After months of planning hampered by shifting risk assessments and zigzagging state rules, today will see the first return of students to classrooms for many pubic schools in San Antonio.With the community spread of the coronavirus on the decline but still a threat, classes will start on a small scale for individual campuses in several local school districts, including the three largest. All are requiring face coverings and social distancing.“Opening schools is the easy part. Keeping them open is more complex,” North East Independent School District Superintendent Sean Maika said in a...…After months of planning hampered by shifting risk assessments and zigzagging state rules, today will see the first return of students to classrooms for many pubic schools in San Antonio.With the community spread of the coronavirus on the decline but still a threat, classes will start on a small scale for individual campuses in several local school districts, including the three largest. All are requiring face coverings and social distancing.“Opening schools is the easy part. Keeping them open is more complex,” North East Independent School District Superintendent Sean Maika said in a...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateThe American West is well on its way into one of the worst mega-droughts on record, a new study warns, a dry period that could last for centuries and spread from Oregon and Montana, through the Four Corners and into West Texas and northern Mexico.Several other mega-droughts, generally defined as dry periods that last 20 years or more, have been documented in the West going back to about 800 A.D. In the new study, the researchers, using an extensive tree-ring history, compared recent climate data with conditions during the historic...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateThe American West is well on its way into one of the worst mega-droughts on record, a new study warns, a dry period that could last for centuries and spread from Oregon and Montana, through the Four Corners and into West Texas and northern Mexico.Several other mega-droughts, generally defined as dry periods that last 20 years or more, have been documented in the West going back to about 800 A.D. In the new study, the researchers, using an extensive tree-ring history, compared recent climate data with conditions during the historic...WW…

WASHINGTON - The White House press room turned out to be a more dangerous place than anyone realized. And the reporters who work there started getting nervous about it.The news Friday about an outbreak of coronavirus infections among White House employees - including Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary - has raised further concerns among journalists about working in the cramped confines of the West Wing's press briefing room.It also raised frustrations: Almost every reporter in the building began wearing masks last week as a precaution against spreading or catching the virus, even...…WASHINGTON - The White House press room turned out to be a more dangerous place than anyone realized. And the reporters who work there started getting nervous about it.The news Friday about an outbreak of coronavirus infections among White House employees - including Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary - has raised further concerns among journalists about working in the cramped confines of the West Wing's press briefing room.It also raised frustrations: Almost every reporter in the building began wearing masks last week as a precaution against spreading or catching the virus, even...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCorrection: This story has been changed to correct the number of San Antonio companies that received Paycheck Protection Program loans.More than two dozen San Antonio-area companies, including the Thomas J. Henry law firm and Bill Miller Bar-B-Q Enterprises, received loans of at least $5 million under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.Other local recipients of loans from $5 million to $10 million included Our Lady of the Lake University, Joeris General Contractors Ltd., Lewis Energy Group and South...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateCorrection: This story has been changed to correct the number of San Antonio companies that received Paycheck Protection Program loans.More than two dozen San Antonio-area companies, including the Thomas J. Henry law firm and Bill Miller Bar-B-Q Enterprises, received loans of at least $5 million under the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.Other local recipients of loans from $5 million to $10 million included Our Lady of the Lake University, Joeris General Contractors Ltd., Lewis Energy Group and South...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateGrowing up in San Antonio, Charles Quinton Brown was quiet, studious and serious about the future.“During his school years, you never one time had to say, ‘Would you do your homework?’” said his mother, Kay Tanner Brown. “It was automatic. He always studied hard.”As three generations of Browns stood Thursday in a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, it was clear how far the studious one had come.Now a decorated four-star general, Brown was installed as the Air Force chief of staff, becoming the first African American to hold...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateGrowing up in San Antonio, Charles Quinton Brown was quiet, studious and serious about the future.“During his school years, you never one time had to say, ‘Would you do your homework?’” said his mother, Kay Tanner Brown. “It was automatic. He always studied hard.”As three generations of Browns stood Thursday in a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, it was clear how far the studious one had come.Now a decorated four-star general, Brown was installed as the Air Force chief of staff, becoming the first African American to hold...WW…

A former San Antonio police officer accused of giving a feces sandwich to a homeless man lost his second bid to get his job back, the city announced Friday.An independent arbitrator upheld Matthew Luckhurst’s dismissal given the egregious nature of the former bike patrol officer’s conduct, the city said.The decision comes nearly four years after San Antonio Police Chief William McManus issued two separate dismissals to Luckhurst, a five-year veteran of the force.In the first incident, officials say Luckhurst gave a homeless man a sandwich containing dog feces. Luckhurst admitted that he...…A former San Antonio police officer accused of giving a feces sandwich to a homeless man lost his second bid to get his job back, the city announced Friday.An independent arbitrator upheld Matthew Luckhurst’s dismissal given the egregious nature of the former bike patrol officer’s conduct, the city said.The decision comes nearly four years after San Antonio Police Chief William McManus issued two separate dismissals to Luckhurst, a five-year veteran of the force.In the first incident, officials say Luckhurst gave a homeless man a sandwich containing dog feces. Luckhurst admitted that he...WW…

The lead representative for the local deputies’ union hammered away during a virtual collective bargaining session Wednesday on working conditions at the Bexar County Jail, comparing detention officers to workers in a coal mine.“You just keep working them, and working them, and working them, and we think that’s got to stop,” said attorney Ron DeLord, chief negotiator for the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Bexar County. “We cannot agree to continue a process that allows workers to be worked to a point of exhaustion and have no personal life.”An attorney for the county said it was looking for...…The lead representative for the local deputies’ union hammered away during a virtual collective bargaining session Wednesday on working conditions at the Bexar County Jail, comparing detention officers to workers in a coal mine.“You just keep working them, and working them, and working them, and we think that’s got to stop,” said attorney Ron DeLord, chief negotiator for the Deputy Sheriffs Association of Bexar County. “We cannot agree to continue a process that allows workers to be worked to a point of exhaustion and have no personal life.”An attorney for the county said it was looking for...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateDespite calls from activists to spend less on San Antonio police, City Council members unanimously passed a $2.9 billion budget Thursday that includes a boost in funding for the San Antonio Police Department.In drawing up the budget, San Antonio leaders were confronted with the nation’s two major crises this year — the coronavirus pandemic and outrage over police brutality, particularly toward people of color. Officials grappled with the blow to the city’s coffers dealt by the pandemic’s economic fallout as well as calls from...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateDespite calls from activists to spend less on San Antonio police, City Council members unanimously passed a $2.9 billion budget Thursday that includes a boost in funding for the San Antonio Police Department.In drawing up the budget, San Antonio leaders were confronted with the nation’s two major crises this year — the coronavirus pandemic and outrage over police brutality, particularly toward people of color. Officials grappled with the blow to the city’s coffers dealt by the pandemic’s economic fallout as well as calls from...WW…

Up to 2,400 West Side students currently without internet access at home could have it by December under San Antonio’s Connected Beyond the Classroom program, the city’s Office of Innovation said Tuesday.The effort to bridge the digital divide for students in underserved areas — which became a crisis spawned by the need for remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic — will eventually provide internet access to up to 20,000 students at no cost, Brian Dillard, the city’s chief innovation officer, told a City Council committee.About one-fifth of San Antonio households with children don’t...…Up to 2,400 West Side students currently without internet access at home could have it by December under San Antonio’s Connected Beyond the Classroom program, the city’s Office of Innovation said Tuesday.The effort to bridge the digital divide for students in underserved areas — which became a crisis spawned by the need for remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic — will eventually provide internet access to up to 20,000 students at no cost, Brian Dillard, the city’s chief innovation officer, told a City Council committee.About one-fifth of San Antonio households with children don’t...WW…

June 12, 2020Alarms were blaring in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. A patient suddenly had awakened in the dark. A breathing tube was threaded down her throat.It was a few minutes before 1 a.m., and her sedatives had worn off. In her room, behind a wall of windows and a closed glass door, she twisted against the wrist restraint that kept her from dislodging the tube. She bit down on the tube and tried to lift her arm.If she pulled out the tube, she could die.Her nurse, Frank Salinas, hurried to her door. He needed to enter the room to calm her down.But first, he had to put on a yellow...…June 12, 2020Alarms were blaring in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. A patient suddenly had awakened in the dark. A breathing tube was threaded down her throat.It was a few minutes before 1 a.m., and her sedatives had worn off. In her room, behind a wall of windows and a closed glass door, she twisted against the wrist restraint that kept her from dislodging the tube. She bit down on the tube and tried to lift her arm.If she pulled out the tube, she could die.Her nurse, Frank Salinas, hurried to her door. He needed to enter the room to calm her down.But first, he had to put on a yellow...WW…