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Richard Wagner’s "Parsifal," his final opera, was created in parallel with his greatest creations including "The Ring" and "Tristan." It took him just over 30 years and several revisions before it was finally presented in 1882.

It is viewed as his most refined and elaborate work and it at times leaves people feeling that it is too profound to even applaud. In a comic twist, this bothered the composer; when Wagner would applaud a certain scene he would be hushed by members of the audience.

The San Antonio Express-News will be adopting a paywall for online content by the end of the Summer.

Newspapers across the nation have been looking for ways to convince their readers to pay for looking at their journalism online. After years of providing their content free online, San Antonio's Express-News is about to take the next step, a step that comes along with several other changes at the paper.

Ted Siebert, an internationally renowned sand sculptor, is leading a design team in building three massive artworks at the San Antonio Botanical Garden using 24 tons of sand.

The designs will include the Alamo and the Moy Grand Hibiscus flower.

The Moy Hibiscus was first produced at the Botanical Garden in a cross-breed experiment by Dr. Ying Doon Moy, whose colleagues eventually got the hibiscus planted along roads in China.

Bexar County Judge Nelson has placed his support behind a bill in the legislature that would consolidate the governments of San Antonio and Bexar County into a single entity.

A pair of bills filed by state Rep. Lyle Larson would create a single government combining San Antonio’s City Council with the Bexar County Commissioner’s Court.

On Tuesday night the UTSA Great Conversation fund raiser raised over $160,000 for scholarships, research and other learning opportunities.

Held at the Institute of Texan Cultures, the event organized students and invitees in tables geared at addressing a variety of topics.

The closed section of the Riverwalk on Museum Reach has been re-opened to the public. When the F.I.S.H. art installation was damaged in Monday’s windstorms, the San Antonio River Authority had to close the section of trails under the I-35 overpass.

On Tuesday crews cleaned up fallen debris from the broken F.I.S.H. and partially re-opening of one side of the river.

Wednesday, SARA re-opened the east bank of the River, noting that it may have to be closed again temporarily when repairs get underway.

The Source: A great city must have a great newspaper, and right now our paper, the Hearst-owned San Antonio Express-News, is going through a metamorphosis with a new editor guiding the local bullpen.

That editor is Mike Leary, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor from his days at the Philadelphia Inquirer where he was deputy managing editor of news and investigations.

I first heard Van Cliburn live in 1969. He played a concert at Austin's Municipal Auditorium, a barn of a place, to a sold-out audience. I was, in the vernacular of the time, blown away.

As soon as the concert was over, I rushed down from my balcony seat to wait in the long line of well wishers for my opportunity to have my program autographed. By this time, Mr. Cliburn had actually come down into the audience. He was, in a sense, a man of the people.

Standing on a stage inside Ballroom A of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center downtown, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro began his annual State of the City address by joking that people should pick up a copy of Vogue.

The mayor and his brother, Congressman Joaquín Castro, are featured in the March edition of the trendy fashion magazine.

Before long Castro was into a list of items he and the city council have taken up over the last year: