Express Briefing

The video of George Floyd gasping for breath was essentially Exhibit A as the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee on the Black man’s neck went on trial Monday on charges of murder and manslaughter. Here's a report from the trial's start. The Express-News is still accepting nominations for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the San Antonio area can participate. Click here to learn more. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

It's a good time to be a basketball fan in San Antonio, with the Spurs in the middle of a nine-game homestand and the NCAA women's basketball tournament rolling along. Heading into tonight's game against Sacramento, Spurs guard Derrick White has drawn 45 charges in 171 career NBA games. Neither bumps nor bruises — nor the occasional chipped tooth — can stop him from sticking his nose in on defense. Connecticut makes its 15th consecutive appearance in the Elite Eight, some have labeled the best women’s basketball rivalry of the current century. UConn-Baylor, Part IX, figures to make for pretty good television, too.

First time claims for unemployment benefits rose for the second consecutive week, reaching the highest level since July. Weekly claims in Texas last week increased by about 6,500. The death toll from last month's winter storms has climbed to 111, according to updated figures released Thursday by the Department of State Health Services. The San Antonio region could be in for another round of wet weather this weekend, but the National Weather Service says it is too early to say how much rain will fall Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

The U.S. Senate took its first steps to advance one of Democrats’ top legislative priorities, convening a hearing on a sweeping elections bill that would expand voting rights and blunt some Republican state legislators’ efforts to restrict access to the ballot box. In Texas, Republicans have begun lining up behind a Democratic-led bill that would draw down billions in new federal Medicaid dollars, but with key compromises including work incentives for recipients. Here's what you need to know about HB 3781. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

Feeling lucky, basketball fans? We're giving away two tickets to the April 21 home game at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Click here to enter. And the Express-News is still accepting nominations for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the San Antonio area can participate. Click here to learn more. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

President Joe Biden’s economic advisers are preparing to recommend spending as much as $3 trillion on efforts aimed at boosting the economy, reducing carbon emissions and narrowing economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. The Express-News is still accepting nominations for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the San Antonio area can participate. Click here to learn more.

As many as 26 percent of San Antonio residents have COVID-19 antibodies, according to a study from Texas Department of State Health Services and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston researchers. After several postponements, jury selection will resume today for the long-delayed capital murder trial of a San Antonio man accused of shooting a police detective nearly five years ago. Otis Tyrone McKane, 36, is charged with killing SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi.

As state Republicans push to restrict voting, a new poll shows a majority of Texans want more time to vote early and do not approve of threatening voters or those who assist them with felony charges for violations. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Atlanta today. They'll meet with Asian-American leaders  to offer support to the community after the shooting deaths of eight people, six who were Asian women, at spas around the metro area. Read more about anti-Asian bigotry in San Antonio below.

A white gunman was charged Wednesday with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community. The sheriff said it was too early to tell if the attack was racially motivated — “but the indicators right now are it may not be.” You're invited to watch as Soledad O’Brien brings diverse voices together to explore issues of identity in "To Be an American: Identity, Race and Justice." The all-digital 90-minute show premieres tonight at 6 p.m. Here's how to watch.

Authorities seized a tiger and a bobcat from a two-story brick home in a southeast Bexar County neighborhood. The 5-year-old bobcat and 13-week-old tiger were taken to the San Antonio Zoo, where they will be housed temporarily before moving to a wildlife sanctuary. Jeremy Martinez, 25, was arrested at the home. San Antonio police found and arrested a mother who had been missing with her 18-month-old child since January. Authorities charged 20-year-old D'Lanny Reaneille Chairez with abandoning or endangering a child. Police said they have not found her son, James Avi Chairez, but believe he may still be in the San Antonio area.

The presence of antibodies — proteins in a patient’s immune system that fight off infections — tell researchers that those individuals had contracted the coronavirus in recent months. According to a a study from Texas Department of Health Services and UT Health, as many as a quarter of Texas residents have COVID-19 antibodies. In an update to the situation at the Texas-Mexico border, the U.S. government plans to use a Texas convention center to hold up to 3,000 immigrant teenagers as sharply higher numbers of border crossings have severely strained the current capacity to hold youths.

Even though overcast skies and temperatures in the low 70s brought just a trickle of customers to kick off spring break, Texas’ tubing outfitters are hopeful that the weeks and months to come will bring a chance to recover from the pandemic’s economic devastation. Here's what they told us. At the U.S.-Mexico border, the Biden administration is turning to FEMA for help managing and caring for record numbers of unaccompanied immigrant children who are streaming into the United States by illegally crossing the border.

It's still nearly four months away, but there's reason to hope this year's Fourth of July celebrations will be something like normal. You know, like before COVID-19 hit. President Joe Biden pledged in his first prime-time address Thursday night to make all adults eligible for vaccines by May 1 and raised the prospect of “independence from this virus” by the Fourth of July. Keep an eye on the Express-News Taste team's page today as our 52 Weeks of Food Trucks series continues. If you missed any previous entries, catch up here.

Congress approved a sweeping $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Wednesday, authorizing a flurry of new federal spending and a temporary yet dramatic increase in anti-poverty programs to help millions of families still struggling amid the pandemic. Staying in Washington, President Joe Biden directed his administration to order another 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine, growing a likely U.S. surplus of doses later this year while much of the rest of the world struggles with deep shortages.   Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order rescinding all COVID-related restrictions takes effect today. But the city of Austin is flouting the governor's order and will continue to require residents to wear masks. Texas is a year away from its March primary elections and there is already plenty of chatter that Gov. Greg Abbott could face his first challenge from the right after only token opposition in his past two campaigns. Here are some of the names that keep coming up. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

Bexar County commissioners will get an update on the county’s plumbing assistance program, aimed at helping residents affected by last month’s winter storm, during an in-person meeting this morning at the County Courthouse. We'll post updates here. We're accepting nominations for our annual Top Workplaces competition. Click here for more information. And we're launching our newest newsletter, The Docket, on Friday. Click here to receive our best crime and courts stories in your inbox every week. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

CPS Energy customers won’t see extra charges on their February bills stemming from the winter storm that iced over Texas last month. In less good news, the CDC published a study showing evidence that COVID restrictions — such as the mask requirement that Gov. Greg Abbott rescinded — clearly decrease COVID cases and deaths, while opening up restaurants causes them to spike. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

The countdown is on to April 16, the deadline to nominate your company for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Click here to participate or call 210-348-3758. Wednesday in South Texas, Starship SN10 stuck its landing. Then it exploded. Here's a closer look at what happened and why SpaceX fans were encouraged. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

Join Express-News Features Editor Emily Spicer for a timely conversation with vaccine scientist and tropical disease and coronavirus expert, Dr. Peter J. Hotez. Come back to this page at noon today. Our latest episode of the Puro Politics podcast is all about the questions surrounding county commissioner Trish DeBerry, her public relations firm and its $175,000 contract with SAWS. Check out all our podcasts here. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.  

The state is launching its “Save Our Seniors” initiative in 26 counties this week, setting aside 8,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses for elderly and homebound Texans. Find out more about the program and why Bexar County isn't on the list yet. Now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, Texas is awaiting its first shipment of the third vaccine to be approved since the pandemic began. The state could initially receive more than 200,000 doses. Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines. Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.