane, in Canyon Lake.
The thief jumped into a blue golf cart parked at the club and made his escape through the golf course, with employees in hot pursuit.
The suspect may have arrived at the scene of the crime in another golf cart, which was previously stolen from the club in May. The formerly beige cart was painted black and found abandoned nearby with a flat tire.
The route taken to steal the cart was through the golf course, into the Greens of Canyon Lake and The Oaks subdivisions. The blue cart was located within the hour of the theft, in the 200 block of High Oaks Drive, in the Oaks subdivision.
After offering the Castroville city administrator’s job to the winning applicant in June — who died soon afterwards — and then restarting its search, the city council there changed gears this week, offering the post to Joe Painter, who has done the job on an interim basis since late 2006.
Painter, who in May was elected mayor of Live Oak, where he’d earlier been city manager, accepted the Castroville offer, made by a unanimous vote Monday.
Witnesses said a woman in her 70s appeared to lose control of her vehicle and crashed into the Curves fitness center in a shopping center located on Walzem Road about 11 a.m. Nobody was injured in the crash, but it did scare some of those exercising.
"She said when she pulled in, she felt like she lost control and it kept going," Curves manager Laura Donohue said. "So you know, possibly a gas pedal got stuck, brakes quit working, maybe she thought she hit the brake and she hit the gas; I really couldn't say."
Jennifer Richards' MySpace page paints a picture of a very caring mother.
The page quotes the 25-year-old mother as saying "When I am not working, I am spending time with my beautiful daughters," and "I am very blessed to have such wonderful kids in my life." Under 'children', the page reads "proud parent."
Despite her comments, Richards is accused of wanting to sell her 5-year-old daughter to an alleged child molester.
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Richards moved to San Antonio in November of 2007. She got a job as a server at the Cheesecake Factory at North Star Mall, where met [sic] and started dating Sean Block. Block is also accused of taking part in the sex plan.
In an affidavit obtained by News 4, Richards was supposed to get a car, a furnished apartment, and some money in trade for sex with her daughter. But the buyer turned out to be an F.B.I. informant.
Police are trying to determine why a man killed by a tattoo parlor owner threw a Molotov cocktail into the shop early this morning before the owner blasted him in the neck with a shotgun.
Police say Shawn Degan, the owner of Perfection Tattoos at 3507 Blanco Road, shot and killed Ricky Davis Jr. about 2:35 a.m. in front of the business.
Degan was sleeping inside his shop, police said, when he heard breaking glass at the front window. He looked outside and saw a man going to a car. The man returned with a Molotov cocktail and tossed the burning object inside the broken window.
Degan retrieved a shotgun and fired toward the suspect, police said, later identified as Davis, 29.
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Investigators familiar with the case, however, think Davis may have been motivated by a different type of jealousy. Davis, said one source, thought the tattoo shop owner was sleeping with his wife.
Degan, however, may not have been the guy Davis was looking for, and his tattoo shop may have been the wrong business.
Witnesses have told investigators that Davis was out drinking with friends when he started to talk angrily about a tattoo artist he suspected of sleeping with his wife or ex-wife. That is apparently why he drove to Perfection Tattoo at about 2 a.m., broke a window then threw the Molotov cocktail inside, sources said.
SAN ANTONIO -- A United Airlines flight bound for Washington, D.C., was delayed for nearly five hours at the San Antonio International Airport after Transportation Security Agency officials became suspicious of a passenger and a device in his luggage.
TSA officials became suspicious of a device with wires during a check about 11:15 a.m., airport spokesman David Hebert said. The device turned out to be a re-assembled MP3 player, Hebert said. A further check of the passenger brought up information TSA officials wanted to look into further, which delayed the flight, he said.
Passengers on the original plane were forced to disembark while authorities searched the airplane. After the man was cleared by the FBI and TSA, the passengers were placed on another plane and [were] scheduled to leave about 5:30 p.m. [emphasis added]
Security was able to determine that the electronics inside the man’s carry-on luggage were not explosive devices, but his checked-in luggage also drew attention, Hebert said. Several items, which Hebert did not disclose, inside in [sic] the man’s checked-in baggage were deemed suspicious.
“There was [sic] some other things (inside his luggage) they don’t want me to list,” he said.
The man was also questioned because of what authorities described as his “bizarre” travel plans.
He had just arrived in San Antonio from Dallas for a brief lay over before trying to board the direct flight to Washington D.C., Hebert said.
Police said the man, 46-year-old Anthony Sarabia, was spotted at St. Matthew's School early Monday, with a gun, knives and a baseball bat.
School hadn't started yet, but about a dozen children were at an early morning athletic practice. The children's parents called police, who had to use a taser to arrest the man.
Sarabia showed up at the 6 a.m. mass at St. Matthew's Church. No one at the church or the school had ever seen him before.
"Really, we hadn't begun our school day yet, so most of the children don't know what happened," said St. Matthew's School Principal Alvin Caro.
Police said after mass, Sarabia walked over to the baseball field where about 10 to 15 students were finishing up cross-country practice. The children's parents were the first to notice Sarabia.
Police said the man, 28-year-old Carlos Miguel Solis, believed his wife was having an affair with a neighbor that lived behind them. Police told News 4 Solis then decided to have his neighbor killed.
"Well we thought it was just, you know, between, they were, you know, when they were messing around or something. We thought they were just, you know, what do you call it? Maybe he was just making it up or something. But apparently not."
For days, neighbors said they heard Solis talk openly about wanting to hire someone to kill his neighbor Jorge Aquino.
He was stuck in an air vent reportedly for a week or more before a Good Samaritan called the city pound to report the problem.
Animal Care Services responded and rescued the dog. Apparently, the people who lived in the house knew he was in the vent but refused get him out or ask for help.
Earlier this week, federal agents picked up 25-year-old Jennifer Richards and her boyfriend Sean Block.
Federal court documents say an informant tipped off the F.B.I. after getting a text message from Block that said his girlfriend had a 5-year-old she wanted to sell. After some phone calls, federal agents say Richards sent pictures of both daughters to the informant.
SAN ANTONIO -- It turns out there was no monkey business behind a missing signature piece of art at a north side restaurant.
San Antonio police said Thursday that a monkey missing from the sign at Frida's Mexican & Latin Cuisine in the 3000 block of Thousand Oaks Drive was not stolen after all.
Police said the monkey was repossessed.
UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas -- An area man has placed an online auction to work as an advertiser of sorts.
Adam Ellsworth, 24, has placed a listing on eBay offering his body for somebody to choose a tattoo for his body [sic].
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Ellsworth said he didn't tell his wife until after he posted the ad, and that the winning bidder's choice would stay on his body for at least two years.
SAN ANTONIO -- Talk of a controversial west side restaurant's reopening have been greatly exaggerated, said the property owner where Las Mariposas once operated.
Benjamin Leal said a restaurant will occupy the building at the intersection of Trinity and Guadalupe when it reopens on Sept. 1, but it won't be the Mexican restaurant mired in seductive memories.
Leal said the owner of the cafe, Miriam Luna, is working on another project, but that it wouldn't be Las Mariposas in its previous location. Leal said he is still trying to meet the city's requirements to get his certificate of occupancy returned.
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"It's going to be a family restaurant," he said. "That's what I want."
SAN ANTONIO -- A proposed compromise between three police organizations is being hailed as win-win by many people in all three departments.
The compromise, part of an amendment expected to be voted on Wednesday by both Park and Airport police, would allow for the departments to operate and exist on their own as separate divisions under the San Antonio Police Department and Chief Bill McManus.
As you can see, we have three police patches that are essentially similar in design (purposely so, I would imagine) but with different representations of the Alamo. That's weird, and I can't imagine why a graphic designer (assuming there was only one) would go to so much trouble to make the patches look so similar but with such varying looks to the central image. Especially one as documented and as photographed as the Alamo! Maybe another good thing that comes out of this merger will be a consistent police patch.
For the record, here is what the Alamo really looks like.
Thank God for glass. If all of our windows were open, can you imagine how many birds would be flying around in our houses right now?!
In a little more than a year in office, City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian has earned a reputation as an aggressive and energetic advocate who seeks, not shrinks from, the media spotlight.
Since last Friday, however, the District 8 representative and mayoral hopeful has uncharacteristically refused to answer one direct question:
Shortly after being elected in a 2007 runoff, did she take a trip to Cancún, Mexico, and stay for free in the condominium of local real estate investor Hugo Gutierrez Jr.?
“You've crossed the line into my personal life,” she said in the only on-the-record portion of a more than hour-long meeting Friday. “I'm not answering that question. I'm done with this issue.”
A briefer telephone interview Monday was more of the same. “It is what it is. You're going to write whatever you want. I'm done with this issue.”
Whether or not a city councilwoman stayed in Gutierrez's condo in one of Mexico's hottest tourist destinations is, of course, a smell-test issue, especially if you consider that Gutierrez, at the time of the supposed trip, was fighting to keep the city from applying its tree ordinance to a property he owned in northwest Bexar County.
During the legal battle, which Gutierrez won, Councilwoman Cibrian on at least one occasion discussed the development, called West Pointe, with the city attorney's office.
Of course he isn't. A coyote is commonplace. A chupacabra gets you television time.DeWITT COUNTY, Texas -- The legend of the chupacabra gained new life over the weekend as two DeWitt County sheriff's deputies spotted what they said they believe is the mythical creature.
Friday, Cpl. Brandon Riedel was training a new deputy when he said they saw the animal running down a dirt path along fence lines.
"You need to record something like this because it's not everyday you find something that looks like this running around out in the middle of the county," he said.
The short-legged, hairless animal has a long snout that looks like a coyote, but Riedel said he isn't convinced.
SAN ANTONIO -- The mayor of this South Texas town remains defiant after his registration as a sex offender prompted city and county officials to call for his dismissal.
Rene Pena, the district attorney of Atascosa County, has asked a judge to remove Lino Donato from office claiming the mayor's sex offender registration has hindered his performance.
Donato pleaded guilty in October 2007 to charges of indecency with a child. Since that time, Donato has been unable to attend City Council meetings because Poteet's city hall is within 1,000 feet of where children can assemble.
Donato said the criticism is unfounded and his status has not affected his job.
"I got telephones, I got my city administrator. I got department heads. I know what's going on from here," Donato said. "The city is in better shape than it's ever been."
Police said 29-year-old Kethan Beschorner told them he killed 44-year-old Michelle Lague. Beschorner said he blacked out before the July 4th murder, and that it should have never happened. Investigators said Lague's throat was slashed, and she was left on her bed.
Lague was a potential witness in the upcoming trial of a murder suspect in the 2005 slayings of two people at the popular Tacoland Restaurant. Police said her murder is not connected to that case.
Instead, investigators said Beschorner told them he was a devil worshiper and that he [was] possessed by demons the night Lague was murdered.
SAN ANTONIO -- When a Bexar County sheriff's deputy noticed a non-descript police car driving down the highway, something wasn't right.
It looked like a police car, it had a unit number and was a Ford Crown Victoria, said Deputy Bill Lohrke, but the driver wasn't a peace officer.
"He wasn't trying to stop any cars, but he was just driving down the roadway and has police all over his vehicle," he said.
The driver claimed his boss purchased the vehicle at an auction and was using it at a hotel for security, but driving the car on the highway is against the law, and the driver was charged with two crimes, Lohrke said.
With lights from patrol cars and EMS units flashing, Police Chief Bill McManus arrived with his 6-year-old son and slipped under the crime scene tape. No one suggests the chief's son contaminated evidence, but officers expressed serious concern about the legal ramifications.
“How are we supposed to explain that at trial?” one officer asked.
Added a second officer: “If I were a savvy defense attorney I would certainly bring it up. ‘Chief, what were you doing with your son at the crime scene? Why were you allowing him to go into the inner perimeter?'”
The answer to the first question: McManus says he was off-duty with his son when paged about a fatality in an officer-involved chase. With his wife unavailable, McManus took his son to the scene.
The answer to the second: The chief says it was too hot to leave his son in the car, and too hot to leave him standing outside the tape.
McManus wants a "broken" six-pack in a driver's possession to be considered an open container. He said he'd like a state law that would allow officers to cite a driver if any of the six containers in a six-pack were not present.And he proposes strange policies that actually seem to weaken an officer's ability to respond.
Officers should refrain from shooting at moving vehicles unless a person in the vehicle is immediately threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle itself.Now, with this incident, I think I might be on to something when I question his judgment. Did he really need to be that close to the scene without waiting for someone to pick up his son first, especially since he said he was at the scene for only twenty minutes? What is anyone doing exposing a six-year-old kid to dead bodies and crime, especially a police chief?
CPS Energy has plans to build an energy substation on land right behind a local neighborhood. But homeowners in the area told News 4 they're furious about those plans.
Dozens of neighbors on the west side say they were kept in the dark about the plans. They say CPS Energy kept that vital information from them when they were buying homes. Many added they wouldn't have even bought their houses if they had known CPS Energy's plans.
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CPS Energy says the substation needs to be moved because it's in a flood plain and that could cause power outages if the area flooded.
But people in the area say power outages have not been a problem. One homeowner even added that he'd rather be in the dark for days than deal with the substation. [emphasis added]
SAN ANTONIO -- The potential owners of a strip club forced to alter its proposed location because of deed restrictions are fighting with the landowners to recoup some of their losses.
An ownership group originally planned to open Boobie Rock near the intersection of Huebner Road along the access road of Interstate 10, but their plans were rebuffed when deed restrictions on the property prevented the operation of a gentlemen's club -- a fact the ownership group said was not relayed to them by the landowners as they drew up the agreement.
The owners of the strip club said they have spent more than $200,000 to get their business running and are countersuing the landowner, who filed suit seeking rent payments.
Three teenagers are facing aggravated robbery charges, accused of carjacking a man on the North Side and leading officers on a chase that lasted nearly 40 minutes.
Officers said the teens stole a Toyota Prius from a man on the 100 block of Sage Bluff Circle, near Blanco and Loop 1604 around 1:00 a.m. Thursday.
Minutes later, police noticed the Prius speeding down Loop 1604, and they began chasing the suspects. At one point, the pursuit reached speeds of over 100 miles an hour.
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Finally, the teen driving the Prius lost control and slammed into a house on Skila Street, in southwest Bexar County. Officers said the three teens took off running, but they were quickly caught and arrested.
SAN ANTONIO -- Nick Viera had a $10,000 budget, a 1988 Jeep Cherokee and the Internet to set out on an ambitious project.
Viera, an electrical engineering student, wanted to convert his sport utility vehicle to an electrical vehicle.
He ripped out the gasoline engine, the transmission, the radiator and replaced them with electric motors, controllers, chargers switches and 20 golf cart lead batteries.
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Viera said he feels a lot safer in his SUV now that it doesn't run on gasoline and likes the fact that his converted vehicle has no greasy parts and are built to last.
"Most of the components in an EV are designed for a very long service life," he said. "The motors, for example, can actually last a 100 years."
C'mon, how many hole-in-the-wall eateries actually have enough parking? Go to any popular neighborhood joint and you'll find cars parked throughout the neighborhood. This smacks of municipal bullying.SAN ANTONIO -- The owner of a controversial west side restaurant claims city officials are making excuses in not allowing his restaurant to reopen following their forced closure three weeks ago.
Las Mariposas, on the corner of Guadalupe and Trinity streets, has been closed after city officials revoked its certificate of occupancy because outdoor signage violated city codes.
The owner said city officials told him his restaurant is still not ready to open even after he made the initial repairs.
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City officials said the eatery doesn't have enough parking, which is why they've revoked the owner's request twice already. [emphases added]
The city has formed an environmental policy citizens' committee to look into the possiblity of banning plastic bags, said District 7 Councilman Justin Rodriguez.
"You go by any creek or Woodlawn Lake (and) you see them in there," he said. "They fly all over the place."
Many local stores already carry reusable bags, and some researchers estimated the taxpayer money spent on landfills and litter abatement adds up to about 20 cents per plastic bag used.
An accused drunk driver jumps a curb, loses control, and slams into two houses, leaving a big mess for the people sleeping inside.
A woman who lives in one of those home told News 4, this isn't the first time an accident like this has happened, and she's had enough.
The crash happened along a stretch of East Southcross on the southeast side.
Ida Stubblefield said she got the rude awakening around 2 a.m. Saturday morning.
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There has [sic] been four accidents like this one in the past two years. Three ended up in Stubblefield's front yard.
"After the third time it happened, I thought it was time to go" she said.
Stubblefield and her neighbor spent Saturday moving in to new apartments that are nowhere near that dangerous curve on East Southcross.
Roll on!The theatrics and trash talk will take over Dignowity Park at 700 Nolan St. from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. [Saturday, July 26] for the fourth annual derby, an event that has helped define a new chapter in the historic East Side neighborhood.
“It just goes to show there’s a demand for cool events, but it is going to take doing crazy stuff like the pushcart derby,” said event founder and organizer Cruz Ortiz, who added the neighborhood’s houses are “are so beautiful but so neglected.”
An artist and activist, Ortiz and his family moved to Dignowity Hill about five years ago and wanted to help clean up the neighborhood instead of besides [sic] constantly calling the police and code compliance departments. He described the project as “art activism,” a way to bring the neighborhood together and raise awareness of the East Side and its development.
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As the event has grown to at least 12 teams competing and hundreds of spectators expected, its structure has been changed to a head-to-head format to allow for more races and more room on the racecourse, said Mary Cantu, derby manager.
The term pushcart is used loosely, organizers said, and past entries have included a shopping cart, a giant chicken piñata and a couch with wheels.
SAN ANTONIO -- Angry over an extramarital affair 30 years ago, police said a 78-year-old woman stabbed her 79-year-old husband while he slept early Tuesday on the city's southeast side.
But police said it wasn't the husband, Marvin Meyer, who had the extramarital affair. It was his wife, Mary Meyer, who admitted to detectives that she didn't like the fact that her husband resented her because of her affair.
Mary Meyer also claimed that her husband was trying to steal her inheritance money, police said.
Marvin Meyer was stabbed three times in the neck inside the couple's mobile home in the 3500 Block of Goliad Road. He was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center in stable condition.
The neighbors also told KSAT News that Mary Meyer may have been on some new medication and that may be the reason she attacked her husband.
SAN ANTONIO -- A driver and a passenger got into a fight in a moving sport utility vehicle early Monday before the vehicle rolled into the front yard of a home on the city's West Side.
Police said a woman gave a man a ride around 4 a.m., when the two got into an argument.
"He wanted her to drive him some place. She refused to do so, stating she wasn't a taxi service," said Capt. Chris Andersen of the San Antonio Police Department.
Moments later, the man pulled out a gun and shot the woman in the face, Andersen said. When the man threatened to shoot the woman again, she pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the leg. She then lost control of the vehicle and rolled it into the front yard of a home in the 2900 block of Buena Vista.
Hah! I remember that USPS truck crash, and I wondered at the time if any of my mail had been on board. It's good to see the Post Office trying to make sure you get your mail, even if it is a little damaged.Well, it turns out some of my mail was indeed on that truck. And it finally got here today! Here is a picture of my burnt Social Security statement.
Huh. Well, any new airport that may get built will need city approval somewhere along the way. So, what does the psychic say about the city's role?San Antonio is seeing it’s [sic] share of tough economic times this summer. AT&T is moving it’s [sic again] headquarters to Dallas. The highly touted savior of the southside, Toyota, will shuttle [I think they mean "shutter". --ed.] production until late fall. And two airlines have said goodbye to the San Antonio International Airport.
The changes, along with rising gas and grocery prices, has [sic] many worried, and wondering, when will things turn around?
It’s a question we posed to psychic Sean Harribance, who quickly zeroed in on issues surrounding the airport.
“I was meditating last night on the future and I saw a second airport here .. for cargo and international trips”, says Harribance, who sees San Antonio’s future dependent on moving people and cargo. He sees our current airport as problematic for the city, with it’s [sic!] limited size and ability to service international flights quickly. He predicts we will have a second airport, located 30 to 45 minutes away from where the airport is now.
Our mayor and city council all get the thumbs up from Harribance, who says “Most politicians do deals and contracts and they cheat .. I would say we have an honest city council and mayor”.
Still, San Antonio will see crime increase this fall, and the city raising taxes next year and in 2010. Outside the city limits, he sees large tanks used for storage, possibly water storage [possibly not; it's hard to tell --ed.]. And in 10 years or so, “all of downtown is going to have casinos and slot machines”, Harribance tells us.
SAN ANTONIO -- A 36-year-old man was charged with murder early Friday in the slaying of his younger brother.
Israel Mora made an appearance around 3 a.m. before a magistrate, where he was formally charged.
Police said that Mora wrestled a gun away from his sibling, Miguel Mora, 22, and then shot him in the head, neck, leg and chest.
And here's the slide show, because you know you want to look.Gary Duncan hides almost nothing about himself. Quite literally.
Most days, his modesty amounts to little more than a nylon and Lycra man-bikini stretched across his nether region.
For several years now, whether working at a job site as a master carpenter, cycling through downtown or grabbing lunch at a sandwich shop, this is how Duncan faces the world. More recently, he has become a human landmark at the city's First Friday art shows, where he rides through the crowds and passes out carnations that match the color of his bikini.
SAN ANTONIO -- A local woman is at odds with a utility company over a bill she received stating she used more than five times the standard household average for residential users.
Connie Sepulveda said her bill from the San Antonio Water System normally hovers around $65 per month, but her May bill showed her household used more than 60,000 gallons of water. What's strange, she said, is her June bill was normal, but her July bill jumped another 20,000 gallons, resulting in a bill of nearly $700.
SAN ANTONIO -- A promotional campaign for an upcoming movie prompted the evacuation of one local television station and some anxious moments across the city.
San Antonio police, along with the fire department and the bomb squad, were called to KENS-TV at 5400 Fredericksburg Road Tuesday morning after a viral marketing campaign item was delivered to the station to promote "The Dark Knight." The building was evacuated for a brief time as bomb squad officials investigated the cake's contents.
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The cake, also delivered to KSAT 12, was delivered in a white box and had a cell phone charger coming out the bottom of a cake with a hollow center. Attached to the cable was a cell phone inside a plastic bag that contained promotional materials for the upcoming film.
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The fire department's arson bureau opted not to file charges in the case, but suggested to Santikos [Theaters] officials they re-think further promotional campaigns.
Only minor injuries were involved.SAN ANTONIO -- A car crashed into a home during a shooting Sunday afternoon on the city's east side.
Police said a Chevrolet Caprice was traveling west on Martin Luther King Drive at 4 p.m. when someone in another car came up behind it and opened fire.
The Chevrolet crashed into the side of a home at the intersection of Wheatley and MLK Drive, police said.
One San Antonio man is fighting high gas prices with motorized bicycles.
Mark Morales, a UTSA graduate, started a company called Spike's Motorbikes.
He says the bikes weigh about 40 pounds each. To start one, you pop the clutch and the motor kicks on. The bikes can go up to 30 mile per hour and get 100 miles per gallon.
"It's a good thing for anybody on a tight budget," said Morales.
The owner of a popular Downtown Mexican Restaurant [sic] doesn't plan to let his customers miss a meal, despite an early morning fire.
The flames at the Piedras Negras de Noche restaurant lit up the sky around 2:30 a.m. Friday. The restaurant, which is located on Laredo street, has been around for nearly 30 years.
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"We had to force entry into the building. Uh, the fire had advanced up to the second and third floor. Uh, it was pretty deep seeded by the time firefighters arrived on the scene," said District Fire Chief Neil Ague.
The fire was caused by an electrical short and is being ruled accidental.
Despite the fire, it was business as usual for the front restaurant, which serves breakfast.
CUERO, Texas -- Phyllis Canion and her family used to joke about the legendary creature chupacabra.
Little did they know that one day the mythical creature would inspire Canion to start a business in Cuero, southeast of San Antonio.
Nearly 10,000 people across the United States and 21 countries own T-shirts with the image of the coyote-type animal printed on them that were manufactured by Canion.
"We ... make them inexpensive because I want everybody who can, to have one," said Canion. "And help to show that the chupacabra is from the area of Cuero."
Just to remind you: If you ever see a wild animal acting strange, leave it alone. And then call Animal Control. It's not worth it to have to get a rabies treatment.SAN ANTONIO -- Pet owners in the San Antonio suburb are being warned to keep a close eye on their animals and watch for strange behavior after animal control officials found a rabid skunk.
The rabies scare began Thursday when a resident called Animal Control officials to report a skunk that was acting strange.
"We went to observe and noticed it was paralyzed and biting on itself," Animal Control officer Kendall Webster said. "We gathered it up and took it in for testing for rabies, and we found out yesterday it came back positive."
Officers were called to a home near the intersection of Brook Hollow and Oakshire, on the far north side, for a possible overdose. But police aren't sure if that's really how the woman really died.
Police say it all started when the woman's husband ran to his next door neighbor's home. The man was bleeding, and claimed his wife had overdosed.
Police say the neighbor ran inside and called 911. But when he went back outside, the woman's husband was gone. The neighbor then went next door, that's where he found Brenda Miller, 27, dead inside.
Police say she didn't have any apparent wounds on her body, but the scene inside was suspicious. Miller was found in the living room, but it had been flooded with a water hose. There was blood all over the house. Police say it looked like there had been a struggle.
Dan Cook, a San Antonio legend whose career as a sports columnist and broadcaster spanned more than a half-century, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 81.
Insightful, humorous, colorful and brutally honest, Cook spent 57 years in the newspaper business — 51 of those at the San Antonio Express-News — interviewing sports’ greatest legends, from Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey to Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Tom Landry.
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In addition to print journalism, Cook worked as a sportscaster at KENS-TV for 44 years, from 1956-2000. It was there in 1978 that Cook uttered the famous phrase, “The opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” which is listed in Bartlett’s “Familiar Quotations.” He later said he first used the phrase in a column about two years before.
I wonder if the father will now get custody.A baby left all alone in an apartment is now with her father. That little girl was found by maintenance workers in The Broadstone on Medical apartment complex on the northwest side.
Those maintenance workers called police and EMS after they found the girl alone. Paramedics say the 9-month-old was perfectly fine. Police couldn't reach her mother for several hours. They were able to get a hold of the baby's father, who does not have custody of her.
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Police allowed the father to take the baby for the night. They're now trying to find the mother and investigate why the little girl was left by herself.
Since 2007, a stretch of Highway 16 past the city limit markers was annexed into the Helotes city limits, but the fireworks vendors currently set up off the roadway are outside the city limits. The highway prevents people who purchased fireworks legally from transporting them outside the city limits, and Helotes police have been cracking down.
"The fireworks stand (previous to 2007) would tell people to turn left and go outside our city," Helotes Police Chief Morton Ault said. "They're (going to) get a ticket as soon as they pull onto the street." [emphasis added]
Police said about $100,000 in cash was tossed from a vehicle about 3:15 p.m. near North Star Mall by San Pedro Avenue on Loop 410, and people were stopping their cars on the highway to pick up the loose cash.
Drug enforcement agents, along with San Antonio police, were working on a sting of a suspected drug dealer, according to San Antonio police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino, when the driver took off, starting a chase. When the driver neared the entrance to Loop 410 from the access road near North Star Mall, somebody inside the vehicle threw a box containing cash outside the window.
The chase was immediately called off by a SAPD sergeant for safety reasons, Trevino said, but undercover DEA agents continued to follow the driver, who struck two vehicles near the intersection of Broadway and Wetmore roads. The driver left the vehicle and was immediately arrested by DEA agents, Trevino said. Nobody was injured in the two collisions, Trevino said.
SAN ANTONIO -- An instructor at St. Philip's College is making claims of racism and discrimination after he said he was called offensive names and campus administrators have failed to act.
Rayford Richardson said when he was approached to teach one of the automotive classes at the college, he was happy to accept since he runs his own auto repair business and restores old vehicles as a hobby.
Richardson said the racist remarks from fellow instructors came quickly and often, including a remark made to him by another instructor in front of Richardson's students.
"I've had one of the directors of the Diesel department say I will never fit in because of the "good old boys" system at the main campus," he said.
