AltWeeklies Wire
El Mensaje de Mérida: Restoring Wilderness is Vital to Saving the Planetnew

Slash-and-burn agriculture and deforestation had unintended consequences on the early Maya. But these weren’t the only people doomed by unsustainable environmental practices or rapid shifts in the climate.
San Antonio Current |
Greg Harman |
12-09-2009 |
Environment
Nukes Mean Mines: Are We Digging a New Toxic Legacy Before the Last One's Filled In?new

The risks involved in uranium mining and processing should be a starting point for any debate about the promise and peril of nuclear power. The aftermath of our last uranium boom still echoes loudly in South Texas.
San Antonio Current |
Greg Harman |
09-17-2009 |
Environment
Is the Hutto Decision Really a Victory for Immigration-Rights Advocates?new
The government announced earlier this month that no more undocumented-immigrant families (especially families with small children) will be imprisoned at the for-profit T. Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, Texas. How big -- or small -- a victory this is for immigration-reform advocates is still a matter of debate.
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
08-12-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Texas Creates Task Force on Sexual Slavery as One Trafficking Case Wraps Upnew
Despite the fact that three out of four victims of sex trafficking in the United States are U.S. citizens, House Bill 4009, now awaiting Governor Rick Perry's signature, would be the first state-level legislation to assist domestic victims.
San Antonio Current |
Greg Harman |
06-17-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Notes from San Antonio's Underground Economynew

San Antonio is engaged in a vast and diverse "shadow economy," a bajillion financial transactions by countless folks whose necessities are paid for through means not accounted for by the GNP, not measured in the Dow Jones, and usually not registered with the IRS.
San Antonio Current |
Sarah Fisch |
05-20-2009 |
Economy
Crime Scene Cleanup: Evidence of Toxic Chemical Leak Disappearsnew

As evidence in San Antonio's Toxic Triangle whodunit disappears, so does the possibility of justice for its victims.
San Antonio Current |
Greg M. Schwartz |
05-05-2009 |
Environment
San Antionio Airport Police Whistleblower Gets Fired and Takes His Case to the Citynew
The decision by Chief Ron Bruner to terminate Corporal Russell Martin exposed some emotional wounds that have been mounting within San Antonio’s Airport Police Department.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
03-04-2009 |
Business & Labor
San Antonio Returns to Its Ailing Yanaguananew
In the coming years, local regulators, educators, and volunteers hope to revive Yanaguana from the crippled body of our cruelly neglected and abused San Antonio River.
San Antonio Current |
Greg Harman |
02-25-2009 |
Housing & Development
Tags: Development, San Antonio River
Dust Mights: Digging Up Coal Ash at Problem Sitenew
The San Antonio Housing Authority and partner Franklin Development are excavating a site that was shut down for environmental problems 10 years ago. Neighbors say they’re getting the blowback.
San Antonio Current |
Greg M. Schwartz |
01-21-2009 |
Environment
Inside San Antonio's Growing Surveillance Economynew
The NSA's new Texas Cryptology Center, a data-mining center, is one component of a growing local surveillance industry
San Antonio Current |
Greg M. Schwartz |
12-03-2008 |
Business & Labor
Supreme Court Watch: FOX to FCC -- WTF?new
In the case before the Court on Election Day, FCC v. Fox Television Stations, five different networks stood up to the Federal Communications Commission, whose tightening of profanity regulations in recent years has been compared to "a Victorian crusade" by former officials of the FCC itself.
San Antonio Current |
Martha B. Lackritz |
11-14-2008 |
Media
John Hagee Recovers from Surgery and Finds Himself in Barack Obama's Americanew
When Hagee returns to the helm at the Cornerstone Church on Nov. 16, he will deliver his first sermon as a citizen of Barack Obama's America, and it's safe to say he won't be one of the new administration's most ardent boosters. But has his brand of Armageddon fear-mongering run its course?
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
11-14-2008 |
Religion
Drilling Rhetoric: Lifting the Veil on National Energy Plansnew

It should come as no surprise that all of the significant national energy plans before us -- those of Obama, McCain, Pickens, and Google -- have efficiency at their core. Hear how four coalitions say they can make it work.
San Antonio Current |
Greg Harman |
10-22-2008 |
Environment
Midwived Texans Cast into Citizenship 'Black Hole'new

A trio of recently filed federal lawsuits allege that the State Department is blacklisting kids born the ol'-fashioned way.
San Antonio Current |
Greg Harman |
09-17-2008 |
Children & Families
The Real ID Act Leads to a Civil-rights Nightmare on the Bordernew

To date, DHS has issued five waivers for "expeditious" implementation of the Secure Fence Act, including last April Fool's no-joke waiver of 36 federal acts along with "all federal, state, or other laws, regulations and legal requirements of, deriving from, or related to the subject of" those laws, from California to Texas.
San Antonio Current |
Nat Stone |
09-03-2008 |
Immigration