Welcome to TPR's new roundup of the latest headlines and news developments. It is designed to provide a succinct and clear summary of the stories TPR is following.
Today's weather: The week continues to be sunny and warm in San Antonio, with an expected high of 95 and a low of 77. The rest of the week will see similar temperatures, with sunny skies and cool evenings. Also, the tropics are relatively quiet for now. The Atlantic hurricane season ends on Nov. 30.
Ready to Work program sets ambitious graduation goal
San Antonio’s Ready to Work job training program is expected to nearly double its total number of program graduates within the next three months. The program has struggled to meet ambitious goals for job placement, but its leader says he’s confident they will be able handle the influx of new graduates.
Mike Ramsey is the executive director of San Antonio’s Workforce Development Office, which oversees Ready to Work. He said the city’s partners who conduct the training and job readiness preparation have the capacity to deal with the 2,300 graduates expected by the end of the year.
“They have been at this now for two years and a quarter, that we’ve been enrolling and working Ready to Work participants through the pipeline," Ramsey explained. "They’ve gotten their sea legs under them now.”
Ready to Work’s most recent data shows that the program’s 80% job placement goal within six months isn’t even being reached after a full year. But Ramsey said the program is working to improve those metrics, and that he was confident they will.
Judge again blocks TEA from issuing A-F accountability grades
Daniella DeSetta Lyttle, a Travis County district court judge, has again temporarily blocked A through F school accountability grades from being issued by the Texas Education Agency.
KERA's Bill Zeeble reported that the judge sided with the plaintiffs in the case — several school districts — that are suing Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.
The plaintiffs say part of last year’s STAAR essay test was flawed and unfairly graded by artificial intelligence. A-F scores are mostly based on STAAR tests. They want all of last year’s test thrown out.
Advocates for the system say district grades allow administrators to find flaws in the system and fix them. The TEA said it will appeal.
San Antonio closer to becoming bird sanctuary city
San Antonio is one step closer to becoming an officially designated bird sanctuary city after a hearing on a policy proposal earlier this week.
District 7 Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito proposed the policy. She said residents in her district want a way to protect the peafowl, more commonly known as peacocks, that live in some neighborhoods there.
“These birds are not protected at the local and state levels since they’re exotic," she added. "Residents felt frustrated because they couldn’t get proper help from [Animal Care Services].”
The policy would give ACS the sole authority to capture, remove, and relocate the birds with resident input if it’s needed. The agency will soon host public meetings in neighborhoods to discuss the proposed policy.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff campaigns in Alamo City next week
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff heads to San Antonio on Monday to headline "Freedom to Vote," a campaign rally by Texas Democrats.
It's part of Senate candidate Colin Allred's "Texas Offense" campaign. The rally will focus on protecting the right to vote amid what it calls voter suppression efforts from Texas Republicans.
Democratic elected officials have asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate recent raids by the Texas Attorney General's Office of the homes of Latino activists.
San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, Congressman Joaquin Castro, and actor and comedian Cristela Alonzo were also expected to attend the rally.
First Lady Jill Biden to lead U.S. delegation to Mexican presidential inauguration
First Lady Jill Biden will lead the U.S. delegation to the inauguration of Mexico’s next president, Claudia Sheinbaum.
On Oct. 1, Sheinbaum will become the first woman to be a head of state in North America.
She campaigned on continuing the policies of current Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, including agreements established with the U.S.
President Joe Biden announced earlier this week that the first lady would lead the delegation.
Artificial intelligence may help illuminate illnesses for doctors and patients
Millions of Americans are grappling with illnesses that doctors have not been able to diagnose. But artificial intelligence may be a game changer for people suffering from undiagnosed illnesses.
Amina Qutub, an engineering design professor at The University of Texas at San Antonio, said AI is already making a difference for some people.
“What it's doing is it's taking diverse data sources, and it's identifying links between them at a much faster rate than a manual processing of that data could do, and they'll flag that," she explained. "They'll say 'these are really interesting, or we think this is what you might be suffering from.' ”
Qutub said having that easy access to that kind of information is empowering for both doctors and patients.
KERA's Bill Zeeble contributed to this report.
