News

UTSA has renamed its student center the "H-E-B University Center" in thanks for the company's extensive contributions to the university's capital campaign.

Last week UTSA announced the receipt of a $5 million gift and the creation of the H-E-B Faculty Research Excellence Fund, which brings H-E-B’s overall support to more than $7 million.

The $5 million was matched by other private gifts to total $10 million for endowed professorships and chairs in all of UTSA’s nine colleges. It is the largest private challenge gift in UTSA history.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, testified in favor of Sen. Dan Patrick's bill that provides students with tax credits or vouchers to attend a private school.

"We have parents who are committed to their child’s education and want to get them out of poor performing schools," DiNardo said. "How could any of us look these parents in the eye and say that their children should be denied an opportunity for a better future simply because the system we have now, which in many cases is failed, is the only option we are going to allow them."

The idea behind Senate Bill 94 was to hurt human traffickers by shutting down their internet connection to customers. The law was intended to stop websites from selling ads for sex.

The women, who are often underage, are trafficked for sex, their traffickers get the money, and the websites also get a cut. The Aim Group, an online media analyst, estimated that Backpage.com took in $22 million last year from escort advertising.

Arriving next year is a 15-minute installation by French artist and world-renown painter Xavier de Richemont. The art video will be projected onto the façade of San Fernando Cathedral, with 7,000 square feet of light, color and visual narration.

The video offers the historical journey through the settlement of San Antonio and Bexar County, and is Main Plaza’s first outdoor video/art project.

Pop music is (usually) in English and is easy to understand, but Classical works are often in another language, and even when they are in English the operatic vibrato clouds the message.

Absolute music like a symphony or sonata has no words, but sometimes the work has a helpful title.

We've been presenting Beethoven's piano sonatas in order weekday mornings and one sonata that is very important in understanding the composer is being broadcast April 10 in the 6 a.m. hour.

San Antonio Independent School District has named Manuel Isquierdo, who is currently the superintendent of Sunnyside Unified School District in Tuscon, Ariz., as the finalist for the superintendent position.

It’s been more than a year, but trustees finally made the decision at a special board meeting on Monday night. Isquierdo was the only one of three candidates called back for a second interview.

In order to curb the amount of debt owed by the Texas Department of Transportation, Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, is proposing the state raise the sales tax by one-half cent.

"Over the past ten years a large part of funding for TxDOT projects has been done by issuing debt. TxDOT has outstanding debt exceeding $12 billion. If we continue down this path it will 2045 before all these bonds are paid off and it will cost the taxpayers about $28 billion including principal and interest," Eltife said.

An Article 32 evidentiary hearing is scheduled for this morning in the case against Senior Airman Christopher Oliver of the 324th Training Squadron.

The former military training instructor is charged with having unprofessional relationships with three basic trainees and a fourth woman who was a tech training student. Oliver also faces charges of sexual assault and sodomy against one of the trainees, as well as maltreatment of trainees, and obstruction of justice.

In The First Segment:

The health of San Antonio is gauged each year by the San Antonio Metro Health District's annual report. Bexar County and San Antonio have never been beacons of health, but the report details the specific issues that we are dealing with locally.  

From unprecedented levels of syphilis infections to amputations from diabetes at a rate four times the national average, the city still has major health problems.