San Antonio business leaders have returned home optimistic after a week-long lobbying trip to Washington.
Business leaders, along with officials from the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, target certain projects and issues every year as Congress starts looking at new legislation.
Construction workers install pilings for solar trusses at OCI's newest location in San Antonio. OCI pledged to bring more than 800 new clean energy jobs to San Antonio.
Unemployment figures released Friday had bad news and good news for Texas.
The good news is that over the past year, unemployment in the state has declined almost a full percentage point and remains below the national rate of 7.9 percent for January.
The bad news is that unemployment rose slightly in Texas for the month of January to 6.3 percent; prior to January, the jobless rate had been declining for six months.
Last year San Antonio Police reported that dozens of people were struck and killed crossing busy roadways. As a result, Police Chief William McManus instituted stricter jaywalking policies.
However, people continued illegally crossing the street, and one area where it kept happening was on Fredericksburg Road, which sees more than 16,000 cars each day.
State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, is hoping to changing the way the Lower Colorado River Authority does business. She has authored a set of bills -- HB 585 and HB 635 -- which would submit the LCRA's operations and its board members before the Sunset Advisory Commission.