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WASHINGTON (AP) — Walgreens has agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits that alleged the pharmacy chain submitted false payment claims with government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed.

The settlement announced on Friday resolves lawsuits filed in New Mexico, Texas and Florida on behalf of three people who had worked in Walgreens’ pharmacy operation. The lawsuits were filed under a whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act that lets private parties file case on behalf of the United States government and share in the recovery of money, the U.S. Justice Department said. The pharmacy chain was accused of submitting false payment claims to Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health care programs between 2009 and 2020 for prescriptions that were processed but never picked up.

Settlement documents say Walgreens cooperated in the investigation and has improved its electronic management system to prevent such problems from occurring again.
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In a statement, Walgreens said that because of a software error, the chain inadvertently billed some government programs for a relatively small number of prescriptions that patients submitted but never picked up.

“We corrected the error, reported the issue to the government and voluntarily refunded all overpayments,” the statement by Walgreens said.

In reaching the settlement, the chain didn’t acknowledge legal liability in the cases. ____ This story has been corrected to say the lawsuits were filed by private parties, not by the U.S. Justice Department.

TARRANT COUNTY (AP) — An effort by some Republican officials to curb access to early voting on college campuses in Tarrant County failed Thursday, after Tarrant County Commissioners Court voted to keep the polling sites in place.

The push to limit the voting locations was led by Judge Tim O’Hare, a Republican and the chief elected official of the county. He said the measure was intended to save money because those poll locations had low voter turnout. Democrats on the commissioners’ court and local voting rights advocates called the effort an attempt at voter suppression targeted at people of color and younger voters who tend to be more liberal.

O’Hare has said it isn’t the county’s job to make it easier for specific groups to vote.

The two-week debate culminated in a 4-1 vote in favor of a list of polling locations that instead added a new site. O’Hare, who as county judge gets a vote on the commission, was the only vote against.

Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French condemned the vote in a social media post and promised that grassroots GOP voters and activists would not “forget which of our elected officials stood with them and which of them chose to side with the Leftist mob.”

In a newsletter last week, French wrote that reducing polling sites would be “a serious win for Republicans in Tarrant County.”

The voter access debate in Tarrant County — Texas’ largest swing county — comes as top GOP leaders have tried to block county efforts to increase voter registration and spread unproven claims of illegal voting for the past few weeks. Election experts say they’re worried those efforts could undermine trust in state elections and lead to voter suppression.

Texas House Democrats, students and community leaders spoke out against the effort at a news conference Wednesday at UT-Arlington, calling it a conservative power grab.

“(Republicans) see Tarrant County and Texas slipping away from them,” said State Rep. Chris Turner, a Democrat from Grand Prairie. “They’re desperately trying to cling to power.”
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About 10% of the ballots in Tarrant County during early voting in the 2020 presidential election were cast on college campuses, according to the county’s data. The UT-Arlington early voting location had 9,754 votes cast in that election, in which President Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Tarrant County since Lyndon B. Johnson.

Beto O’Rourke won the county in his failed 2018 bid to unseat U.S. Sen.Ted Cruz.

Texas has the second youngest median age of any state other than Utah. Vice President Kamala Harris’ entry into the presidential race has helped activate Texas’ young voters, which political experts say could help close the enthusiasm gap between Democrats and Republicans in the state.

Rogelio Meixuerio, a student at the University of Texas at Arlington, said he’s glad O’Hare’s effort failed, but he still worried what’s happening in Tarrant County could embolden Republican leaders in other counties.

“O’Hare is working to keep Tarrant County under Republican control,” Meixuerio said.
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Derek Tisler, senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights Program, said removing early voting locations and having fewer of them could significantly increase wait times on Election Day.

“Election administration involves a lot of careful planning, and disruptions like this have unintended consequences and spillover effects on all voters throughout the community,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Republicans have had issues with college voting locations. During the last legislative session, Republican state lawmakers tried to pass a bill that banned counties from putting any polling locations on college campuses.

Amber Mills, an organizer with MOVE Texas, a nonpartisan voting advocacy group, said removing campus sites would negatively affect students with disabilities or without reliable transportation. Arlington is the largest city in the state without public transit.

Claudia Yoli Ferla, executive director of MOVE Texas, celebrated the county commissioners’ vote on Thursday.

“Colleges and universities are key community institutions that provide accessible facilities for the public. We are excited that UTA students will continue to have a reliable, central location to cast their ballots safely,” she said. “Young voters have consistently turned out in high record numbers. Their energy and dedication to our democracy are undeniable and show no signs of slowing down.”

Meixuerio said he’s now more energized than ever to get more students registered to vote.

“I don’t care who people vote for,” Meixuerio said. “I just want them to vote.”

DALLAS (AP) – Under the shadows of tall post oak trees, two white-tailed deer snap their heads in high alert as John True tosses corn at them.

“They’re the most incredible animal that God created,” said True, a 49-year-old deer breeder who has been raising deer since 1998. True is a partner in the breeding operation at Big Rack Ranch, about 40 miles east of Dallas, which sells to ranchers who want to start or stock their own herds.

Inside the pen, the smaller of the two bucks is 3 years old — the typical age that True sells his deer. But he can’t sell any of his deer now because of a state quarantine aimed at containing a fast-spreading disease in Texas deer.

He is one of many Texas breeders who say their businesses are suffering due to chronic wasting disease, or CWD. True’s deer don’t have the disease, but it has infected deer owned by his neighbor, also a deer breeder. Under state rules, that means True can’t transport or sell his deer outside of the state-declared containment zone — and he says there are no potential customers inside that zone.

The disease, which is easily transmissible through urine, feces, saliva, and blood, has been detected in Texas deer since 2012. Last year saw 153 positive cases in the state, and the number of cases this year reached 387 in August, most of them from the outbreak at the property next to True’s.

Texas Parks and Wildlife has detected CWD in 31 of Texas’ 254 counties and 34 captive breeding facilities.

Infected deer experience weight loss, uncoordinated movement, drooling and drooping ears — symptoms that often go unnoticed because they typically happen shortly before the animal dies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease hasn’t been shown to infect humans, but the agency advises people not to eat animals with CWD.

Kip Adams, a wildlife biologist with the National Deer Association, said the disease gradually erodes the animal’s neurological functions.

“This disease is literally eating holes in the deer’s brain,” he said.

Deer are a cornerstone of Texas hunting. An estimated 4.7 million white-tailed deer live in Texas, according to TPWD, and hunting them is big business. A 2022 survey by Texas A&M University found that white-tailed deer hunters and the landowners who host hunters for a fee contribute $9.6 billion annually to the Texas economy. This year white-tailed deer hunting season starts on Sept. 28.

Texas is one of several states that allows deer raised in captivity to be released into the wild. Conservationists say that allowing deer from breeding facilities to co-mingle with wild deer is what contributes the most to the spread of the disease.

The state has a CWD management plan, which has stayed pretty much the same since it was adopted more than a decade ago.

Now as the number of CWD cases grows, TPWD is torn between trying to stop the spread and trying to help deer breeders who say the effort will put them out of business.

At a meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in August, landowners, breeders and conservationists lined up to express concerns about the spread of CWD and how the state is handling it.

Wildlife advocates urged the commission to resist pressure from deer breeders and ranchers and stick to their mission to manage and conserve the state’s natural resources. Several breeders complained about burdensome testing requirements and state quarantines that block them from selling or moving their deer.

Commissioner William Leslie Doggett said: “A lot of landowners feel as though they’re under siege here.”

Back at his ranch, True said he has a major decision to make: Close his business or continue another year with no substantial income. The state declared a containment zone inside Hunt County in 2021. Earlier this year, state employees euthanized hundreds of white-tailed deer at the breeding facility next door because some were infected with CWD.

“It’s the most trying time,” True said. “It’s suffocating.”
Texas allows deer hunting inside containment zones

CWD was first detected in a Colorado mule deer in 1967 and has since spread to 35 states.

The first case in Texas was recorded in 2012 in a wild mule deer in the Hueco Mountains of West Texas. Three years later, the disease was detected in a white-tailed deer in a deer breeding facility in Medina County, west of San Antonio. Since 2012, 87% of all Texas CWD cases have been recorded at breeding facilities.

Adams, the wildlife biologist, said the disease is mainly spread when breeders sell infected captive deer or when hunters transport an infected animal they’ve shot to a new area. Infected deer carcasses can contaminate the soil and water, unintentionally spreading the disease.

When the parks and wildlife agency adopted its most recent management plan in 2020 to try to slow the spread of CWD, it required all breeders to test all deer that die at the breeding facility or are moved offsite.

Under those rules, a positive test for CWD in a breeding pen results in the state creating a surveillance zone — which extends two miles around the pen. Breeders in surveillance zones can still move or sell deer as long as they meet the testing requirements.

If a deer that was not inside a breeder pen tests positive, the state creates a containment zone around the area. Breeders within a containment zone are prohibited from moving or selling their deer outside of that zone, limiting the clients breeders can sell to.

Texas currently has nine containment zones and 23 surveillance zones. The restrictions continue until TPWD determines that the spread of the disease has been mitigated. TPWD has lifted three surveillance zones, two in Uvalde County and another in Limestone County.

A positive test also triggers a state investigation by TPWD and the Texas Animal Health Commission to determine how many other deer may have been exposed to the disease and where they have been shipped. Experts say one deer with CWD can impact hundreds of other breeding facilities and ranches across the state if it’s moved and exposes other deer.

Breeders with a positive case are given the option to either euthanize their remaining deer herd or they can perform additional testing and keep deer that test negative if action is taken early enough to stop widespread infection.

If a breeder doesn’t agree to either option, state wildlife officials say they may have to euthanize the entire herd as a last resort. The agency may also issue a fine that can range from $25 to $500.

Deer hunting is still allowed in containment and surveillance zones, but hunters are required to test the deer before taking them home in some areas. TPWD has stations across the state where staff collect samples of deer harvested by hunters.
TPWD backs off adding new zones

Among breeders there’s been a growing distrust of the agency’s approach to managing the disease. In some cases breeders have refused to agree to rules, saying that following the state guidelines will put them out of business. They have also complained that being inside of one of the state’s zones will hurt their property values.

During the August Texas Parks and Wildlife meeting, agency staff proposed five new surveillance zones where deer had tested positive for CWD. Numerous breeders testified against the proposal at the meeting, and of the more than 1,000 comments entered online, 94% disagreed with the proposal.

Kevin Davis, executive director of the Texas Deer Association, which represents breeders, told the commissioners: “It’s probably time for us to go ahead and stop adopting new zones and just change the regulation altogether.”

Conservationists like Mary Pearl Meuth, president of the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society, defended the zones at the meeting.

“CWD is not only a problem for deer breeders, it is a problem for all Texans,” Meuth said, adding that the disease threatens rural economies as well as ecosystems by potentially reducing deer populations, disrupting food chains and transmitting CWD to other deer species.

In the end, a divided Parks and Wildlife Commission rejected the proposal. Now the staff must find alternatives to deliver to the commissioners by November.

Mitch Lockwood, a retired TPWD Big Game program director who was involved in CWD management until 2023, said the TPWD commission seems to be hesitant about keeping or adding zones, which he attributes to pressure from the deer breeding community.

“You hear at the commission meeting (commissioners) talking about commerce,” Lockwood said, adding, “the mission of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department doesn’t say anything about commerce.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of hunters, landowners and conservationists want the agency to further limit the movement of live deer from breeding facilities. If they are moved, they ask that the agency require a permanent visible identification on all deer released from captivity in order to quickly trace infected animals back to the breeding facility.

“We’ve gotten to a point now that we’ve got enough surveillance and containment zones that people are getting irritated with it, but the zones are just a symptom of the problem,” said Justin Dreibelbis, chief executive officer for Texas Wildlife Association and member of the coalition. “One of the most common sense things that we could possibly do is leave permanent, visible identification in any of those breeder deer that are moved around the state.”
Trying to breed out CWD

As state officials in Austin try to find solutions, breeders are looking for ways to survive by turning to genetics.

At Big Rack Ranch, True pulls out his phone and scrolls through a deer database, which lists more than 350,000 animals. The database was started by the nonprofit North American Deer Registry in 2007; True is one of its board members.

The database allows registered ranchers to trace the lineage and genetic makeup of deer through DNA testing. Research on CWD introduced so-called breeding values that help breeders identify deer that are more resistant to the disease than others — those deer can sell for higher prices.

True, like many other breeders, collects tissue, hair, blood and semen samples from his deer that are submitted to a lab for DNA testing.

“It gives us life,” True said about breeding for CWD resistant deer. “It gives us a way out.”

At the commission meeting in August, breeders reported killing animals without CWD resistance traits. True said he has euthanized seven of his deer with lower CWD resistance.

“The industry has evolved into wanting to be the tip of the spear in response to CWD by creating resistant deer,” said Davis, the Texas Deer Association director.

While this has offered breeders hope, conservationists argue that genetic adaptation takes multiple generations.

“It is not a deer management strategy for today, but for tomorrow,” said Meuth, the wildlife society Texas president.

Now that he can’t sell any deer because of the containment zone, True said his last remaining option to generate income is selling deer semen to other breeders.

But that’s not enough for the business that he’s spent 25 years building to survive, he said. So he’s waiting and hoping that the state will lift the restrictions so he can again sell his stock.

“I want to do this for the rest of my life,” he said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a powerful leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, pleaded not guilty Friday in a U.S. drug trafficking case that accuses him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.

Participating in a court hearing through a Spanish-language interpreter, Zambada gave yes-or-no answers to a magistrate’s standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures. Asked how he was feeling, Zambada said, “Fine, fine.”

His lawyers entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf.

Outside court, Zambada attorney Frank Perez said his client wasn’t contemplating making a deal with the government, and the attorney expects the case to go to trial.

“It’s a complex case,” he said.

Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada has been in U.S. custody since July 25, when he landed in a private plane at an airport outside El Paso, Texas, in the company of another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, according to federal authorities.

Zambada later said in a letter that he was kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Zambada’s lawyer did not elaborate on those claims Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cho ordered Zambada detained until trial. His lawyers did not ask for bail, and U.S. prosecutors asked the judge to detain him.

“He was one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said. “He co-founded the Sinaloa cartel and sat atop the narcotics trafficking world for decades.”

Zambada, 76, used a wheelchair at a court appearance in Texas last month, and U.S. marshals steadied him Friday as he walked into a federal courtroom in Brooklyn. He appeared to accept some help getting out of a chair after the brief hearing, then walked out slowly but unaided.

Perez said after court Friday that Zambada was healthy and “in good spirits.”

Sketch artists were in the small courtroom, but other journalists could observe only through closed-circuit video because of a shortage of seats.

In court and in a letter earlier to the judge, prosecutors said Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force that was almost like an army, and a corps of “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

His bloody tenure included ordering the murder, just months ago, of his own nephew, prosecutors said.

“A United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes,” Navarro said.

Zambada also pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court appearance in Texas. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 31.

According to authorities, Zambada and “El Chapo” Guzmán built the Sinaloa cartel from a regional syndicate into a huge manufacturer and smuggler of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs to U.S. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has described defeating the cartel as one of the agency’s top operational priorities.

Zambada has been seen as the group’s strategist and dealmaker and a less flamboyant figure than Guzmán. Zambada had never been behind bars until his July arrest.

His “day of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived, and justice will follow,” Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace declared in a statement Friday.

Zambada’s arrest has touched off fighting in Mexico between rival factions in the Sinaloa cartel. Gunfights have killed several people. Schools in businesses in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, have closed amid the fighting. The battles are believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted of drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019.

It remains unclear why Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzmán López is awaiting trial on a separate drug trafficking indictment in Chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty.

AUSTIN (AP) – Ride-hailing leader Uber on Friday announced it will dispatch robotaxis built by driverless technology pioneer Waymo beginning next year in Austin, Texas, and Atlanta in a deal that deepens the bond between once-bitter rivals.

The alliance expands upon a partnership the two companies forged in Phoenix last year, signaling they were ready to set aside their differences and work together following a bruising legal battle revolving around allegations that Uber had stolen Waymo’s trade secrets.

Uber’s increasing reliance on Waymo’s robotaxis to supplement the fleet of cars driven by people responding to requests sent on a mobile app comes just a few weeks after it announced plans to deploy driverless cars from General Motors’ beleaguered Cruise subsidiary.

It hasn’t been revealed yet where Uber and Cruise will be working together next year, but it probably won’t be in California, where Cruise’s license remains suspended f ollowing a grisly October 2023 incident in San Francisco that seriously injured a pedestrian.

Unlike Cruise, Waymo so far hasn’t been involved in any major crashes or accidents that have sidelined its robotaxis, which are now giving more than 100,000 rides per week in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, on its own ride-hailing app.

But Waymo’s robotaxis will be responding to requests on Uber’s app in Austin and Atlanta next year, instead of Waymo’s own.

Working through Uber’s already well established app in those cities signals that Waymo is looking at ways to introduce its driverless technology in new markets more quickly in an effort to make money to its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., which also owns Google.

Although Alphabet doesn’t disclose Waymo’s financial results, the robotaxi service is believed to responsible for most of the $2.15 billion in operating losses posted by its “Other Bets” division during the first half of this year.

The cozy relationship between Uber and Waymo is a dramatic about-face from the legal bickering that culminated in the two sides agreeing to a $245 million settlement during a high-profile trial in 2018. The truce resolved a lawsuit alleging former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick conspired with former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski to steal Waymo’s self-driving car technology.

Levandowski later pled guilty to criminal charges that arose from the civil lawsuit, but avoided an 18-month prison sentence in January 2021 when he was pardoned by President Donald Trump just before he left office.

Uber subsequently sold the self-driving car division that triggered the theft allegations under current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, after one of the company’s robotic vehicles killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March 2018.

TRINITY – Daniel Kee, the chief of police for Trinity Police Department, has been suspended, according to a Trinity County Commissioner and our news partners at KETK, after allegations emerged that he may have sexually harassed officers and set up an illegal quota system.

These allegations came to light after Kee was reported to the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement agencies, by a Trinity PD officer, for allegedly starting an illegal traffic stop quota system and engaging in sexual harassment.

Kee’s alleged conduct was first reported to state officials by Trinity PD officer Brittany Davis, according to a statement from her legal representation at Hightower, Franklin and James, a Nacogdoches law firm.

Hightower, Franklin and James issued the following statement to KETK on Friday:

“Hightower, Franklin, & James has been retained to represent Trinity Police Department Officer Brittany Davis. Officer Davis courageously reported to the Texas Rangers and other law enforcement agencies that Police Chief Daniel Kee had engaged in illegal activities by implementing an illegal quota system for traffic stops and was engaging in sexual harassment. After Officer Davis’s report, other officers have now come forward with similar complaints against Chief Kee, as well as other allegations of misconduct by the Chief. While the City suspended Chief Kee, others within the Department and at the City have since retaliated against Officer Davis for daring to speak-up about Chief Kee’s illegal acts. The retaliation against Officer Davis is as blatant as it is shameful. Unfortunately, such retaliation is far too common in the law enforcement community. Indeed, in June 2022, a jury in Lufkin rendered a $1.5 million verdict in favor of 3 Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers after DPS retaliated against them for reporting an illegal quota system similar to the one implemented by Chief Kee. Our firm had the privilege of representing those 3 brave Troopers. Hightower, Franklin, & James intends to vigorously protect Officer Davis and her family. We look forward to holding Chief Kee and the City accountable for their illegal conduct and misdeeds.”
Hightower, Franklin and James

Kee’s suspension as chief of police was confirmed by Trinity County Commissioner for Pct. 3, Neal Smith. Smith offered no other comment on the case as it’s a city matter.

Trinity city officials and the Trinity Police Department have been contacted for comment.

DALLAS – The Dallas Observer reports “there is a creeper at the University of North Texas’ recreation center.” The rumor started circulating last week across social media. Instagram stories and Reddit posts warned female students that they may among the dozens of unsuspecting campus gym users whose photo had been taken and plastered on a website, “Candid Girls,” alongside sexually objectifying captions. The website is a forum of rudimentary design that promotes taking and posting images of women who are in public spaces and are unaware their photo is being taken. Individual posts, which are captioned with explicit buzzwords generally reserved for click-bait pornography, receive tens of thousands of clicks and comments. Comments left by users detail the sexual gratification they derived from the images.

When one UNT student, Kate S., saw the warnings of a Candid Girls user targeting the UNT Pohl Recreation Center, she began scouring the site. It didn’t take her long to find one user, whose account has now been deactivated, who boasted a hefty portfolio of “college girl” photos taken in the UNT gym. Kate, who regularly works out at the gym, found dozens of photos of herself. When she scrolled through the user’s account, she found images of 57 different women, all taken in the Pohl Rec Center. “I was absolutely horrified. My heart dropped … The first thing was just like, how did I not know?” Kate, whose last name was not included in this report to maintain her privacy, told the Observer. “Every woman always knows ‘I need to pay attention to where I am at all times.’ And I thought at least at a campus gym, I thought I would be safe. But I guess that’s not really the case.” The photos can no longer be viewed on the Candid Girls website because the poster deactivated the account last Friday evening, but Google searches still show a preview of the images with their explicit labels. In a statement shared with the Observer, a UNT spokesperson said the campus is “aware” of a Reddit post “??about an individual taking photos” at the campus gym.

SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Express News reports that San Antonio’s population increased more than any other large U.S. city last year, gaining 22,000 residents even as other cities saw their populations plateau – or shrink – as families hightailed to the suburbs, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday. Three other Texas cities – Fort Worth, New Braunfels and Atascocita – ranked among the top 10 cities nationwide with the greatest population gains from 2022 to 2023, though San Antonio netted at least 7,000 more residents than any of them. The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey one-year estimates consists of data collected over the course of a single year in geographic areas with at least 65,000 people. The data takes into account everything from the area’s growth to its economic characteristics and housing stock.

San Antonio’s overall growth reflects a 1.5% population increase since 2022, eclipsing Houston, Dallas and Austin, which each saw their populations grow by less than 0.5% during that period. Texas State Demographer Lloyd Potter said today’s San Antonio “feels different” than the city did a decade ago. Potter said several factors have led to San Antonio’s growth, from city ladders’ work to foster economic development, to beefing up housing downtown to the growth of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s student body. As more companies set up shop within the city, San Antonio is becoming a magnet for skilled workers, he said. “??Companies are recognizing that San Antonio is a great place to come and either bring their headquarters or bring a significant portion of their business,” Potter said. “People that generally are moving here tend to be people with higher levels of educational attainment and are working in jobs that are higher-skilled, higher-paid kinds of jobs.” The proportion of San Antonio’s population over the age of 25 with at least a bachelor’s degree increased last year, going from about 29% of the city’s population in 2022 to nearly 31% in 2023.