Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
Glenda Wolin, who edits a pair of medical writers for the San Antonio Express-News, wrote a useful blog post debunking a viral e-mail about the swine flu that originated in New Braunfels, Texas, which is in our backyard. Wolin wrote: With something as unknown and frightening as swine flu, many people send e-mails and post … Read more
The San Antonio Express-News put together a good collection of resources to track cases of the swine flu and to learn more about it: Medical Writer Don Finley has a story about the closure of Steele High School in Cibolo outside San Antonio. Three students who attend the school are sick; “You’ve got swine flu … Read more
“Telling True Stories” is a collection of essays by the most thoughtful and talented people in the business. It’s essentially a how-to book written by giants like Tom Wolfe, who wrote the “The Right Stuff;” David Halberstam, who wrote “The Best and the Brightest;” and Gay Talese, who wrote legendary celebrity profiles such as “Frank … Read more
Last week, state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, and Mayor Phil Hardberger announced an effort to fix a city ordinance that was meant to protect San Antonio’s diminishing tree canopy from urban sprawl. A loophole in the ordinance allows real estate developers to bulldoze trees for ranching and farming. For those who want to learn … Read more
Last week military reporter Scott Huddleston and I covered the story of Capt. Michael Fontana, a nurse who has been charged by the Air Force of killing three patients at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio. This is Military City, USA, and there’s lots of interest in the case and concern about it. Here … Read more
Kelly Guckian, the database editor for the San Antonio Express-News, produced this handy interactive map showing low-water crossings in San Antonio. During this week’s downpours in South Texas, Kelly’s map is a potentially life-saving resource for people who want to zoom in on their neighborhoods or other parts of town to check out dangerous, flood-prone … Read more
Environmentalist Fay Sinkin died last week at the age of 90. There’s a rich archival resource available to the public for anyone who wants to learn about her life and the decades-long battle she fought to protect the Edwards Aquifer, San Antonio’s main drinking supply. The University of Texas at San Antonio established an archive … Read more
Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo. The same week the San Antonio Express-News cut nearly a third of its newsroom, one of Denver’s daily newspapers, the Rocky Mountain News, closed its doors forever. You might ask, as some readers have, so what? Newspapers are far from perfect. But I’ll let Laura Frank, an investigative … Read more
Today was a bad day. But some of our readers did a better job than I could ever do to sum it up. One wrote: Sadly, this is happening all over the country. The newspaper community hasn’t figured out a way to be paid for their internet access. I surely would prefer to read what … Read more
Express-News Reporter Guillermo Garcia broke a story last week about a confidential city plan to sell La Villita and Market Square. The plan disturbed some city councilmembers, who told Guillermo about a closed-door meeting in which the deal was discussed: Inner-city Councilwoman Mary Alice Cisneros was put on the defensive this week after revelations that … Read more