This is TPR's roundup of the latest headlines and news developments. It provides a succinct and clear summary of the stories TPR is following.
Today's weather: Expect a high today of 89 and a low of 72. The coming days will see highs in the upper 80s. There are slight rain chances for the region. A cold front early next week will bring highs in the 70s.
The tropics: There is no significant tropical activity in the Gulf or Caribbean regions. The Atlantic hurricane season ends on Nov. 30.
Early voting ends on Friday
Tomorrow is the last day to vote early in the November election.
Nearly 470,000 voters have cast a ballot in Bexar County since the start of early voting last week.
51 polling locations across the county are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Election day is this coming Tuesday.
North Side San Antonio Republicans rally for a Democrat
Outside the voting location at Brook Hollow Library, State Rep. Steve Allison and former state senator Jeff Wentworth said they’re voting for Laurel Jordan Swift to protect the state from school vouchers.
Allison currently represents House District 121, but he lost the Republican primary. “My view -- that's the most important issue we have," he said. "It's the development of our children, development of our workforce, development our economy, and it all comes via education.”
Swift said if there is money in the state budget for vouchers, it should be used to improve public schools: “The conservative option would be to invest in the system we have. Invest in the institutions that we already have created. The radical idea is to implement a voucher program.”]
Marc LaHood, the Republican running for House District 121, supports vouchers. Gov. Greg Abbott spoke at a dueling rally for LaHood on Wednesday.
Bexar County crime lab will get more space
The crime team will soon see 40,000 square feet of renovated building space on the South Side to help solve local crime cases. County commissioners this week approved the nearly $7 million construction project.
The lab and its staff of around 30 people assists local law enforcement agencies investigate about 9,000 criminal cases a year, according to some 2020 figures from the lab.
Seven thousand of those cases involved drugs, another 1,000 cases involve DNA, and around 700 are gun-related cases.
County Facilities Manager Dan Curry told commissioners the building should serve the crime lab well into the future. The new space could be completed before the end of 2025.
Woman denied medical care after miscarriage died soon after
In 2021, Josseli Barnica was 17 weeks pregnant and was in a Houston hospital when she was informed that she was having a miscarriage. At that point, doctors should have offered a procedure to speed up delivery or emptied her uterus to prevent a deadly infection.
ProPublica reported that Barnica’s husband was told the medical team wouldn’t intervene in her miscarriage until the fetal heartbeat stopped. For 40 hours, the 28-year-old waited in anguish and died three days after her delivery from an infection.
Kavitha Surana, a reporter with ProPublica, broke the story. She told TPR's "The Source" that after consulting with experts across the country, Barnica’s death was undeniably preventable. But Texas doctors are confused about the Texas abortion laws.
Texas doctors can face 99 years of prison if convicted of illegally performing an abortion or life saving measures that could be breaking the law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has successfully blocked federal law that would require hospitals to provide abortion care to save the life of the mother during a pregnancy crisis.
ACS gets a new director at the end of the year
San Antonio’s Animal Care Services will have a new permanent director at the end of December. Jonathan Gary is a 25-year veteran of Oklahoma City’s Animal Welfare Division.
He has also worked as a shelter worker, shelter supervisor, vet assistant, field supervisor, and operations manager.
In 2022, Oklahoma City’s Animal Welfare Division had an 84% live release rate, according to reporting from the Oklahoma City Sentinel.
That’s similar to ACS’ live release rate. Both are under the nationally recognized 90% live release rate for a shelter to be classified as “no-kill.”
Gary will begin leading San Antonio’s ACS on Dec. 30.
Pearl and Main Plaza among spots honoring the dead
Mariposas on the Plaza celebrates the Monarch butterfly in honor of Día de los Muertos tomorrow, and an art installation at Pearl aims to highlight what came before altars.
The Monarch butterfly’s annual migration to Mexico symbolizes the return of souls to visit loved ones. Main Plaza in downtown San Antonio will transform into a community ofrenda that'll feature printed butterflies with names of those who have died.
The event will also have live harp music, small treats, and beverages. Reserve a butterfly in advance at MainPlaza.org or stop by the event at Main Plaza on Friday between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
At Pearl, artist Regina Moya prepared a display that features thirty oversized skulls painted white and bright blue and assembled together. “I was inspired by the Mexican Tzompantli," she explained. "Tzompantli is a Nahuatl word. It means rack of skulls, and they used to have these structures in the Mesoamerican cultures. ]
She says the skulls were a political show of power and served a religious purpose.
The installation is next to the fountain outside of Boiler House at Pearl. It will be there for a few more days in early November.
