The Zapata Times 2/11/2015

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WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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ZAPATA NATIONAL BANK

EAGLE FORD SHALE

Both women convicted

Oil, gas company to cut jobs

Two will face up to 30 years for embezzling money SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Two Zapata women have both been convicted of embezzling money in a long-running bank fraud scheme targeting Zapata National Bank, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced Tuesday.

Anita Arredondo, 53, entered her plea this morning, while Petra Del Bosque, 54, previously pleaded last month.

Del Bosque is a former employee of Zapata National Bank, while Arredondo worked for a Zapata-based construction company as a clerk in the accounts payable department

and had responsibility for issuing company checks.

For two years, Arredondo issued numerous false company checks made payable to contractors who had not performed the work that was the alleged basis for the checks.

Arredondo admitted to endorsing the false checks by forging the signatures of the contractors and then delivering the checks to Del Bosque at ZNB. Del Bosque led ZNB tellers to believe she was cashing the checks on behalf of the contractors who were unable to come to the bank themselves

and that she would deliver the funds from the cashed checks. However, she actually pocketed the money and split the proceeds of the fraud with Arredondo.

Both have admitted that the loss as a result of the scheme totals more than $800,000.

U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo accepted the pleas and has set sentencing for April 28, 2015. At that time, each faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a possible $1 million fine.

The FBI investigated, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Johnson and Sanjeev Bhasker are prosecuting the case.

ENVIRONMENT

CLIMATE CHANGE WORRY

Photo by Monica Almeida | New York Times

A refinery in Los Angeles, is seen from the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of Wilmington, Feb. 6. One reason Hispanics may be concerned about global warming is that they often live in areas directly exposed to pollution.

Hispanics see change as it affects them personally

By CORAL DAVENPORT NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Alfredo Padilla grew up in Texas as a migrant farmworker who followed the harvest with his parents to pick sugar beets in Minnesota

each summer. He has not forgotten the aches of labor or how much the weather — too little rain, or too much — affected the family livelihood.

Now an insurance lawyer in Carrizo Springs, Texas, he said he was concerned about global

warming.

"It’s obviously happening, the flooding, the record droughts," said Padilla, who agrees with the science that human activities are the leading cause of climate change. "And all this affects poor people harder. The

jobs are more based on weather.

And when there are hurricanes, when there is flooding, who gets hit the worst? The people on the poor side of town."

Padilla’s concern is echoed by

See CLIMATE PAGE 11A

Halliburton will lay off up to 6,160 ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Oil and gas drilling services company Halliburton said Tuesday that it will eliminate at least 5,000 jobs in response to falling oil prices.

The Houston company said it will lay off 6.5 to 8 percent of its staff, which represents 5,005 to 6,160 employees based on its total from the end of 2014.

The company said the cuts will come from all areas of its operations and that the moves are necessary because of the difficult market.

Halliburton did not provide any details on the timing of the cuts or what the moves might cost.

Halliburton Co. also cut about 1,000 jobs from its Eastern hemisphere workforce in December. Halliburton said the moves are not related to its pending acquisition of competitor Baker Hughes Inc. Shares of Halliburton fell $1.13, or 2.6 percent, to $42.38 in afternoon trading.

Oil prices plunged 60 percent from June to January, although they have recovered some of those losses recently. In January Halliburton said 2015 will be a difficult year for its industry, saying its customers have cut their capital spending budgets by 25 or 30 percent in response to lower oil prices.

Halliburton also took $129 million in restructuring charges because of expected business declines.

Halliburton competitor Schlumberger Ltd. said in January that it would eliminate 9,000 jobs in response to falling oil prices. That represented about 7.3 percent of Schlumberger’s staff.

Also last month, Halliburton takeover target Baker Hughes said it would lay off about 7,000 workers as it braced for a downturn in orders because of the plunge in crude prices. That represented about an 11 percent cut to the 62,000-plus workers Baker Hughes says it employs worldwide.

RIO GRANDE VALLEY

Patrick wants $12 million to keep guard on border

By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE

Saying that drug cartels are “ramping up” their efforts as the Texas National Guard prepares to leave the Rio Grande Valley next month, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Tuesday that he’s seeking an additional $12 million to keep the troops there through May. Beyond that, he added at a Capitol news confer-

ence, he would work to get a supplemental bill to fund deployments through August, in the hopes that the Texas Legislature would pass a budget that includes deployment funding beyond that. The Senate’s budget includes about $815 million for border security, which is more than the previous seven years combined.

“Under no circumstances should we have a complete pullout of the Nation-

al Guard next month,” Patrick said. “We have that [$12 million], and we need to spend that money to keep the Guard there.”

The National Guard was deployed last summer in response to the surge of unaccompanied minors and family units, mainly from Central America, who breached the TexasMexico border. Former Gov. Rick Perry ordered up to 1,000 troops in response. That was in addi-

tion to a surge of Texas Department of Public Safety officers, which Patrick said would remain in place.

Patrick did not say if any of the Guard members’ duties would change should the $12 million be approved. They are currently used for surveillance and other support roles and do not have arresting powers.

See GUARD PAGE 11A

Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman | AP file

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick talks about his vision for the Texas Senate during a news conference at the Texas State Capitol on Jan. 8.

International

10A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Photo by Joel Kouam | AP

People take part in a march to show their support for the Cameroon army fighting against Boko Haram militants in the city of Yaounde, Cameroon, Saturday. Boko Haram staged an overnight assault on a border town in Niger, residents said Sunday, the second time the West African nation has come under attack by the Nigeria-based extremists since Friday.

Niger sending troops to fight Boko Haram

By ADAM NOSSITER NEW YORK TIMES

DAKAR, Senegal — With the regional war against the Boko Haram militant group widening, Niger’s parliament has agreed to send troops across the border to join the fight.

The vote was unanimous in Niger’s National Assembly on Monday night, reflecting the shock produced by at least four attacks in Niger in less than a week, including an explosion at a market in the country’s east that killed a number of civilians.

Chad, Cameroon and Benin have also agreed to contribute troops to an 8,700member force to fight Boko Haram, a Nigerian militant group whose attacks have increasingly spilled across borders in the region.

Nigeria’s war has now spread to its smaller, poorer neighbor, Niger. In Diffa, the main city in the country’s far east, just across the border from Nigeria, "people are in a panic," the head of the local Red Cross in Diffa, Abdullai Adah, said by phone on Tuesday, after a bombing at a vegetable market and an attack on the

city’s prison the preceding day. At least eight are dead, he said.

"Everybody is shut up at home," Adah said. "All the stores are closed. And we are hearing heavy artillery from the Nigeria side."

The civil prison at Diffa, the target of one of the Boko Haram attacks, held militants and their sympathizers, according to a regional news site, Sahelien.com.

The site quoted residents saying that they had heard armed men calling "Allahu akbar" from pickup trucks as the prison was attacked — a cry that also resounds from three newly released Boko Haram propaganda videos this week.

The National Assembly vote in Niger’s capital 850 miles away, Niamey, followed the attacks in Diffa within hours.

"People are worried," said a leading political scientist in the capital, Mahaman Tidjani Alou.

"That there are bombs in Niger, this is something totally unprecedented," said Alou, speaking by phone from Niamey on Tuesday.

"It’s clear that this is not just at our doorstep now. It is inside the country."

Niger, a country where U.S. and French drones are based, has been attacked previously by al-Qaida’s African affiliate in its desert north. It now finds itself under attack on its southern edge by a different group of Islamist extremists.

"Niger has had a very clear position in relation to Boko Haram, and it is equally clear that this position can have consequences," Alou said. "It’s the state itself that has been attack, the symbols of authority.

The state can’t simply allow that."

Diffa, only 260 miles from the Nigerian city that spawned Boko Haram, Maiduguri, was penetrated as long ago as the early 2000s by the radical Islamist ideology on which the sect was nurtured, the French Boko Haram specialist Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, said in a new study.

Extremist preachers struggled for influence in the town before being chased from Diffa’s central mosque in 2007, de Montclos wrote. Yet the dusty, lowslung market town was thought by specialists to have been penetrated by Boko Haram cells, and to have

provided a safe haven for the militants even as they were attacking Nigerians across the border.

As the vote wrapped up in Niger’s parliament in Niamey late Monday, the National Assembly speaker, Amadou Salifou, said that there had been a "collective recognition of the gravity of the situation," according to the state news service.

With attacks on Boko Haram now coming from the militaries of four countries — Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria — the group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, released a video this week on YouTube in which he mocks the forces arrayed against him, especially Chad’s.

"You sent 7,000 of your soldiers. Why didn’t you

send 7 million?" Shekau said in the video, according to a translation by the terrorism monitoring group

SITE. "Only 7,000!? By Allah, it is small. We can capture them in an attempt or two."

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

TV Azteca sells milk during telenovela plots

By PATRICIA LAYA BLOOMBERG NEWS

A teary, blonde woman sits alone at her kitchen table. In a matter of days, she’s been left fatherless and buried in debt. A handsome man offers her milk, though not just any milk, Lala milk from Grupo Lala SAB. This is a scene from one of TV Azteca SAB’s newest prime-time telenovelas, “Las Bravo.” Mexico’s second-biggest broadcaster is taking advantage of hits that reach an average of 65 million viewers a week to encourage marketers to pay for their products to appear or be featured in soap operas and reality-television shows.

“If you sell soap, sham-

poo, soda, beer, and cars with mass appeal, then obviously you’re going to want TV as an important marketing medium,” TV Azteca Chief Executive Officer Mario San Roman said in an interview last week at his office in Mexico City. “And if we fit those into our plots people are going to remember them.”

Product placement in TV shows allows Azteca to make additional money without adding time for commercials and helps a brand reach viewers who are increasingly skipping advertisements with digital video recorders. The Mexico City-based company depends on advertising for 91 percent of its sales, and that revenue stream is un-

PAUL GRIFFIN Feb. 7, 1951 – Feb. 7, 2015 Paul Griffin, passed away on Saturday, February 7, 2015 on his 64th birthday at Retama Manor West in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Griffin is preceded in death by his parents, Jack R. Griffin and Anna A. Griffin; son, Michael J. Griffin and a niece, Carrie H. Griffin.

Mr. Griffin is survived by his ex-wife, Debra (Robert) Lairson; five children, Timothy J. Griffin, Rachel (Benjamin) Garcia, Esther (Ricky) De Los Santos and Stephen A. Griffin; daughter-in-law, Marien S. Griffin; twelvegrandchildren; two greatgrandchildren and also by a good friend and sister in Christ, Martha Taylor.

Paul worked many jobs and was a missionary/ pastor. He was well-known in Zapata for providing transportation for the needy. He had a lot of musical talent and played the

guitar, base, keyboard/piano, harmonica and accordion. He spent a lot of his time writing, singing and recording gospel songs. Before he became ill, his late son Michael and him would make trips to Laredo and feed the homeless with their own financial means. He will be laid to rest with his parents in Chiefland, Florida. A Griffin Family Reunion will take place at a later date in Florida to honor his life/memory here on earth.

Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, funeral director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83 Zapata, Texas.

GUARD Continued from Page 1A The lieutenant governor also predicted another surge of illegal immigration this spring and summer because of what he said was President Obama’s refusal to enforce immigration laws.

State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said Tuesday that he supports the DPS surge to combat the area’s problems.

“We have a problem down on the border, we have drug trafficking, we have human smuggling, we have guns going south,” he said.

But Hinojosa disagreed that his region needed the National Guard, adding that money earmarked for the Guard deployment could be better spent on

DPS resources and equipment.

“I support maximizing and using the military assets, surveillance drones whatever we have” with DPS, he said. “I don’t think it’s effective to have thousands of guardsmen on the border. I think it’s counterproductive.”

Border security was the top concern for 37 percent of Texas Republicans, according to an October 2014 poll conducted by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune. Immigration followed at 26 percent.

That’s compared with 7 and 9 percent of Democrats that identified border security and immigration as their top concerns, respectively.

der threat as new national broadcast networks are created this year.

Billionaire Ricardo Salinas purchased state-owned broadcaster Azteca in 1993 to compete with Grupo Televisa SAB, and the network now reaches three out of 10 Mexican TV viewers. Both broadcasters will

soon face more competition as Mexico’s regulator accelerates plan to auction off two new broadcast networks by March, part of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s push to increase competition in the highly concentrated industry.

Azteca’s shares have fallen 25 percent in the last

year. Televisa has gained 26 percent in the same period.

To help bolster its performance, Azteca is working to integrate marketing messages into its programming and even help sell those goods and services directly to viewers.

Telenovelas are ripe for product placement because

the dramas have been such an intrinsic part of Mexico’s popular culture for decades. And Azteca can charge more to integrate a brand into a show’s plot than it can for regular ad space, San Roman said.

A Lala press official didn’t respond to requests for comment.

CLIMATE Continued from Page 1A other Hispanics across the country, according to a poll conducted last month by The New York Times, Stanford University and the nonpartisan environmental research group Resources for the Future. The survey, in which Padilla was a respondent, found that Hispanics are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to view global warming as a problem that affects them personally. It also found that they are far more likely to support policies, such as taxes and regulations on greenhouse gas pollution, aimed at curbing it.

The findings in the poll could have significant implications for the 2016 presidential campaign as both parties seek to win votes from Hispanics, particularly in states like Florida and Colorado that will be influential in determining the outcome of the election. The poll also shows the challenge for the potential Republican presidential candidates - including two Hispanics - many of whom question or deny the scientific basis for the finding that humans caused global warming.

Among Hispanic respondents to the poll, 54 percent rated global warming as extremely or very important to them personally, compared with 37 percent of whites.

Sixty-seven percent of Hispanics said they would be hurt personally to a significant degree if nothing was done to reduce global warming, compared with half of whites.

And 63 percent of Hispanics said the federal government should act broadly to address global warming, compared with 49 percent of whites.

A greater percentage of Hispanics than whites identify as Democrats, and Democrats are more likely than Republicans and independents to say that the government should fight climate change. In the poll, 48 percent of Hispanics identified as Democrats, 31 percent as independents and 15 percent as Republicans. Among whites, 23 percent identified as

Democrats, 41 percent as independents and 27 percent as Republicans.

Overall, the findings of the poll run contrary to a longstanding view in politics that the environment is largely a concern of affluent, white liberals.

"There’s a stereotype that Latinos are not aware of or concerned about these issues," said Gabriel Sanchez, an associate professor of political science at the University of New Mexico and director of research at Latino Decisions, a survey firm focused on the Hispanic population. "But Latinos are actually among the most concerned about the environment, particularly global warming."

One reason, Sanchez and others said, is that Hispanics often live in areas where they are directly exposed to pollution, such as neighborhoods near highways and power plants.

Hispanics typically rate immigration, education and employment in the top tier of the policy issues on which they vote, but the poll is the latest in a growing body of data showing that Hispanics also care intensely about environmental issues.

A 2013 poll by the Pew Research Center found that 76 percent of Hispanics agreed that the Earth had been warming, and 59 percent attributed that warming to human activity. By comparison, 62 percent of whites agreed that the Earth had been warming, and 41 percent attributed that to human activity.

A 2014 study in the scientific journal PLOS One found that nationally, minorities were exposed to concentrations of the toxic pollutant nitrogen dioxide that were 38 percent higher than what whites faced. Nitrogen dioxide is linked to respiratory illness and, like planet-warming carbon dioxide, is spewed from vehicle tailpipes and power plant smokestacks.

While it is not directly linked to global warming, populations that experience high levels of exposure to it are likely to be more supportive of pollu-

tion regulation in general, Sanchez said.

The nationwide poll was conducted Jan. 7-22 using cellphones and landlines by The Times, Stanford and Resources for the Future. Interviews were in English or Spanish with 1,006 adults, including 738 non-Hispanic white adults and 103 Hispanic adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for nonHispanic white adults and 12 percentage points for Hispanic adults.

The combined results have been weighted to adjust for variation in the sample relating to geographic region, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, age, education and, for landline households, the number of adults and number of phone lines. In comparing subgroups, The Times only reports poll results that are statistically significant.

Tony Vazquez of San Jose, California, a poll respondent and a former truck driver who now makes nickel plates for car parts, said in a follow-up interview that he would support policies such as national taxes on greenhouse gas pollution.

"Where I live, you don’t know what you’re breathing — smog and pollution from refineries, ships, diesel trucks," Vazquez said. "You’re breathing it all."

Hispanics are also more likely to be concerned about the impact of global warming outside the United States, Latino researchers say, particularly in Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Stronger droughts and storms there can lead to flooding or shortages of food and water, but people and governments may not be equipped to handle that.

President Barack Obama has proposed spending $3 billion on a global Green Climate Fund intended to help poor countries adapt to the effects of climate change, but Republicans in Congress have been sharply critical of that plan. In contrast, two-thirds of Hispanics in the poll said

the U.S. government should give money to poor countries to help them reduce the damage caused by global warming. Two-thirds of whites said the United States should not provide the money.

The result, Sanchez and other researchers said, is that politicians should be wary of dismissing the issue of climate change.

"The most important thing is that candidates have to think about the Latino population as complex," Sanchez said.

"To ignore the environment is to ignore something that a large section of the Latino population sees as important."

Republican political strategists were skeptical.

"The real issue here is whether a dollar spent fighting climate change is better than a dollar spent improving school, health care or national security," said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. "Most Republicans are going to find greater political advantage in promoting credible plans to strengthen the economy, improve education and make progress on a host of other issues, including immigration, rather than climate change."

In Florida, a state that will be crucial to presidential candidates, Nicole Hernandez Hammer, a sea-level rise researcher of Cuban-Guatemalan descent, is working to raise awareness of climate change among Hispanic voters. Last month, she was invited to sit in the first lady’s box during Obama’s State of the Union address.

Of Hispanics’ growing interest in climate change issues, Hammer said: "We’re not at rallies.

Latinos in immigrant communities are more concerned about putting food on the table."

But, she said, "We know that our communities are disproportionately more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, so when it comes time to vote, we make our voices heard on the issue."

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Free heart health education class. 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. All materials are in English. Topics to be discussed: Blood Pressure 101, Cholesterol 101, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, Weight Management and Physical Activity, HeartHealthy Cooking and Fast Food Survival for Heart Health. For more information, contact Patricia at 722-1674.

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2015. There are 323 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 11, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement, in which Stalin agreed to declare war against Imperial Japan following Nazi Germany’s capitulation (in return, the Soviet Union would acquire territories lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War).

On this date: In 1812, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signed a redistricting law favoring his Democratic-Republican Party — giving rise to the term “gerrymandering.”

In 1929, the Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

In 1937, a six-week-old sitdown strike against General Motors ended, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.

In 1963, American author and poet Sylvia Plath was found dead in her London flat, a suicide; she was 30.

In 1975, Margaret Thatcher was elected leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party.

In 1989, Rev. Barbara C. Harris became the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a ceremony held in Boston.

In 1990, South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

In 2012, pop singer Whitney Houston, 48, was found dead in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, California.

In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation during a routine morning meeting of Vatican cardinals.

(The 85-year-old pontiff was succeeded by Pope Francis.)

Ten years ago: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to Iraq, where he observed Iraqi security forces and declared “there’s no question progress has been made” in preparing the nation for building a new government.

Five years ago: British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, 40, was found dead in his London home.

One year ago: President Barack Obama, during a joint White House news conference with French President Francois Hollande, vowed to come down like “a ton of bricks” on businesses that violated Iranian sanctions while nuclear negotiations were underway, and conceded “enormous frustration” with stalled Syrian peace talks.

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Conrad Janis is 87. Fashion designer Mary Quant is 81.

Actor Burt Reynolds is 79. Actor Philip Anglim is 63. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is 62. Singer Sheryl Crow is 53.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is 51. Actress Jennifer Aniston is 46. Actor Damian Lewis is 44. Singer D’Angelo is 41. Singer-actress Brandy is 36.

Actor Matthew Lawrence is 35. Rhythm-and-blues singer Kelly Rowland is 34. Singer Aubrey O’Day is 31. Actor Taylor Lautner is 23.

Thought for Today: “Life does not count by years. Some suffer a lifetime in a day, and so grow old between the rising and the setting of the sun.” — Augusta Jane Evans, American novelist (1835-1909).

THURSDAY, FEB. 12 The Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association is holding its monthly meeting at 11 a.m. at Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall. A volunteer fair will be held.

The Webb County Heritage Foundation’s Valentines’ Membership Cocktail Party. From 6 – 8 p.m. at Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St. The public is invited to renew or initiate memberships. For more information, call 727-0977 or visit webbheritage.org.

SATURDAY, FEB. 14 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Earth, Moon and Sun, 2 p.m. New Horizons, 3 p.m.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 4 p.m.

Led Zeppelin, 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

TUESDAY, FEB. 17 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. Black Holes, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18 Free heart health education class. 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. All materials are in English. Topics to be discussed: Blood Pressure 101, Cholesterol 101, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, Weight Management and Physical Activity, HeartHealthy Cooking and Fast Food Survival for Heart Health. For more information, contact Patricia at 722-1674.

SATURDAY, FEB. 21 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Earth, Moon and Sun, 2 p.m. New Horizons, 3 p.m.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 4 p.m.

Led Zeppelin, 5 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

TUESDAY, FEB. 24 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 5 p.m. Black Holes, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 25 Free heart health education class. 12:30 p.m. – 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1220 McClelland. All materials are in English. Topics to be discussed: Blood Pressure 101, Cholesterol 101, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, Weight Management and Physical Activity, HeartHealthy Cooking and Fast Food Survival for Heart Health. For more information, contact Patricia at 722-1674.

THURSDAY, FEB. 26 Spanish Book Club from 6 to 8 p.m. at Laredo Public Library on Calton. Call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.

Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society will meet, from 3-5 p.m., at the Center for the Arts in historical downtown. A $2 donation for non-members is requested. Call Sanjuanita Martinez-Hunter at 722-3497.

FRIDAY, FEB. 27 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Led Zeppelin, 6 p.m. Live Star Presentation (observing will occur after show if weather permits), 7 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-236-DOME (3663).

Photo by LM Otero | AP

The sun shines over a sign displaing support for the families of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield Tuesday in Stephenville, Texas. The former Marine Eddie Ray Routh is accused of killing Navy SEAL sniper Kyle and his friend Littlefield on Feb. 2, 2013, and is standing trial for the murders.

Trial sets town on edge

By MANNY FERNANDEZ AND KATHRYN JONES NEW YORK TIMES

STEPHENVILLE — The trial of the man charged with killing Chris Kyle, a former sniper for the Navy SEALs, is scheduled to open here today at 9 a.m. The blockbuster war movie about Kyle, "American Sniper," now playing at Cinemark Cinema 6 three miles from the courtroom, will be showing at 3:40 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10:20 p.m.

The convergence of the movie, the trial and the fierce emotions that both have stirred up has set this rural town 100 miles southwest of Dallas on edge, as legal experts have questioned whether Eddie Ray Routh, 27, the mentally ill veteran accused of killing Kyle and Kyle’s friend at a shooting range in Stephenville’s Erath County in 2013, can receive a fair trial here.

But aside from the questions about the le-

gal proceedings, something more than a double-murder trial is set to play out here this week. "American Sniper" has become a cultural moment far beyond the reach of the book, the movie or the criminal case against Routh. And just as the movie has been debated for what it says about war and warriors, the trial will dissect what war did to and for two men — one of them hailed, particularly in Texas, as an American hero, the other a fellow soldier on trial for two murders that people here are still trying to comprehend two years later. Kyle’s celebrity hangs over the trial and the town, larger in death than it was in life. The sign outside the Grand Entry Western Store advertises Chris Kyle baseball caps for sale. More ominously, a man called the local newspaper and told the managing editor that a bomb was going to go off before jury selection

Man injured when blast tears through home

University of Texas investigates frat party

Ex-deputy, brother plead guilty in drug case

BOERNE — One man has been injured when an explosion completely shattered the house where he lived in the Texas Hill Country town of Boerne.

City spokeswoman Pam Bransford says the blast shortly before noon Tuesday demolished the house and ignited a raging fire that also damaged neighboring houses.

AUSTIN — A University of Texas fraternity is under investigation after complaints were filed about how Hispanics were portrayed during a weekend party. The university newspaper, the Daily Texan, reported guests at Phi Gamma Delta’s soiree wore sombreros, ponchos, construction worker outfits and military gear. The fraternity’s president told the newspaper the party was western-themed.

LAREDO — A former South Texas sheriff ’s deputy and her brother have pleaded guilty to drug possession charges in a federal trafficking case.

Former Starr County sheriff ’s Deputy Amy Reyes and her brother, Bobby Lee Reyes, had been charged with conspiracy in a two-count indictment returned in December by a federal grand jury in Laredo.

Black staff targets of racism at Texas plant DALLAS — Federal authorities have determined that black employees at a North Texas food plant were exposed to dangerous work conditions and subjected to racial discrimination and a hostile work environment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found the former workers at the Sara Lee plant were exposed to asbestos, black mold and other toxins. They also were targets of racial slurs.

2 men killed in rock climbing accident SAN ANTONIO — Two men have died after falling from a rock wall they were scaling in San Antonio. Police say it appears the unidentified men were rappelling down a climbing area known as Medicine Wall in north San Antonio late Monday night. Their bodies were found at the base of the wall, which is about 80 to 100 feet high.

Off-duty Dallas officer fatally shoots driver DALLAS — Dallas police say an off-duty officer shot and killed a driver who accelerated toward him. The officer went to investigate when several people told him they heard gunfire. The officer arrested a man who was running toward him. As he was taking the man into custody, he saw a truck speeding toward them and opened fire. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION Latest snowstorm raises question: Where to put it?

BOSTON — The third major winter storm in less than two weeks inflicted fresh snow — and misery — across New England and portions of New York state on Monday. Boston, facing up to 2 more feet, grappled with a conundrum: Where to put it all?

The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for central New York, the western Catskills and much of New England through early Tuesday.

Some areas of Massachusetts had about a foot of snow before dawn, and the storm was expected to last all day Monday.

SATURDAY, FEB. 28

U.S. closing embassy in Yemen amid turmoil

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Earth, Moon and Sun, 2 p.m. New Horizons, 3 p.m.

Saturn: Jewel of the Heavens, 4 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Embassy in Yemen is closing because of security concerns amid the unstable Arab country’s

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Lee Anderson adds to the pile of snow beside the sidewalk in front of his house in Somerville, Mass., Tuesday as his dog Ace looks on. The latest snowstorm left the Boston area with another two feet of snow. deepening political turmoil, State Department officials announced Tuesday.

After weeks of trimming services at the U.S. mission in Sana, the capital, officials said they will take steps to halt operations and expect the ambassador to

leave the country by Wednesday.

The U.S.-backed former President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi resigned on Jan. 22 under pressure from the Houthi rebels who seized control of the capital last fall.

— Compiled from AP reports

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State

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Man gets 40 years for burning boy ASSOCIATED PRESS

GALVESTON — Jurors imposed a 40year prison sentence Tuesday on a Texas man convicted in a childhood arson attack on a boy who died as a result nearly 13 years later.

Don Collins was sentenced for pouring gasoline on Robert Middleton and setting him on fire on Middleton’s eighth birthday in 1998 near Splendora, about 35 miles northeast of Houston. Prosecutors have said Collins burned the boy to silence him after earlier sexually assaulting the child.

Middleton endured years of physical therapy before he died in 2011 from skin cancer blamed on his burns.

Collins, 29, was convicted of capital murder Monday. His punishment was capped at 40 years because he was 13 at the time of the attack.

A jury of seven women and five men heard testimony Tuesday that Collins was a troubled child who molested a 6year-old girl and stomped a kitten to death, according to the Houston Chronicle.

A man testified that Collins sexually assaulted him as a child.

“He had no friends,” Colleen Middleton, Robert Middleton’s mother, testified, KHOU-TV reported. “Everybody was afraid of him. He was the big bully that stomped kittens to death.”

Defense attorney E. Tay Bond told jurors that Collins’ mother died when he was 8 and that his father was absent. He was left in the care of relatives who had little interaction with him.

Rebecca Whitlock, a nurse who helped Middleton regain his strength and flexibility at a Galveston hospital, testified that he helped other burned children and lobbied to keep the hospital open when it was on the verge of being closed following Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Chronicle reported.

He was so well-liked that Whitlock worked to have June 28, his birthday, declared Robert Middleton Day by the city of Galveston. A plaque with a city proclamation and a photo of Middleton adorn the lobby of the hospital’s burn center, she said.

The trial was held in Galveston County because the case received extensive media coverage in Montgomery County, north of Houston.

Photo by Marjorie Kamys Cotera | Texas Tribune

Rep. Giovanni Capriglione R-Southlake waits to testify during a March 14 House Homeland Security & Public Safety committee hearing.

Bill would shed light on contracts

By JAY ROOT TEXAS TRIBUNE

State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, a leading advocate of ethics reform in the notoriously unrestrained Texas Legislature, filed legislation Tuesday designed to shed more light on lawmakers who make money off of government contracts.

One bill, identical to legislation the Southlake Republican couldn’t get through the House two years ago, requires state elected officials to disclose government contracts in which they or a close family member have a substantial financial interest.

The other bill takes a different tack. Rather than forcing lawmakers to add information to their personal disclosure forms — an idea that hit turbulence last session — it would require governmental entities to reveal all “interested parties” in their contracts.

Capriglione said his legislation is modeled in part after federal contracting guidelines, and is aimed at ensuring vot-

ers can find out whether their lawmakers are enmeshed in conflicts of interest the public should know about. He’s also hoping it will sidestep concerns from colleagues about new and potentially burdensome disclosure requirements.

“I think that this might be another way to get the same sort of information available to the public, and maybe in a way that is a little more palatable to legislators,” Capriglione told The Texas Tribune. “Just tell us who is making the money.”

The bill would require governmental entities — defined as a municipality, county, school district or special purpose district or authority — to reveal all interested parties who stand to benefit financially from a contract approved by the governing body. Interested parties would include a broker, intermediary, lawyer or adviser. It would also apply to state agency contracts of $1 million or more.

That information would be forwarded to the Texas Ethics

Commission and made available to the public, allowing voters to see if their lawmakers are scoring a big pay day at City Hall, a state agency or some other governmental body.

Under the state’s lax ethics laws, lawmakers can easily profit from government contracts without explicitly disclosing it to voters.

The Republican lawmaker that Capriglione defeated in the GOP primary in 2012, then-Rep. Vicki Truitt, was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do consulting work for the Tarrant County Hospital District, according to published reports.

On her 2010 personal financial statement, Truitt only had to list her consulting business, Physician Resource Network, and didn’t have to reveal to the Ethics Commission that the company contracted with a public entity.

It’s a gigantic loophole that other Texas politicians have used, making it difficult for the public to know whether their legislator’s ties to some

business deal—or a government contract—might present a conflict of interest.

Truitt said at the time that her relationship with the hospital district pre-dated her service in the Legislature and did not conflict with her duties as a lawmaker.

The issue also arose in the 2014 governor’s race, when Republican Greg Abbott accused his Democratic opponent, then-Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, of profiting off her service in the Legislature through contracts between her law firm and public entities. Davis said her work for public entities, including the North Texas Tollway Authority, did not conflict with her role as a senator.

Abbott, who trounced Davis in November and was sworn in as governor last month, proposed far-reaching ethics reforms on the campaign trail but hasn’t talked much about it since. His next big opportunity will likely come next week when he delivers his “state of the state” speech to the Legislature.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

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

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Williams and the act of rigorous forgiving There’s something sad in Brian Williams’ need to puff up his Iraq adventures and something barbaric in the public response.

The sad part is the reminder that no matter how high you go in life and no matter how many accolades you win, it’s never enough. The desire for even more admiration races ahead. Career success never really satisfies. Public love always leaves you hungry. Even very famous people can do self-destructive things in an attempt to seem just a little cooler.

The barbaric part is the way we respond to scandal these days.

When somebody violates a public trust, we try to purge and ostracize him.

A sort of coliseum culture takes over, leaving no place for mercy. By now, the script it familiar: Some famous person does something wrong.

The Internet, the most impersonal of mediums, erupts with contempt and mockery. The offender issues a paltry halfapology, which only inflames the public more.

The pounding cry for resignation builds until capitulation comes. Public passion is spent, and the spotlight moves on.

I’ve only spoken with Williams a few times, and can’t really speak about the man (although I often appear on NBC News’ "Meet the Press"), but I do think we’d all be better off if we reacted to these sorts of scandals in a different way. The civic fabric would be stronger if, instead of trying to sever relationships with those who have done wrong, we tried to repair them, if we tried forgiveness instead of exiling.

Forgiveness is often spoken of in sentimental terms — as gushy absolution for everything, regardless of right or wrong. But many writers — ranging from Hannah Arendt and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to modern figures like Jeffrie Murphy and L. Gregory Jones — have tried to think hard about rigorous forgiveness, which balances accountability with compassion.

They’ve generally described four processes involved in forgiveness:

Pre-emptive Mercy King argued that forgiveness isn’t an act; it’s an attitude. We are all sinners. We expect sin, empathize with sin and are slow to think ourselves superior. The forgiving person is strong enough to display anger and resentment toward the person who has wronged her, but she is also strong enough to give away that anger and resentment.

In this view, the forgiving person makes the first move, even before the offender has asked.

She resists the natural urge for vengeance. Instead, she creates a welcoming context in which the offender can confess.

Judgment A wrong is an occasion to re-evaluate. What

“

DAVID BROOKS

is the character of the person in question?

Should a period of stupidity eclipse a record of decency?

It’s also an occasion to investigate each unique circumstance, the nature of each sin that was committed and the implied remedy to that sin. Some sins, like anger and lust, are like wild beasts.

They have to be fought through habits of restraint. Some sins like bigotry are like stains.

They can be expunged only by apology and cleansing. Some like stealing are like a debt.

They can be rectified only by repaying. Some, like adultery, are more like treason than like crime; they can be rectified only by slowly reweaving relationships.

Some sins like vanity — Williams’ sin — can be treated only by extreme self-abasement.

During the judgment phase hard questions have to be asked so that in forgiving we don’t lower our standards.

Confession and Penitence At some point the offender has to get out in front of the process, being more self-critical than anyone else around him. He has to probe down to the root of his error, offer a confession more complete than expected. He has to put public reputation and career on the back burner and come up with a course that will move him toward his own emotional and spiritual recovery, to become strongest in the weakest places.

COLUMN

We have to pay to slow change

By CASS SUNSTEIN BLOOMBERG NEWS

Are Americans worried about climate change? Do they want their government to regulate greenhouse gases? A recent survey — from Stanford University, The New York Times and Resources for the Future — found that strong majorities say "yes" to both questions.

But there’s a big catch, which isn’t getting the attention it deserves: A strong majority also say that they oppose increasing taxes on either gasoline or electricity in order to reduce climate change. That’s important, because any serious effort to lower emissions is going to raise prices (certainly in the short run).

The pattern of responses here is essentially the same as it was in the late 1990s, when the U.S. was debating

After judgments have been made and penitence performed, both the offender and offended bend toward each other. As King said, trust doesn’t have to be immediate, but the wrong act is no longer a barrier to a relationship. The offender endures his season of shame and is better for it. The offended are free from mean emotions like vengeance and are uplifted when they offer kindness. The social fabric is repaired.

Community solidarity is strengthened by the reunion.

I guess I think Brian Williams shouldn’t have to resign, for the reason that David Carr emphasized in The Times: Williams’ transgressions were not part of his primary job responsibilities. And because I think good people are stronger when given second chances.

But the larger question is how we build community in the face of scandal. Do we exile the offender or heal the relationship? Would you rather become the sort of person who excludes, or one who offers tough but healing love?

One answer is that many people believe companies can reduce emissions on their own, and without imposing costs on consumers.

(Unfortunately, that’s highly unrealistic.) Another is that, in surveys, most people express an immediate and strong aversion to higher taxes as the solution to climate change (or almost any other problem).

If the second answer is the right one, then there may be an opening for an adult conversation about the topic. If we are worried about climate change, surely we would be willing to pay something — at least if it isn’t a lot — to reduce the risk. According to some estimates, the U.S. could do a lot to reduce greenhouse gases if the average American paid a monthly energy tax, targeted to such emissions, of $10, along with an equivalent gasoline tax.

It would be interesting to

ask people whether they would be willing to pay such amounts — or just how much they might be willing to pay.

The recent survey does provide a clear lesson for national political campaigns: Candidates will have trouble if they decline to acknowledge climate change or say that they don’t want to address it. At the same time, they have to be wary of favoring initiatives that would impose significant costs on American consumers.

It’s much more effective to stress the potential benefits of new forms of clean, American-made energy — and to celebrate the moneysaving advantages of energy-efficient appliances and fuel-efficient cars. But effective campaigning is one thing; adult conversations are another, and they cannot avoid the question of cost.

COMMENTARY

Turning our backs on space

By MICHAEL J. NEUFELD

Reconciliation and Re-trust

whether to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. In one poll at the time, 59 percent of Americans favored ratification.

Indeed, a strong majority agreed with this extraordinary statement: "Protecting the environment is so important that requirements and standards cannot be too high and continuing environmental improvements must be made regardless of cost."

At the same time, a majority said they would oppose the Kyoto Protocol if it would cost them personally $50 per month. When that hypothetical monthly cost was raised to $100, almost 90 percent said they would oppose it.

How can most Americans be unwilling to pay to reduce a problem that they believe (as they indicated in the recent poll) will damage them personally?

THE WASHINGTON POST

Thanks to the New Horizons probe, which began its exploration of Pluto last month, scientists and the public can anticipate ever more exciting pictures and data about the dwarf planet. It will be the first en-

counter with a member of the Kuiper Belt of icy objects beyond Neptune. Yet the scheduled July 14 flyby will be of not one object but at least six: Pluto, Charon (a satellite half the size of Pluto) and four small moons — and who knows what else in orbit around their common center. Many

wonders and insights about the origins and evolution of the solar system await.

But this encounter may also mark the beginning of the end of a golden period of U.S. planetary exploration, particularly of our solar system’s outer reaches.

If marvelous things are found at Pluto, when would

the next mission follow up?

If we are to continue exploring our home system, Congress and the president need to commit to new funding. While the human spaceflight program falters from uncertainty, we know that planetary exploration provides enormous returns for the dollars invested.

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CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

Nation

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

US confirms death of Islamic State hostage

By ADAM GOLDMAN THE WASHINGTON POST

Photo by Sharon Steinmann/Al.com | AP

James Strawser, left, celebrates as attorneys announce that a federal judge set a hearing to consider a request to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Same sex marriage possible in Alabama

By KALYN WOLFE, RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA AND RICHARD FAUSSET NEW YORK TIMES

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether to order local officials here to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, as some Alabama counties granted the licenses for a second day, but most continued to refuse.

Late Monday, gay rights advocates asked Judge Callie V.S. Granade of U.S. District Court in Mobile to direct the probate judge here, Don Davis, to issue the licenses. The state’s second-most populous county, Mobile was by far the largest where officials refused to issue licenses to anyone Monday.

The state attorney general, Luther Strange, filed a response Tuesday, opposing the request.

The county Probate Court judges who issue the licenses have been caught in an unusual power struggle between state and federal jurists, sowing confusion as to how to proceed — confusion that now appears set to persist at least until Thursday’s hearing.

Granade ruled last month that Alabama’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. But Sunday night, Alabama’s chief justice, Roy S. Moore, ordered that marriage licenses not be granted to same-sex couples.

Lawyers who challenged the state’s ban, and many legal scholars, argue the law is clear that a

federal court order trumps the direction of Moore.

In some counties, including those that encompass the cities of Birmingham, Montgomery and Huntsville, probate judges granted licenses to same-sex couples for the first time Monday. Several smaller counties that had refused to issue licenses Monday changed course Tuesday and said they would, although it was not clear whether they had any takers. But 44 of Alabama’s 67 counties, including Mobile, still were not granting them, according to a tally kept by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group.

Granade’s decision striking down the state’s marriage law took effect Monday, and the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a request by state officials to stay that ruling, pending appeals.

Later that day, after Davis refused to issue licenses, same-sex marriage advocates asked Granade to hold him in contempt of court, but she turned down that request, partly on the basis that he was not a party named in the underlying lawsuits. On Monday night, lawyers filed two new actions, naming Davis and state officials as defendants, and asking Granade for a court order, but they did not ask her to hold Davis in contempt.

On Monday, lawyers for Davis petitioned the Supreme Court of Alabama for guidance regarding "the scope and the effectiveness" of Moore’s administrative order.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government has confirmed that Kayla Mueller, a 26-yearold American woman held hostage by the Islamic State in Syria, was killed, reaching that conclusion after the group sent pictures of her body to her family.

"We are heartbroken to share that we’ve received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller has lost her life," her parents said in a statement Tuesday. "Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace."

In a statement, President Barack Obama said that "it is with profound sadness that we have learned of the death of Kayla Jean Mueller. On behalf of the American people, Michelle and I convey our deepest condolences to Kayla’s family — her parents, Marsha and Carl, and her brother Eric and his family — and all of those who loved Kayla dearly. At this time of unimaginable suffering, the country shares in their grief."

The Islamic State announced Friday that Mueller was killed when a Jordanian fighter jet bombed the building where she was being held in the north-central Syrian city of Raqqa, the group’s de facto capital. It was the first time the Islamic State, a radical al-Qaida offshoot also known as ISIS or ISIL, had acknowledged publicly that it was holding the young woman.

Mueller’s family received an email message over the weekend with "additional information about her death," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. "That information was shared with the intelligence community, which "concluded that Kayla has, in fact, died."

Photo by Jarod Opperman | New York Times

Terri Crippes, left, and Lori Lyon, aunts of Kayla Mueller, speak at a news conference in Prescott, Ariz., Tuesday.

The information available to intelligence officials, Earnest said, "did not allow them to arrive at a conclusion about her precise cause of death" or when it occurred. He and other U.S. officials said they would not provide details of the pictures her family received "out of respect for the family."

U.S. and Jordanian officials have expressed strong skepticism that she was killed in an airstrike. Earnest repeated earlier Jordanian statements that the target hit in the Feb. 6 strike by the Jordanian air force — a building that militants showed in photographs posted online at the time they announced Mueller’s death — was a "weapons compound" near Raqqa that had also been hit in earlier strikes.

"The information that we have, because this airstrike was coordinated with the United States military, is that there was no evidence of civilians in the target area prior to the coalition airstrike taking place," Earnest said.

Mueller, of Prescott, Ariz., was abducted in August 2013 after leaving a hospital in the Syrian city of Aleppo. She had traveled to the region in late

2012 to help refugees trying to escape the civil war in Syria.

Mueller is the fourth American since August to die while being held hostage by the Islamic State. The group is still holding a British journalist.

Mueller’s parents had held out hope that their daughter was alive, issuing a statement Friday to her captors.

"This news leaves us concerned, yet, we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive," the family said. "We have sent you a private message and ask that you respond to us privately.

We know that you have read our previous communications."

The Mueller family also revealed Tuesday that their daughter had written a letter in the spring of 2014 in which she talked about the conditions of her captivity. She said she had come to terms with her situation but had not given up hope.

"None of us could have known it would be this long but know I am also fighting from my side in the ways I am able … I have a lot of fight left inside of me," she wrote. "I am not breaking down … I will not give in no matter how long it takes."

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

Allegations against Randle Ex-girlfriend says Cowboys rusher Joseph Randle pointed gun at her ASSOCIATED PRESS

WICHITA, Kan. — Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle brandished a gun, broke a car window and threw away a large amount of marijuana because police were coming, the mother of his infant son told a 911 dispatcher after an altercation at a Wichita hotel last week.

Recordings of three 911 calls — two of them made

by Randle’s former girlfriend, Dalia Jacobs — were provided to The Wichita Eagle through an open records request.

Officers arrived shortly before 3 a.m. Tuesday and didn’t find a weapon, but they did find a small amount of marijuana in a hotel room registered to Randle. He was cited for suspicion of drug possession and given a notice to appear in court, but the charge was later dismissed.

A Wichita police spokesman said the investigation was expanding because of inconsistencies in witness statements and that the drug charge and others could still be filed.

In the first call, Jacobs told the dispatcher Randle had “pointed the gun at the mother of his child,” without revealing she was that

Photo by Tim Ireland | AP

Dallas running back Joseph Randle has been accused by his ex-girlfriend of pointing a gun at her, as well as breaking a car window and throwing out a large amount marijuana before police arrived. woman.

“He has a lot of weed,” Jacobs said a short time later. “Joseph Randle just broke a window.”

She urged the dispatcher to get someone to the hotel “as soon as possible.” Eventually she admitted she was the mother of Randle’s son, but asked the dispatch-

er not to tell Randle who called 911. She told the dispatcher Randle had a gun in the trunk of his black Challenger, but he wasn’t outside the hotel with her.

“They’re throwing away the weed right now because they’re scared,” she said.

The call is cut short

when she says, “He’s coming! I have to go. I’m scared. Bye-bye.”

A second woman called 911 after that, urging the dispatcher to send help before uttering profanities and hanging up.

In the third call, Jacobs

told the dispatcher everything was a misunderstanding and that it wasn’t necessary to send officers, after all.

“You guys don’t have to worry about it,” Jacobs told the dispatcher. “We just talked it out. It’s fine.

Everything is fine. We just talked to him and he’s fine now. . Please don’t come.”

The dispatcher tells Jacobs he can’t stop the police from responding to a call involving a weapon, the Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/1DVj6tA) reported.

Jacobs insisted the car with the marijuana had left, and the gun was no longer there.

Jacobs requested a protective order Wednesday against Randle, who grew up in Wichita, accusing him of being physically and emotionally abusive toward her.

His attorney, Gary Ayers, issued a statement over the weekend that said Randle regrets being involved in a party that ended with the Wichita police being called.

“A woman who was present at the party has filed a protection from abuse lawsuit, which Randle believes to have no merit,” Ayers said. “Randle asked the woman to leave the party and go home, which she refused to do. Contrary to the woman’s allegations, Randle did not threaten her or brandish a gun at any time.”

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

Zentertainment

PAGE 7A

Stewart to leave ‘Daily Show’

By DAVID KNOWLES BLOOMBERG NEWS

For fake news, it is the end of an era, but one that Jon Stewart knew was fast approaching.

Stewart’s decision to step down as the host of “The Daily Show” was announced Tuesday in a statement from Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless.

For the better part of the last two decades, I have had the incredible honor and privilege of working with Jon Stewart," Ganeless said.

"His comedic brilliance is second to none. Jon has been at the heart of Comedy Central, championing and nurturing the best talent in the industry, in front of and

behind the camera.

Through his unique voice and vision, ‘The Daily Show’ has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come. Jon will remain at the helm of ‘The Daily Show’ until later this year. He is a comic genius, generous with his time and talent, and will always be a part of the Comedy Central family.”

For those paying attention to the changes at Comedy Central from the end of “The Colbert Report” to the spin off of John Oliver’s own HBO version of satirical news there was ample evidence that “The Daily

Show” empire was in the midst of undergoing a metamorphosis. Stewart’s foray into film directing proved to be the real catalyst for the comedian to contemplate a new career direction. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Stewart was asked whether it was hard to leave “The Daily Show” for three months to direct “Rosewater.”

“Let me think. No! I’ve got a great group of people there, and I knew John (Oliver) would be flawless his show is so great now, too so I was never left with any trepidation about it of ‘Oh no, what will happen?’ I knew. So, more or less, it was a gift that they gave.”

While Stewart said he did

not view making films as a wholly different endeavor from crafting fake news, it was clear from his interview that it had motivated him. “Well, I just view it as filmmaking, and not a separate profession from what I do on ‘The Daily Show.’ I just hope I’ll continue to do work that lights a fire underneath me a little bit and gets me excited.”

In the end, with his contract at Comedy Central set to expire this year, Stewart took stock of all that he had accomplished with “The Daily Show,” and decided that he, like Colbert, and all the other talented actors who had gotten their start on the show, was ready to follow another opportunity.

Photo by Brad Barket | AP file

This Nov. 30, 2011 file photo shows television host Jon Stewart during a taping of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" in New York.

PÁGINA 8A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve WBCA Carnaval del 12 al 23 de febrero. Lunes-viernes, puertas abren a las 5 p.m.; sábado-domingo, puertas abren a mediodía. Estacionamiento de Laredo Energy Arena. Costo: 2 dólares entrada.

El viernes 13 de febrero se realizará Comedy Jam for George presenta a ‘The Wolf’, ‘Ponchi Herrera’, ‘Matt Golightly’, ‘ Gibran The Comegician’, and ‘Jon Stringer’, a las 7 p.m. y 10 p.m. en Laredo Little Theatre.

Costo: 30 dólares. Audiencia El sábado 14 de febrero tendrá lugar la Carrera y Feria de la Salud Founding Father’s, comienza a las 8:30 a.m. La inscripción en el lugar comenzará a las 7:30 a.m. Costo día del evento es de 20 dólares, niños menores de 16 años pagarían 10 dólares.

También en el sábado 14 de febrero se realizará el Family Fun Fest y musical de LCC se realizará de 12 p.m. a 5 p.m. en el campus de Laredo Community College.

Entrada gratuita.

Evento Pipes & Stripes Car, de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. el sábado 14 de febrero en El Metro Park & Ride (en Thomas y Hillside).

AVISO DE TRÁFICO Continúa el proyecto de ampliación sobre US 83 y las líneas divisorias del Condado de Webb y Zapata. Este proyecto utilizará un control de tráfico para construir las transiciones de carreteras en las líneas divisoras del Condado de Webb/Zapata para los carriles del norte y sur, por lo que se pide a los conductores a poner atención y obedecer las señales de tráfico para evitar accidentes. Los trabajos continuarán hasta el 6 de marzo.

TORNEO DE PESCA El torneo de pesca de bagre Falcon Lake Babe —International Catfish Series— para damas solamente, se llevará a cabo el sábado 14 de febrero.

La serie de cinco torneos que se realizan mensualmente desde noviembre finalizará con una ronda de campeonato en el mes de marzo.

El torneo es un evento individual que permite hasta tres concursantes por embarcación. Las participantes deberán pagar la cuota de participación en los cinco torneos para tener derecho a la ronda de campeonato.

Las inscripciones se realizan el viernes anterior al sábado del torneo en Beacon Lodge Rec. Hall. La cuota de inscripción es de 20 dólares por persona.

El siguiente torneo será el 7 de marzo para finalizar con la ronda de campeonato el 7 de marzo.

Para mayores informes comuníquese con Betty Ortiz al (956) 236-4590 o con Elcina Buck al (319) 239 5859.

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 09 de febrero, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

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

FRONTERA

Extienden plazo POR PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN— Las tropas de la Guardia Nacional enviadas a la frontera entre Texas y México durante el verano pasado, ahora están en alineadas para permanecer ahí indefinidamente, y no regresar a casa en marzo como estaba previsto, dijo el Vicegobernador de Texas, el republicano Dan Patrick, el miércoles.

El cambio llegó sólo cuatro semanas después de que Rick Perry, quien ordenó 1.000 elementos efec-

tivos de la Guardia Nacional para el Valle del Río Grande, en uno de sus últimos actos como gobernador de Texas, fuera reemplazado por un sucesor que ha prometido una defensa aún más dura para la seguridad fronteriza.

El gobernador Greg Abbott no asistió al anuncio y no se han formalizado planes. Pero un extenso despliegue de elementos es la última señal de que el nuevo liderazgo conservador de Texas planea gastar en seguridad fronteriza, incluso al tiempo que reconoce que los cruces ilegales han disminuido dramá-

ticamente.

Patrick, quien también asumió el cargo en enero, no quiso decir cuántas tropas continuarían. Dijo que el mantenimiento de la misión durante mayo costaría un extra de 12 millones de dólares, y que espera que Abbott haga un llamado para gastos de emergencia, para mantener la guardia en la frontera hasta agosto.

“No podemos retroceder ahora”, dijo Patrick. “Bajo ninguna circunstancia debemos tener una retirada completa de la Guardia Nacional, el próximo mes”.

La guardia comenzó a retirarse poco a poco hasta la fecha límite de marzo y se redujo a 200 soldados en la frontera el mes pasado.

Perry ordenó el despliegue durante lo que el presidente Barack Obama llamó a una “crisis humanitaria” de decenas de miles de niños no acompañados que entran en EU desde Centroamérica. Perry dijo que el músculo adicional era necesario para combatir los criminales que eran explotados mientras los agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza están desbordados y distraídos por el aumento de los niños.

RIBEREÑA

TAMAULIPAS

Eventos dejan 3 muertos

RECIBIRÁN ENTRENAMIENTO

TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

La muerte de tres personas y el arresto de otras tres, además del decomiso de armas y municiones, fueron el resultado de tres enfrentamientos entre civiles armados y elementos policiales.

Fue alrededor de las 11:45 p.m. del domingo, que oficiales militares supuestamente fueron atacados en la carretera ReynosaMatamoros, en el entronque de la Brecha 124 del municipio de Río Bravo, por civiles armados a bordo de una camioneta Chevrolet Tahoe color negra y una camioneta Chevrolet Equinox, ambas con placas de Texas.

Tras los ataques un sospechoso de entre 25 y 30 años de edad, murió. El hombre no ha sido identificado.

Además se decomisaron dos armas largas, 440 cartuchos, 22 cargadores, poncha-llantas, dos pecheras y un chaleco antibalas, entre otros objetos.

El lunes, a las 9 a.m., elementos de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional y Policía Federal del municipio de Reynosa, México, reportaron haber sido atacados por personas armadas a bordo de una camioneta Chevrolet, a la salida de la certera a San Fernando. Al responder a la agresión, militares abatieron a dos presuntos agresores. Hasta el momento no han sido identificados.

Tras el enfrentamiento, oficiales arrestaron a un tercer individuo, identificado como Abraham Linares, de 29 años de edad. En el lugar se aseguraron dos armas largas, un lanza-granadas, cartuchos y cargadores.

Elementos policiales arrestaron a Iván Bladimir Niño Orozco y José Luis Gutiérrez Hernández en el municipio de Miguel Alemán, México, acusados de atentar contra la seguridad de la comunidad. Se les decomisó 39 poncha-llantas y un radio de comunicación.

Ambos fueron detenidos en la Colonia Educación cuando los policías estatales realizaban un operativo en planteles educativos, percatándose de la presencia de los dos jóvenes en los momentos en que arrojaban poncha-llantas sobre la avenida.

Foto de corteía | Gobierno de Tamaulipas

El Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú, deseo buena suerte a 250 elementos policiales que ahora se encuentran cursando un entrenamiento táctico en el campo militar de Mazaquiahuac, Tlaxcala.

250 policías partieron a campo militar TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

U

n contingente de 250 elementos policiales partió hacia un campo militar en Mazaquiahuac, Tlaxcala, para recibir entrenamiento, el domingo por la mañana después de una ceremonia de despedida por parte de autoridades de Tamaulipas, señala un comunicado.

La explanada del Complejo de Seguridad Pública de Ciudad Victoria, México, fue el punto de reunión del Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú, los elementos policiales, sus familias y otras autoridades gubernamentales.

En 2014 hubo 3 contingentes

que fueron entrenados en el Centro Especializado en Capacitación y Adiestramiento. Los contingentes, en conjunto, suman 1.000 policías estatales entrenados, sostiene un comunicado de prensa.

“Esta capacitación responde a las actuales necesidades que presenta nuestro Estado. (Los oficiales) llegan con una nueva actitud, se ponen la camiseta, son reconocidos por la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, van con buena disposición y motivados”, dijo Arturo Gutiérrez García, Secretario de Seguridad Pública, a través de un comunicado.

Despedida La señora Martha ve a su hijo subir al autobús cargando una

mochila y distinguiéndose por lo impecable de su uniforme negro.

“Siempre soñó con ser policía, estamos orgullosos de él y de todos sus compañeros. Ellos son los héroes que Tamaulipas necesita”.

Familiares, amigos y vecinos despidieron al grupo de policías.

“Mi hermano tiene turno de noche, la gente duerme tranquila, saben que él vela su sueño en su ronda por las calles, auxiliando a quien lo llame sin importar los riesgos latentes”, dijo Martina, hermana de un oficial que partió al campo militar. Dijo que ésta profesión demanda mucho valor, pero que le ayuda mucho el profesionalismo y la capacitación que ha tenido como policía estatal.

ECONOMÍA

Reportan aumento en oferta de empleo

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 23 de febrero, los Comisionados de la Corte del Condado de Zapata realizarán su junta quincenal en la Sala de la Corte del Condado de Zapata, a partir de las 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.

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

MIÉRCOLES 11 DE FEBRERO DE 2015

POR CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER ASSOCIATED PRESS

Foto por Victor Strife/archivo | Laredo Morning Times

En la imagen se observa a solicitantes utilizan el centro de computación para presentar su solicitud durante una feria del trabajo de Lewis Energy en las oficinas del Workforce Solution of South Texas.

WASHINGTON — El número de plazas vacantes aumentó en diciembre a su mayor nivel en 14 años, una señal de que el fuerte aumento reciente del empleo continuará.

El Departamento del Trabajo informa que las plazas en oferta aumenta-

ron 3,7% a una cifra ajustada por estación de 5 millones, la más alta desde enero de 2001. La contratación total también aumentó 1,9% a 5,1 millones.

Pero más personas también dejaron sus trabajos, una señal de confianza en el mercado laboral, porque por lo general eso sucede cuando ya tienen otro empleo a la vista, casi siem-

pre con un salario mayor.

Las cifras reflejan el informe mensual de empleo de la semana pasada, que mostró que las empresas están contratando a un ritmo robusto e incluso pagando más. Las empresas agregaron 257.000 empleos en enero, y los salarios aumentaron al ritmo mensual más elevado en seis años.

International

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

India’s Aam Aadmi Party sweeps election

By GARDINER HARRIS AND ELLEN BARRY NEW YORK TIMES

NEW DELHI — Less than a year after Narendra Modi won a historic victory to become India’s prime minister, a smaller political earthquake struck the capital Tuesday as a young political organization led by an anticorruption crusader trounced Modi’s governing party in local elections.

The Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man Party, won 67 of the 70 seats in the Delhi Legislative Assembly, far more than polls or even the most enthusiastic of the party’s supporters had predicted. Aam Aadmi is led by Arvind Kejriwal, a former tax examiner who rose to fame as a campaigner against graft and refashioned himself into a defender of this city’s lowest social strata.

For Modi, the Delhi results represent the first resounding defeat since his Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, won an outright majority in the lower house of India’s parliament in May, the largest such majority in 30 years. In that election, the party won all seven parliamentary seats in Delhi, and as recently as December, polls had indicated that BJP would win the Delhi elections handily.

But despite a string of successful foreign trips, Modi’s government has yet to demonstrably revive India’s economy, which is producing a fraction of the jobs needed for the roughly 12 million Indians who come of age annually. This latest election, in which BJP took just three seats, is the first sign that voters may be losing patience, analysts say. Some also suggested Kejriwal’s "common man" image resonated in New Delhi, despite his frequent political missteps.

Hoping to take advantage of what they saw as Modi’s enormous personal appeal, BJP had used Modi’s image and presence throughout the campaign. In speeches, Modi had vilified Kejriwal, and Modi’s picture was the dominant image on full-page newspaper ads in the days leading up to the vote.

Photo by Tsering Topgyal | AP

Supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, celebrate their party’s victory in New Delhi, India, Tuesday.

The upstart anti-corruption party has won a smashing victory in elections to install a state government in India’s capital.

Still, commentators disagreed Tuesday about how badly Modi and his party would be wounded by the Delhi results, with some suggesting it was just a hiccup in BJP’s effort to become the new dominant national party.

They said the Delhi contest was just one of many state elections — BJP had already done well in four state elections since Modi came to power — and the party’s loss was the result of tactical missteps rather than a fundamental rejection of its message and leader.

But others suggested Modi’s loss was more fundamental and that his honeymoon with India’s voters had ended.

Kejriwal briefly served as Delhi’s chief minister a year ago, but he resigned after just 49 days, leaving the running of the state to a centrally appointed governor. The move was one of many apparent miscalculations Kejriwal has made since coming to prominence, including a cantankerous split with his first political patron and, last year, a decision to create a national party that would compete across India for parliamentary seats, which

largely failed.

But Kejriwal’s oft-repeated apologies for resigning and a 70point manifesto he developed for the election — promising to improve the lives of Delhi’s vast underclass through a crackdown on corruption, as well as by providing cheaper electricity and free water — resonated strongly across the sprawling capital region.

The Delhi results also deepened the crisis engulfing the once-dominant Indian National Congress party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years until 2013 but failed to win a single seat Tuesday despite vigorous campaigning by Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

Kejriwal managed to outmaneuver Modi on multiple levels, not only projecting himself as the true agent of change but also as a man from humble circumstances. Modi’s party won last year in part by trumpeting his upbringing as the child of a tea seller, a modest background that contrasted sharply with that of Gandhi. But recently, Modi has been seen wearing a suit with pinstripes made from the repeat-

ed printing of his own name, reported to have cost $17,000. Kejriwal, by contrast, is known as "the muffler man" for his modest attire and his ungainly habit of wrapping his head in a scarf to stay warm.

Showered by rose petals and raucous chants from hundreds of well-wishers who thronged the alley outside his party’s headquarters Tuesday, Kejriwal appeared on a third-floor balcony flanked by his wife and closest aides.

"This is the triumph of truth.

Neither do we have money, nor do we have any resources," Kejriwal said. "But it’s scary. This huge mandate begets responsibility in its wake. I would like to request all party workers to remain humble and not indulge in the slightest bit of pride."

Kejriwal said he would take the oath as chief minister Saturday at Ramlila Maidan, a field where he helped stage vast anticorruption protests in 2011.

Half of India’s population is younger than 25, and Aam Aadmi has become the party of the young, with thousands of students from around India volun-

teering as canvassers.

Nishtha Sood, 24, came from the southeastern state of Jharkhand because she saw Kejriwal as the answer to the routine corruption that she said had cost her father his land.

"What other choice do we have if we want a corruptionfree government?" Sood asked.

Kejriwal’s vow to crack down on small-scale corruption has particular resonance among slum dwellers. The vast majority of Delhi’s cycle rickshaw drivers and street hawkers, for example, do not have permits and are routinely pressured for small bribes by constables who often pay bribes to land their jobs.

Soni, a woman with one name who sells flatbread from a tiny brick oven set up on a back street, said before Aam Aadmi’s rise, her family used to pay 1,000 rupees a month — roughly a quarter of their earnings — in bribes to the police and licensing officials so her business would not be shut down.

"I voted for the broom," she said Tuesday, referring to Aam Aadmi’s ubiquitous symbol. "He is the man who helps the poor."

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of the state of West Bengal and a fierce critic of Modi, tweeted Tuesday that the results were a "turning point" and "a big defeat for the arrogant and those who are doing political vendetta & spreading hate among people."

A spokeswoman for Modi’s party, Meenakshi Lekhi, said the Delhi rout "is a small loss and a big lesson," adding that the party would reflect in coming days on what happened.

The courtyard of the headquarters of the once-powerful Congress party was nearly deserted Tuesday. Ajay Maken, the head of the Delhi campaign, tendered his resignation Tuesday morning and left. P.C. Chacko, general secretary in charge of the Delhi elections, sat at his desk sipping tea.

"In fact, we have been expecting at least a few seats in Delhi," Chacko said. "We were really not prepared. We didn’t have our organization structure intact."

Germany toughens tone with Greece

By NIKOS CHRYSOLORAS AND RAINER BUERGIN BLOOMBERG NEWS

Germany and Greece drew battle lines ahead of an emergency meeting of official creditors today, setting the stage for a clash.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble doused expectations of a positive outcome for Greece at the meeting in Brussels, saying there

are no plans to discuss a new accord or give the country more time. Greece’s new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was defiant, saying there is no way back for his government, and that he wants a new agreement that wont subject his people to more pain.

Tsipras said in a speech before a vote of confidence in parliament that he wants an accord that is in the mutual interest of Greece and its

partners, one that will end punitive terms and the destruction of the Greek economy.

The discord risks roiling Greek markets again after they were buoyed by optimism on Tuesday that there might be room to move toward an agreement. Greek government bonds rose for the first time in five days and the benchmark Athens Stock Exchange Index advanced 8 percent.

Speaking to reporters in Istanbul yesterday after a twoday meeting of finance chiefs from the Group of 20, Schaeuble said it’s over if Greece doesnt want the final tranche of the current aid program.

Greece’s creditors also can’t negotiate about something new, Schaeuble said. Any accord would require an easing of Germany’s stance in the standoff between Greece and its creditors.

Photo by Rodrigo Abd | AP

Posters announcing a march to commemorate the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, are seen on a window in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday.

New DNA test ordered for prosecutor

By JONATHAN GILBERT NEW YORK TIMES

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The judge overseeing an investigation into the mysterious death of a federal prosecutor here last month has asked forensic experts to identify DNA traces found at his home, it was revealed Tuesday.

The prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, was found dead of a gunshot wound last month at his apartment, hours before he was expected to talk to lawmakers about his accusations that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had conspired to derail his investigation into the fatal bombing of a Jewish community center here in 1994.

In the case, which has convulsed Argentina, it is unclear whether Nisman committed suicide or was killed. Judge Fabiana Palmaghini said the DNA did not belong to Nisman. The traces were found on a coffee cup in the kitchen sink, according to local news reports.

Diego Lagomarsino, an aide to Nisman, said he made himself coffee when he visited the prosecutor the day before he was found dead to take him a .22-caliber Bersa pistol. Lagomarsino, who is charged with lending Nisman the pistol that fired the bullet that killed him, said Nisman had sought a weapon for protection. Until now, only Nisman’s DNA traces had been found on items taken from his apartment for laboratory tests.

Local news media reported that tests found no gunpowder residue on Nisman’s hands, corroborating previous results. But ballistics experts say the Bersa pistol might not have left residue.

Agreement on Ukraine cease-fire

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN NEW YORK TIMES

MOSCOW — Negotiators meeting in Minsk, Belarus, reached a tentative deal for a cease-fire in Ukraine on Tuesday night, setting the stage for a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France to sign the agreement Wednesday, according to media reports.

The preliminary talks Tuesday came after a rush of diplomatic activity late last week, as fighting flared up in eastern Ukraine between Russianbacked separatists and the Ukrainian military.

The diplomacy included a surprise visit to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, François Hollande, who met with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine in hopes of reviving a September truce agreement that never took hold.

Merkel and Hollande then traveled to Moscow on Friday where they met with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

The Ukrainian side had been insisting that any agreement adhere to the September accord, which called for an end to fighting and a withdrawal of heavy weapons, and established a cease-fire line according to military positions at the time.

Putin and the separatist leaders were apparently seeking new lines based on recent advances by separatist forces.

The terms of the tentative

Photo by Sergei Grits | AP

Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, left, and Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov speak to each other after their talks in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday. deal reached in Minsk, which were first reported by the Russian news agency TASS and BelTa, a Belarusian news agency, were not immediately available.

It had been uncertain if Wednesday’s gathering of the four world leaders would go forward, as the preliminary meeting, including representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the self-declared separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, continued late Tuesday.

Participants in those talks included the former Ukrai-

nian president Leonid M. Kuchma, who has been representing Poroshenko; the Russian ambassador to Ukraine, Mikhail Y. Zurabov; Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian political operative who is a close friend of Putin’s; Denis Pushilin of the Donetsk separatist group; Vadislav Deinego of the Luhansk group; and Heidi Tagliavini, a representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has helped moderate the talks.

After midnight, the Russian news agency Interfax re-

ported an agreement had yet to be reached, citing an unnamed source.

Earlier Tuesday, Poroshenko held a series of high-level diplomatic consultations including calls with President Barack Obama, President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland, and the Swedish prime minister, Stefan Leuven.

A statement put out by Poroshenko’s office said the call with Obama focused on "the need for a cease-fire and peaceful settlement based on implementation of the Minsk arrangements."