Category: San Antonio News

One person was taken to an area hospital following a rollover crash on Loop 1604 early Monday morning, San Antonio police said.

The crash occurred around 2:20 a.m. on Loop 1604 eastbound between O’Connor and Judson Road on the city’s Northeast Side.

According to police, a man crashed his pickup truck into the back of another truck, causing it to roll off the highway. Firefighters had to cut the man out of his vehicle.

SAPD said the male driver was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in stable condition. There were no injuries to the other driver.

Officers said alcohol did not play a factor in the crash. The San Antonio Police Department, the San Antonio Fire Department and EMS all answered the call.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

San Antonio police are searching for a suspect who shot a man and stole his rental truck at a gas station late Sunday night.

The incident occurred around 11 p.m. at a gas station on Culebra Road on the city’s West Side.

According to police, the suspect, a man in his 30s, approached a man in his rental truck and shot the 30-year-old twice before stealing his vehicle.

Police said the suspect fled in the truck south on General McMullen just before crashing into three vehicles. The man then got out and fled on foot. He has not yet been found.

SAPD said the driver of the truck was taken by EMS to University Hospital, where he is listed in stable condition.

The San Antonio Police Department, the San Antonio Fire Department and EMS all answered the call.

The investigation and search is ongoing, police said.

From a Hip Hop majorette dancer to a Bexar County Deputy luchador fighting at night, What Up South Texas exploded with fun in 2021.

Check out some of the most memorable moments by clicking on the links below:

Haddesah Jones, the Hip Hop majorette dancer

Fred Fey, the Music Man

Will Oliver, the musician who makes guitar pics out of recycled wood

Ezra Reagan, the skateboarder who cleans roadways along his routes

Linda Thomas, the taxi company owner and operator

Sofia Ramirez, a girl who won a state competition raising awareness about Texas aquifers

Nik Soupe, the graffiti artist

Lee Edwards, the CEO of New Day New Way Non-profit Organization

Ana Bustamante, who started the first and only conjunto band in a San Antonio High School

Lina Prado and Lucy Adame Clark, who collects prom dresses for impoverished youth

Roger Musquiz, a Bexar County Deputy by day, but a luchador fighter by night

Julio Cavazos, a PAL SAPD officer who gives back in memory of his fallen partner

Casper Rawls, an avid walker who inspires his neighborhood daily

John Estrada, a former Bexar County Deputy and single father with a musical bond with his daughter

Dave and Jacque Peterson, owners of Mako’s on the Creek that helped first responders during the pandemic

Christine Mayer, CEO of Blue Heron, a outpatient recovery program for those battling addiction

Cypress Rabke, a talented artist who draws intricate details small art pieces

Daniel Cano, an Air Force veteran who buys properties and houses homeless veterans

Bethany Aguilar, a girl who collected hundreds of toys for CAM

For more stories featured on What’s Up South Texas, click on the What’s Up South Texas tab.

Also, to submit your stories you think could be featured on this segment, send your ideas to news@ksat.com, jgray@ksat.com, or you can reach out to the KSAT 12 News Facebook page and KSAT Japhanie Gray Facebook page as well as other social media platforms.

The holidays are a busy time of year for traveling and having large gatherings. With the omicron and delta variant spreading, it could also be a busy season for COVID. People hoping to check if they are COVID free before and after Christmas are having some trouble finding tests and testing locations.

“They’ve been booked out since about last week as well it’s hard to find somewhere to conveniently go and get a test done so it’s makes it hard,” said Leticia Luna, who had flown into the San Antonio international airport.

Several local urgent care clinics as well as CVS and Walgreens testing sites has their availability booked for Sunday and the majority of Monday. Several stores in the San Antonio area were also sold out of the at-home testing kits.

Dr. Ruth Berggren, an infectious disease specialist at UT Health San Antonio, said if you do find an at-home testing kit, you should be cautious with the results it gives you.

“If you have symptoms and you have one negative at-home test, you’re not out of the woods and you need to mask and not go expose other people and you need to get that test repeated,” Dr. Berggren said.

Dr. Berggren said if you have no symptoms and negative results from an at-home test, you should be fine. However, if you have symptoms or have been exposed to COVID but still received negative at-home test results, you should retest.

If you are retesting, Dr. Berggren says you should go to a clinic or take another at-home test in 24-36 hours.

Media representation.

It affects everyone in different ways.

For some it’s easy to find TV characters or movie characters who look like you or share similar experiences as you.

But for some, it’s a little harder to find.

Especially when focusing on racial identity.

Representation can be defined as a display of an artistic likeness or image.

“As I got older a lot of those roles were for white people or just like…they were never for Latinos…specifically or there just wasn’t a lot of variety.” Local Filmmaker, Esmeralda Hernandez said.

Hernandez noticed early on representation for her Hispanic culture sometimes is lacking.

“In media growing up at least,” Hernandez said, “there wasn’t a lot that I saw myself and my community represented in. I feel like the show I watched all the time because it gave me some sense of validation was the George Lopez show.”

A similar sentiment another Local Filmmaker, Kristin Quintanilla agrees with.

Especially with her bi-racial heritage.

She’s half Hispanic and half White.

“Its very sad because people need to be seeing people that look like them in media,” Quintanilla said. “And they need to know that they also have that same voice that they can use to get representation.”

Another problem when it comes to representation, when there is so few examples, you end up being the spokesperson for your race.

Assistant Professor of Media Studies at UT Austin, Adrien Sebro explains how this affected Black-led TV shows in the 70s.

“With that they had the unasked for burden of the race,” Sebro said. It’s like no one wants to be the spokesperson for the entirety of a race.”

So, why is it important to have proper representation?

“It just validates your experience of being a human,” Esmeralda Hernandez said. “Being able to morph into these characters whether you’re a person of color or not. Because we all have the ability to tell these stories.”

Communications Studies Professors at St. Mary’s University, Ana Bendana said the solution is letting those who are under represented tell their stories.

“Minorities of any label should have a responsibility to put their stories out there,” Bendana said, “like let us hear it, say it loud. I tell my students, you have a voice, you have to use it.”

Something both Hernandez and Quintanilla hope to do in the future.

“I know that in my place it’s not really mine to speak on but I want to give people the platform so they can share their stories,” Quintanilla said.

“And to see the spotlight to shine positively rather than negative on people that are always misrepresented in some way,” Hernandez said.

Both women were inspired to become filmmakers after joining Say Si.

They offer after-school programs for both middle and high school students.

And it’s not just filmmaking, they teach art, theater and news media.

Click here for more information on how to be a part of Say Si.

The City of Windcrest announced Sunday City Hall and the Windcrest Post Office will be closed this week due to possible COVID-19 exposure.

Officials said the closure will remain until Jan. 3 “to protect the health safety of the community and city staff.”

Those who have questions regarding the municipal court are directed to email court@windcrest-tx.gov. You can also make court and ticket payments online or by calling 833-431-1746.

To contact the city regarding garbage and accounts payable, you can email utilities@windcrest-tx.gov. To make online garbage payments, you can visit this website or call 833-431-1746.

For resident permits and commercial permits, you are asked to submit a request to permits@windcrest-tx.gov.

For those who need to use postal services officials said to contact the nearest United States Post Office located at 11119 Landmark or call them at 210-590-0293. Residents can also visit the main post office located at 10410 Perrin Beitel Road.

More on KSAT:

COVID-19 cases on the rise: Local doctor answers omicron questions on KSAT Q&AHigh COVID-19 infections plagued start of school year, but districts managed to keep numbers low in the end

A man has been charged with murder after an ongoing dispute led to a deadly shooting on Christmas Day, according to San Antonio police.

SAPD said Mason Sayer Lubitz, 28, fatally shot his 24-year-old neighbor at an apartment in the 1900 block of Larkspur, not far from Lockhill Selma Road and West Avenue on the North Side.

Officers responded to multiple calls for shots fired at around 11:40 a.m. Saturday. Both the victim and the alleged shooter were next to each other inside the same apartment, police said.

Lubitz eventually surrendered but the shooting victim, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

SAPD said the men were involved in an ongoing dispute, but additional details were not released.

Records show Lubitz was booked into the Bexar County Jail and his bond was set at $200,000.

Read also:

Man shot while running after gunmen who stole his Christmas gifts in Stone Oak, police sayWomen shot on Interstate 35 near downtown after leaving bar, SAPD says

Read more stories wrapping 2021 here.

This year was strange.

If the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t enough, 2021′s weird news taught us to always be on our toes and expect the unexpected.

It’s unknown what lies ahead in 2022, but for now, let’s take a look back at some of the weirdest happenings of 2021:

Texas DPS mistakenly issues AMBER Alert for “Chucky” doll

The Texas Department of Public Safety made Texans stop and stare at their phones in January after accidentally sending out an AMBER Alert for a disturbing pair of dolls — Glen Ray and Chucky from the “Child’s Play” horror films.

The alert, sent out Friday, Jan. 29., said Chucky was last seen wearing “blue denim overalls with multi-colored striped long sleeve shirt wielding a huge kitchen knife.” Glen was spotted wearing a blue shirt with a black collar.

Eventually, DPS officials clarified the reason for sending out the alert, saying the IT department sent it out by mistake during a test.

The good news is that the creepy dolls were never actually loose in Texas.

Pentagon’s UFO report released, has few answers

The long-awaited UFO report released to the public by The Pentagon wasn’t exactly all it was hyped up to be.

Investigators said they didn’t find any evidence of extraterrestrials after reviewing 144 sightings of aircrafts or other flying devices; however, they did draw a few other conclusions.

According to a report from The Associated Press, researchers said they need “better data collection,” and that there was “too little information” for them to even “broadly characterize the nature of the incident.”

In short, more work needs to be done before U.S. officials can determine if any of the aerial threats reveiwed could pose any risk to national security.

Tongue-eating creature found at Texas state park

Yes, this tongue-eating parasite is real, and what’s worse is it was found at a Texas state park.

A tongue-eating louse was found inside the mouth of an Atlantic Croaker at Galveston Island State Park in October, according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. And, believe it or not, they’re actually pretty common among certain species of fish.

The creature actually detaches the fish’s tongue before attaching itself to the fish’s mouth, essentially replacing the tongue.

Fortunately, it doesn’t kill the fish, and it doesn’t affect humans.

Home that inspired ‘The Conjuring’ up for sale

If you’re a horror-film fanatic, then listen up — one of the most haunted houses in the nation is still up for grabs.

The presumably haunted Rhode Island farmhouse that inspired “The Conjuring” film has hit the retail market. If the spooky history of the home doesn’t scare you though, maybe the price will, as it is listed at $1.2 million.

The farmhouse, listed under realtor Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty, resides in Burrillville and has 14 rooms on 8.5 acres of land.

Granted, “The Conjuring” wasn’t actually filmed at the farmhouse, but its history will surely give you chills.

Deadly parasite that burrows in bare feet infects 16 near Austin

As if the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t enough cause for concern, another deadly infection was discovered in a small, unincorporated Texas city this year.

Although this time, the infection was from a parasite that burrows in bare feet.

According to a report from The Guardian, 16 people got the parasite, Strongyloides, from “unsanitary surroundings” in the town of Rancho Vista, which consists of about 400 homes.

The parasite can survive for decades without being detected. It burrows through bare feet, enters a human’s bloodstream, the lungs, and then heads for the windpipe, where it is then coughed up and swallowed, according to The Guardian.

The parasite can turn deadly at “certain moments,” such as if the person who is infected is taking steroids.

Those who came up positive for the parasite weren’t aware until they provided blood and stool samples for an academic study. Researchers said they may have found a common connection to the infections — terrible sanitary system failures.

The Guardian reports that those who were positive informed their doctors of their infections and were treated with a single dose of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.

As for the sanitary system failures, and to prevent future infections, the recommended solution was for the city to be connected to a municipal sewer system or to repair the existing septic tanks. You can read more on the story here.

Scuba diver finds real-life Spongebob and Patrick

Who lives on some coral under the sea — Spongebob not-so-square pants and his good friend Patrick Star.

A scuba diver with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration actually found the porous pair, a yellow sponge and a pink starfish, off of the New England coast.

Be as it may, there was no pineapple in sight and the sponge wasn’t quite square.

But still, what are the odds? Maybe Nickelodeon was actually on to something.

One of the most haunted hotels in the U.S. is in San Antonio

Aside from the River Walk or the Alamo, downtown San Antonio also has a haunted history you may not know about.

A recent report from the Historic Hotels of America dubbed the Emily Morgan Hotel, located on Houston Street in downtown SA, as one of the most haunted hotels in the U.S. to date. And yes, if you dare, you can book an overnight stay.

The hotel was initially used as a Medical Arts building from 1924-1976, which housed doctors’ offices and served as a hospital, according to the hotel’s website. Then, the building was converted into modern office space. But almost a decade later, it became the Emily Morgan Hotel.

The most haunted floors of the hotel are the seventh, ninth and fourteenth floors, all of which have a spooky history, according to the report. Those floors reportedly served as a psychiatric ward, surgery level, a waiting area and a morgue, according to the HHA.

If that doesn’t give you chills, then maybe this will: Some guests who have stayed on the fourteenth floor claim they got whiffs of a scent that smelled like a hospital, and when they open guest-room doors from the hallway, they claim they found a scene from a hospital inside.

If you want to check out the hotel for yourself, you can find more on its website here.

Plumber finds 500 money-filled envelopes in walls of Houston megachurch

It was an extremely lucky day for a plumber in Houston after he found hundreds of envelopes of cash and checks in the walls of Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church while he was making some repairs.

This comes years after $600,000 was stolen from the church in 2014, according to KPRC, KSAT’s sister station in Houston. It was a crime that was never solved.

The plumber, who wishes to remain anonymous, was initially called to remove tile to fix a loose toilet on Nov. 10. When he began to move the toilet and insulation, it was then that about 500 envelopes fell out of the wall containing money.

He then contacted the church’s maintenance supervisor and turned in his findings.

However, the plumber did get a fairly hefty reward — $20,000 — from Crime Stoppers for his discovery.

When we think of leadership lessons, we often think of them coming from a scholar or successful businessperson. But one woman who is both of those now learned her lessons years earlier from the garbage can.

Thirty years ago, Rita Fields’ bed was the base of a tree.

“It was 30 years ago, and it always still feels like it’s yesterday,” Fields explains.

This park became her home after she dropped out of high school and ran away at 17. Shortly after, she was homeless and pregnant.

“When you’re pregnant, you’re just always ravenously hungry, and not having options to eat. When you’re hungry, really hungry, it’s the only thing you think about,” Fields said of her time in the park.

She began to panhandle on a nearby street corner, but never made enough money to buy food. Instead, she ate from a dumpster.

“Because it was my only option,” she said.

Fields said she learned most of her best life lessons eating from the dumpster and living in the park.

First, she learned to be resourceful. Not just by finding food, but by using a found butter knife to assemble a crib for her son. Next, commitment. She went back to school to provide for him.

Also, time management. She needed to take nine buses to get to a job to earn money to feed her son. And finally, be your own inner mentor.

“If you don’t believe in yourself, it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks, and if you do believe in yourself, then who cares what anybody else thinks,” she said.

Another lesson, when you see a homeless person on the street, don’t judge them, but help them.

They could be another Fields, who now works for the organization that once ran the shelter she moved to after leaving the park. According to the USDA, more than 35 million people are food insecure in the country. And the U.S. Census says about a quarter of the nation’s population is housing insecure.

Contributors to this news report include: Hillary Rubin, Producer; Ken LaPlace, Videographer and Roque Correa, Editor. To receive a free weekly email on Smart Living from Ivanhoe, sign up at: http://www.ivanhoe.com/ftk

A home on the North Side was nearly destroyed overnight during a fire.

San Antonio firefighters said they arrived at the home in the 1600 block of El Monte Boulevard just after 2:15 a.m. Sunday to find it fully engulfed in flames.

The flames quickly spread throughout the house, destroying most of the home, according to SAFD.

No injuries were reported, and the home was abandoned at the time.

Arson investigators were called to the scene to determine the cause of the fire.

The damage estimates were not disclosed.

Read also:

Man shot while running after gunmen who stole his Christmas gifts in Stone Oak, police sayWomen shot on Interstate 35 near downtown after leaving bar, SAPD saysSAPD: Man assaulted, robbed at Northeast Side motel after suspects barged into room