Category: San Antonio News

Editor’s note: Each weekend, we share five stories that captured the attention of the Alamo City over the past seven days. Here are the most-read stories of the week. 1. Construction begins on downtown San Antonio’s $27 million ‘central park.’ It will be the grande dame of San Antonio parks, and it’s scheduled to open in 2023. 2. California diner scrambles up all-day breakfast eatery in San Antonio. Black Bear Diner will bring breakfast all…

Free trees? Yes, please! Six hundred vehicles lined up early Saturday to claim a free tree at the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department’s Jammin’ Jams event.

The annual fruit and nut tree adoption event happened at 8 a.m. at Nelson Wolff Stadium. One tree was given to each vehicle while supplies lasted.

According to a Facebook post from Parks and Rec, the trees sold out. However, if you weren’t able to snag a free tree today, there are three more opportunities.

If you do plan on attending one of the free tree events, you’re encouraged to arrive early.

Tree varieties include apple, apricot, avocado, orange, peach and pecan.

You do not have to be a resident of San Antonio to receive a free tree.

The remaining Jammin’ Jams tree adoption events are listed below:

February 12 – Monterrey Park (5909 W Commerce St) – Walk-UpMarch 5 – Texas A&M University-SA (One University Way/Parking Lot B) – Drive-ThruMarch 26 – Wheatley Heights Sports Complex (200 Noblewood Dr) – Drive-Thru

A total of 600 trees will be available at each event.

A man is critically injured after an overnight shooting on the Northeast Side, according to San Antonio police.

The incident happened around 3 a.m. Saturday. Police were initially called to the 500 block of N. Alamo Street for shots fired.

When officers arrived, they found a 31-year-old man was critically injured with gunshot wounds to his left arm and left side of his torso.

The man told police he was sitting in a car with a woman in front of her house in the 400 block of E. Carson when someone came up and fired gunshots at their vehicle.

The man then tried to drive himself and the woman to an area hospital, but their vehicle came to a stop on Alamo Street.

An ambulance arrived at their location and took the man to the Brooke Army Medical Center for treatment.

Officers went back to the location of the shooting and didn’t find any shell casings. They did however notice that a fence had been backed into by the man’s vehicle.

The investigation continues.

More on KSAT:

1 person taken to hospital after road rage crash, shooting in Southwest Bexar County

Being pulled over by police can be stressful for both drivers and officers, not to mention time consuming for both.

The Trusted Drivers Program is hoping to eliminate that face-to-face interaction for minor traffic violations by sending tickets through text.

Windcrest police is the first department in the nation to test the program. It requires residents to sign up on mytrusteddriver.com, input some personal information like your cell phone number and driver’s license. Then police will be able to see if you’re a part of the program by running your license plate. So far, the program has been running for two weeks.

“So far we have not come in contact with anybody that’s signed up for the program. Our patrol cars haven’t come across anyone yet,” said Windcrest Police Lt. Benjamin Crum.

Lt. Crum said for the program to be a success, they need community involvement.

We spoke to residents in Windcrest, none of which had heard about the program yet. They had mixed reviews.

“I think it saves time. It gives police more time to do other things,” said Peter Seldon, a Windcrest resident.

“Talk to people like a regular person, you know what I mean, not with a badge. I think that would kind of solve some issues For the people getting pulled over too, same for them,” said Roderick Reliford, a Windcrest resident.

Executive Director of Black Freedom Factory, Kimiya Factory, is a big advocate of change for how officers and civilians interact.

She was very active in George Floyd protests. She applauded this program, saying it is not a solution but certainly a step in the right direction. She said for people of color, a routine traffic stop can turn violent quickly.

“It’s terrifying that communities of color can make a wrong turn or make a small traffic violation and that can be the outcome of whether or not they go home to their families,” said Factory.

A Boerne teenage cancer survivor raised more than $30,000 to help support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a local livestock auction.

Maddie Barber, 17, was battling what she thought were hereditary migraines. In the summer of 2017, after several tests, she got an answer to those debilitating headaches.

“I had brain cancer. It was called medulloblastoma. It was about an avocado seed-sized tumor on my brain stem,” she recalled.

Barber spent the next eight months after that at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital with her whole family alongside her.

Barber has been cancer-free since then. She was in recovery about the same time she was pushed into a new hobby — growing livestock for show.

It wasn’t hard for Barber to fall in love with her new hobby.

“I enjoy watching the pigs grow up,” she said.

Barber likes feeding the piglets and bonding with them. She also likes the time her family and friends get to spend together.

For the most part, livestock shows are for fun, showing off agriculture projects and making a little money for college expenses. Barber placed second in her category in early January during the Kendall County Jr. Livestock show. As part of the show, there’s a fundraiser for the kids during the premium sales. A competitor can bring in about $1,000 to $2,000 on average.

The Champion High School junior had an idea she had been considering for some time. With permission from her dad, Barber decided the funds she raised would go toward an organization close to her heart. She told the auctioneer her plan.

“Right after he said all donations go to St. Jude, all the cards went up. All the bidding cards went up,” she said.

Barber said her jaw dropped at hearing how much her community was donating to her cause.

“St. Jude, they saved my life, so I owe them my life. They supported me with, like, not just the cancer — they supported me, and they supported my parents and my brother,” she said.

Barber said the $30,500 donation wouldn’t be possible without her community and agriculture teachers, who showed her everything about showing pigs.

Barber said pig-showing days continue in the upcoming San Antonio, San Angelo and Houston Junior Livestock Shows.

The search for missing 3-year-old Lina Khil extended to Fredericksburg after San Antonio police say they received a tip regarding her disappearance.

On Friday, SAPD told KSAT that it had reached out to police in Fredericksburg to follow up on the tip, but nothing was found.

The department released the following statement:

“SAPD’s Missing Persons Unit received a tip regarding Lina. The Unit contacted law enforcement in Fredericksburg to advise them of the tip and to seek their assistance in looking into the tip. Unfortunately, nothing was found and Lina continues an active missing persons case.”

Earlier this month, a family spokesperson released a photo taken of missing 3-year-old Lina Sardar Khil on the day she disappeared. The hope is that sharing details about the specific clothing and jewelry she had on can help in the search.

The CEO of Eagles Flight Advocacy & Outreach posted the photos on the group’s Facebook page explaining that Lina was dressed for a gathering she was going to attend with her family on Dec. 20, the day she disappeared from a playground in the 9400 block of Fredericksburg Road. The organization also searched alongside Lina’s father in Fredericksburg this week to no avail.

The photo (top of this article) shows Lina in a red dress brocaded with green and gold threads on the front and at the bottom of the sleeves. She’s shown wearing gold dangling earrings, bangle bracelets and a necklace called a Tawiz that contains verses from the Quran.

The Islamic Center of San Antonio is offering a reward of $100,000 for information that leads to her discovery.

Anyone with information is asked to call the SAPD Missing Persons Unit at 210-207-7660 or Crime Stoppers at 210-224-7867.

Photo below shows Tawiz (necklace) that LIna Khil was wearing the day she disappeared:

More on KSAT:

Search for 3-year-old Lina Khil nears one month markSan Antonio volunteer groups continue search for 3-year-old Lina Khil on Northwest Side

Editor’s note: This content was created exclusively for KSAT Explains, a streaming show that dives deep into the biggest issues facing San Antonio and South Texas. Watch past episodes here and download the free KSAT Plus app to stay up on the latest.

The YMCA of Greater San Antonio is the latest organization to offer young gamers a place to compete. The nonprofit launched a new esports program this month.

The esports industry has experienced explosive growth over the past decade. And for the past couple of years, the pandemic has further fueled this growth, as more young people have sought out ways to connect and compete. It’s one of the reasons the YMCA of Greater San Antonio decided to launch an esports program.

“We’re always asking, what could we offer that we’re not currently?” said Patrick Bryant, executive director of sports at the YMCA of Greater San Antonio. “With COVID and a shutdown in our community, there was this desire to find more virtual options.”

Before they officially launched, YMCA ran a few pilot programs, and gave local families the opportunity to take part and provide feedback. They quickly learned that starting an esports program presents unique challenges.

“In a gaming world, that technology tends to be expensive,” Bryant said. “We’re able to provide a low-cost option.”

Bryant also wanted to find someone who had the expertise needed to run the new program. This led him to Chris Saenz, who has been working locally in esports for the past several years. He’s the owner of Texas Gaming Empire, an organization that hosts tournaments and provides educational opportunities for local gamers.

The esports program is starting as a regional one, but Saenz already has big plans for the future.

“We’re starting off by including Austin, so we’ll have some friendly San Antonio, Austin rivalries,” Saenz said. “Then we’ll just have to develop and cultivate that culture across Texas.”

Over the next six weeks, YMCA of Greater San Antonio, and their new partners at YMCA of Austin, will recruit kids ages 12 to 18. The inaugural spring season is slated to begin the week of March 28. They plan to run a variety of games, including Madden, Super Smash Bros and Fortnite.

“It’s really exciting to be able to work with new families that are into this type of experience,” Bryant said. “This program can really take off and provide a lot of opportunity for kids in San Antonio, and that’s going to be exciting to see and watch develop.”

If you’re interested in enrolling your child, visit YMCA’s website.

YMCA’s new program is just the latest development in the esports world in San Antonio. An esports arena is set to open on Port San Antonio’s campus later this year and more local schools are creating esports teams. You can learn all about the local esports scene by watching the latest episode of KSAT Explains. Watch in the video player below or by clicking here.

San Antonio theaters recently started a thread on social media in an effort to encourage patrons during the pandemic. Many of them have had to cancel or reschedule performances due to the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases.

The trend all started when the Majestic Theatre updated their marquee with the saying: “Sana sana colita de rana.”

This is the first half of a common Spanish phrase that is used normally to comfort kids. Literally translated it means: “Heal, heal, little frog’s tail.”

The Public Theater chimed in with the second half of the phrase: “Si no sana hoy, sana manana” which means “If you don’t heal today, you will heal tomorrow.”

Then, the Magik Theatre brought out the egg to ward off “mal de ojo,” or evil eye, and challenged the Classic Theatre to join in on the social media fun.

The Classic Theatre delivered the Vicks VapoRub, and encouraged the Overtime Theater to help.

On Thursday, The Overtime Theater brought the Lysol and passed the challenge to the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center.

More on KSAT:

The Public Theater of San Antonio to support area actors by creating a ‘resident company’‘Hamilton’ shows at Majestic Theatre rescheduled for summer of 2023 after being postponed due to COVIDThe Public Theater of San Antonio suspends latest show due to COVID-19 staff exposure

A Dallas college student was working as a part-time dog walker to earn some extra cash until a recent dog attack left her permanently disfigured, a civil lawsuit alleges.

Jacqueline Durand, 22, went to a home alone on Dec. 23 to walk a family’s two dogs — a German Shepherd mix-breed and a Pit Bull mix-breed, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday with Brooker Law in Dallas.

However, as soon as she opened the front door, the dogs were already out of their kennels and allegedly pushed the door open and attacked her.

The lawsuit alleges the dogs knocked Durand off balance, causing her to fall and drop her cellphone, before they “violently” attacked her head and face.

The dogs allegedly ate Durand’s ears and “most of her face below her eyes,” the lawsuit states, adding that the attack left puncture wounds over most of her body.

A neighbor notified authorities of the incident, and Durand was removed from the home before being taken to a Level 1 trauma center, where she underwent several surgeries, the lawsuit states, and she has even more surgeries to come.

The lawsuit accuses the dogs’ owners, Ashley Jo Bishop and Dr. Justin Avery Bishop, of negligence and premise liability. The pair was also named as defendants in their capacities as trustees in the Bishop Family Trust, according to the lawsuit.

Before the attack, Durand attended the University of Texas at Dallas as a full-time student. She is seeking a jury trial and more than $1 million in damages.

UT Health San Antonio is expanding its presence at the South Texas Medical Center.