Category: Local News

The City of Balcones Heights has named a new police chief, city officials announced Monday.

After 35 years as a San Antonio police officer, Darrell Volz will be the new leader of the Balcones Height Police Department. He was selected from a group of 29 applicants, city officials said.

“Chief Volz is the right person to lead our team of talented professionals. He brings experience, training, sincerity, and honesty that the Police Department and community deserves,” said City Administrator David Harris.

Volz career covered all areas of crime including undercover operations and prison gangs, according to city officials.

“Chief Volz understands and shares the vision of City Leadership to not only make Balcones Heights a model place to live, work, and play, but knows the role that a model Police Department has in bringing that vision to reality,” said Harris.

Volz follows Lt. Joyce Pena, who had been serving as interim police chief. Former Police Chief Henry Dominguez was placed on leave in May 2014 before being fired in July.

Dominguez’s termination was based on the results of an internal investigation into the allegations he failed to take action when warned one of his officers may have had ties to the Mexican Mafia.

That officer, Julian Pesina, was murdered in early May as he left a tattoo shop he co-owned.

A swearing-in ceremony for Volz will be announced soon, officials said.

SAN ANTONIO — Mayor Ivy Taylor will run for a full term as mayor in May, according to the San Antonio Express-News.

Taylor was appointed to the role of mayor last summer after then-Mayor Julian Castro announced he would resign to become the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.

“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to be able to make an impact here,” Taylor told the Express-News. “And just after really thinking about it further, I realize how important that experience is that I have to bring to the table, that municipal-level experience.”

The 44-year-old mayor was appointed by the City Counsel in July and at the time Taylor said she would not seek a full term in the May 9 election. Taylor, who is the first African-American mayor of San Antonio, was first elected to represent District 2 in 2009 then re-elected in 2011 and 2013.

Former state Rep. Mike Villarreal, state Senator Leticia Van de Putte, and former Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson have all also announced bids for mayor.

Taylor has yet to officially file an Application for a Place on the Ballot with the city clerk.

SAN ANTONIO — Two American black bears celebrated their 10th birthday today at the San Antonio Zoo with children, parents, members of the media and zoo staff.

Molly and Kashka, who were originally born in the wild, have been at the San Antonio Zoo for almost their entire life.

The two 350-pound bears shared two cakes made for them by Jennifer Banda in the Nutrition Center. One of the cakes was made of the bear’s daily omnivore chow, fruits and vegetables while the other was made out of a hollowed out watermelon.

“The cake itself is made up of omnivore chow, which is a chow that they normally eat on a day-to-day basis, crushed up and mixed together with some gelatin, honey, peanut butter, all squished together and shaped into a cake to make it more exciting for us to watch,” said San Antonio Zoo Training and Enrichment specialist Christina Burges.

In addition to the two cakes, the birthday girls were given presents filled with scented hay and vegetables.

The zoo will also hold a birthday party for Bubba the Komodo dragon’s 21st birthday Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Craig Pelke, curator of reptiles, amphibians and aquatics for the zoo, says he hopes the weather will be nice enough for Bubba to celebrate his birthday in the outside exhibit.