Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
Constitution of the Mexican Mafia in Texas by John Tedesco Express-News Reporter Guillermo Contreras is covering a federal trial involving the Mexican Mafia, and he wrote about a fascinating court exhibit: The constitution of the Mexican Mafia in Texas. This document was posted on mySA.com today, and it’s all about setting a strong social structure … Read more
I had always wanted to write a story about police chases after I watched a crazy high-speed pursuit unfold on local TV. I wondered how often these chases go bad, and how the San Antonio Police Department keeps track of that information. Law enforcement agencies usually churn out paperwork for every situation known to man. … Read more
I wrote a story about the dangers of police chases that was published in Sunday’s paper. If you’re a subsciber to the San Antonio Express-News or bought Sunday’s edition, you could read my story. But you can’t read it online — it’s been embargoed for a few days. I like the Internet. But I like … Read more
City hall reporter Josh Baugh and I learned a few more scraps of information about fired city employee Fernando De León; the permit company owned by his sister; and possible reasons why the FBI and police are investigating them. First, some background: On March 26 — a lazy, Friday afternoon in the newsroom — Josh … Read more
Business writers Patrick Danner and Jason Buch wrote a story today that revealed new details about an investigation of brothers Ronnie and Gary Cain, who had played a key role in helping Rackspace Hosting Inc. set up its headquarters at the old Windsor Park Mall in Windcrest, outside San Antonio: The former city manager of … Read more
Jennifer Hiller wrote an interesting story about a company started in Austin that is trying to sell developers on a novel way to make a profit: Here’s a new concept in real estate: Buy a house, and when you go to sell it years later, owe the original developer or builder 1 percent of the … Read more
There’s still more news in the story of the retaining wall collapse at the Hills of Rivermist — builder Centex Homes declined to meet with residents today. If you want to know more about the background of this story, check out this timeline of the major events related to the retaining wall collapse.
Nearly two months after a retaining wall split open at the Hills of Rivermist in San Antonio, Centex Homes submitted plans to the city for a new wall that is reinforced with concrete piers and will cost at least $4 million: Centex Homes is hoping the third time’s the charm. This week it produced a … Read more
Bing makes online maps that offer a bird’s eye view of a landscape, creating a 3D image effect. This is a nice feature for big news stories like this one: Authorities evacuated about 80 homes in a Northwest Side neighborhood Sunday when ground caved in behind several houses, pushing earth down a 30-foot hill and … Read more
View Texas Stories in a larger map I was working on my clips page over the holidays and thought it’d be cool to make a new Google map of my past stories. Each dot on the map is a dateline for an article. I was a little amazed by the variety of far-flung locales I’ve … Read more