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UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Gov. Abbott visits Valley United Health Foundation awards $2.8 million grant to university ASSOCIATED PRESS
A more than $2.8 million grant was awarded Thursday to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine to help establish teambased care to all of the Rio Grande Valley. The grant, awarded by United Health Foundation, a nonprofit private foundation committed to improving health care, will be for the next three years and it will help establish the Center for Colonia Integrated Care program.
Gov. Greg Abbott, making his first trip to the Valley after his inauguration Tuesday night, was on hand at Doctor’s Hospital at Renaissance to help present the new grant to the UT-RGV School Of Medicine. Also Thursday, as part of a state legislative tour, state representatives toured the United Launch Alliance manufacturing facility in Harlingen. The Center for Colonia Integrated Care will be managed by a project staff that will be tasked with coordinating services in a
FALCON STATE PARK
BP agent shoots smuggler
team-based model that would target two separate colonias, UT-RGV School of Medicine founding dean Francisco Fernández said. Services provided will include screenings, health education and promotion, health literacy and improved dental and mental health services. Fernandez said UT-RGV was invited by representatives of United Health Foundation to apply for the grant last summer. The grant will be imple-
See ABBOTT PAGE 14A
Photo by Joel Martinez/The Monitor | AP
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott talks to the media after an announcement of a United Healthcare Foundation grant to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine on Thursday in Edinburg.
U.S. GOVERNMENT
CATHOLIC CHURCH
SISTER SCARCITY
Man struggled with agent, fired shots
Republicans want to do more than oppose Obama
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHAPEÑO — A U.S. Border Patrol agent killed a suspected drug smuggler after he was fired upon, while four others were arrested early Wednesday in a rural area near Falcon State Park. Agents responded to an electronic monitoring hit about 1:50 a.m. next to Farm-to-Market Road 2098 near Chapeño, a small community with a population of about 50, authorities say. When agents arrived, they discovered about 800 pounds of abandoned drugs and four men confirmed to be drug smugglers were apprehended. Oaks said the encounter with the four men led to a report of another smuggler in the area. Oaks said one agent attempted to detain and arrest the fifth smuggler but the man, who has not been identified, fought with the agent. The smuggler then pulled out a handgun and fired “a round or two” at the agent from only a foot away but missed, Oaks said, adding that the agent returned fire and hit the smuggler an undisclosed amount of times. An emergency medical team was called to the scene and the man, who authorities would only say is not a U.S. citizen, was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The only information released about the unidentified smuggler was that he had a prior criminal history in the U.S. Oaks said the agent, who also has not been identified, did not suffer any injuries and was placed on administrative leave, which is protocol after the discharge of a weapon. Oaks said agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector deal with a variety of people crossing the border, who are sometimes violent. The investigation into the incident is being handled by the FBI with help from the Texas Rangers and the Starr County Sheriff ’s Office.
House to talk border security By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle | AP
In this photo taken on Jan. 15, sister Ivana Menchaca poses in the chapel at the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St. Therese in Houston. The challenges facing nuns and priests likely will come into sharper focus in 2015.
Houston-area nuns’ future uncertain By ALLAN TURNER HOUSTON CHRONICLE
H
Photo by Eric Kayne | AP
In this photo taken on Jan. 16, sister Anna Nguyen smiles at the St. Catherine Convent in Houston.
OUSTON — When God called teenager Anna Nguyen to the Catholic sisterhood, she was startled that he did so in an audible voice — and that he spoke Vietnamese. When the deity tapped Ivana Menchaca, she was well on the way to earning a college degree she hoped would land her a job with the FBI. Both now are ensconced in Houston religious communities, and, as have thousands of women who embarked on consecrated lives since Texas’ earliest years, they say they have found peace and purpose in their work. Unlike their predecessors of just 50 years ago, though, Nguyen and Menchaca have taken a road less chosen, one that may veer in unexpected directions as the 21st century progresses. The challenges facing nuns — and priests — likely will come into sharper focus in 2015 as Roman Catholics observe “Wake Up The World!”, Pope Francis’ yearlong celebration of consecrated life. Topping the list is the struggle to maintain ministries as their memberships age and decline. Nationally, Catholic sisters now number less than a third of their 1960s peak of about 180,000. Almost 60 percent, a 2009 study found, are 70 or
WASHINGTON — The House is moving toward a vote on a bill aimed at securing the U.S. border with Mexico as majority Republicans try to show they can chart their own course on immigration, not just oppose President Barack Obama’s. The legislation passed the House Homeland Security Committee late Wednesday on a party-line vote of 18-12, and the full House is expected to take it up next week. “For God’s sakes, if we can’t unite around border security what can we unite around?” said GOP Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the committee’s chairman. It’s uncertain whether House Republicans will unite behind the measure. Conservatives who have scuttled past attempts by GOP leaders to deal with the issue expressed concerns that the legislation does too little to stem illegal immigration. Several also groused that leadership was trying to rally support for the border security bill instead of making a strong stand against recent executive actions by Obama granting relief from deportation to millions. The border bill “is a show horse, not a work horse, and as such it is an effort to convince the American people that we are doing something substantive to secure the border when in fact nothing substantive is being done,” said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. Democrats said the bill was filled with unrealistic
See SISTER PAGE 13A See BORDER PAGE 14A