Federal suit seeks to block San Antonio's tree-cutting plan at Brackenridge Park

A week after city council approved a $35 million construction contract would remove some 40 trees from Brackenridge Park, San Antonio faces a faces federal civil-rights suit over that plan. A lawsuit filed in federal court in San Antonio by two members of the Native American Church argues the tree removal and ongoing efforts to frighten birds away from the downtown park violate Indigenous people's ability to worship in what they consider a sacred space.  Native Americans consider the spring-fed Blue Hole — the source of the San Antonio River — along with a stretch of the waterway arcing through Brackenridge to be sacred, along with animals and plants in the area.