Eileen Pace

On Tuesday, Bexar County officials announced the opening of another section of the Mission Reach. The new section will be ready for use just in time for Easter celebrations.

The new 2 mile section of Mission Reach from Padre Park to Mission San Juan will offer more hiking, biking, and paddling opportunities for river enthusiasts.

San Antonio River Authority General Manager Suzanne Scott said two popular city parks that have been closed for some time can be used again.  

Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said the overtime problem at the county jail is just about a thing of the past.

Pamerleau asked for an additional $500,000 in late January to cover overtime hours that had backed up due to understaffing before she took office. She asked for another $500,000 last month to continue paying overtime as she worked on filling vacant slots through training and hiring new detention officers.

"We need to get to the point to where we have the same number of faces as we have spaces," Pamerleau said.

Tomorrow, 25 schools across San Antonio will have special visitors to talk about the medical field. Dr. Pam Otto is one of the visiting doctors and said she has talked to students in the past who have plenty of questions about what it takes to become a physician.

"You know, 'How long are you in school?’ and, 'What does all that take? What kind of grades do you have to have?' The cost always comes up. For the women, a lot of times – even though half the medical school class is women now – the young ladies often ask, 'Can I still have a family?'" Otto said.

State Senator Dan Patrick gave a report to the Greater San Antonio Chamber’s education committee Friday about issues important to area business leaders.

Greater chamber members are keenly interested in programs that prepare students for jobs. Education Committee Chairwoman Denise Green said they heard from the senator on measures addressing dual credit, more funding for career education and replacing the school funding taken away in the last session.

The San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau is kicking off a new campaign to increase occupancy at area hotels during Fiesta week.

Krystal Jones, senior brand manager for the bureau, said locals often don’t try to book hotels, thinking they’re booked up long in advance.

"Fiesta, of course, is a busy time, and a lot of locals come and enjoy Fiesta. And automatically you think there might not be room at the hotels but we do have availability. We sit at about 70 percent," she said.

The Texas Institute for Educational Robotics (TIER) at Northwest Vista College has been awarded a grant from the Google Computer Sciences for High School program.

TIER is an outreach program at Northwest Vista College to get younger students interested in pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and math and was awarded the money to give middle school teachers a gaming-type tool to use in teaching their regular classes.

San Antonio economists told members of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that San Antonio recovered from the recession faster because it didn’t suffer as great an impact as the rest of the nation, or even Texas.

Keith Phillips with the local branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said metropolitan statistical area's in Texas have recovered all of the jobs lost in the recession, and San Antonio suffered the least: