SAN ANTONIO -- An Illinois man may not forget the Alamo after he faces charges of defacing the historic monument.
Stephen Henrey Wise, 44, of Evanston, Ill., has been charged with criminal mischief after allegedly writing three letters on a patch of limestone at the monument near the intersection of Avenue E and Houston Street.
The 51-year-old woman was arrested and charged with running a sophisticated gambling operation outside her home last week, but it was an illegally parked vehicle that piqued investigators' interests, police said.(from KSAT-12)
Denise Stewart, who lives at 604 Meadow Arbor Lane, was questioned by police who found out she was wanted on two outstanding warrants. During a subsequent search, officers found illegal drugs on her and she eventually admitted to keeping 15 8-liner machines inside her home, police said.
While investigators are still determining the cause of the crash in Buffalo, attention has turned to the airplane.
News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Brian Collister has been looking into the safety record of this plane.
The plane that crashed near Buffalo was new and had a clean safety record,
[sic] according to officials investigating the accident.
According to police, a man and a woman on a motorcycle struck an 18-wheel beer truck on the northbound lanes of Fredericksburg Road between Oaklawn and Loop 410. The man laid the bike down, but the woman was apparently run over by the beer truck, police said.(from KSAT-12)
She was taken to University Hospital in critical condition.
Witnesses said the man driving the motorcycle then started shouting for his gun, found his gun and threatened the beer truck driver. The driver of the big rig took off, witnesses said, and the motorcyclist allegedly threatened witnesses and himself, but did not fire any shots. San Antonio police did not confirm any of the witness reports, only saying they were investigating the collision as a traffic incident.
The motorcyclist was taken to an unknown hospital with unknown injuries. The driver of the beer truck returned to the scene and spoke with investigators.
R.I.P Perkins.Perkins, 78, an eccentric self-taught artist who earned a national reputation among collectors of so-called "outsider" art, died Tuesday night at a local hospital, said Carlos Richardson, president of the Denver Heights Neighborhood Association.
It was a reputation almost unnoticed amid the controversies surrounding his house. City officials and some neighbors had called the house a haven for criminal activity and a dangerous, dilapidated building that needed to be torn down.
But supporters of Perkins called it a priceless piece of San Antonio culture that just needed to be cleaned up. Perkins’ case now sits in the 4th Court of Appeals, more than a year after a city board voted to demolish the house.
Its walls had been adorned with paintings and drawings, but these works were lost when the house was damaged in an October (2008) fire. A November 1997 fire destroyed the initial stages of the museum Perkins was dedicating to his slain daughter, Debbie Jo.
SAN ANTONIO -- Thieves crashed through a movie theater early Tuesday morning in an attempt to take off with an ATM.(from WOAI-TV)
The would-be theft happened at the Rialto Theater off of Loop 410 and IH-35 on the Northeast Side.
The driver of the Suburban crashed the SUV through the door and then through the lobby area, leaving tire tracks on the floor.
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A member of the cleaning crew told News 4 WOAI he saw everything. He after [sic] the SUV crashed into the theater, he asked the driver of the SUV what happened. He didn't get a response from the driver, who then sped off and crashed through another part of the building to get out. The driver then hit another ATM that was in the parking lot of the theater, but was unable to get any cash out of it, either.
(from the Express-News)A man upset that his girlfriend was roughed up in a “mosh pit” shot a man who allegedly pushed the woman at a punk rock show near downtown early Saturday morning, authorities said.
The incident happened after the show at about 1:30 a.m., outside the Rock Bottom Tattoo Bar at Avenue B and East Jones Avenue.
According to a police report, the suspect drove up outside the club to say something to the victim about him pushing the girlfriend in the pit. Witnesses told police the victim apologized to the woman for the incident and then walked away, but the suspect continued to argue about the incident.
“I already apologized to her,” the man told the suspect, according to the police report. “What more do you want?”
As the car was driving off, the suspect fired out of a car window, striking the other man, who collapsed in the street.
SAN ANTONIO -- Two cousins are accused of mailing heroin to one's incarcerated husband in San Antonio.(from KSAT-12)
The U.S. Marshal's Service says the packages were intercepted.
Officers on Friday arrested 26-year-old Monica Ramos of Von Ormy and 20-year-old April Villarreal of San Antonio.
Both were indicted Wednesday on two counts of distribution of heroin and possession of heroin. The 33-year-old inmate, Noe Martinez, is married to Ramos.
Jim Wheeler said he was walking through his home when he heard tires squealing. Seconds later, his house shook and glass flew everywhere. "I didn't see the whole thing, but I was standing about 2 feet from that wall two minutes earlier,” he said.(from KSAT-12 -- video here)
The GMC Jimmy jumped the curb, hit a sign and sped across the back yard before smashing into the house, police said. It came to a rest on Wheeler’s bed.
Wheeler said he knows what would have happened had anyone been in the bed at the time. "They would have been dead,” he said.
SAN ANTONIO -- Two women representing the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals were part of a protest focusing on the bare essentials.(from WOAI-TV)
The demonstration in front of the Alamo was an effort to encourage [sic] people from eating meat, and used a nearly-nude woman in a portable shower to explain how the water used to prepare one pound of meat is the equivalent to six months of showers.
Just a day after Christmas the two 22-year-olds came to Rolling Oaks Mall. One of the girls was Jessica Garcia. Her attorney says she was sitting on a bench inside the mall with her girlfriend's legs resting on her own legs. Garcia’s girlfriend then gave her a kiss on the cheek.(from WOAI-TV)
Mall security and a Bexar County deputy saw the kiss and asked the two girls to leave for violating the mall's code of conduct. Garcia’s attorney says if the couple was heterosexual there wouldn't have been a problem and a kiss on the cheek certainly isn't offensive to reasonable people.
The other side of the story News 4 WOAI got from the arrest reports reads a little different. It says the two were making out and after the couple was asked to leave they came back inside the mall and the two sides began to argue. The arrest report says the girls were yelling profanities at the officers.
It ended with both girls under arrest and Garcia thrown to the ground.
You will find that the women were not arrested for kissing at the mall. Rather, their aggressive behavior led to their arrest and resulted in the pending criminal charges. The women refused to comply after they had been warned about their disruptive behavior. They began using profanity with the officers and subsequently were asked to leave the mall. Unfortunately, they decided to re-enter the mall and upon being approached by a Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy and mall security, the women became physically combative and verbally abusive.Now you have both sides of the story. Kissing or making out? Would they have been ejected regardless of their orientation had the making out been heavy enough? Should they have gone back inside to argue their point or just gone home?
(from Jennifer Hiller of the Express-News)A sculpture of an oversized fork recently installed outside two new Stone Oak restaurants has drawn the ire of the local property owners association.
The Vatel Restaurant Group didn't have permission to install the giant aluminum fork on its property at 20626 Stone Oak Parkway, and now must either remove it or relocate it to a spot not easily seen from the road, said the Stone Oak Property Owners Association.
The flap over the big fork: Its owner has deemed it a work of art; the POA has deemed it advertising, a sign that screams “Eat here.”
“It's a lovely piece of work, but it's a sign,” said Sandy Whitley, chairwoman of the Stone Oak Architectural Review Committee. “If you allow something like that, there's nothing to prohibit a Shoney's Big Boy. That's the problem.”
Were the sculpture of anything else, there likely wouldn't be a problem with it, Whitley said. [emphases added]
San Antonio Police say two men were driving an SUV on San Eduardo when they ran a stop sign at Durango. That’s when they hit a family of three. The two vehicles collided and the SUV flipped over and landed on it roof.(from WOAI-TV)
The men inside were fine, but the driver was arrested on charges of driving under the influence. The mother and her two young children were taken to the hospital. None of them have life-threatening injuries.
Officer Reyna with the San Antonio Police Department tells News4 WOAI the men started a fight with neighbors who came out to check on the safety of everyone involved.
“They tried to get out of the car, the residents tried to help the other people who were inside Malibu. I guess the people in the Blazer didn’t appreciate it too much, and got into an altercation over it.”
SAN ANTONIO -- A man was killed Friday morning in a one-vehicle crash on the city's northwest side.(from KSAT-12)
Police said the driver may have been speeding on a Loop 1604 access road near Interstate 10 West at around 1:30 a.m. when he lost control of his sport utility vehicle.
The SUV then went up a concrete embankment and got wedged underneath an I-10 overpass, police said.
The man died at the scene.
Richard Stewart stopped at the Stop Buy Food Mart last month when he dropped his keys before paying.
"I was on the cell phone, I paid the clerk... with my money, and I left the wallet on the counter," he said.
Minutes later, video surveillance shows a woman and two children walk to the counter. One of the children begins to play with the wallet before the woman places the wallet in the child's hands and they leave.
SAN ANTONIO -- A reenlistment ceremony at the Alamo on Wednesday included Davy Crockett.(from KSAT-12)
Despite his famous name, Army Staff Sgt. David O'Neal Crockett, said he wasn't trying to draw a crowd for his re-enlistment ceremony in front of the Alamo shrine, but about 70 people including at least 10 other military members watched Crockett take his oath.
"I felt a devotion to my namesake to re-enlist here due to the fact that I may be a distant relative of the David Crockett of Tennessee," Crockett said.
The former Crockett is known to Texans as one of the defenders of the Alamo who died on March 6, 1836, in the final battle for the downtown settlement.
SAN ANTONIO -- A mom was arrested for leaving her children in a car while she goes into a bar. That mom, police say, was drunk when they found her.(from WOAI-TV)
Police say the mom left both of the children in the car parked across the street from the E&G Sports Bar.
Officers arrested 39-year-old Eva Mauricio inside the sports bar over the weekend. Police say the mom left one of her children asleep in the backseat and the other child was left awake in the front seat.
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SAN ANTONIO -- Police are investigating an apparent double murder-suicide on the city's north side.
Investigators said a man in his 50s shot and killed his 90-year-old father, then shot and killed his son, believed to be in his 20s, before turning the gun on himself. The shooting happened about 6 p.m., at 2139 Babs Drive near the intersection of West Avenue and Basse Road.
Reginald Adams pled guilty to a 2006 possession with intent to distribute and was serving his sentence in the Bexar County Jail. During the ensuing years, the 28-year-old was charged with as many as 16 other crimes. One by one, the charges were dropped. Finally, on Jan. 16 the final three offenses were dismissed.(from WOAI-TV)
The Bexar County Sheriff’s office says court personnel erroneously entered information which showed Adams was free to go – and neglected to show the current 12-year-sentence he was serving. So on Jan. 17, a surprised Adams was released from county custody.
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On Friday, deputies and U.S. Marshals were searching for Adams. In addition to his current sentence, he faces a possible escape charge. Officials explain even though he was released through a clerical mix-up, Adams should have told jailers of the mistake – and remained behind bars. [emphasis added]
District 8 City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian is once again trying to keep the man who previously attempted to open Boobie Rock from trying again in another part of his district, and also throughout the city.That'll come as a surprise to all the live-music venues out there.
"The city of San Antonio has faced a very serious situation with strip bars that have attempted to move into neighborhoods," she said. "We know that when live entertainment is coupled with a cover charge, many times this is for the usage by strip bars."
Cibrian said her proposal would prevent strip clubs from opening across the city. Should her proposal pass, all existing businesses would be grandfathered [for now --ed.]. The attorney representing the man who attempted to open the club the first time would neither confirm nor deny his client was trying to open a new club.If I remember correctly, some news article somewhere once said that Cibrian was pro-business. Well, at least business she approves of, I guess.
An argument that began in a car ends in someone's kitchen. Police say the driver of a car was speeding down Henderson Pass while arguing with a passenger. That's when that driver lost control of the car and ended up going through the yard and inside a home on Laurel Hollow. No word tonight if that driver faces any charges.(from KABB)
A couple barbecuing for some friends finds an unexpected ingredient in their baked beans. They sent the contents of the can off to a lab and now they are suing food giant ConAgra.
This happened two years ago, no one went to the hospital no one even got sick [sic] -- so why the lawsuit?
Sauce and, of course, beans. That's what Rodolfo Zuniga and his fiancée Velma Dimas expected when they bought a can of ConAgra’s Ranch-Style [sic] Beans.
Zuniga says, “We were getting ready to eat and I opened up the can beans [sic] and put it in the pot.”
Velma even tasted the beans before noticing something besides beans in the pot.
She says, “To me it looked like a rat but then I started messing with it.”
What the couple says they found was a green-grayish blob, which a lab later determined was mold. They say they immediately called the 800 number on the can to alert ConAgra, which then offered the couple coupons worth $200.
During the Jan. 12 Alamo Heights City Council meeting, residents living along Mary D Avenue urged city leaders to exert parking restrictions along the street, amidst commercial property owners' requests for more areas along Mary D to be designated for two-hour parking. The street begins at the 4900 block of Broadway and ends at Encino.(from the Express-News)
Homeowners share street frontage along the artery with commercial property owners, including the popular Cappy's restaurant. With no parking restrictions, the south end of the street is the point of contention, while the north side of the street has both two-hour parking zones and “No Parking Anytime” areas fronting residences.
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Commercial property owners George Geis and restaurateur Cappy Lawton denied their garbage collection began at dawn, as residents suggested. Instead, Geis said his trash collector makes rounds at 7 a.m. while Lawton said his service operates between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Resident Tom Hall of the 100 block of Mary D insisted garbage collection for Cappy's starts at 3 a.m.
Prefacing his commentary by noting his penchant for visual aids, he distributed condoms to council members to illustrate part of refuse accumulating on his yard from the increased motorist traffic. He then unfurled a plastic garbage bag, strategically placing it at the podium to further illustrate impromptu garbage collection on his lawn.
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After Lawton's remarks, Hall asked to re-address the council. Ambling slowly to the podium, he paused for a moment while Lawton found his seat in the audience. He then loudly slammed the podium at full strength, startling both audience and council members.
His non-verbal illustrative tool did not go over well.
Councilwoman Susan Harwell was particularly stunned: “City council people have been shot at, sir!” she said, alluding to the huge, unexpected sound made by the podium pounding.
Facing an increased trend of unique advertising methods by some merchants literally hurling their corporate literature on private property – including rolled-up flyers stuffed into cups thrown on lawns by a pizza maker – Alamo Heights is seeking to ban certain marketing methods.
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[Alamo Heights Police Chief Rick] Pruitt also cited the example of a local landscaper that put rocks in a plastic bag with their advertising flyers, citing the danger that could result from that advertising ploy.
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A related ordinance – written in detailed language seemingly to cover all the bases – already exists to protect property owners from local ad ploys: “…placing, attaching, painting, writing, stamping or pasting any sign, advertisement or other matter upon any house, wall, fence, gatepost, gate or tree box…”
As exquisitely detailed as the ordinance is, some merchants have found a way around it, necessitating even more restrictions. Pruitt proposed an amendment to the ordinance prohibiting projectile publicity.
The Four Oaks Tower was supposed to have 24-hour security, a maintenance man, and other amenities. But instead, only two tenants ever moved in and the rest of the building is empty.(from WOAI-TV)
Inside the Four Oaks Tower, you'll find unfinished apartments, torn up floors, and building materials scattered everywhere. You won't find any tenants except for the Guzman family and one other couple.
"This was to be our retirement. He's 81 and I'm 82. And this was going to be it," said Velma Guzman, Four Oaks Tower tenant.
The Guzman's bought a luxury condo on the seventh floor early in 2006, when the building was originally called The Chancellor. Since then, the building has changed owners and construction was stalled.
Velma Guzman tells us they have no maintenance man and no one in the building to help them if something goes wrong.
SAN ANTONIO – News4 WOAI is uncovering new information about how a driver had to jump out [sic] his car on I-37 before it crashed into a house and caught the house on fire.(from WOAI-TV)
Witnesses tell police that a car, which was on fire, left the expressway and hit a house. The driver was northbound on I-37 when he noticed his rear seat was on fire. He jumped out of the car, which then slammed into a home near S. Hackberry and Rigsby.
Neighbors in a San Antonio community are busy cleaning up the mess some vandals are leaving behind.This is news.
Residents found bright-colored graffiti covering their homes and businesses.
It's a big problem covering a small Eastside street.
Your tax dollars -- and salivating elected officials -- at work for you.Thanks to past lapses of financial oversight, stretching back 25 years in some cases, the City Council finds itself with a surprise $30 million — and it’s ready to spend.
"It’s kind of like your long-lost cousin has left you a bunch of money," Mayor Phil Hardberger said.
During a Friday news conference, Hardberger and Councilwoman Delicia Herrera lavished praise on City Manager Sheryl Sculley for finding the $30 million, essentially the financial dregs of more than 1,000 bond projects. According to Sculley, the money — left over from the projects — sat in the bank and collected interest, instead of going to debt repayment or into similar projects, as it should have.
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Word of the windfall left Councilwoman Lourdes Galvan atwitter.
"Our hearts were pumping yesterday just thinking about all the things we were going to do with the money," she said.
MARION, Texas (AP) - Authorities are trying to find out who stuffed 70 dead Siamese cats into seven large trash bags and dumped them onto a road in Guadalupe County.
SAN ANTONIO -- A 58-year-old man was charged with improper photography after sheriff's officials said they found a hidden camera in his teenage stepdaughter's bedroom.(from KSAT-12)
Sheriff's officials told KSAT 12 News they also found a flat-panel television in the family's garage with a live image coming from the 16-year-old's bedroom.
"She advised that upon entering the back garage, she noticed a flat screen TV on the center near the entrance of the garage, and she noticed what she recognized to be her bedroom," Bexar County Sheriff's public information officer Ino Badillo said.
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The man has been married to the girl's mother for 10 years, sheriff's officials said. The girl's mother declined to comment when contacted by KSAT 12 News on Monday afternoon.
A Heritage Middle School teacher is arrested after the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office says he sexually assaulted one of his students and used his cell phone to tape the assaults.(from WOAI-TV)
Bryan Kung has bonded out of jail. He’s facing charges of sexual assault on a child and possession of child pornography. Deputies say the alleged relationship began last March with the eighth grade student and 23-year-old Kung.
The mother of the student says she found naked pictures of the teacher on her daughter’s cell phone. Deputies tell News 4 WOAI that Kung admitted to sending them to the student.
Police said the driver was speeding north of South Zarzamora Street at around 10 p.m. when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a parked pickup truck at West Gerald Avenue.(from KSAT-12)
The car then flipped and took out the front porch of a home.
Police said the parked pickup truck acted as a buffer and prevented the car from crashing directly into the home.
(from WOAI-TV)The incident happened around 9:30pm at a home on West Gerald and South Zarzamora.
It appears the truck hit a corner section of the house then stopped. There is no word on any injuries. Emergency crews are on the scene and neighbors have also gathered around to check out what happened.
City officials began compiling the list as soon as President-elect Barack Obama floated the idea of an economic stimulus plan for cities. The ideas outlined would create about 23,000 jobs and includes San Antonio River improvements, multiple public works projects and other priorities.
"The truth is, we will probably get something, but we don't know how much, and I think it behooves everybody not to get their wish list up too high," Hardberger said. "It's kind of like asking Santa Claus for 25 things, but you're lucky enough to get a tricycle."
Local attorney Diana Minella sent letters to thousands of people who got traffic tickets promising to settle their case for a fee.
She's accused of taking their money and not taking care of their tickets.
San Antonio's municipal court overflowed Tuesday with hundreds of people who thought their traffic citations were being handled by their attorney.
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[Janie] Churbie paid attorney Diana Minella $200, plus the amount of her fines, to take care of her case. But the lawyer never did that.
Now, Janie is out of that money and still has to pay the fines and court costs to clear her driving record.
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"I paid her $452 so she could take care of all of this and all I had to do was my defensive driving test." Zeke Ramirez paid Minella to clear his record. Minella only made a partial payment of $5. Zeke did not know that.
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Back in court, lawyers from the San Antonio Bar Association volunteered to help the angry motorists. [sic] With even more still unaware their tickets are still hanging over their heads.
"What we had set for today was in the neighborhood of 700 to 1,000 cases," said Judge Bull. "We anticipate there is a larger volume out there of people that maybe don't know."
A man believed to have deliberately started a house fire was arrested Saturday when he got into a fight with firefighters.(from KSAT-12)
When firefighters arrived at a home in the 100 block of Osage, they found two men involved in a fistfight.
While some firefighters tried to put out the flames, others tried to separate the men, said district Chief Pedro Garza.
"When they tried to separate them, the possible suspect started to turn his frustration on the fire crew," Garza said.
SAN ANTONIO -- A 38-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he drove his car though a garage door on the city's east side.(from KSAT-12)
Sgt. Mario Cervantes of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said the man got upset with a 14-year-old niece and ordered the girl to leave with him.
The girl then got scared and ran to a neighbor's home, Cervantes said.
"He still thought she was inside the residence, so he came outside the residence, grabbed their dog, threw the dog inside the vehicle," Cervantes said.
The man then yelled for the teen to go with him, Cervantes said.
The man then drove the car though the garage at a home in the 7500 block of Rustic Trail, Cervantes said.
The girl was not seriously injured, Cervantes said.
SAN ANTONIO -- Police were looking for four males who may be involved in a cosmetics crime ring.(from KSAT-12)
The four young men, believed to be between the ages of 18 and 20, were caught stuffing makeup into some baggy clothing by a manager at a CVS Pharmacy at Callaghan and DeZavala roads on Tuesday night, police said.
When the manager confronted the men, one of them punched the manager in the face, police said. The men then threw some makeup in the manager's face and left the store without taking anything.
Moments later, the men went to a CVS Pharmacy at Bitters and Huebner roads and made off with some makeup and body spray, police said.
SAN ANTONIO -- A car crashed into a home early Monday on the city's northwest side.(from KSAT-TV)
A couple living at the home in the 5100 block of Newcome were jarred out of bed at around 2 a.m. but were not injured.
"There was just dust floating throughout the house," said Barry Harris, the homeowner. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."
Police were looking for the driver of the older model Lincoln who rammed into the front the home. A neighbor told Harris that he saw a tall man with a mustache running from the wreckage.
SAN ANTONIO -- Police are now investigating the death of an 18-year-old girl Christmas night as a homicide, investigators said.(from KSAT)
Kimberly Tallo was found lying on the floor of a home on the 300 block of East Southcross Avenue with a gunshot wound above her right eye, according to a police report. Investigators said her boyfriend told officers she shot herself while playing Russian Roulette, but police became suspicious when his story kept changing.
And here's the picture (taken by Gloria Ferniz) the Express-News used to illustrate the story.Harry Siskind, founder of Body Solutions, was sentenced to 37 months in prison instead of the five years’ probation he asked for following his conviction of lying about money he was trying to hide from the feds.
Indignant over his sentence, Siskind unsuccessfully tried to get court security to let him out the back door to avoid reporters. Then he gave the one-finger salute to the media as he ran out of the courthouse and jumped into a waiting, shiny new Cadillac. He put one of those fingers right up against the camera of one local television station.
It was hairy fun for all, I'm sure. Maybe next year.Artists, musicians and gardeners alike manicured their lip foliage or slapped on a fake 'stache for this year's Christmoustache, an annual event that brings together locals who love their facial hair.
The event, now in its third year, is usually held solely to bring friends together in front of the Alamo, an ideal setting for quirky snapshots of men and women celebrating everyone's favorite soup strainer.
But this year, 28-year-old Justin Parr offered to host the event on Saturday night at his Flight Gallery on South Flores Street. It featured musical guests Demitasse, half of the band Buttercup, and DJ JJ Lopez from KRTU Radio.
“It's always a wide swath of people, and everyone is wearing mustaches,” he said.
With President-elect Barack Obama and Congress looking to quickly pump billions of dollars into job-generating projects across the country, San Antonio officials have drawn up a preliminary wish list packed with projects worth $1.1 billion.(from the Express-News)
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“I don't think it's any surprise,” City Manager Sheryl Sculley said. “We have huge needs in the community, and there are many things we could move forward with.”
(from WOAI-TV)SAN ANTONIO - It didn't snow, and it didn't rain. So, why were cars slipping and sliding all over the place Tuesday morning? Many are blaming the liquid that's supposed to keep ice from forming.
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TxDOT deployed it's de-icer trucks Monday night. The rain and ice never came, but the liquid sprayed on highways stayed and may have done more than give the roads a shiny ice-like look.
"We've been in a very dry period. We've had accumulation of oils and other debris on the roadways," explained Maggie Rios of TxDOT.
The de-icer may have spread those oils on the road. So TxDOT is reviewing it's de-icing operation to see if something else went wrong with the chemical.
Getting a room by the hour will soon be a thing of the past in San Antonio. The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance banning hourly rates at local hotels and motels.
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All of the motels will now have to charge couples by the day and not by the hour. The new ordinance will go into effect in ten days. The city is still working on details on what kind of punishment motels would face if they continue to charge hourly rates.
A driver is injured after crashing her car into a neighbors home. It happened around noon Sunday on Abbey Park in northwest San Antonio. Police said the elderly woman thought she had her Cadillac in park, but instead it was in reverse. She was taken to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Jefferson High School teacher Paul D. Roberts, 42, is in jail today. Police arrested him on a charge of engaging in an improper relationship with a student. On Friday Roberts was spotted have sex with an 18-year-old female student in a Jefferson High School classroom.(from WOAI-TV)
An Ingram man has been sentenced to 297 years in prison on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child for abusing a teenage girl who also complained of being sexually assaulted by the defendant’s former wife.
Defense attorney Ronald “Rusty” Guyer said Friday he’s looking into the legality of state District Judge Karl Prohl’s decision to “stack” the three 99-year sentences handed down late Thursday by a Kerr County jury that convicted Scott Vogel, 38, at trial this week.
(from KSAT-12)SAN ANTONIO -- Zoning changes that could cover up businesses like the controversial former Bikini Car Wash has been pushed back another week at the request of some business owners.
The City Council was expected to take action on District 3 Councilwoman Jennifer Ramos' effort to change the city ordinance allowing zoning of certain car wash businesses, particularly, but not explicitly against sexy car wash facilities.
"The decision was put off today to have it postponed because the car wash industry did come to us late yesterday," she said. "I explained this has been going on since May 22, it's been a hot topic, everyone has been aware, there have been many public meetings. They still felt uncomfortable and they wanted some time."
Ramos said her efforts weren't solely geared toward businesses like the Bikini Car Wash, which caused traffic backups and additional controversy when it opened on South Flores Street in her district, but were because the ordinance hasn't been changed since 1992 and needs updating.
SAN ANTONIO -- One of San Antonio's largest employers is having trouble filling its employees' stocking with holiday bonuses.
"When you take a $6 million hit to your bottom line, obviously some things have to give," said Northside Independent School District spokesman Pascual Gonzalez.
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Some of the city's other large employers have varying availability of holiday bonuses. A spokesman with Valero said the company doesn't give holiday bonuses, USAA employees receive two additional weeks of pay as a bonus and H-E-B wouldn't reveal if its provides bonuses. Rackspace, an Internet hosting company, doesn't provide holiday bonuses, but does award performance-based bonuses every quarter, according to a company spokeswoman.
(from WOAI-TV)SAN ANTONIO -- A coyote is causing parents in a North Side neighborhood to worry. Rumors of it have popped up over the past couple months and now neighbors aren't sure how to get rid of it.
The coyote has been spotted several times in the neighborhood but many people didn't believe it until a picture was taken.
The driver of a pickup that struck a woman’s car on the South Side Friday morning is being evaluated by psychiatrists because he thinks God told him to drive in excess of 100 mph to take the other car off the road, police said.
The bizarre incident that shut down southbound U.S. Highway 281 above the Medina River happened about 7:25 a.m.
“He just said God said she wasn’t driving right, and she needed to be taken off the road,” said Lt. Kyle Coleman of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
Though both vehicles were badly damaged, the drivers suffered minor injuries.
“God must have been with them, ’cause any other time, the severity of this crash, it would have been a fatal,” Coleman said.
The News 4 Trouble Shooters reported earlier this year that your tax dollars were being used to study whether certain foods, like corn tortillas and peanut butter, are causing liver cancer on the south side.
When they get moldy, these foods can carry a microtoxin that has been connected to liver cancer in other parts of the world. Corn, in particular, was linked to a high rate of liver cancer in one part of Africa.
That is why researchers from Texas A&M focused on corn tortillas, to see if they might be connected to the liver cancer rate around the former Kelly Air Force base - a rate about twice as high as the rest of Texas.
"There was a study that was specifically done in South Texas that showed that there are certain corn products that do have relatively high levels of these chemicals in them. So, yes, we are suspicious of corn products," said Dr. Kirby Donnelly, who led the research study.
But it looks like the tortilla theory has fallen flat.
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At most, tortillas are just a small, contributing factor along with things like alcohol use, pollution and liver conditions, such as hepatitis.
(from KSAT-12)SAN ANTONIO -- Even though the Main Plaza construction and restoration project is already over budget, the city will have to spend about $250,000 for overall enhancements, including bringing the park to federal disability standards.
Some of the mobility problems at Main Plaza include gravel preventing full wheelchair access, paving width, sidewalk slope and staircase handrail adjustments for the visually impaired, said Judy Babbitt, the city's disability access officer.
(from KSAT-12)A long-standing feud between neighbors led to two men being shot in East Bexar County, police said.
Deputies said two men began arguing Sunday morning, allegedly over a dog. According to officials, the argument escalated and both parties began shooting at one another.
Police said that between 15 and 20 rounds were exchanged during the shooting -- all while small children were in the next room.
Police said one man was shot in the foot, and another man was shot in the ankle.
SAN ANTONIO -- A Kerr County Grand Jury indicted 16 people Monday in connection with the slaying and identity theft of a Kerr County man.
Charles Lee Tidwell, 45, was indicted on a charge of murder and organized crime. Tidwell was being held in the Kerr County Jail on bonds totalling $600,000.
Tidwell, who was arrested Oct. 22, was originally the only suspect charged in the slaying of 52-year-old Allan Kowalski, whose remains were found buried behind his home in Ingram.
But in a news release from the Kerr County Sheriff's Office, Ricado Ricky Giovannetti, 47, was also charged with murder and organized crime.
Charged with aggravated assault and organized crime were Wayne Earl Christiansen, 35, and Jeremiah Jason McGregor, 31.
Indicted on a charge of organized crime were Teresa Jo Buffett, 43; Elizabeth D. Carmona, 43; Amanda Rassi Contreras, 20; Raymundo Daniel Contreras, 23; Andrea Helen Cooper, 25; Michael Rene Garcia, 25; Richard Alcorta Garza, 39; Silver Star Hernandez, 24; Darita Dee Horner, 20; Kelli Rae Lagrone, 52; John Centeno Moreno Jr., 26, and Lisa Gale Rassi, 41.
Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer said the investigation into Kowalski's death is one of the strangest cases he's worked in nearly 30 years of law enforcement.
"They take over his identity, they take over all his possessions, they were even trying to sell his home," he said. "That's when it gets bizarre."
Hierholzer said Tidwell and Giovannetti shot Kowalski twice in the head before burying his body in a shallow grave behind his home. The common bond between all those indicted was their close relationship or friendship with Tidwell, Hierholzer said.
Here’s a story about a cow and it's not your ordinary cow. On Friday evening, police were searching in some NE San Antonio fields for Elsie, the "Borden" cow. And that’s no bull.
The bovine fugitive got away from its handler while doing a promotion at the Sam’s club at I-35 and Judson. Elsie hoofed it across the highway and is now lost in about 200 acres of land.
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Elsie has been missing for several hours and searchers are doing their udder-most to lasso her.
SAN ANTONIO -- A recent performance by the Churchill High School marching band is being called offensive by some who say the performance was insensitive to those with mental illness.
The band's performance at the University Interscholastic League's state band competition -- entitled "Symphonic Schizophrenia" -- included props resembling padded walls and had some band members dressed in strait jackets running around the field in an erratic manner.
The head of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness said he was contacted by several people who were upset by Churchill's performance.
The City’s Economic Development Department Small Business Division will hold a workshop for prospective restaurant owners 9-10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Frost Bank Tower, 100 W. Houston St., Suite 1900. ...
Representatives of the Metropolitan Health District will discuss basic health regulations, commercial kitchen requirements, food licenses and permits, and food handler certification.
SAN ANTONIO -- Some apartment tenants are being extra cautious when roaming around their southwest side complex as nearby animals are going hog wild.
A gap beneath an iron fence nearby Miller's Pond is allowing javelinas to run through the neighborhood and scaring residents.
"When you hear, like noise in the Dumpster, you know that they're there," one resident said.
Some nearby residents said they even have to jump on cars to escape the scary swine.
"We were pretty scared, and every time we tried to get off so we could run back to the apartment, they wouldn't let us," an apartment resident said. "We got stuck there for 10 to 15 minutes."
[The Stone family's] request for a variance to raise four swine on their property was rejected after lengthy discussion at the Sept. 23 council meeting. The city ordinance allows up to two animals on a minimum of three-quarters of an acre for 4-H projects. A one-acre property allows for up to four animals, but the Stone’s property is .90 of an acre.
The ordinance also requires that the pens have a 150-foot setback from the property line regardless of lot size, and that is where the problem occurs. The Stones this time were requesting a variance from the setback requirement because it is mathematically impossible for that to happen.
The Stones began wondering what size lot they would have to have to meet the requirement as written and turned to a math professor from UTSA, Sandy Norman, who spoke in their behalf at the Oct. 21 meeting.
An acre is 208.71 feet by 208.71 feet in size. Therefore there is no physical way to locate a pen to house the swine with a 150-foot setback.
Norman told the council that the smallest lot size possible to comply with the setbacks as written would be 2.06 acres and the pen would have to be located squarely in the middle of that property.
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“They approved us to have six [pigs] just two years ago,” Laura said. “The exact same City Council. And then the minute they approved it–they approved it in September– and then in March 2007 they amended the ordinance.” The new amendment required the setback.
(from WOAI-TV)It was back on February 8th, 1992 that Darren Holden was shot to death while he opened up the gas station where he worked.
"We had information that day that it was a botched robbery," explained Officer Joe Rios of the San Antonio Police Department. "They came in and took his wallet and took his cash, took things from the store and fled the location."
For 16 years, the case remained unsolved until police say Carmen Hinojosa Najera confessed and was arrested.
The 49-year-old woman was a former employee at the gas station, who had been fired. She told police she got angry, and she and her son went back to the store for revenge.
Police said the party was being held overnight at a home in the 12000 block of Course View Road.
Officers said apparently some of the party goers got a little rowdy and were asked to leave by the homeowners. The culprits then came back later armed with knives, police said.
When they arrived at the home at about 4 a.m., officers said they found a man with a knife lodged in his lower back, and three others with stab wounds.
SAN ANTONIO -- A man commits suicide and isn't found until weeks later. His body fluids actually soaked through the floor of his condo and into the unit below. It's a story News 4 told you about two years ago. And the fight to have that ceiling cleaned is still going on.
News 4's Delaine Mathieu investigates who is responsible for the clean-up and why someone may be headed to court.
"I can actually see the holes upstairs where the blood dripped down through." Charlie Moore, who owns Crime Clean of Texas, is back out at the Diamond Head Condos near the medical center.
Moore and his team were at the complex two years ago to clean up a gruesome suicide scene in the condo above Mike Dunlop's unit.
Moore says body fluid from that victim is still in the ceiling and Dunlop wants it gone.
"It's awful," says Dunlop. "For two years, I'm living with this smell on and off. And there's dead fluids."
