Raised in San Antonio, Jan Ross is a graduate of UT Austin’s School of Journalism. Before Texas Public Radio, she interned for the News Desk at NPR Headquarters and the network’s mid-day program, Here & Now. She was a member of Texas Standard’s digital-first web team during the newsmagazine show’s launch in 2015. Jan Ross was selected for the inaugural cohort of Gwen Ifill Fellows by the International Women's Media Foundation, an alum of NPR's Next Generation Radio Project and an executive board member overseeing outreach for the Archer Fellowship Alumni Association.
Jan Ross is interested in all things pop culture and global affairs. Her journalistic interests range from issues of social inequality to media commentary. She enjoys travel, podcasts, live music, and sharing the best of film and television.
Starting in August, an ordinance requiring businesses to offer paid sick leave will be enforced. But some employers in San Antonio are worried about the feasibility of offering this benefit.
Homeowners across the state have seen the amount of taxes owed on their property increase year after year. Complaints of appraisals, confusing statements and rising taxes have made ownership less desirable. Property tax reform has finally come to Texas after the 86th Legislative session. What laws have been enacted, and will property taxes finally be reduced?
San Antonio is known as the “gateway to the border.” It is the closest major city to the Rio Grande Valley and to commercial hubs in Laredo and Del Rio. Texas Public Radio has covered immigration and border issues for more than two decades but reporters have had to travel up to five hours each way in order to report many of these stories. The addition of TPR’s first-ever Immigration and U.S.-Mexico Border Reporter on January 1 enabled the TPR News team to utilize its institutional knowledge to work better as a team and to comprehensively cover immigration issues.
San Antonio is known as the “gateway to the border.” It is the closest major city to the Rio Grande Valley and to commercial hubs in Laredo and Del Rio. Texas Public Radio has covered immigration and border issues for more than two decades but reporters have had to travel up to five hours each way in order to report many of these stories. The addition of TPR’s first-ever Immigration and U.S.-Mexico Border Reporter on January 1 enabled the TPR News team to utilize its institutional knowledge, to work better as a team and to comprehensively cover immigration issues.
Bonnie Petrie followed families who were reunited in San Antonio following their separation last summer. This was one of several pieces documenting these stories that were picked up by stations throughout Texas and NPR.
This covered the first of several abrupt releases of detained migrants. David Martin Davies captured the scene, and this report led to a series of stories exploring how ICE release policies impact migrants and the organizations that try to care for them.
These two pieces from Carson Frame documented President Trump’s decision to send troops to the border right before the 2018 midterm elections. Carson traveled to the Rio Grande Valley to listen to residents' opinions about the deployment, and then she returned three months later to gather their reactions and to analyze the legacy of the short-lived deployment.
Ahead of President Trump’s visit to McAllen during a government shutdown over wall funding, Reynaldo Leanos Jr. gathered thoughts from local Republicans.
Joey Palacios traveled to Eagle Pass to report for TPR and NPR about President Trump’s decision to send troops to confront a migrant caravan headed for the U.S.-Mexico border.
This was the first story in our series "The Reality at the Border." The story took weeks of planning and effort to find real people who would be directly impacted by a proposed border wall. Reporting included views on both sides of the debate and an RGV resident who saw the wall built through her backyard. Our main source was the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the federal government. Two of our sources in this story became go-to sources for our continuing coverage of how proposed border walls will affect communities in the Rio Grande Valley. The radio and video stories were picked up by NPR and aired nationally on All Things Considered.
Drag performers around the Rio Grande Valley gathered in Brownsville in front of existing border wall to host a peaceful protest and show their opposition to more border wall construction in the region. The event was also a stand in solidarity with LGBTQ asylum seekers.
The story was part of our ongoing coverage of the environmental impact of proposed border wall. This story aired on public radio stations throughout Texas.
Reynaldo Leaños Jr. reported from Brownsville for Charro Days, a multi-day annual event that commemorates the relationship between Brownsville and Matamoros, its sister city in Mexico. This story explored how some residents took a moment to reconnect with their Mexican roots, while others reflected on how much the border region changed in recent years.
This was a follow-up to "A Wall In My Backyard," the first story in the "Reality at the Border" series. This story examined how residents and municipalities responded to the federal government's use of eminent domain to build more wall in the Rio Grande Valley. This story was picked up nationally by NPR.
Recent outbreaks of curable infectious diseases raise questions about safety and misinformation. These outbreaks are a reminder that health is not just an individual concern but a public health issue.
San Antonio and Leon Valley's portion of State Highway 16 – better known as the Bandera Road corridor – is a problem area for drivers.
A particular stretch of Bandera Road between I-410 and Loop 1604 is the eighth most congested road in the region, ranked within the top 70 most congested in the state according to the Texas Department of Transportation.
San Antonio is known as a family-friendly city, good for raising kids and growing communities. How can we help provide an enriching early childhood experience for the next generation?
Thomas Anderson/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) http://bit.ly/2GkjavM
As the city celebrates Fiesta, party-goers raise the risk of an alcohol-related crash. Meanwhile, residents and local law enforcement are keeping a more watchful eye on the road.
