Every year, the San Antonio Report writes hundreds of stories — and you read them. As a community-focused newsroom, we’re always keeping a pulse on what you’re reading and the questions you’re asking.
Millions of eyes turned to the San Antonio Report this year to better understand the world around them — 2025 was a year of momentous change for San Antonio, and our reporting worked to make sense of it all. What better way to ring in the new year than by looking back at the past one?
From getting to know political candidates to understanding ballot language, the latest school policies and new laws, here are the Top 10 most-read San Antonio Report stories of 2025.
10. Slow down. TxDOT plans to crack down on speeders.
Cars drive in traffic along I-35 South in San Antonio. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report
With speed-related crashes killing nearly 1,500 people in Texas in 2024, a statewide crackdown on speeding began in July of this year, bringing increased enforcement to roads across San Antonio and beyond. The Texas Department of Transportation announced its Operation Slowdown campaign to boost speed limit enforcement in partnership with law enforcement agencies across the state.
This story was first published on July 17. Read the full story.
9. Excavation at San Antonio Zoo unearths historic Alamo discovery
Pamela Jary Rosser, the Alamo’s Head Conservator, examines limestone at the San Antonio Zoo. Credit: Courtesy / Alamo Trust, Inc.
Testing confirmed that limestone from a San Antonio Zoo construction site matches limestone used in the 1700s to build the walls of the Alamo. The discovery came after the Alamo’s Head Conservator, Pamela Jary Rosser, and the preservation team drove past an excavation area for the zoo’s new gorilla habitat. Since records indicate the Alamo walls were built from a quarry north of downtown, Rosser and her team wondered if recently unearthed limestone might be a potential match.
This story was first published on March 6. Read the full story.
8. Is the weight of San Antonio’s love too heavy for this downtown bridge?
Tourists take photos of hundreds of locks on what’s called the love lock bridge Monday. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report
Locks on San Antonio’s “Love Lock Bridge” contain the names of people who have loved each other; dates of anniversaries, birthdays, even quotes and promises to each other. Just how many locks are on there? The city’s public works department doesn’t know, but there’s a lot.
This story was first published on February 13. Read the full story.
7. Alamo Trust CEO resigns after Dan Patrick calls for her ouster over ‘troubling writings’
Kate Rogers, executive director of the Alamo Trust, speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Alamo Visitor Center & Museum on Oct. 1, 2024. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report
Alamo Trust Inc. President and CEO Kate Rogers stepped down after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for her resignation in late October, citing “troubling” past writings he says are “incompatible with the telling of the history of the battle of the Alamo.”
This story was first published on October 24. Read the full story.
Councilman Marc Whyte (D10) listens as Miguel Vergara, Field Office Director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, speaks at a District 10 community meeting on Monday evening. Credit: Brenda Bazán / San Antonio Report
Reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in communities began after President Donald Trump vowed to deport “millions and millions” of immigrants back to their home countries in his inaugural address in January and began signing a flurry of executive orders.
This story was first published on January 27. Read the full story.
A student walks through a hallway inside of CAST Med High School. Hundreds of students experiencing homelessness across the San Antonio region have been suspended from school in recent years for minor infractions, likely in violation of a 2019 law. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report
Suspending the state’s homeless and youngest students became a lot easier this September, but some San Antonio districts are still facing the consequences for breaking the old law that had largely banned the practice.
This story was first published on July 7. Read the full story.
4. What are Prop A and Prop B? Unpacking Bexar County’s Nov. 4 venue tax election.
Props A and B on Bexar County’s Nov. 4 ballot would fund a year-round rodeo district on the East Side, shown top left, and help pay for a new NBA arena downtown, shown bottom right. Credit: Renderings provided by Bexar County and Populous / Amber Esparza / Blaine Young
This November, Bexar County voters weighed in on public funding for a new downtown Spurs arena through a ballot measure known as Proposition B. They were also asked to consider a major redevelopment of the Spurs’ current Eastside home — listed on the ballot at Proposition A — that would turn the Frost Bank Center, Freeman Coliseum and surrounding grounds into a year-round stock show and rodeo district.
Voters ended up passing both measures.
This story was first published on September 7. Read the full story.
3. Texas has officially banned cell phones in schools
School districts and charter schools have 90 days since Abbott signed the cellphone ban to adopt one of two policies: completely ban cell phones from school grounds or store them away during school hours. Credit: Kylie Cooper / The Texas Tribune
After hearing from educators that cell phones are distractions in the classroom, Texas banned the devices in K-12 schools, drawing on rare bipartisan support from both the Texas House and Senate. Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1481 into law on June 22. Authored by the only Gen Z member of the Texas Legislature, Rep. Caroline Fairly (R-Amarillo). Starting this school year, students in Texas were no longer allowed to use “personal wireless communication devices” during class.
This story was first published on June 27. Read the full story.
2. Southwest Airlines says internal documents show airport officials made false statements
Annually, more than 10 million passengers fly through SAT, an average of 27,000 people a day. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report
In a lawsuit that closed in September of this year, Southwest Airlines made new claims against the City of San Antonio in February that airport officials misrepresented the facts to the court and taxpayers in defense statements.
Southwest Airlines ended up losing its year-long lawsuit over the city’s decision to leave the airline out of its new $1.4 billion San Antonio International Airport terminal. The airline is committed to SAT through part of 2026 and said it would continue its legal battle and pursue a separate complaint process with the Federal Aviation Administration.
This story was first published on February 27. Read the full story.
1. Who is running for mayor in San Antonio? Here’s the full list.
Campaign signs for candidates in the San Antonio mayoral race punctuate an intersection along Basse Road. Credit: Brenda Bazán / San Antonio Report
After eight years under Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s leadership, San Antonio elected Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones in May. Jones was one of 27 candidates who filed to run in the crowded mayoral election. Nirenberg was term-limited from seeking reelection, and the city hadn’t seen a mayor’s race without an incumbent on the ballot since Julián Castro was first elected in 2009.
This story was first published on Dec. 22, 2024. Read the full story.