Category: San Antonio News

“This has stunned all of us,” said Assistant City Manager Jeff Coyle, who addressed the commission in Austin.

A petition addressed to Gov. Greg Abbott to release a teenage trio accused of murdering 42-year-old Gabriel Quintanilla is quickly gaining momentum online.

The petition on Change.org has more than 180,000 signatures and is close to becoming one of the most-signed petitions on the website.

Brothers Alejandro Trevino, 18, and Christian Trevino, 17, along with family friend Juan Eduardo Melendez, 18, are named in the petition. Their story has gained national attention after they were accused of killing Quintanilla and leaving him to die in a field in McAllen.

According to KRGV, police reported that a minor, later identified as Quintanilla’s daughter, made an outcry about being inappropriately touched by Quintanilla at an RV park.

Quintanilla is Alejandro and Christian’s stepfather. The brothers have different fathers but they are both half-siblings of the 9-year-old girl that Quintanilla is accused of abusing.

“When brothers (Alejandro) and Christian Trevino found out, they became enraged and confronted Gabriel Quintanilla at the residence. A physical fight ensued between the three,” according to a news release from Pharr Police Department.

Multiple reports state that the Trevino brothers and Melendez are accused of physically assaulting Quintanilla at least three times before placing him in the bed of a truck and dumping him in a field.

Hidalgo County records show Melendez is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of marijuana.

Christian Trevino is charged with aggravated assault, murder and engaging in organized criminal activity and Alejandro Trevino is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and aggravated assault.

Quintanilla had a warrant for continuous sexual abuse of a child and assault family violence at the time of his death, according to police.

Each teen is being held on at least a $1 million bond in Hidalgo County.

THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY. CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.

A state commission has blocked the City of San Antonio’s plans to redevelop lower Broadway Avenue over concerns that it would increase congestion.

The members of the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT, voted Thursday to stop a long-planned hand-off of a 2.2-mile section of State Loop 368 between Burr Road and I-35, which overlaps with Broadway Avenue. That section of road is central to the city’s plans for a redesign of the corridor from the city limits of Alamo Heights southward into the heart of downtown San Antonio.

Though the commission took action in December 2014 and February 2015 to hand that stretch of Broadway over to the city, the transfer wasn’t completed, and the commission’s vote on Thursday rescinded those orders.

Although the move likely means the end of the city’s current vision for Broadway as a “complete street” with wide sidewalks and protected bike lanes, the commission’s chairman, San Antonio banker J. Bruce Bugg Jr., said it’s not the end of all work on Broadway.

“So there’s nothing in this proposed action that would prevent us from working with the City of San Antonio,” Bugg said. “To the contrary, that’s what I would envision we do – is again, going forward, we sit down, we listen to each other, but the only stipulation is we cannot reduce capacity on Broadway.”

At the heart of the state’s reversal are the city’s plans to reduce traffic lanes along the state-owned portion from six traffic lanes down to four, which TxDOT officials say would cause congestion issues.

The state’s opinion of the project came as a surprise for city officials. Plans for the corridor have been in the works for years, and TxDOT has been a “partner” as they’ve been developed.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg tweeted after the vote that he was “deeply disappointed in the vote, but we hope the State is serious about ‘working together’ to finish the project.”

Well. @TxDOT just voted to reclaim a stretch of Broadway St. that never exceeds 35mph as part of the TX Highway System.

Deeply disappointed in the vote, but we hope the State is serious about “working together” to finish the project.

San Antonio deserves a complete Broadway St. https://t.co/W0xENtiNjx

— Mayor Ron | Get vax’d! 💪 (@Ron_Nirenberg) January 27, 2022

City Manager Erik Walsh released the following statement after the vote:

We’re disappointed in the complete about-face by TXDOT after working with the City and stakeholders for the last six years. It’s not clear how the State will accomplish what the voters approved without reducing the current seven lanes of traffic, but we will stay focused on developing a path forward to deliver the project the community expects.

Read also:

Business owners weigh in amid battle between SA, state for 2.2-mile stretch of Broadway

Classes were originally slated to meet online from Jan. 18-29, but the return date has been extended.

Multiple carriers resumed flights that had been suspended due to the pandemic. And additional airlines are planning to launch new flights or add back service in the coming months.

A developer headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area broke ground Thursday on a more than 300,000-square-foot cold storage facility in East San Antonio.

Gov. Greg Abbott will deliver remarks Thursday at a border security briefing in the Rio Grande Valley with attorneys general from across the country.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw will also deliver remarks at the briefing in Weslaco scheduled to begin at 12:30.

The briefing will be livestreamed in this page. You watch it in the video player above.

In addition to Paxton, the following attorneys general are scheduled to be in attendance:

Alaska Attorney General Treg TaylorArkansas Attorney General Leslie RutledgeFlorida Attorney General Ashley MoodyIndiana Attorney General Todd RokitaKansas Attorney General Derek SchmidtMississippi Attorney General Lynn FitchMissouri Attorney General Eric SchmittMontana Attorney General Austin KnudsenOklahoma Attorney General John O’ConnorSouth Dakota Attorney General Jason RavnsborgUtah Attorney General Sean ReyesWest Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey

It’s official: The groundwork has been laid for the emergence of the grande dame of San Antonio parks. On Wednesday, January 26, community leaders — witnessed by 200 excited area residents — broke ground on Civic Park at Hemisfair, San Antonio’s central park, marking the beginning of 18 months of construction that will result in a world-class public greenspace. “When the community came together in 2012 to envision the master plan for the Hemisfair redevelopment,…

Get more election news on KSAT’s Vote 2022 page.

Some voters who have checked out the Republican and Democratic ballots ahead of the March 1 Texas primary election are curious about the propositions that appear on the GOP version.

In municipal and general elections, propositions can be used to pass local bonds and decide proposed state constitutional amendments, but that is not the case on the primary ballots.

The propositions on the primary ballots are basically surveys that will help the parties decide their priorities.

The Democratic Party of Texas had propositions on its 2020 primary, but it does not have propositions on this year’s ballot.

The Republican Party of Texas said its 10 Primary ballot propositions are opinion polls, not policy referendums.

“When you vote YES or NO, you are telling us what you think should happen,” the party posted on its website.

See the full Republican and Democratic ballots.

Here are the 10 propositions on the 2022 Republican Primary Election ballot:

In light of the federal government’s refusal to defend the southern border, Texas should immediately deploy the National Guard, Texas Military Forces, and necessary state law enforcement to seal the border, enforce immigration laws, and deport illegal aliens.Texas should eliminate all property taxes within ten (10) years without implementing a state income tax.Texans should not lose their jobs, nor should students be penalized, for declining a COVID-19 vaccine.Texas schools should teach students basic knowledge and American exceptionalism and reject Critical Race Theory and other curricula that promote Marxist doctrine and encourage division based on creed, race, or economic status.Texas should enact a State Constitutional Amendment to defend the sanctity of innocent human life, created in the image of God, from fertilization until natural death.The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature should end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats.Texas should protect the integrity of our elections by verifying that registered voters are American citizens, restoring felony penalties and enacting civil penalties for vote fraud, and fighting any federal takeover of state elections.Texas should ban chemical castration, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and genital mutilation surgery on all minor children for sex transition purposes.Texas parents and guardians should have the right to select schools, whether public or private, for their children, and the funding should follow the student.Texans affirm that our freedoms come from God and that the government should have no control over the conscience of individuals.

More Election Resources:

How to register to vote in Texas for the March 1 primary electionThe races to watch in Bexar County for 2022 electionsWhat’s changed, how to vote by mail or absentee ballot in Bexar County for March 1 primary election

You can light up the San Antonio Botanical Garden Friday with a floating wish lantern.

The Wish: Water Lanterns in the Garden event will take place from 6-8:30 p.m. on Friday.

Guests are welcome to purchase lanterns and make a wish of hope, healing, love and happiness before placing their lantern in one of the garden’s ponds.

Admission to the event is included with regular garden admission and lanterns can be purchased for an additional $10 apiece.

The placing of wish lanterns on the water is a Japanese-inspired tradition, according to SABOT.