Corporate apprenticeship programs have become more common in recent years, with companies investing millions to cover tuition costs and train community college students for highly skilled roles.

Three downtown tourist attractions will vacate their buildings early to make way for a major component in the Alamo Plaza makeover.

Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced on Wednesday that Tomb Rider 3D: Adventure Ride and Arcade, the Guinness World Records Museum and Ripley’s Haunted Adventure agreed to terminate their leases in the Woolworth and Palace Buildings.

The tenants, which operate under the management of Phillips Entertainment, agreed to stop retail operations on Sept. 1 and vacate the property by Oct. 31, a news release states. The tenants have operated there since 2002.

That frees up the buildings — located at 327 and 329 Alamo Plaza and 518 E. Houston St. — for construction of the Alamo Museum and Visitors Center.

The museum and visitors center is among the key elements in the Alamo Plan, which also calls for closing down area streets to vehicular traffic, restoring historic buildings at the site and constructing an Exhibit Hall & Collections Building.

The exhibit hall is scheduled for completion this year, and the museum is expected to launch in 2025.

“This agreement is an instrumental step forward in restoring reverence and dignity to the sacred Alamo grounds,” Bush said in the release.

Phillips Entertainment also operates the Texas Ranger Museum, the Buckhorn Saloon & Museum and the Amazing Mirror Maze downtown.

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A woman in her 90s is dead following a fire inside her East Side home early Thursday morning, the San Antonio Fire Department said.

The fire was called in around 1:15 a.m. at a home in the 200 block of Utah Street, not far from South Hackberry Street and South New Braunfels Avenue.

Firefighters said they arrived to find heavy flames on the back side of the house. Firefighters were able to get an elderly man out of the home, but they had to pull out during the initial search and the woman didn’t make it out, fire officials said.

The man rescued suffered burns and was taken by EMS to Brooke Army Medical Center. His name and age were not released.

The SAFD said the house is a total loss and that no firefighters were injured battling the flames.

The cause of the fire is not currently known. A fire investigation team will work to determine the exact cause.

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

The name of the woman killed has not been released.

Describing Converse as a critical area between San Antonio and Austin, Executive Director of Converse EDC Jimsi Kuborn said the city’s economic growth will continue in 2022.

A “townhome-style” apartment complex in North Central San Antonio has sold to an investment group with offices in Austin and Los Angeles.

San Antonio trauma hospitals are teaming up with the community-based program Stand Up SA to step in and intervene when a shooting breaks out. The team of about 20 works in the East and West Side but now a new team of three will break out into local trauma hospitals.

Dennis Ellis, the hospital supervisor, said his team will be working at University Hospital and Brook Army Medical Center, both level 1 trauma hospitals, where the most serious of gun shooting victims are treated.

“We’re just trying to save lives. We’re trying to stop gun violence,” he explained. The program is modeled after other programs used in other major cities, but it’s the first time it’s being used in Texas.

Derek Taylor is the program manager. He says the team has already been doing incredible work in San Antonio for six years. This is the next step for that work.

“My staff will respond to see if we can get it started and get in front of it, in front of the next situation out of retaliation,” Taylor said.

If all goes according to plan, the staff should be in the hospitals by the spring. There’s plans to hire two more hospital violence interrupters by the end of the year.

He says people and families are most vulnerable when they are sitting in a hospital waiting for the outcome of their loved ones. He thinks that maybe this is the time when they can be reached and helped out of the lifestyle.

Mark Muir, Adult Trauma Medical Director at UHS, said the hospital already has several programs geared towards reducing gun violence. They support embracing this next program as they see a rise in gun crime.

“It does take a toll seeing these injuries day after day and night after night in the trauma bay. Just the fact that the numbers continues to increase is frustrating and takes a toll on everyone,” Muir said.

He said in the last two years, intentional shooting injuries patients that are taken to the hospital have doubled. In 2019, it was about 150. In 2021, it was about 300. He said many of those victims have been there for previous shooting injuries.

The UHS, Bexar County, and other community groups have teamed up to offer gun locks for free to anyone in the community who needs them.

City council members expressed broad support and anticipation on Wednesday for the upcoming $183.3 million job training program, SA: Ready to Work.

In a presentation to council members, city staff laid out the basic structure of the program, which is expected to place more than 28,000 people into either certification and degree programs and result in at least 15,728 people into “high-quality” jobs in in-demand fields.

The city says there will be a 60/40 split between the certifications and degree programs.

In the November 2020 election, 77 percent of voters approved collecting a 1/8 cent sales tax through December 2025 to fund the workforce training program, which currently has an estimated budget of $183.3 million. City council still needs to approve a handful of contracts for the organizations that will actually run the program, which it is expected to vote on later this month.

Once they do, San Antonio residents will be able to apply for the program sometime in April, though preregistration is already available by calling 311.

Staff have already trumpeted partnerships with employers, who have helped guide what kind of training should be supported by the program.

Workforce Solutions Alamo created a list of targeted industries, like health, cybersecurity, construction, and manufacturing. Within those industries, an advisory board approved a list of 73 occupations.

The city says residents who participate will get:

Tuition for certifications, associate’s, and bachelor’s degrees in target industriesWraparound support services and emergency assistanceJob placement and retention services

Eligibility requirements for the program, include:

At least 18 years oldSan Antonio resident, permitted to work in the United StatesNot currently enrolled in college coursesHousehold income less than 250 percent of the federal poverty guidelines – $33,975 for an individual or $69,375 for a family of four in 2022.

How Many?

Voters were told the program would serve up to 40,000 people over four years, helping them get job training or complete their two or four-year degrees in in-demand fields.

But now that the program is ready to launch, the benchmarks the city is presenting are lower.

The city anticipates 39,269 people will go through the intake process, but only 28,085 will actually end up in case management enrolling in a program.

Out of that, they are aiming for at least a 70 percent completion rate – about 19,660 people.

From there, the city wants at least 80 percent of those who completed a program – about 15,728 – to find a job within six months, and at least 80 percent of that number – about 12,582 – to still be in that job a year later.

Mike Ramsey, the city’s executive director of workforce development says budget constraints are keeping them at the 28,000 number for enrollment, but he believes the program could still make a difference.

“Even if we only hit the floor and 16,000 workers are trained with the skills that are going to help them to achieve economic stability in today’s financial climate, in today’s economic climate, I think it’s going to move the needle enormously here for the city of San Antonio,” Ramsey said.

SA: Ready to Work VS. Train For Jobs SA

The city is still winding down the workforce development program it started in 2020, Train for Jobs SA. Though enrollment closed at the end of 2021, training is still going on.

But while Train for Jobs SA was focused on shorter-term training, SA Ready to Work includes opportunities to complete college degree programs.

However, Train for Jobs SA included stipends for participants – $11.3 million spent through the end of 2021 – while SA Ready to Work will not.

Staff say they learned a lot of lessons from the program that can be applied to SA: Ready to Work, such as the need for targeted marketing and outreach, centralized data management, and aligning training with jobs that are in demand.

The success of the Train for Jobs SA program has been debatable. It started with a goal of serving up to 10,000 people by September 2021 and seeing 75 percent of them actually complete training programs.

As of Jan. 31, a little over 10,300 had completed the preliminary intake process, but only 5,051 had actually enrolled in training or high school equivalency programs. Another 2,900 others had enrollment pending.

Only 2,257 participants have completed their training, and only 1,140 of them have been connected with a job. Furthermore, just 643 percent of them are earning at least $15 an hour.

Staff have said that will be the minimum for an approved job through SA: Ready to Work, and that $15 an hour is “not our goal.”

Federal Tax Liens and Releases The latest information available concerning unpaid tax levies filed by the Internal Revenue Service against individuals and businesses. -State Tax Liens Business or Person: B, Name: Vevas Enterprises Inc., Address: 4640 Emil St., City: San Antonio, State: TX, Zip: 78219-4125, Amount: $14,759, Taxtype: (940/941/2290), Bookpage: 20220008838, Filedate: 2021-12-01, Recdate: 2022-01-12, Reldate: 0000-00-00, Jurisdiction: Bexar County Business or Person: B, Name: Advocare…

New Businesses New business licenses and corporate formations. -Sales Tax Permits Company: Julie’s Jewels, First: Juliana, Last: Garcia, Address: 10619 Bar X Trl., City: Helotes, State: TX, Zip: 78023, Type: retail-miscellaneous, Sic: 59, Recdate: 2022-01-13, Jurisdiction: Bexar County Company: Trinity Collectables, First: Cassandra, Last: Reyes, Address: 11332 Jazzstar, City: San Antonio, State: TX, Zip: 78245, Type: retail-miscellaneous, Sic: 59, Recdate: 2022-01-12, Jurisdiction: Bexar County Company:…

The Biden administration has created a multi-million dollar grant program geared towards reducing drug harm and saving lives.

Our KSAT Trust Index Team received a question from a viewer asking if the money is going towards crack pipes. The claim is true on our KSAT Trust Index.

One local nonprofit official said while they haven’t received any grant money from the federal government, these kind of programs actually save lives.

$30 million in grant funding was authorized by the American Rescue Plan to support harm reduction services that include treatment, prevention but also syringe exchanges and smoking kits like crack pipes.

“Less use, less burning, less spread of disease. That is what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Gavin Rogers, executive director for Corazon San Antonio, a nonprofit that provides support for the marginalized and those struggling with homelessness.

Rogers said the clean needles, pipes and outreach are all evidence-based approaches that work.

“It is critical. This is (a) life-saving measure,” Rogers said. “A holistic harm reduction program is more than just needle exchange and cooking kits. It’s about policy and advocacy. It’s about street outreach. It’s about case management and getting people into homes, and it’s about peer recovery, counseling and education to educate those clients in safe use, but also ways and forms of recovery.”

Corazon San Antonio’s Harm Reduction Team is made up of seven staff members.

“We were gifted with a wonderful grant through the UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing,” Rogers said. “More programs (like these) and more money is needed to help clients, not only in Bexar County but throughout Texas that have issues of drug dependency.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the grant program will benefit nonprofits and local governments to make drug use safer for those struggling with addiction. It is also designed to prevent deaths and reduce health risks linked to drug use.

“Safe pipes are to keep people from spreading other harmful diseases around the community and to other clients,” Rogers said. “So, those safe smoking kits are designed (to help stop) the spread of harmful disease.”

However, this is not the first time the Biden administration addresses drug use. In a press release, the White House said, “At a time when overdose deaths, driven primarily by illicitly manufactured synthetic drugs, have reached a record high, the Biden-Harris Administration took action through its first-year drug policy priorities to significantly expand access to evidence-based prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services, as well to reduce the supply of illicit drugs like fentanyl.”

It is against the law to sell or distribute drug paraphernalia however, there’s an exception if authorized by the government. At the end of the day, experts and community outreach workers said the goal is to aid in the treatment and recovery of addicts.

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