Home Care In Medina, TX

SAN ANTONIO — A school district just west of San Antonio is growing quicker than nearly every other district in the state.

Rising enrollment in Medina Valley ISD isn't slowing down.

KENS 5 learned more about plans for the future, starting with Bond 2023.

"The reason behind all this is our student population," said Dr. Scott Caloss, Superintendent of Medina Valley ISD.

Caloss says within the last year, 1,000 more students enrolled in the district.

"We're running out of room for as far as where we can put those kids," he told us.

Next fall, Medina Valley ISD's Silo Elementary School will open.

The critical need now, Caloss said, is a new high school.

"Our high school is right at capacity, student capacity," he said. "So that is our biggest need."

Medina Valley ISD covers roughly 300 square miles. The neighborhoods that are growing the quickest within the district are located west of 1604 on both sides of Hwy 90.

"They're literally adding around 1,500 to 1,800 single family homes per year," said Bob Templeton, the Vice President of School District Segment for Zonda Education.

Zonda is the nation's leading research provider for new home construction. They track 90% of single family construction across the United States. Right now, there are 56 active subdivisions within Medina Valley ISD.

"The San Antonio region, when we look at the regions of Texas, it's very attractive because of its job growth, the affordability, it's pretty," said Templeton. "As the access improves with improved roadways, then we just see that growth continuing to move to places like Castroville and Medina Valley."

After Templeton's research, he projects the district's rapid growth will continue for the next 25 years.

If these projections hold true, to keep up with skyrocketing enrollment, Medina Valley ISD will need to build a new elementary campus every two to three years, a new middle school every six years and a new high school every ten years.

The district has five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Currently, Templeton says only about 15% of the district's land is built out.

"They can build houses a lot faster than school districts can build schools," he explained. "That's a little bit of a challenge because the growth tends to just be a wave that can feel a little overwhelming."

If approved, the $376 million in Bond 2023 will pay for:

With Bond 2023, taxpayers can expect a rate increase of 2.8 cents.

Election Day is May 6. Early voting begins Monday, April 24. Medina Valley ISD community members can browse voting locations in Medina County and Bexar County here.

To view the first virtual presentation on Bond 2023, click here. Watch the second virtual presentation here.

Drought in a southern Central Texas county is so severe that cows are grazing in the middle of a dried-up lake.

Much of the western United States has recently assuaged its drought after an excessively wet winter on the west coast alleviated nearly all of California's drought struggles. The weather impacted states further inland as well, supplementing reservoirs in Utah and all but eliminating drought in the west.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor map, Texas still struggles with drought, particularly in the panhandle, south and southern central regions. Bandera County in South Texas is experiencing some of the worst conditions in the state, with the map showing that more than 97 percent of the county is battling exceptional drought—or the most severe classification of drought that includes exceptional and widespread crop and pasture losses and shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells creating water emergencies.

The lake's levels have steadily been drying for the last several years. However, Tuesday's levels were so low that cows were using the extra space as an opportunity to graze.

"Texas Drought be like... walk don't swim #txwx #wxtwitter - Medina Lake Bandara Texas," Twitter user @JonTheStormGuy tweeted on Monday. "Ps there are cows in the middle of the lake."

The tweet was accompanied by two photos. One showed a dried-up version of the lake with a sign that reads "Swim At Your Own Risk" with no water nearby. The second photo shows a black and white cow standing in the middle of what used to be the lake, grazing on the green grass.

Medina Lake in Bandera County often dries in periods of drought. AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alan Reppert told Newsweek that the area is battling the drought because it has seen very little rainfall over the last year.

Water Data for Texas, an organization operated by the Texas Water Development Board, showed the lake was only 5 percent full on Tuesday. Six months ago, the lake was 7 percent full. A year ago it was more than 18 percent full.

In February, KSAT reported that the reservoir has been steadily declining for years because of a multi-year drought in the region.

The reservoir was constructed in 1910 and is used by farmers for irrigation, often leading to fluctuations in the lake's water levels. In February, KSAT reported that large swaths of the lake were dry, studded with abandoned boats and dry docks.

From 2011 to 2013, the lake was only 3 percent full before recovering with floods in 2015.

Only 3.5 percent of Texas as a whole is battling exceptional drought, with much of the south and eastern parts of the state entirely free from drought.

Texas has been the location of a number of military engagements, ones that range from the major fights of the Texas Revolution, to the numerous clashes between Natives and those who invaded their homelands, to some Civil War skirmishes. But, if I was to ask for the name of the bloodiest battle ever fought on Texas soil, would you come up with the answer of the 1813 Battle of Medina? Would you know who actually fought at Medina or that despite the fact that many people have never heard of it and we are not exactly sure where it took place it was one of the most consequential military engagements ever fought in Texas, a significance that extended to the larger War for Mexican Independence conflict?

The Battle of Medina was the final action of the Gutíerrez-Magee Expedition that had established the short-lived Republic of the North—often called the “Green Flag Republic” after the banner the army carried before it—in Nacogdoches in 1812. Northern Mexico, which, of course, included Texas at the time, was the scene of a great deal of intrigue during the early years of the Mexican War of Independence. The northern reaches of New Spain were perhaps the site of the strongest support for those opposing the Royalists who controlled the governmental levers of New Spain in these last years of Spanish rule. The chaos of the war, which is more properly termed a series of revolts involving intense fighting and then lulls between more fighting between 1810 and 1820, also provided fertile grounds for opportunists to try to exploit the fighting and separate parts of New Spain into new nations, many of those involving American schemers who conspired with Mexican counterparts to sow discord. The Gutíerrez-Magee Expedition, often referred to as one of many “filibuster” attempts into Texas, was such an action. José Bernardo Gutíerrez de Lara, a Mexican independence advocate and organizer, who would eventually become the first governor of Tamaulipas, in 1812 traveled to the United States to seek American help in the fight for Mexican independence. Unsuccessful in gaining aid from the U.S. government, Gutíerrez de Lara instead, while in Louisiana on the way back to Mexico, convinced former U.S. Army officer Augustus Magee join with him in a plot to sever Texas and the rest of northern Mexico away from New Spain and establish a new nation, one they would name The Republic of the North.

The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is an associate professor of history at SFA and the executive director of the association. He can be contacted at [email protected]; www.easttexashistorical.org. If you enjoy Dr. Sosebee’s weekly columns, SFA Press has published a new book with a compilation of his material over the last ten years. It is titled What Is It About Texas?. You can purchase the work through Texas A&M Press Consortium at tinyurl.com/SosebeeBook.

A fatal neurological disease among deer was detected in a 1-year-old buck in Medina County.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said the buck tested positive during live animal testing at a deer-breeding facility. A postmortem test confirmed it had CWD.

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This marks the fifth CWD detection at a Medina County breeding facility since 2015.

A surveillance zone spanning a 2-mile radius will be placed around the facility. Deer harvested within that zone must be presented at a check-in station in Hondo within 48 hours, a news release states.

“CWD has an incubation period that can span years, so the first indication of the disease in a herd is often found through surveillance testing rather than observed clinical signs,” the release states. “Early detection and proactive monitoring improve the state’s response time to the detection of CWD and can greatly reduce the risk of further disease spread.”

CWD is fatal for certain cervids, like deer, elk, moose and others in the deer family.

Its incubation period can last for years, meaning animals who have the disease may go a while without showing symptoms.

As the disease progresses, it causes weight loss, stumbling, tremors, excessive thirst, salivation or urination, loss of appetite, teeth grinding, abnormal head posture and/or drooping ears. It never goes dormant and can remain on land for several years.

TPWD is urging hunters to take precautions when harvesting deer this fall season.

Around Texas, there are several CWD zones and check-in stations where hunters are required to present their deer.

Click here to view a map of those CWD zones and check-in stations.

There are no known cases of a human becoming infected with the disease, but hunters should test their harvested species for the disease before consuming them, TPWD states.

The general season for white-tail deer starts on Nov. 4, and the general season for mule deer starts in mid-late November, depending on where you live.

Click here to see hunting seasons by animal.

Read more:

Officials said the blaze threatened several other homes, but was eventually extinguished.

MEDINA COUNTY, Texas — Fire crews and neighbors worked together to contain a brush fire in Medina County on Tuesday night that destroyed a home.

The blaze threatened several houses off I-35 between Lytle and Natalia, and one witness said he heard an explosion. Officials said that two acres burned, but was contained thanks to the efforts of four departments and 10 trucks that came together.

Hilario Perez said he smelled burning and saw black smoke before he saw the flames approaching his neighbor's home. He and the neighbors were working to contain the fire when the heard a loud boom. He says it was a gas line that exploded. He mentioned that the wind and dry grass were a concern.

Perez said that the firefighters had been busy and were tired, and that they had encouraged him and his neighbor to help them pull out the hose.

"It's a pretty tough job if you ask me," he said. "I do have a cousin in the fire department, so to me I was proud to give a little hand."

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