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Former governor indicted Tamaulipas official allegedly took bribes from drug traffickers By GUILLERMO CONTRERAS AND JASON BUCH SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Federal prosecutors in Texas have charged another former governor of Tamaulipas with money laundering, the second leader of the violent border state to face allegations that he used bribes from drug traffickers to buy property in the U.S. Eugenio Hernández Flores, 57, who was governor of Tamaulipas
from 2005 to 2010, is named in an indictment unsealed Friday. He is charged with his brother-inlaw, Óscar Gómez Guerra, 43, HERNANDEZ with conspiracy to engage in a money-shifting scheme aimed at hiding bribes paid by cartel figures who sought
to operate freely in Tamaulipas. The indictment, handed down in secret last month, charges both with conspiring to launder money, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. Arrest warrants have been issued for both suspects, who are fugitives. In statements to the
media, Hernández has denied any wrongdoing. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of three properties in McAllen and one in Austin with a total value of nearly $5 million. The indictment also seeks a judgment of $30 million against Hernández and his brother-inlaw. The San Antonio ExpressNews first reported last year that Hernández was under the micro-
scope after his name turned up in money laundering investigations that have stretched from Central to South Texas. In particular, he was singled out by prosecutors in the case of Mexican businessman Guillermo Flores Cordero, who lived part-time in San Antonio until his arrest in mid 2013. Flores pleaded guilty in December 2013 to running a money
See GOVERNOR PAGE 12A
BASSMASTERS
ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
TWO MEN ARRESTED Laredo Morning Times/file
Professional fisherman Keith Combs displays his bass catches during the 2010 FLW Outdoors tournament at Falcon Lake.
Courtesy photo | Zapata County Sheriff’s Office
These photos show the various items recovered by authorities in the burglary case in which Herrera and Rivera are suspects.
Falcon Lake falls in bass rankings In 100 Best Bass Lakes List, Zapata lake slips to No. 42 spot THE ZAPATA TIMES
Suspected of several burglaries around county By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
Two men suspected of carrying out several burglaries around Zapata County have been arrested, authorities said. The Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office announced the arrest Thursday evening via their Facebook page. Identified
as the suspects, Juan Herrera and Fernando Rivera are facing several burglary charges. HERRERA Sheriff ’s officials said the men committed the alleged crimes in different areas around the county. Herre-
ra and Rivera allegedly stole musical instruments and equipment, furniture, assorted RIVERA power tools, among other accessories. Authorities said they recovered several of the items stolen. More people
are pending arrest as the case progresses, according to the Sheriff ’s Office. People with information on these burglaries or other crimes in Zapata County are asked to call 956-765-9960 or Crime-Stoppers at 956-765-TIPS (8477). (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
Falcon Lake slipped in the rankings this year in Bassmaster’s annual 100 Best Bass Lakes List. In its inaugural rankings in 2012, Falcon Lake was ranked No. 1. This year it fell to No. 42. “Just about any other lake in the country would be proud to be ranked 42nd, but this fishery isn’t one of them,” Bassmasters said on its website. “In 2012, Falcon was the best lake in the country, bar none. It slipped to seventh in 2013, and then to 12th last year. Now, it seems it
is a shadow of its former self. Still, a Feb. 21 Bass Champs event here took 26.12 to win. But, only 15 pounds was needed to be in the Top 16.” Toldeo Bend Reservoir earned the top spot in the 2015 list. “The rankings this year are more reliable than ever,” said Bassmaster Magazine Editor James Hall. “The past three years, we released the list in May. However, we waited to include it in our July/August issue so we could collect catch-rate data from the
See FALCON PAGE 12A
TEXAS
450K immigration cases backlogged By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE
In less than two years, the number of Texas-based immigration cases stuck in federal courts has swelled by about 60 percent. Through April of this year, about 77,000 immigration cases in Texas were still meandering through the system. That’s one spot below California’s 89,300, and an in-
crease of 58 percent since October 2013, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Now, a Texas lawmaker says he wants to make a dent in the problem by securing money for 55 new immigration judges and support staff. There are about 260 immigration judges in the nation, including 31 in Texas, according to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. “We got the (funding request) out of committee, we have it out of the House and now it’s over on the Senate side,” U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, said. “People always talk about more Border Patrol and more Border Patrol. But as you get more Border Patrol, you get a lot more cases. We’re about 450,000 cases back-
logged.” The Obama administration continues to remove undocumented immigrants at record levels. But a large number of immigrants whose court cases are lingering might be allowed to stay in the country legally if a judge rules in their favor. Most deportation cases are resolved quickly, said Austin-based immigration
See IMMIGRATION PAGE 12A
Photo by Bob Daemmrich | Texas Tribune
Through April of this year, about 77,000 immigration cases in Texas were still meandering through the system.
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, JUNE 20
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Planetarium shows at TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 1 to 5 p.m. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut (Matinee Show – $1 less); 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: Attack of the Space Pirates; 5 p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663). The Elysian Social Club will be sponsoring its annual Fathers’ Day Scholarship Fundraiser Dance at the Laredo Civic Center Ballroom. Contact Herlinda Nieto-Dubuisson at 285-3126.
Today is Saturday, June 20, the 171st day of 2015. There are 194 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On June 20, 1975, Steven Spielberg’s shark thriller “Jaws,” starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss (not to mention a mechanical shark nicknamed “Bruce”) was released by Universal Pictures. On this date: In 1782, Congress approved the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle. In 1837, Queen Victoria acceded to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV. In 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state. In 1943, race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths. In 1967, boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court). In 1979, ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart was shot to death in Managua, Nicaragua, by a member of President Anastasio Somoza’s national guard. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed National Bald Eagle Day. In 1990, South African black nationalist Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie, arrived in New York City for a tickertape parade in their honor as they began an eight-city U.S. tour. Ten years ago: During a joint news conference with European leaders at the White House, President George W. Bush said he was determined to complete the mission of establishing democracy in Iraq because the world would be a better place for it. A suicide car bomber killed at least 15 traffic policemen outside police headquarters in Irbil, Iraq. Five years ago: Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense minister from a political powerful clan who oversaw a major weakening of leftist rebels, won Colombia’s presidency. One year ago: The Obama administration granted an array of new benefits to samesex couples, including those living in states where gay marriage was against the law; the new measures ranged from Social Security and veterans benefits to work leave for caring for sick spouses. . Today’s Birthdays: Actor Martin Landau is 87. Actress Bonnie Bartlett is 86. Blues musician Lazy Lester is 82. Movie director Stephen Frears is 74. Singer-songwriter Brian Wilson is 73. Singer Anne Murray is 70. TV personality Bob Vila is 69. Rhythm-andblues singer Lionel Richie is 66. Actor John Goodman is 63. Pop musician John Taylor is 55. Actress Nicole Kidman is 48. Movie director Robert Rodriguez is 47. Actor Josh Lucas is 44. Country-folk singersongwriter Amos Lee is 38. Country singer Chuck Wicks is 36. Actress Dreama Walker is 29. Actor Chris Mintz-Plasse is 26. Thought for Today: “The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.” — Alfred North Whitehead, English philosopher and mathematician (1861-1947).
TUESDAY, JUNE 23 Planetarium shows at TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 2 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket; 5 p.m.: Secrets of the Sun. General admission is $3. Call 956-326DOME (3663).
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 Planetarium shows at TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 2 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket; 5 p.m.: Secrets of the Sun. General admission is $3. Call 956-326DOME (3663). Loteria for a Cause. 100 percent of proceeds will benefit furry friends. From 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. MVP Party Place, 9803 Sterling Loop. $20 for 4 play cards. Awesome prizes, snacks and sweets.
THURSDAY, JUNE 25 Planetarium shows at TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 2 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket; 5 p.m.: Secrets of the Sun. General admission is $3. For more information call 956-326-DOME (3663). Spanish Book Club from 6-8 p.m. at the Laredo Public Library on Calton Road. Call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810
SATURDAY, JUNE 27 Planetarium shows at TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 1 to 5 p.m. 2 p.m.: Accidental Astronaut (Matinee Show – $1 less); 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: Attack of the Space Pirates; 5 p.m.: Led Zeppelin. General admission is $4 for children and $5 for adults. Admission is $4 for TAMIU students, faculty and staff. Call 956-326-DOME (3663).
TUESDAY, JUNE 30 Planetarium shows at TAMIU Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium from 2 to 5 p.m. 3 p.m.: Cosmic Adventures; 4 p.m.: The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket; 5 p.m.: Secrets of the Sun. General admission is $3. Call 956-326DOME (3663).
THURSDAY, JULY 2 Renacer Couple’s Club meeting at Northtown Professional Plaza, 6999 McPherson Rd. Suite 221, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Free and open to the public. Contact Rosario Navarro at rossnavarro83@gmail.com.
THURSDAY, JULY 9 Inspire Social Business Club meeting at Northtown Professional Plaza, 6999 McPherson Rd. Suite 211, at 6:30 p.m. The public can discuss ideas, hear keynote speakers and support one another in business ventures. Contact Victor Navarro at vnavarro@texaslakeinc.com.
TUESDAY, JULY 21 South Texas Food Bank “Strike Out Hunger” bowling tournament and fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. at Jett Bowl North. Lanes are $125 for five bowlers. Tournament is open to everyone. Sponsorship advertising is open for $250. For more information, call Cindy Liendo at 726-3120 or email her at cliendo@southtexasfoodbank.org.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6 Renacer Couple’s Club meeting at Northtown Professional Plaza, 6999 McPherson Rd. Suite 221, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Free and open to the public. Contact Rosario Navarro at rossnavarro83@gmail.com. (Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.)
Photo by Andrew D. Brosig/Tyler Morning Telegraph | AP
Hawkins, Texas, Mayor Will Rogers poses Tuesday with a sign welcoming visitors to the small Wood County community. Rogers, who’s been mayor for about a year, said he’s ready for a fight after the city received a letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation demanding the sign which reads "Jesus Welcomes You To Hawkins" be moved off city property.
Town ponders sign ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAWKINS — Leaders of an East Texas town must decide whether to stick with a sign that says, “Jesus Welcomes You To Hawkins,” or face a possible legal challenge. The sign was made by local students in their shop class and has been on display for several years in the Hawkins community of around 1,300 people, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported. A concerned resident recently contacted the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which said the sign is unconstitutional and must come down. Foundation attorney Sam Grover asked the city in a letter to immediately remove the sign and “refrain from displaying any messages that endorse religion or nonreligion in the future.” “It is inappropriate and unconstitutional
for the city of Hawkins to display the sign described above (in the letter), because it conveys both a government preference for religion over non-religion and prefers Christianity over other religions,” he wrote. Grover said if the city doesn’t move the sign to private property, the foundation or a resident could sue. Mayor Will Rogers said the sign doesn’t belong to Hawkins, though it’s believed to be on city property. The city is surveying the land the sign sits on to make sure it is. After that, city officials will consult with the city attorney and the Texas Municipal League, which provides legislative, legal and educational services to cities. Rogers said the City Council meeting on Monday to discuss the issue was packed with residents and that there was overwhelming support for the sign.
Pontoon boat falls off Elected official convicted trailer, blocks part of road of misdemeanor assault
Dallas vigils held to mourn church shooting
COFFEE CITY — Traffic delays on one East Texas highway have been blamed on a boat with nowhere to float. Nobody was hurt Friday when a pontoon boat fell off a trailer and onto Highway 155 in Coffee City. The boat slipped off the trailer, overturned and ended up blocking several lanes of traffic.
DALLAS — A Dallas elected official has been convicted of misdemeanor assault on a city worker who refused to let him inside City Hall because he didn’t have proper identification. Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins was found guilty Thursday in municipal court and ordered to pay a fine. Atkins says he plans to appeal.
DALLAS — Dallas community members have gathered to mourn victims of a shooting massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Bishop Vashti McKenzie said Thursday that one of the victims was the mother of a local AME member and pastor, but he declined to identify the member.
2nd Houston-area teen convicted in occult killing
Woman dies in wreck while chasing husband
Texas jobless rate for May up slightly to 4.3 percent
HOUSTON — A Harris County jury has convicted a second Houston-area teenager of murder in the death of a girl who prosecutors say was killed as part of a satanic ritual. Jurors on Friday found 17-year-old Victor Alas guilty. Authorities investigated the case as a satanic ritual killing because a cross was carved into 15-year-old Corriann Cervantes’ abdomen and because of objects found at the scene.
HOUSTON — Authorities say a woman has been killed in a head-on traffic accident in Houston as she chased her estranged husband and a woman who was with him. Harris County officials say the driver of an oncoming SUV was injured in Thursday afternoon’s accident. Investigators believe the wife was trying to run her husband’s vehicle off the road.
AUSTIN — The Texas unemployment rate rose slightly in May to reach 4.3 percent. The Texas Workforce Commission on Friday announced that compares to a statewide jobless rate of 4.2 percent in April, which was the same as March. The McAllen-Edinburg-Mission area had the highest statewide unemployment last month at 7.2 percent. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Ton of ivory crushed to highlight poaching NEW YORK — Over a ton of confiscated ivory tumbled off a conveyor belt into a rock crusher in Times Square on Friday in a symbolic display highlighting an illegal trade that activists say threatens the survival of African elephants. The Wildlife Conservation Society says the global ivory trade is responsible for the slaughter of as many as 35,000 elephants a year in Africa. U.S. and state government officials, conservationists, animalwelfare advocates and tourists gathered to watch as hundreds of ivory trinkets were turned into a powder that fed into a trough, waiting to be trucked away.
US man convicted of illicit sexual conduct in Kenya OKLAHOMA CITY — A federal jury convicted an Oklahoma
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U.S. government display confiscated illegal ivory before crushing more than a ton in an effort to halt elephant poaching and ivory trafficking, Friday at Times Square in New York. man on Friday of illicit sexual conduct with children at a Kenyan orphanage that specializing in caring for neglected children. Matthew Lane Durham, 20, was found guilty of multiple federal charges of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places
and faces decades in prison at sentencing. Durham had served as a volunteer at the Upendo Children’s Home in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi since 2012. He was on his fourth visit when he was accused. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Life is good for Reveille By SAM PESHEK THE BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION EAGLE
COLLEGE STATION — Life has changed for Reveille VIII since the last time she led the Aggies onto Kyle Field for a football game. She is still treated in the same manner she has been for the past seven years as Aggieland’s first lady, with weekly grooming sessions and semi-daily teeth brushing after her retirement in May as Texas A&M University’s mascot. Life is quiet now for Reveille at the Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center, and, according to those closest with the 9-year-old collie, she’s enjoying it so far. “I feel like I’ve been wearing a watch all year and now something’s missing,” Ryan Kreider, Reveille’s former handler, told The Bryan-College Station Eagle. The transition has taken time to get used to, but Kreider said his former cadet general is only 20 minutes away from his home. He visited her last week just to say hello and checked her out of the center a couple weekends before for her birthday at his house, which was complete with presents, balloons and time with Reveille IX. Each time he has gone to visit her, he said he is more pleased with former Interim President Mark Hussey’s decision to choose the center to care for Reveille for the rest of her days. “From Reveille IV to Reveille VII there was no procedure to who got her,” Kreider said. “Traditionally it’s old Aggies who would take her in, so it’s good to know now there’s a procedure in place. She seems like she’s doing really well in there and I’m happy with the entire process.” It is not yet certain if future Reveilles will retire at the center, but the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and those who staff the center around the clock are doing their best to
Photo by Sam Craft/The Bryan-College Station Eagle | AP
In a this June 10 photo, Reveille VIII sits on her futon as Ellie Greenbaum of the Stevenson Companion Animal Life Care Center tries to get her to play with a toy, in College Station. set the tone for the first ladies. Associate Director Annie Greenbaum said the 16 dogs, 17 cats and one llama under the center’s care are “divas” and receive superstar treatment on par with Reveille’s. “It makes you feel very good that we’re able to do this here,” Greenbaum said. “We’re in love with every one of them.” The Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center was established in 1993 within the veterinary college as a place for pet owners to send their animals when they passed away or were no longer able to care for them. Owners enroll their pets with a $1,000 fee and establish a $50,000 to $100,000 endowment, depending on the age of the owner. According to Greenbaum, there are currently 515 animals enrolled to eventually come to the center between 187 owners representing 28 states. Only 10 percent of owners have Aggie ties. Once the pets are enrolled, funds go to the animal’s care and scholarships to vet students, including the four active vet students who live at the center to cover evening, holiday and weekend shifts when fulltime and part-time staff members are away. “It’s an invaluable experience especially for the students that live here,” Greenbaum said. They’re all in or hoping to go to vet school
and when they get out they’re going to have such a broader grasp of what it is like to care for these pets than their peers because they’ve actually lived with them.” The center, on University Drive, looks very much like an animal clinic from the outside, but one push of the front doorbell makes it feel like home with the sound of feet on the floor and a distant bark. Since the animals have almost free reign of the facility, Reveille and her new friend, a wirehaired Jack Russell terrier named Cricket, are often the first ones to greet visitors at the door. When she isn’t spending her time in the front office at Greenbaum’s side, Reveille can be found lounging on one of the couches in one of the center’s two living rooms, staring through a window toward the outdoor animal pen looking for Rusty the llama, chasing down tennis balls and toys in her own room that is marked with her name and service years on the window or playing outside with other dogs in the sun. She seems to be just like any other dog instead of a nationally known mascot until it is time for bed. Reveille isn’t used to spending much time alone after seven years going to class and sleeping in a cadet’s bed, so the student staffers have happily filled in that role.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
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COMMENTARY
OTHER VIEWS
People need a little time to grieve WASHINGTON — Unspeakable, unimaginable, incomprehensible and unthinkable are the words we’ve heard and used to describe the horrific murders of nine AfricanAmericans as they prayed in a Charleston, South Carolina, church, shot by a hate-filled racist on a genocidal purge. These are all we can summon to describe an event that is not human. The shooter, who had sat for an hour of Bible study and prayer with the very people he intended to kill, made his mission clear. Suspect Dylann Roof, now in custody, was unswayed by 26-year-old Tywanza Sanders, who tried to talk him out of shooting his aunt, Susie Jackson. No, you have to go, Roof said. Blacks are “raping our women and taking over the country.” Then he opened fire. We know this from a witness, the single person spared so that she could recount what happened. When Sanders dived in front of his aunt to protect her, he took the first bullet. It didn’t matter who died first, Roof had told Sanders before he shot him, because he was going to kill them all anyway. Unimaginable. Unfathomable. We try to place ourselves in that church in that time, sitting with the pastor, Clementa Pinckney, who was also a state senator and a married father of two children. His booming voice, replayed in videos, and the testimony of friends will echo in our memories for a long time. Yet the imagination hits a wall. It is too painful to ponder those last moments when these nine people, ranging in age from 26 to 87, realized that the person they had welcomed into their sanctuary, if not possessed of evil, was in that moment not quite human. Unspeakable. If any consolation can be found in the carnage, it is that the victims’ spirits were close to God when they were taken. The grief Charleston and all of us feel is nauseating. The layers and layers of meaning in that single, sick act — the church’s historic place as a meeting place for blacks from before the civil war through the civil rights era to the present — add extra dimension to human losses so profound and freighted with meaning that one weeps for humanity. To the people of Charleston, among whom I count myself as my family settled there more than 300 years ago, this senseless murder was a deep gouge in the soul of a city that has deliberately reconstructed itself as both a
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KATHLEEN PARKER
place of beauty and a beacon of diversity. Blacks make up about a third of the city’s population and have joined whites in governing the city with the goal of racial harmony and cooperation. Much credit goes to the leadership of Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., who was mayor when I began covering him in the late 1970s as a reporter for Charleston’s afternoon paper. You’ve likely seen him on TV — the white-haired fellow wearing tortoiseshell glasses and bearing the countenance of a man bereaved. He is one of the nation’s longest-serving mayors for good reason. Not only did he envision that Charleston could become a tourist destination but he has been a leader for social justice and racial reconciliation for decades. Back when I sat in the council chambers taking notes, Riley presided over a City Council that usually voted along racial lines. The mayor cast the tiebreaking vote, most often to my recollection in agreement with the African-American council members. Although a Democrat, Riley’s wasn’t an ideological vote. Rather it was the result of extensive reasoning, the process and culmination of which he shared in a conciliatory tone that has served him and his city well. Charlestonians, black and white, have responded to his leadership with civic pride and racial unity, as television viewers have witnessed these past few days. At least several residents have reminded reporters that the shooter wasn’t from Charleston. We’re not like that, they were saying. Thus, my sadness as I write is also for Riley, who has worked so hard to achieve what was uinable not so long ago — a vibrant, diverse city where race isn’t swept under the rug but discussed with mutual respect and purpose. This is the Riley difference. As I hear talk-show hosts scramble to turn this tragedy into issues — gun control, race, mental illness, what’s next? — I can’t help thinking that some manners are in order. People need time to recover from shock and to heal. Grief isn’t bound by deadlines or expressed in sound bites. Southerners, especially, like to take time with their mourning. Let’s allow them. Kathleen Parker’s email address is kathleenparker@washpost.com.
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Trade bill beats up Pelosi By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — Hostage-taking in politics is always a dangerous game. It’s an all-or-nothing gamble — just the sort of thing politicians like to stay away from. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., learned why this past week amid the ongoing tussle among House Democrats, Senate Democrats and the White House over legislation that would hand President Barack Obama considerable power to negotiate
the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Democrats have long supported trade adjustment assistance (TAA) — a program to compensate workers who lose jobs because of trade deals — and it was assumed that Pelosi would back it this time. But liberals, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., rebelled against Pelosi, opposing TAA, even though they support it, to slow the overall trade deal. Pelosi relented, and TAA failed. Fast-forward to Thursday, when the House passed
Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which gives Obama wide latitude to negotiate on behalf of the United States in the 12-country Pacific trade deal. The bill didn’t include the trade assistance provisions. It now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to pass with the promise that TAA will be approved afterward. Which brings us back to Pelosi, who is still insisting that there is no path for TAA in the House. But consider this: Pelosi took trade assistance hostage, against
her better judgment, to slow the overall bill. If the Senate passes TPA and TAA separately, then Pelosi’s hostage isn’t a hostage anymore. As Rep. Steve Israel, DN.Y., a key Pelosi ally, said Thursday of the possibility of House Democrats voting against TAA again: “That is the quintessential cutting of our noses to spite our face.” Nancy Pelosi, for taking a hostage you couldn’t keep, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
EDITORIAL
Getting rid of trans fats is good, but nutrition battle isn’t over THE WASHINGTON POST
The Food and Drug Administration moved formally to eliminate artificial trans fat from Americans’ food, revoking the ingredient’s “generally recognized as safe” status. From here on, neither foodmakers nor their government regulators may assume that the artery-clogging oils are relatively benign, and manufacturers will have three years to cull them completely from the U.S. food supply. The FDA reckons that the result will be 20,000 fewer heart attacks and 7,000 fewer deaths per year. This isn’t food fascism. It’s a long overdue, scienceinformed recognition that trans fats are both dangerous and unnecessary, and it’s about the least the government can do to encourage healthier eating. Essentially a ban on trans fats, the FDA’s move represents the final stage in a long fight scientists and public health advocates
have waged with the food industry. Though trans fats aren’t necessary to make food tasty, these partially hydrogenated oils are solid at room temperature and have long shelf lives. Those conveniences, however, could not justify the toll the ingredients took on people’s cardiovascular systems. Trans fat is the worst sort of fat you can eat; it lowers “good” cholesterol and increases “bad” cholesterol, a double-whammy that encourages heart disease. The FDA began requiring nutrition labels to list the amount of trans fats in packaged foods in 2006. That same year, then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pressed to ban trans fats in city restaurants, creating a significant demand for trans-fat alternatives virtually overnight. The combination of these efforts pushed trans fat consumption down 80 percent between 2003 and 2012. But that lingering 20 percent was still a major public
health concern. Americans were still consuming about a gram of trans fat per day. Some companies didn’t remove or didn’t remove fully trans fats from their products. Others didn’t have to label trans-fat content if it fell below half a gram per serving. That could easily add up over multiple servings. Absent any good case for trans fats’ continued use, Bloomberg and the FDA were more than warranted in requiring a full transition to alternatives, which has turned out to be relatively easy. The harder question is what else to do about Americans’ unhealthy eating, which is a public health nightmare. Rates of obesity and metabolic disease, which translate into people living shorter and more painful lives, remain unacceptably high. The annual cost of treating obesity-related ailments such as diabetes and heart disease is well over $100 billion. Trans fats only explain a fraction of
this broader problem. Some ingredients, such as added sugars, can’t be easily replaced without affecting taste. Some don’t have a public health case against them as strong as that against trans fats. The challenge for policymakers is finding some sort of intermediate policy that stops short of banning badfor-you ingredients but still effectively moderates people’s consumption of them. Bloomberg was onto something when he moved to limit soda sizes in New York City, a subtle psychological nudge discouraging massive servings of syrup. As a general matter, however, we believe that taxing things the government wants to discourage is a way to achieve legitimate national goals with minimal economic disruption and individual coercion. A tax of appropriate size on added sugars, for example, would discourage consumption and encourage food- and beverage-makers to develop new recipes.
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 namecalling 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 (1982) | GARRY TRUDEAU
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
Nation
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
Marines resurrect historic unit’s name By JONATHAN DREW ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Army has the Green Berets, while the Navy is known for the SEALs. Now, an elite branch of the U.S. Marine Corps will officially be known as Raiders. The Marines renamed several special operations units as Marine Raiders at a ceremony Friday, resurrecting a moniker made famous by World War II units that carried out risky amphibious and guerrilla operations. The exploits of the original Marine Raiders — who pioneered tactics used by present-day special forces — were captured in books and the movies “Gung Ho!” in 1943 and “Marine Raiders” in 1944. The name gives a unique identity to the Marines’ branch of U.S. Special Operations Command, which includes special forces from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. The Ma-
File photo | AP
This January 1944 photo shows U.S. Marine Raiders posing in front of a Japanese stronghold they defeated at Cape Torokina, Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea. rines’ Special Operations Command, known as MARSOC, was formed more than a decade ago as part of the global fight against terrorism.
“Whereas most people in the American public probably wouldn’t have been able to tell you what MARSOC stood for, ‘Raider’ will jump off the page,” said Ben Con-
nable, a military and intelligence analyst at the nonprofit research agency RAND Corporation. Following Friday’s ceremony, the formal names of eight units comprising some 2,700 Marines now include “Marine Raider.” Several members of the World War II Raider units watched from crowded bleachers as current Marines gathered in formation to unveil their new battle colors while renaming citations were read. The ceremony also included the playing of “Anchors Aweigh” and the “Marines’ Hymn.” “It’s a great honor to have this lineage carried forward,” said attendee Charles H. Meacham, 89, who served two years during World War II as a Raider in the Pacific. “Now MARSOC’s carrying on the legacy of the Raiders. It’s a Marine tradition.” The Marine Corps said the renaming gives commanders a shorthand way to refer to special operations Marines, similar to the la-
bels “Green Beret” or “SEAL,” in what it called “an official identity.” Connable, the military analyst, said special operations Marines carry out raids on insurgents or terrorists, conduct deep reconnaissance and train foreign military — similar to their special operations counterparts in other branches. Marines in MARSOC must pass a selection process that includes grueling swims and hikes, as well as specialized combat training. Some Marines have worn the Raider emblems unofficially since 2003 when the branch’s first present-day special operations unit was activated for a deployment to Iraq. Connable said the resurrection of the Raider name was a positive move because it will tie a group set apart from the rest of the branch into the history of some of the most famous Marines. He said MARSOC wasn’t initially popular with some Marines because of the branch’s famous “esprit de
corps” that includes pride in the group and the concept that all members are elite to begin with. “The whole idea of ‘special Marines’ is unpalatable to Marines in general,” said Connable, a retired officer. During World War II, the Raiders were organized in response to President Franklin Roosevelt’s desire to have a commando-style force that could conduct amphibious raids and operate behind enemy lines. Raider commanders studied unconventional warfare tactics, including Chinese guerrillas, and were given their pick of men and equipment, according to Marine historians. Raider units were credited with beating larger Japanese forces on difficult terrain in the Pacific, and they participated in key battles including Guadalcanal and Bougainville. They were disbanded toward the end of the war and the Raider name hasn’t been used in an official capacity since, said Capt. Barry Morris, a U.S. Marines spokesman.
Entertainment
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision | AP
Honoree Van Morrison and Michael Buble perform together at the 46th Annual Songwriters Hall Of Fame Induction and Awards Gala at the Marriott Marquis on Thursday, in New York.
Gaga, Morrison receive honors By HILLEL ITALIE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Lady Gaga turned up in a black bra and dark panties before switching to a zebrastriped suit. Tony Bennett stuck to old-fashioned blue, while Stephen Colbert looked at home in denim and a cowboy hat. Bennett, Colbert, Lady Gaga and Van Morrison were among the featured singers and speakers Thursday night at the 46th annual Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony, a three hour journey through the vast and unpredictable range of American music. New inductees included country stars Toby Keith and Bobby Braddock, the late Chicago bluesman Willie Dixon, the Grateful Dead songwriting team of Robert Hunter and the late Jerry Garcia, pop and stage star Cyndi Lauper and rock composer and performer Linda Perry. Amazement and gratitude were common reactions. “I still can’t believe I make a living making music,” Lauper said during her speech. Morrison and Lady Gaga picked up honorary prizes, while awards also were presented to Nate Ruess and the former CEO
of the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), John LoFrumento. At the Marriott Marquis in Times Square, admirers from across genres and generations exchanged tributes. The 88-year-old Bennett presented Lady Gaga, his duet partner, with a “Contemporary Icon Award” after Lady Gaga and Perry honored each other. Gaga stormed through Perry’s “What’s Up?” and Perry said it was “crazy” that a song she dashed off in her bedroom, fighting off fleas from her dog, would be embraced by a world famous performer. Carly Rae Jepsen sang Lauper’s moody ballad “Time After Time” and Michael Buble crooned a finger-snapping version of Morrison’s “Moondance.” A segment on Dixon featured a speech by Elton John’s songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin, who called him the Shakespeare of the blues and noted that many bands in England in the ‘60s started out by playing “Little Red Rooster,” “Back Door Man” and other Dixon standards. Taupin credited Dixon with loading up British artists such as the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton with great material and giving them “the wings to fly.”
Photo by NBC News | AP
In this image from video released by NBC News, former anchor of "Nightly News" Brian Williams, left, speaks during an interview with Matt Lauer which aired on the “Today” show and “Nightly News” on Friday. It is Williams’ first time speaking publicly since being suspended in February for telling tales about his reporting experiences.
Williams discusses comments By DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Brian Williams said the months since his suspension from NBC News had been like torture, and a come-clean interview with colleague Matt Lauer on the “Today” show must surely have felt like an extension. The humbled anchorman told Lauer in an interview that aired Friday that he let his ego get the better of him in telling stories that exaggerated his role in news reporting and that he intends to make the most of his second chance. But he admitted he had trouble accepting his punishment — being stripped of his job as “Nightly News” anchor and assigned to reporting news at MSNBC — although he’s now come to terms with it. By the end of Friday’s televised portion of the interview, a line of perspiration ran down Williams’ face. He said he was always careful with his words on the job, but “after work, when I got out of that building, when I got out of that realm, I used a double standard. Something changed. I was sloppier. I said things
that weren’t true.” He was suspended for falsely saying that a helicopter he flew in while reporting on the Iraq War in 2003 had been hit by enemy fire, although a subsequent NBC investigation turned up other incidents of embellishment, most during talk show appearances. NBC hasn’t released its internal report on what it found, and Williams declined to address other incidents in the interview. On the Iraq incident, he noted: “I told that story correctly for years before I told it incorrectly. I was not trying to mislead people. That to me is a huge difference.” Asked by Lauer whether he knew when he told the story on “Nightly News” that it was untrue, Williams said no. “It came from a bad place,” he said. “It came from a sloppy choice of words. I told stories that were not true over the years, looking back it is very clear. I never intended to. It got mixed up. It just turned around in my mind.” He said he had to have been driven by ego. “I had to be sharper, funnier, quicker than anybody
else, put myself closer to the action,” he said. Why he felt the need to do that is something he’s been analyzing. Williams did not say whether he has sought professional help in finding the root causes of his actions. “It looked like he was made to get up before he had to walk the plank. I feel for the guy,” said Jason Maloni, an expert in crisis PR at Levick Strategic Communications. Maloni said he believed NBC will regret taking a man with a clear connection to viewers off “Nightly News.” “I could see clearly the lines he felt he needed to say — I own this, and it was my ego — but I could also see lines where deep down inside himself he felt a little attacked.” Williams, who starts his new role at MSNBC in August, said that he is “fully aware of the second chance that I’ve been given and I don’t intend to squander it.” He said he’d go door-todoor if he could to win back the trust of viewers. He also acknowledged that he “pushed back at first” at his punishment. He
expressed support for Lester Holt, who filled in during Williams’ suspension and on Thursday was named the permanent new anchor of “Nightly News.” “Was it my first choice? No,” he said. “Obviously I wanted to return to my old job. I thought we had a good 10-year run.” He had some tough reviews for his Friday performance. David Hinckley, in the New York Daily News, said Williams “buried his remorse under so many evasive responses, so much tortured jargon” that it sounded like he’s still trying to process what happened to him. “It was a tortured mea culpa that didn’t close a chapter,” wrote Alessandra Stanley in The New York Times. “Mostly it raised more questions and gave hardened media scolds another chance to castigate a man who has been punished plenty.” A presidential candidate even offered advice on Twitter. “Very sad,” tweeted Donald Trump. “Brian should get on with a new life and not start all over at MSNBC.”
International
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
Mexico deports more than US By MARK STEVENSON AND ALBERTO ARCE
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
WikiLeaks leaking Saudi documents By RAPHAEL SATTER AND MAGGIE MICHAEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Mexico now deports more Central American migrants than the United States, a dramatic shift since the U.S. asked Mexico for help a year ago with a spike in illegal migration, especially among unaccompanied minors. Between October and April, Mexico apprehended 92,889 Central Americans. In the same time period, the United States detained 70,226 “other than Mexican” migrants, the vast majority from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. That was a huge reversal from the same period a year earlier, when the wave of migrants and unaccompanied minors from Central America was building. From October 2013 to April 2014, the United States apprehended 159,103 “other than Mexicans,” three times the 49,893 Central Americans detained by Mexico. The difference is Mexico’s new Southern Border Program, an initiative that included sending 5,000 federal police to the border with Guatemala and more border and highway checkpoints. Raids on migrants increased and authorities focused on keeping migrants off the northbound freight train known as “the Beast,” on which many have suffered mutilation injuries. Neither U.S. nor Mexican immigration officials responded to requests for comment on the change this week, though officials in the past have said it is aimed at reducing dangers facing migrants. “Mexico is doing the dirty work, the very dirty work, for the United States,” said Tomas Gonzalez, a Franciscan friar who runs the “72” shelter for migrants in Tenosique, a town in the southern Mexico state of Tabasco. In the past, Mexican migration officials looked the other way as thousands rafted across the river at the border and then boarded freight trains north. In 2014, more than 46,000 unaccompanied minors from Central America crossed into the United States, leading the U.S. government to turn to the governments in Mexico and Central America to try to stanch the flow. Mexico has proved the
Photo by Rebecca Blackwell | AP
An immigration official checks a bus for Central American migrants at a roadblock in Chiapas state, Mexico, on Aug. 27, 2014. more efficient in deportations, which is already causing concerns among human rights groups about the new tactics. In most cases, Mexico holds migrants only long enough to verify their nationalities, and quickly bundles them aboard buses to take them back to their home countries. “The time that foreigners are in immigration (detention) centers depends only on the speed with which the authorities of their (home) countries confirm their nationality,” Mexico’s National Immigration Institute said in an email response to questions from The Associated Press. Maureen Meyer of the Washington Office on Latin America think tank, which noted the dramatic change in a report this week, questions the speed Mexico is using. “What we have heard continuously in the past year is that migrants are being so rapidly deported that even some that might have wanted to request some type of protection, or who would have been eligible for some type of humanitarian visa because they had been victims of crime in Mexico, haven’t had that opportunity,” Meyer said. By comparison, when immigrants are caught crossing the U.S. border illegally, the process of being sent home can take anywhere from hours to years. Mexican nationals are often repatriated quickly — sometimes the same day they are caught — while migrants from other countries often spend at least a few days
in U.S. custody before being flown back to their country of origin. The deportation process can take much longer if an immigrant seeks asylum or if the person is a child traveling alone. For those immigrants who fight to stay in the United States, the wait for a court date and a final decision on their case can take several years because of backlog of more than 449,000 cases already pending in immigration courts. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there were about 41,920 requests for asylum in 2014, not all from Central Americans. About 49 percent of requests processed that year were granted. Mexico grants only a tiny number of asylum requests. The latest figures, covering a nine-month period from January to September 2014, show only 1,525 people, the majority of them Central Americans, requested asylum or refugee status, and only one-sixth — 247 — were granted. U.S. officials did not respond to questions regarding the amount of U.S. funding Mexico receives for its crackdown on the Guatemalan border, but it is making things tougher for migrants.. “It has raised the costs of the trip, it has raised costs for paying coyotes (smugglers) and the (Mexican) authorities that let them through,” said Gonzalez, the migrant activist. “It has spurred increases in everything bad — corruption and impunity — everything but human rights.”
ISTANBUL — WikiLeaks is in the process of publishing more than 500,000 Saudi diplomatic documents to the Internet, the transparency website said Friday, a move that echoes its famous release of U.S. State Department cables in 2010. WikiLeaks said in a statement that it has already posted roughly 60,000 files. Most of them appear to be in Arabic. There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked “Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” or “Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” Some were marked “urgent” or “classified.” At least one appeared to be from the Saudi Embassy in Washington. If genuine, the documents would offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the notoriously opaque kingdom. They might also shed light on Riyadh’s longstanding regional rivalry with Iran, its support for Syrian rebels and Egypt’s militarybacked government, and its opposition to an emerging international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program. One of the documents, dated to 2012, appears to highlight Saudi Arabia’s well-known skepticism about the Iranian nuclear talks. A message from the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran to the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh describes “flirting American messages” being carried to Iran via an unnamed Turkish mediator. Another 2012 missive, this time sent from the
Photo by WikiLeaks/The Washington Post | AP
A letter written to Osama bin Laden’s son from the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia explains that the U.S. can’t provide a death certificate for bin Laden. Saudi Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said the United Arab Emirates was putting “heavy pressure” on the Egyptian government not to try former president Hosni Mubarak, who had been overthrown in a popular uprising the year before. Some of the concerns appear specific to Saudi Arabia. In an Aug. 14, 2008 message marked “classified and very urgent,” the Foreign Ministry wrote to the Saudi Embassy in Washington to warn that dozens of students from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries had visited the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. capital as part of an international leadership program. “They listened to diplomats’ briefings from the embassy employees, they asked questions and then they took pictures,” the message said, asking the embassy for a speedy up-
date on the situation. Another eye-catching item was a document addressed to the interior and justice ministers notifying them that a son of Osama bin Laden had obtained a certificate from the American Embassy in Riyadh “showing death of his father.” Many more of the dozens of documents examined by The Associated Press appeared to be the product of mundane administrative work, such as emails about setting up a website or operating an office fax machine. The AP was not immediately able to reach anyone whose phone numbers or email addresses were published in the various documents, but WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told AP he was confident that the material was genuine. It is not clear how WikiLeaks got the documents.
SÁBADO 20 DE JUNIO DE 2015
Ribereña en Breve RECAUDACIÓN DE FONDOS El Boys and Girls Club del Condado de Zapata se encuentra recaudando fondos para sus programas juveniles y eventos programados para el 2015. Interesados en apoyar la causa, la compañía Tupperware se encuentra ofreciendo que por cada producto Tupperware que se compre, un 40 por ciento de las ventas se destinará directamente al club de Zapata. Le meta es recaudar 3.000 dólares. Pida informes llamando al (956) 765-3892.
TORNEO DE GOLF Zapata Lions Club invita al Segundo Torneo de Golf Leobardo Martinez Jr. Scholarship, el sábado 20 de junio en Los Ebanos Golf Course. El estilo es 3 Men Florida Scramble. Donación es de 65 dólares y 10 dólares por Mulligans. Registro a las 8 a.m., inicio a las 9 a.m. Informes llamando al campo de golf al (956) 7658336 o con Lioan Eduardo Martinez en el (956) 7658449 y/o Lion Aaron Cruz al (956) 240-3408.
Zfrontera TAMAULIPAS
Acusan ex autoridad ASSOCIATED PRESS
CORPUS CHRISTI— Un ex Gobernador del Estado de Tamaulipas fue acusado con cargos por lavado de dinero en Texas. Eugenio Hernández Flores y su cuñado, Oscar Gómez Guerra, fueron acusados formalmente por un gran jurado federal en Corpus
Christi. Los hombres, quienes permanecían prófugos hasta el viernes, son acusados con cargos por conspiración laHERNÁNDEZ vado de instrumentos monetarios y complicidad para operar un nego-
cio de transferencia monetaria sin licencia. El año pasado, Gómez fue acusado formalmente con cargos por lavado de dinero y también fue nombrado en la acusación entregada el 27 de mayo y revelada el jueves. Él está casado con la hermana del ex gobernador. En caso de ser condenados, los
TEXAS
CIUDAD LIMPIA
Arrestan a 16 en relación a esquema para fraude POR PHILIP BALLI TIEMPO DE LAREDO
MIGUEL ALEMÁN— Habrá una celebración por el día de San Juan, el miércoles 24 de junio, a partir de las 8 a.m. El evento comenzará con una cabalgata en el rancho “Las Blanquitas”, en el kilómetro 126.5; la partida de la cabalgata, programada para las 9 a.m., será animada por el grupo “El tamborazo de Vidal”. A la 1 p.m., la cabalgata será bendecida y continuará hasta la Plaza Principal, donde se ofrecerá una comida. La recepción contará con música en vivo del grupo “Combinación Guerrero”. En punto de las 4 p.m. las fiestas continuarán con un espectáculo de rodeo en el parque constitución. Y para finalizar con los festejos, habrá un baile popular en la Plaza Principal, a partir de las 7 p.m. El evento será amenizado por los grupo s”Los Hermanos Barrón”, y “Combinación Guerrero”.
FESTIVAL DE LA LIBERTAD
EXHIBICIÓN DE ARTE El Boys and Girls Club de Zapata tendrá una exhibición de arte, el sábado 27 de junio, de 1 p.m. a 4 p.m. Los integrantes del club interesados en participar pueden llamar al (956) 7653892. La participación es exclusiva para integrantes del club. Las personas que gusten inscribirse pueden acudir al club o llamar al (956) 765-3892.
DESFILE DE MODAS MIGUEL ALEMAN — Damas representantes de la Fundación “Vive en Paz y Haz el Bien” invitan a un Desfile de Modas que se llevará a cabo el 8 de julio en el Casino Milenium. La fundación que lucha contra el cáncer, espera que con el desfile de modas se recauden fondos que les permitirán continuar con su misión.
dos hombres enfrentarían sentencias en prisión de hasta 25 años. El Departamento de Justicia también busca 30 millones de dólares de los hombres, además del decomiso de tres propiedades en McAllen y una en Austin. Hernández dejó el cargo en 2010.
NUEVA CIUDAD GUERRERO, MÉXICO
FESTEJOS PATRONALES
RIO GRANDE CITY — El 2015 Rio Grande City Freedom Fest se realizará el viernes 26 de junio, a partir de las 6 p.m. en el Parque Municipal Basilio Villarreal. Presentación de Marshall Law, Palominos y Jack Ingram. Habrá comida gratis, puestos, juegos infantiles gratis y fuegos artificiales. Costo en preventa: 15 dólares; el día del evento a 25 dólares. Evento a beneficio del Rio Grande City Boys and Girls Youth Club.
PÁGINA 9A
Foto de cortesía
El área de Servicios Primarios de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero, México, trabaja en la limpieza de las calles y jardines en diferentes áreas de la ciudad, así como en la limpieza del terreno de la Asociación Ganadera Local. Se recomienda no lanzar basura en la calle, y a los propietarios de terrenos baldos mantenerlos limpios de hierba.
AGRICULTURA
Da inicio inscripción a programas de USDA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El periodo de inscripción a los programas Cobertura para Riesgos Agrícolas (ARC, por sus siglas en inglés) y Cobertura por Pérdidas de Precio (PLC, por sus siglas en inglés) del Departamento de Agricultura (USDA, por sus siglas en inglés), ha comenzado, dijo Tom Vilsack, secretario de la dependencia. Las personas elegibles para adquirir la cobertura tendrán hasta el 30 de septiembre para realizar su inscripción. “La campaña de difusión organizada por USDA desde que la Ley Agrícola 2014 fuera promulgada, junto con plazos de extensión, tienen por objetivo lograr el alto nivel de participación esperado”, dijo Vilsack, a través de
un comunicado de prensa. “Trabajamos con universidades para simplificar estos complejos programas al proporcionar herramientas en línea para que los productores exploren las opciones del programa de su elección”. Los nuevos programas, establecidos por la Ley Agrícola en 2014, desencadenan protecciones financieras para los productores agrícolas que experimentan pérdidas sustanciales en cortes de precio o remodelaciones, señala un comunicado. Más de 1.76 millones de agricultores han elegido ARC o PLC. A nivel nacional, el 96 por ciento de las granjas de soya, el 91 por ciento de las granjas de maíz y el 66 por ciento de las granjas de trigo, fueron
seleccionadas por ARC. El 99 por ciento de las granjas de grano largo de arroz, el 99 por ciento de las granjas de maní, el 94 por ciento de las granjas de grano mediano de arroz, fueron elegidas para PLC. Para información sobre otros programas estatales y sus resultados visite: www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc. Las comodidades de cobertura bajo los programas ARC y PLC incluyen cebada, canola, gabanzo grande y pequeño, maíz, semilla de lino, sorgo, lentejas, semillas de mostaza, avena, cacahuates, chicharos secos, semillas de colza, arroz de grano largo, arroz de grano medio, semilla de cártamo, sésamo, soya, semillas de girasol y trigo. Para más información visite www.usda.gov/farmbill.
Un total de 16 personas en el sur de Texas fueron arrestadas con una variedad de ofensas relacionadas con supuestos esquemas de fraude en un esfuerzo por defraudar a los programas de Medicare y Medicaid, anunció el jueves la Oficina del Fiscal de EU durante una conferencia de prensa celebrada en McAllen. Seis acusaciones individuales, acusando a los 16 acusados en relación a la supuesta acción de fraude, fueron presentadas a inicios de este mes en cortes federales ubicadas en las divisiones de McAllen, Brownsville y Laredo para el Distrito Sur de Texas. El anuncio fue realizado en conjunto con el desmantelamiento nacional anunciado el jueves por la Procuradora General Loretta E. Lynch y Sylvia Burwell, secretaria para el Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos. El rastreo a nivel nacional, encabezado por el Grupo Especial contra Fraudes a Medicare, resultó en cargos en contra de 243 personas, incluyendo 46 doctores, enfermeras y otros profesionales en la medicina con licencia por su supuesta participación en esquemas de fraude contra Medicare involucrando aproximadamente 712 millones de dólares en facturas falsas. “La acción de hoy representa el primer esfuerzo a gran escala enfocado en los fondos de Medicare y demuestra al expansión del enfoque federal sobre este aspecto”, dijo Lynch durante una transmisión en vivo desde el Departamento de Justicia, el jueves. “A los sospechosos se les acusa con realizar una serie de crímenes graves que van desde conspiración para cometer fraude contra el cuidado de la salud hasta transferir fondos para lavado de dinero”. Una acusación de 14-cargos presentada el 9 de junio en una corte federal de Laredo acusa a los laredenses Linda Alaniz, de 54 años, Evelio Peralta, de 59, y Cynthia Garcia, de 44, y a Alma Garza, de 58, de Hebbronville, con conspiración para cometer fraude contra el cuidado de la salud. Alaniz y Garza también enfrentan siete cargos por fraude contra el cuidado de la salud y un cargo de conspiración para pagar y recibir sobornos y enfrentan un adicional de 15 años en prisión. Alaniz también está siendo acusada con cuatro cargos por albergar a extranjeros ilegales. García también está siendo acusada con un cargo de declaración falsa en relación con el programa de beneficios por cuidado de la salud, el cual se castiga con hasta cinco años de cárcel. De acuerdo con la acusación, el fraude de facturación contra Medicaid fue por servicios de asistencia personal en Saint Benedicts Home Health Agency Inc., ubicada en 1420 Cedar Avenue. Alaniz era una paciente y reclutadora de proveedores para Saint Benedicts y supuestamente presentó hojas de asistencia que no realizó, de acuerdo a la acusación. Garza era la gerente de oficina para Saint Benedicts y supuestamente utilizó hojas de asistencia falsas para cobrar a Medicaid por servicios que nunca se ofrecieron. Peralta y García dieron de manera voluntaria su identidad a Alaniz para que fueran utilizadas en el fraude, alega la acusación. Igualmente, García supuestamente firmó las hojas de asistencia falsas. Garza y Alaniz supuestamente tenían un acuerdo para pagar a Alaniz por las referencias de beneficiarios. Alaniz recibió pagos en efectivo dos veces al mes por pacientes ilegales referidos a Saint Benedicts entre el 2010 y 2015, de acuerdo a la acusación. Como resultado del fraude, Medicaid pagó a Saint Benedicts aproximadamente 3 millones de dólares en reclamos que fueron supuestamente el resultado de sobornos. Una acusación con 15-cargos presentada el 2 de junio en una corte federal de Brownsville acusa a las cuatro personas con conspiración para cometer fraude contra el cuidado de la salud y una variedad de otros cargos. Cuatro acusaciones independientes presentadas el 9 de junio en una corte federal de McAllen acusan a otras ocho personas con una serie de cargos por fraude. Stopmedicarefraud.gov enlista una serie de fraudes comunes que típicamente son utilizados por doctores, proveedores de cuidado de la salud o proveedores, en un intento por cometer fraude contra Medicare y Medicaid. “Sean sospechosos de doctores, proveedores del cuidado de la salud, o proveedores quienes les piden su número de Medicare, que le indican que los exámenes le salen más baratos, ya que muchos de estos son proveídos, publicitan consultas “gratis” a personas con Medicare, le llaman o visitan y dicen que representan a Medicare o al gobierno federal”, indica el sitio de Internet.
Nation
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
Victims’ families forgive suspect in court By JEFFREY COLLINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLESTON, S.C. — They forgave him. They advised him to repent for his sins, and asked for God’s mercy on his soul. One even told Dylann Storm Roof to repent and confess, and “you’ll be OK.” Relatives of the nine community leaders shot down during a Bible study session at their historic black church confronted the shooting suspect Friday during his initial court hearing, and spoke of love. “I forgive you, my family forgives you,” said Anthony Thompson. “We would like you to take this opportunity to repent. ... Do that and you’ll be better off than you are right now.” Roof, who faces nine counts of murder, was ordered held on $1 million bond on a separate gun charge. He appeared by video from the county jail, looking somber in a striped jumpsuit and speaking only briefly in response to the judge’s questions. A police affidavit released Friday accused Roof of shooting all nine victims multiple times, and making a “racially inflammatory statement” as he stood over an unnamed witness. Felecia Sanders survived the Wednesday night attack by pretending to be dead, but lost her son Tywanza. She also spoke from the judge’s courtroom, where Roof’s image appeared on a television screen. “We welcomed you Wednesday night in our Bible study with open arms. You have killed some of the most beautifulest people that I know. Every fiber in my body hurts ... and I’ll never be the same,” Sanders told Roof. “Tywanza was my hero,” Sanders said, but even she showed some kindness as she confronted the man accused of killing her son: “As we said in Bible Study, we enjoyed you but may God
Photo by David Goldman | AP
Nadine Collier, left, the daughter of Ethel Lance, one of the nine people killed in Wednesday’s shooting at Emanuel AME Church, steps out to speak to the media about her mother following the bond hearing for the suspected gunman Friday, in North Charleston, South Carolina. have mercy on you.” Roof, 21, bowed his head slightly as the relatives spoke. From the jail, he could hear the people talking, but couldn’t see them,
because the camera shows only the judge. The relatives’ remarkable comments seemed in keeping with a spirit evident on the streets of Charleston Fri-
day, where people built a memorial and planned a vigil to repudiate whatever a gunman would hope to accomplish by attacking the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nation’s most important African-American sanctuaries. “A hateful person came to this community with some crazy idea he’d be able to divide, but all he did was unite us and make us love each other even more,” Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said as he described plans for the evening vigil at a sports arena. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said the state will “absolutely” want the death penalty. A steady stream of people brought flowers and notes and shared somber thoughts at a growing memorial in front of the church, which President Barack Obama
called “a sacred place in the history of Charleston and in the history of America.” “This was an act of racial terrorism and must be treated as such,” the Rev. Cornell William Brooks, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Friday in Charleston. Roof had complained while getting drunk on vodka recently that “blacks were taking over the world” and that “someone needed to do something about it for the white race,” according to Joey Meek, who tipped the FBI when he saw him on surveillance images. Roof also told him he used birthday money from his parents to buy a .45 Glock pistol before the attack, Meek said. The affidavit said Roof’s father and uncle also called authorities after seeing surveillance photos, and that the father
said Roof owned a .45-caliber gun. Brooks said hate crimes take aim at collective values, but “we have never allowed ourselves to be victims, we have never capitulated, we have never laid prostate before the demagogue of racism in this country.” “This is a moment in which we say to them, the white nationalists movement, those purveyors of hate, we as Americans will not subscribe to that philosophy. We will not give up, we will not give in,” he said. Roof was arrested in North Carolina after an alert motorist recognized him, and returned in shackles to a county jail where he was being held next to the cell of Michael Slager, the white former police officer charged with fatally shooting black motorist Walter Scott in neighboring North Charleston.
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Giving more globally, less locally By RON LIEBER NEW YORK TIMES
There was a lot of good news this week in the annual report on American philanthropy published by the Giving USA Foundation. Overall giving passed its prerecession peak, according to the organization’s calculations. Generosity in nearly every category was up, in some cases strongly. But there was one bit of bad news for the people in the world who have the least: Giving to international affairs was down 3.6 percent over the past year in the catchall category that includes aid, development, relief and human rights organizations. The news comes on the heels of the latest book by Peter Singer, a Princeton philosopher who regularly asks inconvenient questions that turn heads inside out. He has spent years making the case that individuals have a moral obligation to do much more for people in faraway places. In "The Most Good You Can Do," he challenges all of us, once again, to tilt our charitable allocations heavily toward the global and less toward the local. At the moment, however, giving to international affairs makes up just 4 percent of the $358 billion in overall giving, 72 percent of which is from individuals, although a bit more may ultimately leave the United States after people give it to organizations in other categories. So why has his message failed to take root so far? And what might persuade people to give more to those whose lives we might actually be able to save or radically improve? The Giving USA report offers a few clues about this year’s decline. There were no major natural disasters in 2014 that often inspire contributions to international causes, and many donors felt helpless to do anything to halt the spread of Ebola. Still, that tiny overall percentage of money going to people halfway around the world continues to puzzle Singer. "I was hoping it would change in a five- to 10-year time frame," he said, while taking a break from a trip through Europe to meet people who have taken up the cause along with him. "It might not be happening as fast as I would have liked." When he began discussing the issue out loud, many people told him that they did not believe that their donations would reach the people who truly needed the money. Even in the face of recent questions
raised by journalists at ProPublica and National Public Radio about how well organizations like the American Red Cross distribute aid, Singer is confident that donors can track down the best ones. The research operation GiveWell is a good place to start. Singer, who is a longtime supporter of animal rights organizations, does understand that the "effective altruism" movement he favors is in need of a large-eyed animal or its equivalent that will reach people emotionally. While he does not want people to give on the basis of pictures of smiling children, he knows that data scientists with bags under their eyes don’t get people to open their wallets, even if they are doing essential work vetting charities. So what would move people? That question has been central to the work of Sam McFarland, an emeritus professor of psychology at Western Kentucky University. He and two colleagues went so far as to develop an "Identification With All Humanity Scale" to try to begin figuring it out. "Psychology had focused extensively on ethnocentrism and prejudice and their roots," he said. "But we’d not given any attention to the node of having a sense of common humanity." Child-rearing, it turns out, doesn’t seem to have much to do with why some people end up with high scores on the scale and give generously to organizations that help people in faraway lands. McFarland, who said that he had been repeatedly audited by the Internal Revenue Service because of his outsize donations to Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch, pointed to other research suggesting that memorable experiences might begin to shift people’s views. For those of us who want to be more like Singer but end up giving mostly locally, international travel may be one way to shift our focus. But there is plenty to do at home, too. Jen Shang, a professor of philanthropic psychology at Plymouth University in England who gives to a children’s hospice in Indonesia called Rachel House, suggests that many kinds of direct action can help shift our orientations. One of the biggest objections to giving more to global organizations tends to be our desire not to turn our back on our neighbors. Here, a "Give Global, Act Local" approach may help, where you make up for any contribution declines with more hours of volunteer work in the community.
Photo by Susan Walsh | AP
Trucks head eastbound on Rt 50 in Bowie, Md., Friday. The Obama administration on Friday proposed tougher mileage standards for medium and heavy-duty trucks, the latest move by President Barack Obama in his second-term drive to reduce pollution blamed for global warming.
Tougher truck standards By MATTHEW DALY ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday proposed tough new standards to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide pollution from trucks and vans, the latest move by President Barack Obama to address global warming. The new rules are designed to slash heattrapping carbon emissions by 24 percent by 2027 while reducing oil consumption by up to 1.8 billion barrels over the lifetime of the vehicles sold under the rule. Medium and heavyduty vehicles account for about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and oil use in the U.S. transportation sector, polluting the air and contributing to climate change. The trucks and vans comprise only 5 percent of vehicles on the road. The proposal comes amid a flurry of recent actions by Obama on the environment, including a new federal rule regulating small streams and wetlands and a separate rule to restrict greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes. The administration also is expected to move forward this summer on its plan to curb carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, a rule Republicans in Congress have vowed to stop. The long-expected trucks rule comes one day after Pope Francis issued a teaching document calling for the world to take action to
slow climate change. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the new rules would help the environment and the economy, as trucks use less fuel and shipping costs go down. Foxx called the rules “good news all around.” Gina McCarthy, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the plan would deliver “big time” on Obama’s call to cut carbon pollution. “With emission reductions weighing in at 1 billion tons, this proposal will save consumers, businesses and truck owners money,” McCarthy said. At the same time, the rules will “spur technology innovation and job-growth, while protecting Americans’ health and our environment over the long haul,” she said. Under the new rule, a best-in-class, long-haul truck carrying 68,000 pounds of cargo is expected to get at least 10 miles per gallon, up from a range of 5 to 7 miles per gallon today, the EPA said. Vehicle owners would recoup costs associated with the rule within two years because of reduced fuel consumption, officials said. Partly because of those expected savings, the truck rule appeared to generate less controversy than some of the previous regulations the EPA has issued on climate change, although the industry was still reviewing the proposal. The American Trucking Association said industry generally sup-
ports the new rules, but remains concerned that it may result in use of technologies on vehicles before they can be fully tested. Trucks carry goods from produce to timber and oil, as well as packages from major companies such as Amazon, on highways across the country. “Fuel is an enormous expense for our industry — and carbon emissions carry an enormous cost for our planet,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “That’s why our industry supported the Obama administration’s historic first round of greenhouse gas and fuel efficiency standards for medium and large trucks and why we support the aims of this second round of standards.” Still, Graves and other officials said truck and engine manufacturers need time to develop solutions to meet the new standards. The proposed standards would cover model years 2021-2027 and apply to semi-trucks, large pickup trucks and vans, and all types and sizes of buses and work trucks, officials said. The National Automobile Dealers Association and American Truck Dealers blasted the rule, saying it would add an average of nearly $12,000 to the cost of a new truck. “Recent history has shown that mandates with underestimated compliance costs result in substantially higher prices for commercial vehicles, and force fleet owners and operators to
seek out less-expensive and less fuel-efficient alternatives in the marketplace,” the groups said in a statement. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association of Grain Valley, Missouri, which counts 150,000 members, said it was concerned that the rules would “push truckers to purchase technology that is not fully tested and may lead to costs such as increased maintenance and down time that will eclipse the potential savings estimated in the proposal.” Once completed, the rules are expected to lower carbon dioxide emissions by about 1 billion metric tons. The rule builds on fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards already in place for model years 2014-2018. Those rules are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 270 million metric tons and save vehicle owners more than $50 billion in fuel costs, compared to previous standards. Environmental groups cheered the new rule. “Anyone who’s ever been stuck behind a truck or bus knows how much they pollute,” said Travis Madsen of Environment America, an advocacy group. “Making trucks go farther on a gallon of fuel can curb pollution, help save the planet and save money,” he said. The proposed rules will be open to public comment for at least two months and would be completed next year.
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
AMIRA H. SAENZ Oct. 31, 1951 – June 16, 2015 Amira H. Saenz, 63, passed away on Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas. Ms. Saenz is preceded in death by her parents, Amador and Matilde Hernandez and brother, Amador Hernandez, Jr. Ms. Saenz is survived by son, Serafin Saenz IV; daughter, Amy (Jesus) De Jesus; grandchildren, Jose Miguel Ramon Jr., Jesselynn De Jesus, Jezelle Ramon, Juandiego Ramon, Aiden Lobaton, Adrian Lobaton, Azeneth Lobaton, Serafin Saenz V, Amira Elvira Saenz; brothers, Jose (Lorna) Hernandez, Argelio (Lynn) Hernandez, Alfredo Hernandez, Alejandro (Angie) Hernandez; sisters, Amada (Barry) Benderman, Irma (Rolando) Rodriguez, Juanita Hernandez; and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends. Visitation hours will be
held on Saturday, June 20, 2015, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Rose Garden Funeral Home. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Rose Garden Funeral Home Daniel A. Gonzalez, Funeral Director, 2102 N. U.S. Hwy 83, Zapata.
attorney Jackie Watson. But people in limbo could be waiting on a judge to close their case and allow them to live here legally; some are victims of domestic violence or trafficking who might qualify for a visa, and others could be waiting to be awarded a green card. “There are people who are waiting for relief and have really good cases for relief,” she said. “And they can’t go on with their lives.” The wait also makes it difficult to get interim benefits like a work permit. Cuellar, the only Texas Democrat on the House Appropriations Commit-
tee, said more judges are already being hired under a 2014 directive from the White House. How many new judges ultimately might be assigned to Texas is unknown, he said, but the state should see “a pretty good size in increases.” “I would say that every court or processing center (in Texas) will go up,” he said. In Texas, the Houston immigration court has the largest backlog, with 32,048 cases pending. That’s followed by San Antonio at 24,570, Dallas at 7,700 and El Paso at 6,515. Harlingen rounds out the top five at 5,800. Cuellar said the expe-
dited removal of deportable immigrants was the result of a June 2014 White House directive to process high-priority cases quickly, including recent crossers and unaccompanied children. The hiring surge should also affect the number of cases that involve unaccompanied minors. That part of the docket has swelled to about 70,000 nationwide, according to the TRAC data. That’s compared with about 41,600 in June 2014. Kathryn Mattingly, a spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, said that as of May 26, the number of pending cases for unaccompanied mi-
nors had dropped to about 22,000. Despite the increase in the number of Central Americans who have crossed into the country illegally, Mexico is still the country of origin for the majority of people awaiting a final outcome. Through April 2015, about 130,800 undocumented immigrants with pending immigration cases were from Mexico, and about 69,560 and 57,600 from El Salvador and Honduras, respectively. In Texas, about 26,140 Mexicans were waiting on a final decision. That’s followed by 17,870 from El Salvador and 16,240 from Honduras.
GOVERNOR Continued from Page 1A
FALCON Continued from Page 1A spring to evaluate the health and productivity of each fishery.” The rankings were created by first polling the fishery agencies of each state to produce a current list of bass-rich waters. Next, the B.A.S.S. Nation was employed to chime in on the best fisheries they compete on across the country. All 630,000 B.A.S.S. Facebook fans were polled to make sure non-tournament lakes were considered, and then the B.A.S.S. Council, a 3,500-member panel of super-avid bass fishermen, helped put the lakes in order. Finally, after scouring tournament data from hundreds of bass fishing clubs and tourna-
IMMIGRATION Continued from Page 1A
ment organizers, the rankings were finalized by a 15-member blue-ribbon panel from the fishing industry. Last year’s No. 1 fishery, Lake Michigan’s Sturgeon Bay, dropped to No. 2. The No. 1 fishery from 2013, Michigan’s Lake St. Clair, took the No. 3 spot. The remainder of the Top 5, in order, are the California Delta and Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas. Texas earns bragging rights with the most lakes ranked within Bassmaster’s 100 Best with a total of nine lakes. California and New York each may boast of six fisheries that made the cut; Michigan has eight on the list.
transmitting business without a license, and has been cooperating as part of his plea deal, records show. At Flores’ plea hearing, federal prosecutor Julie Hampton said the businessman used shell companies to wire money from Mexico to bank accounts in the Rio Grande Valley on behalf of others to disguise where the funds were coming from. Among Flores’ clients were Hernández and members of his family. He had good reason to disguise the source of the money, prosecutors contended. “Eugenio Hernández has been identified by the Drug
Enforcement Administration as receiving bribes from the Los Zetas drug cartel, a transnational criminal organization, in order for the cartel to have the unfettered ability to operate in Tamaulipas while Mr. Hernández was governor,” Hampton said in the hearing. “One of the vehicles or methods for moving the illegal proceeds gained in Mexico by Mr. Eugenio Hernández and his co-conspirators into the U.S. was an elaborate money laundering scheme,” Hampton said. “This scheme was developed by Guillermo Flores Cordero.” She said that between
2009 and 2012, Flores used shell companies to wire $30 million into the U.S. for his clients and made $2.5 million in commission. Federal authorities have seized millions of dollars in Flores’ U.S. bank accounts as well as his house in The Dominion on San Antonio’s Northwest Side. He’s in jail awaiting his sentencing in August. Tamaulipas is the home of the Gulf Cartel and the birthplace of its one-time enforces, the Zetas. For the last decade, the state has been shaken by violence as the two gangs battled rivals and fought among themselves. U.S. prosecutors have in-
dicted a number of former Tamaulipas officials and businessmen and seized bank accounts and properties in San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley they say were used to launder money. Hernández’s predecessor, Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, is facing charges of racketeering, money laundering and drug trafficking in Brownsville and is also a fugitive. Yarrington has said online and through his Houston lawyer that he is not guilty and that he has no ties to real estate, planes and other assets that have been seized by federal agents as part of their investigations.
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE : NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Appeal date set Photo by Jeff Chiu | AP
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was the regular season MVP and helps the Warriors win their first NBA Title in 40 years after a six-game series against Cleveland.
Warriors have victory parade Golden Sate won first NBA Title in 40 years By KRISTIN J. BENDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
File photo by Stephan Savoia | AP
New England Patriots quarterback Tom grew from a sixth-round draft choice into one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. How will his potential fourgame suspension for deflated footballs affect Brady’s legacy?
Brady will meet with NFL Commissioner Tuesday BY HOWARD ULMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady grew from a sixth-round draft choice into one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. Off the field, he’s a celebrity with a supermodel wife and lucrative marketing deals. All that has made the New England Patriots superstar the object of admiration and respect to some, jealousy and enmity to others. On Tuesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hears Brady’s appeal of a fourgame suspension for using deflated footballs in the AFC championship game.
Goodell’s decision upholding, reducing or eliminating the punishment won’t likely cause major changes in perceptions of a four-time Super Bowl champion — perceptions enhanced during a stellar 15-year NFL career, yet sullied in one game in which he may have knowingly used deflated footballs. “He is a guy that I have said for a long time is the best in the business,” said Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethslisberger, who faces the Patriots in the season opener Sept. 10, when Brady’s suspension is set to start. “I have a lot of respect for him on the football field.” Buffalo coach Rex Ryan, a longtime nemesis, says Brady’s legacy hasn’t been
tarnished. “I just know the kind of quarterback that he is and what he’s meant to me personally,” Ryan said, smiling and sighing about Brady’s success against him when he coached the New York Jets. “I’ve got nothing but respect for the guy.” Companies the boyishly handsome 37year-old has represented in stylish ads — Under Armour sportswear, UGG footwear, Movado watches — haven’t abandoned him. Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank sat with him at ringside at the Floyd May-
FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
SAN FRANCISCO — In a rare moment of glory, Oakland will shine in the national spotlight Friday as the Golden State Warriors parade through the city with their NBA championship trophy. Oakland usually makes news for crime, corruption, protests and violence. But on Friday morning, thousands of blue-and-gold-clad fans will flood downtown to see Warriors players aloft six floats as they make their way along a 2mile parade route, showing off the championship trophy. They’ll try to get grab a glimpse of the gold award that Stephen Curry lifted over his head Wednesday as he stepped off the airplane and into the California sun. Oakland Warriors fans and city leaders alike have stood behind their team through the season, and now they are basking in the glory of the first NBA
See BRADY PAGE 2B See PARADE PAGE 2B
MLB: HACKING INVESTIGATION
While feds investigate, MLB holds back on hacking probe By NOAH TRISTER ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Darryl Dyck | AP
United States’ Alex Morgan, center, missed along period of time with a knee injury, but now that she has a start under her belt, she can’t be missed in the Round of 16.
Morgan leads US in Round of 16 By ANNE M. PETERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
EDMONTON, Alberta — Now that Alex Morgan has had a start, look to see more of her at the Women’s World Cup. Morgan is one of the most visible players on the U.S. national team, with endorsement deals with Nike, ChapStick and Nationwide Insurance. But Morgan came in as a sub
in the U.S. team’s first two matches in Canada while she returned from a bone bruise in her left knee. She made her first World Cup start in the final group stage match, a 1-0 victory over Nigeria. Now that Morgan appears to be back and healthy, she’ll be a player to watch for the secondranked United States team,
See SOCCER PAGE 2B
The case of compromised Houston Astros player intel is a federal investigation, not a baseball probe, says MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. That doesn’t mean he can’t hand down penalties as more information comes to light about whether St. Louis Cardinals employees hacked into a personnel database belonging to the Astros. For decades, baseball’s leadership has handed out discipline to players and management figures for all sorts of reasons. But corporate espionage via computer is a fairly new threat to the game’s integrity, far different from offenses such as stealing pitching signs or using pine tar. There’s no real precedent that might indicate how baseball will handle this matter, and for now, Manfred seems content to let the criminal investigation lead the way. Major League Baseball said it will evaluate additional steps once federal law enforcement officials complete their investigation. A person familiar with the investigation has told the AP that federal authorities are looking at whether the Cardinals were to
File photo by Julio Cortez | AP
Feds are investigating whether the St. Louis Cardinals illegally accessed a computer of the Astros. The aim was obtaining information from the front office headed by Astros GM Jeff Luhnow, a former top aide in St. Louis. blame for what Major League Baseball called a “breach” of the Astros database. Laws that could apply in the situation include the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Economic Espionage Act, said Chip Pitts, a law school lecturer at Stanford. Pitts said it’s important for authorities to determine if this was a case of stealing trade
secrets, or if there were other motives for the possible breach. With sports franchises becoming increasingly reliant on data and technology, Pitts said the criminal investigation could be an attempt to prevent a cyber war from breaking out, putting every team at risk. Any penalties, he
See HACKING PAGE 2B
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
SOCCER
Photo by Jeff Chiu | AP
Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson partnered with Curry to form the “Splash Brothers” and shot their way to NBA Title after finishing the regular season with the best record in the league.
PARADE Continued from Page 1B title in 40 years. “The success of the Golden State Warriors, who are headquartered and play in Oakland, have provided a golden spotlight on this city. The resilience and tremendous potential of Oakland are emblematic of the Warriors’ victory. Go, Warriors! Go, Oakland,” said Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, who represents East Oakland and other East Bay cities and has been a Warriors fan since 1976. The Warriors were welcomed home to Oakland on Wednesday with more than 100 team employees cheering them outside a private terminal at the Oakland airport. The team beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 105-97 in the Game 6 clincher Tuesday night. “We’re so proud of the job that the entire city of Oakland did as these great ambassadors for these finals,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Thursday. “Like the Warriors themselves, we put together a great tea of businesses, fans and city workers that hosted the finals in worldclass style.” The procession of floats will wind through the city. Fans can begin lining up
for the rally at 5 a.m. at Lakeshore Avenue and 12th Street. Bay Area Rapid Transit will run extra trains through Oakland all day and will modify routes. AC Transit expects significant delays for most of the day. Some streets will also be closed. Oakland has been plagued by a number of problems in recent years. Late last year, Oakland was thrust into the national spotlight for a series of raucous and violent protests where people were arrested, businesses were vandalized and property was set on fire after grand jury decisions to not indict white officers in the fatal shootings of unarmed black men by white police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City. Oakland has for many years been ranked as one of the nation’s most dangerous cities. Its police department has been under a 13-year court-mandated police reform drive. A few years ago there was a bid to recall former Mayor Jean Quan, and the current mayor has been criticized for the city’s crackdown on nighttime demonstrations.
which plays No. 28 Colombia to open the knockout stage Monday in Edmonton. The speedy 25-year-old, appearing in her second World Cup, has 51 goals in 84 international appearances. Here are some of the other players to watch at the World Cup: MARTA, BRAZIL: A forward, Marta Vieira da Silva is arguably one of the best women to play the game. She scored on a penalty kick against South Korea in the group stage, becoming the all-time leading scorer in the Women’s World Cup with 15 goals. This is Marta’s fourth World Cup. The 29-year-old was named FIFA player of the year an unprecedented five straight years from 2006-10. Brazil, ranked seventh in the world, won all three of its group stage matches and advances to face No. 10 Australia on Sunday in Moncton, in far eastern Canada. CHRISTINE SINCLAIR, CANADA: The captain of the Canadian team, Sinclair is the national team’s all-time leading scorer with 154 goals, and ranks third all-time internationally behind Americans Abby Wambach (183) and Mia Hamm (158). Sinclair is well known in the United States, too: She played on two NCAA championship teams for the University of Portland, and she currently plays for the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League. She had a big moment in Canada’s opener at the World Cup with a stoppage-time penalty kick against China. Canada, ranked eighth in the world, finished atop its group and will face No. 19 Switzerland on Sunday in Vancouver. HOMARE SAWA, JAPAN: The 36-year-old midfielder is probably best known for her goal in the 2011 World Cup final against the United States. The stunning goal in the 117th minute sent the match to penalty kicks, and Japan came away with the victory. Sawa was named the 2011 FIFA player of the year, ending Marta’s five-year reign. Sawa is playing in a record sixth World Cup. She has 202 international appearances and 83 goals. Japan, ranked fourth, won all of its group stage matches and will play the Netherlands, ranked 12, in the round of 16 on Tuesday in Vancouver. EUGENIE LE SOMMER, FRANCE: A versatile 26-year-old striker, Le Sommer al-
HACKING Continued from Page 1B said, would have a deterring effect. “Criminal penalties in our society — and all societies around the world — have a greater social stigma,” Pitts said. “It is significant that we’re talking about criminal penalties.” With a union that represents the players, baseball has a formal policy on things like drug suspensions. But when it comes to disciplining management employees, the commissioner has authority within baseball to take whatever action he deems appropriate. New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was suspended 15 months after pleading guilty to conspiring to make illegal contributions to the re-election campaign of President Richard Nixon. The 1974 suspension came three months after the guilty plea. Steinbrenner was also banned for 2 1/2 years, starting in 1990, for paying self-described gambler Howie Spira to obtain negative information on outfielder Dave Winfield. Spira served nearly 2 years in prison for extortion related to the scandal. The issues in those cases were much different than what Manfred is facing now, though both involved legal investigations and proceedings. Whether or not the investigation of the Cardinals results in criminal convictions, baseball’s big question may be whether anyone employed by the team compromised the sport’s competitive environment. Although Manfred has deferred to law enforcement so far, Pitts said he suspects baseball is taking this issue very seriously. “I’ll bet they’re starting to think about — how widespread is this problem?” he said.
Continued from Page 1B
Photo by Jonathan Hayward | AP
Morgan has scored 51 goals in 84 international appearances, and will need to score more if the US wants to with their third Women’s World Cup. Next up for the Lady Yanks is Columbia on Monday in Edmonton. ready has three goals at the World Cup. But it was her first, a 25-yard soaring strike into the right corner of the goal, that gave third-ranked France a 1-0 victory over England in the group stage opener. It was her 45th international goal for France. She now has 47 in 108 international appearances, as France makes its third World Cup appearance. France stumbled in the group stage with a surprising 2-0 loss to Colombia, but advanced to the elimination round and will play South Korea in the round of 16 in Montreal on Sunday. ABBY WAMBACH, UNITED STATES: While the debate rages whether Wambach should be a starter or a closer off the bench, there’s no question she creates chances for the Americans. Wambach, 35, is playing in her fourth World Cup. Her goal against Nigeria was her 14th in the World Cup, pulling her even for second alltime with Germany’s Birgit Prinz. Wambach is the world’s all-time leading scorer with 183 goals in 245
international appearances. She was the FIFA player of the year in 2012. She both started and came in off the bench in the group stage at this World Cup. NADINE ANGERER, GERMANY: The goalkeeper says she’ll retire from the game later this year, but first she wants to lead her country to its third World Cup championship. Angerer was named the team’s starting goalkeeper for the 2007 World Cup in China, taking over when Silke Rottenberg was injured. She did not concede a single goal during the tournament, setting a World Cup record for most minutes played (540) without being scored upon. In the final against Brazil, she stopped a penalty kick from Marta for a 2-0 German victory. It was Germany’s second World Cup title. In 2013, Angerer became the first goalkeeper to win FIFA player of the year honors. Angerer is captain of top-ranked Germany, which will play fifthranked Sweden in the knockout round Saturday in Ottawa.
BRADY Continued from Page 1B weather-Manny Pacquaio fight May 2 in Las Vegas, where Brady flew by private jet after attending the Kentucky Derby. Less than six weeks later, Plank said at an appearance in Boston, “Tom has our undying support.” On Memorial Day, fans held a “Free Tom Brady” rally in a parking lot outside Gillette Stadium. Backers of other NFL teams may not be as supportive. “People would like to know: yes or no,” said Marc Ganis, president of sports business consulting firm SportsCorp. “If it’s no, then clear the guy. And if it’s yes, then nail him.” The 243-page Wells report issued May 6 said Brady “was at least generally aware” of plans to prepare balls below the NFLmandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch. Wells defended that in a conference call a few days later. But in a 16-page report this month, the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, said, “The Wells report conclusions are likely incorrect.” Goodell will reach his own conclusions. “If you’re not from the area, the Patriots are an amazingly easy team to hate,” said Adam Brasel, an associate professor of marketing at Boston College. “The actual severity of the punishment is not going to change people’s perceptions. They’ve already made up their minds.” The hyper-competitive Brady could challenge Goodell’s ruling in court. “If there was some clear exculpatory evidence, Brady’s reputation gets even more enhanced,” said Ganis, who grew up a Jets fan and is based in Chicago. “He will have taken these terrible accusations and didn’t do what most people do, which is find the easiest, most convenient way out with the least amount of disruption to their lives.” That may not sway critics who feel Brady, MVP in three Super Bowls and two regular seasons, and the Patriots can’t be so successful without cheating. Did he ask team employees to deflate footballs in other games or know they did that?
File photo by David J. Phillip | AP
On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will hear Tom Brady’s appeal of a four-game suspension for using deflated footballs in the AFC championship game. “As a human, you care about what people think. I think also as a public figure you learn not everyone is going to like you,” Brady said at Salem State University the day after the Wells report was issued. “There are a lot of people who don’t like Tom Brady, and I am OK with that.” The constant media/social media drumbeat keeps the debate about Brady’s culpability alive. “It’s really easy to try to be infuriated about everything,” Brasel said, “but people forgive a lot over time.” Whatever Goodell decides, many players feel Brady’s positive legacy is assured: —”The guy’s a winner,” said Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs, who once said he didn’t like Brady and Brady didn’t like
him. “I don’t think it really tarnishes it.” —”I don’t think four games will do anything to tarnish four Super Bowl rings,” said Saints cornerback Brandon Browner, Brady’s teammate last season. —”That’s not the talk in the locker room,” Cincinnati tackle and NFLPA president Eric Winston said of the feeling Brady’s legacy is stained. “He’s always going to be one of the great quarterbacks of all time.” Jim Kelly and Troy Aikman criticized Brady. Dan Marino said his opinion of Brady as one of the best quarterbacks ever won’t change. Brady could be enhancing his own image through his increased use of Facebook, showing a regular-guy side to the fabulously wealthy globe-trotting
husband of Gisele Bundchen. There have been posts of him as a child holding a basketball with a Celtics headband photoshopped in; his job resume from college; and a video of him jumping off a cliff into water while on vacation. “He’s not trying to win people over,” Ben Rawitz, Brady’s manager, told The Associated Press. “It’s all coming from him. He’s always held things kind of close to the chest, but times are changing. It’s nice for him to put out a little bit of who he is.” Rules changes to assure properly inflated balls are expected. There seems one surefire way for Brady to enhance his reputation. “The best way to cement the legacy,” Ganis said, “is to go out and win this year.”
SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015
Dear Heloise: I took my 60-pound dog, Mary, to the vet’s office for shots and a checkup. While in the waiting room, the vet got behind schedule. A lady brought in a dog that weighs 2 pounds. She put it on the floor; she said she didn’t like to hold the dog on her lap. Mary went CRAZY! She saw somebody to play with; it took everything I had to hold her back! My dog is a wonderful dog, but she could have gotten to the dog and hurt it trying to play! –– Sue K., via email Talk about David and Goliath! Some small dogs don’t KNOW they are small! This is why veterinarians ask people to bring their pet in a carrier or on a leash. One reader sat next to a man with a large parrot on his arm and worried the whole time. –– Heloise SOUR MILK IN CAR Dear Heloise: When I was a teenager, a quart of milk spilled on the floor of my car, and it was a very
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hot August. My dad said not to worry. He spread fresh, unused COFFEE GROUNDS where the milk was. We then vacuumed thoroughly. We did this for four days in a row, replacing with new grounds each time. There was NEVER an odor. Then we took a small metal box with holes punched in the lid, and put fresh grounds in there. I tucked it under the driver’s-side seat. –– Karen Brock, Mount Pocono, Pa. 35 MM FILM CANISTERS Dear Heloise: Here are a few ideas how I use 35 mm film containers: Paper clips Picture hooks Safety pins Postage stamps Small wrapped candies. –– Handyman Dave, Thousand Oaks, Calif.
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SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 2015