Tag Archives: San Antonio

US-Mexico high speed rail?

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

What goes north can also go south. A high-speed rail line connecting San Antonio and Monterrey, Mexico, could be less than a decade away from welcoming its first passengers, according to federal and Texas officials who met with Mexican officials … Continue reading →

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Who shot Bigfoot?

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The correct answer is “no one”, since Bigfoot doesn’t exist and all that, but this guy claims to have done it. Nearly a year ago a self-described professional Bigfoot hunter claimed to have shot and killed one of the creatures … Continue reading →

Posted in Skepticism | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Enforcing a new payday loan ordinance

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor Parker’s proposed payday lending ordinance will be up before Council today, though it might wind up being delayed until the new Council is sworn in. It’s not clear yet how the vote might go, but in the meantime it’s … Continue reading →

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San Antonio begins plastic bag ban consideration

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I very much look forward to seeing how this goes. San Antonio spends about $1.3 million annually cleaning up plastic bags, while an estimated $25 million is spent across the state, [District 7 Councilman Cris] Medina’s Council Consideration Request says. … Continue reading →

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Maybe there’s a problem with building roads where there are no drivers

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The high speed toll road keeps having problems relating to not having enough paying customers. SH 130 has not been the immediate success story its backers had hoped. Last week, lower-than-expected traffic revenue prompted credit ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service … Continue reading →

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No repeal petition for San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Opponents of San Antonio’s nondiscrimination ordinance spread the word at churches and parks about their petition drive to place the policy on a citywide ballot. A few hours before Tuesday’s deadline, they informed city officials that effort had fallen … Continue reading →

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Chan challenges Campbell in SD25

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

An awful candidate against an awful incumbent. Two months after stirring national controversy by condemning homosexuality, Councilwoman Elisa Chan has decided to leave the council to run for the Texas Senate in 2014, challenging District 25 state Sen. Donna Campbell … Continue reading →

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Enroll SA

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

San Antonio leads the way. San Antonio city officials and the area’s largest nonprofit health plan have launched separate websites to help residents understand the federally run health insurance marketplace opening Tuesday. The Affordable Care Act requires most people to … Continue reading →

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AG won’t sue over San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Mighty decent of him. Citing a late change in the nondiscrimination ordinance that San Antonio recently passed, a spokesman for the Texas attorney general’s office said the state is now unlikely to file suit. A clause that disallowed appointed city … Continue reading →

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Time for a real NDO in Houston

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Bring it on. Last week, San Antonio passed an ordinance protecting gay and transgendered residents and veterans from discrimination. Houston Mayor Annise Parker says that vote “upped the ante” and that Houston should follow suit. “It is absolutely something we … Continue reading →

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The aftermath of the NDO in San Antonio

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Council vote is over, but don’t expect the fight to be. In four separate public forums since mid-August, more than 1,500 people approached the dais at City Hall and addressed the council, speaking passionately in support of and against … Continue reading →

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San Antonio council passes non-discrimination ordinance

Posted on September 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Well done. The City Council voted 8-3 Thursday to approve adding sexual orientation andgender identity to the list of classes protected from discrimination in San Antonio. Council chambers erupted with emotion — red-clad supporters of the updated nondiscrimination ordinance applauded … Continue reading →

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Mind your own business, Dan

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

AG candidate Dan Branch to San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro: Drop the equality ordinance. State Rep. Dan Branch, a Dallas Republican campaigning for attorney general, sent a letter to Mayor Julián Castro on Monday asking that he withdraw the proposed … Continue reading →

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John Hagee drops opposition to San Antonio equality ordinance

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. Television evangelist and pastor John Hagee on Sunday told congregants — and a national and international audience watching live — that he no longer opposes a proposed ordinance that seeks to protect the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and … Continue reading →

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No more RFID for Northside ISD

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Nortside ISD in San Antonio has quit using RFID trackers in student IDs to keep tabs on them, and has embraced an alternate technological solution to the problem of ensuring an accurate headcount instead. Northside Independent School District spokesman Pascual … Continue reading →

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HBU and UIW make the leap to Division I

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I wish them luck. One of Dr. Louis Agnese’s earliest recollections of the University of Incarnate Word’s athletic program was quite memorable — and not in a good way. In 1985, his first year as president of the school, Agnese … Continue reading →

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I love it when anti-GLBT candidates lose

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A good runoff result in San Antonio. Ron Nirenberg, once an underfunded dark-horse, secured the District 8 seat in [last] Saturday’s runoff, overwhelmingly defeating establishment candidate Rolando Briones. “It feels good knowing that in San Antonio, the message of grassroots, … Continue reading →

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Would you pay more for pre-K in Harris County?

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You might get the chance to vote on it. The recently formed Harris County School Readiness Corp., a group whose membership includes former Houston first lady Andrea White, is circulating a petition calling for the placement of an item on … Continue reading →

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Sebastien De La Cruz

Posted on June 15, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You da man, Sebastien. A soft-spoken boy with a big voice isn’t about to let obnoxious online remarks bring him down — especially when he has so many positive ones in his virtual corner. Fans of Sebastien De La Cruz … Continue reading →

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NEVs

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

NEVs are Neighborhood Electronic Vehicles, and they are now street legal in San Antonio. The City Council voted Thursday to approve the use of supercompact neighborhood electronic vehicles, or NEVs, on city streets with posted speed limits of 35 mph … Continue reading →

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Making San Antonio more musical

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

San Antonio is a little jealous of Austin, it seems. Tired of San Antonio playing second fiddle to Austin when it comes to a live music scene, Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff on Friday laid out ambitious plans to change … Continue reading →

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The fight over domestic partnership benefits is just beginning

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Stuff like this was inevitable. Leaders of two Christian groups want City Council to stop extending benefits to domestic partners of city employees, now that the state attorney general has called the benefits unconstitutional. City officials reject the demand, at … Continue reading →

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More on that underutilized high speed toll road

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

More toll road travails. Traffic counts on the new section of Texas 130, released Friday by the Texas Department of Transportation based on newspaper open records requests, show that the tollway southeast of Austin in its first couple of months … Continue reading →

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Payday and title loan regulation in Houston

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From Nonsequiteuse, who got the following email in her inbox: Proposed City of Houston Lending Ordinance Presentation to Council Committee Tuesday, February 5, 2013 The City of Houston Legal Department has proposed new regulations for credit access businesses, commonly referred … Continue reading →

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San Antonio strip club lawsuit

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If you’re a lawyer representing strip clubs these days, you sure don’t lack for business. More than a dozen strip clubs have sued the city of San Antonio over amendments to ordinances requiring entertainers to wear bikinis, claiming the changes … Continue reading →

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Austin to get bike sharing

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

About time, y’all. City Council will vote Thursday on a five-year contract with a newly formed nonprofit organization, Bike Share of Austin, to operate the system. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization awarded Austin a $1.5 million grant last summer … Continue reading →

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Student RFID lawsuit rejected

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A win for the school district in federal court. A federal judge Tuesday ruled that Northside Independent School District can transfer a student from her magnet school for refusing to wear her student ID badge to protest a new electronic … Continue reading →

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Curbside composting

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Way to go, Austin. City officials are asking Austinites in 7,900 households in five parts of the city to separate their banana peels, egg shells, meat, chicken bones, milk cartons, leaves and any other organic material from their household trash … Continue reading →

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Get well soon, Elf Louise

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

If you’ve ever lived in San Antonio, you are undoubtedly familiar with the Elf Louise Christmas Project. I’m sad to say that “Elf” Louise Locker has suffered a heart attack, but thankfully appears to be recovering nicely. The woman behind … Continue reading →

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Student RFID case in federal court

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Good luck sorting it all out, Your Honor. Because she has a religious objection to Northside Independent School District’s new student tracking system, Andrea Hernandez and her father testified in federal court Monday, she should not be transferred to another … Continue reading →

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San Antonio B-Cycle expands again

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I’m truly impressed at how successful this has been. San Antonio’s newest B-Cycle bike sharing stations opened Friday at six new locations around South San Antonio. The new stations — located at Roosevelt Park, Concepcion Park, Mission Concepcion, Mission Road … Continue reading →

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The anti-student RFID movement has already begun

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

When I wrote about the battle over student RFID, I said it was just a matter of time before the Lege intervened. Turns out I was behind the curve on this. Since first hearing about the use of radio frequency … Continue reading →

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Student RFID

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. A Texas high school student is being suspended for refusing to wear a student ID card implanted with a radio-frequency identification chip. Northside Independent School District in San Antonio began issuing the … Continue reading →

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

2012 election results

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

As I type this there are still a number of unsettled races in Texas, so things may change between now and tomorrow morning after we’ve all had an insufficient night’s sleep. But here’s how they stand at this time, and … Continue reading →

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