Paul Flahive

The sun rose over the Chihuahuan desert one June morning, and in Presidio it rose to about 200 cars waiting in line. 

The key to President Trump’s 2016 victory is up for debate, but few would dispute the importance of the campaign’s focus on digital marketing.

The one-time love affair with social media giants has cooled and the campaign is flirting with alternatives.

In 2017, Trump’s then Digital Director now Campaign Manager Brad Parscale called Facebook’s role in the president’s first election paradigm shifting.

Volunteers walked up long side-by-side lines of cars filling up just a portion of the massive parking area surrounding Oak Hills Church, north of San Antonio. Going from one driver’s window to the next, they checked in families waiting to receive food. It was hot, but everyone agreed at least it wasn’t as bad as the day before. Up over 100 degrees.

Updated 5/17

The State of Texas has nearly exhausted its $1.9 billion Unemployment Trust Fund. The Texas Workforce Commission expects it to run out of money in the next three weeks. 

The Fund has been hammered by soaring unemployment, with 2.5 million Texans filing claims since March 14.

“By 2019 numbers, that's over three years of claims in just two months time,” said Francisco Gamez, TWC spokesman, in a recent Twitter video.

New data out from the Dallas Federal Reserve show a Texas economy in “tailspin.” Words like “plunged” and “decimated” pepper the report that paints a bleak picture of the state’s 2020 prospects.

Claudia Garza and her husband Rick own Bright and Early Productions, a photography and videography company targeting the real estate industry. In an effort to keep employees safe from COVID-19 they’re currently only photographing unoccupied homes. They’ve lost business as a result and had to reduce their employees’ hours.

When they found out that $349 million was set aside for the first Paycheck Protection Program, they wanted to apply through the bank where they have their business and personal accounts, Wells Fargo. But they couldn’t.

Small businesses dealing with the dramatic drop in cash-flow caused by shelter-in-place orders and social distancing thought they would have a quick $10,000 in federal assistance to weather the storm. But for many, the program initially set up for natural disasters has thus far failed to pay out.

Thu Nguyen and Allen Gross stopped at the Bexar County Courthouse in downtown San Antonio Monday to pick up their marriage license. I caught up with them right after and  — given the current pandemic — stood as far away as my microphone would allow. They did get the license, but the moment isn’t a happy one.

The coronavirus drama returned to San Antonio when U.S. health officials announced that some passengers from the Grand Princess, a cruise ship docked in Oakland, California, would be flown to Lackland Air Force Base to undergo testing and a quarantine. Some of the evacuees are Texas residents.

To say there is a lot of hype around 5G is probably an understatement. Verizon and T-Mobile spent an estimated $22 million on Super Bowl ads to tell us all about it.

In one commercial, Verizon said it would allow firefighters to see through smoke and doctors to communicate with ambulances in real time. Actor Anthony Anderson touted the supremacy of T-Mobile's 5G network to his mother, who ground-truths the matter by going from the pie shop to the park to ultimately the club.

AT&T, Verizon, T-mobile and other companies are building out their 5G networks — and much of it will be on public property. Texas cities are losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars as a result according to the Texas Muncipal League.

In December a post on LinkedIn celebrated the forthcoming launch of a coding program called Codebound, a partnership between San Antonio’s University of the Incarnate Word and local software studio Appddiction.

Lime, one of the largest electric scooter companies in the world, has pulled out of San Antonio and will lay off staff.

San Antonio is readying itself for 5G networks from big telecoms like AT&T and T-Mobile.

The last Democratic presidential candidate from Texas — and the only Latino — has stepped off the political field, nearly one year since the former secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development and San Antonio mayor first entered the race.

Robert Marbut Jr. was named as the next head of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness Wednesday. This largely unknown independent agency coordinates homlessness policy across more than a dozen federal agencies. 

SpaceX’s Starship prototype Mk1 suffered a catastrophic failure on its Boca Chica launchpad in South Texas Wednesday afternoon.  

Updated Nov. 7, 2019

An East Texas jury found Wells Fargo willingly infringed on mobile check deposit patents held by USAA.

A jury found unanimously in favor of the United Services Automobile Association Wednesday and ordered Wells Fargo to pay USAA $200 million.

Related | Texas Court May Decide Who Owns Mobile Check Deposit

Electric pallet jacks rush in and out of the many 24-foot high warehouse aisles at Johnson Brothers Bakery Supply. Workers pull supplies that will later become that cake you ordered for your grandmother’s 90th birthday or that jelly filled roll you pretended not to eat at work last week.

From Texas to Egypt and Australia, a San Antonio company is making inroads in classrooms around the world. 

Bexar County is turning to a local tech company to help people released from prison secure  jobs.

A massive data leak potentially revealed 885 million documents detailing private mortgage information last month, many including social security and bank account numbers.

1.8 million Texans lack broadband Internet access, and most of them live in rural Texas. Hundreds of millions of federal dollars could become available, but the government may not have an accurate picture of who has access and who doesn't. This is part two of a multi-part series focusing on Connecting Rural Texas. 

1.8 million Texans lack broadband Internet access, and most of them live in rural Texas. Studies from the U.S. chamber and others have shown the massive impact connecting Texas could have. This is part one of a multi-part series focusing on Connecting Rural Texas.

Five Nigerian nationals living all across Texas were indicted for using false documents to open bank accounts and laundering millions gained through cyber crimes.

Four men were arrested Thursday and another is being sought for the scheme that dates back to Nov. 2016. Two additional men pleaded guilty in recent months for the crimes.

Across the country, one in four cities reported being attacked by cybercriminals every hour.  That’s according to a 2016 survey, but attacks against cities have since risen. 

The Royal Australian Navy will be able to rescue sailors in disabled submarines 2,000 feet underwater thanks to a San Antonio-based research organization.

Plus One Robotics, a San Antonio startup at the forefront of robotic vision and machine learning, is growing. Its software is paired with vision sensors and teaches robotic industrial arms to see. Using soft grips, they can pack and sort boxes.

Cyber criminals stole $7.45 billion over the last five years — that’s around the same amount as the entire state budget of Iowa. Complaints to the FBI increase each year, and Texas businesses and residents continue to be one of the most frequent victims.

More Texans than the population of San Antonio lack broadband internet access, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Fifteen million Texans don't use broadband speeds, according to a new Microsoft study. Two bills aimed at closing the digital divide in rural communities could be voted on as early as this week.