HAWKS SEASON ENDS
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2014
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WAR ON DRUGS
INFRASTRUCTURE
‘Chapo’ will stay Mexico will keep drug lord By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO & MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
ON PAGE 5A US prosecutors jockeying to try Guzman Photo by Bloomberg
Drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted to a helicopter by Mexican security forces at Mexico’s International Airport in Mexico city, Mexico, on Saturday, Feb. 22.
MEXICO CITY — Mexico made clear Tuesday it is determined to keep Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in its highest-security prison for the foreseeable future, putting off U.S. extradition in a move that could bolster President Enrique Pena Nieto’s nationalist credentials but also shine a spotlight on the
See CHAPO PAGE 10A
HONORS
MR. SOUTH TEXAS Zapatan celebrated for contributions By PHILIP BALLI THE ZAPATA TIMES
T
he Washington’s Birthday Celebration Association gathered Saturday to commemorate Renato Ramirez of Zapata as Mr. South Texas 2014. The Mr. South Texas Luncheon is one of the more than 27 events in the Washington’s Birthday Celebration calendar. Jose A. Palacios Jr., past president of the WBCA, said it is the marquis event for the celebration. “We’re honoring an individual through the WBCA that has really gone out of their way to improve the quality of life for South Texans,” Palacios said. “Mr. Ramirez has his hands in a lot of different things, so it was a very easy choice for the committee.” The Mr. South Texas selection committee is comprised of past presidents of the WBCA and former Mr. South Texas recipients who reside in Laredo. The formal announcement was made during a press conference held at Texas
See RAMIREZ PAGE 10A
Photo by Victor Strife | Laredo Morning Times
Renato Ramirez, CEO and chairman of the board for IBC-Zapata, is interviewed by the press Saturday morning at the Laredo Country Club, prior to the Mr. South Texas Luncheon.
Photo by Victor Strife | Laredo Morning Times
U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is joined by officals as they unveil the sign for the I-69 corridor Monday morning.
Route would link borders By PHILIP BALLI THE ZAPATA TIMES
Local and state officials gathered Monday to designate Loop 20 as “Future I-69,” an interstate previously referred to as the NAFTA highway. The goal is for the highway’s route to connect the Texas-Mexico border to the Canada-Minnesota border. The 1,600-mile national highway will connect Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Texas has connectivity in the Rio Grande Valley coming from Brownsville, McAllen, a future corridor in Laredo, Corpus Christi, Houston, Livingston, Nacogdoches and Texarkana. In 2012, Laredo’s ports of entry were the No. 1 busiest ports in the nation for buses and trucks, and ranked third in the nation for the busiest automobile port. It is because Laredo has the busiest truck crossing in the country that the I-69 corridor here is so important, said Texas Transportation Commissioner Jeff Austin III. He said the sound of the passing trucks in Laredo is the sound of money, compared to the refineries in Houston, which some refer to as the smell of money. “We need good roads where economic development is taking place,” he said. “It is creating jobs and it is moving goods and services to the rest of the country while keeping us competitive with strong local and regional economies.” Austin said I-69 is a priority for Texas and the Texas Department of Transportation because it is bringing interstate access to parts of the state that have not had access to an interstate before. “If you go back to the 2010 census, where I-69 is being developed, the average population growth along this stretch grew almost 25 percent,” he said. “We’re bringing an interstate system to parts of the state that normally has not had access to it before.” John Thompson of the Alliance for I-69 said the alliance is in the process of authorizing $1.2 billion that could be the first major infusion of new money into transportation in the state. Laredo City Manager Carlos Villarreal said the focal point for transportation is Laredo. “We have two of the busiest highways, and I-69 will only add additional traffic,” he said. Villarreal said he looks forward to begin the work on the loop once the money has been authorized. “Our priority will be to turn Loop 20 into interstate standards, and then working with the state to make sure I-69 gets expanded,” he added. “This is a good day for Laredo.”
OIL EXPLORATION
Eagle Ford’s injuries put strain on hospitals By PEGGY O’HARE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
With drilling increasing dramatically in the Eagle Ford Shale, patients from the region with serious injuries have turned up in fast-increasing numbers at San Antonio’s top trauma hospitals. More people injured in falls, crashes, stabbings and shootings or suffering from burns also are increasing pressure on rural hospitals in the shale region, a trauma registry maintained by the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council indicates. At Dimmit Regional Hospital in Carrizo Springs, a Level IV trauma center, emergency-room visits have doubled — and, on occasion, tripled — from monthly levels recorded just three years ago, said Ernest Flores Jr., who retired as the hospital’s CEO earlier this month and now is a consultant for the medical facility. Dr. Brian Eastridge has wit-
Photo by Bob Owen | San Antonio Express-News
A vehicle owned by Chesapeake Energy is loaded on a tow truck following a collision with an 18-wheeler on Texas Highway 85, three miles outside of Carrizo Springs. Dimmit County Regional Hospital has seen a dramatic increase in trauma cases directly associated from the oil and gas industry in the Eagle Ford Shale. nessed the surge both in San Antonio and the South Texas play. “Not only are we seeing greater numbers of injury, but we’re also seeing greater numbers of more significant injury coming from
there ... all in a social era that we’re expected to do basically more with less,” said Eastridge, University Health System’s trauma director and vice chairman of STRAC, which collects the injury
data from hospitals in the 22-county region. “They’re gold-rush cities down there. There are lots of workingage people in fairly close proximity. It’s hard work, long hours, work
hard, play hard.” University Hospital and San Antonio Military Medical Center are catching much of the influx as the region’s only Level I trauma centers — hospitals providing the most comprehensive care, with general surgeons and surgical specialists on-site around the clock, teaching and research programs, injury prevention programs and rehabilitation services. There are no Level I trauma centers south of San Antonio. Rural hospitals in the Eagle Ford are Level IV trauma centers, meaning they provide more basic emergency medicine services. And a few counties in STRAC’s region have no hospitals at all, such as Live Oak, McMullen and Zavala counties. The largest oil and gas companies doing business in the shale play declined to be interviewed about the region’s rising injury
See INJURIES PAGE 10A