Business

San Antonio business leaders have returned home optimistic after a week-long lobbying trip to Washington.

Business leaders, along with officials from the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, target certain projects and issues every year as Congress starts looking at new legislation.

Unemployment figures released Friday had bad news and good news for Texas. 

The good news is that over the past year, unemployment in the state has declined almost a full percentage point and remains below the national rate of 7.9 percent for January.

The bad news is that unemployment rose slightly in Texas for the month of January to 6.3 percent; prior to January, the jobless rate had been declining for six months.

Mayor Julián Castro's movement to re-energize downtown is at the heart of dozens of active projects, and one of the goals of the mayor's transformation programs, SA2020, is to attract people to the city core by building 7,500 apartment units.

One of Castro's confidants is Henry Cisneros, who leads CityView, a company that works with builders to create homes priced within the range of average families.