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MEXICO
SUPREME COURT
Traveling north Migrants to cross border
Photo by Chuck Burton | AP file
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, speaks during the presidential debate at the North Charleston Coliseum. A veteran attorney in Houston has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the senator’s eligibility to be president.
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN AND MARIA VERZA ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Nearly 200 Cuban migrants who recently arrived in southern Mexico after being stranded several months in Costa Rica began making plans on Thursday to travel to the border with the United States. Migrant Manuel Rivero Oliva, reached by telephone early Thursday at a hotel in the southern city of Tapachula, said he and his cousin Alexei Oliva were headed to the airport there to buy plane tickets, hopefully for Friday, to the border city of Matamoros across from Brownsville, Texas. Rivero, a 27-year-old trying to reach Orlando, Florida, said Wednesday’s travel had gone smoothly and that
Photo by Enrique Martinez | AP
A Cuban migrant carries a bucket of water at a temporary shelter in La Cruz, Costa Rica, Tuesday. After more than three months of being stranded in Costa Rica, 180 of the 8,000 Cuban migrants trapped here are finally expected to get their long-awaited trip north, toward the U.S. border. in about an hour they received the paperwork needed to transit Mexico. “It was all really fast. They (Mexican immigration officials) were well prepared with a team there waiting for us. It’s a blessing,” Rivero said. “It was a beautiful thing to know there are so many people supporting us.” His cousin, Alexei Oliva, 28, who planned to travel to
Michigan once they reach the U.S., said most of their countrymen had spent the night in shelters in Tapachula and planned to continue north by bus. Oliva said he left Cuba on Oct. 27, flying first to Ecuador where he worked for a time to save money to continue. On Wednesday, the 180 Cubans descended one by one from chartered buses and were processed by
Mexican authorities, who issued transit visas granting them 20 days to leave the country. Sergei Acosta, a 35-yearold farmer, was the first of the Cubans to set foot on Mexican soil. He said he was elated despite a long night of travel by plane from Costa Rica to El Salvador, and from there by
See MIGRANTS PAGE 10A
US CRUDE
OIL PATCH WOES
Lawyer files ‘birther’ suit against Cruz ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — A veteran attorney in Ted Cruz’s hometown of Houston has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Canadian-born senator’s eligibility to be president. In a 28-page complaint Thursday, Newton Schwartz asked the Supreme Court to decide if Cruz’s birth to an American mother and Cuban father while they lived in Calgary violates the Constitution’s “natural born citizen” requirement.
Cruz argues that because his mother is American, he became a U.S. citizen at birth. But the Supreme Court hasn’t previously considered the eligibility question. Presidential rival Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned Cruz’s presidential eligibility. The pair squared off during Thursday night’s Republican debate. When Trump again raised the issue, Cruz shot back that though the Constitution hasn’t changed recently, his polling numbers have.
‘60 MINUTES’ INTERVIEW
Photo by CBS News/60 Minutes | AP
This image released by CBS News/60 Minutes shows Charlie Rose, left, with actor Sean Penn during an interview in Santa Monica, Calif., about Penn’s meeting with "El Chapo" Guzman.
Penn: ‘El Chapo’ mission ‘failed’ By FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News | AP
In this Nov. 11, 2015 photo, mudlogger Kelly Leininger, 36, left, gets help with her equipment from drilling crew workers, Joe Garcia, 24, center, and Alejandro Villarreal, 27, at a Price Drilling rig on a ranch owned by Richard Collier in Zavala County, Texas. The area is in the edge of the Eagle Ford Shale which has seen a decrease in activity due to the low oil prices.
Bust taking hold of the oil and gas industry By JENNIFER HILLER SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
BATESVILLE, Texas — It was a slow day selling oil field pipe — nothing new there — when Richard Collier had handed his son a select list of customers. Call them, he said. But there were no buyers. “That list of people I gave him is the ones that don’t pay their bills,” Collier told the San Antonio ExpressNews. “And they won’t even buy anything.” To Collier, who owns a small pipe business based out of Concan and a ranch in Zavala County, it’s start-
ing to look a lot like 1984, when the last great Texas oil boom shuddered to an end. “Anybody who played in this game and didn’t take care of their finances really well? They’re gone,” Collier said. “You’re looking at living out of your back pocket for three years. I do believe there are people out there who are broke and just don’t know it yet.” The drumbeat of low crude oil prices has taken hold in the oil and gas industry, from Collier’s South Texas business to Wall Street. Companies are slashing capital budgets by the bil-
lions. Investment research firm Morningstar expects the downturn to last all of 2016, and said last week that near-term prices could be “ugly.” “It’s just the cycle of things,” said oil and gas attorney David Roth of Elder Bray. “It was bound to arrive.” The army of roughnecks, RVs and heavy trucks that washed across South Texas a few years ago is in retreat, battered by crude oil prices that have tumbled from above $100 to below $40. Alongside oil, other things are crashing — the number of working drilling rigs, the “hiring” signs
tacked up on the bulletin boards at South Texas restaurants, the number of people calling Collier, who has been in the pipe business for 40 years. There were 840 active rigs in Texas last January, a number cut to 321 now. In the Eagle Ford Shale, the field that arcs across South Texas in a half smile, the number of active rigs has tumbled from 200 to 76. Idle rigs are stacked, folded up like umbrellas, in a field east of San Antonio. “Something was going to cause the Eagle Ford to go bust,” Roth said. “One thing
See OIL PAGE 10A
NEW YORK — Sean Penn says his article on Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman “failed” in its mission. Speaking to CBS’ “60 Minutes,” the actor said his intention in tracking down the escaped drug kingpin and writing about him for “Rolling Stone” was to kick-start a discussion of the U.S. government’s policy on the War on Drugs. But the public’s attention has instead been focused on the fact that Penn found and met with Guzman for seven hours in a mountain hideout last October while he was still evading Mexican officials. He was apprehended only last week after six months on the run. Excerpts from the interview with Penn were released Friday. The interview airs on “60 Minutes” Sunday. Penn has been drawn into a controversy over
whether he may have assisted in the recapture effort, or, conversely, may have prolonged the search by keeping silent until the article was published last week. Penn said the Mexican government was “clearly very humiliated” but insisted he had played no role in Guzman’s eventual recapture. “We had met with him many weeks earlier,” he says. “On October 2nd, in a place nowhere near where he was captured.” Guzman’s reason for agreeing to meet with the Hollywood star was first explained as resulting from his interest in having a movie made about him. Then it seemed his interest was in a face-toface encounter not with Penn, but with the contact who was bringing them together: Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, with whom Guzman openly flirted in recently published text messages.
See PENN PAGE 10A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
MONDAY, JANUARY 18
ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The Messenger” screening at 1:30 p.m. Cinemark Theater, Mall Del Norte. Su Rynard’s wide-ranging and contemplative documentary explores our deep-seated connection to birds and warns that the uncertain fate of songbirds might mirror our own. View trailer and purchase tickets: https:// tugg.com/events/81897.
Today is Saturday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2016. There are 350 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 16, 1991, the White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. (Allied forces prevailed on Feb. 28, 1991.) On this date: In 1547, Ivan IV of Russia (popularly known as "Ivan the Terrible") was crowned Czar. In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former slaves. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, is believed to have inspired the expression, "Forty acres and a mule.") In 1883, the U.S. Civil Service Commission was established. In 1920, Prohibition began in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.) In 1935, fugitive gangster Fred Barker and his mother, Kate "Ma" Barker, were killed in a shootout with the FBI at Lake Weir, Florida. In 1942, actress Carole Lombard, 33, her mother, Elizabeth, and 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nevada, while en route to California from a war-bond promotion tour. In 1957, three B-52’s took off from Castle Air Force Base in California on the first nonstop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, which lasted 45 hours and 19 minutes. Classical music conductor Arturo Toscanini died in New York at age 89. In 1969, two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel. In 1978, NASA named 35 candidates to fly on the space shuttle, including Sally K. Ride, who became America’s first woman in space, and Guion S. Bluford Jr., who became America’s first black astronaut in space. Ten years ago: A U.S. military helicopter crashed north of Baghdad, killing the two crew members; it was the third American chopper to go down in ten days. Five years ago: "The Social Network" won top movie honors at the Golden Globes with four prizes, including best drama and director; "The Kids Are All Right" won for best musical or comedy. One year ago: Anti-terrorism raids across Europe netted dozens of suspects as authorities rushed to thwart more attacks by people with links to Mideast Islamic extremists. Today’s Birthdays: Country singer Jim Stafford is 72. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 69. Movie director John Carpenter is 68. Actress-dancer-choreographer Debbie Allen is 66. Singer Sade is 57. Rock musician Paul Webb (Talk Talk) is 54. Rhythm-and-blues singer Maxine Jones (En Vogue) is 50. Actor David Chokachi is 48. Actor-writer-director Josh Evans is 45. Model Kate Moss is 42. Thought for Today: "I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them." — E.V. Lucas, English writer and publisher (1868-1938).
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19 Join the MOS Library Knitting Circle at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 1-3 p.m. Please bring yarn and knitting needles. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Crochet for Kids at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. Please bring yarn and a crochet needle. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21 Opening reception for artwork by Ryder Richards, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at LCC’s Visual and Performing Arts Center, West End Washington Street. Featured artwork by nationally acclaimed Texas-based artist Ryder Richards will be on display during Laredo Community College’s upcoming art exhibition, "a thing of this world." Join us for an opening reception and art discussion led by Richards. Admission is free and open to the public. The exhibit will be on display until Feb. 25. Preschool Read & Play at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Story time and crafts for preschoolers. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Family Story Time & Crafts at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22 Build and program a LEGO robot at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. Appropriate for school-aged children. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 23 “Leaders: Influencing STEM Futures” educational administration leadership conference at the TAMIU Student Center Ballroom. School administrators, teacher leaders and educational administration students are invited to attend the second annual event. United ISD Zumba Master Class event. Registration at 9 a.m. at the United 9th Grade Campus gym, 8800 McPherson Road. Zumba class to be held from 10 a.m. to noon and will be taught by elite Zumba instructors from the city. Fee is $20 and includes a goody bag and T-shirt. All proceeds to benefit United ISD students with scholarships to college. For more information call, 956-473-6201 or visit www.uisd.net.
Photo by Marjorie Kamya Cotera | Texas Tribune
Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, speaks at The Texas Response: Pastors, Marriage & Religious Freedom event at the First Baptist Church in Pflugerville, Texas Sep. 29, 2015. A Collin County grand jury is investigating whether a land sale tied to a business group involving Paxton was improper.
Land sale improper? By TERRI LANGFORD TEXAS TRIBUNE
A Collin County grand jury is investigating whether a land sale tied to a business group involving Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was improper. Miles Brissette and former state District Judge Bob Gill were appointed special prosecutors on Nov. 13 by state District Judge George Gallagher of Fort Worth to investigate criminal allegations into a land sale involving a limited partnership, called Eldorado-Collin, that included Paxton, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis and eight other partners. The investigation is separate from the securities fraud charges that Paxton is facing. The two attorneys released a joint statement Friday afternoon. In it they confirmed they were appointed to "investigate a matter
as special prosecutors," and declined further comment. "While they may be referred to as special prosecutors, at this juncture they are merely investigating whether anyone engaged in improper conduct in connection with the sale of the property," said Bill Mateja, a member of Paxton’s legal team in the securities fraud case. "We have cooperated fully with the Fort Worth attorneys and are confident that they will find no wrongdoing on the part of General Paxton or anyone involved," Mateja said. The Eldorado-Collin LP partnership bought 35 acres of undeveloped land in McKinney for about $700,000, The Dallas Morning News reported in 2014. The partnership later sold part of the land to a real estate development company called Cornerstone for $1 million.
Suspect in bank robbery dies in wreck
Man gets 23 years in methamphetamine case
Shooter charged, app helps locate body
DEANVILLE — Investigators say a man suspected of flashing a gun and robbing a Central Texas bank has died when the apparent getaway vehicle rolled. The Burleson County Sheriff ’s Office on Friday did not immediately release the name of the suspect in the holdup of Citizens State Bank in Deanville, 70 miles east of Austin.
MIDLAND — A West Texas drug dealer must serve 23 years in federal prison for the death of a woman who hid methamphetamine by swallowing it and died in custody. Zane Paul O’Neal was sentenced Thursday in Midland. The 23-year-old O’Neal in October pleaded guilty to distribution of methamphetamine that resulted in foreseeable death.
HOUSTON — Authorities say a Houston man has been charged in the fatal shooting of a friend whose body was found by the victim’s wife using an iPhone app. Harris County jail records show 20-year-old Tristian J. Porter was being held Friday on a murder charge, with bond set at $50,000.
Driver in fiery crash charged with DWI
Xcel Energy warns of phone scam
Inmate gets more time after threats
AUSTIN — Police say a driver has been charged with DWI in a fiery Austin wreck that killed a teen when an SUV crashed in an area used by off-road vehicles. Records show 28-year-old John Ramirez was booked into the Travis County jail, then freed on $25,000 bond. Tuesday night’s accident killed 16-year-old Joshua Otto.
AMARILLO — A electric and natural gas company has warned Texas and New Mexico customers to beware of pay-over-thephone schemes. Xcel Energy on Friday said that scammers are increasingly calling customers, pretending to be utility representatives and threatening to disconnect service unless payment is made over the phone.
LUBBOCK — A Texas inmate who in 2014 sent a threatening letter to a judge in Amarillo must serve nearly 61⁄2 years in federal prison. Dillon Alex Steele in September pleaded guilty to mailing threatening communications to U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson. The 31-year-old Steele was sentenced Friday. — Compiled by AP reports
MONDAY, JANUARY 25 Intermediate computer class at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Learn to create an account on Twitter, how to tweet and how to follow. Basic computer proficiency is required. Mouse practice and keyboard confidence class at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 2-3 p.m. Learn to use the mouse and perfect your typing skills. No prior computer experience is required. Open language lab class at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. Learn a language by using the Mango Online Language Learning System. Choose from more than 70 languages. Library card preferred.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 26 Join the MOS Library Knitting Circle at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 1-3 p.m. Please bring yarn and knitting needles. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.
AROUND THE NATION Gov. Snyder asks for Flint water crisis aid DETROIT — The state of Michigan can’t meet all the needs of Flint residents whose water system has been contaminated by lead, Gov. Rick Snyder said in a request for a federal disaster declaration and millions of dollars that could pay for clean water, filters and other essentials. Snyder’s letter to President Barack Obama paints a bleak picture of the troubled city, describing Flint as an “impoverished area” that has been overwhelmed by the release of lead from old pipes — the result of using the Flint River as the city’s drinking water for 18 months. “Mistrust in government is at a heightened level,” Snyder, a Republican, said in a request dated Thursday and released to The Associated Press. The application seeks help from all available federal programs. Snyder said 90 days of
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Michigan Nation Guard Sgt. Steve Kiger, left, of Harrison, Mich., stacks cases of drinking water with Red Cross volunteer Franklin Dickerson of Pleasant Ridge Wednesday in Flint, Mich. clean drinking water could cost $10.3 million, and home filters, filter cartridges and testing kits could cost $31 million over a year. “The governor has made a request through the formal process, and that’s a request that
we’ll consider expeditiously,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday. The tap water in Flint, population 99,000, became contaminated after the city in 2014 switched its water supply to the Flint River. — 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. The Zapata Times is free. 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 16, 2016
4 schools get new names By JUAN A. LOZANO ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — Texas’ largest school district has joined the national debate over whether communities should cut their ties to the Confederacy by renaming buildings or removing monuments. The Houston Independent School District board voted 5-4 on Thursday night to rename four campuses named after Robert E. Lee or others linked to the Confederacy. The board issued a statement afterward saying the decision was made “in order to represent the values and diversity of the school district,” which has about 215,000 students at 283 schools. Robert E. Lee High School plus three middle schools — Henry Grady, Richard Dowling and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson — will get new names to be
proposed by a committee from each campus. Four other schools that had also been on the name change list were pulled to allow trustees time to discuss the issue with communities from those campuses. Confederate symbols nationwide are facing review over concerns about racism. The issue came to the forefront last June when a white supremacist killed nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. After the attack, South Carolina lawmakers removed the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds. Cities in other states, including Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia, have also debated similar changes. “I think it’s important to realize that even before Charleston, we had some pretty highly publicized incidents of African-Americans pushing for changes in the way we as an American
society deal with AfricanAmerican expression and African-American memories and the role of white supremacy in our culture,” said Derek Alderman, a professor of geography at the University of Tennessee who last year began a project to map Confederate symbolism nationwide. The mapping project by Alderman and Russell Weaver, a geographer at Texas State University, has identified at least 872 parks, natural features, schools, streets and other locations in 44 states named after major Confederate leaders. Discussion on renaming buildings or removing monuments with ties to the Confederacy can be emotionally and politically charged, as happened in New Orleans last month when leaders voted to remove prominent Confederate monuments from city streets. During Thursday’s Houston school board meeting,
the discussion stayed mainly calm, with most of the people who spoke during a nearly 80-minute public comment period saying they were against the name change. Nick Harris, a 1996 graduate of Jefferson Davis High School — one of the campuses that was pulled from the name change list — told board members they should not focus on his alma mater’s name but on the students who have graduated over the years and contributed to Houston. “My biggest issue is: What’s the importance of changing the name? We need to worry about building the school,” Harris said. But Hany Khalil, with Community Voices for Public Education, a Houston group that advocates community-led school reform and which supports the name changes, said school names “should reflect the values we hold dear today.”
State starts voiding ‘dirty talk’ By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas court that ruled a law clamping down on Internet dirty talk could deem illegal everything from “50 Shades of Grey” to videos of Miley Cyrus twerking is starting to throw out convictions. But attorneys warned Thursday that it doesn’t necessarily mean a fresh start for their clients, at least one of whom is facing new charges of online solicitation of a minor. Prosecutors filed those charges while waiting for Texas’ highest criminal court to officially void the “dirty talk” conviction. “He’d be going home if it weren’t for these other charges,” attorney Jarrod Lee Walker said of his cli-
ent, Timothy Thompson, who remains jailed near Houston. The seven convictions tossed this week are the latest in a long-running saga that began in 2005 with Texas lawmakers trying to crack down on Internet sex crimes — around the time the NBC show “To Catch a Predator” was in its ratings heyday. But in doing so, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in 2013, the Legislature went beyond criminalizing sexually explicit online chats with minors and trampled on free speech rights. In that ruling, Republican Judge Cathy Cochran cited a litany of books, movies and pop culture events that the law would unintentionally cover — including Janet Jackson’s famous
“wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl or the 1992 movie “Basic Instinct.” Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new law last year designed to fix the problems found by the court, but that law cannot retroactively be applied to people whose convictions are now cleared. “It’s disappointing this is the result you get from it,” Republican state Rep. Tony Dale said of the voided convictions. “That’s certainly their right to do so, but it gives me pause as a parent.” It is unknown how many people were convicted or prosecuted for sexually explicit online communication with a minor, said Shannon Edmonds, staff attorney for the Texas District and County Attorneys Associ-
ation. But he said some who were convicted or accepted a plea deal may not seek to have their record cleared for fear of prosecutors then trying to file new charges. Punishment under the old law ranged from two years to life in prison. Walker said his client, Thompson, was originally arrested in 2006 for an online chat with a woman who was pretending to be a minor but was not an undercover police officer. Gilbert Garcia, another attorney near Houston who has a client facing similar charges, said his case is on hold while a lower state appeals court considers whether another part of Texas’ online solicitation law is also unconstitutional. “The whole thing is ridiculous,” Garcia said.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Corpus thieves used city funds ASSOCIATED PRESS
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Auditors say two Corpus Christi city beach workers who pleaded guilty last year to theft used stolen city funds to buy fishing supplies, deer feeders and other sporting goods. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports that an audit presented to city officials Tuesday cited gaps in policies and weaknesses in internal controls that allowed the theft of more than $100,000 that was meant for the city. City Auditor Arlena Sones conducted the audit. Michael Smith and Derek Herzog each pleaded guilty to theft in June and agreed to repay the city as part of their plea agreements. Smith was the beach operations supervisor and Herzog was the beach and special events superintendent before they were fired last year.
Auditors say some items could have been for business purposes, but were overpriced. The audit says the men purchased “two Yeti ice chests for $1,080. Similarlysized, less costly ice chests would have cost under $300.” City spokeswoman Kim Womack said that in response to the audit’s findings, each city department will now designate an employee to review all contracts and invoices. E. Jay Ellington, the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, who was not working for the city at the time of the reported theft said, “We’re doing annual, biannual, monthly checks with our management team concerning purchasing and time allocations, as well as implementing a thorough checks and balance system with our management team that hopefully prevents any misuses.”
Ex-officer helped cartel ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — A former Houston police officer faces up to 30 years in prison after being convicted of helping a Mexican cartel traffic drugs. A federal jury in New Orleans convicted Noe Juarez on Friday of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. Prosecutors say the 47year-old Juarez became involved with an international conspiracy that
reached Louisiana. They also say he distributed drugs across the U.S. Authorities say Juarez helped drug runners by sharing police tactics, running license plate numbers and selling or supplying them with weapons and body armor. Some meetings between Juarez and a government informant were videotaped. The officer was relieved of his law enforcement duties after being indicted last year. Juarez faces sentencing this spring.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Cubans’ advantage over Latinos By MARY SANCHEZ THE KANSAS CITY STAR
The Cold War is over, but it still deeply distorts U.S. immigration policy. Consider the bizarre situation at our southern border. A wave of migrants is expected to appear there, hoping for safe passage into the U.S. and an expedited path to legal status and eventually full citizenship. They will get it. These lucky migrants won’t be Mexicans fleeing drug cartels. They won’t be Hondurans, who must endure the world’s highest murder rate. And they won’t be citizens of El Salvador, where the Peace Corps just suspended operations due to the increasing violence. No, we deport those people. They will be Cubans. In recent months, increasing numbers of Cubans have been leaving their island country, flying to Ecuador first and then traveling northward through Central America. They wish to migrate to the U.S., fearful that thawing diplomatic relations will end the special treatment that Cubans who leave the island have long received. That special treatment needs to end. The hypocrisy that is embedded in U.S. immigration law will be on full display as the Cubans begin arriving, which could happen within the next few weeks. Since 1966, the Cuban Adjustment Act has given Cuban people an extraordinary advantage over other migrants wishing to enter the U.S. The law was originally intended as a political and humanitarian reply to communism and the oppression of Fidel Castro. No proof that a person has suffered persecution. Where he or she arrives from is enough. When people attempt to arrive through the Florida Straits, the policy that developed was dubbed "wet foot, dry foot." If a Cuban can get one foot on dry U.S. soil, they can stay and are offered permanent legal status in a year and many other benefits of welfare and help to restart their lives. The benevolence of the law made sense in decades past. But a good argument can be made that many of the migrating Cubans are fleeing not persecution but economic turmoil. And in doing so, they are not any more desperate, perhaps even less so, than those fleeing the violence and poverty of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Thousands of Central Americans arrived and
asked for asylum in the summer of 2014. But those people are the wrong type of Latino for our policies. Many of them are indigenous, poor and have little formal schooling. So they were held for months in detention camps at the border. Many were eventually released, free to stay the U.S. at least until their pleas for asylum status or legal residency can be assessed by an immigration judge. Raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants continue. Meanwhile, as many as 8,000 Cubans who have been stranded in Costa Rica will soon be making their way northward through Mexico, after agreements were worked out by several Latin American governments. The Obama administration plans to open refugee screening centers in Central America, an attempt to stem the flow of non-Cuban migrants. In this election year, especially in light of the GOP’s appeals to anti-immigrant sentiment, the migrant Cubans will present a political test. GOP presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio, whose parents left Cuba before Castro took over, has introduced legislation to curb abuses of the American generosity toward Cubans. The Sun Sentinel of South Florida in 2015 documented cases in which Cubans claiming to be exiles were taking U.S. government benefits or committing other types of fraud, even after returning to Cuba. How far Rubio’s legislation and the companion bill in the House will advance remains to be seen. And there is virtually no appetite in an election year to overhaul immigration for the benefit of more than just Cubans. Amnesty is still a curse word in most GOP circles. In decades past, that didn’t matter in the case of Cubans, who could be counted on to become Republicans. If the GOP is to have any hope of salvaging the Latino vote this presidential cycle it will have to traverse this sticky thicket, also acknowledging the needs of other Latino migrants. They have to beat back the anti-immigrant bleating of Donald Trump, as South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley did in her response to the State of the Union speech. They must vow to be just. They must promise to rewrite immigration law to weigh all humans’ needs equally and fairly, with no favor based on country of origin or likely partisan affinity. And they must not bow to nativist screeds.
COLUMN
Trump and Cruz break up The thing about the inevitable is that, by definition, it always happens. The breakup of The Donald and The Ted was inevitable. You knew it would happen. As a wedding, this would have been one of those where somebody would have been tempted to stand up and say, “Now that you ask, I do in fact know a reason why this couple should not be joined together.” And as with so many ro/ bromances, this break-up is difficult/entertaining to watch and was so at the Thursday GOP presidential debate or, as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio called it after Donald Trump and Ted Cruz mixed it up, “this episode of Court TV.” Rubio’s quip came after Trump and Cruz sparred over whether the Canadianborn Cruz is eligible to be president. At the prior debates (doesn’t it seem like there’s been 20 of them?), nary was heard a discouraging word between the two high-polling, high-ego candidates. Ditto on the campaign trail, until this week when Trump -- a master at injecting doubt under the guise of “I’m just saying” -lobbed the unkindest cut of all at Cruz. It’s one thing to say your opponent is a crook, a crackpot or just plain crazy.
“
KEN HERMAN
It’s another thing to say your opponent might not be legally qualified for the job. Fox Business moderator Neil Cavuto drew boos from the South Carolina audience when he posed the eligibility question to Cruz, who proceeded to chide Trump for bringing it up in recent days. “Back in September my friend Donald said that he had his lawyers look at this from every which way and there was no issue there. There was nothing to this birther issue,” said Cruz (who now always says “my friend Donald” before zinging his friend Donald). “Now since September the Constitution hasn’t changed but the poll numbers have. And I recognize that Donald is dismayed that his poll numbers are falling in Iowa. But the facts and the law here really are quite clear. Under longstanding U.S. law, the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.” And Cruz, citing what he said were “some of the more” extreme theories, Trump’s eligibility is sub-
ject to question because his mom was born in Scotland. “But I was born here,” Trump said. “Big difference.” Trump said the eligibility question could become a problem for the GOP if he picked Cruz as his running mate. Cruz parried nicely, saying the eligibility question could work to Trump’s advantage. “I’ll tell you what,” Cruz told Trump, “if this all works out, I’m happy to consider naming you as V.P. so if you happen to be right you could get the top job at the end of the day.” Trump said he’d consider the offer, “but I think I’ll go back to building buildings if it doesn’t work out.” In America, anyone can file a lawsuit which means Trump probably is right that somebody might filed a lawsuit challenging Cruz’s eligibility. In fact, that first somebody is Newton B. Schwartz Sr. of Houston, who, according to Bloomberg News, filed a federal lawsuit that says “This 229year question has never been pled, presented to or finally decided by or resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court. Only the U.S. Supreme Court can finally decide, determine judicially and settle this issue now.” Trump seems to clearly be overstating any such
lawsuit’s chance of success and he is certainly wrong about the chance of it leaving the presidency in limbo should Cruz win the job. I don’t see a judge issuing a temporary restraining order undoing the will of the voters while the suit winds its way through the courts. But none of that stops Trump from waving the specter of an embattled candidate or President Cruz. In fact, nothing stops Trump from waving anything -- regardless of whether it’s supported by facts or reality -that keeps his improbable campaign enjoying a surprisingly durable lead as the voting approaches. Later in the debate, Cruz did a little “I’m just saying” of his own. “Not a lot of conservatives come out of Manhattan,” he said, backing up his charge earlier in the week that Trump harbors “New York values.” “I’m just saying,” Cruz said. What both of these guys are just saying about the non-issues of the day continues to entertain. But we’re at the time of the political season when what we really need are candidates just saying things about how, in a deeply divided nation, they can get us moving together toward doable solutions.
COLUMN
Rand Paul had the worst week By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
Sen. Rand Paul found out Monday night that he wasn’t going to be on the main stage for Thursday’s Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina. He didn’t take it so well. "An artificial designation as being in the second tier is something we can’t accept," the senator from Kentucky said in a CNN interview. "I won’t partici-
pate in anything that’s not the first tier." That meant that Paul took a walk on the undercard debate, which aired three hours before the main debate Thursday. But he didn’t go quietly. In fact, Paul spent the whole week making a spectacle of himself as he pouted and whined his way through TV and radio interviews - casting himself as aggrieved by members of the media. Paul hit his high/low in
a radio interview Thursday in which he said that "99 percent of our supporters are calling in and saying, for the media, that’s where you can go" - as he stuck up his middle finger. He flipped us the bird! Can you say "presidential"?!? Heaping indignity upon indignity was the fact that a Des Moines RegisterBloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday showed Paul in fifth place in Iowa. Had that poll come out two
days earlier, Paul would have qualified for the main-stage debate. (One of the criteria that Fox Business Network laid out for candidates to make the prime-time debate was ranking in the top five in an average of the last five polls in Iowa or New Hampshire.) Gut punch. Rand Paul, for picking up your ball and going home, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
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Sen. Graham endorses Bush By ASHLEY PARKER NEW YORK TIMES
Sen. Lindsey Graham endorsed Jeb Bush for president Friday in Charleston, South Carolina. Graham, the South Carolina Republican who ended his own presidential bid after failing to gain tracGRAHAM tion, ran on a platform of national security and has said he thinks Bush, the former Florida governor, is strong on the issue. Graham thinks Bush is best prepared to be commander in chief on Day 1 — a case Bush has made repeatedly himself — and believes he best understands the threats the nation faces. Graham also believes Bush is most likely to beat Hillary Clinton, who leads the Democratic field in many national polls, in a general election. Bush made a point of wooing Graham, texting him weekly when the two were rivals for the Republican nomination. On the morning Graham dropped out, Bush texted him immediately and later made a hard pitch over the phone — that he was best equipped on Graham’s top issue of national security. Graham’s endorsement comes after Bush picked up the support of dozens of Graham loyalists throughout the state. Though Graham never saw his presidential campaign take off, his support — and vast organization in his home state — helps Bush in South Carolina, which heads to the polls
on Feb. 20. In an interview in Columbia, South Carolina, recently, Graham named several Republican hopefuls — Bush, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. He called all of them strong on the issue of fighting terrorism at home and abroad. “Well, Marco’s been great on national security,” he said. “Jeb’s plan is basically my plan.” Though Graham likes Rubio’s national defense platform, he has been frustrated with the Florida senator, after the two men worked together in the Senate as part of the so-called Gang of Eight to pass a broad immigration bill, which included a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. After first helping draft legislation, Rubio has since backed away from the bill amid backlash from his party’s conservative base, citing concerns about first needing to secure the nation’s southern border. Asked by reporters at an event in Derry, New Hampshire, on Friday about Graham’s backing of Bush, Rubio said, “I like Lindsey very much,” but dismissed the impact of his support. “Obviously if this campaign was about who had the most endorsements, Jeb would have had this wrapped up months ago,” Rubio. Graham also said he would make an endorsement at “a time when it would matter.” His support, which he officially announced at a news conference with Bush in North Charleston.
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Couple claims jackpot By ADRIAN SAINZ AND ERIC SCHELZIG ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Tennessee man who carried a slip of paper that could be worth an estimated $533 million to New York City and back delivered the ticket Friday to lottery officials in Nashville, who said they would study it closely to verify the win. “Now I’ll be nervous because everybody knows,” John Robinson said earlier Friday on NBC’s “Today” show, where he appeared alongside his wife Lisa, their daughter, and their lawyer to claim that he held one of the three winning tickets for the worldrecord $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the Robinsons’ claim. There have been hoax winners in the past. News of a winner in California was quickly deflated Friday when that feel-good tale was described as a prank. Lottery officials in Tennessee, California and Florida — the states where the three tickets were sold — have yet to confirm or identify the winners. The Robinsons said their
Photo by Karen Pulfer Focht | AP
Dwane Cole, left, the mayor of Munford, Tenn., speaks inside Naifeh’s Grocery in Munford, Tenn., Thursday. One of the winning Powerball tickets in the record jackpot drawing was sold at the store. lawyer advised them appear on national TV even before presenting the ticket to lottery officials, as a way to “control” the story. Lottery spokeswoman Rachel Petrie said she could not confirm the win meanwhile. Lawyers who have represented other lottery winners advise against going public until they are ready to manage such a huge windfall. Talking seriously with experts in tax law, financial planning, privacy, security and other safeguards can help keep them, and their winnings, safe,
they say. The Robinsons seemed aware of at least some of the risks, even as they flew to New York — bringing along the family dog, they said — to tell the world that their future income has suddenly grown to more than half a billion dollars. Friday afternoon, John Robinson entered the lottery offices in Nashville with his family, still walking the dog by its leash and saying nothing to a scrum of television cameras. Robinson did say that he had signed the back of the ticket, showing his owner-
ship of it. “It’s not going very far,” John Robinson said on NBC, holding tight to the slip of paper. The three jackpot winners can leave their winnings to be invested and thereby collect 30 annual payments totaling an estimated $533 million, or take their third of $983.5 million in cash all at once. But first, they must turn in their tickets. When even the “Today” show anchors said they were nervous for the Robinsons walking around New York with the ticket, Lisa Robinson said: “You can help escort us out.” Their neighbor Mary Sue Smith, told The AP that Lisa Robinson asked her Friday morning to put “No Trespassing” signs on their lawn while they’re away from their modest single-family home in Munford, a town of about 6,000 where many residents work in Memphis, about 25 miles to the south. “Who will be coming out of the woodwork?” said Mary Sue Smith, their neighbor since about 1995. “The thought is not reporters, but everybody you knew in high school.”
Spacewalk aborted after leak By MARCIA DUNN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Two astronauts aborted their spacewalk Friday and hurried back into the International Space Station after water leaked into one of the men’s helmets in a scary repeat of a near-drowning 21/2 years ago. The trouble cropped up after the astronauts — including Britain’s 1st spacewalker — successfully restored full power to the space station. NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra took everyone
by surprise when he reported a small water bubble and then a film of water inside his helmet. Mindful of another spacewalker’s close call in 2013, Mission Control terminated the planned six-hour spacewalk at the four-hour mark. It turns out Kopra was wearing the same spacesuit involved in the earlier incident. “So far, I’m OK,” Kopra assured everyone. Later, he said the water bubble was 4 inches long and getting thicker. “I’m doing good,” he repeated on his way back inside.
Photo by NASA | AP
Crew members of the International Space Station inspect the spacesuit of NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, left, after a spacewalk with spaceman Timothy Peake was cut short after water leaked.
PAGE 8A
Zentertainment
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
Zoolander gets Vogue cover ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision | AP
Jennifer Lopez, left, and Harry Connick, Jr. participate in the "American Idol" panel at the Fox Winter TCA on Friday, in Pasadena, Calif.
‘Idol’ could continue By LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
PASADENA, Calif. — Fox is calling this the farewell season of “American Idol,” but the stars involved with the singing contest sound unconvinced. “I think the Eagles had at least three farewell tours,” judge Keith Urban told a TV critics’ meeting Friday. Given the show’s record of success and heritage, “does that mean this is the end?” long-time host Ryan Seacrest said. “I’m not so sure.” Fellow judge Jennifer Lopez said a return is possible, adding later, “I’ll always be there when they call.” Executive producer Trish Kinane declined to address why Fox decided to end “Idol” after 15 seasons. But the expensive-to-produce show’s ratings have steadily eroded in recent years, with the 30 million-plus viewers it attracted at its 2006 peak a distant memory — hence
Fox’s announcement last May that this season would be its swan song. “American Idol,” which averaged about 11 million viewers last season, has rebounded somewhat by holding steady at close to that. Viewers appear inclined to take a last look at the show that produced stars including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson. Fox didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks by Seacrest and the judges. Whatever the show’s future, the network is making the most of the season by bringing in former winners and contestants including Ruben Studdard, David Cook and Jordin Sparks, and with pop stars promised for the typically grand finale. Clarkson, the show’s inaugural winner, isn’t letting her pregnancy keep her from taking part, Kinane said: She will be a guest judge on Feb. 25 and may participate further if possible.
Simon Cowell, the acidtongued Brit who was part of the original judges’ panel that included Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, is a busy man but is expected to appear on the finale this spring, Kinane said. Kinane was asked about criticism of them voiced by season two runner-up Clay Aiken. In a tweet posted Jan. 6, Aiken wrote that Cowell was the reason for the show’s success and said, “I’ve watched root canals more entertaining than these judges.” The original panel was “fantastic” but so is this year’s, Kinane said of Lopez, Urban and Harry Connick Jr., in their third year together as judges. “This season’s about celebration. That’s all I really want to say about Clay Aiken,” she added. In a pre-taped segment that aired on “American Idol” after his barb on Twitter, Aiken joined other former contestants to counsel hopefuls at an open audition.
NEW YORK — It was 15 years ago that Ben Stiller’s Derek Zoolander first unleashed his signature Blue Steel fashion face on an unsuspecting public, and a lot has changed. Mega-model Gigi Hadid was kindergarten age. Netflix didn’t exist, let alone selfies. So why bother taking on “Zoolander 2,” the upcoming quirky sequel to his longago quirky “Zoolander?” Because, why not, especially now that the actual fashion world is laughing out loud. With a few more wrinkles, Stiller’s not-sobright supermodel hit the February cover of Vogue with actual beauty and co-star Penelope Cruz. The cover and an inside photo spread were shot by actual photographer phenom Annie Leibovitz. Stiller tells the magazine of his first go-round with Owen Wilson at his side: “We were on our own — both in the fashion world and with the studio, too. They were just like, ‘We don’t quite know what this is.” That was before Zoolander and Wilson’s Hansel crashed the Valentino show at Paris Fashion Week last year, bringing the usual jaded crowd to its feet as they strutted down the runway. The first comedy wasn’t a runaway success, released less than three weeks after the September 11 attacks,
Photo by Annie Leibovitz/Vogue | AP
This image released by Vogue shows actor Ben Stiller, portraying Derek Zoolander, left, with actress Penelope Cruz from the film, "Zoolander 2," on the February 2016 cover of the magazine, available on newsstands nationwide on Jan. 26.
though it eventually turned a profit, but thanks to DVDs and cable, it developed a loyal following. So what can we expect this time? There’s Cruz, for one, as Valentina Valencia, a motorcycle happy Interpol agent in the fashion division. “I’m one of those people who’s seen the first ‘Zoolander’ four or five times,” she tells Vogue in the issue which hits
newsstands Jan. 26. “I’ve done comedy in Spain, in my own language, but I’ve always said I want to do more comedies in English. I do all these intense dramas, and all my characters are always suffering. For many reasons I need to once in a while do a crazy comedy.” Stiller’s crossing fingers, joking: “There’s that saying — ‘They want a sequel until they get one.”’
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Photo by Mark Lennihan | AP
Michael Pistillo Jr. follows stock prices at the New York Stock Exchange, Friday.
Photo by Danny Johnston | AP
In this June 4, 2015, photo, shoppers walk from the checkout at a Wal-Mart Supercenter store in Springdale, Ark. Wal-Mart announced Friday, that it is closing 269 stores, more than half of them in the U.S. and another big chunk in its challenging Brazilian market. The store closures will start at the end of January.
Wal-Mart to shutter 269 stores By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Wal-Mart is doing some rare pruning. The world’s largest retailer is closing 269 stores, including 154 in the U.S. that includes all of its locations under its smallest-format concept store called WalMart Express. The other big chunk is in its challenging Brazilian market. The stores being shuttered account for a fraction of the company’s 11,000 stores worldwide and less than 1 percent of its global revenue. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the store closures will affect 16,000 workers, 10,000 of them in the U.S. Its global workforce is 2.2 million, 1.4 million in the U.S. alone. The store closures will start at the end of the month. The announcement comes three months after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO Doug McMillon told investors that the world’s largest retailer would review its fleet of stores with the goal of becoming more nimble in the face of increased competition from all fronts, including from online rival Amazon.com. “Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essen-
tial to maintaining a healthy business,” McMillon said in a statement. “Closing stores is never an easy decision. But it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future.” Michael Exstein, an analyst at Credit Suisse, described the moves as “baby steps” in his report published Friday, but he believes they are positive ones. He noted that this is the first mass closing that Wal-Mart has announced in at least two decades. “It is a sign that WalMart has begun the process of dealing with unproductive locations in a much more tangible and coherent way,” he wrote.” But we continue to believe that WalMart needs a much larger restructuring of its store base in order to narrow its focus as it seeks to improve its sales and returns, especially internationally.” Wal-Mart has seen sales perk up for a key revenue measure for the last few quarters in its U.S. business. But it warned last October that its earnings for the fiscal year starting next month will be down as much as 12 percent as it invests further in online operations and pours money into improving customers’ ex-
perience in the stores. The company has been building bigger fulfillment centers devoted to e-commerce orders and expanding online services. Of the 154 store closures in the U.S., 102 of them are under the Wal-Mart Express name, which were opened as a test in 2011. Wal-Mart operates more than 4,500 stores in the U.S. Wal-Mart Express marked the retailer’s first entry into the convenience store arena. The stores sell essentials like toothpaste. But the concept never caught on as the stores served the same purpose as Wal-Mart’s larger Neighborhood Markets: fill-in trips and prescription pickups. Also covered in the closures are 23 Neighborhood Markets, 12 supercenters, seven stores in Puerto Rico, six discount stores and four Sam’s Clubs. More than 95 percent of the stores set to be closed in the U.S. are within 10 miles of another Wal-Mart. The Bentonville, Arkansas, company said it is working to ensure that workers are placed in nearby locations. Wal-Mart will now focus in the U.S. on supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, the e-commerce business and pickup services for shop-
pers. The retailer said it also closed 60 loss-making locations in Brazil, which accounts for 5 percent of sales in that market. Wal-Mart, which operated 558 stores in Brazil before the closures, has struggled as the economy there has soured. Its Every Day Low price strategy has also not been able to break against heavy promotions from key rivals. The remaining 55 stores are spread elsewhere in Latin America. Wal-Mart said that it’s still sticking to its plan announced last year to open 50 to 60 supercenters, 85 to 95 Neighborhood Markets and 7 to 10 Sam’s Clubs in the U.S. during the fiscal year that begins Feb. 1. Outside the U.S., Wal-Mart plans to open 200 to 240 stores. The financial impact of the closures is expected to be 20 cents to 22 cents per share from continuing operations, with about 19 cents to 20 cents expected to affect the current fourth quarter. The company is scheduled to release fourth-quarter and full-year results on Feb. 18. Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. fell $1.13, or 1.8 percent, to close at $61.93 amid a broad market selloff.
Big drops for stocks are back By STAN CHOE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Yes, this is scary. Stock prices plunged again Friday and are down more than 8 percent in just two weeks, an unprecedented slide for a start of a year. The vicious drops feel even more unsettling because they’re such a departure from the placid and strong returns that investors had been enjoying for years. Like vacationers returning from a warm beach to a slushy commute to work, the shock of change is making something already painful even more so. Now investors just need to get used to it, analysts say. “It was easy for many years,” says Bill Barker, portfolio manager at Motley Fool Asset Management, whose three mutual funds control about $600 million. “That was not an accurate display of what happens in the market all the time.” The painful return of big price swings serves as a reminder that investing in stocks can be harrowing, especially if investors focus on the day-to-day moves. That’s not to say investors can’t still win over
the long term. Over the past 12 months, an investor in an S&P 500 index fund has lost nearly 5 percent, including dividends. But over five years, they are up a total of 60 percent, and over 10 years, they are up 79 percent. It’s just that analysts expect the volatility to continue. The remarkably calm stretch from late 2011 through last summer was an anomaly. From 2012 until last summer, investors basked in a market where the Standard & Poor’s 500 rarely had a bad day. The widely followed index fell more than 1 percent less often than Los Angeles has rainy days, about 8 percent of the time. During that span, the S&P 500 also completely avoided a “correction,” which is what traders call a sustained drop of 10 percent. It wasn’t until this past August when the S&P 500 snapped into its first correction in nearly four years, felled by concerns about China’s slowdown and the fragility of the global economy. The worries have resumed this year. The S&P 500 fell back into a correction, and it has already had six days where it’s lost more than 1 percent.
MGM Resorts dropping free parking in Vegas By CHRISTOPHER PALMERI BLOOMBERG NEWS
MGM Resorts International, citing rising car traffic, will begin charging as much as $10 for overnight parking at resorts including Bellagio as the largest casino operator on the Las Vegas Strip breaks ranks with competitors. The fee, which will take effect
in the second quarter, coincides with a $90 million upgrade of the company’s parking facilities, including a new 3,000-space garage next to the Excalibur Hotel and mobile technology that lets guests check for spaces prior to arrival, Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts said in a statement Friday. Members of the company’s M Life customer loyalty program may qualify for free parking.
“We recognize this is a significant departure from a long- established paradigm in the Las Vegas market,” Chief Operating Officer Corey Sanders said in the statement. “We believe these enhancements and new technology solutions will become welcome additions to our overall guest experience.” Las Vegas casinos have long sought to lure gamblers with
perks such as free parking and drinks and discounted food. As casinos have spread across the country, the Nevada operators have adapted by looking to increase sales from non-gambling sources, such as restaurants, nightclubs and shows. Casino revenue on the Las Vegas Strip fell 2.5 percent to $5.8 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30, according to the Nevada
Gaming Control Board. The city welcomed a record 42 million visitors last year, a 2 percent increase, according to the convention and visitors authority. Auto traffic was expected to rise 6 percent during the period. MGM noted in a slide presentation that self-parking fees at hotels in other major cities range from $49 in Chicago to $15 in Phoenix.
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
DOROTEO Y. HERITAGE
OIL Continued from Page 1A
Oct. 11, 1916 — Jan. 14, 2016 Doroteo Y. Heritage 99, passed away Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Mr. Heritage is preceded in death by his wife, Beatriz Sotelo Heritage and his parents, Samuel and Francisca Heritage. Mr. Heritage is survived by his sons, Juan (Glenda) Heritage, Dario (Virginia) Heritage, Doroteo Jr. (Mary) Heritage, Elogio (Rossel) Heritage, Gilbert (Carla) Heritage, Samuel (San Juanita) Heritage; daughters, Angelita (Catarino) Segura, Maria Elena Heritage, Margarita (Arturo) Longoria, Frances (Juan Antonio) Chapa, Delia Wade, Andrea Heritage and by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, other family members and friends. Visitation hours will be Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a wake at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.
A graveside service will be Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, at Hilltop Cemetery in Tilden, Texas at 11 a.m. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, Funeral Director, 2102 N. US HWY 83 Zapata, Texas.
PENN Continued from Page 1A For his part, Penn said he had only one true mission. Guzman, he said, was someone through whom “I could begin a conversation about the policy of the war on drugs. That was my simple idea.” The Rolling Stone article set off a bombshell, including criticism over the magazine’s willingness to give Guzman approval of the article before it was published. There was also suspicion about Penn’s qualifications as a Hollywood star, not an established journalist, to report such a big story. “When you get the story that every journalist in the world wanted, there’s a lot of green-eyed monsters who gonna come give you a kiss,” said Penn, who believes Guzman gave him access because he’s not a professional journalist. In an email exchange
with the Associated Press Monday about his meeting with Guzman, Penn said, “I’ve got nothin’ to hide.” But he told “60 Minutes” he has “a terrible regret.” “I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs,” Penn said. “Let’s go to the big picture of what we all want: We all want this drug problem to stop,” he said, but added that the market for these illicit drugs includes many Americans. “There is a complicity there.” But what percentage of the discussion that resulted from the article has been focused on these larger issues? “One percent — I think that’d be generous,” Penn said. “Let me be clear. My article failed.”
could have been a better shale formation somewhere with better economics. Someone could have discovered a shale in Michigan with better returns.” Instead, it was a combination of timing and prices. By late 2014, the Eagle Ford was already maturing as a field, with companies zeroing in on the best spots and moving away from the edges of the field. Then oil prices crashed. “When everyone had cheap money and lots of it, they could drill sub-optimal wells,” Roth said. “Some of that acreage isn’t that fantastic. If the Eagle Ford was discovered today, how much would actually be leased? At $40, what would have happened? A lot less would have happened.” Roth was struck by the view when he flew over the field a few weeks ago. “There’s plenty of activity, but nothing like the last five to six years,” he said. Accountant Raul Rios with Padgett Stratemann said many operators hedged oil at around $85 per barrel last year. “They were paid that whether the price is $100
or $50. To some degree that kept these guys in business,” Rios said. But starting this month, those hedges expire. “If they don’t roll off then, they will roll off by June 30,” Rios said. “I think that’s when you’re going to see the effects of low oil prices. The first two quarters of 2016 will be very telling.” Rios expects more layoffs, layered on top of the layoffs that have already happened. The view from Collier’s ranch is a quiet one, of thorn scrub and whitetailed deer and the blue winter sky. In November, a drilling rig had added a dash of excitement and hope to deer season. The well was for shallow oil instead of deeper shale — the kind of project Roth said he has seen picking up in the region because of its lower costs. But the well turned out to be dry. It seemed like the way things had gone for everyone on site in 2015. Collier, who would at least get a new water well, and the crews who were rigging down, looked for bright spots.
“America is getting low gas prices,” said Kelly Leininger of Nacogdoches, a third-generation mud-logger, as she packed away hoses, wrapped a microscope in bubble wrap and rinsed out the trays that organized samples of rock. Chuck Shepherd of Galveston, the night mud-logger at the site, doesn’t think the Texas economy will fare well. “We’re not going out to the mall and out to the movies,” he said. “We’re not buying all of those big trucks. It ripples on and on.” Shepherd is a retired Navy submariner and a geologist, who used to work offshore. In the fall of 2014, at precisely the wrong time, he took a corporate office job in Houston just as oil prices tanked. Four months later, in February, he was laid off from his job geosteering, controlling the drill bit as it moves through rock to hit specific geologic targets. “I hit the upper echelon office obviously at exactly the wrong time,” he said. Since June, he’s worked on these onshore projects. “It’s a huge step down in pay and stature,” Shepherd said. “But it’s pay for now.”
MIGRANTS bus through Guatemala to Ciudad Hidalgo in Mexico. “I’m very excited to have arrived,” Acosta told The Associated Press. He said he left Cuba in search of economic opportunity, and was optimistic about landing a job in the United States and then sending for his wife and daughter to join him. “It’s the need to have a better life.” The air and bus bridge is the first stage of a pilot program to relieve a logjam of some 8,000 Cubans who have been trapped at the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua, a close ally of the Havana government, after it closed its
frontier to them on Nov. 13. The first flight took off from the northern Costa Rican city of Liberia late Tuesday as part of a regional agreement to overcome Nicaragua’s refusal to let them through by land. The migrants were greeted by El Salvador’s foreign minister upon arrival in that country even as, when they got to the Guatemalan border, they saw a busload of Salvadoran migrants headed the other way after being deported back from the United States. The Cubans won’t have
The oil field is brimming with overqualified people. Allen Gilmer of Drillinginfo said his research firm had a pool of 2,000 applicants to fill 70 positions last year. “Anyone hiring today has a very deep talent pool to choose from,” Gilmer said. Charlie Cavazos of Benavides, the driller at Collier’s ranch, said he went about six months without work in 2015. “Paying one month my truck, one month my trailer,” he said, since unemployment was not even half of what he was used to living on. In the last few months of the year, work had picked up, though Cavazos said there’s a noticeable uptick in the level of expertise and experience on rigs. “Some sites, the whole crew is drillers,” Cavazos said. Joe Garcia, 24, has been alternating between the oil field and college, saving up and paying cash as he works on an associates degree in computer science at Coastal Bend College in Kingsville. But the slowdown in the oilfield has meant he’s that not saving as much money to return to school.
Continued from Page 1A
to worry about that due to a U.S. immigration policy that lets them stay if they reach the United States. That special status initially raised some resentment in Central America nations whose citizens are often deported from the U.S. if they enter without visas. Officials have said that while they arranged the logistics for the first of the Cubans to leapfrog Nicaragua, it was up to the migrants to cover the cost of their passage. For most Central American migrants, the trip takes weeks or sometimes months. Emigration from Cuba
has spiked dramatically in the year since Havana and Washington announced they would restore diplomatic relations. Many Cuban migrants say they’re making the journey now for fear that detente could bring an end to the U.S. policies that given them privileged treatment. Backers of United States’ Cuban Adjustment Act say it offers refuge to islanders fleeing Cuba’s communist system. Havana argues that the policy encourages Cubans to risk dangerous migratory voyages and causes a brain drain of many the country’s youngest and brightest.
SÁBADO 16 DE ENERO DE 2016
Zfrontera PROGRAMA DE ADMISIÓN DE REFUGIADOS A EU
Ribereña en Breve MERCADO AGRÍCOLA El Zapata Farmer and Artisan’s Market (mercado agrícola) del mes de enero se llevará a cabo hoy sábado 16 de enero, de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m., en el estacionamiento del Zapata Community Center.
TIRO AL DISCO El Boys and Girls Club of Zapata invita al Noveno Torneo de Tiro al Disco (Sporting Clay) que se realizará el sábado 30 de enero. La cuota de entrada es de 120 dólares para equipos con 5 tiradores adultos y 60 dólares para equipos con cinco tiradores jóvenes – equipos juveniles deben contar con un entrenador o patrocinador presente. Participantes deben estar registrados para las 7:30 a.m. el día del evento, y deberán llevar sus propias municiones 7 ½, 8 y 9 solamente. El horario de actividades será de 7 a.m. a 7:45 a.m. el registro; 8 a.m. primera etapa; 11 a.m., segunda etapa; 2 p.m., tercera etapa. Puede inscribirse en el sitio bgczapata.com. Habrá premios. Al momento se reportan 21 equipos registrados.
PÁGINA 11A
POR LOMI KRIEL
Vulnerables
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
El Departamento de Estado de EU dijo que expandirá su programa de refugiados para ayudar a más personas que huyen de la violencia en Centroamérica, una actividad a la que los residentes de la región podrían tener derecho y protección internacional. El anuncio por parte del Secretario de Estado John Kerry, llega un día después de que la Cámara de Demócratas emitiera una carta de crítica a las deportaciones de mujeres y niños centroamericanos de la administración de Obama, revelando pequeños detalles sobre la manera en que el programa debería trabajar. “Tenemos planes para expandir el Programa de Admisión de Refugiados de EU con la finalidad de ayudar a familias y personas en situación vulnerable de El Salvador, Guatemala y Honduras, y ofrecerles una alternativa segura y legal a la peligrosa travesía que muchos están tentados a comenzar”, dijo Ferry en un discurso en
National Defense University en Washington D.C. Defensores dijeron que el movimiento fue importante, reconociendo que algunos inmigrantes están escapando de conflictos armados similares a una guerra, que están sucediendo en estos países, y que hace que ellos merezcan la protección. “Definitivamente este es un cambio al paradigma”, dijo Wendy Young, directora ejecutiva de Kids in Need of Defense, un grupo de defensa nacional para niños inmigrantes sin acompañantes. “Es importante saber a quién podría ayudar este programa, ahora podemos comenzar una nueva conversación sobre quien califica para ser refugiado”. Los defensores de la reducción de inmigración también elogiaron el plan del gobierno, diciendo que éste podría ayudar a evitar una nueva ola de inmigrantes centroamericanos en la frontera y permitir un proceso más ordenado a quienes claman por protección. “Están pensando en la dirección correcta”, dijo Roy Beck, di-
rector ejecutivo de NumbersUSA, una organización nacional dedicada a reducir la inmigración. Cerca de 100.000 niños centroamericanos y casi la misma cantidad de familias han llegado a la frontera suroeste, mayormente alrededor de McAllen, desde octubre de 2013, abrumando al gobierno federal y causando una crisis política en 2014. Muchos de ellos están huyendo de la violencia que ha hecho de El Salvador, en particular, uno de los países más peligrosos en el mundo. La pequeña nación superó a Honduras el año pasado, después de que su tasa de homicidios aumentara al 70 por ciento. Pero hasta ahora, la administración de Obama ha enmarcado en gran medida la afluencia de inmigrantes indocumentados, agilizando los casos en al corte de los inmigrantes que acaban de llegar de Centroamérica y estaban deteniendo a madres e hijos hasta el pasado otoño, cuando un juez federal emitió un fallo donde indicaba que ésta práctica ya no se podría realizar.
Durante el fin de semana de Año Nuevo, la administración promulgó redadas de alto nivel en Texas, Georgia y California del Norte, deteniendo a 121 mujeres y niños de Centroamérica que no obtuvieron asilo. El operativo enfureció a legisladores demócratas y defensores de inmigrantes, quienes llamaron a una conferencia de prensa solo horas antes del Informe de Gobierno del Presidente de EU. Ferry anunció el programa de refugiados menos de 24 horas después. Bajo el nuevo plan, Estados Unidos determinaría si los inmigrantes indocumentados de Centroamérica calificarían al estatus de refugiados. Oficiales administrativos dijeron a New York Times que hasta 9.000 inmigrantes de éstos países podrían ser reubicados en Estados Unidos cada año. Dijeron que los solicitantes podrían permanecer en centros temporales — posiblemente en Belice, Costa Rica y México— hasta que finalicen el proceso y puedan ser enviados a vivir en otros países latinoamericanos.
ELECCIONES 2016
PRECANDIDATOS
TORNEO FÚTBOL RÁPIDO La liga municipal de fútbol rápido en Miguel Alemán, México, invita al torneo regular de futbol rápido en la categoría libre que iniciará el lunes 18 de enero en el auditorio municipal de la colonia Educación. Las inscripciones están abiertas en en las instalaciones de la dirección municipal del deporte, dentro del auditorio municipal, sin requerirse una documentación especial. La fecha de conclusión del torneo dependerá de la cantidad de equipos que se inscriban, de acuerdo con las autoridades.
PROAGRO La Unión Ganadera Regional de Tamaulipas (UGRT) invita a los productores rurales de Miguel Alemán, México, y la región, a inscribirse en el padrón del ProAgro productivo, anteriormente identificado como ProCampo. A través del programa los agricultores de la primera unidad se hacen acreedores de un apoyo por parte del gobierno federal. Será a partir de la primera semana de febrero que se abra la ventanilla única para la inscripción o reinscripción de los agricultores para recibir el recurso de Pro Agro productivo en el CADER 01 Miguel Alemán. Interesados deberán llevar su credencial de elector vigente y una copia del recibo de pago de agua.
EMPLEO TEMPORAL La semana pasada dieron inicio los 100 empleos temporales gestionados por el Gobierno Municipal de Ciudad Miguel Alemán, México. Jorge Martínez Portillo, Secretario Municipal de la SEDESOL, informó que estos trabajos se garantizan por un lapso de cinco semanas con un salario de 139 pesos diarios. “Es en respuesta a la demanda de la gente que necesita emplearse para solventar la economía de sus familias”, dijo Martínez Portillo. “En ésta ocasión servirá para dos meses de trabajo en tanto se buscan nuevas y mejores alternativas para cubrir la necesidad de empleo que se tienen en el municipio”. Envíe comunicados a amachorro@lmtonline.com
Foto de cortesía | CEN del PRI
El Comité Directivo Nacional del Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) llevó a cabo una reunión con los militantes de su partido quienes han declarado interés en ser considerados para ser candidato a gobernador de Tamaulipas. Durante la reunión se llevó a cabo la firma del acuerdo de unidad por el futuro de Tamaulipas. Los nombres que hasta el momento se mencionan son, por orden alfabético, Marco Antonio Bernal, Enrique Cárdenas del Avellano, Alejandro Etienne Llano, Alejandro Guevara Cobos, Mercedes del Carmen Guillén Vicente, Baltazar Hinojosa Ochoa, Edgar Melhen Salinas, y Ramiro Ramos Salinas.
TAMAULIPAS
EU
Aseguran es positiva temporada de caza
Primeros cubanos logran cruzar a EU
TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Durante diciembre se cazó el venado más grande en Tamaulipas en los últimos 25 años, según confirmó la Asociación de Ganaderos Diversificados (ANGADI). El hecho ocurrió en un rancho cercano a Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, México. “El venado tenía 8 años aproximadamente y fue de una puntuación de 223 Boone and Croocket”, dijo Gabriel Serna Aguilar, Presidente ANGADI. Durante la temporada del 2015-206 se han recibido cazadores de Monterrey, Guadalajara, Distrito Federal, Michoacán y Puebla, principalmente. Del extranjero acuden en su mayoría, de Houston, de acuerdo con los datos dados a conocer. “Los visitantes generan una derrama económica a su paso, de hospedaje, alimentación y combustible que se queda en la región y beneficia a los tamaulipecos”, indicó Serna Aguilar. El hecho de que el venado
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas
La temporada 2015-2016 del venado cola blanca tejano ha traído buenas noticias para Tamaulipas, y en especial para la región norte de la entidad, de acuerdo con ANGADI. más grande haya sido cazado durante esta temporada permitirá que continúe la reactivación de la actividad cinegética, de acuerdo con un comunicado de prensa del Gobierno de Tamaulipas. “Los dueños de ranchos cinegéticos se muestran muy contentos porque han salido trofeos muy buenos que les va a dar un prestigio a su rancho”, agregó Serna Aguilar. “Los motiva a seguir conservando, mantienen su te-
rreno para la diversidad del campo para que los animales del campo se alimenten y con ello ven una reactivación de su economía”. Cazadores que recorren Tamaulipas se hacen acreedores a trofeos que se miden con relación a la medida Boone and Crocket, un sistema de puntuación que otorga un valor a ejemplares de vida silvestre, como el venado cola blanca, principalmente en EU.
CIUDAD DE MÉXICO — Los primeros 8.000 emigrantes cubanos recientemente varados en Centroamérica han cruzado la frontera de México hacia los Estados Unidos. Algunos 180 emigrantes volaron desde Costa Rica a El Salvador, y han estado llegando a los EU. A todos les han dado permiso para cruzar a México por razones humanitarias. Los grupos viajaron de manera separada por México y la organización que les ha patrocinado su viaje dijo que el primer grupo llegó la noche del jueves a Laredo. Los emigrantes pasaron varios meses en Costa Rica después que autoridades nicaragüenses les negaran la entrada. Con el cuello de botella, tanto Ecuador y Costa Rica dejaron de emitir visas para Cubanos, quienes desean llegar a los EU antes de que cambie la política migratoria con la distensión de las relaciones con Cuba. Los cubanos solo requieren entrar a tierra de EU para obtener su entrada.
International
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Spain detains Moreira By ALAN CLENDENNING ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID — A prominent former Mexican politician was detained Friday at Madrid’s airport by anticorruption officers and was being questioned by a judge, Spanish officials said. Former Institutional Revolutionary Party chief Humberto Moreira was taken into custody based on a Spanish arrest warrant, said an official with the national police who spoke on condition of anonymity because of police policy. The official had no other details about why Moreira was sought by Spanish anti-corruption officers. A court spokesman confirmed Friday night that Moreira was being questioned. Moreira resigned in 2012 as party leader under a cloud of state government debt that accumulated under his governorship of Coahuila from 2005 to 2011. The debt was financed at least in part by falsified documents. Moreira has not been charged in the U.S. or Mexico. But two of Moreira’s top associates have pleaded guilty in federal court in San Antonio, Texas, to conspiring to transport stolen money. In the plea agreement for businessman and media owner Roland Gonzalez Trevino dated last April, Moreira appears unnamed as co-conspirator 1, “a high-ranking official in Coahuila” who won the governorship. The plea agreement said he started in January or February of 2006 “taking money for his own personal use from the government of Coahuila.” Gonzalez admitted to participating in a plan to defraud or steal money from Coahuila with co-conspirator 1 and others. Gonzalez also admits to transferring more than $1.8 million that was “stolen, converted or taken by fraud” from the state of Coahuila and sent to the U.S. Moreira’s former state treasurer, Hector Javier Villarreal Hernandez, also pleaded guilty in 2014 in San Antonio to conspiracy to launder money and conspiring to transport stolen money. Moreira left the governorship in 2011 to head the Institutional Revolutionary Party just as it was gearing up for a return to national power with candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, now the Mexican president. Moreira resigned when it was revealed that the Coahuila state debt rose from $27 million to nearly $3 billion during his tenure. The party issued a statement Friday saying it had too little information to comment, adding, “Institutions are not responsible for the actions of individual members.”
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
French drug leaves 1 brain dead By THOMAS ADAMSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — One man was brain dead and three others faced possible permanent brain damage after volunteering to take part in a drug trial for a painkiller based on a natural brain compound similar to the active ingredient in marijuana, French authorities said Friday. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into what French Health Minister Marisol Touraine called “an accident of exceptional gravity” at a clinical trial lab in the western French city of Rennes. The trial involved 90 healthy volunteers who were given the experimental drug in varying doses at different times, she told reporters at a news conference in Rennes. Six male volunteers between 28 and 49 years old have since been hospitalized, including one man now classified as brain dead, Touraine said, adding that the other 83 volunteers were being contacted. Calling the case “unprecedented,” Touraine said she was “deeply moved” by the suffering of the victims, who she met with earlier Friday, along with their families. “We’ll do everything to understand what happened,” she said. “I don’t know of any other event like this.” The drug trial for the six hospitalized men began on Jan. 7 and was halted Monday, a day after the first volunteer fell ill. The chief neuroscientist at the hospital in Rennes, Dr. Gilles Edan,
Photo by David Vincent | AP
French Health Minister Marisol Touraine, left, and Professor Gilles Edan, the chief neuroscientist at Rennes Hospital, address the media during a press conference held in Rennes, western France, Friday. said in addition to the brain-dead man, three other men could have “irreversible” brain damage. A fifth man is suffering from neurological problems and a sixth man is being kept in the hospital but is in less critical condition, he said. Edan said there’s no known way to reverse the effects of the experimental drug, which was given orally to healthy volunteers as part of a Phase 1 trial by Biotrial, a drug evaluation company based in Rennes, on behalf of the Portuguese pharmaceutical company Bial. Touraine said that in addition to treating pain, the drug was intended to ease mood and anxiety troubles as well as motor problems
linked to neurodegenerative illnesses by acting on the endocannabinoid system. In this system, natural brain compounds act on specific receptors to exert their effects. The experimental drug is based on a natural brain compound similar to the active ingredient in marijuana. Touraine said the drug was not based on marijuana itself, as some media reports had claimed. “This drug is not cannabis. It is not derived from cannabis. It works on the natural system that helps fight pain,” she said, adding that no drug currently on the market was implicated in the failed trial. Bial, the Portuguese drug pro-
ducer, said Friday that 108 healthy people had already taken part in trials involving the drug and had no moderate or serious reactions. Bial added that initial testing for the drug started in June following toxicology tests. For the French volunteers, it was meant to be a way to earn extra money and help develop a drug to treat people with pain and anxiety. Adults volunteering for Biotrial tests can earn between 100 euros and 4,500 euros ($110 to $4,920). It’s rare for volunteers to fall seriously ill during Phase 1 trials, which study safe usage, side effects and other measures on healthy volunteers, rather than drug effectiveness. Researchers generally start with the lowest possible dose after extensive tests in animals, and Touraine said the drug had previously been tested on chimpanzees and other animals. Biotrial, which also has offices in London and Newark, New Jersey, says it has over 25 years of experience in clinical trials and uses “state-of-the-art facilities.” In 2006, Britain saw a similar incident, when six previously healthy men were treated for organ failure only hours after being given an experimental drug targeting the immune system. That prompted a review of procedures and resulted in the U.K. regulatory agency imposing new testing standards, including recommendations to use the lowest possible dose and to test new drugs only on one person at a time.
Taiwan could elect 1st woman president By SIMON DENYER THE WASHINGTON POST
TAIPEI — Her supporters held up their mobile phones, flashlights on, to embody the campaign motto "Light Up Taiwan." Tsai Ing-wen, who hopes to become Taiwan’s first woman president after Saturday’s election, stood before tens of thousands of flag-waving, cheering and adoring fans at her final campaign rally. "This election is not about beating anyone, it is about beating the difficulties this country is facing,"
she said Friday night. "We are only one step away from a new era." Behind her loomed the tower of the president’s office, where she hopes to rule as the most powerful woman in the Chinesespeaking world. Beside her on stage, young people stood to symbolize the new era she hopes to inaugurate. On the surface, this is an election all about the economy, and current President Ma Ying-Jeou’s failure to breathe life back into of Asia’s former economic ti-
gers. But dig a little deeper, and this is a vote that sees Taiwan finding its feet after two decades as a democracy, and starting to reimagine itself as a nation quite separate from its communist big brother across the Taiwan Strait. Opinion polls predict a crushing defeat for the ruling Nationalists, or Kuomintang (KMT), their candidate Eric Chu Li-luan trailing far behind Tsai in the presidential race. For eight years, Ma and KMT had promised that improved ties with China
would help to rescue Taiwan’s ailing economy: Closer integration has indeed helped trade and tourism to boom, but the benefits of Ma’s "open door" policy have not been widely shared, and the economy as a whole is thought to have barely expanded by 1 percent last year. "This election is still about the economy, but there is a flavor of crossstrait relations and even identity embedded in it," said Eric Yu Chen-hua, an associate research fellow at the Election Study Center
of National Chengchi University. "People don’t trust that Ma’s open door policy with China will boost Taiwan’s economy," he said. Tsai made no such promises, focusing her campaign resolutely on domestic concerns, on employment and housing, on modernizing the economy, and forming a government that is closer to the people. "If I’m elected president, I’ll make people’s voice the foundation of policymaking," she said as rousing music swirled.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: KANSAS CITY CHIEFS VS. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
NFL: NFC PLAYOFFS
Title defense begins File photo by Ross D. Franklin | AP
Three weeks ago, the Cardinals beat the Packers by 30 points. Now Arizona hosts the rematch Saturday at 7:15 p.m. with the winner advancing to the NFC championship.
Pack get Cards rematch Arizona hosts Green Bay Saturday night By BOB BAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Michael Dwyer | AP
New England defensive end Chandler Jones is questionable for the Patriots after an incident this weekend at a local police station. New England plays its first postseason game against the Chiefs Saturday at 3:35 p.m.
Patriots host Kansas City on Saturday afternoon By JIMMY GOLEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots would have loved to spend the week with nothing else to worry about except Saturday’s playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Then Pro Bowl defensive lineman Chandler Jones wandered over to the local police station, shirtless and disoriented, leaving his house reeking of burnt marijuana. Suddenly, the defending Su-
per Bowl champions were back on defense. Fortunately, they’re pretty good at it. “I mean, are there any more questions about the Chiefs here?” coach Bill Belichick said on Thursday after nine straight unanswered questions about Jones’ unusual weekend. “The rest of it, I’m done talking about. We issued a statement, that’s it.” Jones apologized to his teammates and the New England fans on Thursday, saying he made a “pretty stupid mis-
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: TEXAS RANGERS
take,” but he declined to elaborate on what happened. Belichick refused to say whether Jones would be benched for fear of revealing valuable strategic information to the Chiefs. In the Patriots’ locker room, the players said they would have no trouble putting the incident aside on Saturday. And it’s hard to doubt them, after what they have gone through over the last 12 months and beyond.
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Three weeks ago, the Arizona Cardinals beat the Green Bay Packers by 30 points. No one should expect that kind of blowout when the teams meet again Saturday night, this time in the NFC divisional playoffs. “I think these guys definitely come back here with a bad taste in their mouth,” Arizona cornerback Patrick Peterson said, “so I think it will definitely be a much better game.” Oddsmakers are picking the Cardinals, the NFC’s No. 2 seed, by seven points, although Packers coach Mike McCarthy wouldn’t call his team the underdog. “We’re no underdog going to Arizona,” McCarthy said after his team’s 35-18 wild-card victory
See AFC PAGE 2B See NFC PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Buccaneers promote OC Dirk Koetter to new head coach By FRED GOODALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
Texas starting pitcher Tanner Scheppers will be back with the Rangers along with Robinson Chirinos, as the two avoided arbitration signing deals Friday.
Rangers re-sign Chirinos, Scheppers ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARLINGTON — The Rangers avoided salary arbitration with Robinson Chirinos and Tanner Scheppers on Friday, agreeing to one-year contracts with their top catcher and a reliever. Chirinos, who will get $1.55 million, was limited by a left
shoulder strain over the final two months of his second full season with Texas. But he started three of five games in an AL Division Series loss to Toronto after getting a teamhigh 73 starts in the regular season. The 31-year-old Chirinos hit
See RANGERS PAGE 2B
TAMPA — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are turning their rebuilding project over to Dirk Koetter. The longtime NFL offensive coordinator on Friday became the team’s fifth coach since 2008, succeeding Lovie Smith, who was fired after going 8-24 over the past two seasons. Koetter’s selection wasn’t a surprise. He helped No. 1 overall draft pick Jameis Winston become just the third rookie in NFL history to throw for 4,000 yards this season and was identified by general manager Jason Licht as a “very strong candidate” when Smith was fired last week. “Dirk has established himself as one of the top offensive coaches in our game while enjoying success at every stop during his college and NFL career,” Bucs chairman Joel Glazer said. “His success with our offense last season, along with his familiarity with our players and our organization, makes Dirk the right man to lead our team moving forward.” The Bucs went 6-10 this sea-
Photo by Chris O’Meara | AP
Former Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter has been promoted to replace Lovie Smith, who was fired after the season ended. son, missing the playoffs for the eighth straight year. But the offense set a franchise record for total offense. “When I started this search ... the focus was on finding someone that could be a strong leader as well as a consummate teacher, and Dirk is both,” Licht said. “He brings the passion and drive that will re-energize our organization and help us establish the winning culture that
will help us become the championship-caliber team that our fans deserve.” Licht also interviewed Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin and Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott as potential replacements for Smith, who lost his job — in part — because of an inability
See BUCS PAGE 2B
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Zsports
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
Caldwell back for Lions By LARRY LAGE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — The Detroit Lions retained coach Jim Caldwell for a third season, giving him a chance to work with new general manager Bob Quinn. It was Quinn’s call whether to keep or fire Caldwell during his first week on the job. “As I stated Monday, I was looking forward to the opportunity to get to know Jim,” Quinn said in a statement released by the team Friday. “After spending a significant amount of time together, it is clear that our football philosophies are very similar. Consequently, I am convinced he is the right man to lead our football team moving forward. Jim’s entire body of work is impressive.” Caldwell is 18-15, including a wildcard loss last year, in two seasons with the Lions. Detroit dropped six of its first seven games in 2015 before finishing 7-9. “Not only did he lead the Lions to the playoffs his first season here, but when you look at how the players responded the second half of last season, under difficult circumstances, it’s clear to me that this team believes in him and responds positively to his leadership,” Quinn said. “Our entire focus now is on the offseason and all that it entails.” Figuring out Calvin Johnson’s future is likely next on Quinn’s to-do list. The superstar receiver may retire after nine seasons. If Johnson wants to come back, Quinn will probably try to restructure his contract to avoid a $24 million salary cap hit next season. With or without Johnson on the field, Caldwell will be on the sideline. “I am obviously thrilled that I will continue to lead this football team,” he said in a statement. “I genuinely appreciate the faith Bob has shown in me, and I really look forward to working together. As I’ve said before, I truly love coaching the Lions and, while I’ve only been here two years, I have grown to love our fans, the city of Detroit, and the people of Detroit and Michigan.” The Lions also announced Friday that Kyle O’Brien was hired as director of player personnel. O’Brien was with the Jacksonville Jaguars as director of college scouting for the past three seasons. Before that, he spent one season as a regional scout with the Kansas City Chiefs and 10 seasons in various roles within the New England Patriots’ player personnel department. Lions owner Martha Firestone
File photo by Carlos Osorio | AP
Lions head coach Jim Caldwell will be back with the team next year after a poor start in 2015 as the team lost seven of its first eight games. Ford fired team president Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew after the team’s awful start. Rod Wood, who replaced Lewand, made it clear that the new GM would decide Caldwell’s fate with the franchise. Ford, though, is fond of Caldwell. After Quinn was introduced as GM, Ford was asked if she would keep Caldwell as coach. “I love Jim Caldwell, but I don’t want to answer that question,” she said. Caldwell’s players seem to like him a lot, too, and are glad he will be back. “It was the best thing for the team because of the leadership he brings, and the relationships he has,” defensive back Don Carey said in a phone interview Friday morning. “He is hands down the best coach to get us where we need to be.” Caldwell had success in his debut season in Detroit, helping the franchise win 11 games — its most since 1991 — and earn a spot in the playoffs for just the second time in 15 years. His cool and calm demeanor appeared to be just what the Lions needed after they fired an emotionally charged coach, Jim Schwartz. And unlike Schwartz, Caldwell seems to treat stars the same way as seldomused reserves. Caldwell created connections right away with players by taking them out to dinner — by position group — and letting them choose the restaurants, getting to know them by asking about favorite books and movies. “The more you know about them, the better you can serve them,” Caldwell said, entering the 2014 season. “I’ve always believed coaching is a
service business.” The Lions gave Caldwell a chance to lead an NFL team for a second time. He was 26-22 over three regular seasons with the Indianapolis Colts, helping them reach a Super Bowl. Indianapolis fired him after a 14loss season in 2011 as Peyton Manning missed the season because of neck surgery. He landed in Baltimore, starting off as a quarterbacks coach and being promoted to offensive coordinator when the Ravens won the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, 2013. His coaching career started as a graduate assistant in 1977 after playing defensive back for Iowa. He went on to work as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois, Northwestern, Colorado, Louisville and Penn State. Caldwell earned his first chance to be a head coach at Wake Forest, where he was from 1993-2000, before going to the NFL to work for Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. When Dungy retired after the 2008 season, Caldwell succeeded him and won 14 games as a rookie NFL head coach. Throughout the 2015 season with the Lions, he refused to be engaged in public conversations about his future with the franchise. Caldwell’s players appreciated his consistent approach with them and the media. “We kept following this man when we were 1-7,” defensive end Darryl Tapp said. “No one tanked and no one pointed fingers because of him. I’ve been a part of situations, unfortunately, where you have a start like that and the coach loses control and players start having personal agendas. That hasn’t happened here because he has done a great job of getting everybody to buy in every week with his consistency.”
RANGERS Continued from Page 1B .232 with 10 home runs and 34 RBIs in 78 games. He has a career average of .232 with 24 homers and 84 RBIs in 204 games. Scheppers will make $900,000 after the 29-yearold right-hander went 4-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 42 relief appearances in 2015.
A year earlier, Scheppers was converted to a starter in spring training and gave up seven runs in four innings of a 14-10 loss to Philadelphia in the opener. Scheppers made three more starts before going on the disabled list with right elbow inflam-
mation. He was shut down for the season after four relief outings in June. Scheppers battled right ankle and left knee injuries last season. His best year came as a reliever in 2013, when he was 6-2 with a 1.88 ERA in 76 ap-
pearances. The Rangers now have three players eligible for arbitration, including first baseman Mitch Moreland and right-hander Shawn Tolleson, their closer most of last season. The other is left-handed reliever Jake Diekman.
NFC Continued from Page 1B over Washington. “I don’t care what people think or how we’re picked or things like that. We’re going out there to win, and expect to win.” Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, on the other hand, acknowledged his team’s underdog status, but said “the pressure’s all going to be on” Arizona. “They’re coming off a tough loss at home against Seattle. Before that, they blew us out,” Rodgers said. “They’re the Super Bowl favorites, and obviously the favorite team on Saturday night, so we’ve just got to go out, be loose, let it all hang out, because the pressure’s all on that side.” Arizona safety Rashad Johnson said there’s pressure on both sides. “We’ve all got to play the game,” he said. “I think there’s a little bit of pressure on everyone to go out and want to play well. If you don’t feel any butterflies and have some type of pressure, you’re in the wrong business.” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians discounted the whole concept of pressure. “There is no pressure,” he said. “Pressure is something when you’re not prepared for something. We have high expectations.”
The Dec. 27 victory over the Packers capped a ninegame winning streak for Arizona (13-3). A week later, the Cardinals ended their regular season with a 36-6 drubbing at the hands of Seattle, a loss they dismiss as an aberration. The Packers (11-6) still had a chance at the NFC North title, despite the loss in the desert, but they finished the regular season by losing at home to Minnesota, so Green Bay settled for a wild-card berth. And last Sunday in Washington, Rodgers and the rest of the Packers played better than they had most of the season. Here are things to consider when the Packers face the Cardinals: GETTING HEALTHY The Cardinals sacked Rodgers eight times in their meeting three weeks ago, but Green Bay was without starting left tackle David Bakhtiari because of an ankle injury and lost starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga, also to an ankle problem, during the contest. That shouldn’t be the case on Saturday night. Bulaga was back the next game and Bakhtiari practiced all week on a limited basis. The Packers also
should have cornerback Sam Shields, who has been out while undergoing the concussion protocol. But Green Bay wide receiver Davante Adams was ruled out for the game with a knee injury, as was tight end Andrew Quarless. MISSING OKAFOR Arizona will be without one of its best pass rushers, outside linebacker Alex Okafor, and the exact reason is a mystery. An obviously irritated Arians would say only that Okafor injured a toe during the team’s weekend off. The team signed 12-year NFL veteran Jason Babin to help at the position. TEMPO, TEMPO The Packers’ offense started to click last weekend when it went up-tempo. The Cardinals took appropriate notice. “When I was watching the game Sunday, those guys were moving extremely fast,” Peterson said, “the fastest I’ve seen all year.” The Cardinals are well aware of how Rodgers likes to catch opponents with too many men on the field. They had to call a timeout in one such instance in their first meet-
AFC Continued from Page 1B Hours after New England’s 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game last January, the team was accused of illegally deflating the footballs. Even before the league investigation that would find them guilty, the Patriots plugged up their ears and dug in their heels. And went on to win the Super Bowl. A season earlier, New England recorded its nowcustomary 12-win season, AFC East title and trip to the conference championship game despite releasing tight end Aaron Hernandez over the summer, shortly before he was charged with first-degree murder. (He was convicted in April 2015, a few months after his former teammates’ Super Bowl victory.) “I think coach Belichick does a great job of really just, like, brainwashing us,” defensive back Duron Harmon said this week. “We just try to ignore all the distractions, whether it’s that situation or ’Deflategate,’ or any other distraction. We just try to ignore the noise.” If Jones is benched for part of the game, the Patriots will be giving up a pass-rusher whose 12 1/2 sacks were the fifth most in the NFL this season. Here are a few other things to look for in Saturday’s game: WE ALL WANT TO BE BIG, BIG STARS Kansas City won 10 in a row to close out the regular season and then added a 30-0 win over Houston in the wild-card round. The winning streak is the longest in team history and longest active streak in the league. “You don’t win 11 games in a row by accident,” Patriots special teamer Matthew Slater said. “There are not a lot of things that they haven’t been doing well.” New England has lost four of its last six games, but still coasted to its 12th division title in 13 years and its sixth straight firstround bye. STANDING IN THE SPOTLIGHT Steven Jackson was out of football when Belichick called just before Christmas, looking for someone to replace injured running backs Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount. “I understood that this is probably the last opportunity that I will have a chance, a significant chance, to win a Super Bowl,” said Jackson, 32. “This is the week ... we’re talking about, why I decided to take coach up on the offer.” Jackson hadn’t been in the playoffs since he was a rookie in 2004 with the
Rams. He is expected to share carries with James White and Brandon Bolden for as long as his conditioning holds up. STARING AT THE VIDEO Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he isn’t worried about “Spygate,” “Deflategate,” or any of the other allegations of Patriots misdeeds. “I mean, I’ve heard of things happening, but I haven’t had any of those problems,” he said this week. “You go play. You worry about all that, that’s not how you win the game, right?” The Patriots were penalized by the league in 2007 after they were caught videotaping opposing coaches’ signals, and again this offseason after an NFL investigation found they used improperly inflated footballs in the AFC title game. Other reports have accused Belichick and his minions of rifling through the trash in the visitors’ locker room or providing opponents with warm Gatorade. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wondered aloud why the headsets always go out when he plays in New England. Some opponents have said they brought extra security or barricaded their locker room door when visiting Gillette Stadium. SO COME DANCE THIS SILENCE It’s the only game this weekend that isn’t a rematch from the regular season; the teams have never met in the postseason. That doesn’t mean they have no history. The Chiefs beat the Patriots 41-14 in Week 4 of 2014, chasing Brady from the game in the secondbiggest loss of his career. Afterward, fans wondered openly whether the then-37 year-old quarterback was no longer effective. (He rebounded OK, winning his fourth NFL title and third Super Bowl MVP.) TELL EACH OTHER FAIRY TALES This week’s game is less about the rosters than the injury reports. Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski has knee and back injuries that have kept him out of practice two of three days this week. New England is also hoping to get receiver Julian Edelman and offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer back. The Chiefs have also had to shuffle their offensive line, with Mitch Morse and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif recovering from concussions. But the big question for them is whether leading receiver Jeremy Maclin will be available.
ing. FAMILIAR FOES Because of the one-sided nature of their previous meeting, the Cardinals and the Packers didn’t get to a big portion of their game plans. That gave them a head start getting ready for this one. As for what players can carry over from that game, Packers linebacker Julius Peppers says not a whole lot. “More scheme things, plays, the plays they like to run, the sets they like to run out of. That’s pretty much it,” he said. “You can’t really take too much else from it. It’s a different game, and all these games have different personalities.” HIGH-SCORING HISTORY Rodgers has experienced playoff football in Arizona firsthand. In 2009, he engaged in a spectacular passing duel with Kurt Warner in the wild-card round. Rodgers threw for 422 yards and four touchdowns, but the Packers lost in overtime 51-45 when Karlos Dansby returned Rodgers’ fumble 17 yards for a score. It remains the highestscoring playoff game in NFL history.
BUCS Continued from Page 1B to fix the team’s defense. Koetter joined the Bucs last winter and helped transform one of the NFL’s least productive offenses into one that gained more yards than any in franchise history. The Bucs finished fifth in total offense, with Winston joining Cam Newton and Andrew Luck as the only quarterbacks since the 1970 NFL/AFL merger to throw for 4,000 yards as rookies. Doug Martin, meanwhile, rebounded from a pair of subpar seasons to be the league’s second-leading rusher with 1,402 yards. Koetter led top 10 offenses in Jacksonville and Atlanta before moving to the Bucs. While this is his first opportunity as an NFL head coach, the 56year-old was head coach at Boise State from 1998-2000 and at Arizona State from 2001-06. Tampa Bay improved by four wins this season under Smith, but the team finished on a four-game losing streak. Koetter’s top priority this offseason will be fix-
ing a defense that has had difficulty keeping opponents out of the end zone. The Bucs improved from 25th to 10th in yards allowed this season; however, they were 26th in scoring defense, yielding 26 points per game. Smith was hired two years ago, in part because his defenses routinely ranked among the best in the league when he was a coordinator with the St. Louis Rams and during a nine-year stint as coach of the Chicago Bears, who won three division titles and appeared in two NFC championship games and one Super Bowl under his guidance. But the Bucs actually took a step back defensively this season with Smith taking over play-calling responsibilities from defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. Koetter, meanwhile, emerged as a logical successor after developing a nice relationship with Winston and helping the rookie quarterback make a relatively smooth transition to the pros.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016
Dear Heloise: I start the New Year off with a "checkup" of my pets. I give them all a onceover by looking for lumps and bumps or anything questionable on their bodies. Paws are next, then I look at their mouth and teeth, and peek inside ears. My dogs are getting up there in years, and I want to keep them as healthy as possible. -- Owned by three spoiled dogs, via text Your pups are lucky to have you taking care of them. It’s important to check them, especially teeth and ears, as they can get infected and you may not discover it for a while. Cats are a whole other story! They may hide a medical condition, so do give them a checkup two to three times a year. Birds and fish are, well, birds and fish! Watch and observe them closely, since a change in behavior, eating, etc., needs to be taken care of ASAP. Don’t wait -- it may be too late. -- Heloise CLEAN CLAY Dear Heloise: I need to
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clean the lime deposits from clay pots that hold my plants. I’ve tried commercial lime removers and vinegar, and it comes right back. What is the solution? -Joyce S. in Lake Wales, Fla. If the white stuff keeps coming back, then it’s probably leaching from inside. The only thing to do is clean and scrub the pot well with vinegar or the commercial cleaner. Then either paint the pot to "seal" the clay or coat with cooking or baby oil, let soak in and wipe dry with paper towels. NO MO SNOW Dear Heloise: Here’s a winter tip for removing snow from steps: Use a child’s snow shovel! It is more maneuverable for removing snow from small, awkward spaces. Just slide it across the steps to push the snow. -- Melinda B. in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 2016