SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio will soon be celebrating the return of gorillas at the zoo after more than thirty years. 

San Antonio Zoo will soon be home to eight Western Lowland gorillas in a huge, two-acre exhibit called Congo Falls. The exhibit is set to open in late 2025, but in the meantime, KENS 5 is learning more about what life will be like for the new residents. Staff members say it will include play, foraging and exercise. 

“Training is very important. It’s a good way for the staff to bond with them to get to know them. And a lot of times it’s training for like husbandry behaviors," Rachel Malstaff, Director of Animal Care at San Antonio Zoo said. "So, some gorillas are trained to brush their teeth like they actually get a toothbrush and brush to keep up with dental health. Like it’s all of these little training sessions that we can do to help keep them healthy for years to come.”  

The new habitat will offer lots of space for interaction and growth. Zoo officials say the unique design will give visitors an immersive experience and a rare opportunity to get right into the gorilla's own world. 

“They have plenty of options to interact with each other, to interact with different things, but also room to get away from each other too because just like people sometimes gorillas want breaks from each other as well. So it’s nice to have plenty of space that they can kind of do their own thing also,” Malstaff said. 

Enrichment is also a big part of their daily life. Some days it will be puzzles, other days, it will be introducing new scents. These activities build trust with their keepers and keeps their minds sharp, staff members say.

“Enrichment is a huge portion of their daily care. And throughout the Congo Falls habitat we have different enrichment things built in. There’s a termite mound where the gorillas have to work with sticks to get out treats. There’s feeders throughout the area. So, really throughout their day-to-day, we’re making sure they’re mentally stimulated, they’re working for their food, working for treats," Malstaff said. 

Check out our full interview with Malstaff, as well as Hope Roth, Director of Marketing at the zoo, in a new special on KENS 5+:

SAN ANTONIO — The federal government is now offering unaccompanied minor children a $2,500 stipend if they agree to voluntarily leave the U.S. But some immigration advocates are skeptical, calling the program a dangerous trade-off.

“Let’s be clear, this is a bad deal,” said immigration attorney Jonathan Ryan, founder of the nonprofit, Advokato. “These children are being offered a pittance of money to give up protection for their lives.”

Advokato represents more than a hundred unaccompanied minor children, a majority of whom are from Guatemala and Venezuela. These are youth who fled their home countries due to violence, persecution and human trafficking. 

Legal providers and organizations who have custody of migrant children received an email from the federal government on Friday, which detailed the $2,500 stipend offer.

Ryan calls the federal government's program deeply flawed and a way for the government to shut down ongoing asylum and protection cases.  

“All of these children are going to return to their home countries with $2,500 targets on their backs,” Ryan said. “That puts any child who takes this offer in danger of extortion, trafficking or robbery.”

The one-time stipend applies to migrant youth ages 14 and older who choose to return to their home countries through an expedited voluntary departure process. According to the federal government, the initiative is meant to help children decide their futures and reunite with family members they may have been separated from in the U.S. However, children from Mexico are not eligible for the program.

Ryan said the $2,500 incentive could actually place returning children in greater harm's way when they arrive back home, stressing how the cartels could potentially act on an opportunity.

Under the program, the stipend would not go directly to the child. Instead, it would be wired to an adult in their home country after the child’s return, a process Ryan believes is impractical and unreliable.

“Then they’re going to be taken back to their homes, which in many cases are in far-flung rural areas, nowhere close to a bank,” Ryan said. “It’s simply not going to happen, we think, in most cases. They're also only offering it for a period of 30 days after the child returns to their home country." 

Ryan has been working to expand his legal team at Advokato to meet growing demand for representation in migrant youth cases. He noted so far none of his clients have expressed interest in voluntarily leaving the country under the new offer.

"It's beneath us as a country as a country to be trying to make financial deals with children who are the victims of trafficking, of abuse, of persecution, just to try to send them back to the countries that they fled." 

SAN ANTONIO — Two months after the attorney for an ex-Uvalde CISD officer charged in connection with the Robb Elementary School shooting response requested that his upcoming trial be moved to elsewhere in Texas, he got his wish: It will now be held in Nueces County, more than 200 miles away. 

Nico LaHood, who is representing Adrian Gonzales in his criminal case, and presiding Judge Sid Harle confirmed the agreement for a change of venue. LaHood had filed the motion requesting the new location, saying he didn't believe Gonzales could receive a fair trial in what's expected to be highly visible court proceedings. 

“Uvalde is such a small community," LaHood said. "I think everyone agrees this was an evil, horrible act that happened. But we needed a jury that could be as objective as possible and not so emotionally charged. So the judge chose Nueces County. We’re happy with that. We’re fine with that. We’re prepared to try the case in Nueces County.”

LaHood said the trial is tentatively slated to begin Jan. 5. 

Gonzales was indicted on 29 counts of abandoning/endangering a child in June 2024 – more than two years after 19 students and two teachers were killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary – while former Uvalde CISD Police Chief Pete Arredondo was indicted on 10 counts. They represent the first and so far only criminal cases related to the tragedy that unfolded the morning of May 24, 2022, in the small South Texas community. 

Gonzales failed to engage the assailant after hearing gunshots and being informed of the shooter’s general location, according to the indictment. He’s also accused of failing to follow active shooter training.

"We have seen all the evidence that the government has turned over to us," LaHood said. "And we have not seen any evidence that substantiates these allegations against Mr. Gonzales. The only remedy for that is to present that evidence and defend his position to a jury of his peers, so we're looking forward to that."

Arredondo was widely criticized for his role in what has been considered a failed law enforcement response at Robb, where authorities waited over an hour to confront the shooter. The Texas Department of Public Safety said he was the incident commander at the scene and that he decided to treat the emergency as a "barricaded suspect" instead of an active hostage situation; Arredondo has said he didn't think he was incident commander.

Arredondo was fired from his role as the district's police chief in August 2022, amid mounting pressure from families of the victims calling for accountability. 

Both men have pleaded not guilty, and Arredondo's legal team mounted an unsuccessful motion to quash his indictment last year. 

Uvalde gets new law firm, new school

The looming court case comes amid a wave of newly released records related to the Robb tragedy--some of which show Arredondo's legal team sought a $1.1 million settlement when he was fired as well as disciplinary files for the gunman showing he failed state tests and had mounting school absences. 

Also among the records released this summer was a letter sent to then-Uvalde CISD Superintendent Hal Harell by a Robb teacher who said she felt that staff at the elementary school at the heart of the tragedy were "being ignored" after the shooting. 

The fresh records also came with some controversy when the law firm representing Uvalde CISD admitted it failed to properly release all the documents, saying it only shared a sample of what should have been made public. Less than a month later, the school board voted to hire new legal counsel. 

Meanwhile, Legacy Elementary School – the district's first new school in 40 years – will welcome its first students on Oct. 20 after a Friday ribbon-cutting ceremony capping three years of planning and construction. 

SAN ANTONIO — KENS Cares wants your help to Crush The Crisis by turning in unneeded medication for safe disposal.

On Saturday, October 25, 2025, community members are invited to safely dispose of their unused or expired medications during Drug Take-Back Day.

Keeping drugs in the home, especially opioids, can make them vulnerable to misuse, theft or abuse by loved ones and visitors, including children and teens.

Drug Take-Back Day encourages the public to remove unneeded medications from their homes as a measure of preventing medication misuse, overdoses, and even opioid addiction from ever starting.   

Various Methodist Healthcare locations throughout the city will accept medications on Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

MEDICATION DROP-OFF LOCATIONS:

• Bulverde Police Headquarters - 30263 Heimer Cover, Bulverde, TX 78163
• Bulverde Spring Branch Fire and EMS - 353 Rodeo Drive, Spring Branch, TX 78070
• CareNow - Bandera - 9234 North Loop 1604 West, Suite 110, San Antonio, TX 78249
• CareNow - West Hildebrand - 115 Angeles Drive, Suite 103, San Antonio, TX 78201
• Gillespie County Law Enforcement Center – 1601 E. Main St., Fredericksburg, TX 78624
• Methodist ER | Alamo Heights – 250 E. Basse Road, San Antonio, TX 78209
• Methodist ER | Boerne – 134 Menger Springs, Boerne, TX 78006
• Methodist ER | Legacy Trails – 9211 Potranco Road, San Antonio, TX 78251
• Methodist ER | Nacogdoches – 13434 Nacogdoches Road, San Antonio, TX 78217
• Methodist Hospital | Landmark – 5510 Presidio Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78249
• Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant – 8026 Floyd Curl Road, San Antonio, TX 78229
• Methodist Hospital | Texsan – 6700 I-10, San Antonio, TX 78201
• Methodist Hospital | Westover Hills – 5538 West Loop 1604 North, San Antonio, TX 78251

ACCEPTED ITEMS:

Any over-the-counter and prescribed tablets, capsules, patches, medicated ointments, lotions, drops, liquid medications (in leak-proof containers), vape cartridges (without batteries) and pet medications.

NON-ACCEPTED ITEMS:

Needles, syringes, lancets, inhalers and illegal drugs.

To learn more, visit SAHealth.com/CrushTheCrisis. Let’s work together to Crush the Crisis!

This important message is provided by KENS 5 and our sponsors, Methodist Healthcare and Raising Cane’s. When it comes to community, KENS Cares!