Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CN) - A police officer for a Texas school district may have used excessive force in fatally shooting a teenager who fled the scene of a fistfight, a federal judge ruled. Denys Lopez Moreno sued Officer Daniel Alvarado, Police Chief John Page and the Northisde Independent School District in September 2011 for the death of her 14-year-old son, Derek Lopez. The incident unfolded on Nov. 12, 2010, when Lopez allegedly exited a school bus and, in view of Alvardo, punched another student. Lopez ignored Alvarado's order to freeze and fled the scene with the school officer tailing...

In a dramatic end to a case that has unwinded for over a year, George Zimmerman was found not guilty of any charges related to the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager who was shot by Zimmerman.The case wasn't just a fascination for the broader American public, but for politicians as well. This was especially true after President Obama said in March, 2012 that, if he had a son, "he'd look like Trayvon." On Saturday night, the reactions from D.C. started coming in soon after the not-guilty verdict was reached.The first came from Rep. Corrine Brown, who represents...

"Defense attorney Mark O'Mara may incite a riot by his arrogance alone. Talk about adding insult to injury."Serving Texas Congressional District 20 in the U.S. House of Representatives San Antonio, Texascastro.house.gov

Even as reports break about the size and scope of the National Security Agency’s vast data storage center in Utah, new details are emerging about a second massive NSA center in San Antonio, Texas. According to the Houston Chronicle, “Satellite and aerial imagery show that massive air conditioning units and backup generators have been added to the facility, which is now ringed by barbed-wire fencing. City permits and property tax records show that the complex has been dramatically expanded.” According to sources, the plant will supposedly translate intercepted communications from the NSA; the communications are then forwarded to Maryland for...

SAN ANTONIO -- A father was tazed by San Antonio police while trying to save his infant boy from a house fire. The incident occurred at around 2:30 a.m. Sunday during a house fire in the 100 block of Morningview Drive. Investigators said the parents of the eight-month-old boy had dropped off their children at their grandparents' house. Somehow, a fire got started inside the home shortly thereafter. The grandparents managed to grab one boy and rush to safety. That's when they realized one boy was still trapped inside. Emergency crews and the children's parents arrived on the scene at...

Torrential rains swamped San Antonio with flash floods on Saturday, leaving at least two people dead as emergency workers rushed to rescue more than 200 residents stranded in cars and homes. “It was pretty crazy,” said Gera Hinojosa, a valet parking cars downtown after the storm. “It was pretty unexpected. We hardly got any warning about it.” For two women, the storm turned fatal. …

The FBI has arrested a San Antonio man on charges that he lied to get into the United States and tried to get a sensitive Defense Department position. Wissam Allouche, 44, appeared for an initial hearing Friday afternoon, and shook his head when U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad read the charges leveled in a federal indictment. The judge ordered him held pending a bail hearing and his arraignment on Tuesday. “He allegedly tried to cover up his affiliation with Hezbollah,” said special agent Erik Vasys, spokesman for the FBI in San Antonio. “It is believed he was looking to secure...

A north side man will not face charges after he shot a man who was smashing the windshield of his car in the driveway of his home, 1200 WOAI news reports.  Police say the homeowner, who is in his fifties, looked out the window of his house in the 1400 block of Thorain, which is near Basse and Blanco after he heard the sound of glass breaking.  It happened about 1:30 this morning.  He saw a man smashing the windshield, grabbed a gun, and opened fire, striking the vandal in the chest.  The vandal, who turned out to be the...

A female Air Force instructor who had sex with a recruit was sentenced to three months in jail Thursday, but will remain in the service for now. The judge, Col. Donald Eller Jr., also gave Staff Sgt. Emily Allen 30 days' hard labor and busted her to airman first class.

SAN ANTONIO -- The battle for same-sex marriage equality took an interesting turn in San Antonio late Wednesday night as gay rights advocates ambushed a Chick-fil-A with signs and posters. More than two dozen Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) messages covered the windows of the fast food restaurant in the 1300 block of Austin Highway. Workers at the business weren't aware of the signs until they arrived for work Thursday morning. They had no comment. Some of the signs which were taped to the chicken franchise's window read, "Government can not dictate love," "Support love note hate," and "Your...

When it left the Alamo in the dark of night 177 years ago, William Barret Travis' "Victory or Death" letter had to be slipped past the Mexican army before courier Albert Martin could deliver the besieged commander's stirring call for help that never came.

After a year of medical problems and working too many hours, taking short vacation. Dallas and San Antonio. Soliciting freeper tips and hot spots for senior tourist who can still walk.

Strange things are afoot in the South Texas oil patch and in the sky above...cellphone video, taken by worker Xavier Garza, shows a reddish-orange orb in the northern sky. Witnesses say the camera didn't pick up a dozen more lights that appeared and reappeared several times, typically hovering in formation. It happened two nights in a row. And last week, a photo surfaced on the website of the Mutual UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) Network, a volunteer group that investigates UFO claims, purportedly taken at a well site in the same stretch of the Eagle Ford. Allegedly taken from a security...

Hearing online (not verified) a school in San Antonio received a phone threat and went on lockdown. A school in Baton Rouge had a vehicle nearby filled with ammunition and went on lockdown. Any others? Good week to start home schooling!

Details are still sketchy, but San Antonio, TX., residents and local reporters are spreading word about a shooting at a local movie theater:

The San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has released a new report that examines gun laws and violence in all 50 states. The report, titled “Gun Laws Matter 2012: Understanding the Link Between Weak Laws and Gun Violence,” looks at the relationship between state gun laws and gun violence — as well as assigning a grade to each state based on the strength or weakness of these laws. Texas’ grade: F. In fact, the Lone Star State was one of 21 states that received an F in the report. The center takes issue with the fact that Texas...

A local couple says a San Antonio police officer who shot their dog in the jaw early Sunday morning was at the wrong house. Albert Morales said his brother, Hector Serna, woke him up before dawn after hearing the gunshot and then pounding on his window. “I thought someone was trying to break in,” Serna said, since the officer never identified himself. Serna and Morales said they went outside and the officer approached them saying there had been a 911 call about a deceased woman. Morales then said the officer told him he was responding to the call from another...

A rare spider has caused a San Antonio highway construction project to be shut down - because of the Endangered Species Act. People on our side of the fence are properly upset. Here are a couple threads: Blind Spider Discovery Halts Development Of Texas HighwayRare spider found in Texas shuts down $15M million construction project Needless to say, the neo-Marxist freaks on the other side are overjoyed. I found an article at The Huffington Post. I scrolled down to read the comments and almost threw up: Wow.....I cannot believe that they are doing that.......It is great........ Oh, man, I can...

How lovely. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The young Texas mayor whose keynote speech wowed the Democratic National Convention crowd Wednesday night draws political inspiration from his mother – who is a member of a radical civil rights movement and who reportedly thinks the truth behind the Battle of the Alamo is that Texans swiped Mexico’s land.Maria del Rosario Castro, the mother of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, said in 2010 that she grew up being told the battle was “glorious,” only to learn the so-called heroes were really “a bunch of drunks and crooks and slaveholding imperialists who conquered land that...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will hold talks Tuesday with former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on US immigration reform, the White House said. The meeting comes as legislative efforts to enact an overhaul stalled in the polarized US Congress, amid worries about violence along the US border with Mexico and concerns over stubbornly high US unemployment. Obama "will meet with a broad group of business, law enforcement, faith, and leaders from across the political spectrum on the importance of fixing our nation's broken immigration system," said spokesman Nick Shapiro. The president, who recently...