The stories that defined San Antonio in 2025

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio continues to evolve as a city—that much was evident in some of the year’s defining stories covered by KENS 5 journalists this year. 

From changes of the guard at City Hall to continued planning for major projects (and former city landmarks being torn down), the common denominator uniting these stories is that 2025 represented a benchmark chapter in the Alamo City’s evolution. That much was true on the city’s streets, in the mayor’s office, at restaurants with growing reputations… even for the city’s sole major professional sports franchise, which saw a basketball legend retire from the coaching sidelines. 

These are San Antonio’s biggest stories of the year, as reported by KENS 5. 

The NCAA brought the men’s basketball tourney back to its favorite Texas host city this spring, where the University of Houston Cougars just missed out on making college basketball history.

Instead it was the Florida Gators who took to the River Walk to celebrate after the April championship game. The matchup was preceded with plenty of (literal) fanfare as thousands flocked to the heart of the city to engage in concerts, the annual Dribble and other NCAA activations. 

The California-born rapper who goes by “Tay-K 47” was sentenced in April to 80 years in prison for the murder of a young San Antonio man in 2017. 

Much of the testimony in the punishment phase of the trial focused on how Taymor McIntyre’s turbulent childhood should or shouldn’t play a role in the amount of time he was to serve behind bars. 

McIntyre was originally charged with capital murder after authorities said he shot and killed 23-year-old Mark Anthony Saldivar in a San Antonio Chick-Fil-A parking lot in April 2017. He faced life in prison with the possibility of parole before a jury instead opted for a lesser charge of murder. 

Early May saw the winningest head coach in NBA history hand over the reins as Gregg Popovich announced his retirement from head coach. 

The announcement was made six months after Popovich suffered a stroke that had sidelined him for the rest of the season, with assistant coach Mitch Johnson assuming head coaching duties. Popovich transitioned to president of basketball operations with the team, ending a run that started in 1996 and saw him leading the Silver & Black to five championships. 

Fans were understandably conflicted, but the team found the perfect way to honor Pop: By stealthily hanging a banner in his honor at Frost Bank Center. 

Jonathan Joss, the 59-year-old actor who voiced John Redcorn in “King of the Hill,” was fatally shot by a neighbor whom others in the community said he had a tumultuous history with. Friends and fans came together to celebrate his legacy in the aftermath of the killing. 

Come November, the suspect – Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez – was indicted by a grand jury. 

From an initial field of nearly 30 candidates looking to succeed Mayor Ron Nirenberg, Gina Ortiz Jones emerged victorious in the June runoff over Rolando Pablos. 

It marked the first election victory for Jones, a west-side native, daughter of a single mother who immigrated to the U.S. and Air Force veteran. She had campaigned on a platform of public safety, community engagement and economic growth, while also making clear she would pay close attention to deliberations for a new Spurs arena. 

In winning the seat, she became the first openly LGBTQ+ mayor in the city’s history and its third female mayor. 

In June, fast-moving floodwaters during the San Antonio’s wettest day in over a decade killed 13 people in the Alamo City; most of them were struck in traffic in the area of Perrin Beitel and Austin Highway when their cars were swept away. 

The tragedy renewed conversation among city leaders for the need to improve city infrastructure to prepare for future disasters. 

Just a few weeks later, nature struck again when the Guadalupe River rose to historic levels in Kerr County in the morning hours of July Fourth, tearing through the region and killing more than 100 people. It would become one of the state’s worst natural disasters in years. 

There were stories of loss, stories of heroism and stories of resilience in the wake of the Kerr County floods, and recovery continues there months later. Meanwhile, Texas politicians passed new legislation aimed at safeguarding campgrounds along rivers in the Lone Star State. 

Nearly six months later, the search continues for two people, including 8-year-old Cile Steward of Austin. 

San Antonio and the wider conjunto community said goodbye to a legend when groundbreaking accordionist Flaco Jimenez died at the age of 86.

Jimenez, a San Antonio native, continued to perform well into his 80s, including at local events like the Tejano Conjunto Festival. The influential accordionist helped spread the rich heritage of South Texas, winning multiple Grammys in the process—including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.

Despite newly installed Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones pushing for a pause and independent economic study, San Antonio City Council voted to approve a term sheet with the Spurs as plans for a $1.3 billion downtown arena started gaining steam. 

The meeting was preceded by hours of public comment that saw grassroots advocates, local business leaders, longtime residents, and even Spurs legend Sean Elliott making their case for why council should approve or reject the term sheet, a non-binding agreement but an important step. 

Three months later, Bexar County voters gave their own stamp of approval—passing two propositions allocating tens of millions of dollars toward rodeo grounds upgrades and the arena project. There’s still plenty that must happen for ground to break on the project, which is expected to be constructed in the now-demolished home of the Institute of Texan Cultures. 

As part of a new state law, phones are now no longer allowed to be used in school. Texas required that districts come up with their own plans to enforce the policy, but two San Antonio districts – North East ISD and Alamo Heights ISD – found a workaround. 

After more than five decades downtown, Bill Miller closed its flagship location on September 12 after over 50 years of service. The closure marks the relocation of the barbecue chain’s headquarters and commissary to a sprawling new campus on the far west side.

The 335,000-square-foot facility — roughly seven acres under one roof — brings together every part of the business for the first time. What used to be spread out — employee parking, the dry-goods warehouse, production plant, bakery, meat pit, salad-dressing lines and corporate offices — is now all connected.

“This is the single biggest project in the history of the company that we’ve ever taken on,” said Jim Guy Egbert, CEO of Bill Miller Bar-B-Q. “None of those buildings downtown were designed for what they functioned as when we used them. They were an old tire facility for Goodyear and an old leather plant. We adapted the space for our needs versus the needs being designed for our uses.”

A fresh-faced new Pearl restaurant and a no-photos-allowed dessert bar joined the Southtown culinary mecca Mixtli to embody San Antonio’s three-course menu of Michelin Star restaurants indicating high-quality cooking.

The 2025 edition of the international restaurant tastemaker’s Texas guide was revealed October in Houston. Just three new Michelin Star restaurants were announced, two of which are in the Alamo City: Isidore and Nicosi Dessert Bar, both located in the Pearl district. 

The announcement brought San Antonio – one of just two U.S. cities with a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation – closer to the level of Houston and Austin, which boast seven and five Michelin Star restaurants, respectively.

Three former San Antonio police officers were found not guilty on all counts following a monthlong trial over Melissa Perez’s 2023 death.

The jury took less than two hours to deliberate before delivering their verdict and acquitting the trio on Nov. 10. For four weeks the jury members had listened to testimony from investigators, family members and police officers who responded to the scene of the shooting on June 23, 2023. Perez, 46, was shot and killed by police after authorities said she charged at them with a hammer. 

The jury was responsible for determining whether the defendants – Alfred Flores, Eleazar Alejandro and Nathaniel Villalobos – were justified in firing their weapons. Afterward, Villalobos said he felt that SAPD Chief William McManus “failed us.”

Amid a grand, multimillion-dollar plan to turn the Alamo into a “world-class” destination, Alamo Trust CEO Kate Rogers found herself pushed out after she said top state leaders targeted her over opinions she shared as a private citizen. 

Rogers later filed a lawsuit against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and others, accusing them of violating her First Amendment Rights. As a result, Rogers said she’s worried about the future of the Alamo Museum’s narrative. 

“I don’t know what those panels will say in 2027,” she told KENS 5. 

A state investigation into a single suspected drug dealer culminated in an early-morning raid that saw 143 people – including 51 confirmed Tren de Aragua members – being taken into custody. 

Local and state leaders have since called for accountability and answers regarding the dozens of others who were rounded up in the area of San Pedro and Basse, with Congressman Joaquin Castro saying “it’s un-American to round people up and claim they have ties to a gang without evidence or proof.”

Twelve months after head coach Larry Hill and the Smithson Valley Rangers won their first title on the gridiron, the team ran it back with a 28-6 victory over Frisco Lone Star in Arlington. 

The San Antonio community mobilized to help look for 19-year-old Camila Mendoza Olmos, who disappeared the morning of Christmas Eve from her home on the far west side. After six days of desperate searching around the aera where she lives, Bexar County’s sheriff announced a body was found, but it’s still unclear whether it’s the missing young woman.