News

Wednesday is the start of pre-enrollment for San Antonio’s new early childhood education initiative, Pre-K 4 SA. 700 students in total will be selected for the inaugural classes at the two model education centers, located on the northwest and southeast sides of town.

The city changed the dates and locations of pre-enrollment, which is now scheduled to run through May 9.

The House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety heard from the chief investigators of the explosion at the West fertilizer plant this morning at the state capitol.

Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, told lawmakers that the state uses an EPA law that places the responsibility for responding to emergency at the local level.

UTSA Art Professor Ken Little of UTSA’s College of Liberal and Fine Arts has been selected to serve as the 2014 Texas State Visual Artist 3-D. 

Little is one of a handful of artists recognized by the Texas Commission on the Arts and will help contribute to a distinctive cultural identity that is Texas.

Little’s work has been featured in more than 250 group exhibitions, 45 solo exhibitions, and in public and private collections all around the United States.

“Bella Italia” will feature music to be performed by the San Antonio Mastersingers and the University of Texas at San Antonio Concert Choir in Italy, May 12–21. The program begins with Giovanni Palestrina’s "Ave Maria", "composed for St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome, where we've been invited to sing a Mass during this tour," says John Silantien, conductor of the groups.

The Children's Chorus of San Antonio performs their annual Spring Song this Sunday at 3 p.m., with a theme "The Magic Within." 

Artistic Director and Founder Marguerite McCormick is excited for the program.

The Texas House has passed House Bill 21, which sets up a statewide database to track the location of repeat offenders that have been convicted of family violence.  

The bill, which is authored by Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, sets up a registry of anyone convicted three times on charges of family violence and/or child abuse. 

In the first segment:

It appears that regardless of what passes or doesn't pass in the legislature this month, the San Antonio city ordinance on payday lenders in San Antonio will remain.

According to Texans for Public Justice, an anti-corruption advocacy nonprofit, payday lenders had more than $3.7 million in donations to state lawmaker campaigns since 2010.  

The organization says the payday loan lobby is fueling a "tepid" set of reforms.  

The city is in the middle of a week-long list of events to motivate residents of all ages - from elementary to high school and beyond - to go to college.

On Monday, Mayor Julián Castro reminded people on the steps of City Hall about the city’s commitment to education.

"San Antonians set a bold goal," he said. "That goal was to make the biggest turnaround in educational achievement any big city has seen in a decade."

Update: (May 2, 3:20 p.m.) Allen was sentenced to three months confinement, reduction to the grade of E-3 (Airman First Class) and hard labor without confinement for 30 days.

Allen's is the 18th completed courts-martial in the ongoing Lackland sex scandal involving military training instructors.