Category: San Antonio News

Bryn Forbes’ return to the Spurs only lasted half the season.

Late Tuesday night, San Antonio participated in a three-team trade along with Boston and Denver that sent the veteran shooting guard to the Nuggets. The move was first announced by senior ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski on twitter.

Forbes is currently averaging 9.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1 assist in roughly 17 minutes per game — his lowest marks with the Spurs since 2017 — but his marksmanship provides significant upside. Over the past four seasons, Forbes currently ranks third in shooting percentage from behind the arc among players with more than 1,000 attempts.

Denver, Boston and San Antonio are making a three-way trade that includes Juancho Hernangomez to Spurs, Bryn Forbes to Denver, Bol Bol and PJ Dozier to Celtics, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 19, 2022

In return, the Spurs acquired Celtics forward Juancho Hernangomez and the Nuggets’ 2028 second-round pick. A 6-foot-9 power forward in his 6th NBA season, Hernangomez was unable to find consistent playing time in Boston and has averaged only 1.1 points in five minutes per game this season.

The remainder of the trade sees the Nuggets sending Bol Bol and P.J. Dozier to the Celtics.

There are resources to make COVID tests easier to get.

Insurance companies are now covering tests, the White House is offering to ship tests for free, and we just got a new drive-thru testing site.

But there appear to be more people flooding certain sites. Tt’s getting so bad, some cars are crowding nearby neighborhoods.

Signs marking the front of testing sites are followed by long lines of cars impacting neighborhoods. We spoke to frustrated people in Oak Hills and Piper Meadows. They understand the need for testing but feel like the lines invading privacy and causing safety concerns. pic.twitter.com/LtApDlV06q

— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) January 18, 2022

The testing site is a drive-thru, but the line wrapping around the COVID Testing Station building and into the Piper Meadows neighborhood suggests a full stop.

“It’s been pretty awful,” Jasmin Jones said, she lives in Piper Meadows.

Jones is open with her annoyance at this intrusion on her neighborhood.

“It’s an atrocity. Honestly, it’s too much. It’s been that way for about three weeks,” Jones said.

She works from home and has made a game out of watching the cars sit and wait to move up even a place in line.

“I’ve seen cars waiting for at least two, two and a half three hours,” Jones said.

The line on Tuesday was mild compared to other days, Jones explained, but the Piper Meadows neighborhood isn’t alone. It’s the same story in Oak Hills.

“It’s just like a wall of just that every day and you walk out of your home, you try to go to work and you want to get it out of your mind, but it’s just right there in your face,” Chris Oppenheimer said, he lives in Oak Hills.

Oppenheimer and his neighbors are fed up with the line from Yes No COVID.

Before this, Patty Wynn worked in her yard daily, but with a constant crowd of people outside, it’s become uncomfortable.

“It’s a weird feeling. Yeah, it’s hard to explain, but it’s a weird feeling,” Wynn said.

The sites aren’t run by the city, so we called COVID Testing Station and Yes No COVID, but both of their voicemail lines were full.

The Oak Hills group and Jones in Piper Meadows hope the availability of at-home COVID tests from The White House will give them some relief.

The White House will send you four free COVID-19 tests. You need to put in your information and those tests will be sent to your address.

Some people living in apartments say they’ve been having some trouble getting the site to recognize their address. If you have that issue, you will need to call 1-800-ASK-USPS or you can submit a service request online.

There are other options for testing, the new drive-thru testing site opened up at the Alamodome.

They’re open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, but you will need to make an appointment.

San Antonio police are looking for a shooting suspect that fired several shots into a crowd celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the East Side on Monday night.

For more than 20 years, Eugene Thompson has been hosting a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on the parking lot of Santa’s Place on Spriggsdale Boulevard. It’s always been a fun, family event. On Monday, however, a random shooting ruined that streak.

“I would never expect that, especially yesterday, for what it means or what it meant, what the man [King] died for. And you know, we’re doing it to ourselves,” Thompson said.

His daughter, LaToya Thompson, was in the bar and said she came out after hearing the shots.

“We just heard the ‘pop, pop, pop,’” she said. “When we opened up the door, everyone crawled in.”

LaToya Thompson said the crowd was filled with 30 to 60 people of all ages, including children. She’s upset that someone would bring violence to an event meant to bring unity.

“I just wish we could get along. The violence has to stop. Innocent by standards got hit for no reason,” she said.

Five people were injured, two of them seriously.

The organizers say they can’t make sense of what happened, but they’re hoping the shooter gets caught. Eugene Thompson said this random act of violence would not stop any future events.

“We’re not going to let no one bad apple spoil the goodness,” he said.

Staff Sgt. Jacqueline Poinsette was in the Army for almost 13 years, rising through the ranks as a lab technician.

“When we deploy it’s blood work and saving lives. Out here it’s working in hospitals, working in outlying clinics, drawing blood, taking samples and processing them so that doctors have the information they need to treat patients,” Poinsette said.

When she got out of the military, she was scared she wouldn’t be able to continue that type of work.

“Especially in the sciences and in health care. You just don’t know what the needs are going to be when that time comes,” she said.

So she utilized SkillBridge, a Department of Defense program that helps align service members with civilian jobs.

It landed her at Texas Biomedical Research Institute’s Maximum Containment Contract Research Lab, working with renowned researcher and professor Dr. Ricardo Carion Jr.

“Developing vaccines and therapies for more deadly agents like Ebola virus, Marburg virus, anthrax plague and most recently, the coronavirus COVID 19,” Dr. Carion said.

His team contributed research that helped develop the Pfizer and Novavax COVID vaccines.

He said Poinsette’s unique army experiences are invaluable to the team.

“The training that she got in the army. She’s introducing some innovations to our group to make us be more efficient. She had bench skills. So essentially, she was able to immediately contribute and has become a leader within our group,” Carion said.

He hopes more resources will go into placing veterans in the right jobs so they too can continue to serve.

“I don’t know how many times you get to sit down at work and say you worked with the hero, but we have a hero here at Texas Biomed,” Carion said.

“I think service is just in the blood. And I think as a scientific community member. It’s what we want to do. Making the world a better and healthier place for all of us,” Poinsette said.

Despite an overall drop in violent crime last year, homicides spiked dramatically, according to preliminary crime statistics from the San Antonio Police Department.

The annual crime statistics, which San Antonio Police Chief William McManus presented to the city council’s Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, show a 2.1% increase in overall crime driven by a 4.4% jump in property crimes.

Although the total number of violent crimes fell by 9.1% from 2020 to 2021, homicides jumped to 160 – the highest number since 1994. That’s a 23% increase from the 130 reported in 2020.

A KSAT analysis of police records show more than half of the killings still remain unsolved.

McManus told media members before the committee meeting that many of the homicides in 2021 didn’t follow an organized pattern.

“They seem to be random, spontaneous – all over the city,” he said.

According to his presentation, 14% of homicides were attributed to family or intimate partner violence. Another 3.36% were attributed to arguments, while 28.7% had “unknown” factors.

Smaller amounts between 1% and 3.2% were linked to theft, narcotics, prostitution, mental health, or gang violence.

Slide below shared by SAPD.

The chief also trotted out a familiar refrain to reporters and the council committee – that engaging in “high risk” activity, like being in a gang, soliciting prostitution, or buying or selling drugs, raises the chances of being a violent crime victim.

District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran latched onto that as a reason to resist a cite-and-release ordinance for the city.

“Your risk, if you are involved in any sort of criminal element, even if it’s just ‘but all I do is, you know, I just want a little bit of recreational drugs.’ You still put yourself at risk,” she said. “With the stats we see now, I want my council colleagues to consider that now is not the time for a cite and release ordinance.”

San Antonio police already participate in a cite-and-release program for several low-level misdemeanor offenses, including marijuana possession, though there has been a push to enshrine some form of the program in an ordinance to make it more permanent.

McManus told KSAT that he’s fine with cite-and-release so long as his officers retain the discretion on whether or not to arrest someone.

However, he also told the public safety committee about a meeting he had with some other Texas police chiefs. Across the state and country, the chief said, “We’re seeing the results of criminal justice reform where we are lowering bonds, where we are utilizing (personal recognizance) bonds, probably more than ever before.”

“It’s clearly visible on the street that there’s no fear of consequence for committing a criminal act. And I’m talking about from drug dealing to – and you name it,” McManus said.

The chief took pains to say the recent so-called “Constitutional Carry” law, which allows people legally allowed to have handguns to carry them without seeking a license to carry, was not behind the city’s gun violence issues.

“The people who are not allowed legally to carry guns were carrying them before this law was passed,” McManus told reporters. “And they’re the ones that are doing these shootings, not the ones who are legally carrying.”

Also on KSAT.com:

More than half of 2021 killings in San Antonio remain unsolved, data showsMan arrested after 2 people killed in crash on Northwest Side, SAPD saysLawsuit filed against U.S. Marshal, SAPD officer who shot, killed unarmed suspect while serving warrant

Graham Media Group, the parent company of KSAT 12 and six other local news stations, announced Tuesday that CEO Emily Barr will retire this month and Catherine Badalamente will be her successor.

Badalamente, currently serves as vice president and chief innovation officer for Graham Media Group.

Barr’s leadership and management transformed the organization from a broadcast-based model to seven local media hubs — each in a top-71 market, representing just under 7% coverage in the U.S.

In 2020, Barr received the Broadcaster of the Year award from Broadcasting & Cable Magazine; and, later this spring, she will be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. Barr was elected to the 2021 class of the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation’s Giants of Broadcasting and Electronic Arts.

“Emily’s leadership has been critical to the company’s success. Graham Media Group has continued its tenure as a best-in-class operator, and Emily has led the organization to receive numerous awards and achieve record earnings,” said Timothy J. O’Shaughnessy, chief executive officer of Graham Holdings Company. “(Emily’s) deep commitment to the communities we serve has been unparalleled. But perhaps the greatest element of her legacy is the excellence of the team she has built, as evidenced by her successor, Catherine Badalamente. On behalf of everyone at Graham Holdings, I want to thank Emily for her decade of service to the company.”

Badalamente has spearheaded the company’s digital efforts since 2009 and helped secure numerous awards recognizing the company for excellence in local news production. KSAT was named “Best Local TV News Website” in 2021 by Editor & Publisher Magazine.

Badalamente joined Graham Media Group in 2000, working for WDIV in Detroit.

She has also served as chair of the board of directors of the Local Media Association, treasurer of the board of directors of the Local Media Foundation, and immediate past chair of the National Association of Broadcasters Digital Officers Committee. She earned a BA in communications from John Carroll University.

“I could not be more pleased to appoint Catherine the new CEO of Graham Media Group,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Catherine has helped keep GMG ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing industry, including her leadership in growing each of our digital news sites to be Comscore-ranked No. 1 in their local markets. As the next generation of Graham Media Group unfolds, we have a next generation leader to help steer the ship.”

Barr has also been honored for her civic involvement. She is the 2018 recipient of the Golden Mike Award from the Broadcasters Foundation of America, and was inducted into the 2016 Silver Circle of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She was also awarded the 2014 Vincent T. Wasilewski Broadcaster of the Year by the Illinois Broadcasters Association.

A wildfire burning in Bastrop State Park has prompted evacuations of nearby residents Tuesday afternoon.

Texas A&M Forest Service said in a Tweet that it has responded to a request for assistance in fighting the fire that is being called the Bastrop Rolling Pines Fire.

Fox 7 in Austin is reporting that as of 4:15 p.m. the fire has grown to 300 acres and is 0% contained.

The fire is being fought from the ground and the air.

According to the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management, the fire was originally reported near the 100 block of Park Road 1A road and is burning along Power Plant Road toward Lake Bastrop South Shore.

Fox 7 is reporting the following evacuations:

Pine Hill Estates including Pine Hill Drive and roads in betweenPine Tree LoopLinda LaneLisa Lane

This is a latebreaking story. Check back for updates.

CAUTION: Wildfire at 100 Park Road 1A Bastrop.
Evacuation underway at Pine Hill Drive. pic.twitter.com/iEWqKCXxfN

— BastropCntyTexas OEM (@BastropCntyOEM) January 18, 2022

Alert: Texas A&M Forest Service is responding to a request for assistance in Bastrop County on the #RollingPinesFire. The fire is an estimated 150 acres and 0% contained. The fire is currently very active and aviation resources have been ordered to assist. #txfire pic.twitter.com/Ye3kpOYXAf

— Incident Information – Texas A&M Forest Service (@AllHazardsTFS) January 18, 2022

The SBA’s Inspector General highlighted how billions of dollars have been recovered and how the agency is still working to address fraud.

Rank Business Name SBA Loan Amount Number of Approved Loans SBA Contact/President 1 Wallis Bank, 6510 Railroad St., Wallis, TX 77485, 713-935-3710, wallisbank.com 50194000 22 Asif Dakri CEO 713-935-3701 2 Live Oak Banking Company, 1741 Tiburon Dr., Wilmington, NC 28403, 910-790-5867, liveoakbank.com 49782000 31 James Mahan 910-790-5867 3 BBVA USA, 15 S 20th St., Birmingham, AL 35233, 205-297-1986, bbvacompass.com 35499600 59 Javier Rodrigues Soler BBVA USA CEO 4 Readycap Lending, LLC, 200…

The San Antonio Zoo is helping scorned exes with its third annual “Cry Me a Cockroach” fundraising event.

Birds, reptiles, and mammals from the San Antonio Zoo will chow down on your symbolic exes and other people who you’ve decided are worthy of the dishonor.

This Valentine’s Day you can purchase a live cockroach for $10 or a frozen rat for $25 and zoo staff will serve it up to birds, reptiles and mammals to eat. The rats will be fed to the zoo’s reptiles so if your ex was a snake this could be a good option.

According to the zoo, there’s also a vegetarian option to feed the zoo’s vegetarian animals if you’re looking to get a little revenge on a less-than-stellar roommate or someone else you might have annoyed you recently.

”Veggies consist of romaine lettuce, cabbage, and other leafy greens,” zoo officials said. If you’re not into the bug/rat thing but still want to contribute this may be the option for you. It’s also a tad cheaper at $5.

Don’t worry, you’ll be able to watch the feeding frenzy because the zoo plans to showcase the “Cry me a Cockroach” event across the non-profit’s social media channels on Feb. 12 from 7-10 p.m.

New this year, however, is the personalized video option.

“We’ll send you a personalized video message of your cockroach, rodent, or veggie being fed to one of the animals. Let’s keep it PG-13 of course,” zoo officials said.

Only 50 personalized video messages are available for purchase and they are expected to sell out.

Zoo officials said that the purchase of a cockroach, rat, or veggie will help secure a future for wildlife. Past proceeds from the event have helped fund zoo projects like the jaguar catwalk.

Participants who purchase a cockroach, rodent or veggie will be sent an email that includes a video of your cockroach, rodent or veggie being fed to an animal along with your customizable certificate to print or share on social media.

Click here to purchase a rat, cockroach or veggie to be fed to the animals on Valentine’s Day.