Express Briefing

The video of George Floyd gasping for breath was essentially Exhibit A as the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee on the Black man's neck went on trial Monday on charges of murder and manslaughter. Here's a report from the trial's start. The Express-News is still accepting nominations for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the San Antonio area can participate. Click here to learn more.

Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines.

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It's a good time to be a basketball fan in San Antonio, with the Spurs in the middle of a nine-game homestand and the NCAA women's basketball tournament rolling along. Heading into tonight's game against Sacramento, Spurs guard Derrick White has drawn 45 charges in 171 career NBA games. Neither bumps nor bruises — nor the occasional chipped tooth — can stop him from sticking his nose in on defense. Connecticut makes its 15th consecutive appearance in the Elite Eight, some have labeled the best women's basketball rivalry of the current century. UConn-Baylor, Part IX, figures to make for pretty good television, too.

First time claims for unemployment benefits rose for the second consecutive week, reaching the highest level since July. Weekly claims in Texas last week increased by about 6,500.

The death toll from last month's winter storms has climbed to 111, according to updated figures released Thursday by the Department of State Health Services. The San Antonio region could be in for another round of wet weather this weekend, but the National Weather Service says it is too early to say how much rain will fall

Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines.

Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

The U.S. Senate took its first steps to advance one of Democrats' top legislative priorities, convening a hearing on a sweeping elections bill that would expand voting rights and blunt some Republican state legislators' efforts to restrict access to the ballot box. In Texas, Republicans have begun lining up behind a Democratic-led bill that would draw down billions in new federal Medicaid dollars, but with key compromises including work incentives for recipients. Here's what you need to know about HB 3781.

Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines.

Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

Feeling lucky, basketball fans? We're giving away two tickets to the April 21 home game at the AT&T Center in San Antonio. Click here to enter. And the Express-News is still accepting nominations for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the San Antonio area can participate. Click here to learn more.

Listen to today's Express Briefing for a full roundup of San Antonio's top headlines.

Subscribe to the San Antonio Express-News to support quality local journalism.

President Joe Biden's economic advisers are preparing to recommend spending as much as $3 trillion on efforts aimed at boosting the economy, reducing carbon emissions and narrowing economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. The Express-News is still accepting nominations for our 2021 Top Workplaces competition. Any organization with 35 or more employees in the San Antonio area can participate. Click here to learn more.

As many as 26 percent of San Antonio residents have COVID-19 antibodies, according to a study from Texas Department of State Health Services and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston researchers. After several postponements, jury selection will resume today for the long-delayed capital murder trial of a San Antonio man accused of shooting a police detective nearly five years ago. Otis Tyrone McKane, 36, is charged with killing SAPD Det. Benjamin Marconi.

As state Republicans push to restrict voting, a new poll shows a majority of Texans want more time to vote early and do not approve of threatening voters or those who assist them with felony charges for violations. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Atlanta today. They'll meet with Asian-American leaders to offer support to the community after the shooting deaths of eight people, six who were Asian women, at spas around the metro area. Read more about anti-Asian bigotry in San Antonio below.

A white gunman was charged Wednesday with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage parlors in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community. The sheriff said it was too early to tell if the attack was racially motivated — "but the indicators right now are it may not be." You're invited to watch as Soledad O'Brien brings diverse voices together to explore issues of identity in "To Be an American: Identity, Race and Justice." The all-digital 90-minute show premieres tonight at 6 p.m. Here's how to watch.

Authorities seized a tiger and a bobcat from a two-story brick home in a southeast Bexar County neighborhood. The 5-year-old bobcat and 13-week-old tiger were taken to the San Antonio Zoo, where they will be housed temporarily before moving to a wildlife sanctuary. Jeremy Martinez, 25, was arrested at the home. San Antonio police found and arrested a mother who had been missing with her 18-month-old child since January. Authorities charged 20-year-old D'Lanny Reaneille Chairez with abandoning or endangering a child. Police said they have not found her son, James Avi Chairez, but believe he may still be in the San Antonio area.