The Zapata Times 3/4/2015

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Congress fully funds DHS Bill funds department through Sept.; does not address immigration

By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE

The 8,900 U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed on Texas’ border with Mexico can clock in next week knowing they’re still going to get paid after Congress Tuesday voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security through September.

The change of course

by the U.S. House came four days after a tumultuous last-minute compromise in which members agreed to fund the agency for only one week to allow Republicans another shot at blocking President Obama’s executive order on immigration.

But after mounting pressure from agency officials and some House Republicans, Speaker John

Tuesday’s vote means the fate of the president’s executive order on immigration … will be determined by the federal courts.

Boehner, R-Ohio, agreed to let members vote on a U.S. Senate bill that funds

the department through the end of the fiscal year without addressing the

LAREDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE

immigration order. The "clean" funding measure passed 257 to 167.

“In this time of extreme threats and unrest around the world, it is unthinkable that we would not fully fund the department that protects us from those threats,” Congressman Henry Cuellar, D-Zapata said. “Today’s showing of 257 bipartisan votes for full funding of DHS

showed that we can put politics aside and do what’s right for our nation’s national security.

The Department of Homeland Security can now continue their work protecting our nation, and the hard working men and women that work for the department can continue their work without

See DHS PAGE 11A

COLONIAS

President’s evaluation forthcoming

LEFT IN LIMBO

Last few months have been a mess for Maldonado, LCC board

By JUDITH RAYO THE ZAPATA TIMES

It’s been a long time coming, but the evaluation of LCC President Juan Maldonado will finally take place tonight.

His evaluation was first placed on hold after Mercurio Martinez, Laredo Community College trustee, filed a temporary restraining order against former board president Hilario Cavazos on Dec. 12.

The temporary restraining order was filed after Martinez saw Cavazos was set to discuss the employment contract of two college employees.

Amid the lawsuit, Maldonado, in an email to trustees, stated he planned to retire in August. His contract expires August 2016.

But right after Cavazos and LCC trustee Jesse Porras were unseated by Michelle De La Peña and Jackie Ramos, respectively, during the runoff election, Maldonado retracted his comments.

According to emails obtained by Laredo

MALDONADO Morning Times, Maldonado was offered a “contract buyout offer.” The offer came from LCC board of trustees’ attorney Rusty Meurer for the amount of $300,000.

Maldonado, in an email sent to LCC trustees, counter-offered, requesting a satisfactory evaluation for the 20132014 school year, pay sick leave and vacation leave amounts, pay up to $10,000 for moving expenses, and make him eligible for a 1.5 percent salary increase and $3,000 bonus that all fulltime employees in good standing received during

See COLLEGE PAGE 11A

Photo by Jennifer Whitney | Texas Tribune

A young girl plays outside her home in the Pueblo de Palmas colonia near Mission, Texas, on Aug. 29, 2013.

Program asks lawmakers to define areas

By ALEXA URA TEXAS TRIBUNE

F

or decades, Texas has worked to halt the proliferation of colonias — unincorporated, impoverished communities along the U.S.-Mexico border that lack basic amenities like water service and paved streets.

And despite the state spending millions of dol-

lars, it’s difficult to gauge whether it has made significant progress in improving life in these communities.

That’s because the state has no way to declassify communities that have incorporated or acquired these basic amenities.

Colonias, which date back to the 1950s, exist in the four states that share a border with Mexico.

They were created by ca-

gey real estate developers who sold cheap tracts of low-quality land to poor, mostly Hispanic migrants. With more than 400,000 residents living in its colonias, Texas is home to the largest colonia population and has the highest number of colonias with more than 1,400 in the state.

The state has poured money into these com-

munities, providing funding for paved roads and to connect to water and wastewater systems.

But the Colonia Initiatives Program, which is overseen by the secretary of state’s office, has no way to remove developed communities from the state’s colonia database.

For years, the program has asked lawmak-

See COLONIAS PAGE 11A

OIL

Lifting export ban would boost industry

By SEAN COCKERHAM MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON — As the number of U.S. drilling rigs plummets by a third and thousands in the industry face layoffs, oil companies are focusing on an effort to persuade Congress to lift the longstanding ban on oil exports.

"We shouldn’t put domestic producers at a competitive disadvantage by limiting the available markets," Ryan Lance, CEO of Texas-based ConocoPhillips, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, also

The international market price, known as Brent, is $10 a barrel higher than the benchmark price for U.S. crude sales, West Texas Intermediate. based in Texas, was making the same push Tuesday in front of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power, arguing the industry’s struggles with low oil prices are worsened because companies aren’t allowed to ship American crude oil to foreign nations.

Oil prices across the globe have plummeted because of a supply glut driven by surging American production, which has in turn led to companies slashing costs and laying off workers. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predicts 140,000 jobs in Texas alone could be

lost by next year as the reverberations of the oil slowdown ripple throughout other parts of the state economy.

Energy companies worldwide are hurting. But the international market price, known as Brent, is $10 a barrel higher than the benchmark price for U.S. crude sales, West Texas Intermediate.

"If current trends continue and the export ban is not lifted, U.S. shale oil production will flatten or decline by disproportionate volumes versus our overseas competitors, diminishing the profound benefits of the

See OIL PAGE 11A

LANCE

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association. 11 a.m.

Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall. Speaker will be Dr. Jane Unzeitig.

Today is Wednesday, March 4, the 63rd day of 2015. There are 302 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term of office; with the end of the Civil War in sight, Lincoln declared, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”

On this date: In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York. (The lawmakers then adjourned for lack of a quorum.)

In 1791, Vermont became the 14th state.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th president of the United States.

The Confederate States of America adopted as its flag the original version of the Stars and Bars.

In 1913, the “Buffalo nickel” officially went into circulation.

In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge’s inauguration was broadcast live on 21 radio stations coast-to-coast.

In 1952, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis were married in San Fernando Valley, California.

In 1974, the first issue of People magazine, then called People Weekly, was published

by Time-Life Inc.; on the cover was actress Mia Farrow, then co-starring in “The Great Gatsby.”

In 1989, Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. announced plans for a huge media merger.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that sexual harassment at work can be illegal even when the offender and victim are of the same gender.

Ten years ago: American troops in Iraq fired on a car carrying just-freed Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, killing Nicola Calipari, the intelligence officer who’d helped negotiate her release and injuring the reporter.

Five years ago: A Hollister, California, man with a history of severe psychiatric problems opened fire at a Pentagon security checkpoint; John Patrick Bedell, 36, wounded two police officers before being killed by police.

One year ago: President Barack Obama submitted a $3.9 trillion budget for fiscal 2015. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in Ukraine with the new government’s leaders in a show of support following Russia’s military incursion into the Crimean Peninsula.

Today’s Birthdays: Actress Paula Prentiss is 77.

Movie director Adrian Lyne is 74. Author James Ellroy is 67.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is 65. Musician Emilio Estefan is 62. Movie director Scott Hicks is 62. Actress Catherine O’Hara is 61. Actress Patricia Heaton is 57. Actor Steven Weber is 54. Rock musician Jason Newsted is 52. Rapper Grand Puba is 49. Actress Patsy Kensit is 47. Gay rights activist Chaz Bono is 46. Actress Andrea Bendewald is 45.

Country singer Jason Sellers is 44. Jazz musician Jason Marsalis is 38. Actress Jessica Heap is 32. TV personality Whitney Port is 30. Actress Andrea Bowen is 25. Actress Jenna Boyd is 22.

Thought for Today: “I do not understand the world, but I watch its progress.” — Katherine Anne Porter, American author (1894-1980).

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket, 6 p.m.

Extreme Planets, 7 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

SATURDAY, MARCH 7 Texican CattleWomen’s Steak-aRama. In Memory of Mary Kay & Gene Walker. Steak dinner with all the trimmings. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Laredo International Fair & Exposition on Hwy. 59. Donation: $7. Tickets from any CattleWoman member, LIFE Office (U.S. Highway 59), Guerra Communications (6402 N Bartlett Ave. at Jacaman Road) or Primped Style Bar, 7718 McPherson).

The Laredo Northside Market Association will hold its March market day by the playground at North Central Park from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Arts and crafts tent for boys and girls and a special drawing for boys and girls prizes. See Laredo Northside Market at facebook.com.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Earth, Moon and Sun, 3 p.m. Black Holes, 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 956-326-DOME (3663).

MONDAY, MARCH 9 The Laredo Stroke Support Group will be holding its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the San Martin de Porres Church Family LifeCenter. www.laredostrokesupport.com for more information.

TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Spring Break Shows: The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Earth, Moon and Sun, 3 p.m. Black Holes, 4 p.m. Admission is $3. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

The Greens of Guadelupe are accepting donations for rummage sale from March 9 to 12, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Virgin of Guadalupe Church hall on 1700 San Francisco.

Clothing, furniture, jewelry and more accepted. Contact Birdie at 286-7866 for more information.

TUESDAY, MARCH 10 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Spring Break Shows: The Little Star that Could, 2 p.m. Earth, Moon and Sun, 3 p.m. Black Holes, 4 p.m. Admission is $3. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

FRIDAY, MARCH 13 Cesar Chavez Memorial Alliance Art Competition Exhibit. Doors open at 6 p.m. Laredo Civic Center meeting rooms. $5 for students and $10 for adults. $500 in cash prizes for art competition winners. Manuel Bocanegra at 775-7027 or Anna Marie at 508-9255.

The 8th Anniversary of the Guadalupe Greens Rummage Sale from 7 a.m. till 1 p.m. at the Virgin of Guadalupe Church Hall, 1700 Guadalupe. Rummage is another form of recycling. Call Birdie at 286-7866 for more information.

Photo by Eric Gay | AP

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, center, leaves a news conference with Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, right, and Sen. Eddie Lucio, left, after they presented a package of bills outside the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Tuesday, in Austin, Texas. The bills include a plan to issue A-F grades for individual public schools.

Lawmakers eye education

By WILL WEISSERT ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Top legislative conservatives clamoring for Texas to adopt a school choice voucher plan proposed a series of other education changes instead Tuesday that are less controversial but could still spark heated debates.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor presented a package of bills including plans to issue A through F grades for individual public schools — rather than just giving letter grades to school districts, which lawmakers approved last session — and expanded online learning.

There are also proposals linking teacher pay raises to annual evaluations, and allowing parents to petition to close failing schools after just two years, instead of the

Man gets 50 years in fatal drive-by shooting

Gas leak blamed for Dallas home explosion

Father, daughter found shot to death at home

EDINBURG — A judge has sentenced a man to 50 years in prison for his involvement in the drive-by shooting death of a male teenager in Edinburg. Leonardo Moreno, 23, has been found guilty of murder in the 2012 death of 17-year-old Miguel Vazquez. The shooting happened after two underage girls were kicked out of a party. They were picked up by a van carrying five other people, including Moreno, which went back to the party and shot at a crowd.

DALLAS — Officials are blaming a gas line leak for an explosion that leveled half of a house in southeast Dallas. A 77-year-old female resident and her 39-yearold grandson were able to crawl from the rubble with only minor injuries from the blast shortly before 8 p.m. Monday.One of the two occupants switched on a light in a bathroom, triggering an explosion that leveled the eastern half of the house.

HOUSTON — Houston police say a father and his teenage daughter have been found shot to death at a vacant townhome a day after relatives reported them missing. Police say the bodies were located Tuesday morning in the complex where other family members live. Investigators say the case may involve a murder-suicide. A gun was recovered at the scene in a neighborhood in northern Houston.

LA JOYA — Officials say troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety seized more than 500 pounds of marijuana during two separate traffic stops. A trooper found 22 bundles of marijuana weighing 273 pounds in the vehicle of an 18year-old man on U.S. 83.

burning cross outside a Central Texas church. KXAN-TV reported Tuesday that the incident involves Smoking for Jesus Ministry in Burnet. The Burnet County Sheriff ’s Office says the charred wooden cross was found Sunday night propped up against the church’s sign.

Burning cross left outside San Antonio man gets life Central Texas church term for death of baby Texas troopers seize over BURNET — Investigators are SAN ANTONIO — A San An500 pounds of marijuana trying to determine who left a tonio man who told police he

TUESDAY, MARCH 17 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket, 5 p.m.

Extreme Planets, 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

FRIDAY, MARCH 20 TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Science Center Planetarium. Extreme Planets, 6 p.m. Live Star Presentation, 7 p.m. Admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff.

Call 956-326-DOME (3663).

punched his 2-month-old daughter because she would not stop crying must serve life in prison for her 2010 death. Dominique Reed was sentenced Monday in San Antonio. An autopsy indicated the girl had more than a dozen rib fractures.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

SATURDAY, MARCH 14 8th Anniversary of the Guadalupe Greens Rummage Sale from 7 a.m. till 1 p.m. at the Virgin of Guadalupe Church Hall, 1700 Guadalupe.

Rummage is another form of recycling. Call Birdie at 286-7866 for more information.

current five.

“Education is not a partisan issue,” said Taylor, a Republican from Friendswood.

Indeed, less outspoken Republicans and even Democrats and teachers groups have cheered some of those ideas in the past. But much of what was listed, especially teacher evaluations that would clash with traditional, seniority-based pay scales, and issuing individual schools around Texas ‘Fs’ should prove contentious.

“None of the proposals offered by Senator Taylor and the Lieutenant Governor would give teachers and students the time and resources they need to improve teaching and learning,” Texas State Teachers Association President Noel Candelaria said in a statement. Instead the group would like to see lawmakers fully restore $5.4 billion in cuts to classroom approved in 2011.

Georgia officials indecisive on execution ATLANTA — Georgia prison officials were indecisive about whether to proceed with a cloudy lethal injection drug, at one point saying they weren’t sure whether they checked “this week’s or last week’s” batch, according to court documents. Ultimately, they postponed the execution of Kelly Renee Gissendaner late Monday night. A day later, they decided to temporarily halt all executions until they could more carefully analyze the drug.

The cloudy drug bolstered death penalty opponents, who have been vocal in their opposition after several botched executions in other parts of the country.

Idaho Senate opens with Hindu prayer, 3 protest BOISE, Idaho — Three lawmakers refused to attend the Idaho Senate’s daily invocation after

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Death penalty opponents gather on the steps of the State Capitol in Atlanta, Ga., Monday to protest the death penalty and the planned execution of Kelly Gissendaner. objecting to the offering of a Hindu prayer. Rajan Zed, guest chaplain, gave a lengthy prayer in both English and Sanskrit on Tuesday that focused on selflessness and peace. Senators from both sides of the aisle shook his hand and thanked him for com-

ing. However three lawmakers, all Republican, only came back onto the floor once the prayer was over: Sens. Steve Vick of Dalton Garden, Sheryl Nuxoll of Cottonwood and Lori Den Hartog of Meridian.

— Compiled from AP reports

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Politics

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Clinton’s email eyed Netanyahu warns US

By JULIE PACE

By DEB RIECHMANN AND ARON HELLER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton is facing a new set of questions about ethics and transparency — the sort that have dogged her and husband Bill for decades.

The latest disclosure, that Clinton used a personal email account while serving as secretary of state, comes on the cusp of her likely second bid for president. Combined with recent news about her family foundation raising money from foreign governments while she was at the State Department, it added fresh fuel Tuesday to the longstanding charge the Clintons play by their own rules.

“Does she believe that leadership means acting outside the law?” said Carly Fiorina, the former technology executive who is weighing a 2016 GOP presidential bid. “Does she believe that leadership can exist without transparency?”

Clinton’s aides were quick to dispute the notion that there was anything illegal or improper about her use of a personal email account for government work, noting that she was hardly the first secretary of state to do so. Meanwhile, her allies praise the work of the Clinton Foundation — and note that it isn’t required to disclose its donors but does so anyway.

Still, for the Clintons, it’s difficult for complicated explanations about allegations to compete with the simplicity of political perception.

Bill Clinton’s rise through Arkansas politics and his two terms in the White House were sometimes accompanied by allegations of questionable business dealings and by ethics controversies, cul-

Photo by Kevin Lamarque | AP file

In this Oct. 18, 2011, file photo, Hillary Rodham Clinton checks her Blackberry from a desk inside a C-17 military plane. minating in his 1998 impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Hillary Clinton was caught up in some of them, including the Whitewater investigation into the couple’s real estate investments.

Officials at the Clinton Foundation did recently acknowledge an instance where they failed to seek State Department approval for a foreign government’s donation as required.

In the new matter, she provided the State Department with emails from her personal account last year when asked, but only she and the relevant members of her staff know if she turned over all of them.

“The presidency is ultimately about trust, and whether it’s this latest series of ethical lapses that have come to light or the decades of secrecy surrounding the Clintons, it’s clear Hillary Clinton is someone with an awful lot to hide,” asserted Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

Clinton provided the emails to the State Department after the department asked several former secretaries, including Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza

Rice, last year for records that should be preserved, said Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

Harf said the agency already had the “vast majority” of Clinton’s emails, because they were sent to or came from department employees using official addresses. No classified information was sent or received over the email account, she said.

“Like secretaries of state before her, she used her own email account when engaging with any department officials,” said Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill. “For government business, she emailed them on their department accounts, with every expectation they would be retained.”

People familiar with Clinton’s private email address said it was known to about 100 people, but was not widely distributed throughout the department. Clinton also used a private email account while in the Senate, though senators’ emails and other private records are not required to be archived.

The people familiar with her email spoke only under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

WASHINGTON — In a direct challenge to the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood before Congress on Tuesday and bluntly warned the U.S. that an emerging nuclear agreement with Iran “paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”

President Barack Obama pushed back sternly, saying the U.S. would never sign such a deal and Netanyahu was offering no useful alternative.

In the U.S. spotlight for a day, the Israeli leader showed no uncertainty.

“This is a bad deal. It is a very bad deal. We are better off without it,” he declared in an emotionally charged speech that was arranged by Republicans, aggravated his alreadystrained relations with Obama and gambled with the longstanding bipartisan congressional support for Israel.

Two weeks ahead of voting in his own re-election back home, Netanyahu took the podium of the U.S. House where presidents often make major addresses, contending that any nuclear deal with Iran could threaten his nation’s survival.

In a tone of disbelief, he said that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, “tweets that Israel must be annihilated — he tweets.”

Republicans loudly cheered Netanyahu in the packed chamber, repeatedly standing. Democrats were more restrained, frustrated with the effort to undercut Obama’s negotiations.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did little to hide her unease and later issued a blistering statement criticizing what she called Netanyahu’s condescension.

At the White House,

Photo by Doug Mills | New York Times

Audience members look on as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Obama said there was value in the current economic sanctions against Iran and also in the negotiations in Switzerland aimed at restraining Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Sanctions alone are not sufficient,” Obama said. “If Iran does not have some sense that sanctions will be removed, it will not have an interest in avoiding the path that it’s currently on.”

The administration says there is no deal yet, but Netanyahu insists he is privy to what is being put forth.

“If the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran, that deal will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. It would all but guarantee that Iran gets those weapons — lots of them,” he declared. He acknowledged that any deal would likely include strict inspections, but he said “inspectors document violations; they don’t stop them.”

Obama declined to meet with the leader of Israel, a key U.S. ally, during this visit. Vice President Joe Biden was on a trip to Central America and so his seat as president of the Senate was filled by Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah.

As Netanyahu spoke, Secretary of State John Kerry was holding a threehour negotiating session with Iranian Foreign Min-

ister Mohammad Javad Zarif in the Swiss resort of Montreux in hopes of completing an international framework agreement later this month to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

According to Netanyahu, the deal on the table offers two major concessions: Iran would be left with a vast nuclear infrastructure and restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program would be lifted in about a decade.

“It doesn’t block Iran’s path to the bomb,” Netanyahu thundered. “It paves Iran’s path to the bomb.”

He said the U.S. and the other five nations in talks with Tehran should keep pressuring with economic sanctions because Tehran needs the deal most.

“Now, if Iran threatens to walk away from the table — and this often happens in a Persian bazaar — call their bluff. They’ll be back, because they need the deal a lot more than you do.”

More than four dozen House and Senate Democrats said in advance they would not attend the event, highly unusual given historically close ties between the two allies. Pelosi issued a statement saying she was “near tears throughout the prime minister’s speech — saddened by the insult to the intelligence of the United States.”

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

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

EDITORIAL

OTHER VIEWS

How to live longer, in 100 annoying steps CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Want to live to age 115?

Emma Morano, an Italian woman born in 1899, shared her secrets: Eat three raw eggs every day, and stay single. Also, move to a milder climate.

"The doctor told me to change air," she told The New York Times. "And I’m still here."

Some more advice: Don’t sleep too much.

British researchers report in the journal Neurology that older adults who slept more than eight hours were 46 percent more likely to suffer strokes in the next decade than those who slept less, the Los Angeles Times reported.

This too: Relax! Having a bout of anxiety makes you nearly 10 times more likely to have a heart attack in the next two hours, according to research from Australia’s Sydney University.

But for goodness’ sake keep drinking coffee, even if it makes you anxious.

Americans who drink at least four cups of coffee a day are one-third less likely to develop multiple sclerosis than people who drink no coffee, the LA Times said, citing research to be presented to the American Academy of Neurology.

New dietary recommendations from a panel of experts in Washington concur that drinking coffee is fine, even three to five cups daily. The same report, noted by this page last week, supports Emma Morano’s conclusion about eating eggs: Stop worrying, because consuming high-cholesterol food doesn’t significantly affect blood cholesterol levels for many people.

So, got it? Raw eggs, keep calm, stay single,

move to a lakeside town in northern Italy, drink coffee, hit the sauna.

Oh, right, about the sauna. A Finnish study says men who use a sauna seven times a week are less likely to die of heart problems than are those who visit once a week, according to Canada’s Globe and Mail.

See a pattern here?

We’re drowning in advice (and drowning is not a recommended health tip).

The above studies and suggestions were culled from just a few weeks’ news reports. And there was much more out there: If you’re worried about the health of your kids, Swedish researchers say it’s better to wash the dishes by hand than use a dishwasher because introducing babies and children to bacteria boosts the immune system. Children and families who hand-wash the dishes are about 40 percent less likely to develop allergies, according to Livescience.com.

How to cope with all these suggestions and edicts?

Be skeptical. Canadian researchers looked at the World Health Organization’s role in giving advice about how to treat and prevent illness and found its recommendations were often based on low-quality evidence, according to Canada’s National Post.

But some rules for health certainly seems timeless: Eat healthy foods, do some exercise, watch your weight, don’t smoke, see a doctor.

And, finally this ancient wisdom attributed to the Roman playwright Terence: All things in moderation.

That includes how many health tips to follow.

EDITORIAL

US bears brunt for NATO PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE

An analysis of the 2015 spending plans of the countries in the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization indicates that the old problem of the United States bearing a disproportionate share of its cost is getting worse rather than better.

All NATO countries are pledged to spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product per year on defense. This commitment was repeated most recently at the September NATO summit in Wales and at a defense ministers’ conference in Brussels Feb. 5.

The reality is far from the promises, says a report prepared this month by the think tank European Leadership Network.

The U.S. finances 75 percent of NATO expenditures with a defense budget of $585 billion for 2015, or 3.6 percent of U.S. GDP. Only one other country, tiny Estonia, plans to meet the 2 percent commitment in 2015 as of now. The United Kingdom will be cutting its defense budget by 2.5 percent, putting it under the 2 percent level for the first time.

Six members — Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Romania — will increase

spending in 2015, although Romania will have to borrow from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to do so.

All remain under 2 percent. Six other countries — Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom — will cut defense spending.

France will remain even in 2015, but at 1.5 percent.

Turkey spent 1.7 percent in 2014. Little is expected of members with serious economic problems, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain.

What has been called "burden sharing" has been a problem for the United States since NATO’s founding in 1949. It is now becoming worse, even as the Europeans generally consider themselves threatened by the ambitions of Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin. It is particularly distressing for Americans to see Europe’s bigger dogs — France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom — put their domestic economic concerns ahead of European defense, particularly Germany with a 7 percent cut.

The real question is how long the American taxpayer is prepared to finance European countries’ defense.

COLUMN

Prison process progresses in punishment, preparation Over the years, several factors have influenced my interest in our Texas prison system.

A close proximity at times to the system, some friendships and a newsman’s natural curiosity (sometimes morbid) are among those factors bringing the process into my occasional view in a six-decade exposure to news events and newsmakers. It has often been fascinating viewing.

Naturally, major events — executions, prison breakout attempts (think Fred Gomez Carrasco) and court cases about the roles of the system — grab just about everyone’s attention. Longtime close observation reveals other facets that are much more interesting and fascinating.

My earliest exposure came through a couple of friendships.

As a college student in the mid- and late-1950s at Sam Houston State in Huntsville, being near the Walls Unit brought a certain amount of uneducated concern and the aforementioned morbid curiosity.

Then, there was a fellow journalism major and fellow sportswriter, John Ellis, whose father was director of the state prison system, ultimately to be known as the Texas Department of Corrections

(TDC). One of the farm units bears O.B. Ellis’ name. Often, John invited me to the director’s home, across the street from the base Huntsville Walls unit.

This poor country boy was enamored of John’s being able to pick up a small bell and summon an inmate trusty to fetch food and drink or to perform some nitpickingly nebulous service as we lounged in front of the TV watching a sporting event.

Age and some accompanying maturity over the years caused me to question whether an inmate working in such service was really learning anything worthwhile with regard to avoiding a life of crime and a return visit to prison (known as recidivism). While obviously the director’s home jobs were plums and offered significant hours away from lockup, it later occurred to me that the convicts (an unfavorable reference today) might want more out of life than occupation as a domestic.

Yet another college and later-in-life friendship

brought a more mature perspective of the criminal punishment process and its effect on reducing repeaters.

J.E. Clark was a fellow Sam Houston student, a fraternity brother and, later, a Baptist preacher.

Through his pastoral position, J.E. became interested in the prison system and ultimately used his training and degree to secure a challenging position with TDC. Prior to J.E.’s involvement, TDC had no programs to deter recidivism other than perhaps the threat of return to prison, either for breaking parole or, in the case of outright release, for committing a new crime and being sentenced to serve time again.

TDC chose an existing prison farm — the Harlem 2 unit at Sugar Land — as its pre-release center. It became a prison without guns because inmates were sent there six weeks prior to parole or outright release. The conventional wisdom was “if an inmate is about to be released, why do we need guns?”

That proved to be a wise, if calculated, move.

Harlem’s program included classes in driver’s education, how to apply for a job, fashion styles and how to dress in the “free world,” plus how to

mix and mingle in society.

That included visits to sporting events, to church and to civic meetings. Convicts (and unarmed guards) wore “civilian” clothing to all outside activities.

A very pleasing early result was that recidivism was reduced dramatically.

Previous statistics revealed that half of all inmates released would return to prison in two to three years. Recidivism was slashed by 33 percent within the first year of initiating pre-release, and that number was maintained for a significant period afterwards.

Over the years, the program, while not quite maintaining the one-third pace, has made a significant enough overall reduction to convince even serious detractors that preparing inmates to make a go of it in the outside world is beneficial to society.

And, now there is even an entrepreneurial program to teach those inmates who choose to enter it, to learn how to build their own business.

Corrections and the prison process have come a long way, baby.

Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters.

To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The

phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication.

We want to assure our

readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms.

Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-call-

ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed.

Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.

CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

Nation

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

Aid workers return to US

By DAVE KOLPACK ASSOCIATED PRESS

FARGO, N.D. — Four American missionaries who were released after several days of detention and questioning by Venezuelan authorities arrived home in North Dakota on Tuesday, saying they were glad to be back but hoped to return to the South American country someday.

The group from the Bethel Evangelical Free Church in Devils Lake, which has been sending missionaries to Venezuela for years to help needy, was handing out medicine and hearing aids in the town of Ocumare de la Costa last Wednesday when they were detained. The group, who was caught up in the escalating political tension between the U.S. and Venezuela, said they were told they didn’t have the necessary work visas, which they had never before been required to have.

“There was so much hyperbole, but I don’t want to speculate,” group leader Arlynn Hefta said when asked why they were detained.

Hefta, 62, who works as a hearing aid dispenser in North Dakota, broke down when talking about the afternoon Venezuelan soldiers armed with rifles came into the church where the Americans had set up a clinic. It was shortly thereafter that up to 300 villagers surrounded the clinic and the soldiers.

Hefta said the Americans decided to comply with the soldiers so “nobody would get hurt” and were taken to a military outpost in the city of Maracay.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

Chinese women having US babies

By AMY TAXIN ASSOCIATED PRESS

IRVINE, Calif. — Federal agents searched three dozen homes Tuesday in California during a crackdown on so-called maternity tourism operators who arrange for pregnant Chinese women to give birth in the U.S., where their babies automatically become American citizens.

The investigation of three alleged birth tourism rings may be the biggest yet by federal homeland security agents who say that, while pregnant women may travel to the United States and deliver their babies here, they cannot lie about the purpose of their trip when applying for a visa.

Authorities believe people from other countries are carrying out similar schemes but recent cases in California have catered to wealthy visitors from China, most likely due to the country’s large population, recent economic boom and ties to the region. It is unclear how many women travel to the

Photo bby Jae C. Hong | AP

Federal agents enter an upscale apartment complex, Tuesday, in Irvine, Calif. Shortly after sunrise, federal agents swarmed the complex in Orange County.

United States for maternity tourism.

“It is fertile ground for this kind of scheme,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s homeland security investigations in Los Angeles. “These people were told to lie, how to lie, so that their motives for coming to

the U.S. wouldn’t be questioned.”

Shortly after sunrise, dozens of federal agents swarmed an upscale apartment complex in the Orange County city of Irvine, where authorities say a birth tourism business known as You Win USA Vacation Resort marketed to pregnant women who were then charged $50,000 for lodging, food and trans-

portation.

Investigators said women were coached to lie about their travel plans when applying for tourist visas and wear loose clothing to hide their pregnancies, and they were promised Social Security numbers and U.S. passports for their babies before returning to China.

In one instance, a trainer in China helped fabricate employment and income information for an undercover federal agent posing as a pregnant client to secure a tourist visa. The undercover agent was encouraged to fly through Hawaii, where customs officers were believed to be more lenient than in Los Angeles, according to a copy of an affidavit in support of a search warrant.

The business netted its owners hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past two years and helped Chinese tourists deliver more than 400 American babies at just one Orange County hospital, the court papers said.

No arrests were made or charges filed.

Nation

6A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

Petraeus pleads guilty

By MICHAEL BIESECKER AND ERIC TUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS

RALEIGH, N.C. — Former CIA Director David Petraeus, whose career was destroyed by an affair with his biographer, has agreed to plead guilty to charges he gave her classified material — including information on war strategy and identities of covert operatives — while she was working on the book.

The plea agreement carries a possible sentence of up to a year in prison and represents another blow to the reputation of the retired four-star Army general who led U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and was perhaps the most admired military leader of his generation.

Petraeus, 62, will plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. The agreement was filed in federal court Tuesday in Charlotte, where Paula Broadwell, the general’s biographer and former mistress, lives with her husband and children.

In court papers, prosecutors recommended two years of probation and a $40,000 fine. But the judge who hears the plea is not bound by that and could still impose a prison sentence. No immediate date was set for Petraeus to enter the plea.

As part of the deal, Petraeus agreed not to contest the set of facts laid out by the government.

Prosecutors said that while Broadwell was writing her book in Washington in 2011, Petraeus gave her eight binders of classified material he had improperly kept from his time as the top military commander in Afghanistan. Days later, he took the binders back to his house.

Among the secret materials contained in the “black books” was information on identities of covert operatives, the coalition war strategy and notes about Petraeus’ discussions with President Barack Obama

Photo by Charlie Riedel | AP file

In this Nov. 25, 2014 file photo, police officers watch protesters as smoke fills the streets in Ferguson, Mo.

Pattern of excessive force Photo by Cliff Owen | AP file

By MATT APUZZO

In this June 23, 2011, file photo, CIA Director nominee Gen. David Petraeus testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Intelligence Committee during a hearing on his nomination.

NEW YORK TIMES

and the National Security Council, prosecutors said.

Those binders were later seized by the FBI in a search of Petraeus’ Arlington, Virginia, home, where he had kept them in the unlocked drawer of a desk in a ground-floor study.

Prosecutors said that after resigning from the CIA, Petraeus signed a form falsely attesting he had no classified material. He also lied to FBI agents in denying he supplied the information to Broadwell, according to court documents.

Petraeus’ lawyer declined to comment. A telephone message left for Broadwell was not immediately returned. Her lawyer said he had no comment.

Petraeus admitted to the affair when he resigned as CIA director in November 2012. Both he and Broadwell have publicly apologized and said their romantic relationship began only after he had retired from the military.

Broadwell’s admiring biography of him, “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus,” came out in 2012, before the affair was exposed.

Petraeus held the CIA post less than a year, not long enough to leave a significant mark on the spy agency.

A Ph.D. with a reputation as a thoughtful strategist, Petraeus wrote the Army manual on counterinsurgency and was brought in by President George W. Bush to command multinational forces in Iraq in 2007, a period when the war began to turn in favor of the U.S. Petraeus presided over the “surge” of American forces in Iraq and a plan to pay Sunni militias to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.

He was then promoted to commander of U.S. Central Command, which has authority over the Middle East. When Gen. Stanley McCrystal was fired in 2010

by Obama as commander in Afghanistan after his staff made impolitic remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter, Petraeus was brought in to replace him.

Since his resignation as CIA director, Petraeus has slowly taken steps to re-enter public life, going on the speaking circuit, becoming a scholar at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and taking a position at a private equity firm.

If he manages to avoid prison, Petraeus will receive far more lenient punishment than that meted out to others convicted of leaking secrets.

In 2012, former CIA officer John Kiriakou pleaded

guilty to intentionally disclosing the identity of a covert agent to a reporter and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Petraeus, then CIA director, hailed the conviction.

“Oaths do matter, and there are indeed consequences for those who believe they are above the laws that protect our fellow officers and enable American intelligence agencies to operate with the requisite degree of secrecy,” he said at the time.

David Deitch, a former federal prosecutor who handled counterterrorism and national security issues, said those deciding Petraeus’ fate probably weighed his decades of service to the nation when considering his punishment. Also, a public trial might have revealed classified material the government would rather keep secret.

“What is achieved by sending David Petraeus to jail?” asked Deitch, now in private practice in Washington. “What will be achieved in terms of deterrence, in terms of punishment, in terms of rehabilitation? The conclusion is probably not much.”

WASHINGTON — Police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, have routinely violated the constitutional rights of the city’s black residents, the Justice Department has concluded in a scathing report that accuses the officers of using excessive force and making unjustified traffic stops for years.

The Justice Department, which opened its investigation after a white Ferguson police officer shot and killed a black teenager last summer, says the discrimination was fueled in part by racial stereotypes held by city officials. Investigators say the officials made racist jokes about blacks on their city email accounts.

Ferguson is a largely black city with a government and a police force that are mostly white. After the shooting of the teenager, Michael Brown, the city erupted in angry, sometimes violent protests and looting. Since then, Ferguson has been at the center of a national debate over race and policing that has drawn in President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric H.

Holder Jr. and FBI Director James B. Comey.

The report’s findings were summarized by a federal law enforcement official. The full report is expected to be released Wednesday. A separate report is expected to clear the officer, Darren Wilson, of any civil rights violations in the shooting of Brown.

Ferguson officials now face the choice of either negotiating a settlement with the Justice Department or potentially being sued by it on charges of violating the Constitution.

In compiling the report, federal investigators conducted hundreds of interviews, reviewed 35,000 pages of police records and analyzed race data compiled for every police stop. They concluded that, over the past two years, African-Americans — who make up about twothirds of the city’s population — accounted for 85 percent of traffic stops, 90 percent of citations, 93 percent of arrests and 88 percent of cases in which the police used force.

Black motorists were twice as likely as whites to be searched but were less likely to be found in possession of contraband such as drugs or guns.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM

Sports&Outdoors NCAA: TEXAS

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

UT adds loyalty points system

Bringing back Beasley

ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — Getting the best seats for University of Texas sporting events will be based on a new loyalty points system tied to how much a fan donates or spends on tickets.

The school on Tuesday said the system will help determine priority for season tickets, parking, postseason games and other high-demand events.

The 2015 football season ticket-renewal process will be the first use for loyalty points. Totals are based on full-season ticket history, seat-related contributions and philanthropic gifts.

Renewing foundation and season-ticket members earn points from past contributions and purchases since 1986. That’s when the Longhorn Foundation was established.

Five points are awarded per $100 contribution for philanthropic gifts received since Sept. 1. One point will be awarded per $100 contribution for all ticketed sports since 1987.

Cowboys re-sign WR for 4 years

By DREW DAVISON MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE

Wide receiver Cole Beasley is going to remain with the Dallas Cowboys for the foreseeable future after agreeing to a four-year contract to stay with his hometown team, a source confirmed Tuesday.

The deal is worth $13.6 million and includes $7 million guaranteed. If Beasley meets certain incentives, the deal could stretch to $15.1 million.

Beasley got a $4 million signing bonus, and his base salary for next season will be $1 million.

Beasley, who was set to become a restricted free agent, had 37 catches for 420 yards and four touchdowns in the regular-season last year. He had seven catches for 101 yards in the Cowboys’ two playoff games.

The diminutive 25-yearold has spent all three of his professional seasons

File photo by Jose Yau | AP

Dallas wide receiver Cole Beasley signed a four-year $13.6 million deal to remain with the Cowboys. with the Cowboys, playing mostly in the slot, and has 91 career catches for 916 yards and six touchdowns. The Little Elm product joined the organization as an undrafted free agent out of SMU in 2012, and almost

walked away from the game during training camp that year.

Yet, Beasley has come a long ways on the field and financially. Beasley received a $1,500 signing bonus when he signed as an undrafted free agent,

and made $570,000 last year.

Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant, who was officially slapped with the franchise tag on Monday, tweeted out his congratulations to Beasley on the extension. Bryant is seek-

ing a lucrative extension himself that would make him among the highestpaid receivers in the game.

"Congrats to my boy Bease11 #beast #truth," Bryant wrote on his Twitter account, @DezBryant.

PÁGINA 8A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve 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 que dividen el 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.

MIÉRCOLES 04 DE MARZO DE 2015

EL MANTE, MÉXICO

Ejecutan arrestos TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Dos presuntos delincuentes peligrosos, buscados por las autoridades, fueron arrestados en Ciudad El Mante, México, durante el fin de semana, anunciaron autoridades tamaulipecas.

El domingo, a las 6:31 p.m., elementos de la Secretaría de Marina, realizaron el arresto de Enrique Puga Cortez, conocido tam-

bién como “El Puga”, “El Comandante Varo” y “Joel Alfaro Fuentes”, en el municipio de El Mante en un operativo sin eventos violentos o enfrentamientos con armas de fuego, señala un comunicado de prensa. Al momento de su detención, Puga Cortez portaba una pistola automática calibre 45 abastecida.

Puga Cortez supuestamente dirigió las actividades criminales

de un grupo delictivo que opera en los municipios de El Mante, Xicoténcatl, Antiguo Morelos, Nuevo Morelos, Ocampo, Gómez Farías y Tula.

El sábado, Apolinar Cuevas, alias “El Camarón”, quien es señalado como un presunto secuestrador y extorsionador integrante del mismo grupo delictivo que dirigía Puga Cortez, fue arrestado por la Secretaría de la Defensa

Nacional durante un operativo aplicado en el municipio de El Mante por el personal militar, señala el comunicado. Durante el arresto no se presentaron enfrentamientos, añade el reporte.

Puga Cortez y Apolinar Cuevas fueron entregados a la delegación de la Procuraduría General de la República en Tamaulipas. Serán enviados a la Ciudad de México.

ECONOMÍA

INTERNACIONAL

EU presenta exceso de petróleo

PLANTEAN ACCIONES

TORNEO DE PESCA El torneo de pesca de bagre Falcon Lake Babe —International Catfish Series— para damas solamente, en su ronda de campeonato se llevará a cabo el sábado 7 de marzo.

La serie de cinco torneos que se realizan mensualmente desde noviembre finalizará con una ronda de campeonato este sábado.

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.

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

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 9 de marzo, 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.

FERIA DEL CONDADO A partir del jueves 12 de marzo y hasta el sábado 14 de marzo, tendrá lugar la Feria del Condado de Zapata, en Zapata County Fairgrounds.

DESFILE Se invita a todos los negocios, iglesias, clubes, escuelas, organizaciones y oficiales electos a participar en el Zapata County Fair Parade 2015, que se celebrará el 14 de marzo. Se entregarán trofeos a las mejores flotas de las diferentes categorías. El desfile está programado para comenzar a las 9 a.m., sin embargo los participantes deben presentarse antes de las 8:30 a.m.

El desfile comenzará en 3rd Ave., y continuará hacia el norte sobre U.S. Hwy 83, para después tomar hacia la izquierda en 23rd St. y terminar en los jardines de la feria.

Para inscribirse debe presentar su solicitud en las oficinas de la Cámara de Comercio del Condado de Zapata ubicadas en 601 N. U.S. Hwy 83 o enviarlas por correo electrónico a cbalderas@zapatachamber.com.

Puede descargar la solicitud en www.zapatacountyfair.com.

JUNTA DE COMISIONADOS El lunes 23 de marzo, 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.

POR JONATHAN FAHEY ASSOCIATED PRESS

NUEVA YORK — Estados Unidos tiene tanto crudo que ya no sabe dónde almacenarlo y esa abundancia podría hacer que los precios del petróleo y la gasolina bajen más todavía.

Las últimas siete semanas el país ha estado produciendo e importando un promedio diario de un millón de barriles más de lo que consume. El excedente es almacenado en tanques y hay tanto que el país tiene hoy más petróleo que nunca en los últimos 80 años, según informó el Departamento de Energía la semana pasada.

“La realidad es que nos estamos quedando sin espacio para almacenar en Estados Unidos”, expresó Ed Morse, director de investigación de productos primarios de Citibank, en un reciente simposio del Consejo de Relaciones Exteriores en Nueva York.

Morse dijo que el precio del petróleo podría caer a 20 dólares el barril de los 50 actuales. De bajar tanto, las empresas petrolíferas correrían peligro de sufrir grandes pérdidas y dejarían de extraer petróleo hasta que se acaba todo el crudo almacenado. Un desplome de los precios del petróleo arrastraría también los precios de la gasolina, aunque no al mismo nivel.

El precio de la gasolina es de 2,44 dólares el galón, 1,02 dólares más barato que hace un año y un 37% más que en el mes pasado.

Otros analistas coinciden en que los precios del crudo caerán abruptamente, aunque no necesariamente a 20 dólares, porque sigue almacenándose crudo en depósitos por distintas razones: La producción en EU continúa subiendo. Las compañías están reduciendo las perforaciones nuevas, pero no habrá una merma en la oferta hasta más adelante.

El petróleo que se está produciendo es una variedad de crudo liviano, dulce, que muchas refinerías estadounidenses no pueden procesar.

Sigue entrando mucho petróleo extranjero a EU, por la debilidad económica de otras naciones y para alimentar refinerías que procesan crudo pesado.

Este es el período del año de menor demanda de gasolina, por lo que las refinerías generalmente reducen o suspenden la producción y aprovechan para realizar tareas de mantenimiento.

Inversionistas ganan dinero al comprar crudo y guardarlo por la diferencia en los precios actuales y futuros.

Foto por Luis Soto | AP

El vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, al centro, llega a la conferencia de prensa con el presidente de Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, a la izquierda, y el presidente de Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, extrema derecha, en el Palacio Nacional de la Ciudad de Guatemala el lunes.

Exponen cambios para reducir migración POR SONIA PEREZ D. ASSOCIATED PRESS

G

UATEMALA — El Salvador y Honduras ofrecieron al vicepresidente estadunidense Joe Biden acciones concretas para iniciar cambios en la región que influyan para mejorar la vida de millones de centroamericanos y reduzcan la migración hacia el norte Funcionarios del gobierno estadounidense adelantaron algunos acuerdos a los que se habrían comprometido los presidentes centroamericanos, como lo ofrecido por el presidente hondureño Juan Orlando Hernández que prometió una reforma de la Policía Nacional en 2015, institución que ha sido acusada de corrupción y abusos a los derechos humanos.

El presidente salvadoreño Salvador Sánchez Cerén también ofreció introducir una propuesta de ley para criminalizar el transporte de grandes cantidades de dinero para junio.

En conjunto los gobiernos ofrecieron crear entidades independientes que auditarán la

aplicación de los fondos, implementar el oleoducto entre México y Centroamérica a finales de 2015 y modificar las regulaciones que rigen los mercados nacionales, lo que facilitará la administración de energía en toda la región para 2016. Además se reorganizará la inversión pública en áreas de necesidad.

Los funcionarios de la Casa Blanca explicaron que la administración de Barack Obama intentará aumentar la ayuda económica que Estados Unidos ha dado a la región este año.

“Como puente para la implementación para las reformas estructurales, vale la pena expandir la presencia de Centros Comunitarios que protejan a las mujeres y jóvenes de la violencia”, dijo uno de los funcionarios que pidió el anonimato por políticas gubernamentales estadounidenses.

El vicepresidente estadounidense Joe Biden pidió a los países centroamericanos aumentar sus esfuerzos para mejorar las condiciones de vida de la población, tras advertir a la sociedad civil que se debe involu-

crar para no perder la oportunidad de acabar con la inseguridad y la falta de desarrollo en la región.

Biden y los presidentes centroamericanos se reunieron por segundo día consecutivo para definir los rubros prioritarios y las líneas de financiamiento de un plan para reducir la migración desde Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras hacia Estados Unidos.

El plan establece cuatro áreas de trabajo: Dinamizar al sector productivo para crear oportunidades económicas, desarrollar oportunidades para nuestro capital humano, mejorar la seguridad ciudadana y el acceso a la justicia y fortalecer instituciones para aumentar la confianza de la población en el Estado.

Estadísticas oficiales centroamericanas indican que un 9% de la población de la región ha decidido emigrar y Estados Unidos es el principal destino.

Las razones van desde la reunificación familiar, la falta de oportunidades económicas y laborales, y la creciente violencia.

COLUMNA

Autor resalta identidad propia de frontera POR RAUL SINENCIO ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

La región fronteriza entre México y EU constituye un “tercer país con su propia identidad”, según Tom Miller, profesor en Arizona y periodista que busca resaltarlo al recorrer las riberas extremas del Río Grande.

Ello forma parte del libro “En la frontera”, texto que concluye en 1981 y que es publicado en inglés.

Once años después, se traduce al español.

“Cruzamos el puente (internacional) hacia Ciudad Miguel Alemán (Tamaulipas) que, como San Miguel de Camargo en el cruce de

Los Ébanos, había cambiado su nombre por el de un presidente en funciones para lograr notoriedad y atraer fondos federales. Antes de 1950, a Ciudad Miguel Alemán se le conocía como San Pedro de Roma. A pesar del cambio de nombre, la ciudad de 15 mil habitantes no mostraba señales de prosperidad excepcionales”, sostuvo el autor.

Prosigue: “El fin de semana que se inauguró la feria anual de Ciudad Miguel Alemán, el palenque atrajo aficionados a las peleas de gallos de ambos lados de la frontera. Una tercera parte (…) eran norteamericanos que cruzaron para ver los gallos en contienda”.

Por la noche pelearían “los ga-

llos de Aldama, Tamaulipas, y San Antonio (Texas)”. “Cada uno de los manejadores “eligió un animal y le pusieron las navajas, ajustadas a la pata izquierda (…) La multitud hizo las apuestas finales (…) y un mariachi (…) lanzó las últimas notas”.

Otros puntos Llega desde Roma, Texas, y cuenta: “El clásico cinematográfico ‘¡Viva Zapata!’, con Marlon Brando, fue filmado en la Roma (tejana) a principios de los cincuenta. Buena parte de Roma permanece como estaba cuando se hizo la película”.

Al caer la tarde recorre el “pueblo de tres mil habitantes”. “Finalmente, tropezamos con Virgilio Guerra, un ranchero que fue el doble de Brando. Tenía la piel parchada por una quemadura que le cubría la boca. Guerra recordaba bien la filmación: “Elia Kazan, el director, trabajaba duro y ayudaba a todos. Igual Anthony Quinn. Brando, bueno, pues era muy delicado. Se quedaba a un lado repasando sus líneas, caminando de un lado a otro. No era… hosco”, señalan notas de Miller.

(Publicado con permiso del autor como fue publicado en La Razón, Tampico, México)

International

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Volcano erupts in Chile, thousands flee

By EVA VERGARA AND GABRIELA ULLOA ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUCON, Chile — One of South America’s most active volcanoes erupted early Tuesday in southern Chile, spewing heavy smoke into the air as lava surged down its slopes, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of people.

The Villarrica volcano erupted around 3 a.m. local time, according to the National Emergency Office, which issued a red alert and ordered evacuations. Local media showed images of the volcano bursting at the top, glowing in the dark amid heavy smoke and rivers of lava. Authorities worried that mudslides caused by melting snow could endanger nearby communities, but no injuries were reported.

The 9,000 foot (2,847-meter) volcano in Chile’s central valley, 400 miles (670 kilometers) south of Santiago, sits above the small city of Pucon, which has a population of about 22,000 people.

“It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” 29-year-old Australian tourist Travis Armstrong said in a telephone interview from Pucon. “I’ve never seen a volcano erupt and it was spewing lava and ash hundreds of meters into the air. Lightning was striking down at the volcano from the ash cloud that formed from the eruption.”

Chilean authorities had issued an orange alert on Monday because of increased activity at the volcano. About 3,500 people have been evacuated so far, including tourists, said Interior and Security Minister Rodrigo Penailillo.

Penailillo warned that the eruption was causing numerous

Photo by Aton Chile | AP

The Villarica volcano erupts near Pucon, Chile, early Tuesday. The Villarica volcano erupted Tuesday around 3 a.m. local time, according to the National Emergency Office, which issued a red alert and ordered evacuations. rivers in the area to rise as snow along the sides of the volcano began melting. Villarrica is covered by a glacier cap covering some 40 square kilometers (15 square miles) and snow from about 1,500 meters (about 5,000 feet) on up.

Authorities were keeping an eye on four nearby communities that could be endangered by mudslides as the snow melts. Officials were also monitoring nearly 200 people who were cut off from main roads when two bridges were destroyed by rising waters from nearby rivers.

Rodrigo Alvarez, director of

the National Service of Geology and Mining, issued a warning for people in the area, especially at tourists, to be careful. “This is not a fireworks show,” Alvarez said, calling on people to obey official prohibitions to stay away from the volcano.

“It’s an unstable volcano, all of its borders are altered,” Alvarez added.

President Michelle Bache let arrived in Pucon amid cheers and boos later Tuesday to check on safety preparations, and declared an agricultural emergency to help local farmers.

Nemtsov honored

By NEIL MACFARQUHAR AND ANDREW E. KRAMER

“You never know when an eruption will take place but what we do know is that the activity is lower, that’s visible,” Bachelet said after flying over the affected areas and meeting local authorities.

Witnesses said Pucon looked like a deserted town at dawn. But as the volcanic activity decreased, some local residents had decided to return to their homes, more cars were seen in the streets, and some people had even decided to sunbathe at a nearby lake. By midday, the community’s bus terminals, banks,

restaurants and other businesses were operating normally.

The eruption “was something beautiful and amazing. We’re still a bit shocked but the volcano has calmed down so I’m going to continue with my vacation,” Alejandra Paz Bustos, 29, said as she sunbathed at nearby lake Villarrica.

Jose Manuel Reyes, the 37year-old manager of La Bicicleta hostal in downtown Pucon, said visitors from France, Canada, Australia, South Africa and Brazil watched the early morning eruption from the building’s terrace.

“We’re still a bit nervous because we don’t know what’s happening,” said Reyes. “There was nervousness, but we haven’t seen any panic.”

Tourists flock to the area around Villarrica for outdoor activities like kayaking, horseback riding, fishing and hiking around the volcano, which last had a major eruption in 1984.

Dozens of tourists were among those evacuated. Officials said late Tuesday that about 15,000 people living in rural areas near the volcano were suffering water shortages after the eruption, and kept the red alert for nearby areas.

The Villarrica has a crater of about 200 meters (yards) in diameter and a lake of lava about 150 meters (yards) deep. It has periodic eruptions every 10 or 15 years.

Chile has more than 2,000 volcanoes in the Andes cordillera and about 90 of them remain active. Villarrica is considered among the country’s most dangerous.

Iraq, Iran battle ISIS

By VIVIAN SALAMA ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK TIMES

MOSCOW — The funeral on Tuesday for Boris Y. Nemtsov, the assassinated Kremlin critic, drew a gloomy band of politicians and supporters from the faltering liberal opposition, with mourners grieving that they were burying not just a friend, but also their dream for a different Russia.

"Now that he is in the grave, the last hope for Russia is in the grave," said Vladimir N. Voynovich, a famous Russian novelist who, like Nemtsov, has been outspoken in criticizing Russia’s role in the war in Ukraine. "He was one of the last optimists in this country."

Thousands of Muscovites bearing flowers and red votive candles lined up early in the morning to pay their final respects to Nemtsov, 55, whose body lay in an open coffin at the Sakharov Center. By early afternoon, hundreds still clogged the sidewalk outside as the coffin was transferred to a hearse for the long ride to the pine-covered Troyekurovskoye Cemetery, filled with the black granite headstones favored by the city’s elite.

Nemtsov was once one of President Boris Yeltsin’s bright young things, among the mavericks brought into the Kremlin to force the

Photo by Sergei L. Loiko/Los Angeles Times | TNS

A relative supports Nemtsov’s mother Dina Eidman as she throws a handful of sand into her son’s grave on Tuesday in Moscow. transition from centrally planned communism to capitalism in the early 1990s.

Russians remember that era for chaos more than anything else, and the political fortunes of Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister once discussed as possible presidential timber, faded. Naina Yeltsina, the widow of the president, attended the memorial service, as did many former top Yeltsin aides.

Aleksei L. Kudrin, a former deputy prime minister and finance minister and a longtime ally of Putin’s while supporting liberal economic policies, lamented a state of affairs in Russia in which "in a debate with an opponent, bullets serve as an argument."

Receiving the well-wishers at the coffin was the

hunched, tiny figure of Dina Eidman, Nemtsov’s mother, who had raised him as a single parent in poverty, watched him soar to the heights of the Russian government, and then in recent months reportedly told her son that she feared that Putin would kill him for his criticism of the war in Ukraine.

In their eulogies, politicians spoke about the need to fearlessly pursue Nemtsov’s often lonely crusade against corruption, mismanagement and the Ukraine war.

At the same time, they acknowledged that the assassination late Friday night sent fear rippling through their ranks as surely as the winter chill seeping through multiple layers of clothing on this gray Moscow day.

Kenya destroys ivory

By TOM ODULA ASSOCIATED PRESS

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s president set fire to 15 tons of elephant tusks during World Wildlife Day Tuesday to discourage poaching and trade in ivory.

Twenty-five years since ivory trade was banned, new demand from emerging markets threatens Africa’s elephants and rhinos, President Uhuru Kenyatta said at the event. African countries are concerned about the scale and rate of the new threat to endangered wildlife species, he said.

“Many of these tusks belonged to elephants which were wantonly slaughtered by criminals. We want future generations of Kenyans, Africans and the entire world to experience the majesty and beauty of these magnificent beasts. Poachers and their enablers will

Photo by Khalil Senosi | AP

A ranger from the Kenya Wildlife Service walks past 15 tons of elephant tusks which were set on fire at Nairobi National Park. not have the last word,” Kenyatta said before setting a blaze an almost 10 feet high pile of huge elephant tusks doused with petrol.

Higher demand for ivory is fueling elephant killings by poachers across Africa.

Save The Elephants said last year that 100,000 elephants were killed in Africa between 2010 and 2012. On Thursday, China imposed a

one-year ban on ivory imports amid criticism that its citizens’ huge appetite for ivory threatens the existence of Africa’s elephants.

Save the Elephants founder, Ian Douglas Hamilton, said research released by his organization showed that the price of elephant ivory has tripled in China since 2010.

BAGHDAD — Iranianbacked Shiite militias and Sunni tribes have joined Iraq’s military in a major operation to retake Saddam Hussein’s hometown from the Islamic State group, while the U.S.-led coalition has remained on the sidelines.

The campaign for Tikrit is a dress rehearsal for the real contest: The fight to recapture Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the extremists’ biggest stronghold. But can a large-scale ground offensive alone succeed, without U.S.-led air support?

The Tikrit operation is aimed at stopping Islamic State fighters from closing in on Samarra, a Shiite holy city just to the south that tens of thousands of Shiite militiamen rushed to defend during the extremists’ blitz across northern Iraq last June.

One of the biggest campaigns in the heart of militant-controlled Iraq, the battle for Tikrit involves a complex mix of several Iraqi military brigades and thousands of Shiite militiamen and Sunni tribal fighters. Directing the offensive with the aid of dozens of Iranian military advisers is a powerful Iranian general, Ghasem Soleimani, commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force.

Glaringly absent are the U.S.-led coalition forces whose air campaign since last summer has nearly halted the Islamic State rampage across Iraq. Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said this week that the U.S. is not providing air power in the Tikrit operation “simply because the Iraqis haven’t requested us to.”

Liberating the city without the backing of coalition airstrikes will put Iraq’s security forces to the ultimate battle-readiness test since any operation to recapture Iraq’s densely-populated cities — including Mosul and Fallujah — will have to rely almost entirely on ground forces to minimize civilian casualties.

However, more of a concern for the U.S.-led coalition is Iran’s prominent role in the fight against the Islamic State militants.

Iran has long been influential in Iraq, but never so much so as over the past year, when the Iraqi military collapsed in the face of the Sunni extremists’ onslaught. Iraqi officials have

AP file

In this June 23, 2014, file photo, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces vehicle. noted Iran’s quick response to their urgent requests for weapons and frontline assistance even as they accuse the coalition of falling short on commitments on the ground.

Embedding coalition advisers and forward air controllers — the officers who call in airstrikes — with Iraqi military units presents a twofold challenge.

Frontline positions would put their lives in danger at a time when risk aversion is at its peak. But it also raises the potential for coalition forces and Iranian soldiers to share a battlefield, a politically untenable prospect for the U.S. given the uncertain future of ongoing nuclear talks with Tehran.

However, the U.S.-led mission has hit a roadblock in its efforts to support the Iraqi government.

Both the Iraqi and U.S. government agree that airstrikes have pushed the militants back and the group has struggled to gain territory since airstrikes began. But there will come a point where airstrikes alone will not be enough.

Most of the battlefield successes in Iraq have been coordinated efforts, with Iraqi and Kurdish forces and Shiite militias fighting on the ground and the U.S.led coalition providing air power. The siege on the village of Amirli just north of Baghdad, when many feared the capital itself might fall, was broken last year with the help of U.S.led airstrikes and a fighting force of mainly Shiite militias.

Shiite militiamen backed by a coalition air campaign also retook the town of Jurf al-Sukhr, on Baghdad’s outskirts, from the militants in October.

Soleimani, the Iranian general leading the Tikrit operation, was a key player in both of those campaigns.

But Iraqi and Kurdish offi-

cials and Shiite militia fighters all acknowledge the crucial role the coalition airstrikes played in their modest victories.

With the military operation to retake Mosul planned for as early as April, many are skeptical about whether the Iraqi military will be ready for the fight. Efforts to recruit Sunni tribes — seen as crucial for rooting out the militants from their strongholds — have yielded few results. Training and arming of Iraqi soldiers have also stalled.

The failure so far to make headway in Tikrit does not bode well. Iraqi forces are bogged down on the outskirts of the city, unable to penetrate the extremists’ defenses. On Tuesday, a suicide bomber drove a military vehicle into a checkpoint manned by government forces and Shiite fighters south of Tikrit, killing four troops and wounding 12, authorities said.

The stalemate persists despite assurances from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that momentum is on Iraq’s side after recent successes in the oil refinery town of Beiji — an operation that received heavy aerial support from the U.S.-led coalition.

The Islamic State group, which controls a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate, has littered major roadways with mines that slow any ground advance and require painstaking clearance operations before troops can safely move through. Kurdish and Iraqi forces frequently cite bomb-detecting equipment as one of their biggest shortfalls on the battlefield.

The battle for Tikrit is likely to involve Iraq’s first serious urban warfare challenge, involving street battles that Iraqi security forces are not trained for.

PAGE 10A

Zentertainment

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

‘CSI: Cyber’ gives series a digital tweak

By MIKE HALE NEW YORK TIMES

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," now chugging along in its 15th season, keeps leaving its spinoffs in the dust. "CSI: Miami" gave up after 10 seasons, "CSI: NY" fell away after nine.

But the hope for advertising dollars springs eternal, so here we have "CSI: Cyber," making its debut on CBS on Wednesday night.

"Cyber" gives a few tweaks to the old forensics formula. As the title implies, the evidence of the weekly crimes is mostly electronic rather than grossly physical.

And where its three forerunners were set in metropolitan police departments, "Cyb-

er" features an FBI unit based in Quantico, Virginia, that jets off to wherever the action is, like the FBI profilers in CBS’ "Criminal Minds." (How long until we see a triple crossover among these two shows and "NCIS" involving a terrorist attack on Washington?)

The most significant change is at the top of the credits: Patricia Arquette, playing special agent in charge Avery Ryan, is the first female headliner in 35 "CSI" seasons. (Marg Helgenberger’s Catherine Willows was the boss for two seasons of the original, but Helgenberger was still second banana to Laurence Fishburne, who played one of her subordinates.)

Photo by Monty Brinton/CBS | Washington Post

Avery Ryan (Patricia Arquette, center) investigates cases involving online hackers and identity thieves in “CSI: Cyber.”

In the ways that matter, though, "Cyber" is pure "CSI" — a slick but wooden fantasy of middle-American paranoia in which aberrant criminals face off against hilariously competent crime solvers. The

soul of the franchise is summed up by an exchange in the second episode between Ryan and her boss, Simon Sifter (the always welcome Peter MacNicol, with his perfectly calibrated hamminess): "I

believe that our target is part of a deviant peer group that encourages violent urges," Ryan said.

Replied Sifter, "And that’s the motive: harm innocent people going about their daily lives just to arouse some sick, exclusive group."

Is that a description of cybercriminals or the producers of CBS police procedurals? "Cyber" is actually less gory than the "CSI" norm, partly because it has to devote so much time to computer code whizzing by on wall-size screens and discussions of Bluetooth sniffers and phishing attacks. Despite their digital aspects — hacking a baby monitor, duping an Uberlike car service — the

crimes are reassuringly old-fashioned: child abductions, revenge killings.

Ryan’s team is small by ensemble crime drama standards but still requisitely diverse: a pretty-boy weapons guy (James Van Der Beek), a heavyset tech guy (Charley Koontz), a black hacker who was supposed to go to jail (Shad Moss, aka the rapper Bow Wow) and a social media specialist named Ramirez (Hayley Kiyoko), who ticks off the female, Asian and Latino boxes. The two minority characters are 2015 versions of reform-school kids.

‘CSI: Cyber’ airs on CBS, Wednesday nights at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.

HGTV’s ‘Design Challenge’ sparks controversy

By EMILY YAHR THE WASHINGTON POST

There’s no doubt that the first season finale of Ellen DeGeneres’s reality competition show was bizarre.

But the questions it raises are even stranger, along with the weird and frustrating way the network chose to handle a controversial situation.

At first, things were going merrily along on "Ellen’s Design Challenge" finale Monday night, a sixweek series that featured furniture designers competing for $100,000 and a spread in HGTV Magazine.

Finalists Katie Stout (a 26year-old from Brooklyn) and Tim McClellan (a 44year-old from Colorado) presented their respective final table designs to the judges, who were impressed

by Stout’s execution and McClellan’s technical skill.

After some debate, they declared McClellan the winner. Hugs everywhere as confetti rained down. "My

life just changed even beyond what I can imagine," said McClellan, sounding emotional.

Then, the screen went dark with the message "ONE WEEK LATER." A voiceover narrator jumped into explain.

"After the finale, it was discovered there was an existing piece of furniture designed by European designer Simon Schacht that resembles Tim’s," the narrator said. "That led to the conclusion that Tim did not fulfill the requirement of the final challenge, which was to create an original piece."

The show helpfully showed the designs side by side so viewers could judge: The narrator continued, a bit mischievously: "Unfortunate for Tim, but good news for someone else!"

Cut to Stout, on set of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." She thought she was there to do an interview with a journalist about the show, but then DeGeneres

Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision | AP file

This Nov. 22, 2013 file photo shows TV host Ellen DeGeneres in Los Angeles. appeared. And she had some good news! McClellan was disqualified, and she was a winner! After making sure this wasn’t a prank, Stout was thrilled.

Her brother and boyfriend appeared from backstage, and more hugs. More confetti rained down. End of show.

Allow us to echo the thoughts of all the viewers watching the show: Um, what just happened?

‘Judge Judy’ stays in session

By DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Daytime television’s most popular personality, “Judge Judy” Sheindlin, has extended her contract for three years and plans to keep her court in session into 2020.

CBS Television Distribution didn’t discuss terms of the deal Monday. TV Guide has reported her current salary at $47 million a year — making her by far the highest-paid personality on television. Sheindlin is 72.

The new deal also gives CBS first look at any projects by Sheindlin’s production company, which makes the new court show “Hot Bench.”

“Judge Judy” is now in its 19th season, and has been the top daytime TV show for the past five years.

During the week ending Feb. 15, for example, “Judge Judy” was seen by an average of 10.1 million viewers each episode and the second most-popular show, “Dr. Phil,” had 4.9 million, the Nielsen company said.

“We could not be more excited to continue our longtime relationship with Judy,” said Armando Nunez, president and CEO of CBS Global Distribution Group. “She is a true television icon, who entertains and inspires millions of fans each day.”

Sheindlin was out of the country Monday. In a statement, she talked about being excited about producing new shows like “Hot Bench.”

There’s no word on whether the deal came together in the same manner as her last few contract extensions, as she outlined in her 2014 book, “What Would Judy Say? Be the Hero of Your Own Story.”

She described going out to dinner with executives at her distribution group at a

Beverly Hills, California, restaurant. At the beginning of the meal, she handed over a sealed envelope and told them not to open it until after the dinner. Inside was a note card with Sheindlin’s suggested price and contract duration.

She told them it wasn’t a negotiation — she wanted a “yes” or “no” answer.

“I didn’t believe they would turn me down,” Sheindlin wrote of the first such meeting at Grill on the Alley. “I didn’t think they could afford to. But I was also prepared to walk away.”

She hasn’t yet. One year, she said an executive handed back his own sealed envelope. She handed it right back, unopened. “If I open the envelope, it becomes a negotiation,” she told them, “and this isn’t a negotia-

tion.”

“I’m a lucky woman to be able to set my own terms,” the former New York City family court judge wrote.

During 2013, the last full year for which figures were available, Kantar Media reported that “Judge Judy” earned $136.8 million in revenue.

Let’s lay out the issues here. First, that’s an awfully cavalier way of accusing McClellan of woodworking plagiarism, given that he owns a furniture store and his career and reputation are on the line. And the bait-and-switch ending is a disservice to viewers who invested time in the show.

Really? No follow-up to what happened after such a nasty accusation? No other explanation about how or

when they found out about the other table? No reaction from McClellan on camera?

We reached out to HGTV for comment. A network spokeswoman would only give us the same statement that the narrator read above.

On Twitter, McClellan took the high road. He also updated his Facebook status with "Oh well, there’s always next year."

Predictably, the HGTV Facebook page is filled with hundreds of negative comments — many defending McClellan, upset by the network’s treatment of the situation, and accusing the show of being rigged.

"I think it was completely unnecessary to disqualify Tim in the way that they did,"a viewer wrote. "While it’s true that we don’t know everything that went on behind the scenes to vet these pieces (which, incidentally, should have been done BEFORE selecting the winner) , I think it was pretty unprofessional to publically

(sic) shame him in this way."

"What a sour taste in my mouth to disqualify Tim like that!!! Terrible ending.

Ellen, that was not right," one said.

"Tim was the better designer by far. People can coincidentally have similar ideas & he didn’t get to defend himself," another tweeted.

Chip Wade, the carpenter who worked with McClellan on the show, took to Twitter to praise McClellan’s "original" designs.

"Amen to that!" Christiane Lemieux, one of the show’s judges, tweeted in response.

That can’t be fun for Stout, the runner-up turned winner who’s receiving some of the backlash. And it’s not like producers were shocked by this ending this wasn’t a live broadcast, obviously. They also appeared unembarrassed by the controversial switch, so much so that they hyped a "shocking twist" in the episode description.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

FLORENCIO JASSO, JR. March 28, 1937 – March 2, 2015 Florencio Jasso, Jr., 77, passed away on Monday, March 2, 2015 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Jasso is preceded in death his parents, Florencio and Matiana Jasso; brothers, Dagoberto Jasso and Jorge Jasso.

Mr. Jasso is survived by his wife, Yolanda R. Jasso; sons, Juan “Johnny” (Connie) Jasso, Joe Louis Jasso, Martin J. (Isela) Jasso; daughter, Sandra Jasso; grandchildren, Candace (Ryan) Wilson, Juan Jasso, Jr., Briana Contreras, Criso Rey Jasso, Cristo Rene Jasso, Rico Jasso, Joe Louis Jasso, Jr., Alicia Jasso, Arturo Jasso, Daisy (Mark) Jordan, Martin Jasso, Jr., Liliana (Miguel) Hinojosa, Luis (Katherin) Arambula, Jr. and Esteban A. Mireles; ten great-grandchildren; brothers, Armando Jasso, Arturo Jasso, Ricardo Jasso; sisters, Aurora Vela, Amanda Salinas, Francisca Solis, Simona Olivares, Su-

lema Rodriguez, Adela Vallejo, Socorro Reyes, Sylvia Villarreal, and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends.

Visitation hours will be held on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home.

The funeral procession will depart on Thursday, March 5, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

Committal services will follow at Zapata County Cemetery.

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

By OLIVER RENICK BLOOMBERG NEWS

U.S. stocks retreated after the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed above 5,000 for the first time in 15 years, as health-care and technology companies slid.

Health-care companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.9 percent, after reaching an all-time high Monday. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. fell to the lowest since it began trading in September. Ford Motor Co. slipped 2.4 percent after a drop in February light-vehicle sales.

The S&P 500 declined 0.5 percent, its worst drop since January, to 2,107.78 at 4 p.m. in New York. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 85.26 points, or 0.5 percent, to 18,203.37.

Both gauges reached records Monday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6 percent to 4,979.90.

“The biggest thing is we’re at the record highs and a lot of people, at the margin, are taking profits,” Jim Paulsen, the Minneapolis-based chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, which oversees $338 billion, said by phone. “The sectors getting hit today are the big momentum sectors: consumer cyclicals, health care and technology.”

It has taken two bull markets and more than

4,500 days for the Nasdaq Composite to get close to making up all the ground lost in the dot-com collapse. The index surged 7.1 percent in February, its best month since 2012.

The S&P 500 rose to fresh records four times in February, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 5.6 percent for its best month since January 2013. The index also topped its record from December for the first time in 2015.

Economic reports this week may give clues on when the Federal Reserve may increase its benchmark interest rate. Data may show factory orders rose in January after slip-

ping the previous month, while payrolls climbed in February as the unemployment rate fell, economists forecast.

Investors are also awaiting details of the European Central Bank’s debt-purchase program on Thursday. ECB President Mario Draghi in January announced a 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.2 trillion) quantitativeeasing plan to counter slowing growth and the threat of deflation.

“This week is very much about the ECB and the jobs report,” said Witold Bahrke, an asset-allocation strategist at Nomura International Plc in London.

OIL Continued from Page 1A

COLONIAS Continued from Page 1A ers to address the state’s lack of a statewide colonia definition and create a declassification mechanism for communities that no longer exist in dire conditions. But with a March 13 filing deadline looming in the 2015 legislative session, lawmakers have not filed any bills in response to the Colonia Initiatives Program’s request, and it is unclear whether it will even be addressed.

Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state’s office, said its request to the Legislature is a “housekeeping measure” that would help assess the communities where Texans still live in precarious conditions and align the seven definitions of colonias that various state agencies maintain.

Those definitions are used to determine whether these communities qualify for federal and state funding and vary because different agencies consider different characteristics, like a lack of running water, when determining if they’re eligible for funding. In fiscal year 2014, at least $109.6 million in federal and state funds went to projects and initiatives benefiting colonias, according to the Colonia Initiatives Program.

The Colonia Initiatives Program asked the Legislature to address the definition and declassification issues in its 2010 and 2014 reports to the Legislature, but no action has been taken, and several lawmakers representing border districts were unaware of the program’s requests.

Stocks fall as health care slumps

Democratic state Sen. José Rodríguez, whose West Texas district includes hundreds of colonias, said he supports establishing a statewide definition of a colonia and creating a method to declassify colonias.

“We have to be efficient with the limited resources we have,” Rodriguez said.

“If we don’t have a sense of which colonias have actually progressed beyond the colonia designation … then we ought to have a system for declassifying those colonias.”

But he questioned whether legislation was even needed to address the issue, suggesting that the cluster of state agencies that work with colonias could establish a general colonia definition and declassification method.

One possible declassification method the state could use is a “checklist” approach, said Jose Luis Gutierrez, associate regional director of Texas A&M University’s Colonias Program. Communities that want to be recognized as colonias already must submit applications to the state in which they list the basic amenities, like running water and paved roads, they lack. To verify that a community has since acquired those services and should be declassified as a colonia, Gutierrez said, the state could go back and review those applications.

“You’d figure it would be simple,” Gutierrez said, adding, "But you know how we are in Texas — we like to make things complicated and proper.”

shale revolution," Sheffield said in prepared testimony.

Arguing against lifting the ban, though, was Delta Airlines, which told the House energy subcommittee that allowing exports would hurt consumers by threatening to raise prices for gasoline and other fuels.

"Why would any policymaker want to risk jeopardizing the current consumer benefits we are experiencing and institute a policy that would benefit only a narrow sector of the economy?" asked Graeme Burnett, board chairman of Monroe Energy, Delta’s refining subsidiary.

The oil export ban was put in place in the wake of the 1970s Arab oil embargo, ostensibly to protect Americans from gasoline shortages and price spikes. But oil companies

and energy economists argue it’s outdated in an era of enormous U.S. oil and natural gas production.

American Gulf Coast refineries are more configured to handle heavier grades of crude oil than the lighter-grade oil that’s surging into the market from the top shale production areas in North Dakota and Texas.

That’s lowering the price for the oil, said ConocoPhillips CEO Lance.

"That discount starts hurting domestic producers and it cuts our ability to reinvest back in our business to grow production," he said.

It’s a sensitive issue, and Lance acknowledged that Congress and the White House are not ready to lift the oil export ban. He said it’s important for the industry to push hard on it now,

though.

"We’ve got to gain some traction this year. Certainly as we go into an election year (in 2016) it becomes harder," he said.

ConocoPhillips spent $1.4 million in lobbying Congress the final three months of last year alone on crude exports and other issues, according to disclosures.

Supporters of ending the export ban argue it wouldn’t raise gasoline prices and could even lower them.

Gas prices are tied to the global oil price, and more U.S. oil on the international market would drive down the global price, according to an analysis by the global consulting firm IHS Energy.

"It is not the case that hoarding energy supplies inside our borders helps lower prices to consum-

ers," said Amy Myers Jaffe, an energy economist at the University of California, Davis.

The AFL-CIO agrees that gasoline prices likely would not be affected but opposes lifting the export ban nevertheless.

Brad Markell, executive director of the AFLCIO Industrial Union Council, told the House energy subcommittee that sending the oil abroad would hurt American refiners.

"If we lift the ban on crude oil exports, we will export both our oil and the jobs and economic activity associated with refining that oil," he said.

But the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the trade association for refiners, isn’t against lifting the ban, saying, "The free market should drive all energy policy."

COLLEGE Continued from Page 1A the year. In return, he would sign a mutual and perpetual silence and confidentiality clause.

In mid-December, the restraining order was amended, making it possible for trustees to proceed with Maldonado’s annual evaluation.

On Dec. 27, his evaluation was deferred to a later date.

During the college’s regular monthly meeting Thursday evening, trustees approved to have

Maldonado’s evaluation take place this evening. Trustees also approved the president’s evaluation instrument.

In late January, the board of trustees appointed members to a committee that would develop Maldonado’s annual evaluation instrument.

Trustees appointed Jackie Ramos, Gilberto Martinez, Michelle De La Peña and Vela to the LCC

Board of Trustees Program and Policy Committee.

The committee established a protocol for evaluating the president.

The meeting will take place at the Elpha Lee West Building in room 105 at 6 p.m.

Since the meeting is special called, no public forum will be available for the public.

(Judith Rayo may be reached at 728-2567 or jrayo@lmtonlne.com)

DHS Continued from Page 1A fear of going without pay.”

The lower chamber had previously passed a DHS funding bill that included measures blocking Obama’s immigration order.

The Senate refused to bring that bill up however, which set up the stale-

mate.

Tuesday’s vote means the fate of the president’s executive order on immigration — which would shield about 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation — will be determined by the federal courts. Last month a

Brownsville-based U.S. district judge temporarily halted the immigration action, which the president announced in November.

Texas was the first state to file suit and 25 others eventually signed on. The White House has

asked the judge to halt his own injunction until the process plays out before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. The deadline for Texas and the other plaintiffs to respond to the Obama administration’s request is Tuesday.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015