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TEXAS POLITICS
RIO GRANDE VALLEY
Clinton in McAllen Presidential candidate will arrive Friday By CARLOS SANCHEZ THE MONITOR Photo by Eric Gay | AP
In this July 29 photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a hearing in Austin, Texas.
AG accused of lying, indicted By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
McKINNEY, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had an investment opportunity: a tech startup making data servers. He told people he had put his own money into Servergy Inc., according to prosecutors, and helped persuade a state lawmaker and another wealthy businessman to buy more than $100,000 in shares.
All the while, Paxton was actually being compensated by Servergy, according to an indictment unsealed Monday, the same day the state’s top law enforcement officer turned himself into jail on securities fraud charges. The alleged deception took place before Paxton took office in January. If convicted, the rising Republican star could face
See INDICTED PAGE 9A
Photo by Gaston De Cardenas | AP
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is shown July 31 during a campaign stop at Florida International University in Miami. Clinton is scheduled to come to McAllen on Friday.
McALLEN — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is scheduled to come to McAllen on Friday to hold a meeting with state lawmakers and attend a private fundraiser, several sources familiar with the details of the trip said Monday. Clinton has visited the Rio Grande Valley several times in the past few years, but Friday’s visit marks her first to the Valley since announcing her candidacy for president in April. Her campaign did not immediately respond to an email from The Monitor seeking additional details about her scheduled visit. Sources familiar with Clinton’s schedule said she is expected to arrive in McAllen sometime Friday and meet with Democratic legislators from across the
state for a meeting whose purpose could not be immediately determined. It also was not immediately known if she is arriving via a private plane or commercial airline. No public events had been scheduled as of Monday evening. After meeting with lawmakers, Clinton is expected to attend a fundraiser Friday evening at the home of McAllen businessman Alonzo Cantu, several sources said Monday. Clinton has stayed at Cantu’s home overnight before, but it was not immediately known if she intended to spend the night on her upcoming visit. Clinton is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president, but is contending with unexpected strength from Sen. Bernie
See CLINTON PAGE 9A
TEXAS
OBAMA UNVEILS CLIMATE RULES By JIM MALEWITZ AND KIAH COLLIER TEXAS TRIBUNE
Calling climate change “one of the key challenges of our lifetimes and future generations,” President Obama on Monday unveiled the final version of his state-by-state effort to combat the warming phenomenon by reshaping the nation’s energy sector — a plan that has roiled Republican leaders in Texas. “No challenge poses a greater threat to our future and future generations, than a
changing climate,” Obama said in a White House address, calling his new rule “the single most important step America has ever taken in the fight” against climate change. The so-called Clean Power Plan aims to require the nation’s existing power plants to slash their carbon emissions — 32 percent from 2005 levels by
2030. That is 2 percent higher than the reduction proposed in a draft plan last year. Now final, the unprecedented regulations could significantly affect
Texas. As an industrial juggernaut, the Lone Star State generates more electricity and emits far more carbon than any other state. Texas also leads the nation in producing natural gas — a fuel that policymakers could lean on while trying to shift from dirtier coal-fired energy. The state also is already feeling the effects of climate
change, including sea level rise, extreme heat and drought, and more frequent flooding, experts say. Critics in Texas, including Attorney General Ken Paxton — who on Monday renewed his pledge to sue over the new regulations — have said the plan would imperil the state’s power grid and drastically inflate the cost of electricity for consumers. On a
national level, the Clean Power Plan’s target is somewhat stricter than what the administration proposed a year ago, but the rule now gives states two extra years to comply. Texas must cut an annual average of 51 million tons of carbon to reach its target, a reduction of about 21 percent from 2012 emissions, according to an EPA factsheet. The agency said the state’s goal “looks less stringent” compared with what it originally pro-
See CLIMATE PAGE 9A
Photo by Thomas Bougher | Texas Tribune
Texas must cut an annual average of 51 million tons of carbon to reach Clean Power Plan’s target, a reduction of about 21 percent from 2012 emissions.
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Houston clinic recorded By EDGAR WALTERS TEXAS TRIBUNE
An anti-abortion group released an undercover video Tuesday showing a Planned Parenthood executive at a Houston clinic discussing how the group recoups costs for providing organs from aborted fetuses for medical research. The video, filmed by a group called the Center for Medical Progress, portrays Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast,
discussing administrative costs of harvesting fetal organs at various stages of gestation. The video, which contains a warning for sensitive viewers, also shows footage of researchers handling preserved fetal tissue. It is the fifth in a series of undercover videos released by the anti-abortion group in recent weeks. “Sometimes the procedures are longer, so then anything that we piggyback onto that for collection purposes, obviously, would have to reflect that addi-
tional time, cost, administrative burden,” Farrell says in the film. She later says that her department “contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here.” Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement Tuesday that “extremists” were targeting her organization with “outrageous and completely false claims.” “The footage released today
See CLINIC PAGE 9A
Photo by Steven Senne | AP file
In this Dec. 17, 2013 photo, an unidentified medical clinician interviews a patient at a Planned Parenthood location in Boston.