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That Rocks/That Sucks
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Alamo Colleges District responded to the coronavirus pandemic last week by waiving summer tuition for all currently enrolled students, so long as they have a 2.0 GPA. Full-time students who took class during the spring are eligible for up to nine free credit hours, while part-timers are approved for up to six.
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Despite his assurances that Texas is beating back COVID-19, Gov. Greg Abbott’s reopening of many Texas businesses on Friday came a day after the state reported its highest daily death from the disease. A total of 50 Texans died Thursday from COVID-19-related deaths. The same day, another 1,033 people tested positive, one of the state’s highest single-day totals.
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After its first Drive-Thru Zoo experience sold out in two hours, the San Antonio Zoo announced it will offer the in-car safari tours daily through May 17. The zoo launched the first-ofits-kind tours to make up for lost revenue as it hemorrhages cash during the stay-at-home order. After a Travis County district judge ruled that Texas voters worried about COVID-19 should be able to send in ballots by mail, state Attorney General Ken Paxton sewed confusion by sending a letter hinting that he may throw the book at county election officials who comply with the judge’s order. Paxton also claimed the judge’s ruling is on hold while the state appeals it. — Sanford Nowlin
YOU SAID IT!
“I don’t want anyone to have to deal with what I’m dealing with. If my business closes, it’ll close because I wasn’t willing to put people’s lives on the line.”
— Mike Nguyen,
Find more news coverage every day at sacurrent.com
Noodle Tree owner and lymphoma patient on why he didn’t open his restaurant on May 1.
ASSCLOWN ALERT
Brad Parscale San Antonio techie-turned-Washington campaign manager Brad Parscale was back in the headlines last week after getting sideways with his famously fickle boss. President Donald Trump screamed at Parscale on the phone Friday, blaming him for his slipping poll numbers and even threatened to sue, the New York Times and others reported. The call came as the White House played damage control following the reality-show president’s suggestion that ingesting disinfectants just might be that evasive coronavirus cure everyone’s looking for. But after all that shouting, things were rosy again by Tuesday, the Times also reported. Apparently, Parscale — now a Florida resident — visited the White House armed with a makeup bouquet in the form of “new campaign polling data in which the president’s standing had climbed.” Aww. Parscale himself weighed in on the matter last week on Twitter, branding the reports of the tiff “#FakeNews.” Of course. What else? “There’s absolutely no daylight between us,” he gushed of Trump. “We have a great relationship that spans almost 10 yrs.” The tweet was uncharacteristically warm for Parscale, who typically uses the platform, much like his boss, to take shots at political rivals including “Sleepy Joe Biden” and “WeakKneed Ron Nirenberg” or to label the free press the “enemy of this country.” For all of that Twitter bluster, it’s apparent there’s one person this assclown doesn’t dare stand up to on social media: his abusive boss. — Sanford Nowlin
Last week, local officials began including COVID-19 cases from the Bexar County Jail in their overall count of diagnoses for the disease. As of Friday, there were 1,477 positive tests countywide, a jump of 103 from the previous day. The majority of the new cases — 91 of total — came from the jail, a COVID-19 hotbed. At press time Monday, officials have confirmed 98 cases among inmates and 41 among deputies. In Texas’ largest cities, including San Antonio, 62% of front-line workers are women, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Associated Press. Those employees are also more likely to be people of color. Workers in professions such as health care, social services and the grocery industry are considered essential workers during the pandemic but face higher infection risks due to their continued exposure to other people.
Twitter / Brad Parscale
After nearly 15 years of fits and starts on the way to development, the shuttered Lone Star Brewery, appears to have a new lease on life. Last week, a bankruptcy judge authorized the sale of the 32-acre complex south of downtown to GrayStreet Acquisitions, a subsidiary of developer Gray Street Partners, for $14.5 million.
Michael Barajas
