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WASHINGTON, DC
Cuellar sworn into Congress Zapata representative takes oath S P ECIAL T O T HE T I ME S
WASHINGTON — Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Zapata, was sworn into his seventh term in the United States House of Representatives by Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday. The Speaker of the
House led today’s traditional swearing-in ceremony on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.Cuellar recited the oath that every member of Congress has sworn since 1884: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitu-
tion of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will Cuellar continues on A11
U.S. House Office of Photography / Courtesy
Rep. Henry Cuellar stands by House Speaker Paul Ryan as he takes the official oath of office as the 115th Congress formally convened on Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
IMMIGRATION
DOOR SHUT ON MIGRANTS
TEXAS
Wine growers fear new herbicides Grapes dying from damage By Elena Mejia Lutz THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Bob Owen / San Antonio Express-News
Alejandra Flores, right, from Honduras, huddles with her sons Alexande Josue Romero, 3, and Brision Josue Romero, 10, left, with other immigrants on the Hidalgo International Bridge in the early hours on Dec. 27, hoping to be let in the U.S. after a 22 day journey from their home in Honduras, spending Christmas on the road.
Many pleading for asylum are turned back to Mexico By Aaron Nelsen SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS
R
EYNOSA, Mexico — On a recent December morning, Guatemala native Celinda Aracely Rodriguez limped across an international bridge to seek asylum in the United States. But immigration officials sent her back to Mexico instead. In Reynosa, within steps of the bridge, Rodriguez, 30, was snatched by a smuggler who is holding the woman until she
can pay to cross the river, according to her mother, Rubiluz Lemus. “I don’t know if they are good coyotes or bad ones,” said Lemus, 50, from an immigrant shelter in Reynosa, voicing fears that the smuggler might want more than just the usual money for getting someone into the United States illegally. “What if they have bad intentions?’ Asylum-seeking immigrants have clogged international Migrants continues on A11
Courtesy photo
Central American immigrants are released at a bus station in downtown Laredo on Dec. 29 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As Paul Bonarrigo watched his grapevines dwindle, he was confident that heavy-duty herbicides, probably sprayed on crops by a nearby farmer, were drifting into his vineyards. For the past two years, his 44 acres in Hale County — once sprawling vineyards providing fruit for Bonarrigo’s Messina Hof Winery — have not produced any grapes as they wither from chemical damage. Other Texas winegrowers have seen similar damage, and they blame it on dicamba and 2,4-D, two high-volatility herbicides commonly used on cereal crops, pastures and lawns. Now, the state’s vintners are alarmed that use of the chemicals may soon expand to include 3.7 million acres of cotton fields in the High Plains, where cotton is being invaded by weeds immune to the Roundup pesticide long used. The wine industry contributed close to $2 billion to the Texas economy in 2013, according to a report by the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. Bonarrigo said he thinks the industry is now in jeopardy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently approved Monsanto’s new formulation, called XtendiMax with Wine continues on A11
ABORTION
Federal judge mulling fate of Texas fetal remains rules By Will Weissert A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
AUSTIN, Texas — Abortion providers told a federal judge Tuesday that Texas’ attempt to require burial or cremation of fetal remains was “government interference” without public
health benefits, while state lawyers countered that clinics want to be allowed to continue disposing of such remains in landfills. The question of what becomes of tissue left over from abortions and miscarriages is the latest legal battle over abortion
in Texas, which saw the U.S. Supreme Court last summer strike down much of its larger abortion restrictions that had been among the nation’s toughest. At issue are state health department rules banning hospitals and abortion clinics from
disposing of fetal tissue as biological medical waste, which usually means incineration, followed by disposal in sanitary landfills. Earlier legal challenges blocked similar measures in Louisiana and Indiana. Texas’ rules seek to require fetal remains to
be buried or to be cremated then buried or scattered. Many abortions occur less than 10 weeks into pregnancy, when the amount of tissue can be smaller than a dime. The new regulations would have taken effect last month, but Austin-
based U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks put them on hold while he considers a lawsuit from national activists. Those groups say the rules are meant to shame women who seek abortions and make it harder for doctors to provide them. The health Abortion continues on A11