Free Republic

On Sunday, 19 November, a gun turn-in event, also known by the Orwellian nomenclature of “buyback” was held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.San Antonio police attempted to move private purchasers away from the line of cars forming for the gun turn-in “buyback” event. CJ Grisham, of Open Carry Texas and Texas legislative fame, schooled the police. He kept them from overstepping their bounds. CJ Grisham is now a practicing attorney in Temple, Texas.This was the first known event of this sort for San Antonio. The temperature was about 65 degrees in San Antonio on Sunday morning, with light...

In a fervent battle for their deeply-held beliefs, pro-life groups have filed a lawsuit against the city of San Antonio, alleging that residents are being compelled to finance abortions against their will. The lawsuit is a culmination of tensions surrounding the use of taxpayer funds for activities that directly contradict the moral and religious convictions of a significant portion of the city’s population. The San Antonio Family Association (SAFA) and Texas Right to Life (TRTL) have sued the City of San Antonio over its decision to allocate $500,000 in taxpayer money to abortion-trafficking organizations that violate Texas law. Their attorneys...

San Antonio, Texas' top police official turned to social media on Friday and questioned how a repeat offender with a long rap sheet could walk freely and shoot two officers. At about 5 p.m. Thursday, two San Antonio Police Department officers responded to the area of a wanted suspect who left his apartment complex with a long gun before getting into a vehicle being driven by an unidentified person. San Antonio Police Department Chief Bill McManus said the suspect, later identified as Jesse Garcia, saw police behind them and started shooting, hitting one of the officers. The duo then carjacked...

A Texas sheriff’s department has recommended that the district attorney in Bexar County bring criminal charges after completing its investigation into the first iteration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called migrant relocation program. Those flights sent 49 asylum seekers, most of them Venezuelans, from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, last September. According to a statement provided to the Miami Herald, the Bexar County Sheriff completed its criminal investigation into the on-the-ground operation that allegedly lured migrants onto the flights with false promises of jobs and opportunities on the other end. “The case filed includes both felony and misdemeanor charges...

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, who opened a criminal investigation this week into migrant flights to Martha's Vineyard, said Tuesday that the solution to the ongoing migrant crisis is to open up more legal pathways for people to come to the United States. "At some point, you’re going to have to embrace that this is happening to a certain extent. I would say, look, you’ve got people who want to work… and you've got a shortage of workers," he told CNN on Tuesday. "Hire these folks. Give them the opportunity to work legally, and then make sure that the employers...

MIAMI – A Texas sheriff has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to fly a group of migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, his agency tweeted Monday evening. Javier Salazar, the sheriff of Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, held a news conference on the migrant flight Monday. Salazar is a Democrat, while DeSantis is a Republican. “The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation into the migrants that were lured from the Migrant Resource Center, located in Bexar County, TX, and flown to Florida, where they were ultimately left to fend...

San Antonio must pay $300,000 to settle a pair of lawsuits brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleging the city violated the state’s controversial ban on so-called sanctuary cities in 2017 and prevented federal authorities from enforcing immigration law. Paxton had sued the city over a December 2017 incident in which San Antonio police found a dozen undocumented immigrants in a tractor-trailer and released them without turning them over to federal immigration authorities — in apparent violation of Senate Bill 4, a 2017 law that outlawed “sanctuary cities” by requiring local police to cooperate with those authorities. In one...

Employees of the San Antonio Independent School District are not required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment after the Texas Supreme Court intervened on Thursday. No employees can be fired for not receiving the vaccine, and in the event anyone is fired, the Texas Attorney General’s office says they should call the office and let the AG’s staff know. The Texas Supreme Court issued a temporary stay, halting enforcement of San Antonio ISD’s mandate requiring that all employees receive both COVID-19 doses by Friday (Oct. 15). “No local entity is above state law,” Attorney General Ken...

The city of San Antonio has spent at least $315,000 in legal fees after the city council voted to bar Chick-fil-A from opening a location in the San Antonio airport in March, according to calculations by KENS 5. The legal fees encompass two lawsuits and a federal investigation, and other invoices are pending, according to KENS 5. The San Antonio City Council voted to block the chain as an airport vendor due to the company's "legacy of anti-LGBTQ behavior." The council also struck down a motion to reconsider the decision.

A Brazilian steakhouse has apologized to law enforcement officials in San Antonio, Texas, after a manager asked an armed officer to leave the restaurant. The incident took place on Saturday at the downtown San Antonio location of Fogo de Chão, during which the manager reportedly requested the police officer leave because of his gun. "A law enforcement officer who was dining at our San Antonio location recently was asked to leave the premises by our staff because he was carrying a firearm," the restaurant stated in a message posted to Facebook.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is widely referred to as a "rising star" in Democratic politics. There's even talk the Mexican-American Castro could earn the vice-presidential spot on the 2016 Democratic ticket in an effort to further strengthen the party's bonds with Hispanic voters. And now, it appears Castro's national profile is about to rise with word that President Obama plans to nominate him to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. If Castro is tapped for the job, his Senate confirmation hearings will likely shine a spotlight both on his role in San Antonio's government and his way of...