A weekly conversation about the people and stories shaping San Antonio. Hosted by Rivard Report Editor in Chief Beth Frerking along with longtime columnist and newsman Rick Casey. Expect the show weekly every Friday and never over 20 minutes long.
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Like chapters of a book, each episode of the “San Antonio Storybook” will tell a different tale about the city we call home. The stories likely are ones you haven’t heard before – narratives about the lives of the people behind the headlines, the sounds you hear, and the places you see as you drive around San Antonio. Subscribe wherever you get you…
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“Finding Medina” weaves together the events surrounding the Battle of Medina with the modern-day search for the battlefield itself. Despite being the largest, bloodiest battle in Texas history, the Medina battlefield has eluded archaeologists for more than a century. By the end of this podcast series, we hope to change that. Subscribe wherever you …
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We may have been naive to be surprised that a San Antonio resort named La Cantera would be sued in 2018 for enforcing an "English-only" policy among Latino employees, but the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week filed just that lawsuit. Helping us understand the lawsuit and the procedures the EEOC goes through before filing such…
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What did you do on summer vacation? Some San Antonio high school students from the International School of the Americas magnet program spent it diving deep into the horrors of the Holocaust. Rick Casey talks to two of them, Sofia Fortuno and Claire Ferrell.
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The firefighters' union will have three controversial charter amendmentson the Nov. 6 ballot and each could have a significant effect on political decision making in San Antonio. This week, Iris Dimmick, who has been covering the firefighters' union contract negotiations for years, joins the podcast to discuss each of the three city charter changes…
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We talk with Gerry Schwabel, long-time head of international affairs for IBC Bank, which specializes in U.S. companies doing business in Mexico and Mexican companies doing business in the United States. Schwabel was present at the creation of NAFTA here in San Antonio and has closely monitored the current negotiations over updating the treaty. He j…
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Paxton Takes Issue with EPA's Ozone Finding
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a federal court this week to void an Environmental Protection Agency finding that San Antonio has – like every other United States city of its size or larger – exceeded federal standards for ozone in its air. Paxton argued the finding would seriously hurt the city’s economy. Will it? And why hasn’t the City o…
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San Antonio City Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8) this week called for Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood to investigate the North Texas developer whose crews recently clearcut most of 38 acres of dense, brushy forest near La Cantera Parkway on the city's far North Side. LaHood called the move grandstanding. Pelaez joins me to discuss the crime…
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This week the most comprehensive study of San Antonio’s housing needs produced a detailed proposal to address a severe and growing problem. The Housing Policy Task Force Calls for 10-Year, $3.9 Billion Plan One statistic is particularly powerful: Paying the median rent for an apartment requires a wage of $18 an hour, yet 60 percent of San Antonio w…
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State Rep. Diego Bernal Talks School Finance
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There is a growing consensus that Texas’ school funding system is broken – especially when well-run suburban districts such as San Antonio’s North East Independent School District are on the mat. San Antonio Democratic State Rep. Diego Bernal, who is vice chairman of the House Committee on Education, has recently expressed optimism that the Legisla…
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Frost Tower Takes Its Place on San Antonio Skyline
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Frost Tower, the first downtown office high-rise to join San Antonio's skyline in three decades, has reached its full height and will open for business next year. Weston Urban CEO Randy Smith played a central role in negotiating the deal and selecting the world-renowned architectural firm Pelli Clarke Pelli and is overseeing construction. In today'…
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A San Antonio Family's Remarkable Response to a Bizarre Murder
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When prominent San Antonio restaurateur Viola Barrios of Los Barrios Restaurant was murdered a decade ago, her family’s passionate response was immediate and stunning. Literally listening to their mother, they obeyed the instructions she had given them over the years to forgive. Throughout her life, Barrios had not only preached compassion and forg…
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With the redevelopment the Alamo and its surrounding plaza at the center of recent public debate, I invited Lewis Fisher, one of the city’s leading historians, to share details about the iconic site’s past and ownership. Fisher is the author of Saving San Antonio: The Preservation of a Heritage, a book dedicated to tales of the city’s strength in p…
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When Nico LaHood, less than a month into his tenure as Bexar County district attorney, announced he wouldn’t seek the death penalty for a 25-year-old man who had killed the Bexar County city of Elmendorf ‘s popular police chief in 2014, it seemed like a radical move. But this week highly respected District Judge Sid Harle ruled the killer was not g…
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Private Firm Replaces UTSA in SA’s Climate Action Effort
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One year ago, just weeks after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, San Antonio’s brand new City Council and its new mayor voted 9-1 to join a coalition of cities determined to meet the accord’s goals for reducing the greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. The first step of the ambitious commit…
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A primer on the upcoming Mexican election. Sure “Amlo,” Just the likely winner, is a leftist. But he’s not the next Hugo Chavez.
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Republican 'Wrestling Match' Comes to San Antonio
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Harvey Kronberg has been covering Texas political conventions at the Quorum Report for three decades. These gatherings don’t nominate candidates, but as Kronberg explains, they have plenty of drama. The 2018 Texas Republican Convention kicked off in San Antonio on Thursday, so Harvey and I explore the dynamics surrounding the party and event. Why d…
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This week in Just This Rick Casey talks with Iris Dimmick, Rivard Report managing editor and City Hall reporter, about the latest draft of plans for remaking Alamo Plaza. A team of national experts, under direction from the City of San Antonio, the Texas Land Office and the Alamo Endowment, took steps toward addressing issues passionately raised by…
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Pioneering Winners, Low Voter Turnout Mark the Runoffs
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In Friday’s episode of Just This, Rick and I discuss several high-profile runoff election races this week that most impact San Antonio, including those for U.S. Congressional Districts 21 and 23; the contest to replace longtime Texas House Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio (in Texas House District 121); and the very low voter turnout in them all. I…
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The Story of the Woman Who Took on Bryce Milligan
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In today's episode of Just This, Rick and I discuss a storythat has rocked the San Antonio literary scene. Hailey Laine Johnson, now 31 years old, on May 9 posted on Facebooka description of a situation that she says happened to her when she was a 14-year-old creative writing student at the North East School of the Arts. In that posting, Johnson al…
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An Upstart’s Bid to Oust an Old Lion on Commissioners Court
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This week on Just This, Rick and I discuss the upcoming May 22nd runoff election between two Democratic candidates for Bexar County Commissioners Court – veteran commissioner Paul Elizondo and County Veterans Service Officer Queta Rodriguez. Elizondo, who has served on the Commission for three decades, likely was surprised have to defend the seat h…
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How City Council Ducked a Public Debate on Whether to Bid to Host the 2020 GOP Convention
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This week on Just This, Rick and I discuss the controversy surrounding Mayor Ron Nirenberg's, and ultimately City Council's, decision not to submit a bid for San Antonio to host the 2020 Republican National Convention. Rather than air the issue publicly in an open session of Council, Nirenberg chose to take it behind closed doors in "executive sess…
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Should San Antonio chase a bid to host the 2020 Republican National Convention? This week on Just This, Rick and I discuss an intense debate on the subject that took place in a March meeting between City and Bexar County officials, business and civic leaders, and RNC representatives. We also examine San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s decision earlie…
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Fiesta! Of Kings, Queens, Charreada and Cornyation
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This week in Just This, Rick and I discuss the more than century-long history of San Antonio's annual Fiesta, including the founding of the exclusive Order of the Alamo by a Virginia transplant, John Baron Carrington, the Cavaliers, the annual selection of King Antonio, the establishment of a separate but equal Latino king, El Rey Feo, and celebrat…
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Can ConnectSA Solve San Antonio’s Future Traffic Snarls?
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This week in Just This, Rick and I discuss Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s announcement that he and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff have formed a new nonprofit, ConnectSA, to help drum up public awareness of, and to advocate for, mass transit solutions in the San Antonio region. Rivard Report Managing Editor and City Hall reporter Iris Dimmick reported that …
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