Browse News & Feature Stories

THE SAY-TOWN LOWDOWN

By Nat Stone

Published: 9/3/2008

Types: News

Expeditious. With a single word, the literary sleeping pill of Section 102(c) of the Real ID Act has led to a civil-rights nightmare on the southern border. Designed to mute laws that could hinder Secure Fence Act construction, Section 102 provides that “the Secretary of Homeland Security shall...[MORE]

No, really: Drop out

By Steve Peralta

Published: 8/20/2008

Types: News

I don’t own a cell phone, and I work in the IT field. Odd, but true. There are several reasons I don’t own a cell phone, ranging from practical to personal. Here are a few: They’re modern-era tracking devices. I’m big on conspiracy theories, and people really are not aware of how much their pri...[MORE]

The voice of Julian Cisneros

By Joe Solis

Published: 7/30/2008

Types: News

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton found her “own voice” in New Hampshire in early 2008. People noticed that something was different when her inner passion emerged as she spoke. Unofficial candidate for mayor Julian Castro may have found his own voice, too: It is that of former Mayor Henry Cisneros. ...[MORE]

Coulda been a contender

By Gregg Barrios

Published: 7/23/2008

Types: News

“What do you care what a bunch of bloodthirsty, screaming people think of you? They pay a few lousy bucks hoping to see a man get killed. To hell with them! Think of yourself. Get your money and get out of this rotten business.” — Humphrey Bogart in The Harder They Fall Returning to the...[MORE]

Gerardo Menchaca’s pinky ring

By Joe Solis

Published: 7/16/2008

Types: News

I became fascinated with Gerardo Menchaca the moment he hung up on me on a hot Friday in late June. He mentioned that he had been “slammed” by the media and had no interest in being interviewed for this profile. Gerardo, it was that click that did it for me. I was intrigued. Gerardo Menchaca is...[MORE]

Remembering a great SA philanthropist

By Joe Solis

Published: 4/16/2008

Types: News

“I felt I had an obligation to give back in a significant and extraordinary way.” — Linda Pace, Dreaming Red: Creating ArtPace, 2003 Bright red balloons, workshops full of enthusiastic children, thoughtful contemporary art, and fun snacks, including Blue Bell ice cream. Linda Pace ...[MORE]

Free ‘gift certificate’ for all San Antonians

By Joe Solis

Published: 3/26/2008

Types: News

The proposed Visitor Tax extension will appear on the May 10 ballot. At this point, you are probably thinking you’d rather visit an overpriced dentist in Stone Oak than read about another bond election. But give me six minutes of your time dear reader. It will be worth it. You have been the rec...[MORE]

Looking forward to Luminaria ’09

By Joe Solis

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: News

On March 15, I attended the first “Luminaria: Arts Night in San Antonio” with my family.  The “citywide celebration” featured performances and art displays at the Magik Theatre, Artpace, and AnArte Gallery among a total of 55 participating locations. We attended the evening festival downtow...[MORE]

McCain’s $25 million dollar man

By Joe Solis

Published: 3/5/2008

Types: News

MATT.org, Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together, is based in the Alamo City where Tejanos and Mexicanos once fought against each other. The non-profit describes its mission in the following manner: “To encourage Mexicans and Americans to come together to bridge the gaps in understanding and quali...[MORE]

THE SAY-TOWN LOWDOWN

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 2/27/2008

Types: News

Cities are forever comparing themselves to others, trying to see how they rank and stack up. San Antonio is no exception. Our political and business leadership loves to tout the fact that we’re the nation’s seventh-largest city. But when it came to County Judge Nelson Wolff’s aborted effort to land ...[MORE]

Montford: Itching for career no. 9

By Joe Solis

Published: 2/20/2008

Types: News

Does John T. Montford have ADD? Former State Senator John T. Montford has been restless for many years. “John T. Montford has had eight careers,” reads his bio. “A Marine officer, practicing attorney, small-business owner, elected District Attorney, member of the Texas Senate for 14 years, Cha...[MORE]

The City of San Antonio v. the people of San Antonio

By B.V. Olguín

Published: 1/16/2008

Types: News

The new parade ordinance, passed November 29, 2007, by the San Antonio City Council, allows the city to charge organizers for costs related to street marches that exceed $3,000. City attorneys and police maintain that the charges are for traffic control. Community activists argue that the ordinance ...[MORE]

The pink lady on Commerce, looking for love

By Joe Solis

Published: 11/28/2007

Types: News

The Museo Alameda is all about us — Latinos and those interested in Latino culture. The pink lady on Commerce Street is new, hip, sexy — and in trouble. Revenue and attendance goals are not meeting initial expectations. How could this have happened? This is Latino Land — home of the Southwest Voter ...[MORE]

Still separate and unequal

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 10/31/2007

Types: News

Forty years ago, in the wake of riots in Newark and Detroit, President Lyndon Johnson appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. The report of the “Kerner Commission,” issued in March 1968, laid out a stunning finding: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one wh...[MORE]

The Say-Town-Lowdown: The live-work gap in downtown SA

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 10/3/2007

Types: News

The news isn’t good. But you likely won’t see it reported in San Antonio. Take a look at the September 17 USA Today. In an article titled “If you build it, they will check in,” reporter Barbara De Lollis described the boom in new hotel development around the nation, w...[MORE]

THE SAY-TOWN LOWDOWN: Fighting poverty with condos

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 9/19/2007

Types: News

Empowerment Zone. Sounds good. And San Antonio’s got one. It’s one of the federal government’s latest approaches to aiding distressed neighborhoods and creating local “economic development,” by “giving local businesses in distressed neighborhoods an economic boost to help drive revitalization, ...[MORE]

The Say Town Lowdown: ‘Reason’ vs. insanity

By Jack Lessenberry

Published: 8/22/2007

Types: Columns

This weekend, the American Psychological Association rejected a moratorium that would have prevented its member psychologists from participating in interrogations at U.S. detention centers at places like Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and secret CIA “black sites” around the world. Instead, ...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown: A real shot in the arm

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 8/15/2007

Types: News

This column usually stays pretty close to home, focusing on San Antonio and Bexar county. This week I’d like to take a detour north, for the tale of another city, with the aim of finding a moral for our own community. Cleveland has long been one of the nation’s great urban basket c...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown: Netroots set to prove they can swing a big red state

By Vince Liebowitz

Published: 8/8/2007

Types: Columns

Democraticprimaries in Texas used to be a spectator sport fit for pay-per-view. Remember when Jim Maddox and Ann Richards duked it out in ’88, with bribery allegations (against Maddox) and drug and alcohol allegations (against Richards) taking center stage? Or when now-fallen-star Dan Mo...[MORE]

How to plan without a plan

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 8/1/2007

Types: Columns

The folks who propose that we need to change the present term limits for San Antonio’s mayor and city councilmembers tend to look back nostalgically on the great days of the 1980s, when there were no pesky term limits. That’s when we had leadership, embodied by then-Mayor Henry Cisne...[MORE]

AT&T: your world. Censored.

By Jennifer Henderson

Published: 7/25/2007

Types: Columns

In mid-June, the Current reported on AT&T’s announcement that in cooperation with several major players in the media world, they would create a new technology to combat the piracy of copyrighted materials through their networks. [See The Mashup, June 20-26.] Before this announcement fr...[MORE]

Once bitten, twice shy when it comes to term limits

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 7/11/2007

Types: Columns

Mayor Phil Hardberger is apparently having second thoughts about pressing ahead immediately with a vote to change city-council term limits. News reports indicate that a recent poll found voters were not terribly interested in changing term limits, and that an “education” campaign wou...[MORE]

How to sell Tundra from Texas

By Steven G. Kellman

Published: 6/20/2007

Types: News, Transportation

The Alamo sells many things. The souvenir tchotchkes marketed in the gift shop of the famous mission include bluebonnet earrings, Texas flag cuff links, coonskin caps, jellybeans, and a wooden Davy Crockett nutcracker. Elsewhere, the Alamo also sells a gas-guzzling Japanese truck. A full-page a...[MORE]

Term limits and plans

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 6/27/2007

Types: News

The campaign to change the term limits for San Antonio’s mayor and council members has already begun. With the re-election of Mayor Phil Hardberger, some local columnists and former council members have begun to trot out the standard arguments about how the term limits approved by voters i...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown

By Heywood Sanders

Published: 6/12/2007 8:50:10 PM

Types: News

Water and money don’t always mix well in San Antonio. We built a city based on abundant, cheap water from the Edwards Aquifer. We’ve also never been willing to pay the full cost of managing too much water — which leaves us grappling with flood control and drainage. ...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown

By Greg Harman

Published: 6/8/2007 5:49:58 PM

Types: News

Now in the Beginning, there were no Brand Names. Our Italian designers still priggishly awaited a hell warm enough to be born into; Nike refused to pay even premordially low minimum wages; and Faded Glory’s gelatinous seed had yet to penetrate the rudimentary canal linking the ...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown

By Greg Harman

Published: 5/29/2007 10:31:48 PM

Types: News

Was it something we said about Al Gore? Less than two weeks after the San Antonio Express-News crashed a raging party of idealistic architects and ruthlessly dressed the last “next President of the United States” in flirtatiously adoring ink, Big Brother Clinton dropped a ...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown

By Greg Harman

Published: 5/29/2007 5:36:33 PM

Types: News

Was it something we said about Al Gore? Less than two weeks after the San Antonio Express-News crashed a raging party of idealistic architects and ruthlessly dressed the last “next President of the United States” in flirtatiously adoring ink, Big Brother Clinton dropped a ...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown

By Jennifer Henderson

Published: 5/23/2007 12:03:25 AM

Types: News

Like the black goo that transformed Peter Parker in the latest Spider- Man movie, a new sticky web of censorship seems to be spreading over our country, exacted not by government officials, but by social and economic forces too large to be overcome by one woman, man, or superhero. O...[MORE]

The Say-Town Lowdown

By Jennifer Henderson

Published: 5/23/2007 12:03:25 AM

Types: News

Like the black goo that transformed Peter Parker in the latest Spider- Man movie, a new sticky web of censorship seems to be spreading over our country, exacted not by government officials, but by social and economic forces too large to be overcome by one woman, man, or superhero. O...[MORE]