AltWeeklies Wire
Portrait of a Shattered Familynew

Murder destroyed Charity Lee's family, forever altered her concept of justice.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
06-13-2013 |
Crime & Justice
Dead in Seven Hoursnew

When overdosed means overworked, Bexar County jail's fatal flaws come to light.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
06-05-2013 |
Crime & Justice
Texas Marine Corps Vet Still Awaiting Trialnew

The U.S. Marine Corps looked the other way when 27-year-old sniper Adan Castañeda attempted suicide while enlisted. Despite Castañeda's increasingly serious outbursts at home once discharged, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs routinely ignored his mental health issues, bouncing him from crisis to crisis.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
05-22-2013 |
War
Tags: Adan Castañeda, U.S. Marine Corps
In Texas, Juvenile Sex Offenders Get Virtual Life Sentencenew

Texas is one of at least 10 states that put children found guilty in juvenile courts on public sex-offender registries.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
05-09-2013 |
Crime & Justice
SOLAR FLARE BETWEEN CPS AND LOCAL INDUSTRYnew

A report this year from the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group of investor-owned utilities, spells out how rooftop solar could lay waste to the utilities’ century-old business model.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
04-18-2013 |
Energy
Treated to Deathnew

Big Pharma's troubling history of pushing drugs on foster kids, and how a Texas girl may have died from it.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
04-10-2013 |
Drugs
Tags: pharmaceuticals, medications
Fire in the Skynew

The sour side of life in the South Texas fracklands.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
03-29-2013 |
Environment
Tags: fracking
Lamar Smith chimes in on immigration… again.new

Low-risk, non-violent immigrants released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers?! Cue the outrage from Congressman Lamar Smith in 3, 2…
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
03-06-2013 |
Immigration
Civil rights group complains of exorbitant charging for records at the Bexar County jailnew

At 8 p.m. on August 21, 2012, Thomas Reed Taylor turned himself in to the Bexar County jail, opting for time served on outstanding drunk driving and misdemeanor drug possession warrants in lieu of fines he couldn't pay.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
03-06-2013 |
Civil Liberties
The Great Imposternew

How digital-age con Gemase Simmons preyed on young fame-hungry victims for years.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
02-21-2013 |
Crime & Justice
Tags: Gemase Simmons
Texas loses money by ignoring children's needsnew

Advocacy group Texans Care for Children last week released a new year-long study finding that Texas spends $14.3 billion and $20 billion more than the rest of the country every year because it fails to address child well-being.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
02-13-2013 |
Children & Families
Strippers at peril, military befuddled about sex regsnew

Strippers in local clubs can stick to their pasties, for now.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
02-06-2013 |
Civil Liberties
Environmentalists, landowners and Valero await decision on the Keystone XL pipelinenew

The town of Wells is easy to overlook, just a few blocks of homes and a school stretching along a busy state highway.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
01-30-2013 |
Environment
Sexual abuse victims testify in Lackland hearingnew

In the summer of 2011, a single trainee came forward to claim she was raped by her instructor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
01-30-2013 |
Crime & Justice
Confessions of a Revenge Pornographernew

Revenge porn has become a legal grey area. In the past, victims have sued websites over copyright infringement or privacy. But proprietors of revenge porn websites like Texxxan.com fall under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides that websites aren't liable for user-submitted content.
San Antonio Current |
Michael Barajas |
01-30-2013 |
Crime & Justice