Category: San Antonio News

When your population soars more than 15 percent, as the San Antonio metro area’s population did between 2012 and 2020, you need to put more roofs over people’s heads. As a result of the region’s booming population, the Alamo City lands at No. 20 on the list of major U.S. metro areas with the most construction permits issued for single-family homes from 2012 through 2021, according to new data from self-storage marketplace StorageCafe. During that…

It’s one of many community outreach opportunities prioritized by CPS Energy in the wake of customer dissatisfaction following Winter Storm Uri.

The Nikola Tre BEV can tow more than 80,000 pounds and travel up to 350 miles on a single charge.

While testifying in a bankruptcy trial for a Texas electric co-op, the state’s former grid manager said Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive led them to keep power price points high during last year’s winter’s storm, according to a Houston Chronicle report.

Though power plants were beginning to recover in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri, then-Public Utility Commission Chair DeAnn Walker told ex-ERCOT CEO Bill Magness that Abbott “wanted them to do whatever necessary to prevent further rotating blackouts,” he testified, according to the report.

That led ERCOT to keep energy prices at the maximum of $9,000 per megawatt hour, resulting in billions of dollars in profit for power generators in the market.

Magness still defended the decision, according to the report, saying that the power grid was still vulnerable around that time, and that some power generators that came back online were still going offline intermittently.

Abbott denied any responsibility for the decision to keep energy prices high.

“As Texans would expect, Governor Abbott instructed everyone involved that they must do what was needed to keep the power on and to prevent the loss of life,” Abbott’s spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle in an email Wednesday. “This is the same instruction Governor Abbott gave to the PUC and ERCOT (during a cold snap) earlier this year: Do what needs to be done to keep the power on.”

The energy price hike is a central part of the bankruptcy trial of Brazos Electric. Attorneys for the co-op argued that the price hike was reckless and led to a massive $1.9 billion power bill that caused the company to seek bankruptcy.

The testimony may affect Abbott’s political standing ahead of the 2022 elections.

Beto O’Rourke, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, seized on the news Wednesday.

“Abbott screwed us, and he’ll continue to screw us until we vote him out,” O’Rourke said on Twitter.

O’Rourke has also previously pointed out how energy executives who have profited off the winter storm have donated millions to Abbott’s campaign, like energy tycoon Kelcy Warren.

Read more:

What led to the ‘total breakdown’ of the Texas power grid? KSAT ExplainsTexas grid vulnerable to blackouts during severe winter weather, even with new preparations, ERCOT estimates show

The projects are aimed at studying the investments needed to replace deteriorated sanitary sewer and collection systems and revamping existing wastewater treatment plants.

Live entertainment and interactive events top our list of hot happenings in the Alamo City. See Lupita D’alessio and Maria Jośe live in concert or catch the final days of the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. Check out the top five things to do in San Antonio this weekend. Thursday, February 24 Copa Wine Bar presents February Wine and Dine: Lunar New Year Celebrate the Lunar New Year with fellow foodies at Copa Wine…

The former CPS Energy president & CEO announced her resignation in October and departed the utility earlier this year.

San Antonio fire crews who were battling a huge fire in an abandoned building downtown also had to struggle with a gas leak.

An underground gas line just outside the building, located in the 500 block of Urban Loop, apparently became damaged by the flames, then added extra fuel to the fire.

RELATED: San Antonio firefighters battle 2-alarm structure fire in downtown

“The main reason we couldn’t get to it was because of that gas main and the fire coming off of that,” said Captain Gabriel Ortega with the San Antonio Fire Department.

Crews responded to a call shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday and found huge flames coming from what had been a more than 17,000 square foot building.

The fire continued to rage throughout the morning, finally only dying down a little bit by daybreak Thursday.

Ortega said firefighters wouldn’t be able to put it out completely until crews with CPS Energy had capped the gas leak, and the city of San Antonio’s Code Enforcement crews had torn down what was left of the building.

All that firefighters could do in the meantime was to work to keep the fire from spreading.

They poured water on it from aerial hoses above and sprayed it from hand-held hoses on the ground.

“It’s all part of the job,” Ortega said. “I mean, we know this building is abandoned. We’re not gonna risk people to get in there.”

There were no injuries reported as a result of the fire, and the official cause remains under investigation.

While briefing news crews late Wednesday night, Fire Chief Charles Hood said he suspected the fire may have been caused by homeless people who had gotten inside the boarded-up building.

The site held a lot of San Antonio history.

The building, which was constructed in the late 1800s, was home to a number of different businesses over the years, including a well-known brothel and, later, a home for boys.

Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales joined four other Texas district attorneys in defying recent directives issued by Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton on transgender health care.

Earlier this week, Paxton issued an attorney general opinion, which is not legally binding, that deemed gender-affirming treatments for children would constitute child abuse.

Abbott cited that opinion in a letter to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, directing the agency to investigate gender-affirming care providers.

The district attorneys of Dallas, Travis, Bexar, Nueces and Fort Bend counties condemned the directive, calling it “un-American.”

“We also want to be clear: we will enforce the Constitution and will not irrationally and unjustifiably interfere with medical decisions made between children, their parents, and their medical physicians,” the attorneys wrote. “We trust the judgment of our state’s medical professionals, who dedicate themselves to providing the highest degree of care not only for our transgender youth, but for all youth in our communities.”

The DAs assured families with transgender children that they should continue seeking health care for them.

“We will not allow the Governor and Attorney General to disregard Texan children’s lives in order to score political points,” they wrote.

The Democratic district attorneys have been at odds with the governor and attorney general over many issues over the past few years, including fights over mask mandates and other restrictions related to COVID-19.

The Texas attorney general’s ability to unilaterally prosecute cases is also unclear.

Late last year, the state’s highest criminal court ruled that Paxton could not unilaterally prosecute election cases without a referral from a county or district attorney first.

Read more:

Gov. Abbott directs state agency to investigate gender-transitioning procedures as child abuseTexas attorney general cannot unilaterally prosecute election cases, state’s highest criminal court rules

The James Beard Awards have returned. After a two-year hiatus, the James Beard Foundation revealed its semifinalists for its 2022 Restaurant and Chef Awards. Considered the Oscars of the food world, the awards recognize outstanding chefs and other culinary professionals in a wide range of categories ranging from Outstanding Chef to Best New Restaurant and a range of media categories. This year will be the first time the foundation has given an award for Best…