SAN ANTONIO - An undercover officer injured her hand during a police sting. It all happened after a man stole the SAPD bait car on Formosa near Commercial Avenue on the South Side. As the officer ran after the suspect, she cut her hand jumping a fence.(from WOAI-TV)
We talked with witnesses who tell us they saw everything.
Drake Gafford found one of the odd dead animals along Highway 181 South.(from KENS-5)
"I threw him in a sack on the bed of my pickup," he said.
Gafford described the animal as having "red eyes, big old fangs and claws coming out, just a sharp as they could be."
Both carcasses beg the question: Are they the vampire-like monsters with the worldwide following?
Gafford says he is convinced.
"Chupacabra all the way," he said.
Just down the street, James Wright tells News 4 WOAI he's found several decapitated birds in his yard for the past few days.(from WOAI-TV)
The mystery behind the deaths is ruffling some feathers for nearby neighbors.
"It's strange, but maybe somebody... somebody's doing it," says homeowner Melissa Garza [Breathlessly, I'm sure. --ed.].
The San Antonio Audubon Society says the weather may be to blame.
"Right now with the drought so bad, there's a great competition for food and water and bugs," replies Georgina Schwartz of the Audubon Society. "There aren’t as many bugs, there aren’t as many flowers, so right now its not a good time for birds."
In fact, Schwartz adds that birds can get aggressive if other feathered fowls get in the way of their food.
"Grackles are great for drowning baby birds," Schwartz says. "Screech owls are in the habit of decapitating...you have a lot of competition out there. Sex and violence, you got lots of that in the bird world."
An administrator at St. Philip's College is under investigation based on a professor's complaint that she sent hundreds of sexually explicit and racially offensive emails to a handful of employees over the past six years.(from the Express-News)
Warren Parker, a radiography instructor, claims his boss, program director Donna Laird, sent at least 400 emails from her work account featuring semi-nude women, animals having sex or masturbating, foul language and jokes stereotyping men, women, rednecks and people of all races.
Parker is speaking out now because he believes his bid for tenure is in jeopardy.
He provided the San Antonio Express-News with a sample of about 100 emails he had saved.
When asked about Parker's complaint regarding the emails, Retha Karnes, a lawyer for the Alamo Colleges, said an investigation into the matter is ongoing. She declined to comment further. Laird did not return a phone call and an email sent to her work account seeking comment.
Joe[ Ball]'s story goes like this -- Back in the mid 1930's, after prohibition ended, Joe opened a bar called "The Sociable Inn" on Farm to Market Road 327 in Elmendorf, about 17 miles south of San Antonio. Back behind the bar, Joe kept a pond full of gators and fed them live animals to entertain the crowds. But then, women began to disappear. First, it was his long time girlfriend Minnie Gotthardt. Then, another girlfriend and barmaid at the inn, Hazel Brown.The legend? That he fed parts of his victims to his alligators. And the really strange part? After Ball died, his alligators were donated to the San Antonio Zoo.
On September 24th, 1938, when two Texas rangers [sic] went to the bar to question Joe, he put a gun to his chest and pulled the trigger. It was the day Joe Ball's life ended, and the day the legend of Joe Ball began.
SAN ANTONIO -- Olmos Basin Park hosts thousands of people on its various athletic fields, but according to many [How many? --ed.], there could be something more than just sports going on in the woods just behind the Olmos Dam. [Hanky-panky, maybe? --ed.](from KSAT-12)
There have long been stories, many turning into urban legends [how many, and where can I read them? --ed.], about UFO sightings and paranormal activity at the site. Its history of ancient Indian activity has led universities to archaeological digs there.
There is a team of investigators called Paranormal After Dark who recently set out to see if the legends were true, trying to find any sign of paranormal activity.
Their shiny black bus serves as a command center and the investigators use an array of various electronic devices. The team is made up of 13 members: teachers [!], police officers [Why? --ed.], firefighters [Why, why? --ed.] and a psychic [Just one? --ed.].
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After their investigations, the team collects data to decide if a return trip is warranted.
SAN ANTONIO -- The mission to take out Osama bin Laden took months to plan, and we've learned the mastermind behind it all is from San Antonio.(from KENS-5)
Vice Admiral Bill McRaven, a Roosevelt High School grad, is being credited with planning the U.S. strike that took down the world's top terrorist. He's done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he has written a book on special-ops tactics. Admiral Bill McRaven is the head of the Pentagon's joint special operations command.
The story of the three-star officer begins decades earlier when his father, who flew missions over the English Channel during WW II, got stationed at Lackland Air Force Base.
McRaven and his two sisters grew up in San Antonio. After he graduated from Roosevelt, a track scholarship took him to the University of Texas.
A naval career would follow, eventually leading him to one of the top spots in the Navy.
[Cody] Decker's three-run, eighth-inning homer was the difference in the Missions' 6-5 triumph over the Frisco RoughRiders, but it turned out that was only the beginning of what ended up as one of the wildest games in the franchise's 106-year history.(from the Express-News)
Before it was over, the small crowd of 2,153 witnessed a controversial ninth inning and a brief but frightening melee between Frisco players and a handful of unruly fans immediately after the game.
During the disturbance, heated words were exchanged. A trash can and bats were tossed into the stands by Frisco players from in front of their dugout, then back at the players by the fans.
By the time the dust had settled, at least three fans were handcuffed and detained by police.
SAN ANTONIO -- An east side man and his roommate face criminal charges stemming from an incident outside the man's mother's home involving a Molotov cocktail.(from KSAT-12)
Albert Rivas, 26, and his roommate, Todd Smith, 33, each face one count of possession of an incendiary device in connection with the April 21 incident.
San Antonio arson investigators described the device in an arrest affidavit as a beer can filled with flammable liquid with a burning cloth sticking out of the top. [emphasis gleefully added]
Dirty diapers can be a mess not only for parents, but also for landfills — a problem participants brought awareness to by setting a Guinness World Record on Saturday for the most cloth diapers changed at the same time.(from the Express-News)
The Great Cloth Diaper Change 2011, organized by a group of cloth diaper enthusiasts, had 400 sites across 24 countries help set the record. San Antonio supported the cause with 73 baby/parent pairs participating.
Using cloth diapers instead of disposables is better for the environment, safer for babies and cheaper, said Kim Webb, the committee chair for the San Antonio site, held at a La Quinta Inn & Suites.
“It can take hundreds of years for diapers to decompose in a landfill,” Webb said.Really? How does she know?
The crash happened around 2:30 a.m. on Hackberry Road.(from KSAT-12)
According to police, the driver was going more than 90 mphour before he reached a dead end at Hackberry and Interstate 35.
Officers said that's when the car hit the curb, flew over the center median of the interstate, a guardrail, three lanes of traffic and an access road.
The car finally came to a stop after it hit an embankment and rolled several times, police said.
The Vargas family said it was just like any other night. They were sleeping -- until the entire house shook.(from KENS-5)
It was reportedly a man in a minivan who crashed into the side of their west-side home. That driver put his vehicle in reverse and left.
San Antonio police got the call about the accident after 4 a.m. Wednesday at the corner of Potosi and SW 21.
When officers arrived, the van was gone. However, the damage was clear, and parts of the suspected vehicle were strewn about the scene.
It happened at about 1:30 am Saturday morning on the 300 block of South San Gabriel. Police say a group of teens had gathered in a vacant lot in the area. At some point 16-year-old Joe Tenorio pulled out a gun. Police believe he may have pointed it at his head and accidentally pulled the trigger.(from WOAI-TV)
SAN ANTONIO -- A dog stuck on the roof of a building near Interstate 35 had to be rescued by firefighters, police and Animal Care Services workers on Tuesday morning.(from KSAT-12)
Witnesses said the Great Dane had been on Interstate 35 and was probably frightened, so he jumped from the freeway to the roof of the Quincy Professional Building in the 300 block of Quincy Street.
SAN ANTONIO -- A sexual assault examiner said a rise in sexual assaults usually corresponds to the 11-day, citywide party, Fiesta.(from KSAT-12)
Already this month, 20 sexual assault victims have been treated by Shelley Botello and her Sexual Assault Response team at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital.
In April of last year, she said, the hospital treated 80 victims. She said her team typically handles 50 to 60 cases monthly.
Now that Fiesta has begun, Botello said it's a sign of what's to come, because 67 percent of the hospital's cases involve alcohol and drug consumption prior to the assaults.
"It makes them easy prey for predators," Botello said.
Before isolating a victim from others prior to the attack, "the predator will often sit back, (and) kind of observe the behavior of that person," Botello said.
She said the victims range in age from 17 to 25.
SAN ANTONIO -- Nine year old Ted Rodriguez was running after some fireworks when he tripped, causing a gash in his right leg on News Year's Eve.(from WOAI-TV)
"I was running with a stick," says the third grader. "I fell and it stabbed me, so I yanked it because I was so shocked."
He was rushed to Santa Rosa Hospital on the northwest side. Family members say doctors there stitched him up and sent him home. When the pain got worse, Ted came back for another diagnosis.
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Doctors found a 3 by 1 inch wooden plank [sic] lodged inside Ted's right leg, just above his knee.
A woman was jailed Thursday after police said she knocked an [sic] man and his walker to the ground at a grocery store parking lot in an effort to steal cash he had in his pocket.(from the Express-News)
Yolanda Peterson, 56, remained in jail Friday on $75,000 bail on a felony charge of aggravated robbery of an elderly person causing bodily injury, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Peterson tried to hug Jerald Janke, 67, in an effort to distract him, and when he “politely tried to ignore her” because he did not know her, she reached into his pocket, according to the affidavit.
Just before 9 p.m. a pilot and his passenger had to make an emergency landing on the shoulder of the southbound lanes of I-37S near S. New Braunfels.(from KENS-5)
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The chopper pilot told emergency responders he had to land abruptly because a bird flew through the aircraft's windshield.
The pilot and his passenger were treated on-site for minor injuries.
A tow truck was called to haul the helicopter away.
SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Bike Share program is the newest way for San Antonio residents to get a different look at their city, especially if they live or work downtown.(from KSAT-12)
"It really is designed for your local community to be able to move about in an active eco-friendly way," said Cindi Snell, who is the executive director of San Antonio B-cycle and co-owner of Bike World.
Bikes are parked at 14 kiosks all over downtown, from the Pearl Brewery south to Blue Star.
Although visitors can take advantage of it, the setup is designed for locals.
"If you need to move about downtown -- whether it's a meeting, or a lunch or delivery, whatever it might be -- instead of moving your car and having to re-park or pay for parking, you just use these bikes for short trips," Snell said.
For those who live in the downtown area, it is a unique way to see the city, especially if you don't own a bike.
Police say the driver lost control and slammed into a telephone pole near Wetmore and Thousand Oaks. Police say they believe the couple was having sex while driving. The man was naked and the woman was only partially clothed. The man died at the scene, and the woman is in critical condition.(from WOAI-TV)
SAN ANTONIO – Breakfast tacos are a San Antonio tradition. People here will fight to the death defending their favorite. [Really? Is that necessary? --ed.]I do. When they are in my hand and ready to go into my mouth, they are the best damned tacos on the planet.
The tortillas? The salsa? The eggs? What makes your favorite so good?
Now it’s your chance to sound off --- who has the best breakfast tacos in San Antonio?
Ousted beauty queen Domonique Ramirez retrieved her title and crown Thursday under a national media spotlight after a lawsuit jury unanimously decided the pageant organization that fired her had breached their contract.(from the Express-News)
“I don't have any choice but to reinstate Miss Ramirez as Miss San Antonio 2011,” state District Judge Barbara Hanson Nellermoe told the parties after shaking each departing juror's hand.
Family and friends of Ramirez, 17, broke into applause, and her attorney, Luis Vera Jr., appeared to wipe away a tear. [Blech! --ed.] Within minutes, Ramirez, her mother and Vera were at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on the West Side, where she left her crown as a gift to its patroness.
“She's the queen of all queens, the keeper of all crowns,” explained Ramirez, who said she could buy a replacement crown for the Fiesta and Miss Texas appearances that go with the renewed title. “I wanted to give my crown to her. I just wanted to send a message I'm very grateful and she has answered my prayers.”
[Benjamin] Radford dug through every El Chupacabra mention and traced the physical description of the monster to a single event in the second week of August 1995, when a sketch from an eyewitness named Madelyne Tolentino ran in a Puerto Rican newspaper. Locals immediately tagged the alien-looking animal as El Chupacabra.Of course, there is mention of the Texas beasts and how they fit into the whole mythos, mange and all.
The creature, Radford noticed, shared a strong resemblance to the alien/human hybrid in the 1995 sci-fi thriller "Species." When he spoke to Tolentino, he asked her if the thing that she saw could have been inspired by the film. Indeed, she had seen the movie in the weeks prior to making her description.
"You can make a direct connection between the film hitting theaters, her seeing the creature in the film, seeing it in the street, making the report and entering the public conscious," Radford said.
Soon after, reports of nearly identical creatures began appearing throughout Latin America. But these can be dismissed, Radford says, because they're all based on Tolentino's Hollywood-inspired monster.
"What I've tried to do is take the whole El Chupacabra enchilada and break it into small mysteries and then solve those mysteries," Radford said. "There's no place else for those mysteries to hide now. If I haven't solved every piece of it, then I don't know what I'm missing. It's all there."
Ricardo Jones, 37, is being held in the Bexar County jail. He's facing two counts of aggravated assault on a public servant.(from KSAT-12)
Police said they received a 911 call around 2 p.m. on Sunday from the manager of a Taco Bell restaurant in the 5300 block of Rigsby Avenue, telling them about a man who had just fired at him with a BB gun.
"He asked me the price of a burrito," said Brian Tillerson, the restaurant manager. "As soon as I told him the price, he just shot at me."
Tillerson said he recognized Jones as the same man who had yelled at him a week ago.
He said after Jones shot at him, he immediately called 911, then locked the restaurant doors when he saw Jones approaching.
"Then he proceeded to get out of his car and put a machine gun on the roof of his car and that's when we locked the lobby," Tillerson said.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Current last Friday, Bexar County Democratic Party Chair Dan Ramos likened homosexuals to children stricken with polio and the Stonewall Democrats, an organization working to advance the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals, to the Nazi Party.
In immediate response, State Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie called on Ramos to resign his post. Texas Stonewall Democrats called on him to apologize or resign. And Bexar County Young Democrats urged him to apologize and resign “for his profane display of bigotry.”
Among his more incendiary comments to the Current last week, Ramos said, “I liken [Stonewall Democrats] to the Tea Party — the Tea Party and the fucking Nazi Party — because they’re 90 percent white, blue-eyed, and Anglo, and I don’t give a shit who knows that. That’s the truth. Just like the blacks, they’re strong. And there’s nothing wrong — they’re Americans — but you can’t get your way just because you’re black.”
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Ramos frequently suggests that anti-Hispanic racism is to blame for the division that has been on display at past party meetings. When asked if race or sexual orientation were more a cause of concern for him, Ramos responded: “I go back to an old very well-used slogan: blacks wanted to get their way because they were black. What it is, is we have a very, very sinister movement in which you don’t know, at the end of the day, you didn’t even know that your next door buddy, your bosom fishing buddy was gay. That, I guess, goes to my belief in the religious thing. Look: this is not natural. This is like a kid who was born with a polio leg, you can’t kill him and you can’t sweep him under the rug. … I’m glad that Texas has not yet come to where gays can adopt children … because the poor kids have already come from a troubled family and then to be ‘hey, how come my momma is my daddy type of deal.’ It’s not natural.”
When challenged about his comments, Ramos insisted that he has been fighting for civil rights for 40 years. “I feel equal opportunity is meant for everyone that is being violated, regardless of who they are,” he said. “All I said was that equal opportunity should not be used as a umbrella to gain any kind of advantage over other people. It is pretty obvious that the advantage they [Stonewall Democrats] take is way beyond the pale. Certainly, all the people with handicaps, I represent them all the time.”
Do you think Ramos has read any Carnegie?Thursday, Dan Ramos called a new conference to set the record straight about an interview published in the Current in which Ramos is accused of making “bigoted” remarks.
However, while Ramos said the Current took his comments out of context, many local Democrats said the chairman only added fuel to the fire at his conference as he again likened the Bexar County Stonewall Democrats, a group that advocates for gay-rights, to the Nazi Party.
"I think Hitler made a pretty good example of when an individual perceives that he has power beyond control, and this is what these people (Stonewall Democrats) are doing in the Democratic Party," said Ramos.
Ramos also called members of the group “termites”.
"They have infiltrated the Bexar County party much like termites infiltrate your house, and they are trying to destroy what's been around for a long time."
When asked about Texas Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie's remarks that he should resign, Ramos said Richie is an “idiot”.
SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio police said a local teenager went joyriding late Wednesday night and slammed a car into the back of a garage.(from KSAT-12)
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He lost control of the vehicle, ran over a basketball goal and a fence before he crashed into the garage and came to a stop on two wheels, police said.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Tony Parker scored 27 points, Manu Ginobili had 24 and the San Antonio Spurs won their 11th in a row over Sacramento, beating the Kings 108-103 on Friday night.(from WOAI-TV)
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For the second straight year with the Kings in town, a bat swooped down from the rafters and circled the court during the game.
The commotion ended when the bat ran smack into a fan. It apparently survived.
1940It's a bit odd to think of the Romana Plaza area as the most congested in the city, especially now that it is 70 years later and we've added a whole interstate highway system since then. Now traffic congestion can be had in all areas of the city.
Work will start within one week at the traffic control project at Romana Plaza, most congested area in the city, Virden A. Rittgers, city traffic engineer, said Friday.
The arrest affidavit showed the resident called police Feb. 16 after finding Linda McCloskey, 52, inside her home when she returned from running an errand. Police believe McCloskey got in through an unlocked door.(from KSAT-12)
The homeowner told police when she confronted her, McCloskey said she was there to clean the house and then pointed to a vacuum cleaner and carpet steamer near the door.
However, the homeowner said both of the cleaning tools belonged to her and that she did not have a maid.
A woman was rushed to the hospital in critical condition Saturday morning after she flipped her car and crashed into a house at Rim Rock Trail and Stage Ln. around 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning.(from KABB-29)
Police say speed, alcohol and texting may have been factors in the accident that caused the woman to flip end-over-end several times, taking out a guardrail and a large portion of fencing before crashing into the house.
During the crash, a large piece of lumber that police believed to be from the fence impaled the woman's leg.
The missing statue of Ernani "Nani" Falcone is back where it belongs.(from KSAT-12)
City leaders and friends of Falcone gathered Saturday morning to rededicate the statue at the spot where it had disappeared more than a year ago.
Someone took the statue honoring the late parks and neighborhood advocate, and no one knew where it was, who took it, or why.
But friends said a city park policeman recently stumbled upon the statue while helping other officers search for a robbery suspect.
That find led to the Saturday ceremony and replacing of "Nani" at the Mystic Park spot where it was first dedicated more than four years ago.
SAN ANTONIO -- A southeast side man said the tax man who came knocking at his home had a knife and took what he said was owed.(from KSAT-12)
As a result, San Antonio police have arrested one of the suspected illegal tax men, 19-year-old Jesse Aceves.
The victim told detectives he was leaving his home in the 800 block of E. Highland on Jan. 13 when three men approached him and demanded $200.
The arrest affidavit said the victim told police the group claimed to be members of the Mexican Mafia, and told him he owed the money as tax for "living on their block."
SAN ANTONIO -- A late night out may have saved the life of a local homeowner. The man said he was driving home early Thursday morning when he noticed his house was on fire.(from KSAT-12)
San Antonio police said a car crashed into the northeast side home about 3 a.m. and ignited the massive blaze.
Police said the driver had been speeding when he crashed into the home in the 4200 block of Clear Lake Drive.
There is a new all-women pro football team in San Antonio, and they are in search of players.(from KENS-5)
The Texas Cowgirls will be part of the Leather and Lace football League. They will play their first game iin [sic] late April or early May.
Leather and Lace is an all female league with noticeably different uniforms than the ones you see on Sunday in the NFL.
Investigators say the suspect pulled a gun at the Lone Star Capital Bank in the 15,100 block of San Pedro around 1:00 p.m. Friday and demanded money. They believe they are looking for a thin woman who was dressed as a man and was wearing a fake goatee, but said they could not be sure.(from WOAI-TV)
If you have any information about this bank robbery, please immediately call police ...
There has been a new development in the fight for the Miss San Antonio crown.(from KENS-TV)
District Judge Cathleen Stryker has declined the temporary injunction sought by 17-year-old Domonique Ramirez.
Pageant officials had a little make-do crowning event immediately after the judge's ruling, placing the crown on Ashley Dixon's head for the first time.
Ramirez had been fighting to retain her title, after pageant officials tried to take it away.
Ramirez wasn't at court for the grand finale Wednesday. She was out sick with pneumonia, her attorneys say.
Jaime Martinez, Board Chair for the Cesar E. Chavez Legacy and Educational Foundation is asking city leaders to make San Antonio a "safe haven" for undocumented workers and their families. Martinez is calling for immigration reform on labor rights, reunification of the family, and giving illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.(from KSAT-12)
"Close to 6 billion dollars a year is collected from these workers who do not have matching social security numbers," said Martinez in a press conference Tuesday. "We want the politicians to check the social security administration suspense files," explained Martinez. "[They're] going to be alarmed, that [illegal immigrants] do pay their fair share to America."
Also attending the press conference was a representative from United Food and Commercial Workers, a worker's union that stands for achieving the American dream.Huh?
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"What about all their benefits?" asked [UFCW representative Tony] Reyes. "Their 401Ks, and their vacations?"
SAN ANTONIO-- Luxury brand Louis Vuitton is suing a popular northeast side flea market, claiming the owners and manager have allowed vendors to sell counterfeit Louis Vuitton merchandise.(from WOAI-TV)
The company claims vendors inside the Eisenhauer Market have sold counterfeit goods for more than a year. Shoppers say the market is a popular spot for knock-off handbags that cost hundreds less than the real thing.
Louis Vuitton’s Intellectual Property Department is managing over 11,500 intellectual property rights including trademarks, designs and copyrights with the support of 250 agents around the world. Thanks to this fully-dedicated team of lawyers and former law enforcement professionals based in Paris with regional offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Milan, Dubai, New York and Buenos Aires, thousands of anti-counterfeiting raids are performed each year. In 2009, Louis Vuitton initiated 9,489 raids (39 per day) and 26,843 anti-counterfeiting procedures worldwide, resulting in the seizure of thousands of counterfeit products and the break- up of criminal networks, easing the plight of workers working for illegal organisations.They initiated 39 raids per day in 2009. Looking at that statistic, I guess it was just a matter of time until they got around to the Eisenhauer Market.
According to an arrest warrant, 36-year-old Alfredo Ibarra went to his uncle's home on Sunday to make a deal. Police said he claimed he was sent to murder the 52-year-old victim. However, if his uncle could come up with $2,000 they could bury the plot to kill him.(from KENS-5)
The warrant indicates the uncle could only give his nephew $80. Ibarra allegedly agreed to this plan. Police said the suspect intended to come back for the rest of the money.
Investigators said the victim was so frightened he hid for two days. The authorities were called.
According to an arrest warrant, investigators found Pete Ramos' blood at the scene of the crime, which reportedly gave police DNA evidence to link him to the smash-and-grab.(from KENS-5)
The warrant indicates Ramos is one of the suspects who burglarized the Target near I-10 and De Zavala Road. Police said someone threw a large rock through the front glass doors and took quite a bit of merchandise on Dec. 15.
While breaking into the display case, the 32-year-old suspect cut himself, leaving blood behind on the broken glass.
SAN ANTONIO -- Two construction workers suffered injuries -- one critically -- when a parking structure they were working on in the Medical Center area collapsed Monday.(from KSAT-12)
The collapse occurred just before noon on Monday at University Hospital near the intersection of Wurzbach and Medical drives, hospital spokeswoman Leni Kirkman said.
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San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said the crew was working on the seven-story structure when they heard a rumbling noise shortly before noon.
Hood said the workers activated an emergency tone, causing the crew to evacuate the structure.
More than 100 workers were on the site at the time and all were accounted for, Hood said.
One person suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Kirkman said, but another was admitted in critical condition and was being treating [sic] at University Hospital's trauma center.
Two men fell through a window at a downtown San Antonio bank building, trapping them inside for an hour-and-a-half, police said.(from KSAT-12)
The incident happened at the Broadway Bank building at Pecan St. and Soledad around 4:30 Saturday morning.
Police said the two men had been drinking and started to fight. They fell against the window, breaking it and crashing more than 20 feet to a floor below, investigators said.
The man were trapped inside an enclosed area away from the bank itself.
One of the weirdest burials in the world was right here in an East Side cemetery. Sandra West was the young widow of Texas multimillionaire oilman Ike West. When she died in 1977 the Beverly Hills socialite left a handwritten will saying she had to be buried in her lacy nightgown sitting in her 1964 powder blue Ferrari 330 America in a comfortable reclining position.And it includes plenty of quotes from the wonderfully-named owner of Mission Park Funeral Chapels and Cemeteries, Dick Tips, including a sneak peek at the plans for his own funeral.
If she wasn't buried as instructed, her brother-in-law would get nearly nothing. A court battle lasted two months before she finally rode off into the ground. Hundreds showed up at the Alamo Masonic Cemetery to see the spectacle, but the funeral director kept West all crated up. The onlookers couldn't see West inside the crate, even though she was dressed in her nightgown in the car. The court had ordered it to be respectful and discrete.
“I'm going to have different costume changes,” says Tips. “I was a Rey Feo here in San Antonio. I'm very proud of it,” said Tips.That's going to be some send-off.
“Absolutely. The Masonic Lodge, Rey Feo, Cavaliers, and, of course, the suit,” said Dick's wife Kristen, who is also a funeral director.
Dick Tips plans to show off and celebrate what the family business can do. Someday, not soon, in the very same solid bronze casket with the gold hand bars that Michael Jackson was buried in.
Officers said the woman fell 75 feet from I-10 just south of Crossroads Blvd. Police are now trying to figure out what caused her to fall.(from KSAT-12)
They said it appears the woman was driving on I-10 and hit a wall, but they're not sure whether she was ejected from her car or got out on her own.
Investigators said another car then hit the woman's car from behind, and they believe she either was tossed, or jumped to avoid the impact. She then fell to the access road 75 feet down and was killed.
(from KENS-5)SAN ANTONIO -- Lately, the Alamo City has seen its name on a variety of lists -- some good, some spotlighting our range of waistlines.
But this time, we love seeing San Antonio at the top of The Daily Beast's "50 Best Cities for Love."
According to The Daily Beast's story, its staff ranked our nation's largest cities based on marriage and divorce rates, happy population and wealth of bars and restaurants.
And here's the rankings for other Texas cities on the list:
Singles: C
Social life: A
Emotional health: A
Marriage: B
Divorce: C
Romantic hotspot: Omni La Mansion del Rio
#3 -- AustinFeel the love, yet?
#40 -- Houston
#41 -- Dallas
First obvious problem with this? The executive director of the group that runs the pageant (Miss Bexar County Organization, Inc) is named Caroline Flores. Granted, that may well be her married name, but methinks not too many Mexican-haters marry them.Make sure you click the link.
Second obvious problem? This is the runner up:
ATF agents say drug gangs are buying old grenades to do their dirty work across the border. Agents are going undercover to catch them.(from KENS-5)
Unfortunately, the black market for explosives in San Antonio is booming. ATF agents say Mexican drug cartels are snatching up pipe bombs and old pineapple and baseball grenades in our back yard.
They say the grenades dint [sic] have to be live to be lethal in the wrong hands.
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -- Relatives of a missing New Braunfels toddler said police are asking them to undergo polygraph tests in an effort to locate the 18-month-old boy.(from KSAT-12)
Joshua Davis Jr. was reported missing by his parents, who told police they last saw their son around 8 p.m. Friday inside their home in the 2600 block of Savannah Hill Circle.
Police, along with other law enforcement agents and volunteers, combed a wooded area near the family's home all weekend but did not locate him.
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"We're going to be retracing some of our steps," Lt. Mike Penshorn said Monday morning. "Also, we are still interviewing a number of the people associated with the child and, of course, we're expanding that where we have quite a few people that we are bringing just to talk to find out what did happen in this case."
According to Jerome Davis, Joshua's grandfather, that also includes administering polygraph tests to everyone who lives in the household.
Prickly political comedian Lewis Black is a big boy and certainly doesn't need my help in handling obnoxious hecklers.(from the Express-News)
But his thought-provoking jowl-shaking performance at Majestic Theatre on Friday was marred by drunken audience outbursts of the Tea Party variety that, for any comedy lover, were cringe-worthy and a black eye to this city.
Especially since Black opened his show with a hilarious, self-deprecating five-minute warning about his brand of caustic, unforgiving comedy which has made him a Comedy Central star and best-selling author.
...
Friday's show, with talented opener John Bowman, took a darker turn when Black — who skewers the left, right and middle — touched on provocative issues of gun control, abortion and taxes.
“When people ask next year why Lewis Black left comedy, you've seen the pivotal moment,” said Black, 62, utterly exasperated with a woman near the front who rudely and repeatedly interrupted a riff about taxing the rich and Black proposing — sarcastically — a “Rich People's Day” to honor them.
...
To a man who screamed ideological nonsense from the back, Black responded, “You're in love with your guns and you're a (expletive) happy person. And you make a scary sound like the (expletives) wolves at night.”
The ruckus broke out when Black said, “The one thing we don't argue about is gun control. It's off the table.”
When mindless whoops went up, Black looked genuinely stunned. “What does that (expletive) mean?” he asked.
The same man yelled out, “I love guns!” Black simply stared and implored, “But stop making that scary (expletive) noise.”
...
Years ago, the late George Carlin had two heckling jerks removed from the Majestic for lesser offenses. To his credit, Black kept his cool and stayed in control — though the vast majority likely wished he'd taken that page from Carlin's playbook.
A 41-year-old man crashed his van into the wall of a brick home on the Northeast Side after suffering a seizure Thursday afternoon.(from the Express-News)
Police said the driver had been traveling east on O'Connor Road when the attack caused him to lose consciousness and swerve into the 6300 block of Kings Crown Street, where he hit the house.
His Jeep Liberty punched a hole in the side wall of the garage. [emphases added]
Rather said that when it comes to the media, this country is “in a state of crisis.”Seriously? This guy -- who had to step down from his job because he presented a news segment on 60 Minutes Wednesday bashing then-president George Bush just before his re-election (and the entire segment was based on fake documents!) -- this guy is accusing others of "tart[ing] up the news with ... scandal and sensationalism"? This guy is worried about news that is "scripted and rigged behind the scenes"?
“Those who dumb down the news, trivialize the news with in-studio shouting matches passing for debate,” Rather said, “those who tart up the news with celebrity gossip, scandal and sensationalism are playing right into the hands of those that stand to gain the most from the news being seen as irrelevant and trivial and no more or less worth your attention than the next episode of ‘American Idol.'”
He elaborated: “I worry that if it becomes no more than a reality show, something that could be scripted and rigged behind the scenes without anyone really getting upset about it, that our freedom of the press will become another one of those constitutionally granted rights that can be watered down and eventually taken away from us.”
Part of a upper level storm system over the Rocky Mountains will move eastward into Texas. It will help draw moisture from the Pacific Ocean over our area.(from KSAT-12)
This will also enhance lift in the atmosphere causing precipitation to fall. Since we are below freezing at the surface and aloft in the atmosphere most of the precipitation will fall in the form of snow.
SAN ANTONIO -- One of San Antonio’s premier research facilities has a new name and an expanded mission.(from KENS-5)
The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research is now the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
You might know it as the place with the monkeys on Loop 410, often confused with the Southwest Research Institute next door. The scientists who work at Texas Biomed hope there won’t be any more mistaking who they are and what they do.
The bust was a joint investigation between DPS and ICE that resulted in the seizure of 28 pounds of crystal meth.(from KENS-5)
Investigators say that's worth about $2 million to $5 million on the street. Authorities did make two arrests in the sting.
The San Antonio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force started investigating the men in March of 2010.
A federal complaint says the men had plans to move some crystal meth to Houston. Authorities say they were storing the meth at a Mini Storage unit in the 3500 block of S.W. Military.
