Unit 39 is in trouble, just like the 11 other investigative units in the Bexar County Child Protective Services office. The agency is collapsing under the weight of its heavy caseload and no one can save it. Caseworkers race time and circumstance to help rescue at-risk children. But who will rescue the caseworkers? Read the report l Read a Unit 39 update
Horse slaughter on the border
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT Since courts stopped processing businesses in the United States, thousands of the animals have met a brutal fate in Mexico before being eaten.
Rasiel Galvan is a supervisor at the San Antonio Animal Care and Control shelter, commonly known as the pound. On this humid morning, when the gas chamber was ready for another load, a husky would join a grim processional that in 2004 would send nearly 50,000 cats and dogs to their deaths — more per capita than any other major American city. Read the report l Read an animal shelter update
In the past six years, firefighters rushed to inner-city blazes far more quickly than to fires in popular outlying areas that attract thousands of new homeowners.
San Antonio annexed many of these neighborhoods despite protests by residents, who complained the city would fail to provide swift fire protection.
With increased standards and accountability beginning at the state level and solidified with President Bush's sweeping public school overhaul known as No Child Left Behind, in kindergarten, play must have a purpose, recess is endangered and naptime is almost unheard of. Read the report.
Did the sudden arrival of about 30,000 evacuees, a group equal to Del Rio in population, cause additional crime? The question, loaded with the kind of politically sensitive racial implications that can discomfit some politicians, is much more than academic. Millions of dollars could be at stake.
In Zambia, a formula to fight AIDS
A San Antonio program brings infant formula to Zambia in an experiment to stem one of the growing crises in the AIS pandemic-infection through mother's milk. Read the report
The Southern Edge
The area south of San Antonio has been the land that time — and development — forgot. But with the new Toyota plant the area has been discovered by developers and City Hall. The San Antono Express-News take a closer look at the city's "Southern Edge." Read the report.
In short supply
Twice the number of people. Eighteen percent less water.
That's the kind of future Texas faces if steps aren't taken soon to find new sources of water, according to an early version of the new State Water Plan.
The cost of adding enough water to prevent significant shortages by 2060: $30.7 billion.
Read the report.
Recent stories from the 2006 Special Session
Texas Governor Rick Perry called a special session of the state's legislature to fix problems with school financing. Read the report
Abused child turns deadly accomplice
Childhoods like Pearl Cruz's rarely make the news. If not for her arrest for the murder of a widely respected high school teacher, Pearl's story might have gone unnoticed like countless others, another invisible child caught in the familiar cycle of neglect and abuse that foreshadows disaster.
Read Part I Read Part II Read Part III
Losing ground
An obscure Texas law written for developers has cost San Antonio millions of dollars, stripped parts of the scenic Hill Country of trees and blocked attempts to protect the region's water supply. The "vested rights" law stops cities from imposing new restrictions on a real estate project once a developer files virtually any kind of plan for it.
Read the report
Teachers figure into the school gap
Research shows that effective teaching is the single greatest influence on a child inside the school. Still, Texas brands its worst schools "low-performing" but doesn't take the obvious next step of pairing the best teachers with struggling students — despite decades of talk about the achievement gap between minority and non-minority students. Read the report
Beauty on the Cheap
In more than two months of reporting on both sides of the border, the San Antonio Express-News found a largely unregulated system where patients can enter a dentist's office in Mexico that also advertises plastic surgery and walk out with a nose job performed by an unlicensed doctor. Read the report
Homeless Love
C.J. loves Jamie. He sold his blood to pay for their marriage license. It cost him almost three pints of O-negative plasma. That's life on the street. C.J., 27, and Jamie, 20, are homeless. Read the report
Fighting Time and Steel
Dr. David Jimenez turned from the black-and-white CAT scan images that revealed the trajectory of the 4-pound hook. Inside the scanner lay Wayne Gail Creek, a 62-year-old mechanic and grandfather with an injury so shocking that even some ER veterans stopped to look. Jimenez didn't know how the hook got there, but he knew this much: Creek already had skirted death twice. Read the report
More than a century ago, the Reyna family first came to the United States as migrant laborers, but still called their small ranch in northern Mexico home. The next generation crossed into South Texas and stayed. Now another generation, born in the USA, looks south and sees only death and memories connecting them to their rancho origins. Read the report
Lost in a deadly fog
At its widest point, the wreckage spanned 40 feet across and blocked the only road to a nearby home. Anderson thought of the family inside. A panicked woman had told 911 dispatchers she and her mom were struggling to breathe. How to reach them?
Read the report
The Only Retreat
As American forces stormed into Iraq a year ago to topple Saddam Hussein, a deep strike was launched by Apache gunships to clear the path to Baghdad. Bristling with missiles and machine guns, the armored helicopters aimed for Iraqi defenses in the dead of night. The Apache crews knew they had better weapons and training. They didn't know they were flying into a trap. Read the report l Interactive:Flight animation and gun-mount video
Castroville
In January, Castroville was the only city in Texas, and one of just eight nationwide, recognized by the White House for its historic preservation efforts. The city's enchantment with the past is evident in living history events and restorations by enthusiasts, but the city is at a crossroads. The next few years are crucial in shaping Castroville's future. This three-part series, including slide show and audio demonstration of the Alsatian language, takes an in-depth look at the city — where it has been and where residents think it's headed. Read the report.
Top CEO Pay
Payday was sweeter in 2003 than in the previous year for the leaders of most San Antonio-area publicly traded companies, but compensation practices are beginning to change in ways that could make it harder for some to collect big checks in good times and bad. Read the report | Compare top hitters' pay
America's World: The Record on Regime Change
When President Bush ordered the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq in March against the will of the United Nations, he put America on a new path in a long history of marching into trouble spots. The Express-News revisited five places where the U.S. intervened in the past 20 years to examine how they are doing today, and to draw lessons from their experience. Read the report
Philip True
Ongoing coverage of the case concerning Express-News reporter Philip True, the newspaper's Mexico City bureau chief who was murdered during a 10-day solo hike through the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. Read the report
King Ranch: 150 Years
Many pioneers tried to settle South Texas' Desert of the Dead and were beaten in the process. Then came a family that didn't know when to quit. In this three-part series, the Express-News examines the King family's ranching empire. Read the report
Shrimping in Peril
Beset with environmental pressures, high fuel prices, stiff competition and a glut of cheap imports that is driving down prices to record lows, Texas shrimp fishermen are fighting to survive in an industry that is slowly starting to buckle. Read the report
Immigrant Kids: Shortchanged Students
The number of immigrant children has soared in recent years, and their ever-increasing presence in the classroom has led experts to question whether schools are equipped to meet their needs. Read the report
A Guide to San Antonio & South Texas
A guide for residents and visitors alike looking for information on San Antonio attractions, dining, sports, entertainment, education, health care and much, much more. Read the report
Vanished Immigrants
Mexican families that haven't heard from their loved ones who left for the U.S. agonize over the silence and just want to know if they're OK. Read the report
Witness
A visual journey of Operation Iraqi Freedom seen through the eyes of Express-News photographer Bahram Mark Sobhani. View the report
Homeless in S.A.
A four-part series examining the homeless problem in San Antonio. Read the report
Express-News in the Battlefield
San Antonio Express-News reporter Sig Christenson and photographer Bahram Mark Sobhani were among some 650 international journalists embedded in military units in the Middle East during the 2003 Iraq conflict. They filed regular Web logs for MySanAntonio.com, giving insight into their experiences covering the war.
Read the Web logs
The San Fernando Restoration
A $5.8 million, yearlong restoration project has ensured that the center of San Antonio remain a center of attention. The biggest and most expensive change in San Fernando's nearly 300 years is part of a $17.2 million, three-phase project that will also add two new buildings. Take this interactive tour of the changes and renovations being done to the San Fernando Cathedral. View the graphics
Owning the Waves
The San Antonio Express-News examines the Clear Channel empire in this three-part series. Read the report
Top Dining Picks
Looking for a restaurant to take out-of-town guests, a great bistro or a top-notch taqueria? Search no further. Top Picks is a guide to San Antonio's best restaurants as selected by the San Antonio Express-News restaurant reviewers. Read the picks
Gateway to the 4th Grade
Starting in 2003, Texas public school third-graders must pass a test to advance to the fourth grade. The Express-News followed one teacher and a class of 11 students who prepared for and took the test. Read the report
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