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IMMIGRATION

Attempts to dupe agents More using fake documents to gain entry

By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE

EL PASO — Hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants gamble their fate with human smugglers or deadly rides atop freight trains to enter Texas. Tens of thousands of others instead try a more brazen approach: handing fake documents to federal agents at ports of entry.

The number of people turned away or detained at Texas ports — what the Department of Homeland Security calls “inad-

missibles” — increased by about 25 percent during the government’s 2014 fiscal year, according to statistics. Most were denied entry after presenting false or stolen documents.

Customs and Border Protection agents working the Laredo field office, which includes the ports from Del Rio to Brownsville, found about 39,000 wouldbe crossers inadmissible, up from about 31,800 during the 2013 fiscal year. The El Paso field office, which extends from the Big Bend area to El Paso and through New Mexico, re-

ported about 10,170 inadmissibles, up from the previous year’s 7,855.

Illegal crossers caught between the ports of entry have a slight chance at staying in the country by claiming asylum.

But those caught presenting false documents, or trying to use someone else’s, at a port might never be able to gain legal access to the country, even through marriage or sponsorship, said Dan Kowalski, an immigration attorney and editor

Photo by Spencer Selvidge | Texas Tribune

This photo shows traffic at International Bridge 1, for passenger vehicles and pedestrians, in Laredo.

See IMMIGRATION PAGE 11A

WAR ON CRIME

SWEETWATER, TEXAS

Tamaulipas authorities arrest 15

WAITING FOR BUST Falling oil prices harm dependent economy

By EMILY SCHMALL ASSOCIATED PRESS

Suspects accused of being associated with criminal groups

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

Tamaulipas authorities announced Wednesday statewide results of weeklong enforcement actions, which included three significant arrests in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

Mexican authorities made the announcement the same day Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz had a private meeting with Nuevo Laredo Mayor Carlos Canturosas. The two discussed “issues of importance to both cities," states a City of Laredo news release.

Mexican federal authorities and Tamaulipas state authorities executed the enforcement actions from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3. Fifteen people accused of being associated with criminal groups operating throughout Tamaulipas were arrested. That included the Jan. 1 arrest of a leader of halcones in Nuevo Laredo. Halcones are lookouts conducting counter-surveillance for the criminal groups.

State police officers as-

signed to Fuerza Tamaulipas personnel arrested the leader and identified him as José Luis Pérez Alejo. In addition, police said they seized a vehicle reported stolen and 14,000 pesos, or about $1,037, from Pérez.

A second incident was reported in Nuevo Laredo on Jan. 2. That day, federal police officers arrested Jesús Enrique Campos Medina, José de Jesús García Rueda, Armando Herrera González, José Luis Madera Saucedo and José Catarino Rangel Benítez for allegedly conducting counter-surveillance on authorities for a criminal group.

Federal police also saw action Jan. 3, when they arrested Juan Carlos García Ortega in Central Nuevo Laredo. García was allegedly driving a vehicle loaded with 22 pounds of marijuana valued at $17,600.

A significant arrest occurred Jan. 1 in Ciudad Victoria. There, Mexican

SWEETWATER — Just two years ago, this Texas town known mostly for its annual rattlesnake roundup seemed to be on the brink of a transformation.

Expecting a huge influx of oil workers, local leaders spent tens of millions of dollars to improve the courthouse, build a new lawenforcement center and upgrade the hospital. Hotels, truck stops and housing subdivisions were to follow, all catering to truck drivers and roughnecks.

Sweetwater envisioned becoming a major player in the hydraulic-fracturing boom, thanks to its location atop the Cline Shale, once estimated to be the nation’s largest underground petroleum formation.

But those ambitions are fading fast as the plummeting price of oil causes investors to pull back, cutting off the projects that were sup-

Photo by LM Otero | AP

In this Dec. 23, photo, a worker caries oil well piping in Sweetwater. At the heart of the Cline, a shale formation once thought to hold more oil than Saudi Arabia, Sweetwater is bracing for layoffs and budget cuts. posed to pay for a bright new future. Now the town of 11,000 awaits layoffs and budget cuts and defers its dreams.

“Here we are trying to figure out: Is this a six-month problem or is it all over?” said Greg Wortham, head of the Cline Shale Alli-

ance, a private group founded to prepare the region for the oil workers.

Industry observers say what’s happening in the Cline — a 10county area on the eastern edge of

See BUST PAGE 11A

Photo by LM Otero | AP

See ARREST PAGE 11A

U.S. GOVERNMENT

As a top Senate leader, John Cornyn has to deliver

By MARIA RECIO MCCLATCHY

Photo by Jacquelyn Martin | AP

Vice President Joe Biden administers the Senate oath to Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas, accompanied by his wife Sandy Cornyn, during a ceremonial re-enactment swearing-in ceremony, Tuesday in the Old Senate Chamber of Capitol Hill in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, just started his third six-year term in office and it is shaping up as the best yet for the 62-year-old lawmaker, certainly better than what he says are the last eight "miserable" years in the minority.

As the Senate majority whip, Cornyn is now the very visible second in command to Sen. Ma-

jority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The Texan is the point man in securing votes while the Senate Republicans push an activist agenda, starting with an upcoming vote on the Keystone XL pipeline.

"We have new management in the U.S. Senate," he told Texas reporters Wednesday. "I’m really excited about the prospects of changing the way the Senate operates."

And while the tall, soft-spo-

ken former Texas Supreme Court judge and state attorney general rarely shows a lot of emotion, he said with a measure of enthusiasm, "It’s going to be a great adventure."

Cornyn spent the last two years as Senate minority whip, a job with a nice office off the floor but little personal satisfaction. He complained often in Senate speeches about how ob-

See CORNYN PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

SATURDAY, JAN. 10

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Professional Bull Riders at 7 p.m. at the Laredo Energy Arena, 6700 Arena Blvd.

United ISD 5K Run, Walk and Health Fair at the SAC located at 5208 Santa Claudia Lane. From 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. with the race starting at 9 a.m.

Proceeds to benefit United ISD students with college scholarships. For more information call 473-6283 or visit www.uisd.net.

Today is Saturday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2015. There are 355 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 10, 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his influential pamphlet, “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence from British rule.

On this date: In 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union.

In 1863, the London Underground had its beginnings as the Metropolitan, the world’s first underground passenger railway, opened to the public with service between Paddington and Farringdon Street.

In 1870, John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. In 1901, the Spindletop oil field in Beaumont, Texas, produced the Lucas Gusher, heralding the start of the Texas oil boom.

In 1914, a Utah grocer and his son were shot to death in their Salt Lake City store; police arrested labor activist Joe Hill, who was later convicted and executed, becoming a martyr to America’s organized labor movement.

In 1957, Harold Macmillan became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation of Anthony Eden.

French fashion designer Coco Chanel died in Paris at age 87.

In 1984, the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

In 2000, America Online announced it was buying Time Warner for $162 billion (the merger, which proved disastrous, ended in Dec. 2009).

Ten years ago: CBS issued a damning independent review of mistakes related to a “60 Minutes Wednesday” report on President George W. Bush’s National Guard service and fired three news executives and a producer for their “myopic zeal” in rushing it to air.

Five years ago: NBC announced it had decided to cancel “The Jay Leno Show,” returning Leno from prime time to 11:35 p.m. Eastern time while pushing “The Tonight Show” with Conan O’Brien back to 12:05 a.m. (O’Brien ended up leaving NBC, and Leno resumed hosting “Tonight.”)

One year ago: The Labor Department reported that U.S. employers added just 74,000 jobs in December 2013.

Today’s Birthdays: Opera singer Sherrill Milnes is 80.

Blues artist Eddy Clearwater is 80. Movie director Walter Hill is 75. Actor William Sanderson is 71. Singer Frank Sinatra Jr. is 71. Singer Rod Stewart is 70. Boxing Hall of Famer and entrepreneur George Foreman is 66. Roots rock singer Alejandro Escovedo is 64. Rock musician Scott Thurston (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) is 63. Singer Pat Benatar is 62. Singer Shawn Colvin is 59. Actor Evan Handler is 54. Rock singer Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 51. Actress Trini Alvarado is 48. Rock musician Matt Roberts is 37. Rock singer Brent Smith (Shinedown) is 37. Rapper Chris Smith (Kris Kross) is 36. Actress Sarah Shahi is 35.

Thought for Today: “You got to look on the bright side, even if there ain’t one.” — Dashiell Hammett, American author (born 1894, died this date in 1961).

SUNDAY, JAN. 11 Professional Bull Riders at 2 p.m. at the Laredo Energy Arena, 6700 Arena Blvd.

TUESDAY, JAN. 13 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 5 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 6 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

Photo by Marvin Pfeiffer/San Antonio Express-News | AP

Residents of the Wedgwood Senior Apartments are moved to other locations after being evacuated to Churchill High School following a three-alarm fire at the apartments, Sunday, Dec. 28, in San Antonio. Five people died after a fire broke out at the senior-living apartment building in the San Antonio suburb of Castle Hills, authorities said.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 14 "Employment Law Update" sponsored by Laredo Association of Human Resource Management. From 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. Embassy Suites.

Contact Bertha Solis at president@lahrm.com or visit the website LAHRM.COM.

THURSDAY, JAN. 15 The Elysian Social Club will be hosting their regular monthly meeting.

7 p.m. to TBA, Maria Bonita Restaurant. All members are encouraged to attend.

FRIDAY, JAN. 16 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 6 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 7 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

SATURDAY, JAN. 17 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Stars of the Pharoahs, 3 p.m. Back to the Moon, 4 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 5 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 6 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. 5pm- Back to the Moon. 6pm- Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens. For more information call 326-DOME (3663) or contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu.

The website is http://www.tamiu.edu/ planetarium.

FRIDAY, JAN. 23 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Back to the Moon, 6 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 7 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

Residents can’t return ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN ANTONIO — About 250 residents of a senior-living facility near San Antonio must find new housing following the late December fire that killed at least five people and injured more than a dozen.

The 11-story complex is uninhabitable, the management company for the Wedgwood Apartments in Castle Hills said in a letter posted on the facility’s website.

Officials are working to move 70 people to new housing, Bexar County fire marshal spokeswoman Laura Jesse said Friday. More than 100 residents are currently in hotels while others have gone to stay with family and friends.

“What we are doing,” she said, “is trying to get these residents moved toward a more permanent living situation.”

1793 penny sells for $2.35 million at auction

Officer charged with sexual assault found dead

1 dead, 1 hurt after Texas barn collapse

DALLAS — A 1793 U.S. onecent piece has sold at auction for $2.35 million. Heritage President Greg Rohan says the copper cent is rare because the design on the back — a chain with 13 linking rings symbolizing the unity of the original 13 colonies — was changed soon after production started in March 1793. The coin was purchased for only $76 the first time it appeared in an auction back in 1879.

DALLAS — A Dallas police officer charged with sexual assault after being accused of abusing prostitutes has been found dead.

Dallas police say Kattner died Friday morning. No cause of death was immediately released.

Kattner was arrested Dec. 21 and faced allegations that he contacted female prostitutes and compelled them to perform sexual acts with him.

HAMMOND — One man is dead and another is hospitalized in critical condition after the barn they were tearing down in Central Texas collapsed on them.

Robertson County Sheriff Gerald Yezak says the collapse happened Thursday afternoon in a rural area about two miles north of Hammond. One man was dead at the scene, and another was airlifted to Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple.

Officer stole suspects’ cash, drugs, rifle

1 dead in fire in area where homeless stay

Texas State Railroad ridership up in 2014

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio police officer is accused of stealing marijuana, thousands of dollars and a rifle from a couple during a disturbance call. Investigators say the officer was dispatched to a reported disturbance involving a man and a woman on Dec. 31. The couple say he took the cash, drugs and weapon before releasing them.

BROWNWOOD — Authorities say one person has died in a fire in a commercial area where homeless people are known to stay. Brownwood Fire Marshal Buddy Preston says investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire before dawn Friday. The fire happened in an area behind a shopping center where the homeless frequently sleep.

RUSK — More people have been riding the rails in East Texas on a route known for its history and scenic woods. The Texas State Railroad in Rusk on Thursday announced annual ridership in 2014 topped 79,000. Spokeswoman Janet Gregg says that compares to about 66,000 riders during 2013. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

SATURDAY, JAN. 24 STCE’s Comic Con at TAMIU Student Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

20th Annual Crime Stoppers Menudo Bowl at the LIFE Fairgrounds on Highway 59. Gates open 11 a.m.

Menudo cooking contest. Call 724-1876.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Stars of the Pharoahs, 3 p.m. Back to the Moon, 4 p.m. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. General Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

SUNDAY, JAN. 25 STCE’s Comic Con at TAMIU Student Center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

MONDAY, JAN. 26 Chess Club. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library at 202 W. Plum St. next to the Inner City Pool. Contact John Hong at john@laredolibrary.org, or laredolibrary.org/innercityevents.html or 795-2400 x2521.

Three residents are still in the hospital, she said. A sixth resident died two days after the Dec. 28 blaze, but officials haven’t said if the fire contributed to her death.

Past news reports said 350 people lived at the apartment complex, but Jesse said that the actual number is about 250. Officials originally had trouble accounting for the residents and their whereabouts because many were away during the holidays.

Since the fire, more than 20 residents have jointly filed a negligence lawsuit against the management company and its owners, seeking at least $1 million in damages for medical care expenses and compensation. They say the fire was a direct result of deficiencies in maintenance, policies, procedures and/or the condition of the apartment complex.

Messages with Wedgwood management were not returned Friday.

123-vehicle pileup on Michigan interstate GALESBURG, Mich. — More than 100 vehicles were involved in pileups on a snowy Michigan interstate on Friday, killing a trucker and igniting fires on semis carrying fireworks and acid, police said.

Snow, wind and poor visibility were blamed for the chain reaction of crashes on both sides of Interstate 94 in Kalamazoo County, 150 miles east of Chicago. The interstate wasn’t expected to reopen until late Friday or today.

Police urged everyone within a 3-mile radius to evacuate the rural area.

Doc accused of assisting suicides files review BALTIMORE — A Baltimore anesthesiologist who advised people on methods of suicide is appealing his Maryland medical license revocation.

CONTACT US Publisher, William B. Green........................728-2501 Account Executive, Dora Martinez ...... (956) 765-5113 General Manager, Adriana Devally ...............728-2510 Adv. Billing Inquiries ................................. 728-2531 Circulation Director ................................. 728-2559 MIS Director, Michael Castillo.................... 728-2505 Managing Editor, Nick Georgiou ................. 728-2565 Sports Editor, Zach Davis ..........................728-2578 Spanish Editor, Melva Lavin-Castillo............ 728-2569 Photo by Mark Bugnaski/Kalamazoo Gazette | AP

Emergency personnel watch as fireworks ignite at the scene of a fiery crash that closed both sides of Interstate 94, Friday, between mile markers 88 and 92 in eastern Kalamazoo County, near Galesburg, Mich.

Dr. Lawrence Egbert said Friday he filed the notice for judicial review in Baltimore City Circuit Court. It was filed Thursday, one day shy of the deadline for challenging last month’s order by the state Board of Physicians. The board contends Egb-

ert assisted in the suicides of six patients in Maryland from 2004 to 2008 in violation of professional standards. Egbert acknowledges he discussed suicide methods with them and was present for at least five of the deaths. — Compiled from AP reports

SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted.

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The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500.

The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net

State

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

New UT chief named ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — The University of Texas System’s chancellor, best known for directing the 2011 raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, said he sees similarities between his new civilian job and his old one as a fourstar admiral.

Bill McRaven, 59, retired in August as the head of U.S. Special Operations Command, a role in which he commanded 67,000 NaMCRAVEN vy SEALs, Army Rangers and other special operations troops. He told the Austin American-Statesman Thursday that after 37 years in the military, the transition to his new position this week has been smooth, saying that both jobs involved overseeing a sizable enterprise with a multi-billion dollar budget, as well as testifying before lawmakers.

The arrival of McRaven, who leads 15 academic and health campuses, comes at a time when members of the Board of Regents are divided over various issues and one regent is the subject of a criminal investigation for his handling of confidential student records, the newspaper reported.

McRaven said his first priority is to “build the trust, or in some cases to rebuild the trust,” which he said will require meeting in person with regents, campus presidents, faculty members, donors and other stakeholders.

“You have to build personal relationships, so that when something doesn’t go quite right, the people below you don’t see a conspiracy theory,” McRaven said.

“You have to communicate, constantly. Up the chain of command, in my case to the Board of Regents, down to the institutions, across to the students and ... the other constituents.”

The new chancellor said he will focus on what he calls “the three bins” of education, research and clinical services. He also said the search to replace UT-Austin president Bill Powers, who is stepping down in June, is on track, with candidate interviews underway.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Patrick: Nix in-state tuition law

By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Incoming Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick vowed Thursday to make good on an ultra-conservative agenda that helped steamroll Republicans to electoral victories, saying “the people of Texas know what they want the Legislature to do.”

The tea party favorite, who will oversee the state Senate, pledged hefty property and business tax cuts, as well pushing to scrap a popular 2001 Texas law offering instate university tuition to the children of people who came to the U.S. illegally.

“It’s a question of fairness to American citizens,” Patrick said at a news conference in the Texas Capitol.

Republican Gov.-elect Greg Abbott was far less confrontational while listing his legislative priorities at a nearby conservative gathering, sticking to campaign vows such as building roads and reducing business regulations.

It was in stark contrast to Pa-

Photo by Laura Skelding/Austin American-Statesman | AP

Governor-elect Greg Abbott addresses influential conservatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s legislative orientation in Austin on Thursday. trick, who even said he’d leave out funding in the next budget for the state public integrity unit, which investigates wrongdoing by elected officials.

That’s the unit for which outgoing Gov. Rick Perry faces two felony counts for abuse of power after he publicly threatened and then carried out a veto of $7.5 million in state funding in 2013. That followed

the unit’s Democratic head refusing to resign in the wake of her conviction and jail sentence for drunken driving. Patrick instead suggested a special prosecutor in new Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.

Patrick’s pull-no-punches approach is already leaving outnumbered Democrats feeling even more marginalized ahead of the new ses-

sion, which convenes Tuesday.

Sen. Kirk Watson, the head of the Senate Democratic Caucus who was called to testify before the grand jury that indicted Perry, said Thursday he hopes the GOP will see beyond party affiliation, so that “the tone won’t be set that we can just pass whatever we want.”

But Patrick used the same rhetoric from the GOP primary, in which he decried an illegal “invasion” of immigrants and ousted longtime incumbent David Dewhurst.

Patrick said Thursday he would fight to keep the National Guard’s border presence — which Perry boosted by 1,000 troops over the summer amid an influx of unaccompanied children and families — funded until 2017. It currently ends in March.

He also said it won’t deter his tax cut plans — even amid plummeting oil prices that could hurt state coffers.

“The best way in a downturn to keep your economy rolling is to put more money in the people’s pockets,” Patrick said.

Shooter at VA clinic was ex-employee

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS AND SETH ROBBINS ASSOCIATED PRESS

EL PASO — An Army veteran who fatally shot a psychologist at a West Texas veterans’ hospital before killing himself was a former clerk at the clinic and had threatened the doctor in 2013, the FBI said Wednesday.

The FBI identified the gunman in Tuesday’s shooting as Jerry Serrato, a 48-year-old who was medically discharged from the Army in 2009 after serving in Iraq two years earlier. Douglas Lindquist, who heads the FBI’s El Paso office, said Serrato used a .380-caliber handgun to shoot Dr. Timothy Fjordbak, 63, and himself at the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System at Fort Bliss.

Fjordbak was a psychologist who left private practice after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because he wanted to work with military veterans, officials said. Serrato had served in the Ohio Army National Guard from 1985 to 1993, then enlisted in the Army in July 2006, military records show. He served

in Iraq for five months in 2007.

Officials did not provide a motive for the shooting. However, Fjordbak had reported Serrato made an unspecified verbal threat against him at an El Paso supermarket in 2013. Lindquist said Serrato had some sort of perceived or real grievance against Fjordbak and had said something to the effect of, “I know what you did and I will take care of it.”

It was something in public at a grocery store where Mr. Serrato approached Dr. Fjordbak, who did not recognize him, and he made a verbal threat, and that was the extent of the report. As far as we can tell, that was the only connection that they had,” Lindquist said.

Both men worked at the VA at the same time in 2013, but authorities do not believe they had a working relationship, Lindquist said. There also was no immediate indication the gunman was a patient, the FBI said.

A security assessment is underway at the clinic in the wake of the shooting, said Peter Dancy, the VA hospital and clinic’s acting direc-

tor.

Hundreds of patients, staff and others were at the clinic when the shooting happened.

The shooting comes just four months after the Fort Bliss Commanding Officer Maj. Gen. Stephen Twitty announced new security measures after a military assessment found the base was not fully in compliance with Department of Defense directives. The measures included random vehicle checks and limiting access to Defense Department personnel at some gates. However, four gates still remained open to the public, according to a press release.

On Wednesday, civilians were still able to access the post with only a driver’s license, passing through just a single checkpoint manned by several soldiers. Investigators talked outside the closed VA clinic, warning of broken glass, while soldiers entered the adjacent William Beaumont Army Medical Center.

Sutton Smith, a worker at the VA clinic, said a “code white” was issued over the intercom system

Tuesday indicating an active shooter and ordering people to seek shelter.

Smith said he hid with about a dozen people in a locked room with the lights off for some two hours. Apart from the initial alert and some communication among managers via cellphone, no official updates were provided during the lockdown, he said.

The El Paso clinic came under scrutiny last year after a federal audit showed it had among the longest wait times for veterans trying to see a doctor for the first time. A survey last year of more than 690 veterans living in El Paso County found that they waited an average of more than two months to see a Veterans Affairs mental health professional and even longer to see a physician.

The VA said in a statement that it was “deeply saddened” by the attack and was assisting in investigations.

“The safety and continued care of our veterans and the staff will be our focus throughout,” the agency said.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

French journalists are martyrs, not saints The journalists at Charlie Hebdo are now rightly being celebrated as martyrs on behalf of freedom of expression, but let’s face it: If they had tried to publish their satirical newspaper on any American university campus over the last two decades it wouldn’t have lasted 30 seconds. Student and faculty groups would have accused them of hate speech. The administration would have cut financing and shut them down.

Public reaction to the attack in Paris has revealed that there are a lot of people who are quick to lionize those who offend the views of Islamist terrorists in France but who are a lot less tolerant toward those who offend their own views at home.

Just look at all the people who have overreacted to campus microaggressions. The University of Illinois fired a professor who taught the Roman Catholic view on homosexuality. The University of Kansas suspended a professor for writing a harsh tweet against the NRA. Vanderbilt University derecognized a Christian group that insisted that it be led by Christians.

Americans may laud Charlie Hebdo for being brave enough to publish cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad, but, if Ayaan Hirsi Ali is invited to campus, there are often calls to deny her a podium.

So this might be a teachable moment. As we are mortified by the slaughter of those writers and editors in Paris, it’s a good time to come up with a less hypocritical approach to our own controversial figures, provocateurs and satirists.

The first thing to say, I suppose, is that whatever you might have put on your Facebook page yesterday, it is inaccurate for most of us to claim, Je Suis Charlie Hebdo, or I Am Charlie Hebdo.

Most of us don’t actually engage in the sort of deliberately offensive humor that newspaper specializes in.

We might have started out that way. When you are 13, it seems daring and provocative to "épater la bourgeoisie," to stick a finger in the eye of authority, to ridicule other people’s religious beliefs.

But after a while that seems puerile. Most of us move toward more complicated views of reality and more forgiving views of others. (Ridicule becomes less fun as you become more aware of your own frequent ridiculousness.) Most of us do try to show a modicum of respect for people of different creeds and faiths. We do try to open conversations with listening rather than insult.

Yet, at the same time, most of us know that provocateurs and other outlandish figures serve useful public roles. Satirists and ridiculers expose our weakness and vanity when we are feeling proud. They puncture the self-puffery of the successful. They lev-

“

DAVID BROOKS

el social inequality by bringing the mighty low. When they are effective they help us address our foibles communally, since laughter is one of the ultimate bonding experiences.

Moreover, provocateurs and ridiculers expose the stupidity of the fundamentalists. Fundamentalists are people who take everything literally. They are incapable of multiple viewpoints. They are incapable of seeing that while their religion may be worthy of the deepest reverence, it is also true that most religions are kind of weird. Satirists expose those who are incapable of laughing at themselves and teach the rest of us that we probably should.

In short, in thinking about provocateurs and insulters, we want to maintain standards of civility and respect while at the same time allowing room for those creative and challenging folks who are uninhibited by good manners and taste.

If you try to pull off this delicate balance with law, speech codes and banned speakers, you’ll end up with crude censorship and a strangled conversation.

It’s almost always wrong to try to suppress speech, erect speech codes and disinvite speakers.

Fortunately, social manners are more malleable and supple than laws and codes. Most societies have successfully maintained standards of civility and respect while keeping open avenues for those who are funny, uncivil and offensive.

In most societies, there’s the adults’ table and there’s the kids’ table. The people who read Le Monde or the establishment organs are at the adults’ table.

The jesters, the holy fools and people like Ann Coulter and Bill Maher are at the kids’ table. They’re not granted complete respectability, but they are heard because in their unguided missile manner, they sometimes say necessary things that no one else is saying.

Healthy societies, in other words, don’t suppress speech, but they do grant different standing to different sorts of people. Wise and considerate scholars are heard with high respect. Satirists are heard with bemused semirespect.

Racists and anti-Semites are heard through a filter of opprobrium and disrespect. People who want to be heard attentively have to earn it through their conduct.

The massacre at Charlie Hebdo should be an occasion to end speech codes. And it should remind us to be legally tolerant toward offensive voices, even as we are socially discriminating.

EDITORIAL

Health care on a deadline THE WASHINGTON POST

Gallup reported Wednesday that the national uninsured rate dropped to 15.5 percent of the non-elderly population, down from 20.8 percent a little over a year ago. Yes, the improving economy may have helped.

But that’s also the period in which the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, began phasing in.

Eventually the law is likely to cut the proportion of nonelderly Americans without health insurance to something like 11 percent, the residual number explained in part because the ACA doesn’t cover illegal immigrants. Twenty-six million people will have gained coverage.

How fast the law achieves this goal depends in part on how fast state Republican leaders give up their bizarre crusade against expanding Medicaid - at minimal cost

to state budgets. About 4 million low-income people are caught unnecessarily in a coverage gap of the GOP’s making. Over time, rationality may win out. But in the meantime, people will go without health coverage.

Another question remains the performance of the ACA’s marketplaces, where uninsured Americans can shop for individual coverage and obtain federal subsidies. The Congressional Budget Office projected in February that 13 million people would sign up for insurance using a federal or state-run insurance exchange during the 2014-2015 season, a number that includes returning as well as new customers. But the Health and Human Services Department late last year set a much more modest target of 9.1 million signups, arguing that the law will ultimately reach its target but with a couple more

years of ramp-up than anticipated.

That’s not necessarily a mark against the law. Some people ineligible for subsidies, which are available only on the exchanges, may be buying ACA-qualifying insurance plans outside the exchanges. Because of how the law works, that doesn’t harm the market. HHS may also be lowballing expectations in order to beat them: The analysts at Avalere Health estimated last month that 10.5 million people would buy insurance on the exchanges. Still, the penalty for lacking insurance may not be strong enough yet.

The fumbled rollout of HealthCare.gov may be scaring some people away from trying to sign up on the much-improved site.

It might be harder to coax some people into the system than experts predicted.

If the ACA takes more time to win some people

over, that could have implications for the stability of the policy. The law relies on enough healthy people signing up to offset the costs of the sick. It provides financial stability mechanisms for the first three years, while the market establishes itself. Yet if the market takes closer to five years to gel, the last two lacking those stability mechanisms, there’s a chance premiums could go up more than was projected.

Given the results so far, experts aren’t expecting anything like a policy disaster "death spiral." But if Congress were capable of a rational debate on the ACA, lawmakers would look at extending the law’s stability mechanisms for another couple of years to make sure the market thrives. Instead, the country seems bound for a debate on how much of the law to try to repeal.

COLUMN

Rich think the poor have it easy

By ROBERTO A. FERDMAN THE WASHINGTON POST

There is little empathy at the top. Most of America’s richest think poor people have it easy in this country, according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center. The center surveyed a nationally representative group of people this past fall, and found that the majority of the country’s most finan-

cially secure citizens (54 percent at the very top, and 57 percent just below) believe the "poor have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return."

America’s least financially secure, meanwhile, vehemently disagree: nearly 70 percent say the poor have hard lives because the benefits "don’t go far enough."

Nationally, the population is almost evenly split.

Why the surprising lack of compassion? It’s hard to say. At the very top, the sentiment is likely tied to conservatism, which traditionally bemoans government programs that redistribute wealth, calling them safety nets. Some 40 percent of the financially secure are politically conservative, according to Pew. And conservatives are even more likely to say the "poor have it easy" than the rich

— a recent Pew survey found that more than three quarters of conservatives feel that way. More broadly, the prevalence of the view might reflect an inability to understand the plight of those who have no choice but to seek help from the government. A quarter of the country, after all, feels that the leading reason for inequality in America is that the poor don’t work hard enough.

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CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Nation

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

College plan expected to cost $60 billion

By JONATHAN ALLEN, JOHN LAUERMAN AND JANET LORIN BLOOMBERG NEWS

President Barack Obama is proposing to provide a free community college education as an entitlement to millions of students at a cost of $60 billion over 10 years.

Obama unveiled the plan today at a community college in Tennessee, a state that provides free tuition for community and technical colleges for high school graduates and served as the inspiration for the administration.

The plan, which requires approval from the Republican- controlled U.S. Congress, would provide about three-quarters of the average cost of community college tuition, with states kicking in the rest, according to a White House fact sheet.

For millions of Americans, community colleges are essential pathways to the middle class, Obama said at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville. I want to make it free.

The details about the $60 billion proposal will be part of the fiscal 2016 budget that Obama is scheduled to submit to Congress on Feb. 2, Eric Schultz, deputy White House press secretary, told reporters traveling with the president.

Obama will be asking Congress to write language authorizing the tuition waiver as an entitlement for anyone eligible, rather than making it subject to a fixed annual appropriation, according to an administration official, who asked for anonymity because the details havent been released yet.

The price tag means the program will have a hard time getting traction in the Republicancontrolled Congress, said David Baime, a lobbyist for the American Association of Community Colleges in Washington. Oba-

Photo by Mark A Large/The Daily Times | AP

President Barack Obama boards Air Force One after a visit to Alcoa, Tenn., on Friday. Obama delivered remarks about free tuition at Pellissippi State Community College and visited the Techmer PM manufacturing plant. mas previous request for funding universal preschool was ignored by lawmakers.

Its going to be a challenge to get this enacted, Baime said.

Were already poised to fight against potential budget cuts for popular programs such as student aid.

Schultz said there is bipartisan interest in the initiative, citing the presence of Tennessee Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander, and Representative John Duncan, all Republicans, on Air Force One for the trip.

Tennessees Republican governor, Bill Haslam, who launched the states free tuition program, also was at todays event.

Corker, though, said in an interview that he doesnt support adding a new federal program such as Obama is proposing. He praised the Tennessee version and said its better when states mimic each other.

Making higher education more affordable is one of the main economic themes Obama plans to carry into his final two

years in office, and todays speech in Knoxville is the third this week intended to preview his Jan. 20 State of the Union address.

Forty percent of students in college attend a two-year institution, according to the fact sheet, and as many as 9 million students could benefit from the program.

Students must attend at least half time, maintain a grade point average of 2.5 and make regular progress toward completing a degree.

Under the White House plan, community colleges would have to offer programs that would give students half the credits necessary for a four-year degree, or provide training programs with high graduation rates that are in demand by employers.

It requires spending by states as well. The federal government would cover three-quarters of the average tuition cost, with states providing the rest.

The price of community college is low, so its unclear how

much cost is the major barrier.

Tuition and fees at community colleges averaged $3,347 in the 2014-2015 school year, according to the New York-based College Board. Thats compared with $9,139 at public four-year universities and $31,231 at private colleges.

Federal Pell Grants for low-income students can cover much or all of that cost already. The administration proposal would help some 63 percent of those students who dont qualify for a Pell grant, said David Bergeron, a former Education Department acting assistant secretary for higher education.

Eliminating this barrier will ensure that more students go to college, said Bergeron, now a vice president at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based policy research group.

This sends a very simple message to everyone who graduates from high school. They can go to college for free.

Yet some state systems have shown their limitations and

signs of strain under budget cuts, which could make it difficult for the schools to handle an influx of students.

A 2013 report from California estimated that 600,000 students were turned away from community colleges over the previous four years because of lack of funding.

Many students dont complete programs, which has raised questions about their effectiveness and students preparation in high school.

To complete their studies and benefit from attending, students need additional support, such as advising on courses and job prospects, said Thomas Bailey, director of the New York- based Community College Research Center at Teachers College of Columbia University.

Lowering tuition increases enrollments, and thats a good thing, Bailey said. But cost isnt the only barrier to finishing.

Obama has long been enamored of community colleges, calling them the unsung heroes of Americas education system at a 2010 conference.

That has rankled for-profit colleges, such as Apollo Education Group, owner of the University of Phoenix chain, which also educate many low-income students. The plan could hurt the industry because many colleges focus on students seeking associate or certificate degrees, according to Jeffrey Silber, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets in New York. A Bloomberg index of 13 education companies was down 1.7 percent in the early afternoon.

Obama also plans to announce that Knoxville will be home to a new manufacturing innovation hub that involves the Department of Energy and 122 companies. The project is to develop advanced composites for manufacturing with $70 million in federal funds and $180 million in other money.

More jobs; less unemployment

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by SpaceX | AP

This undated image provided by SpaceX shows an ocean barge which SpaceX is planning to use during an attempt to deliver supplies to the International Space Station.

Another launch expected today

By MARCIA DUNN ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX is taking another crack at delivering supplies to the International Space Station and landing the rocket on an ocean barge.

The company’s unmanned Falcon rocket is set to blast off before dawn today from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

On Tuesday, steeringsystem trouble halted the countdown at the last minute. A suspect motor

was replaced.

The rocket holds more than 5,000 pounds of space station supplies. NASA needs the shipment more than ever because of a launch explosion last fall that destroyed another company’s supply ship.

Good weather is forecast for the 3:47 a.m. Zapata time launch.

Once Dragon is headed to the station, SpaceX will attempt to fly the firststage booster to a platform in the Atlantic for a vertical landing. Such a test is unprecedented.

Gunman shoots gun seller ASSOCIATED PRESS

SHAWNEE, Kan. — A gun shop owner died from gunshot wounds Friday after a botched robbery that left three suspects wounded, police said.

Shawnee police said in a news release that John Bieker, 44, died after the shooting at the Shawnee store called She’s a Pistol, which caters to female gun owners. Police said gunfire erupted after four men tried to rob Bieker and his wife, Rebecca.

Authorities said John Bieker and two of the suspects had been taken from the store in critical condition.

Rebecca Bieker wasn’t shot but sustained minor injuries.

Police said in a news release that the other two

suspects, including one who had been shot, fled but were located a short time later on the porch of a nearby home. Johnson County MED-ACT spokeswoman Angela Fera said the injuries of the fourth shooting victim weren’t considered life-threatening.

The uninjured suspect was being held on suspicion of aggravated robbery. The hospitalized suspects were under guard, police said.

The website for She’s a Pistol describes the store as a “woman-owned personal protection and selfdefense training, services, and supplies company.”

A phone call to the store rang to voicemail Friday afternoon during business hours.

WASHINGTON — The United States capped its best year for hiring in 15 years with a healthy gain in December, and the unemployment rate hit a sixyear low. The numbers support expectations that the United States will strengthen further this year even as overseas economies stumble.

The government said Friday that employers added 252,000 jobs last month and 50,000 more in October and November combined than it had previously estimated. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.6 percent from 5.8 percent in November. The rate is now at its lowest point since 2008.

Still, wage growth remains weak.

Average hourly pay slipped 5 cents in December. And the unemployment rate fell partly because many of the jobless gave up looking for work and so were no longer counted as unemployed.

Even so, nearly 3 million more people are earning paychecks than at the start of 2014 — the largest annual job gain since 1999. Gas prices have also plunged, which will give consumers — the main driver of the U.S. economy — a further boost in coming months.

“We are in a recovery that is accelerating,” said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

The unemployment rate is now near the 5.2 percent to 5.5 percent range that the Federal Reserve considers consistent with a healthy economy — one reason the Fed is expected to raise interest rates from record lows by midyear.

Yet for now, the plummeting oil prices and weak pay growth are helping keep inflation even lower than the Fed’s 2 percent target rate. Many economists think inflation may fail to reach even 1 percent this year. A result is that the Fed could feel pressure to avoid raising rates anytime soon.

“There is still room for

Photo by Ted S. Warren/file | AP

Joe Wilhelm, left, a recruiter with payment processing company First Data Corp., shakes hands with U.S. Army Spc. Vincent Knowles on Oct. 23 at a job fair at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. stimulus without having to worry about inflation taking off,” Strain said.

Most economists forecast that the U.S. economy will expand more than 3 percent this year. If it does, 2015 would mark the first time in a decade that growth has reached that level for a full calendar year.

American businesses have been largely shrugging off signs of economic weakness overseas and continuing to hire at solid rates. The U.S. economy’s steady improvement is especially striking compared with the weakness in much of the world.

Europe is barely growing, and its unemployment rate is nearly double the U.S. level. Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, is in recession. Russia’s economy is cratering as oil prices plummet.

China is straining to manage a slowdown. Brazil and others in Latin America are struggling.

Fears about significantly cheaper oil spooked investors earlier this week before financial markets recovered. But most economists remain optimistic that lower energy prices will benefit U.S. consum-

ers and many businesses.

The drop in average hourly pay last month to $24.57 followed a downward revision to November’s average pay gain.

Hourly pay over the past two months has now risen just a penny.

During 2014, average wages rose just 1.7 percent, not much above the inflation rate, which was 1.3 percent. As hiring ramps up and the unemployment rate falls, those pressures should, at least in theory, compel employers to raise pay to attract workers. But that trend has yet to emerge.

The fall in average pay may actually reflect economic strength, said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. Silvia suggested that the healthy hiring of recent months means that “many of these new hires are entrylevel workers and would be paid less” than experienced employees.

Last month, the number of unemployed fell 383,000 to 8.7 million. Fewer than one-third of people out of work found jobs. The rest stopped looking. The percentage of Americans who are either working or looking

for work fell back to a 37year low last touched in September.

The brightening jobs picture has healed some of the deep scars left by the Great Recession. The number of people who have been unemployed for more than six months fell 27 percent last year. And the number working part time who would prefer full-time work dropped 12 percent.

Still, to keep up with population growth since the recession began, the economy would need to create 4.9 million additional jobs, according to the Brookings Institution.

Economists expect more healing this year.

Goldman Sachs estimates that additional spending on restaurants, auto dealers and other goods and services resulting from lower energy prices will lead to 300,000 more jobs this year than if oil prices had remained at their levels of six months ago.

Spending at retail stores and restaurants rose in November by the most in eight months, an early sign that Americans are spending some of the savings they are enjoying on gas-pump prices.

Nation

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A

Judges nix pipeline roadblock NM solons eye

By GRANT SCHULTE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska’s highest court threw out a challenge Friday to a proposed route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, even though a majority of judges agreed the landowners who sued should have won their case.

The decision removes a major roadblock for the $8 billion cross-continental project that Republicans have vowed to make a key part of their 2015 agenda in Congress.

Four judges on the seven-member Nebraska Supreme Court said the landowners should have won the case. Their lawsuit challenged a 2012 state law that allowed the governor to empower Canada-based TransCanada to force them to sell their property for the project.

But because the lawsuit raised a constitutional question, a supermajority of five judges was needed to rule on the law, meaning

“the legislation must stand by default,” the court said in its opinion.

The proposed 1,179-mile pipeline would carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma along the way.

“I guess the disappointing thing to me is the way the judges abstained from voting on this,” said Randy Thompson, one of the landowners who sued. “It’s kind of like having a huge Olympic sporting event where you have seven judges, and you have three of them who decided they didn’t want to score a contestant.”

But the legal wrangling may not be over. Brian Jorde, an attorney for the landowners, declined to answer questions Friday, saying he would release legal options in the case.

The newly empowered Republican-led Congress is moving ahead on approv-

ing the project. Shortly after the Nebraska court ruling, the House overwhelmingly passed a bill Friday authorizing the pipeline.

The Senate is expected to finish the bill by the end of the month, setting up a showdown with President Barack Obama — who has threatened a veto.

Obama has said he was waiting for the Nebraska court ruling before deciding whether to approve the project. The pipeline needs presidential approval because it would cross the U.S.-Canada border.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner said Friday that Obama was now out of excuses and it was time to start construction.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the State Department was reviewing the ruling. But he said that regardless of the Nebraska ruling, the House legislation conflicts with the president’s power “and prevents the thorough consideration of complex issues that could bear on U.S. na-

Romney considering 3rd run for president

By STEVE PEOPLES AND PHILIP ELLIOTT ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — In a move that surprised his most loyal supporters and former staff, Mitt Romney told several donors Friday he’s seriously considering a third run for the White House — a dramatic shift for the former Republican presidential nominee after months of insisting his career in politics is over.

Romney attended a private gathering of donors at the New York offices of Woody Johnson, a leading Romney donor in 2012 and owner of the New York Jets, several people with direct knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press.

All spoke under condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the private discussions. The meeting was first reported

by The Wall Street Journal.

The news from Romney comes as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush marches swiftly toward a 2016 bid of his own, which threatens to win much of the support from the Republican establishment that fueled Romney’s last campaign. Bush has spent recent weeks hosting private fundraising meetings across the country and is courting top talent to staff a potential campaign.

While the first primary contests in the 2016 race are roughly a year away, and no one has formally declared his or her candidacy, more than a dozen high-profile candidates are considering getting into the race.

One person at Friday’s meeting, which included a conference call and was

Photo by Charles Krupa | AP file

In this July 2, file photo, Mitt Romney, the former Republican presidential nominee, addresses a crowd of supporters. attended by roughly 15 of Romney’s most generous and loyal past donors, said the gathering was meant to be an open-ended discussion among old friends. Several donors in the room had already privately committed to other 2016 contenders but wanted to hear from their onetime favorite.

Some were caught by surprise when Romney suggested he was considering a 2016 campaign after months of public denials. Others asked Romney what he would do differently after a 2012 campaign in which he struggled at times to connect with middle-class voters.

Toward the end of the hourlong session, Romney told his one-time allies they should tell their friends that a Romney 2016 campaign is under serious consideration, according to one person in the room.

Romney also acknowledged he needs to act quickly should he decide to run, said a top GOP do-

nor briefed on the meeting.

Were Romney moving to join the 2016 field, many who served in senior roles in his previous campaigns assumed they would have been given a heads-up about an announcement.

In addition to Johnson, Friday’s meeting with Romney included Emil Henry Jr., an assistant treasury secretary in Bush administration; Alexander Navab, of the financial firm KKR; Patrick Durkin, a managing director at Barclays; Clifford Sobel, managing partner of Valor Capital Group; and Edward C. Forst, CEO at Cushman & Wakefield.

Romney, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008 and 2012, has repeatedly insisted he would not run again. At a political rally in New Hampshire last summer, he said he would “get behind the one who I think has the best chance of winning.”

“We’ll get someone who can win,” he added.

tional interests.”

TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said he believed the ruling removed any barriers in the presidential review process. He also said lower oil prices increase the need for the pipeline, and that customers want “more efficient and cost-effective” ways to transport oil in the U.S. and Canada.

Environmentalists and other opponents argue that any leaks could contaminate water supplies, and that the project would increase air pollution around refineries and harm wildlife. But the GOP, oil industry and other backers say those fears are exaggerated, and that the pipeline would create jobs and ease American dependence on oil from the Middle East. They note a U.S. State Department report raised no major environmental objections.

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican who took office Thursday, said he believes the pipeline will be the safest ever built.

more ed. money

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Education and child welfare initiatives across New Mexico would get a funding boost under a budget proposal released Friday by a state legislative committee, but lawmakers warned that overall spending next year could be curtailed if oil prices continue to fall.

The plan from the Legislative Finance Committee would increase spending in New Mexico by more than $140 million next year, with an additional $71 million for public schools and $25 million for expanding programs that target early childhood initiatives.

The budget proposal forms the foundation for the Legislature’s spending decisions when lawmakers convene for a 60-day session on Jan. 20.

Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has yet to release

her administration’s spending recommendations. But she has said education would be a priority.

Lawmakers on Friday described their recommendations as a starting point and warned that the drop in oil prices has resulted in uncertainty about how much the state will actually have to spend in the next fiscal year, which begins in July.

A forecast released in December showed $141 million in new revenue should be available in the next budget year for spending increases.

That’s half of what officials estimated in August.

A $1 change in oil prices causes a $7.5 million change in revenue for the state’s main budget account.

Sen. John Arthur Smith, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said lawmakers have already asked the budget staff to prepare models that would reflect at least a 1 percent decline in revenues.

PÁGINA 8A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve REUNIÓN La reunión de la Sociedad Genealógica Nuevo Santander se realizará a las 2 p.m. en el Museo de Historia del Condado de Zapata. El orador invitado será Christopher L. Miller, profesor de Historia en la Universidad de Texas-Pan American (UTPA). Miller es autor de libros, artículos y reportes en Historia de EU. En esta ocasión, tocará el tema del Paso de la Guerra Civil en el Valle de Río Grande, que incluye sitios en los condados de Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, Webb, y Zapata.

TORNEO DE PESCA El torneo de pesca de bagre Falcon Lake Babe —International Catfish Series— para damas solamente, se llevará a cabo el día de hoy. La serie de cinco torneos que se realizan mensualmente desde noviembre finalizará con una ronda de campeonato en el mes de marzo.

El torneo es un evento individual que permite hasta tres concursantes por embarcación. Las participantes deberán pagar la cuota de participación en los cinco torneos para tener derecho a la ronda de campeonato. Las inscripciones se realizan el viernes anterior al sábado del torneo en Beacon Lodge Rec. Hall.

La cuota de inscripción es de 20 dólares por persona.

El siguiente torneo será el 14 de febrero para finalizar con la ronda de campeonato el 7 de marzo. Para mayores informes comuníquese con Betty Ortiz al (956) 2364590 o con Elcina Buck al (319) 239 5859.

SÁBADO 10 DE ENERO DE 2015

ARRESTOS

Reportan operativos POR CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Autoridades de Tamaulipas anunciaron los resultados estatales de acciones ejecutadas por agentes en el periodo de una semana, éstas incluyen tres arrestos importantes en Nuevo Laredo, México, de acuerdo con reportes.

El miércoles, autoridades mexicanas anunciaron las acciones, después de que el Alcalde de Laredo Pete Sáenz oficialmente diera la bienvenida al Presidente Municipal de Nuevo Laredo, Carlos Canturosas, durante una reunión privada donde discutieron “asuntos importantes para ambas ciudades”, señala un comunicado de prensa de la Ciudad de Laredo.

Autoridades mexicanas federales y estatales ejecutaron acciones del 29 de diciembre al 3 de enero.

Quince personas resultaron acusadas de estar relacionadas con grupos criminales que operaban a lo largo de Tamaulipas, y fueron arrestadas.

Esto incluye un líder de “halcones”, que son personas que enta-

blan vigilan sobre elementos policiales para alertar a elementos criminales, en Nuevo Laredo, el 1 de enero.

Oficiales de la policía estatal asignados a Fuerza Tamaulipas arrestaron al supuesto líder y lo identificaron como José Luis Pérez Alejo. Además, la policía dijo que decomisaron un vehículo reportado como robado y 14.000 pesos, o alrededor de 1.037 dólares, a Pérez Alejo.

Un segundo incidente fue reportado en Nuevo Laredo el 2 de enero. Ése día, oficiales de la policía federal arrestaron a José Enrique Campos Medina, José de Jesús García Rueda, Armando Herrera González, José Luis Madera Saucedo y José Catarino Rangel Benitez, por supuestamente vigilar a las autoridades para alertar a un grupo criminal.

Oficiales federales también tuvieron acción el 3 de enero, cuando arrestaron a Juan Carlos García Ortega en el Sector Centro de Nuevo Laredo.

García Ortega estaba conduciendo un vehículo cargado con 22 li-

bras de marihuana, valuada en 17.600 dólares.

Un arresto importante ocurrió en Ciudad Victoria, México, el 1 de enero.

Ahí, autoridades mexicanas dijeron que arrestaron a Jesús Alvarado Cepesa, un presunto líder de una banda de secuestradores que operan en esa ciudad.

Entre el 29 de diciembre y el 30 de diciembre, autoridades mexicanas realizaron varios otros arrestos y confiscaciones en Matamoros y Reynosa, México.

Advertencia Una advertencia de viaje a México, emitida por el Departamento de Estado el 10 de octubre continúa activa.

Además, el Departamento de Estado actualizó la advertencia el 24 de diciembre, diciendo que hay un “riesgo de viajar a determinados lugares de México, debido a la amenaza que representan para la seguridad y bienestar que suponen grupos criminales en el país”, de

TAMAULIPAS

AEROPUERTOS

REFORMA ENERGÉTICA

Estudian nuevas medidas POR PHILLIP LUCAS ASSOCIATED PRESS

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 12 de enero, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

Para mayores informes llame a Roxy Elizondo al (956) 765 9920.

NUEVA CIUDAD GUERRERO Se llevó a cabo la entrega del primer apoyo económico de más de 22.000 pesos a Honorina Martínez García, quien es abuela y tutora de tres niños, cuyas edades van de 4, 10 y 11 años de edad. Los menores son beneficiarios con el programa federal “Seguro de Vida para Jefas de Familia”.

Martínez García seguirá recibiendo un apoyo mensual, que llegará de manera bimestral.

La Presidenta Municipal de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, Nathyelli Elena Contreras, informó que el seguro de vida para jefas de familia tiene como objetivo contribuir a la ampliación del sistema de seguridad social, mediante un esquema de aseguramiento a madres jefas de familia de 12 a 68 años de edad, que se encuentren en condición de vulnerabilidad.

El programa se enfoca a las madres que son el principal sustento económico en su hogar.

acuerdo con autoridades de EU. “Los ciudadanos estadounidenses han sido el objeto de crímenes violentos, tales como secuestro, robo de auto con violencia, y asalto por parte de grupos delictivos en varios estados mexicanos.

Los ciudadanos de EU deben “deferir de realizar viajes no esenciales” a Tamaulipas, señala la advertencia.

El 13 de diciembre, el Consulado de EU en Nuevo Laredo, emitió un mensaje de seguridad antes de que comenzara la temporada de viajes.

“La embajada de EU y los Consulados en México, se encuentran recibiendo cada vez más reportes de asaltos en las carreteras y robos de auto con violencia en rutas de tránsito populares en el interior de México, incluyendo autopistas…”, indica el mensaje.

“Los asaltantes han usado una variedad de técnicas, incluyendo barricadas, choque de vehículos en movimiento para obligarlos a detenerse, y hacer que los vehículos salgan de la carretera a alta velocidad.

(Localice a César G. Rodriguez en 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

La aplicación de los beneficios de la Reforma Energética en Tamaulipas ya empezaron a ser aprovechados, bajo vigilancia estricta del cumplimiento de la ley, dio a conocer el Gobierno del Estado.

Empresa inicia exploraciones en zona TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

La Compañía Mexicana de Exploraciones, S.A. de C.V. (COMESA) inició los trabajos de exploración en casi 100 kilómetros a la redonda en el centro de Tamaulipas, aprovechando la Reforma Energética.

COMESA, una empresa afiliada a Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), realiza los trabajos desde San Fernando hasta Jiménez.

“Inclusive hay un campamento que está desarrollando esos trabajos, ya están instalados, por eso ya estamos haciendo algunos acuerdos con ellos para esa zona”, reveló José María Leal Gutiérrez, titular de la Agencia Estatal de Energía (AEE). “Este 2015 será la oportunidad para capitalizar todas las ventajas que generará ser el epicentro energético”.

COMESA es una empresa que

tiene 46 años brindando servicios en diferentes partes del mundo para exploración y producción del sector energético.

“Están considerando pozos en esa zona, ya están explorando, ya están catalogando algunos predios, ya están haciendo algunos señalamientos en algunas zonas estratégicas”, sostuvo Leal. “En un futuro muy próximo el pequeño propietario se va ver involucrado en alguna oportunidad de negocio, que sin duda con los nuevos esquemas jurídicos podrán entrar en mejores oportunidades”.

Consideró que los trabajos son importantes para Tamaulipas y explicó que entre los beneficios se encuentran la generación de negocios indirectos así como el mejoramiento de las vías de comunicación, mejoras en los servicios públicos y desarrollo de nueva infraestructura pública desde

lo rural hasta lo urbano.

“Las empresas tendrán que hacer accesos a los campos de exploración, bardas, posterías, guarda ganados, etcétera; pero también en los acuerdos que tendremos irán algunos beneficios para las zonas, como la construcción de caminos vecinales, de zonas ejidales, cosas que se pueden estar compartiendo en infraestructura. Aquí es la oportunidad para el dueño del predio, la zona de exploración o la zona de perforación, seguramente podrá hacer negocios, tendrá oportunidades económicas importantes”, dijo.

En tanto, en un artículo del Associated Press, se dio a conocer que PEMEX desea importar unos 100.000 barriles de petróleo ligero diario desde EU para combinarlo con el crudo mexicano que es más pesado, como una forma de mejorar el proceso de refinación.

ATLANTA — La Administración de Seguridad en el Transporte está sopesando implementar medidas adicionales de seguridad para los aeropuertos y los empleados de las aerolíneas, dijeron el jueves autoridades federales.

El Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS, por sus siglas en inglés) hizo el anuncio semanas después de que cinco personas fueron arrestadas por una operación de contrabando de armas en aviones de pasajeros entre Atlanta y la ciudad de Nueva York.

Uno de los arrestados era un manejador de equipaje de la aerolínea Delta y agente de rampa que trabajaba en el Aeropuerto Internacional HartsfieldJackson de Atlanta.

Jeh Johnson, secretario de Seguridad Nacional, visitó el aeropuerto el jueves para revisar las operaciones de la Policía de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza y de la TSA (siglas en inglés de la Administración de Seguridad en el Transporte).

Las medidas adicionales de seguridad podrían incluir revisiones más estrictas a los empleados de las aerolíneas, verificaciones de seguridad aleatorias y patrullajes policiales y de la TSA adicionales. A la Comisión Asesora de Seguridad en la Aviación también se le ha solicitado que revise la seguridad en los aeropuertos de todo el país para identificar todas las formas potenciales en que el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional pueda atender las vulnerabilidades en la seguridad aeroportuaria.

Ken Thompson, fiscal de distrito de Brooklyn, que ayudó a encabezar la investigación en Atlanta, indicó que le alegra que las autoridades federales estén buscando mejorar la seguridad en los aeropuertos, pero advirtió que “hay que estar al pendiente de los detalles”.

“Espero escuchar más del DHS y la TSA en torno a los pasos necesarios que tomarán para proteger al público estadounidense”, señaló.

MIGUEL ALEMÁN La cantidad de 63 millones de pesos es la que se invertirá en Miguel Alemán durante el 2015, dio a conocer el Presidente Municipal, Ramiro Cortez Barrera.

“La expectativa que se vislumbra para el año 2015 que recién comienza, es de mucho optimismo y de un futuro halagador para la sociedad”, sostuvo Cortez a través de un comunicado de prensa.

Destacó la relación con el Gobierno de Tamaulipas, lo que ha permitido gestionar y obtener numerosos apoyos y opciones para el desarrollo.

Cortez dijo que uno de los rubro que ha sido más apoyado es la educación.

TAMAULIPAS

Tras renuncia, realizan cambios en Estado ASSOCIATED PRESS

MÉXICO — Un funcionario mexicano de Tamaulipas renunció tres semanas después de que fiscales en Estados Unidos dijeran que más de 1,1 millones de dólares encontrados en su cuenta de banco en Texas estaban vinculados con sobornos.

Homero de la Garza Tamez dijo el martes que renunciaba a su cargo como secretario de Desarrollo Social de Tamaulipas para hacerse cargo de asuntos personales, incluyendo la demanda civil en Estados Unidos que busca confiscar los fondos.

La oficina de la fiscalía en el distrito sur de Texas asegura que el dinero provino de sobornos que recibió De la Garza Tamez

durante su puesto previo en la oficina estatal de vivienda y desarrollo urbano.

Tomás Yarrington también es buscado en Estados Unidos por los cargos de asociación delictiva y lavado de dinero, DE LA GARZA por supuestamente aceptar sobornos del cártel del Golfo cuando gobernó Tamaulipas de 1999 a 2004.

En tanto, el jueves, el Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú entregó el nombramiento a José Antonio Martínez Torres como titular de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Social.

A la vez, Torre hizo entrega del nombramiento como Secretario de Finanzas a Jorge Silvestre Abrego Adame.

Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú, al centro, entregó los nombramientos a Jorge Silvestre Abrego Adame, a la derecha, como Secretario de Finanzas y a José Antonio Martínez Torres, a la izquierda, como titular de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Social, el jueves, en Ciudad Victoria, México.

International

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

French security forces kill gunmen

By LORI HINNANT AND ELAINE GANLEY ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS — With explosions and gunfire, security forces Friday ended three days of terror around Paris, killing the two al-Qaidalinked brothers who staged a murderous rampage at a satirical newspaper and an accomplice who seized hostages at a kosher supermarket to try to help the brothers escape.

The worst terrorist violence France has seen in decades killed at least 20 people, including the three gunmen. A fourth suspect — the common law wife of the market attacker — was still at large and believed to be armed.

Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen said it directed the attack against the publication Charlie Hebdo to avenge the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly’s satire.

The brothers were not unknown to authorities: One had a terrorism-related conviction for ties to a network sending fighters to battle American forces in Iraq, and both were on the U.S. no-fly list, according to a U.S. official.

President Francois Hollande urged his nation to remain united and vigilant, and the city shut down a famed Jewish neighborhood amid fears of more violence.

“The threats facing France are not finished,” Hollande said. “We are a free people who cave to no pressure.”

The drama, which played out on live TV and social media, began with the brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi methodically massacring 12 people Wednesday at the Charlie Hebdo offices, stopping to shoot a wounded police officer in the head before escaping by car.

On Thursday, a gunman police identified as Amedy Coulibaly shot a policewoman to death south of Paris, although authorities were not sure at first if it was related to the Charlie Hebdo shootings.

It all ended at dusk Friday with near-simultaneous raids in two locations: a printing plant in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele, northeast of Paris, where the Kouachis were holed up, and the Paris supermarket where Coulibaly killed four hostages and threatened more violence unless the police let the Kouachis go.

As scores of black-clad security forces surrounded both sites, booming explosions, heavy gunfire and

Photo by Michel Euler | AP

Police officers prepare to storm a kosher grocery to end a hostage situation in Paris, Friday. Two sets of attackers seized hostages and locked down hundreds of French security forces around the capital on Friday, sending the city into fear and turmoil for a third day in a series of linked attacks that began with the deadly newspaper terror attack. dense smoke heralded the news that the twin sieges finally had ended.

The three CHERIF KOUACHI gunmen were dead — but the authorities also discovered four dead hostages at the market. Sixteen hostages were freed, one from the printing plant and 15 others from the store.

The attackers had ties both to each other and to terrorist activities that reached back years and extended from Paris to al-Qaida in Yemen. They epitomized Western authorities’ greatest fear: Islamic radicals who trained abroad and came home to stage attacks.

After the killings at the Charlie Hebdo offices, Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his 34year-old brother Said led police on a chase around northeastern France, robbing a gas station and stealing a car before ending up at the printing plant in Dammartin-en-Goele, near Charles de Gaulle airport.

One of the brothers was wounded in the neck at one point during a shootout with police after he commandeered a car, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said.

Authorities said the brothers temporarily took a man hostage at the plant but let him go, and a second man was later discovered to have been hiding inside the building.

A member of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula gave a statement in English to The Associated Press saying the group’s leadership “directed the operations and they have cho-

sen their target carefully.”

The attack was in line with warnings from the late al-Qaida SAID KOUACHI leader Osama bin Laden to the West about “the consequences of the persistence in the blasphemy against Muslim sanctities,” the member said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the group’s regulations do not permit him to give his name.

He said the group has delayed its declaration of responsibility for “security reasons.”

The brothers were cornered there for much of the day before the explosions and gunfire rang out in the twilight and a police SWAT team clambered onto the roof.

“They said they want to die as martyrs,” Yves Albarello, a local lawmaker inside the command post, told French television station i-Tele.

At the kosher grocery near the Porte de Vincennes neighborhood of the capital, the gunman burst in shooting just a few hours before the Jewish Sabbath began, declaring “You know who I am,” the official recounted.

The attack came before sundown when the store would have been crowded with shoppers, and Hollande called it “a terrifying anti-Semitic act.”

Coulibaly killed the four people in the market shortly after entering, Molins said.

Several people wounded in the grocery store were able to flee and get medical care, the official said.

About 100 students were locked down in nearby schools and the highway BOUMEDDIENE ringing Paris was closed.

The mayor’s office also shut down all shops along Rosiers Street in the city’s famed Marais neighborhood in the heart of the tourist district. Hours before the Jewish Sabbath, the street is usually crowded with shoppers. The street is also only a kilometer (half-mile) from Charlie Hebdo’s offices.

Charles de Gaulle airport, not far from the standoff in Dammartin-enGoele, briefly closed two runways to arrivals, and Hollande held a series of crisis meetings with his security team throughout the day.

Police released a photo of Coulibaly and his wife, Hayat Boumeddiene, described as an accomplice.

Authorities increasingly grew to see links between the attackers after they discovered that Boumeddiene and the companion of one of the Kouachi brothers had exchanged about 500 phone calls, Molins said.

He added that several people have been given preliminary charges in the investigation. They include relatives of the three gunmen.

Several people who were wounded when the gunman opened fire in the grocery store fled and got medical care, the official said.

Minutes before police stormed both sites, Coulibaly had threatened more violence if authorities launched an assault on the

two brothers, a police official said. A group of people holed up in the supermarket’s COULIBALY freezer — apparently unbeknownst to the gunman.

BFM also said it spoke with Coulibaly, who said he and the Kouachis were coordinating their actions, and that he was with the militant Islamic State group. The organizations are normally rivals.

The TV station said Coulibaly didn’t hang up properly after the phone call and that this allowed police to hear him saying a final prayer before his death, perhaps suggesting that this prompted the police raid.

In the final assault, phalanxes of security forces converged on the store entrance behind a flash from a stun grenade — and fired inside. Frenzied civilians — one of them carrying a toddler — scurried out under escort by helmeted police in body armor.

Police said Coulibaly had been a co-suspect with Cherif Kouachi in a court case involving terrorism that never made it to trial.

Cherif Kouachi was convicted of terrorism charges in 2008 for ties to a network sending jihadis to fight U.S. forces in Iraq.

According to a Yemeni security official, Said Kouachi is suspected of having fought for al-Qaida in Yemen. Another senior security official added that Said was in Yemen until 2012.

Both officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into Koua-

chi’s stay in Yemen.

Both brothers were also on the U.S. no-fly list, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss foreign intelligence publicly.

The attacks in France as well as a hostage siege last month in Sydney and the October killing of a solder near Canada’s parliament prompted the U.S. State Department to issue a global travel warning for Americans. It also cites an increased risk of reprisals against U.S. and Western targets for the U.S.-led intervention against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

Authorities around Europe have warned of the threat posed by the return of Western jihadis trained in warfare. France counts at least 1,200 citizens in the war zone in Syria — headed there, returned or dead.

Both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida have threatened France, home to Western Europe’s largest Muslim population.

The publication Charlie Hebdo had long drawn threats for its depictions of Islam, although it also lampooned other religions and political figures. It had caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, and a sketch of Islamic State’s leader was the last tweet sent by the irreverent newspaper minutes before the attack.

Eight journalists, two police officers, a maintenance worker and a visitor were killed in the newspaper attack, including the paper’s editor. Charlie Hebdo plans a special edition next week, produced in the offices of another paper.

Al-Qaida in Yemen urges international jihad

By SARAH EL DEEB ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO — The al-Qaida offshoot that masterminded the bloody rampage in France has been the most active of the terror network’s branches in trying to strike in the West.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said Friday it directed the attack against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris “as revenge for the honor” of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

The strike would be the Yemen-based branch’s first successful strike outside its home territory — and a triumph for its trademark double-strategy of waging jihad in Yemen to build its strength to strike abroad.

At least one of the two brothers involved in the attack on the weekly traveled to Yemen in 2011 and either received training from or fought alongside the group, authorities say. A U.S. intelligence assessment described to the Associated Press shows that 34-yearold Said Kouachi was trained in preparation to return home and carry out an attack.

Formed in 2009 as a merger between the terror group’s Yemeni and Saudi branches, AQAP has been blamed for a string of unsuccessful bomb plots

against American targets.

These include a foiled plan to down a Detroitbound airliner in 2009 using a new type of explosive hidden in the bomber’s underwear, and another attempt a year later to send mail bombs hidden in toner cartridges on planes bound to the U.S. from the Gulf.

The group’s lead bomb maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, is believed to have created the explosives used in both foiled plots.

Bill Roggio, editor of the Long War Journal, which chronicles militant activities, said Yemen’s branch of al-Qaida has managed to seize territory inside Yemen, provide training and support for extremist groups operating in Syria, Iraq and other regions, and promote “lone wolf ” attacks in the West.

“They are active in the heart of the Middle East.

They threaten the Yemeni government and they are directing their activities externally as well,” he said.

“And they are serving to train and support in other theaters.”

The group’s leader, Nasser al-Wahishi, spent years as Osama bin Laden’s personal assistant before returning to his native Yemen. His close ties to bin Laden gave him influence within the group’s various

Photo by Yemen’s Defense Ministry | AP file

In this May 1, 2014 file photo soldiers inspect the wreckage of a vehicle destroyed during fighting with al-Qaida militants in Majala. branches and led to him assuming leadership of the core group after the al-Qaida leader’s death.

His focus on networking with other militant groups in Africa, Iraq and Syria gave the Yemen branch particular prominence in the network.

The group was the first to use English publications to reach out to supporters in the West, with the launch in 2010 of its English-language magazine, Inspire. It featured commentary by a radical U.S.-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011, but whose words are still influential in cyberspace.

The group has repeated-

ly threatened Charlie Hebdo and other cartoonists who have satirized the Prophet Muhammad. Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, one of the 12 people slain in Wednesday’s attack on the magazine, was on a hit list published in a 2013 edition of Inspire.

In claiming responsibility for directing the operation, a member of the alQaida affiliate said its leadership “chose their target carefully as revenge for the honor of the prophet.”

He said France was targeted “because of its obvious role in the war on Islam and oppressed nations.”

“The crimes of the Western countries, above them

America, Britain and France will backfire deep in their home,” he warned, adding that the group will continue al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri’s policy of “hitting the snake’s head ... until the West retreats.”

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by the group to give his name. His comments in Arabic were later posted on Twitter by users known to be supporters of AQAP. In the latest edition of Inspire, the group stressed its commitment to supporting lone wolf militants and small groups in attacks targeting their home countries. No expertise is needed to prepare attacks against Western targets, it said, urging strikes in “America, if not possible then the UK, if not, then in France.”

Yemeni authorities suspect that Said Kouachi fought for al-Qaida in Yemen at the height of the group’s offensive in the country’s south, a Yemeni security official said Friday.

The group made major territorial gains in 2011, following the uprising that forced the country’s longtime leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down after more than 30 years in power. Kouachi is believed to have joined the militant group’s ranks in Abyan

province, one of the provinces at the center of the militants’ push, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into Kouachi’s stay in Yemen.

Al-Qaida militants and their allies seized several towns and cities in the south of the country before they were pushed back in a monthslong, U.S.-aided military campaign by government forces last year.

Now, the group is surging in strength, finding new support and recruits among the country’s Sunni tribesmen, in a backlash to U.S. drone strikes and the rise to power of Shiite rebels who have taken over the capital and other parts of the country since September. The Long War Journal has recorded 149 attacks by the group in 14 provinces since September.

The militant group’s ultimate goal, like the Islamic State, is a global caliphate, Roggio said.

“They have been very effective in their leadership, being able to survive a U.S. drone campaign and plotting attacks, as well as coordinating with other jihadists groups, he said. “It is a group that sent its fighters to multiple theaters and then re-tasked them to provide support to other jihadist groups.”

PAGE 10A

Zentertainment

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

Actor Rod Taylor dies Discovery’s new boss says so long to fantasy ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES — Rod Taylor, the suave Australian actor whose brawny good looks made him a leading man for films ranging from Westerns to romantic comedies, has died. He was 84.

Taylor died in Los Angeles on Wednesday, his daughter, Felicia Taylor, told the Los Angeles Times http://lat.ms/14DPYvs). The Associated Press was not immediately able to contact her.

Taylor’s breakthrough came in 1960 with “The Time Machine,” George Pal’s special effects marvel in which Taylor’s dogged British inventor transports himself into a future where he witnesses world wars, nuclear annihilation and, finally, the rise of a new society.

From there, his career went on to blossom in Westerns (”The Train Robbers” with John Wayne), thrillers (Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”), dramas (John Ford’s “Young Cassidy”) and romantic comedies (”Sunday in New York” with Jane Fonda and “Do Not Disturb” and “The Glass Bottom Boat” with Doris Day).

A curiosity was the 1970 “Zabriskie Point,” Italian Michelangelo Antonioni’s venture into American filming. A murky attack on American mendacity that was filmed largely in Death Valley, it was a failure.

As his film career began to wind down, Taylor turned to television, where such series as “Hong Kong,” “Bobcats,” “The Oregon Trail,” “Masquerade” and “Outlaws” won him a new audience, although most of his shows lasted no more than a season. He also appeared in “Falcon Crest” toward the end of its run in the late ’80s and voiced Pongo in Disney’s “101 Dalma-

By DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AP file photo

In this March 18, 1966, file photo, actor Rod Taylor and wife Mary Hilem arrive at the home of actor George Hamilton. tians.”

He began to produce and co-produce his later films and TV series, carefully investing the earnings in safe securities that ensured a comfortable retirement.

Later in life, Quentin Tarantino convinced Taylor to come out of retirement to play Winston Churchill in “Inglorious Basterds.”

Taylor was a pioneer of the Australian-New Zealand invasion of Hollywood that would come to include actors Mel Gibson, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman (born in Hawaii to Australian parents), Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe and directors Bruce Berenson, Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, Baz Luhrman, Rob Marshall and Peter Jackson.

Taylor toiled to lose his Aussie accent, substituting it with a middle-Atlantic one that allowed him to play either American or English roles. In his early roles he was known as Rodney Taylor.

He had made two films in his native Australia. The

second, “Long John Silver,” attracted the notice of the giant U.S. talent agency MCA, which summoned him to Hollywood in 1955.

“They thought they were going to get a look at the Australian Marlon Brando,” he commented in 1970.

“Well, here was this tough boy in his too-tight English tweeds.”

The agency turned Taylor down, and he hired an independent agent who found him secondary roles in important films.

He played Debbie Reynolds’ fiance in “The Catered Affair,” Elizabeth Taylor’s failed suitor in “Giant,” and Eva Marie Saint’s would-be lover in “Raintree County,” and had brief roles in “Separate Tables” and “Ask Any Girl.”

As his star rose, Taylor earned a reputation as something of a Hollywood hellion, a hard-drinking, womanizing, combative man who enjoyed giving outspoken interviews punctuated with four-letter words.

PASADENA, Calif. — There’s a new boss in charge at the Discovery Network, and he’s anxious to get rid of mega-sharks, mermaids and man-eating snakes.

Rich Ross, a longtime Disney executive who began this week as president of Discovery Communications’ flagship channel, said he wants to broaden its appeal to reach more women and families. He has also been quick to make clear what he doesn’t want Discovery to be.

The network has been doing well financially but has been criticized, particularly by the scientific community, for some specials that have stretched the boundaries of truth.

Most recently, animal rights activists were angered by the “Eaten Alive” premise of an explorer who would be swallowed by a giant anaconda. The reality turned out to be far less dramatic.

Discovery’s annual “Shark Week” the past two years have featured fanciful “documentaries” about megalodons. The network also aired a show, produced by sister channel Animal Planet, about mermaids and another about a supposed Russian yeti.

“Brands are all about trust,” said Ross, who is replacing former network head Eileen O’Neill and her interim successor Marjorie Kaplan, in an interview Thursday. “You can expand the universe of what people think you are, but there’s only so much elasticity. On Discovery, that’s why I talk about authenticity. Authenticity is

Photo by Richard Shotwell | AP

President of Discovery Channel, Rich Ross, speaks on stage at Discovery Communications 2015 Winter TCA on Thursday. job No. 1, 2 and 3.”

Fictional documentaries, no matter their entertainment value, no longer have their place, he said.

“It’s not whether I’m a fan of it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s actually right for Discovery Channel and it’s something that I think has, in some ways, run its course.”

“Eaten Alive” had the right intention — to tell the story of a rare and frightening large snake — but misleading packaging, he said. The fervor of the story got out of control, he said.

“I don’t believe you’ll be seeing a person eaten by a snake during my time,” he said.

Judging by how that show backfired for Discovery, Ross’ stance is wise, said Derek Baine, an analyst of the cable market for SNL Kagan. One important part of Discovery’s strategy now is to build its strength internationally, he said.

“They’re going to have to have a careful eye on producing programming that is not just appealing to the U.S. but in international markets,” he said.

One of Ross’ first hires at Discovery is designed to

send a clear message. John Hoffman, a multiple Emmy Award-winner who spent many years in HBO’s wellregarded documentary unit, was named Discovery’s executive vice president of documentaries and specials. As an independent producer, Hoffman most recently did the project “Sleepless in America” for the National Geographic Channel.

One Discovery star whose time may be up is high-wire walker Nik Wallenda. His live walk over the Grand Canyon in 2013 was a sensation, averaging nearly 10.7 million viewers.

Last year’s sequel, between skyscrapers in Chicago, had barely more than half the audience.

Ross said he’s not ruling out another Wallenda walk, but that it has to be something special, and the Grand Canyon is a hard act to follow.

By roughly a 60 percent to 40 percent margin, Discovery’s audience is dominated by men. Ross said he wants to get more families interested. He’s hoping to get two scripted series ready this year, with an historical miniseries the most likely candidate.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

CORNYN Continued from Page 1A structionist then-Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was being by not allowing GOP amendments or not bringing bills to the floor.

Now, Cornyn vows, things will be different, with bipartisanship, such as a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that would take western Canadian oil through the U.S. to Texas refineries.

However, he and other pipeline supporters found the promise of Republicans and Democrats working together undermined by a White House announcement that President Barack Obama would veto the bill. At a GOP leadership stakeout, Cornyn complained that "he’s issuing premature veto threats."

The president prefers instead

to wait for a Nebraska court to rule on the pipeline’s projected route and a final State Department ruling on the project - because it crosses an international border - before deciding whether to approve Keystone.

Cornyn, who led the Senate Republican campaign committee for two cycles, said, "We’re not going to let him dictate what we do."

"It’s a sea change in Congress being in the majority," said Mark Jones, the chairman of the political science department at Rice University. "The whip is really the person working behind the scenes, getting votes, making sure legislation is crafted in the right way."

Cornyn has to walk a fine line in his new role, sometimes cajoling, sometimes warning

and sometimes even pleading with senators to support legislation.

"Cornyn has a judicial temperament, as befits a former judge," said Larry Sabato, the director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. "His best tool is sweet reason, and he employs it with rational demeanor. Cornyn isn’t the sort to issue threats or throw temper tantrums. That actually fits his leadership responsibilities.

Most senators don’t respond well to threats or emotionalism.

Gentle persuasion and self-interest argument works best."

That style may help with the state’s other senator, fellow Republican Ted Cruz, who’s given the GOP leadership heartburn since his election two years ago.

Last month Cruz demanded a

vote on Obama’s immigration executive action after Democrats and Republicans had agreed to take the weekend off.

It enabled Reid to call a rare Saturday session and get a number of stalled judicial nominations and presidential appointees through the Senate.

In 2013, Cruz helped force a partial shutdown of the federal government in a showdown over funding.

Asked how he’d go about his new job, Cornyn said he’d be talking to senators on both sides of the aisle and revealed, "I was visiting with Sen. Cruz this morning."

Cornyn said his state’s senators had to coordinate, and they commiserated over the Senate inactivity under Reid.

"It’s been a pretty miserable ex-

perience for us in the minority," he said.

With a voice in what will happen in the Senate, Cornyn said of Cruz, "We’re going to be working closely together."

As second in command, Cornyn, who’ll continue to work out of the same office just off the Senate floor, has a very enhanced role.

"He’ll be at the table where all the strategies are developed," said Sean Theriault, an associate professor in the government department at the University of Texas at Austin. "The Republicans in the Senate now have the burden of governing. Previously, the strategy sessions consisted of little more than how to stop Obama and Reid. Now they have to deliver. That’s a far different proposition."

BUST Continued from Page 1A Texas’ Permian Basin oil field — signals a contraction in shale development nationwide.

“Sweetwater and the Cline are like the first domino falling,” said Karr Ingham, an Amarillobased economist focused on Texas energy. “Cline Shale development and all of the marvelous benefits are in the process of being significantly interrupted.”

Sue Young, economic development director in neighboring Mitchell County, agreed: “The frenzy is gone.”

Back in 2012, Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy triggered a flurry of leasing activity when it projected that the Cline held 30 billion barrels of oil, dwarfing both the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas combined.

Wortham, at the time Sweetwater’s mayor, founded the alliance in the town 225 miles west of Dallas. Major projects soon began to take shape.

The county courthouse got a $4 million face-lift. A $12 million law enforcement center is nearly complete. The hospital is poised to receive $31 million in upgrades, and an extended-stay hotel is under construction.

Sweetwater and surrounding Nolan County are no strangers to the oil industry’s boom-and-bust cycle. They turned to wind energy in 2001. Today, the nearby mesas have one of the world’s largest wind farms, generating abundant electricity and giving local officials millions of dollars in tax revenue to put toward new development.

But no one foresaw the

steep oil decline of 2014.

As recently as June, the University of Texas at San Antonio projected that the Cline Shale would bring $20 billion to the region by 2022.

These days, even the biggest oil-industry boosters are nervously eyeing the partially finished hotels, truck stops and mostly vacant industrial park, wondering if they are doomed to fail.

“Growth in that area of West Texas is almost entirely tied to oil and gas.

But I think the expectations that a lot of people had were inflated,” UTSan Antonio economist Thomas Tunstall said, acknowledging he was among them.

Devon, the largest leaseholder in the Cline, started letting its leases expire in September.

Asked whether Devon had re-

vised its earlier projections, spokesman John Parrotto would say only that the shale “isn’t a focus” for the company.

There was no mention of the Cline in Devon’s third-quarter financial report filed in November with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two months earlier, Devon’s financial partner, Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., took a $1.55 billion writedown on its Cline investment.

Apache Corp., the second-largest leaseholder in the Cline, also ignored the shale in its third-quarter report, despite earlier touting it as possibly the largest oil field in the nation.

“If anybody saw this as money in the bank, they were sadly mistaken,” said Barclay’s analyst Thomas Driscoll.

IMMIGRATION Continued from Page 1A of Bender’s Immigration Bulletin, an immigration newsletter.

“You could almost say it’s a permanent bar,” he said.

A person banned for presenting false papers must acquire a waiver for readmission into the country, which Kowalski said is an uphill battle.

When apprehensions of immigrants sneaking across the border drop, CBP officials often claim that indicates fewer people are attempting illegal entry. But immigration officials said the inverse — that the increase in inadmissibles reflects more people faking their way through — isn’t necessarily true. It means that CBP officers are getting better at detecting false documents, they say.

“We’re just doing a better job; they just get better at what they do,” said

Frank Longoria, the Laredo field office’s acting assistant director for field operations. “That’s the way we would like to look at it.”

Changes to passports and other visas are also helping.

“With the new technology and biometrics, we are seeing fewer counterfeits, but there are still lots of people trying to be impostors,” said Roger Maier, a CBP spokesman in El Paso. “A lot of it comes down to officer expertise and training.

They are trained on what to look for regarding certain facial features that are consistent throughout your life.”

The increase in attempts to fool trained customs agents could be a result of increased manpower on the country’s southern border that has made it harder

for people to sneak across the Rio Grande.

Since 2001, the number of Border Patrol agents on the southwest border has doubled to about 18,100.

Over the summer, state officials deployed hundreds of Texas Department of Public Safety officers and Texas National Guard units in response to the massive influx of undocumented immigrants from Central America.

Kowalski said the buildup could be a reason for the increase at the ports, but he also said the statistics should be viewed with some skepticism.

“It’s also possible that it’s due to differences in record keeping,” Kowalski said. “Before a certain date, the agents in the field didn’t keep very detailed records or mark everything down, so the

numbers appeared to be low even though they came across a lot of people. We’ll never know. I don’t trust CBP’s numbers about anything.”

For years, the Obama administration has been accused of inflating statistics to appear tough on illegal immigration. In October, the administration touted another record-breaking total for deportations, saying more than 438,000 people were deported in 2013.

Numbers USA, a grassroots organization that advocates for limits on immigration levels, said in 2013 that the administration had inflated deportation statistics by more than 100,000 by “counting certain ‘returns’ as ‘removals’ in order to artificially inflate the numbers and create a ’record level’ of deportations.”

Success was never guaranteed. Drilling in the Cline is more complicated and expensive because of the depths of the formation, estimated at 10,000 feet.

Nonetheless, some of the Cline’s oil explorers say they are undaunted by the falling prices.

Laredo Petroleum Corp. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, cut its overall capital expenditure budget for 2015 in half, solely focusing on its wells in the Cline.

“We continue to see good economics,” spokesman Ron Hagood said.

And Sweetwater remains a busy way station for truck traffic to the Permian Basin, some 150 miles west. The BNSF Railway has invested $45 million in the Sweetwater spur that connects the West Texas oil fields to Houston refineries.

A new Sunoco pipeline snakes through Meisha Hand Adame’s Sweetwater ranch past a substation, transmission lines and a cluster of wind turbines.

“The land costs much more than the income would make me farming,” says 23-year-old Adame, who inherited the property in May when her father died. Without the infrastructure, “there’d be no way I could afford to keep it,” she said.

Still, Chris Velez, the head bartender at Buck’s Bar-B-Que in Sweetwater, worries that the restaurant’s $500,000 addition will turn out to be worthless.

“The gas prices are trickling down and hitting us here,” he said. Surveying the empty dance floor, he added, “Hardly anyone comes in here anymore.”

ARREST Continued from Page 1A troops said they arrested Jesús Alvarado Cepeda, a suspected leader of a kidnapping ring operating in the city. Between Dec. 29 and Dec. 30, Mexican authorities made several other arrests and confiscations in Matamoros and Reynosa.

Travel Warning A travel warning for Mexico issued by the U.S. Department of State on Oct. 10 remains active.

Furthermore, the State Department updated the warning Dec. 24, saying there’s a “risk of traveling to certain places in Mexico due to threats to safety and security posed by organized criminal groups in the country,” according to U.S. authorities. “U.S. citizens have been the target of violent crimes, such as kidnap-

ping, carjacking, and robbery by organized criminal groups in various Mexican states.”

U.S. citizen should “defer non-essential travel” to Tamaulipas, the warning states. On Dec. 13, the U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo issued a security message before the holiday season travel started.

“The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Mexico are receiving increasing reports of highway robberies and carjackings on popular transit routes into the interior of Mexico, including on toll roads …” the message reads.

“Robbers have used a variety of techniques, including roadblocks, bumping/moving vehicles to force them to stop, and running vehicles off the road at high speeds.”

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NCAA FOOTBALL

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DIVISIONAL ROUND PLAYOFFS

Romo and Rodgers Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP

Texas A&M released quarterback Kenny Hill from his scholarship on Friday.

Photos by Associated Press

Tony Romo is attempting to get to the NFC championship game for the first time while Aaron Rodgers is looking to return for the first time in four years.

Quarterbacks ready for NFC divisional showdown

By SCHUYLER DIXON ASSOCIATED PRESS

IRVING, Texas — Aaron Rodgers has a Super Bowl ring, the prize that keeps Tony Romo going through the heartbreaking endings and accumulating back injuries in Dallas.

Still, the hunger is growing for Rodgers heading into Sunday’s divisional playoff because Green Bay hasn’t reached the NFC championship game since winning it all four years ago on Romo’s home field. And Romo has never even been that far.

“You realize very quickly, it’s so difficult to do that,” Rodgers said. “A lot of things have to come together. We’ve come up short the last couple of years and it just kind of fuels the fire a little bit more.”

Romo knows about coming up short.

There was his infamous flub of the hold on a field goal that could have beaten Seattle in a wild-card game eight years ago, then a loss to New York as the No. 1 seed in the NFC a year later when the Giants went on to beat undefeated New England in the Super Bowl.

The past three seasons ended with losses that left the Cowboys at 8-8 and out of the playoffs. Now here’s Romo returning to the state where he grew up a fan of Brett Favre, trying to get past this round of the playoffs in his third try in Dallas’ first postseason trip to storied Lambeau Field since the Ice Bowl loss 47 years ago.

“I’d love to give you a headline, but it’s really just another week in the preparation side of it,” said Romo, who signed with the Cowboys in 2003 as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois. “I know it’ll be fun for my family and friends and that stuff. But for me, it’s a playoff game

and you’ve got to play your best.”

These were the two highest-rated quarterbacks in the NFL this season. Rodgers hasn’t thrown an interception at home in more than two years, while Romo had 20 touchdown passes and two interceptions in leading Dallas (13-4) to an 8-0 road record.

Whether it plays out as a battle of elite quarterbacks remains to be seen. First, the temperature at kickoff likely will be in the teens. Second, Rodgers is playing through a calf strain that limited him in practice all week even though the Packers (12-4) had a bye after beating the Lions.

Rodgers was listed as probable Friday after declaring earlier in the week he would start despite an injury sustained three weeks ago against Tampa Bay and

See ROMO PAGE 2B

Seattle hosts Panthers

By TIM BOOTH ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Gene J. Puskar | AP

Justin Forsett and Baltimore have a 2-1 playoff record at Gillette Stadium over five years.

Patriots host Ravens

By HOWARD ULMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The temperature drops, friendly fans roar and the Patriots pile up victories.

New England has the best home record in the NFL in Bill Belichick’s 15 seasons as coach, playoffs included.

Watch out, though. Here come the

See PATRIOTS PAGE 2B

SEATTLE — Here’s what has set the defending champion Seattle Seahawks apart: They seem to have perfected not overhyping an individual game.

While others are willing to acknowledge the enormity of the moment, the Seahawks thrive by keeping everything even.

“I’m just thinking to myself, ’It’s the same for us. It’s not going to be different. It’s going to be another football game.

It’s going to be us versus y’all,”’ Seattle linebacker Bruce Irvin said.

“That’s the biggest thing. Our mindset is different. Pete (Carroll) has us at a whole different level than other people think.”

That approach will be tested on Saturday night when the Seahawks (12-4) host the Carolina Panthers in an NFC divisional playoff game.

Aside from facing an opponent with similar qualities, the Seahawks will be trying to overcome recent history.

No defending Super

Photo by David Seelig | AP

Doug Baldwin and the Seattle Seahawks host the Carolina Panthers at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Bowl champion has won a playoff game the following year since New England in January 2006. Three defending champs have earned a playoff bye since then only to get upset at home in the divisional round. The most recent

was Green Bay, which went 15-1 in 2011 and was knocked off by the New York Giants at home.

That is the history the Seahawks are attempting to ignore and

See SEATTLE PAGE 2B

Aggies release Kenny Hill A&M releases former QB from scholarship ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The thrill is gone: Texas A&M has released former starting quarterback Kenny Hill from his athletic scholarship.

Aggies spokesman Alan Cannon confirmed reports of the release Friday but declined comment on media reports that Hill intended to enroll at TCU. A message left with Hill’s father, former major league pitcher Ken Hill, was not returned.

Hill started the first eight games of his sophomore season for the Aggies after a freshman season as understudy to 2013 Heisman winner Johnny Manziel. He beat out freshman Kyle Allen for the job, threw for a school-record 511 yards in his debut against South Carolina and led the Aggies to a 5-0 start.

Many, including Manziel himself, started calling Hill by the nickname Kenny Football, a logical guess given the Johnny Football nickname that Manziel made famous. At the time, Hill politely said he preferred Kenny Trill, using a word that in rap music culture is a hybrid of true and real.

Texas A&M dropped the next three games, including a 59-0 loss at Alabama that was the first time the Aggies had been shut out since 2003. Hill had seven turnovers in that span as Texas A&M fell out of the Top 25.

Coaches then split first-team snaps in practice between Hill and Allen and eventually designated Allen as the starting quarterback. Then, Hill was suspended for two games for violating team rules, his second suspension after serving one after an arrest in March. That time, an arrest report said he was charged with public intoxication in a College Station bar district and giving police a fake name. Coach Kevin Sumlin reinstated him before camp and allowed him to compete with Allen for the starting spot.

Hill’s 2,649 yards passing for the season led the Southeastern Conference and ranked sixth in the nation.

Michigan hires offensive coordinator ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan has hired Tim Drevno to serve as the offensive coordinator for new football coach Jim Har-

See AGGIES PAGE 2B

PAGE 2B

Zscores

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

Tressel, Boz make for rare HOF controversy

By RALPH D. RUSSO ASSOCIATED PRESS

DALLAS — Jim Tressel will become a College Football Hall of Famer while he is still being punished by the NCAA. Tressel won’t be the first inductee to the college hall with a black mark on his resume, but the National Football Foundation went outside of its comfort zone when it selected the former Ohio State coach as part of its latest class.

Nominated for the Hall of Fame by Youngstown State, where he won four Division IAA national titles from 19862000, Tressel has two years remaining on the punishment he received from the NCAA for withholding information about an investigation of his players while at Ohio State.

Also among the class announced Friday by the NFF was Brian Bosworth, the outspoken Oklahoma linebacker who was suspended for his last college game for failing a test for performance-enhancing drugs.

NFF chief executive operator Steve Hatchell said Tressel’s missteps were carefully considered by the panel that reviews nominees.

“It was not hidden,” Hatchell said. “Frankly, the people that are involved know all about the NCAA issues. So it was openly discussed. The feeling was what he had done coaching-wise at Youngstown State was strong enough.”

Tressel will enter the hall as part of its Divisional Class, meant to honor players and coaches outside college football’s top level, now known as FBS but once called I-A. “I am forever indebted to the outstanding student-athletes and coaches that have made this moment possible,” Tressel said

Photo by Terry Gilliam | AP

Former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel was selected as an inductee for the College Football Hall of Fame despite still being punished by the NCAA. in a statement released through Youngstown State, where he is now the university president.

The 62-year-old Ohio native is most well-known for his time in Columbus, Ohio, leading the Buckeyes. He was 106-22 in 10 seasons at Ohio State, including a national championship in 2002. He was forced to resign after the 2010 season after he admitted to lying to the NCAA and Ohio State about what he knew about some of his players trading memorabilia and equipment for tattoos.

Ohio State was punished with a one-year bowl ban, scholarship losses and all victories from the 2010 season were vacated. The NCAA imposed a five-year show cause order on

Tressel that would open up a school to possible sanctions if it hired him as a coach. That order ends September 2016. He will be inducted later this year, on Dec. 8.

The NFF has generally tried to avoid controversial selections and Hatchell rarely has had to field questions from reporters about a new Hall of Fame class.

He was grilled for nearly 30 minutes Friday about Tressel and Bosworth.

He didn’t have much to say beyond the fact that their issues had been reviewed by selectors.

The third of five selection criteria given by the NFF is this: “While each nominee’s football achievements in college are of prime consideration, his post

ROMO Continued from Page 1B aggravated in the regular-season finale against Detroit.

“I think the fact he went through the opportunity Tampa, Detroit where he had to play through the situation where you had to be smart in the pocket, he has that experience,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “He looks like he’s moving fine to me right now. We’re not going to change anything or our approach of how we want to attack Dallas’ defense.”

Romo’s health was the talk of the preseason with the 34-yearold coming off back surgery. He sustained an unrelated back injury on a sack in a loss to Washington and looked ragged playing on short rest in another loss to Philadelphia.

Otherwise, he put together one of his best seasons after declaring in training camp that fans would see “the best version of me” — a statement that surprised Troy Aikman, the three-time Super Bowl winner who had back surgery early in his Dallas career.

Besides Romo’s back issue, Aikman figured a weak Dallas defense would be a problem.

But the defense has been better, and the Cowboys helped Romo with a more balanced attack featuring NFL rushing leader

DeMarco Murray.

“If you’re playing from behind and you’re constantly having to throw the ball and you’re getting hit and you’ve got the back, I thought it would be a challenge, not because he didn’t still have the talent,” Aikman said. “A lot of things have happened. Those parts of it have helped. But yeah, it’s been sensational.”

Romo put aside years of frustration with his first playoff rally in the 24-20 wild-card win over Detroit last weekend, throwing the go-ahead touchdown to Terrance Williams late in the fourth quarter.

For his biggest playoff breakthrough yet, Romo will have to get Dallas’ first road win in the postseason since Aikman beat the 49ers 22 years ago on the way to the first of three Super Bowl titles in four years.

“I know in my visits with him that he is deliberately focusing in on the moment, the play, the execution, how well he can play, what our game plan is, what our plans are to compete and win the game,” owner Jerry Jones said. “I don’t think one time he’s alluded to verbally or implied, ’Boy, I’ve got to go get my playoff win.”’

It goes without saying for Romo and Rodgers.

football record as a citizen is also weighed,” the guidelines say.

“He must have proven himself worthy as a citizen, carrying the ideals of football forward into his relations with his community and fellow man.”

In 1983, former LSU Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame and then had the honor rescinded when he was arrested on federal fraud charges. Twenty-five years later, after Cannon was released from prison, he was re-elected to the Hall and inducted.

Then there is former SMU star Eric Dickerson, who ran for 4,450 yards and 47 touchdowns before going on to a record-setting NFL career. Not

long after Dickerson left college, SMU football was shut down by the NCAA for paying players.

SMU has tried to push Dickerson as a candidate for the Hall of Fame over the years, to no avail.

“I don’t know why they have held him out,” said Lance McIlhenny, the former SMU quarterback who played with Dickerson and his Pony Express backfield mate Craig James. “I know a little about Bosworth’s situation. I know a little about Tressel’s situation. If those guys were just inducted, I know there were some character issues there that would have needed to be addressed.”

Oklahoma has been pushing for Bosworth’s induction for years. He was first eligible 20 years ago.

Bosworth said he was fine with having to wait and appreciates the NFF considering character.

“You are to be the face of college football, and to have people refer to you as I want my son to be like or I would love my daughter to be coached under,” he said. “The leadership roles that we have is the most paramount issue. Post your college career, how do you conduct yourself after that?”

Bosworth played for Barry Switzer at Oklahoma, a coach inducted into the Hall of Fame after running a program that landed on NCAA probation and had several players arrested on serious charges.

Hatchell said maybe the inclusion of Tressel and Bosworth will lead to a reconsideration of candidates such as Dickerson.

“As I think about it there might just be a little more openness to really study it,” Hatchell said, “which I think they did with these.”

SEATTLE Continued from Page 1B the trend the Panthers (8-8-1) are hoping to continue.

“I think we have the experience of it being the same game to us and understanding that we play a championship game every week and this is no different,” Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman said. “We play it like it’s an elimination game every week so it doesn’t change that for us.”

The Seahawks are riding a sixgame winning streak, turning the contentiousness of a 6-4 record into a second straight NFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the NFC. They’ve also won three straight regular-season games against the Panthers.

But the Panthers have a way of making things difficult on the Seahawks. None of the three games were decided by more than five points and neither team scored more than 16.

Carolina is trying to become the first team to reach the conference championship game after making the playoffs with a losing record. Seattle knows the road Carolina is trying to travel. The Seahawks won the NFC West in 2010 with a 7-9 mark and beat New Orleans in the wild-card round before falling to Chicago.

“The truth of the matter is it doesn’t matter how you get in, just get in, and then see what happens,” Carolina coach Ron

Rivera said. “It’s what happened to Seattle a few years back, they got hot. They got hot, they won a game, that’s kind of the way we look at it. We got hot, we won a home field playoff game, but we just go from there.”

Here are other things to watch as Seattle seeks an eighth straight playoff win at home: CAM AND RUSS Cam Newton has never played well against Seattle and all those games have been at home. Newton has a passer rating of 70.6 and been sacked eight times in three games against the Seahawks.

“It’s about going into a hostile environment and not only proving to people, but proving to ourselves that we belong here,” Newton said.

Russell Wilson hasn’t been perfect, but has managed to make key plays to go 3-0 against Carolina. This season, Wilson hit Luke Willson on a 23-yard TD in the final minute to pull out the victory.

PANTHERS ON THE RUN The Panthers are averaging 196.6 yards rushing per game during their current win streak.

Jonathan Stewart has carried the load, averaging 104.8 yards per game with two touchdowns during that span.

Newton is averaging 56.2 yards per game with three TDs during

the stretch. One of the main reasons for the improved play is the Panthers have found consistency on the offensive line, starting the same five players for the past six games.

SUFFOCATING When All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner and safety Kam Chancellor returned from injuries, Seattle’s defense became suffocating. The Seahawks didn’t allow any fourth-quarter points during their six-game winning streak.

They allowed 39 total points and an average of 202.2 total yards.

GANO STRUGGLING Carolina’s Graham Gano parlayed an outstanding season in 2013 into a big contract this past offseason. He’s 30 of 37 this year, but has struggled in recent weeks with missed field goals in three of the last four games. He’s also struggled in the fourth quarter, converting just 8 of 12 attempts.

EAR PLUGS Newton and his Carolina teammates have never experienced CenturyLink Field and its notorious noise. Sherman called the first experience for any opponent in Seattle “unnerving.” Including the postseason, Seattle has won 24 of 26 at home.

“I never think you can be a championship team unless you have a great advantage when you play at home,” Carroll said.

PATRIOTS Continued from Page 1B road-tested Baltimore Ravens for a divisional game Saturday.

“There’s nothing that the crowd can do to help you make the plays that you’re supposed to make,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said.

The Ravens aren’t likely to get rattled even against the AFC’s topseeded team. Not with cool Joe Flacco at quarterback and a 2-1 playoff record at Gillette Stadium in the past five seasons.

Baltimore has 10 postseason road wins, all since 2008 and tied with Green Bay for most in NFL history.

Why so many?

“Well, shoot, we can’t get ourselves any home (games), I guess,” Flacco said. “We’ve obviously had a lot of chances at (road games), a lot of experience with it, and reacted well in it.”

The Ravens won three road playoff games and the Super Bowl in the 2012 season. Last Saturday they won a wild-card game 30-17 in Pittsburgh while the Patriots had a bye.

“We could be going to play on Mars and I’d still be very confident,” Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith said.

Since Belichick became coach in 2000, the Patriots are 1-2 in the playoffs against the Ravens and 11-1 against all other teams.

New England lost AFC championship games to Baltimore in the 2009 and 2012 seasons and beat them in the 2011 season before losing the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.

Both the Patriots (12-4) and sixthseeded Ravens (11-6) insist that’s irrelevant now with players and assistant coaches who weren’t in those earlier games.

“That’s all overblown,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s how well you play the game in that three-hour block against the opponent.”

Despite the personnel changes, the teams know each other very well.

“It seems like the Baltimore Ravens are a division opponent, we play them so much,” Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said.

The last time they met, the Patriots won 41-7 late last season. But that was in Baltimore.

On Saturday, the Ravens will be in a stadium where their only play-

off loss was by three points.

“We’ve had a good football team around here,” Flacco said, “and guys that are strong and not intimidated.”

Some things to watch as the Patriots seek their fourth straight AFC championship berth: FLACCO’S TIME Playoff time is Flacco’s time to shine. He’s thrown 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions during the Ravens’ current five-game postseason winning streak. In the wildcard win over Pittsburgh, he threw for 259 yards and two touchdowns.

“Big-time players show up when you need them most,” Smith said.

He and Flacco’s main target, Steve Smith, will have stiff challenges in cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner, both in their first season with New England.

PRESSURING BRADY The Ravens were tied for second in the NFL with 49 sacks, led by 17 from Elvis Dumervil and 12 from Terrell Suggs. The Patriots offensive line has improved after early-season problems, but Brady may have to throw quickly to avoid being sacked.

AGGIES “I don’t think you want to stand back there and see how long you can hold the ball against these guys,” he said.

GRONK’S BACK Rob Gronkowski has been healthy and dominant all season after a knee injury kept him out of the last five games last season, including a playoff loss to Denver.

“It’s always special just being in the playoffs,” he said. “I can’t take it for granted.”

Gronkowski had 82 catches, led all tight ends with 1,124 yards receiving and tied Antonio Gates for most touchdowns at that position with 12.

FORSETT’S EMERGENCE Journeyman running back Justin Forsett turned into a cornerstone of the Ravens’ offense after Ray Rice was released and suspended. Forsett was fifth in the NFL with a careerhigh 1,266 yards rushing and led the league’s running backs with 5.4 yards per carry.

“He reads blocking schemes very well, sets up blocks well, has got good vision and he makes a lot of yards on his own,” Belichick said.

Continued from Page 1B baugh.

Drevno was the running game coordinator and offensive line coach at Southern California last season, and he has worked with Harbaugh extensively in the past.

Drevno also will coach Michigan’s offensive line. He was the offensive line coach under Harbaugh with the San Francisco 49ers during the 2011-13 seasons. At the college level, he was on Harbaugh’s staff at both Stanford (2007-10) and San Diego (2003-06).

Michigan hired Harbaugh in late December to replace Brady Hoke, who was fired after the Wolverines went 5-7 this season.

Drevno’s addition was announced on Friday

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

Some Neat Treats for Your Pets Dear Readers: A lot of "PEOPLE FOODS" that we enjoy might contain large amounts of fat, salt and sugar. We do like to share treats with our pets. After all, they are family! Many of the fruits and vegetables we like are good for Fido and Frieda. The key word here is "treats," not handfuls many times a day.

Much depends on the dog’s size and weight. A large Great Dane can enjoy much more than a pocketsize Chihuahua. But a treat is not a good substitute for a meal.

The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has suggested these as being generally safe for your dog: Carrot Green beans Cucumber Baked potato (hold the butter and sour cream!)

Seedless apple slices Unsalted pretzels Banana Remember, don’t overdo the goodies. – Heloise

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3B

“

HELOISE

HELOISE’S HOMEMADE PREWASH SPRAY Dear Readers: Clothes, especially kids clothes, just seem to soak up stains, don’t they? Commercial pretreaters work, but they can be expensive. Also, most of the packaging is not recyclable – it just ends up in a landfill.

So many of you keep asking for my Heloise’s Homemade Prewash Spray that it’s time to print it again. Here is the magic formula: Mix equal parts of water, household ammonia and hand dishwashing (not dishwasher) liquid.

An example would be 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup ammonia and 1/3 cup dish soap.

Pour into a clean, LABELED spray bottle. Apply to the stain, rub in a little, then put it into the washing machine.

– Heloise

4B THE ZAPATA TIMES

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015