The Zapata Times 2/3/2016

MANZIEL ON HIS WAY OUT

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2016

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ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Pot plants found Man charged with possession

Photo by Doug Mills | New York Times

Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, with husband and former president Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea, with supporters and volunteers at a caucus night rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday.

Clinton, Cruz win Iowa caucuses

By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES

An execution of a search warrant yielded a handful of marijuana plants at a home in Zapata County, according to reports.

The Sheriff ’s Office, assisted by ALVAREZ High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas task force investigators, said Friday they executed the search warrant June 8, 2015, in the 100 block of

By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY AND KATHLEEN RONAYNE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Courtesy photo

The Zapata County Sheriff’s Office discovered five marijuana plants at a home on Carla Street in June.

See POT PAGE 11A

NEWBURY, N.H. — Next up: New Hampshire.

Presidential contenders on Tuesday turned their airplanes and their hopes to the next arena in

the fight for the nominations, a state that will test Ted Cruz’s broader appeal and give Hillary Clinton a chance to reinvigorate her battered campaign in the Granite State.

Clinton eked out a win

See IOWA PAGE 11A

TEXAS BORDER

FEDS TO CUT MONITORING Abbott, Cuellar question decision

By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE

Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Zapata, pressed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Monday to explain why the agency plans to reduce its aerial surveillance on the Texas-Mexico border.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, the lawmakers said the cut

to a requested 3,850 hours of aerial detection and monitoring in 2016 ABBOTT amounts to 50 percent less coverage than recent years.

“Given the recent surge of migrants from Central America and Cuba along the southern border, we believe DHS

should request more surveillance and security resources, not fewer,” Abbott and CUELLAR Cuellar wrote in a letter.

The pair also reminded Johnson that in September, Abbott’s office asked the DHS for more

See MONITORING PAGE 11A Photo by Eric Gay | AP file

A Customs and Border Protection vehicle patrols on the Texas border near the Rio Grande, July 24, 2014, in Mission, Texas. Texas is spending $1.3 million a week for a bigger DPS presence along the border.

DALLAS

Sexually-transmitted Zika case

By JAMIE STENGLE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Moises Castillo | AP

A blood samples from pregnant women are analyzed for the presence of the Zika virus, at Guatemalan Social Security maternity hospital in Guatemala City, Tuesday.

DALLAS — A person in Texas has been infected with the Zika virus after having sex with an ill person who had returned from South America, Dallas County health officials said Tuesday.

It’s the first case of the virus being transmitted in the U.S. during the current outbreak of Zika, which has been linked to birth defects in the Americas.

“It’s very rare but this is not new, we always looked at the point that this could

be transmitted sexually,” said Zachary Thompson, director of the Dallas County Health and Human Services, told WFAA-TV in Dallas.

Health officials did not release any details about the Texas patient, citing privacy issues. In a tweet, Dallas health officials said the first person infected had been to Venezuela, but did not detail when and where that person or the second person was diagnosed. The second person did not travel.

The Zika virus is usually spread through mosquito bites, but investigators have been exploring the possibil-

ity the virus also can be spread through sex. There was report of a Colorado researcher who picked up the virus in Africa and apparently spread it to his wife back home in 2008, and it was found in one man’s semen in Tahiti.

“That gives you the plausibility of spread, but the science is clear to date that Zika virus is primarily transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito,” Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control said during a recent news conference.

The CDC says it will is-

sue guidance in the coming days on prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus, focusing on the male sexual partners of women who are or may be pregnant. The CDC has already recommended that pregnant women postpone trips to more than two dozen countries with Zika outbreaks, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela. It also said other visitors should use insect repellent and take other precautions to prevent mosquito bites.

See ZIKA PAGE 11A

PAGE 2A

Zin brief CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

AROUND TEXAS

TODAY IN HISTORY

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Preschool Read & Play at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Story time and crafts for preschoolers. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.

Family Story Time & Crafts at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.

The American Cancer Society and Laredo Specialty Hospital will commemorate World Cancer Day at 6 p.m. to raise awareness and educate our community on how to fight cancer.

A balloon launch will be held to remember those who have lost their lives to cancer and honor those who are fighting the disease and those who have survived. The public is invited to attend. For more information, call Diana Juarez at 319-3100 or Laura Nanez at 286-6955.

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2016. There are 332 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 3, 1959, rock-androll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

On this date: In 1783, Spain formally recognized American independence.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.

In 1924, the 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington, D.C., at age 67.

In 1930, the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.)

In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived.

In 1959, An American Airlines Lockheed Electra crashed into New York’s East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.

In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon.

In 1971, New York City police officer Frank Serpico, who had charged there was widespread corruption in the NYPD, was shot and seriously wounded during a drug bust in Brooklyn.

In 1991, the rate for a firstclass postage stamp rose to 29 cents.

In 1998, Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, 38, for the pickax killings of two people in 1983; she was the first woman executed in the United States since 1984. A U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, sending the car plunging hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside.

In 2005, Alberto Gonzales won Senate confirmation as attorney general.

Ten years ago: An Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.

One year ago: An evening rush-hour commuter train with 750 people aboard slammed into a SUV at a crossing in Valhalla, New York, killing the vehicle’s driver and six people on the train.

Today’s Birthdays: Comedian Shelley Berman is 91.

Football Hall-of-Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 69. Actor Nathan Lane is 60.

Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 60. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 55. Actress Michele Greene is 54. Actor Warwick Davis is 46. Actress Elisa Donovan is 45.

Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 40. Human rights activist Amal Alamuddin Clooney is 38. Actress Rebel Wilson is 30. Rapper Sean Kingston is 26.

Thought for Today: “Your friend will argue with you.” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer (1918-2008).

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5 CaminArte at the Laredo Center for the Arts, 500 San Agustin Ave. Free art walk every first Friday of the month.

Carson and Barnes Circus from 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children.

A Fresh Start to a Healthier You. Learn practical cooking and shopping tips and recipes for success in the kitchen at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4:30-5:30 p.m. For more information, contact Angie Sifuentes, Webb County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, 956-523-5290, angelica.sifuentes@ag.tamu.edu.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6 The Laredo Northside Farmers Market will be held at the parking lot of North Central Park on International Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. We will feature many of our usual vendors and Valentine’s Day activities for the children. We will hold a raffle for several children’s Valentine’s Day baskets with small toys and candy. Come see us there. For more information call Erna Pelto at 763-0138.

Carson and Barnes Circus from 2-4 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children.

Book sale, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Admission is free.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7 Laredo A&M Mothers’ Club Scholarship Fundraiser Super Bowl Plate Sale from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at BBVA Compass Bank on McPherson Road and Hillside Road.

Carson and Barnes Circus from 2-4 p.m., 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8 Carson and Barnes Circus from 5-7 p.m. and again from 8-10 p.m. at the Uni-Trade Stadium parking lot, 6320 Sinatra Parkway. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for children.

Photo by Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune Herald | AP file

In this Jan. 23, 2014 photo, former Baylor football player Tevin Elliott waits with a unidentified lawyer in a McLennan county courtroom in Waco, Texas. According to an ESPN report released on Sunday, Baylor University failed to act on complaints by three female students who said they were sexually assaulted by the former football player later convicted in one of those cases.

Allegations unanswered ASSOCIATED PRESS

WACO — Three students at Baylor University say the school failed to act on their allegations that they were sexually assaulted by a former football player later convicted in one of those cases, ESPN reports.

The sports media outlet’s program “Outside The Lines” reported that an administrator told one of the students that Baylor had received multiple complaints against Tevin Elliott, who earned a Big 12 honorable mention as a sophomore defensive end in 2011.

The administrator said Baylor could not act because “it turns into a he said-she said,” according to one of the students.

ESPN did not identify the three women.

One of them told Waco police in 2012 that she was assaulted twice at a party when she was a freshman. Elliott was charged and in

2014 convicted of two counts of sexual assault and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In a prison interview with ESPN, Elliott, 24, argued the sex was consensual, adding that big-name athletes “could be innocent but we’re guilty until proven innocent.”

Baylor issued a statement Monday to The Associated Press that didn’t address the allegations against the university by the women.

“The topic of interpersonal violence on college campuses is of great concern nationally and to us at Baylor. Acts of sexual violence contradict every value Baylor University upholds as a caring Christian community,” it said.

The statement also noted Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton, which was hired by Baylor, continues to review how the school responds to cases of sexual violence.

Houston police chief to Woman sentenced to 50 Priest’s son gets life in retire after almost 6 years years for abuse of stepson prison in death of family HOUSTON — Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland is retiring at the end of the month after almost six years in office and 39 years in uniform.

McClelland, who turned 61 on Monday, announced his intentions at a Tuesday news conference attended by Mayor Sylvester Turner.

McClelland said his decision was “not an emotional or rash” one.

ODESSA — A West Texas woman has been sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to abusing her 10-year-old stepson, who was found to be emaciated, malnourished and bruised after a concerned store clerk called authorities.

Tonya Carroll, 37, of Odessa was sentenced Monday. Carroll’s husband, James Carroll, is also charged in the case and is awaiting trial.

Denton to address ‘whites Weekend West Texas only’ cemetery language wildfire destroys 7 homes DENTON — A North Texas City Council will consider an ordinance renouncing language in a cemetery’s deed saying burial plots are only for whites.

The Denton City Council will consider the ordinance Tuesday addressing the restriction in the 1933 deed between the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery and the city.

EULA — A wildfire destroyed seven homes in a rural area near the West Texas town of Eula.

Meanwhile, a wildfire burned almost 3 square miles of ranchland north of Amarillo.

The fires, which both started Saturday, came after experts had warned of an increased threat in some areas because of warmer temperatures.

HOUSTON — The 20-year-old son of an Episcopal priest has been sentenced to life in prison without parole in the 2015 killings of his parents and 5-year-old brother at their Houston apartment. Authorities say Isaac Tiharihondi beat his 51-year-old father, Israel Ahimbisibwe, and mother, 47-year-old Dorcus Ahimbisibwe with a lamp, baseball hat and hammer. Tiharihondi fatally stabbed his brother Israel Jr.

Commission approves preservation of spring DALLAS — The Dallas Landmark Commission has taken the unusual step of approving historic status for a natural spring just south of downtown.

Commission members voted Monday to preserve the artesian fount known as “Big Spring,” in a protective move usually limited to old buildings.

— Compiled from AP reports

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 The Ruthe B. Cowl Rehabilitation Center, in collaboration with the UT Health Science Center, will have monthly orthopedic clinics. These clinics benefit children with cerebral palsy, club foot, spina bifda and more. Patients must register at the center before the day of the orthopedic clinic.

The Webb County Heritage Foundation will host a Valentines’ Membership Cocktail Party from 6 – 8 p.m. at the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum, 810 Zaragoza St. The public is invited to renew or initiate memberships at this time. Membership forms will be available that evening. For more information, contact the Webb County Heritage Foundation at 956-727-0977 or visit us at www.webbheritage.org and on Facebook.

Join the MOS Library Knitting Circle at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 1-3 p.m. Please bring yarn and knitting needles. For more information, contact Analiza Perez-Gomez at analiza@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403.

Crochet for Kids at McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St., from 4-5 p.m.

AROUND THE NATION Scientists map bedbug genome, follow pest NEW YORK — Scientists have mapped the genome of the New York bedbug.

And they did something more: They traced the nefarious pest’s DNA through every subway station in the city and discovered a big genetic diversity among the bloodsucking creatures.

Christopher Mason, a geneticist at Weill Cornell Medicine, says bedbugs on Manhattan’s West Side are quite different from those on the East Side.

The findings were published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

Student says he’s in trouble for renting room BOSTON — A student at Emerson College in Boston says he’s facing disciplinary action after renting out his dorm room on Airbnb.

CONTACT US

Photo by Carolyn Kaster | AP file

In this March 30, 2011, file photo, a bedbug is displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. Researchers from Weill Cornell and scientists at the American Museum of Natural History have traced the nefarious pest through the New York City subway system and discovered a genetic diversity among the bloodsucking creatures.

Jack Worth tells The Boston Globe he rented the room in early January to three guests on three separate nights.

The 19-year-old sophomore says the listing was online for two weeks before school officials asked him to remove it. Worth

wouldn’t say how much he charged for the room.

Worth says the school’s punishment would mar his time at the school. Emerson officials wouldn’t say whether Worth rented out his room on Airbnb.

— Compiled from AP reports

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Local & State

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

Walking event comes to Zapata SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Walk Across Texas, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, encourages all schools, organizations, businesses and families to register a team.

Walk Across Texas is an eight-week program designed to help Texans establish the habit of regular physical activity, according to their website.

The event will take place in Zapata on Feb. 13 at 9 a.m. at Romeo

Flores Park, 101 Delmar St. Spaces are available at no charge. Participants can register at walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu.

“Walking is one of the least expensive and easiest ways to get fit. Start now and reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

Join other Texans and Walk Across Texas! towards a healthier lifestyle,” states a news release.

THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A

Texas AG cannot use donors

By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS

AUSTIN — State ethics regulators denied Texas’ attorney general their blessing Monday to let political donors pay his criminal defense, a surprise decision that could intensify pressure on the state’s top prosecutor.

Republican Ken Paxton could still try to use wealthy supporters to cover his legal bills connected to felony charges of defrauding investors, but he risks doing so without a key seal-of-approval from the Texas Ethics Commission, which declined to interpret such donations as legal.

Paxton, who says he won’t resign despite charges of securities fraud and a

separate investigation into a profitable land deal, has not said how he is paying for PAXTON his high-powered defense team. He is prohibited from using taxpayer dollars and is also barred from tapping his campaign account.

Entirely appointed by state Republican leaders, the ethics board had drafted a lengthy opinion that would have sanctioned Paxton using out-of-state doors but came up a vote shy of approval.

“The opinion invited an indicted, cash-strapped attorney general to put a ‘For Sale’ sign on his office. At the end of the day, the Eth-

ics Commission simply refused to write an ethical blank check to Ken Paxton,” said Craig McDonald, director of the left-leaning watchdog group Texans for Public Justice.

McDonald was the only person to testify to the commission Monday. His group has long caused trouble for Texas Republicans in the past, most notably former Gov. Rick Perry, against whom they filed the original complaint that led to the former 2016 presidential candidate being indicted.

Three members of Paxton’s defense team issued a statement saying they are not “troubled” by Paxton’s ability to pay them.

“We assumed responsibility in his case because we

believe in his defense. This ruling doesn’t change our commitment,” the statement read.

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have previously declined to comment over whether they would be OK with Paxton tapping donors to pay for his defense. Neither has publicly pressured Paxton since he was indicted in July, but they also haven’t enthusiastically come to his defense.

Before the vote, the ethics board appeared troubled that an anonymous person with unknown ties had asked whether giving financial gifts to the attorney general would be legal.

“Bribery is the elephant in the attic,” board commissioner Paul Hobby said.

Indicted BP agent has two birth certificates

By JAY ROOT TEXAS TRIBUNE

BROWNSVILLE — Federal immigration authorities are treating Joel Luna, a Border Patrol Agent accused last month of capital murder and drug cartel ties in deep South Texas, as a potential foreign national subject to deportation, the Texas Tribune has learned.

In an unusual move, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has targeted the federal agent with a “detainer” — basically a civil arrest warrant filed against non-citizens — at the Cameron County jail.

As a matter of law, ICE has no civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest or detain a US citizen.

The detainer adds a surprising twist to a case that has already generated national headlines and focused attention on U.S. law enforcement corruption along the southern border.

Luna, two of his broth-

ers and two other South Texas men have been indicted on capital murder and other charges stemming from the murder and beheading of a Honduran national, whose body was found during spring break last year near South Padre Island. Investigators say the men had ties to the powerful Gulf Cartel.

After Luna was arrested last year, the Cameron County sheriff ’s office said investigators found more than a kilo of cocaine, $90,000 in cash, firearms and Luna’s Border Patrol badge in a safe at the home of his mother-in-law.

The five men are scheduled to be arraigned in state district court in Brownsville on Wednesday.

Garcia said Joel Luna will plead not guilty on all charges and ask for a jury trial.

Now a new wrinkle has emerged in this case: Luna has two birth certificates, one from Hidalgo County,

Courtesy image

Border Patrol Agent Joel Luna, indicted for capital murder, has two birth certificates, one saying he was born in Mexico, the other saying he was born in Texas. Luna’s lawyer says he was born in Texas.

Texas, the other from Reynosa, Mexico — right across the Rio Grande River.

ICE did not immediately returned phone calls, but Luna’s lawyer, Carlos A. Garcia, said he has no doubt that his client is a US citizen, an ironclad requirement for employment as a Border Patrol agent.

Garcia also denied a statement from U.S. Customs & Border Protection asserting

that Luna had been "arrested on False Claim To United States Citizenship" on Nov. 12, when the agent was already in state custody in South Texas.

He said any federal arrest would trigger an appearance before a magistrate within 48 hours and notification to him as Luna’s lawyer — and "none of that occurred," Garcia told the Tribune.

“He worked for the feder-

al government. No one had ever questioned his citizenship before — until his arrest,” Garcia said. “I don’t put much value in whoever it was that made that determination. You have one person that decided that, you know what, this is worth a second look.”

Garcia said Luna attended elementary school in Mexico, which has stiff paperwork requirements for children who want to enter the public school system there. He said it’s not uncommon for parents or other relatives to fraudulently obtain Mexican birth certificates.

“Mexicans who live along the border can purchase a birth certificate by just showing up one day and saying hey my kid was born on this date in this place,” he said.

In Luna’s case, the U.S. birth certificate was filed two days after his birth on May 20, 1985. The Mexican birth certificate was issued

in August of 1988, a little over three years after his birth was reported in San Juan, Texas.

The Texas Tribune has obtained both documents.

The Mexican one came from authorities in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the state of Tamaulipas, where birth certificates are considered public records. Garcia provided the Tribune his American birth certificate. The existence of the Mexican birth certificate potentially suggests that Luna has dual citizenship.

“I don’t know whether or not my client has Mexican citizenship per se but there is a Mexican birth certificate out there,” Garcia said. "He left Mexico a long long time ago when he was very young. It’s unfortunate that we have this little wrinkle, but it’s there."

It’s at least the second recent case involving a federal border agent holding both Mexican and U.S. birth certificates.

PAGE 4A

Zopinion

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

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

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

A hypothetical political matchup

By JOHN M. CRISP TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Almost a year ago I wrote a column imagining an improbable contest for the presidency between Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

This was a thought experiment that played with the idea that such a stark choice would tell us a lot about whether our essential tendencies as a nation trend more toward the political left or the right.

At the time, such a self-defining election was unlikely. Despite the urging of left-wing Democrats, Elizabeth Warren refused to run. And conventional wisdom said that Ted Cruz was so rigidly ideological and abrasive that the Republican establishment would never allow him to become its standard bearer.

How things have changed. Ted Cruz is still uncompromising and aggressively argumentative, but some of his abrasiveness has been eclipsed by the coarse pronouncements of Donald Trump. And by the time you read this column, Cruz may have done well enough in Iowa to fortify his position as a frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

Elizabeth Warren still refuses to run. But Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — an avowed Democratic socialist — is providing for the left end of the Democratic spectrum a candidate who embodies many of Warren’s progressive values. In Iowa, Sanders appears to be making progress against Hillary Clinton and, again, by the time you read this we may have a much better sense of his chances for the nomination.

Last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks said that Trump, Cruz and Sanders are all three unelectable, and that eventually the citizenry will regain its equilibrium and do what it always does, move back to the center.

Probably. But it’s a strange campaign, and the country is in a strange mood. In any case, a contest between Sanders and Cruz next November isn’t as farfetched as a hypothetical election between Warren and Cruz was last year.

What if we actually had to choose? A year ago, I relied on statistics gathered by documentary filmmaker Michael Moore to suggest that on many issues mainstream Americans lean far more to the left than to the right. Admittedly, Moore is himself on the far left, but his sources are de-

pendable polling organizations like Harris, Gallup, the "Wall Street Journal" and even Fox News.

The range of issues where more Americans favor progressive attitudes and solutions rather than conservative ones is impressive. For example, while many of the Republican candidates for president have trouble taking climate change seriously, a recent New York Times/ Stanford University poll finds that 74 percent of Americans believe that the federal government should take significant actions to combat rising global temperatures.

Same-sex marriage?

Marijuana legalization?

Background checks for gun purchases? Abortion? On many of these issues Americans tend to be much more liberal than the impression one gets from watching Fox News.

Furthermore, for all of the Republican bluster about small government and personal responsibility, the fact is, we Americans are extremely fond of the benefits and security that come from pooling our collective energy into government, which actually works well more often than Republicans who are running for office care to admit. We like our dependable policemen and firemen, a powerful military, excellent roads, safe air travel, Medicare, clean air, food that doesn’t make us sick and the confidence that we can drink water safely from any tap in the United States.

Okay, maybe not in Flint, Mich. But Flint is the exception that proves the rule. Last week Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank argued convincingly that the failures in Flint were the result, not of incompetent government, but of the attempt to apply a profit-making corporate business model to our almost universally dependable system of public utilities.

So a not-entirely-hypothetical battle between Sanders and Cruz would put to the test a very essential and interesting question about the nature of our Republic: Are we more likely to create a safer, cleaner, healthier, more equitable and more durable culture by investing confidence and energy into the collective action of government or will each of us be able to get there on our own?

John M. Crisp, an oped columnist for Tribune News Service, teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Readers may send him email at jcrispdelmar.edu.

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

COLUMN

Playing golf the wrong way Once upon a time, as most fairy tales begin, I thought that since I was a pretty fair athlete in high school, I should be able to be a pretty fair golfer. Duh. These old retired guys who play golf regularly are usually labeled with something called a “handicap.”

For the uninitiated, that’s an indication of your ability. You’re given a number of strokes and that’s added to your actual score. It sort of evens thing up for duffers playing against everyday golfers.

Ahh, don’t worry about it. Only serious golfers do anyway.

So, on that first outing, I had never even taken a practice swing. I didn’t know a driver from a putter, which as it turns out didn’t much matter.

To further discombobulate everything (that’s not a golfing term), only two guys in our foursome had ever played golf for any time. One was a coach at the local high school and he was a fair golfer. The other was a banker who had only played a few rounds. The third guy was

the chamber of commerce executive director and he’d played a couple of rounds.

And, me … exactly zero.

Some foursome, huh.

I whiffed three or four times on the first tee before I finally hit the golf ball. It wasn’t a long hole, distance-wise, but it certainly had enough hazards for me.

Trees. Dogleg bend. Sand traps. Cuss, cuss, cuss.

Broad-beamed banker thought he was better than he was. Watching him tee off turned into a laugh fest.

As he addressed the ball, he wiggled and said broad beam several times and that brought on the guffaws. He blamed us for his shot that took off to the left from the tee, bounced off a couple of trees and wound up in the rough, oh, maybe 60 yards from the tee.

Coach hit a fair tee shot and went walking (no carts for us “gettin’-in-shape” dudes) down the side of the

fairway, ambling just a few yards and waited, behind a tree as I recall. I thought he was still in danger the way we were hitting the ball and the ricochets off trees.

I never knew where the ball was going.

Chamber exec sliced the ball to our left and it landed in the trees off the fairway.

I swung four times (each counting as a stroke if you’re playing “legitimate” golf) before hitting the ball and it bounced about 30-40 yards down one side of the fairway.

To make matters worse, golf balls in those days were easier to damage with a golf iron. Almost every one I hit had a slice in the surface and, as the saying went then, “smiled back at me.” Except, serious athlete me wasn’t smiling much. Frustration wiped any grin right off my face.

Oh, we all tried to laugh at ourselves and our pitiful performance, but when you think you’re supposed to automatically master a game or sport in a short time, you can’t do anything but laugh. And, of course,

we know real men don’t cry.

As we bumbled our way through the course, my frustration only increased.

When I DID get on a green, putting became another giant needle in my failed-athlete side. Who invented this game?!! I’m grousing.

For most of the next year, I joined the other three guys a couple of times a month. My game barely got better and I finally won a hole, the final one on the last day I ever picked up a golf club. But, I still never finished better than third in the foursome.

And my ol’ cowboy daddy always told me: “Son, if you can’t afford to lose, don’t gamble.” So, I never have been a betting man … unless it has to do with my profession. After 70-plus years, I’ve learned a thing or two, especially about gambling. Oh, and about golf ... don’t play golf.

Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.

EDITORIAL

Who’s funding political TV ads?

THE SEATTLE TIMES

Television watchers need to brace themselves for the worst this election season.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are likely to be poured into political ads narrated by ominous voices and designed to influence voters’ ballot choices.

Some commercials, paid for by campaigns, will conclude with candidates saying they approve the message. Viewers should be extra skeptical of any ads brought to them by independent political action committees with benign

sounding names like Priorities USA Action, Believe Again, Unintimidated PAC and Right to Rise USA. Such names reveal nothing about who the true sponsors of the advertisements really are. The Federal Communications Commission, which seems to turn a blind eye, should require more transparency and has the authority to do so: Section 315 of the Communications Act requires broadcast stations to identify sponsors of political ads in files available for public viewing. Not every station is complying,

according to extensive research by civic watchdog groups, such as the Sunlight Foundation, the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause.

Section 317 requires advertisers and broadcasters to disclose to viewers and listeners the "true identity" of the person, group or entity paying for a political ad.

Many don’t, and the FCC has failed to enforce this rule.

Last week, 168 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to

quickly require that broadcasters reveal the names of political-ad sponsors on the air.

According to OpenSecrets.org, conservative groups by far dominate this type of campaign advertising.

Democracy is weakened when influence over the public airwaves is controlled by dark-money groups, whether on the right or the left, which have the power to raise and spend unlimited funds.

Citizens have a right to know when and why megarich individuals pour their wealth into advocacy.

CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU

National

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

Florida delays execution

By JASON DEAREN AND JOE REEDY ASSOCIATED PRESS

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s highest court has delayed the execution of a condemned inmate, just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court found flaws in the way the state sentences people to death.

Florida’s justices provided no reasoning for their decision Tuesday, but earlier in the day, they heard arguments from the state and an attorney for inmate Michael Lambrix, who told them the U.S. Supreme Court ruling should apply to all 390 people on death row.

“To execute people in Florida on the basis of a statute that has been declared unconstitutional is just wrong,” Martin McClain said.

Lambrix was scheduled to be executed Feb. 11. He was sentenced to death for the 1983 slayings of Clarence Moore and Aleisha Bryant. Prosecutors said Lambrix beat Moore with a tire iron and strangled Bryant after meeting the two at a bar and inviting them back to his trailer for dinner. The jury’s death recommendation was not unanimous for either murder.

The U.S. Supreme Court found Jan. 12 that the state’s sentencing procedure is flawed because it allows judges to reach a different decision than juries. Juries play only an advisory role in recommending death in Florida.

Judges have recommended death against the jury’s recommendation in the cases of three of Florida’s current death row inmates, state officials said. The last time it happened was 1999.

Lambrix’s juries recommended death by an 8-4 vote for Moore’s murder, and 10-2 in Bryant’s.

Scott Browne of the Florida Attorney General’s office argued Tuesday that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling should not apply to already-decided cases. He warned the court that allowing the ruling to apply to old cases would create chaos and suffering for victims’ families in the state with the second-most death row inmates in the nation.

“That would be a catastrophic (decision), we have nearly 400 in-

mates sentenced to death. It would be an immense burden on judicial resources,” Browne told the court. “These are tragic cases.

To unsettle the expectations of victims’ family members without any compelling provision is unwarranted.”

Browne said the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision should be treated the same as a related case out of Arizona. In that case, the court ruled not to apply it retroactively.

Justices appeared conflicted during the arguments about how to apply the ruling in Florida.

“There has to be something to the law that is beyond technicalities. One person is executed today, but the one that comes up tomorrow is not, and there really is no difference in their cases,” said Justice R. Fred Lewis. “I’m struggling with the word games.”

University of Florida Levin College of Law professor Teresa Reid, a death penalty expert, said she was not surprised by the Court’s ruling. Many of the justice’s questions indicated they are extremely concerned about whether and how Hurst should be applied to already-decided cases, she said.

“This stay and the detailed questions they asked counsel during Tuesday’s hearing demonstrate they’re carefully considering the arguments presented.

They’re not just rubber-stamping prior decisions,” Reid said.

Meanwhile, Florida’s Legislature has started to address the death penalty system.

Under one new proposal by the House, the jury would have to make a unanimous decision about whether aggravating factors warrant capital punishment, but they could also choose life in prison without parole.

Judges could only consider an aggravating factor that was unanimously found by the jury.

There is also growing support for another bill sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman that would require a unanimous verdict in order for there to be a death sentence.

“By no way is this a 100-percent finished product,” Rep. Carlos Trujillo, chair of the House’s Criminal Justice Subcommittee, said. “At some point we will have to reconcile both bills before it goes to the governor.”

Generals discuss women

By LOLITA C. BALDOR ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The top Army and Marine Corps generals told senators Tuesday that it will take up to three years to fully integrate women into all combat jobs, adding that women also should have to register for the draft.

The military service leaders repeatedly vowed that they will not lower standards to bring women into the more grueling jobs. But they warned that inherent physical differences and different injury rates between men and women will have an impact on how the integration moves ahead.

The selective service question revealed differences between the military chiefs and their political leaders.

Army Gen. Mark Milley and Marine Gen. Robert Neller both flatly said that women should be included in the requirement to register for the selective service at age 18. But Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Army Acting Secretary Patrick Murphy would only say that the issue should be discussed.

Political leaders overall have so far been reluctant to endorse the draft requirement.

The sometimes contentious hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee laid bare the deep reluctance of Marine Corps leaders to bring women into certain demanding infantry, armor and special operations jobs.

After a lengthy review by the services and the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Ash Carter in December ordered all combat jobs open to women, but also vowed that no standards would be lowered to make way for wom-

Girl stabbed to death

By TOM FOREMAN JR. AND ALLEN G. BREED ASSOCIATED PRESS

BLACKSBURG, Va. — A 13-year-old girl who vanished from her bedroom was stabbed to death by a Virginia Tech student, and another freshman already charged with hiding the body was more deeply involved, authorities said Tuesday. A neighbor said the seventh-grader told friends she would sneak out to meet her “boyfriend” David, an 18-year-old she met online through the Kik messaging app.

Nicole Madison Lovell was killed on Wednesday, the same day she vanished,

by David Eisenhauer, a freshman at Virginia Tech now jailed on charges of kidnapping and murder, Commonwealth’s Attorney Mary Pettitt said Tuesday.

The prosecutor also announced that Eisenhauer’s classmate, Natalie Keepers, will face a more serious charge of being an accessory “before the fact” to firstdegree murder, in addition to helping to dispose of the body. The new charge could mean a life sentence if convicted.

Eisenhauer said “I believe the truth will set me free” after he was arrested on Saturday, a police document says.

Nicole’s mother discovered her missing last Wednesday morning, setting off an intense hunt for the girl, who suffered from bullying at school and online over her weight and a tracheotomy scar, and needed daily medication after surviving a liver transplant, lymphoma and a drug-resistant bacterial infection as a 5-year-old.

Police quickly zeroed in on Eisenhauer, and then found Nicole’s body on Saturday, hidden off a North Carolina road, two hours south of campus.

Stacy Snider, a neighbor whose 8-year-old twins

Photo by Tammy Weeks | AP

In this 2015 photo provided by Tammy Weeks, her daughter, Nicole Lovell, flashes a peace sign in Blacksburg, Va. The 13-yearold girl was found dead just across the state line in Surry County, N.C., and two Virginia Tech students are charged in the case. played with Nicole, told The Associated Press that before she vanished, Nicole showed her girls Eisenhauer’s picture along with a thread of texts they had shared, and said she would be sneaking out that night to meet him.

“She was talking about this boyfriend she had that was 18 and went to college, and his name was David.

And showed some text messages off of a Kik and pictures. And that’s what the girls told the police officers when they asked.”

Snider said she learned all this from her girls only after Nicole vanished. “I would have told her mother.

But we didn’t know nothing about it until she came up missing, unfortunately,” she said.

Her fate devastated her mother, Tammy Weeks, who also spoke at Tuesday’s news conference, describing the health problems her daughter battled and the joys in her short life.

“Her favorite color was blue. Nicole was a very lovable person. Nicole touched many people throughout her short life,” Weeks read from a statement before her sobs became uncontrollable and she was ushered away.

Blacksburg police said they have evidence showing Eisenhauer knew the girl

THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A

before she disappeared Wednesday, but provided no more details.

“Eisenhauer used this relationship to his advantage to abduct the 13-year-old and then kill her. Keepers helped Eisenhauer dispose of Nicole’s body,” a police statement said.

Kik Interactive, based in Ontario, Canada, was “active in helping the FBI carry out their investigation,” spokesman Rod McLeod said.

Also, at Kik’s request, Apple stopped advertising Kik Messenger as appropriate for kids 9 and older on its iTunes store on Monday.

“Yes, we did recently ask Apple to change our rating to 12+. This more closely matches the age (13) in our TOS (terms of service),” McLeod told the AP. Kik, along with Instagram and Snapchat, are particularly popular with younger teens, and it’s impossible to keep underage users from signing up. Even kids whose parents closely monitor their activity on sites such as Facebook often use smartphones with other social media where predators lurk, said Adam Lee, special agent in charge of the FBI in Richmond.

“Kids are crafty,” Lee said. “They will have one account parents have access to, and half a dozen they shield from their parents’ view.”

David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, agreed that parental oversight is a good thing, but cautioned against placing too much blame on technology. “Although there has been an increase in crimes that have some social media-related nexus to them, the overall level of crime victimization — including sexual assaults and kidnapping and even peer bullying — has declined,” Finkelhor said. “So it’s a complicated picture.”

Photo by Cliff Owen | AP

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to examine the implementation of the decision to open all ground combat units to women. en.

The Marine Corps initially sought to keep certain infantry and combat jobs closed to women, citing studies showing combined-gender units are not as effective as male-only units. Allowing women to compete for ground combat jobs, it concluded, would make the Marine Corps a less-efficient fighting machine.

Both Mabus and Carter rejected that argument. In response, Marine leaders, including Neller, immediately began to lay out implementation plans, but they continue to make clear their reservations.

“We have a decision and we’re in the process of moving out,” Neller told the senators.

“We will see where the chips fall. And, again, our hope is that everyone will be successful.

But hope is not a course of action on the battlefield.”

Neller said that Marine Corps testing revealed two significant differences between allmale units and those with men and women.

He said all-male units were able to better march long distances

carrying heavy loads and also were able to fire their weapons more accurately after marching over distance.

Being big and strong and having a “certain body mass give you an advantage,” said Neller.

He added that as women do more conditioning and weight training to meet combat standards, they have been more likely to be outside the required weight and size requirements for women.

The Marine Corps, he said, is looking at that issue.

Mabus and Neller have deep differences on how the Marine Corps should proceed, and provided their views in starkly different ways.

Mabus presented a lengthy opening statement laying out his views and why he disagreed with the Marine’s recommendation, and had to be warned

by McCain to finish up quickly. Neller, meanwhile, made no opening statement, provided short, clipped answers to questions, and avoided most direct disagreements with Mabus.

Asked to list his con-

cerns, Neller said he’s worried about retention, injury rates and unit effectiveness.

Lawmakers, including McCain, criticized Mabus for deciding to allow women to compete for Marine combat jobs — and telling the media — before fully reading and taking into account the massive Marine study.

“You’re handling of this issue has really complicated this issue for those of us who support integration,” McCain snapped at Mabus at the end of the hearing.

Milley said he fully supported allowing women to seek combat jobs, but cautioned that it should be done slowly and methodically because “we must not rush to failure.”

The military leaders said that for the first time the services are developing standards that are specific to each job, based on the requirements and tasks that must be accomplished. Those standards, they said, will be applied equally for men and women.

Milley added that at this point he does not expect that women will be forced into infantry jobs. The Army, he said, doesn’t involuntarily send men to the combat post right now and the service is meeting all its needs. But, he said, things could change in the future depending on the military’s needs.

Carter’s order to allow women to compete for combat posts opens the final 10 percent of military positions to women — a total of about 220,000 jobs. And it allows them to serve in the most demanding and difficult jobs, including as special operations forces, such as the Army Delta units and Navy SEALs.

PÁGINA 6A

Zfrontera

Ribereña en Breve FERIA DEL CONDADO DE ZAPATA La Feria del Condado de Zapata elegirá a sus representantes de belleza. El Certamen de Belleza para Jr. Royalty se celebrará el 7 de febrero; en tanto que el Concurso para Reinas de la Feria del Condado de Zapata se celebrará el 28 de febrero.

Ambos eventos se realizarán a las 2 p.m. en el Auditorio de Zapata High School.

MIÉRCOLES 03 DE FEBRERO DE 2016

OFICINA DEL ALGUACIL CONDADO DE ZAPATA

Plantío de droga POR CÉSAR G. RODRÍGUEZ TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Una orden de cateo llevó al descubrimiento de plantas de marihuana en una casa ubicada en el Condado de Zapata, de acuerdo a reportes.

La Oficina del Alguacil, con la asistencia de investigadores de la fuerza especial de Áreas de Tráfico de Drogas de Alta Intensidad,

dijeron el viernes que ejecutaron la orden de cateo el 8 de junio de 2015, en la cuadra 100 de la calle Carla.

No se aclaró por qué las autoÁLVAREZ ridades dieron a conocer la información siete meses después que ocurrió el acci-

dente.

Las autoridades dijeron que descubrieron cinco plantas de marihuana que crecían en el lado oeste de la residencia. Las plantas medían entre tres a cuatro pies de altura.

Además, los reportes establecen que los investigadores descubrieron dos onzas de marihuana empacadas en pequeñas bolsas en el interior del hogar.

Un hombre identificado como Mario Adalberto Álvarez, de 23 años, fue arrestado y acusado de posesión de marihuana, un crimen que amerita prisión. Él se encuentra libre bajo fianza.

La Oficina del Alguacil dijo que el caso permanece bajo investigación.

(Localice a César G. Rodríguez en el 728-2568 o en cesar@lmtonline.com)

DESFILE La Feria del Condado de Zapata invita a los residentes, organismos y grupos de la comunidad a inscribirse en el Desfile de la Feria de Zapata.

La fecha límite para entregar su solicitud de entrada es el miércoles 9 de marzo. El desfile tendrá lugar a las 9 a.m. del sábado 12 de marzo.

La alineación del desfile será de 7 a.m. a 8:30 a.m., en U.S. Hwy 83 y 3rd Ave. Habrá trofeos para diferentes categorías. Los ganadores serán anunciados a la 1:30 p.m. en Zapata County Fairgrounds.

DEPARTAMENTO DE SEGURIDAD NACIONAL

NUEVO LAREDO, MX

VIGILANCIA AÉREA

Cateo sorpresa arroja drogas ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

PERIODO DE REGISTRO Agricultores y ganaderos son invitados a participar en el periodo general de inscripción para el Programa de Reserva de Conservación (CRP, por sus siglas en inglés) que está vigente actualmente y concluye el 26 de febrero. El CRP es un programa con fondos federales que ayuda a los productores agrícolas con los costos de restauración, mejora y protección de ciertos tipos de césped, arbustos y árboles a fin de mejorar la calidad del agua, prevenir la erosión del suelo y reducir la pérdida del habitat de la vida salvaje. La duración del control es de entre 10 a 15 años.

Para más información visite una oficina FSA de su localidad o bien el sitio www.fsa.usda.gov/conservation.

PRÉSTAMOS FSA Los Condados de Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr y Willacy Counties fueron declarados elegibles para los préstamos de emergencia ante desastres del Farm Service Agency (FSA). Esto significa que los agricultores que hayan perdido al menos 30 por ciento de su producción o que hayan sufrido cualquier pérdida en producción o física causadas por tormentas severas, vientos constantes, tornados, e inundaciones, en el periodo del 22 al 31 de octubre del 2015. La fecha límite para presentar su solicitud de préstamo es el 25 de julio del 2016. Las oficinas del FSA se ubican en 2514 S. Veterans Blvd., Suite 1 en Edinburg. Informes en el 956-3810916 Ext. 2.

MICROPRÉSTAMOS El Departamento de Agricultura de EU (USDA) empezará a ofrecer micro-créditos para que agricultores puedan obtener un financiamiento y mejorar o comprar una propiedad.

El programa ha otorgado más de 16.800 préstamos a bajo interés, totalizando 373 millones de dólares para productores en el país, desde el 2013. El dinero se utiliza principalmente para costos de operación en ranchos – comida, fertilizantes, herramientas, cercas, equipamiento y gastos de vivienda. Un 70 por ciento de los préstamos se han destinado a nuevos agricultores.

Los microprestamos otorgan hasta 50.000 dólares a productores que califiquen, y pueden ser emitidos al solicitante directamente desde el USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA).

Más informes visitando www.fsa.usda.gov/microloans.

Foto de archivo Delcia López | Associated Press

En esta foto aérea de archivo de 2015, tomada desde un helicóptero de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza, un vehículo de la Patrulla Fronteriza aparece cerca de una valla en Abram, Texas. El Departamento de Seguridad Nacional planea reducir la vigilancia aérea en la frontera.

Agencia planea reducir monitoreo en frontera POR JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE

El gobernador Greg Abbott y el Congresista Henry Cuéllar, D-Zapata, presionaron al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS por sus siglas en inglés), el lunes para explicar por qué la agencia planea reducir su vigilancia aérea en la frontera entre Texas y México.

En una carta enviada al secretario de DHS Jeh Johnson, los legisladores dijeron que el recorte a 3.850 horas de detección y monitoreo aéreo en el 2016 representa un 50 por ciento menos que la cobertura realizada en años anteriores.

“Dada la reciente oleada de migrantes procedentes de América Central y Cuba a lo largo de la frontera sur, creemos que DHS debe solicitar más vigilancia y asegurar recursos, no reducirlos”, escribieron en

una carta Abbott y Cuéllar.

Ellos también le recordaron a Johnson que en septiembre, la oficina de Abbott solicitó a DHS mayor recurso aéreo y agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza pero que la solicitud nunca fue reconocida.

Un vocero de DHS dijo que la agencia respondería “directamente” al gobernador y al congresista.

La solicitud del lunes coincide con el reporte de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza con respecto a una nueva oleada en el número de inmigrantes indocumentados cruzando el Río Grande. De octubre a diciembre de 2015, cerca de 10.560 menores sin compañía ingresaron a Texas de manera ilegal a través del Valle del Río Grande, sector de la Patrulla Fronteriza. Esto representa un 115 por ciento de incremento en el mismo periodo durante el 2014. La cantidad de unidades familiares, de-

finidas como al menos un menor y un adulto guardián o padre, ha aumentado en un 170 por ciento, 14.336 en el Valle del Río Grande.

El sector de El Paso también tuvo una oleada de 1.030 menores sin compañía, un incremento de casi el 300 por ciento.

El la carta del lunes, el gobernador y el congresista solicitaron un informe detallado de cómo DHS determinó la reducción de la vigilancia aérea e información sobre cómo los niveles de personal y operaciones iban a ser afectados.

Mientras Abbott ha hablado extensamente acerca de la inmigración ilegal desde México y América Central, la carta marca la primera ocasión que Abbott ha hecho referencia a una reciente oleada de cubanos viniendo a Texas.

Abbott visitó la isla el año pasado para explorar relaciones comerciales en-

tre Cuba y Texas. Durante ese viaje, habló sobre el actual embargo comercial pero no del tema migratorio.

Durante el año fiscal 2015, cerca de 28.400 cubanos ingresaron a Texas a través de la oficina de campo en Laredo de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza, la cual se extiende desde Del Rio a Brownsville.

En el 2014, ingresaron 15.600 cubanos por esta área.

La oleada migratoria surgió después que la administración de Barack Obama anunció en el 2014 sus planes de reestablecer nexos con Cuba, lo que causó que muchos cubanos temieran perder una designación especial que les permite solicitar residencia legal, o una “tarjeta verde”, después de vivir en el país por un año. Cuéllar y el senador John Cornyn, T-Texas, han solicitado la revocación de esa designación.

El Gobierno de Tamaulipas, México, informó a través de un comunicado que el lunes, policías estatales de Fuerza Tamaulipas realizaron una inspección sorpresa al interior del Centro de Ejecución de Sanciones (CEDES) en el municipio de Nuevo Laredo, decomisando envoltorios con droga, armas punzocortantes y diversos objetos prohibidos.

El operativo se llevó a cabo como parte de las acciones para mantener el orden al interior del penal de Nuevo Laredo y se realizó en estricto apego a los derechos humanos de los más de mil internos, siendo revisadas las celdas de nueve módulos, talleres y diversas áreas administrativas del centro penitenciario.

El operativo arrojó el aseguramiento de armas punzcortantes, herramientas, encendedores, drogas y dos gallos de pelea entre otros objetos .

Los artículos asegurados fueron puestos a disposición del Ministerio Público Federal, quien se encargará de procesarlos.

Al concluir la revisión, ningún interno fue puesto a disposición de las autoridades por no haber sido sorprendidos en posesión de los objetos decomisados.

SALUD

Detectan y alertan por casos del virus zika TIEMPO DE ZAPATA

Ante la alerta mundial de emergencia de salud pública por el virus del zika, autoridades de Texas y Tamaulipas están activando planes de prevención contra otros virus como Chikungunya y dengue.

La agencia de las Naciones Unidas dio un paso poco común, a pesar de la falta de evidencia definitiva que demuestre que el virus transmitido por mosquitos está causando un aumento en los bebés que nacen con defectos cerebrales y con cabezas anormalmente pequeñas en Brasil .

El lunes, se citó a una reunión de emergencia de expertos independientes en respuesta al incremento de bebés con microcefalia en Brasil desde que se encontró el virus el año pasado.

Funcionarios de la Polinesia Francesa también documentaron una conexión entre el virus del zika y complicaciones neurológicas cuando el virus se diseminó hace dos años, al mismo tiempo que la fiebre del dengue.

Aunque Margaret Chan, directora general de la OMS, dijo que no hay evidencia concluyente de que el virus zika, diseminado por mosquitos de la variedad Aedes aegypti, es responsable de defectos congénitos, Chan reconoció el jueves pasado que “el grado de alarma es muy elevado”.

La última vez que se declaró una emergencia de salud pública fue cuando el brote devastador del virus del Ébola en 2014 en África Occidental, el cual mató a más de 11.000 personas.

La OMS estima que podría haber cuatro millones de casos de zika en toda América.

En San Antonio, el departamento de salud de la ciudad dijo el lunes que los Centros para la Prevención y Control de Enfermedades confirmaron el primer caso del virus del zika en el Condado de Bexar.

Las autoridades sanitarias dijeron que el individuo se ha recuperado y que está libre del virus. Otros siete casos han sido confirmados en Texas —todos en el área de Houston— y los

infectados también se han recuperado.

De acuerdo al departamento de salud, “el virus del zika es parte de la misma familia que causa la fiebre amarilla, el virus del Nilo, Chikingunya y dengue. El virus del zika se transmite principalmente por la picadura de un mosquito Aedes infectado. También puede ser transmitido por una madre embarazada a su bebé durante la gestación o en el tiempo cercano al alumbramiento. Una de cada cinco personas infectadas con zika se enfermará”.

En Dallas, la Oficina de Salud y Servicios Humanos del Condado de Dallas, confirmó la primera transmisión del virus zika mediante contacto sexual, lo que constituye el primer caso local de infección con dicho virus en medio de un brote en varias partes del mundo.

Según funcionarios de salud, la persona se infectó tras tener relaciones sexuales con otra persona que había regresado de un país afectado por el virus zika.

“Ahora que sabemos que el virus zika se puede

transmitir a través de las relaciones sexuales, esto incrementa nuestra campaña de concientización para educar al público sobre cómo protegerse”, expresó el director de la Oficina de Salud y Servicios Humanos del Condado de Dallas, Zachary Thompson. “Aparte de la abstinencia, los condones son el mejor método preventivo contra cualquier infección de transmisión sexual”.

Funcionarios de salud advirtieron que la transmisión sexual del virus zika puede aún ser algo poco frecuente en Estados Unidos y que el mayor riesgo de infección radica en los mosquitos que lo transmiten cuando pican a personas infectadas.En Tamaulipas, México, el Secretario de Salud del Estado de Tamaulipas, Norberto Treviño García Manzano, dijo que la prioridad es la eliminación de criaderos y promover la conciencia social para mantener las viviendas libres de mosquitos.

Agregó que se ha puesto en marcha un plan intenso de promoción de la salud

que involucra las entidades de salud estatales y municipales.

Destacó que al ser enfermedades transmitidas por el mismo vector, el mosquito Aedes aegypti, las acciones deben centrarse en la eliminación de criaderos, a través de mantener patios limpios y saneamiento básico.

Respecto al virus del zika y su asociación con la microcefalia, el funcionario dijo que en Tamaulipas sólo se ha confirmado un caso importado por una persona de origen colombiano,para el cual se tomaron las medidas correspondientes, se reccomendaba que las mujeres embarazadas acudan a las consultas prenatales.

El virus zika se caracteriza por: fiebre, conjuntivitis no bacteriana, dolor de cabeza, dolor muscular, salpullido, comezón y escalofríos.

Hasta el momento no existe un tratamiento específico para cualquiera de estos virus pero sus sintomas se controlan con analgésicos.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

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Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: CLEVELAND BROWNS

Breaking point Browns tired of Manziel’s antics, to release QB

By TOM WITHERS ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEVELAND — The Browns are about to throw Johnny Football away.

The team issued a strong statement Tuesday, condemning quarterback Johnny Manziel’s actions and pointing to his release in March, a move that has seemed inevitable for months.

The conduct by the 23year-old player — rampant partying, two domestic incidents and a general lack of commitment — have been a major problem almost from the day Cleveland drafted the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner in the first round two years ago.

Last weekend, Manziel was involved in a disturbance with his ex-girlfriend in Dallas that is being investigated by police and the NFL. “We’ve been clear about expectations for our players on and off the field,” said Sashi Brown, the team’s vice president of football operations. “Johnny’s continual involvement in incidents that run counter to those expectations undermines the hard work of his teammates and the reputation of our organization.

His status with our team

will be addressed when permitted by league rules.”

The Browns, who drafted Manziel with the No. 22 overall pick in the 2014 draft, can release him as early as Monday, the day after the Super Bowl. But salary-cap implications point to the move happening March 9, when the league’s new year begins.

The expected end to his run in Cleveland will conclude two turbulent seasons for the electrifying college star known as Johnny Football, whose arrival with the Browns prompted enthusiasm and a belief by some fans that he could bring the Browns back to respectability.

Instead of excitement, however, Manziel mostly delivered disappointment.

He spent most of his rookie season behind Brian Hoyer before getting his first career start late in the season against Cincinnati. Manziel played poorly in a 30-0 loss to the Bengals and the following week he injured his hamstring. Manziel was then fined when he didn’t show for the final walkthrough practice before the finale at Baltimore.

Manziel said he regretted not working harder in his first season and vowed to change. That admission was followed by him checking in-

to a drug and alcohol treatment center in Pennsylvania, where he spent 73 days.

Manziel returned for his second season eager to show he had learned his lessons.

The Browns raved about his work ethic and it appeared he had turned the corner.

But once again, Manziel couldn’t stay out of trouble.

In October, Manziel was questioned by police in Avon, Ohio, after a witness reported a roadside confrontation. Manziel and then-girlfriend, Coleen Crowley acknowledged drinking alcohol before their argument. Crowley told police Manziel struck her and pushed her head into the car window.

Manziel was not arrested and he was later cleared of wrongdoing by the NFL, which investigated whether he had violated its personalconduct policy.

Not long after, Manziel was stripped of his starting job by former coach Mike Pettine after the quarterback had promised he would not be a distraction during the team’s bye week. Manziel’s appearances on social media videos also bothered the Browns, who were caught between being supportive of him while also appearing to be letting him off easy.

Manziel got his job back after Josh McCown broke

his collarbone, but he was ruled out of the season finale with a concussion.

Manziel then failed to report to a scheduled medical treatment on Jan. 3 at the team’s training facility while his teammates played Pittsburgh. The Browns were not certain of Manziel’s location that day as a report surfaced he was in Las Vegas.

On Saturday, police were called an apartment complex where a woman identified as Manziel’s ex-girlfriend said she had been in a disturbance with Manziel, who was not at the scene. The woman said she was concerned about Manziel’s well-being.

That prompted police to use a helicopter to find Manziel, who was deemed “safe and in no danger.”

Police in Fort Worth and Dallas are still trying to determine if Manziel assaulted his ex-girlfriend.

Before this latest matter, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said last week he believed the team’s strained relationship with him could still be fixed. But in light of yet another embarrassing episode, it appears the Browns will move on without him.

Manziel has lost to his own team.

File photo by David Richard | AP

The Browns said in a statement Tuesday that quarterback Johnny Manziel’s troubles off the field have undermined his teammates and the organization. A source says the team will release him in March when the salary cap allows the move.

International

8A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

EU and US reach Brazil president new data-sharing deal addresses Zika fear

By PAN PYLAS AND LORNE COOK ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS — The European Union and the United States struck a deal Tuesday over data-sharing that will allow the likes of Facebook and Apple to continue sending people’s information across the Atlantic — but a legal challenge to the pact is widely anticipated.

The sides had been trying to forge an agreement since October, when Europe’s top court ruled against the previous pact — known as Safe Harbor — amid concerns that Europeans’ personal data stored by companies in the U.S. might be exposed to spying

by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The new deal, once put in place, potentially brings an end to a period of uncertainty that had raised the prospect of legal challenges by individuals across the 28-country EU worried about privacy.

“Our people can be sure that their personal data is fully protected,” said Andrus Ansip, the European Commissioner responsible for the digital single market. “Our businesses, especially the smallest ones, have the legal certainty they need to develop their activities across the Atlantic.”

Ansip said the new framework, which will be known as EU-US Privacy Shield, will ensure the “right checks and balances” for European citizens and added that it “offers significant improvements” to the previous deal, which had been struck in the early days of the Internet at the turn of the century.

“This solution is much better than the one we had in the year 2000,” he said.

Under the new deal, there will be an annual joint review of the datasharing pact, with the first expected sometime next year. The U.S. has also

promised to appoint a new official — a so-called ombudsman based at the State Department — responsible for following up on complaints upon referral from EU data protection officers.

“It’s Safe Harbor with teeth,” said Dyann HewardMills, Head of Data Protection at the legal firm Baker & McKenzie in London. “I think this is good for business certainty and consumer trust.”

In its October decision, the European Court of Justice declared the Safe Harbor pact was invalid because it did not adequately protect consumers when their data was stored in the U.S., in light of the spying revelations made by Edward Snowden, a former contractor at the U.S.’s National Security Agency.

Snowden’s revelations had prompted the complaint to the court from an Austrian law student, Max Schrems.

The pact, which had been used by around 4,500 companies, had allowed the easy transfer of data from the EU by having U.S. companies promise to provide privacy protections equivalent to those in the EU. The EU court’s ruling that the pact was invalid opened up the possibility that data privacy officers across the EU might be inundated by complaints by consumers worried about their privacy.

Vera Jourova, the European Commissioner for Justice, said the deal is a landmark as for the first time ever the U.S. has given the EU “binding assurances” that the access of public authorities for national security purposes “will be subject to clear limitations, safeguards and oversight mechanisms.”

Also for the first time, she said EU citizens will benefit from “redress mechanisms” in this area.

“The U.S. has assured that it does not conduct mass or indiscriminate surveillance of Europeans,”

she said.

Jourova added that she’s confident that the new arrangements will withstand any future court challenges as the discussions used the court ruling to help in the “formulation” of the new arrangements.

She estimated it could take up to three months to make the deal binding, while U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said she expected it to be in effect in a matter of weeks.

Pritzker said “it’s been a long road but we’ve turned the corner.”

Given the role cross-border data-flows play in a modern economy, the news of the deal was met with relief by many.

“We welcome the agreement, which will provide strong privacy safeguards for consumers and legal certainty for the thousands of companies that depend on trans-Atlantic data flows,” said Christian Borggreen, international policy director at the U.S.-based Computer & Communications Industry Association.

Others were a bit more cautious.

The Washington, D.C.based Center for Democracy & Technology, which did a quick analysis of the announced framework, said in a statement that despite the framework’s improvement for EU citizens’ data privacy it would likely face trouble in court.

“Absent reform of U.S. surveillance law, it is highly unlikely that the Privacy Shield agreement will be deemed sufficient by the (European) Court of Justice,” said Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, the body’s director of European affairs.

He called on the U.S. Congress to swiftly move to reform its surveillance law and for EU member states to narrow their own surveillance laws and practices to also be more aligned with international human rights norms.

Italian smokers face fines

By FULVIO PAOLUCCI ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROME — Smokers in Italy are now facing fines of up to 500 euros ($600) if they light up in a car with a child or pregnant woman — or if they toss a cigarette butt on the street — after new health and environmental laws went into effect Tuesday.

The smoking prohibitions extend bans on smoking in offices, restaurants, cinemas and other public places to the more private sphere of a car.

They also specifically target pediatric hospitals and other medical facilities catering to pregnant women and newborns in a bid to cut the estimated 70,00083,000 deaths a year the government attributes to tobacco smoke.

The measures are contained in a new law con-

forming to EU regulations aimed at dissuading young people from taking up the habit. They impose hefty fines on shopkeepers who sell to minors and cigarette producers who market to them, and include new requirements for warnings on cigarette packages.

The separate law against tossing cigarette butts is part of an anti-littler regulation that also punishes spitting out gum or tossing shopping receipts on the street.

Piergiorgio Benvenuti, president of EcoItalia Solidale, said about 11 million cigarettes are smoked every day in Rome, half of them squished on the street, where they often get trapped between cobblestones.

“This has an enormous environmental impact,” he said, noting that it takes

between five to 12 years for a cigarette to break down.

“Aside from how it looks is how much it costs Rome to clean this up.”

Roberta Pacifici, director of the smoking, drug and alcohol department of the Superior Institute of Health, said she expected the new measures would lead to a new drop in smoking rates across Italy, as occurred when the first bans were introduced.

The smoking bans in cars will “have a great educational value” for young people, she said.

Stefan Mihailovic, a 21year-old student at Rome’s John Cabot University, praised the initiative though he acknowledged the fines will hurt.

“I think it can only be good because it can only clean up the city, which is quite dirty. It can only be good.”

By STAN LEHMAN AND PETER PRENGAMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAO PAULO — Brazil’s president promised a wary nation on Tuesday that no resources would be spared in the fight against Zika, addressing Congress a day after the World Health Organization declared the mosquito-borne virus an international emergency.

A spike in the number of Brazilian babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads has been linked to their mother’s contracting the virus during pregnancy. Several thousand cases of microcephaly have been reported in Brazil since October, although researchers have so far not proven a definitive link to the virus. No vaccine or cure exists for Zika.

“We should all be worried about microcephaly,” Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff said, calling on Congress to partner with her in the fight against the virus.

Before the Zika virus started grabbing international attention, Brazil was already struggling to prepare for this summer’s Olympic Games, set to begin in August in Rio de Janeiro.

Constructions projects have started and stopped, and questions have been raised about the safety of athletes after an Associated Press investigation found alarmingly high levels of bacteria and viruses in water bodies where competitions will take place.

Worry over the Zika virus was the main topic Tuesday during an Olympic committee news conference. Instead of updates on venue construction or ticket sales, health officials attempted to ease fears that the virus would wreak havoc.

Photo by Silvia Izquierdo | AP

Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz, left, talks with Rio 2016 Director of Medical Services Joao Grangeiro, during a media briefing that included the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday.

“Athletes are not at risk,” declared Dr. Joao Grangeiro, the organizers’ medical director, promising the mosquito count will fall in August during Brazil’s winter.

“We will have Summer Games, but for us it’s winter time.”

Daniel Soranz, Rio’s health secretary, told reporters the mosquitoes around the Olympic Park were not primarily the type that transmits Zika.

Still, Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada was vague when asked how organizers were going to fund mosquito eradication efforts as they slash in other areas.

“In this case the most important thing to do is obviously to care for those who have been infected and to prevent new infections, and not to worry if we have budget or not,” Andrada said.

The virus may yet become the biggest challenge for organizers amid an already long list of woes. Some $500 million has been cut to keep the $2 billion operating budget in balance as Brazil struggles with its deepest recession since the 1930s.

The local currency has lost about 30 percent of its value against the dollar, inflation is above 10 percent and announcements of layoffs are a daily oc-

currence.

Amid such a backdrop, Rousseff has single-digit approval ratings and is facing impeachment proceedings related to the alleged use by her government of pension funds to shore up the budget. She denies any wrongdoing.

Regardless of what Rousseff proposes on Zika or the economy, Congress may not go along. The Workers’ Party has only 59 of the 513 members of the lower house and traditionally has passed legislation by forming coalitions with other large blocs, which may find little incentive to work with the unpopular president.

In her Tuesday address, Rousseff promised to develop a care program for children born with microcephaly. She also promised to cut spending and revisit the South American nation’s vast array of subsidy programs, though she was light on details.

While economists say such reforms are desperately needed, they draw the ire of her Workers Party base and are a hard sell to the nation amid high inflation and job losses. When she spoke about a proposed tax on banking transactions, one of the government’s main plans to generate revenue, many in the chamber booed, forcing her to momentarily stop speaking.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A

Oil industry cutting jobs

By DAVID KOENIG AND DANICA KIRKA ASSOCIATED PRESS

Oil companies are cutting investment, slashing jobs and selling off pipelines and other assets as crude prices plunge.

“It’s going to be a very turbulent year for our industry,” says BP CEO Bob Dudley.

The latest warnings came from Exxon Mobil, which reported Tuesday that fourth-quarter earnings fell 58 percent in the oil giant’s weakest quarter since 2002.

The results were even worse at BP, which posted a 91 percent decline in profit.

Those reports follow Chevron Corp.’s first money-losing quarter in more than 15 years and Royal Dutch Shell’s warning that its 2015 profit fell sharply.

Even with a big glut of oil and low prices, producers are pumping to earn what they can. Exxon boosted production of oil and natural gas by nearly 5 percent.

Oil companies are counting on seasonal demand to pick up some of the slack later this year, but it is anyone’s guess how long the current lower crude prices will last.

Crude prices first fell below $30 last month from above $100 in mid-2014. Consumers are benefiting from cheaper gasoline and other fuels, but oil companies and employees are feeling the

pain.

“I expect continued layoffs, restructurings, and consolidation among oil and gas companies,” said Gianna Bern, an associate professor of finance at the University of Notre Dame. “We are witnessing the perfect storm in this industry.”

A snapshot of how the companies are faring:

Exxon Mobil Corp.

THE NUMBERS: The fourth quarter was Exxon’s weakest since 2002 but better than Wall Street had feared.

It earned $2.78 billion, or 67 cents per share. That was 3 cents better than the average forecast of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

JOBS: The company says it has 20 percent fewer workers than five years ago and will continue to focus on “productivity enhancements” and efficiency, said director of investor relations Jeff Woodbury.

WHAT’S NEXT: Exxon slashed fourth-quarter capital and exploration spending by 29 percent compared with a year earlier, and it plans to cut that spending by one-fourth, or about $8 billion, in 2016. But it still plans to start six new projects this year.

SHARES: Exxon shares

fell $1.70, or 2.2 percent, to close at $74.59.

BP PLC THE NUMBERS: The UK’s biggest energy company reported that fourthquarter earnings fell to $196 million from $2.2 billion on lower prices and another huge set-aside to cover costs related to the 2010 drilling rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Higher margins in refining weren’t enough to offset lower oil prices.

JOBS: It will cut 3,000 jobs around the world by the end of 2017, on top of 4,000 cuts planned in exploration and production.

WHAT’S NEXT: The company also forecast asset sales of up to $5 billion this year.

SHARES: U.S.-traded shares of BP dropped $2.68, or 8.5 percent, to $29.02.

Chevron Corp.

THE NUMBERS: The No. 2 U.S. oil company behind Exxon reported last week that it lost $588 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a year-earlier profit of $3.47 billion and its first losing quarter since 2002.

JOBS: The company cut 3,200 jobs last year and will eliminate 4,000 more this

year.

WHAT’S NEXT: Chevron has already sold off $11 billion in pipelines and other assets in the past two years and hopes to unload up to $10 billion more through 2017. The company cut fourth-quarter spending by about $9 billion compared with a year earlier.

Watson told investors Chevron will finish projects already in the works but won’t start new long-term ones.

SHARES: Chevron shares lost $4.05, or 4.8 percent, and closed at $81.24.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC THE NUMBERS: The Anglo-Dutch company two weeks ago warned that adjusted earnings for 2015 fell by roughly half. Shell expects full-year profit excluding one-time gains and costs to be between $10.4 billion and $10.7 billion, down from $22.6 billion in 2014.

JOBS: Announced 7,500 job cuts last fall and says it will shed another 2,800 jobs if it succeeds in buying BG Group PLC. WHAT’S NEXT: Shell has sold more than $20 billion in assets since the start of 2014 and plans more through 2018. It cut capital investment by $8 billion, or more than 20 percent, in 2015.

January auto sales fall slightly

By DEE-ANN DURBIN AND TOM KRISHER ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — U.S. auto sales fell slightly in January because of the East Coast snowstorm, but analysts say demand remains strong and buyers will likely head back into dealerships this month.

Sales fell less than 1 percent to 1.1 million, according to Autodata Corp. The mid-January storm, which buried New York and Washington D.C. under more than 2 feet of snow, cost automakers around 15,000 vehicle sales, said John Humphrey, J.D. Power’s senior vice president of automotive. But automakers said sales volumes returned to normal levels in the last weekend of the month.

Ford, Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen all saw sales decline from last January.

General Motors’ sales were flat. Fiat Chrysler, Nissan and Hyundai posted sales increases.

Even with the lackluster results, analysts still expect another record year for U.S. vehicle sales. Low gas prices, low interest rates and an enticing lineup of new vehicles — particularly small SUVs like the Nissan Rogue

Photo by Keith Srakocic | AP

In this Nov. 19, 2015, photo, a row of new Ford Fusions are for sale on the lot at Butler County Ford in Butler, Pa. On Tuesday, the major automakers reported sales figures for January. and the Ford Edge — are continuing to draw shoppers.

U.S. buyers bought a record 17.5 million cars and trucks in 2015. Analysts expect sales to continue to grow this year, though at a slower pace as demand starts to plateau. That will likely mean an increase in cash-back offers and other incentives from automakers as they try to keep posting gains.

Kelley Blue Book said incentives increased about $150 per vehicle in January to around $3,000. Consumers should expect those numbers to go even higher over the next few months as Japanese automakers try to boost their sales before the end of their fiscal year in March.

Incentives are a tricky game for automakers. They can juice sales in the short term, and automakers who don’t keep pace can be punished. Ford said its F-Series pickup truck sales fell 5 percent in January partly because it spent around $700 less per truck on incentives than its competitors.

But over the long term, incentives can hurt resale values and brand image, and they also cut into automakers’ profits. Ford said its average sale price per vehicle rose $1,800 in January, or three times the industry average.

“It’s very important to us to remain disciplined,” said Mark LaNeve, Ford’s U.S. sales chief.

General Motors’ U.S. sales were flat in January at

203,745. Sales were up for its GMC and Buick brands, and sales of the GMC Sierra pickup jumped 14 percent.

But Chevrolet and Cadillac sales fell.

Ford’s sales fell 3 percent to 173,723 vehicles. Ford’s SUV sales were up but it saw double-digit declines in car sales. Even police departments prefer SUVs; Ford’s police sedan sales dropped 33 percent but its police SUV sales were up 15 percent.

Toyota’s sales dropped 5 percent to 161,283 vehicles.

Toyota’s car sales dropped 13 percent but the company saw strong sales of its Lexus luxury SUVs. Honda’s sales dropped 2 percent to 100,497 vehicles.

In a twist, Honda’s car sales rose — thanks to the new Civic small car — but its SUV sales fell. Fiat Chrysler’s sales jumped 7 percent to just over 155,000 cars and trucks. Fiat Chrysler wasn’t led by its usual big sellers.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Ram Pickup all posted modest increases, but sales got the biggest boost from some unlikely vehicles — including an 83 percent increase for the heavily discounted Dodge Caravan minivan.

Yahoo to cut 1,700 workers

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo is laying off about 1,700 employees and shedding some of its excess baggage in a shake-up likely to determine whether CEO Marissa Mayer can save her own job.

The long-anticipated purge, announced Tuesday, will jettison about 15 percent of Yahoo’s workforce along with an assortment of services that Mayer decided aren’t worth the time and money that the Internet company has been putting into them.

Mayer hopes to sell some of Yahoo’s unwanted services for about $1 billion, though she didn’t identify which ones. In an apparent concession to some shareholders, Mayer also said Yahoo’s board will mull “strategic alternatives” that could result in the sale of all the company’s Internet operations. Analysts have speculated that Verizon, AT&T and Comcast might be interested in buying Yahoo’s main business, despite years of deterioration.

Mayer expressed confidence that her plan to run Yahoo as a smaller, more focused company “will dramatically brighten our future and improve our competitiveness, and attractiveness to users, advertisers, and partners.”

This cost-cutting overhaul might be Mayer’s last chance to persuade restless shareholders that she has figured out how to revive the Internet company’s growth after threeand-half years of futility.

Some of Yahoo’s most outspoken shareholders, such as SpringOwl Asset Management, already have concluded that Mayer should be laid off, too.

Mayer, a former rising star at Google who helped Google eclipse Yahoo, has given no indication she intends to leave.

Even after the mass firings are completed by the end of March, Yahoo will still have about 9,000 workers — three times the roughly 3,000 people that SpringOwl believes the company should be employing, based on its steadily declining revenue.

“We would like to see a higher stock price, and we think Marissa and her current management team have become a hindrance to that,” said Eric Jackson, SpringOwl’s managing director. He declined to disclose the size of SpringOwl’s Yahoo investment.

Yahoo’s stock dipped 25 cents to $28.81 in extended trading after details of Mayer’s latest turnaround attempt came out.

Yahoo’s revenue has been shrinking through most of Mayer’s reign, even though she has spent more than $3 billion buying more than 40 companies, while bringing in new talent and developing mobile applications and other services designed to attract more traffic and advertisers.

The decline has persisted while advertisers have been steadily increasing their digital marketing efforts. Most of that money has been flowing to Google and Facebook.

PAGE 10A

Zentertainment

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

DA says Cosby is shielded Halle Berry

By MARYCLAIRE DALE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision | AP file

In this Nov. 23, 2015 file photo, Lady Gaga poses for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards 2015 in London.

Lady Gaga to sing anthem

By MESFIN FEKADU ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Lady Gaga is set to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The NFL told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Gaga will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, where the Carolina Panthers will take on the Denver Broncos.

Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin will perform in American Sign Language during the national anthem.

Super Bowl 50 will air on CBS, and halftime show performers include Coldplay and Beyonce.

Gaga’s upcoming performance during the Super Bowl is another notch in her belt: She won a Golden Globe for her role in “American Horror Story: Hotel” last month and she’s nominated for best original song at the Academy Awards on Feb. 28 with “Til It Happens to You,” the song she wrote with Diane Warren for the sexual assault documentary, “The Hunting Ground.”

The song is also nominated for a Grammy at the Feb. 15 awards show, where Gaga will pay tribute to David Bowie with a performance.

Last year, Gaga wowed audiences at the Oscars when she paid tribute to “The Sound of Music” with a show-stopping performance. She won her sixth Grammy for her collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett, and she was named woman of the year

by Billboard.

Tony-winning actress and “Let It Go” singer Idina Menzel sang the national anthem at last year’s Super Bowl.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The former district attorney who declined a decade ago to bring sex-crime charges against Bill Cosby testified Tuesday that he believes his decision shields the comedian from ever being prosecuted in the case.

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor took the stand at a pretrial hearing in a bid by Cosby’s lawyers to get the case against the TV star thrown out because of what they say is a non-prosecution agreement with Castor.

The current district attorney has said there is no record of any such agreement.

Castor admitted the only place the matter was put in writing was in the 2005 press release announcing his decision not to prosecute.

Under questioning, he acknowledged that he didn’t draw up a formal immunity agreement filed with a judge because, he said, Cosby was worried that would make him look bad. Also, Castor said, “It was unnecessary because I concluded there was no way the case would get any better.”

The proceedings will resume on Wednesday, when Common Pleas Judge Steven T. O’Neill said he hopes to rule on whether to throw out the case.

Cosby, 78, was arrested and charged in December with drugging and violating former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Castor said Tuesday that he believed Constand’s story but that proving it would have been problematic because of serious flaws in the case, and so he declined to bring charges.

He said that he made the decision as a representative of the state and that it was intended to last in perpetuity.

Photo by Andrew Renneisen | New York Times

Bill Cosby leaves the Montgomery County Courthouse following a pretrial hearing in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday. At Tuesday’s hearing, a former Montgomery County district attorney testified.

“For all time, yes,” Castor said when pressed.

And he suggested that Cosby and his lawyer at the time had the same understanding, because Cosby later agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought against him

by Constand.

“Cosby would’ve had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could’ve been prosecuted,” Castor said, referring to the damaging testimony unsealed last summer.

Castor said he hoped — correctly, it turned out — that the decision not to prosecute would prod Cosby to testify in the lawsuit and help Constand win damages. She eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.

“I thought making Mr. Cosby pay money was the best I was going to be able to set the stage for,” the former DA said.

He added: “I was hopeful that I had made Ms. Constand a millionaire.”

He said he and Cosby’s thenattorney, Walter Phillips, did not have an actual agreement that Cosby would testify in exchange for not being prosecuted. Phillips has since died.

Kevin Steele, the newly elected DA who is pursuing the case, has said Cosby would

need an immunity agreement in writing to get the case thrown out. He has said he has no evidence one exists.

Prosecutors on Tuesday pressed Castor on numerous, seemingly inconsistent statements he made over the years on whether Cosby could still face charges. Castor sparred with prosecutors, parsing the language in his press release and in various emails sent to his successor.

He said he was referring in some passages to bringing charges against Cosby in connection with other women and other crimes — but not in connection with the Constand encounter.

While Castor was called as witness by Cosby’s side, the former DA said he is rooting for the prosecution.

“I’m not on your team here,” Castor told Cosby lawyer Brian McMonagle. “I want them to win.”

Cosby watched the back and forth between Castor and the lawyers from the defense table, swiveling his head slightly as if at a tennis match. He stifled a cough with a fist and showed no reaction even as the courtroom erupted periodically in laughter over a quip from the talkative Castor or one of the lawyers.

In a barrage of allegations that have destroyed Cosby’s image as America’s Dad, dozens of women have accused the former TV star of drugging and sexually assaulting them since the 1960s. But this is the only case in which he has been charged.

The unsealing of the testimony from Constand’s lawsuit prompted Castor’s successors to reopen the case and ultimately charge Cosby.

Cosby admitted in the deposition that he had affairs with young models and actresses, that he obtained quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with and that he gave Constand three pills at his home. He said he reached into her pants but insisted it was consensual.

discusses Hollywood

By SANDY COHEN ASSOCIATED PRESS

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Halle Berry said Hollywood’s lack of diversity stems from a lack of honesty. Filmmakers and actors should tell the truth, she said, “and the films, I think, that are coming out of Hollywood aren’t truthful.”

“The reason they’re not truthful these days is they aren’t really depicting the importance and the involvement and the participation of people of color in our American culture,” Berry said, addressing the film academy’s diversity controversy publicly for the first time.

She made the remarks Tuesday during an onstage conversation with her agent, Kevin Huvane, at the Makers BERRY Conference, an AOL women’s leadership program.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been facing a diversity crisis since the nominations announced last month revealed a second consecutive year of all-white acting nominees.

Berry is the only black woman to win an Oscar for lead actress, and she said she’s heartbroken her victory for 2001’s “Monster’s Ball” didn’t lead to more women of color being cast in leading roles. But she puts the blame on filmmakers with tunnel vision.

“Our cities are filled with black and brown people. And many times, unfortunately we see films that are set in Chicago, New York, Atlanta — big metropolitan cities — and they’re devoid of people of color,” she said. “So I feel like when we really live up to our responsibility and challenge ourselves to be truthful, and tell the truth in our storytelling, then people of color will be there in a real competitive way, and it won’t be about inclusion or diversity. Because if we’re telling the truth, inclusion and diversity will be a byproduct of the truth.”

She then looked at Huvane and said: “You hit me with a zinger!”

The Makers Conference, held at the seaside Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, continues through Wednesday with such speakers as Gloria Steinem, Sheryl Sandberg and Caitlyn Jenner.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016

THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A

OBITUARIES

Many missteps at caucus sites

EDUARDO E. LOZANO

By RYAN J. FOLEY

JUNE 21, 1940 – JAN. 25, 2016

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Eduardo E. Lozano, 75, passed away on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016 at Laredo Medical Center in Laredo, Texas.

Mr. Lozano is preceded in death by his parents, Juan Jose and Trinidad Lozano; brothers, Juan Jose Lozano, Jr., Ramon L. Lozano, Romelio L. (Lydia) Lozano, Israel G. Lozano, Eden E. Lozano, Edmundo E. Lozano, Jose H. Lozano, Jesus Gilberto Lozano; and a sister-in-law, Fidela G. Lozano.

Mr. Lozano is survived by his wife, Dolores S. Lozano; sons, Eduardo Lozano, Heberto Lozano; daughter, Lina Lozano (Valentin De Los Santos); grandchildren, Brissa De Los Santos, Valentin De Los Santos, Jr.; sister, Maria De Los Angeles L. Bustamante; sisters-inlaw, Margarita A. Lozano, Antonia Lozano, Evangelina Lozano, Mercedes V. Lozano; and by numerous nephews, nieces, other family members and friends.

Visitation hours were held on Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rose Garden Fu-

neral Home.

The funeral procession departed on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. for a 10 a.m. funeral Mass at Our Lady of Refugio Mission in San Ygnacio, Texas.

Committal services followed at Martinez Cemetery in San Ygnacio, Texas.

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

POT Continued from Page 1A Carla Street.

It was not clear why authorities released the information seven months after the incident had occurred.

Authorities said they discovered five marijuana plants that were growing on the west side of the home. The plants were between 3 or 4 feet high.

Additionally, reports state investigators discovered 2 ounces of mar-

ijuana packaged in small baggies inside the home.

A man identified as Mario Adalberto Alvarez, 23, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana, a state jail felony. He is out on bond.

The Sheriff ’s Office said the case remains under investigation.

(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 7282568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)

DES MOINES, Iowa — Four years after the Iowa Republican Party was criticized for mishandling an extremely close caucus, Democratic Party leaders faced similar scrutiny Tuesday over how they and their volunteers handled the state’s signature political event.

The neck-and-neck contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Monday underscored the complicated math Democrats use to determine the winner and the bumpy process for getting there.

Surprised by the higher-than-expected turnout, organizers reported overcrowded meeting rooms and delays caused by long lines of people registering to vote. Some precinct chairs initially failed to report results due to errors or technological glitches, leaving the nation waiting for a winner to be declared until Tuesday.

Clinton was named the winner after winning by less than four “state delegate equivalents” out of 1,405, the measurement the party uses to calculate caucus-goers’ preferences.

The Iowa Democratic Party said Tuesday that it would not do any recount of the close results. Sanders spokesman Tad Devine said his campaign does not have “any plan or intention” to challenge the results, citing Sanders comments from Monday that the race appears to have ended in “a virtual tie.”

“It is Groundhog Day today,” said John Deeth, a Democratic Party activist who organized caucuses in Johnson County, recalling the 2012 criticism of the state’s Republican caucuses. “And it feels like Groundhog Day. We’re

Photo by John Minchillo | AP

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., raises his fist after he finishes speaking during a campaign stop at the Claremont Opera House, Tuesday, in Claremont, N.H. having the same thing happen, just on the other side.”

Deeth said he was concerned that some locations ran out of voter registration forms.

In 2012, Iowa Republican Party chairman Matt Strawn declared Mitt Romney the winner of a tight race. But days later, Rick Santorum was declared the winner when the results were certified.

Strawn resigned and the party went through a review to improve its training of volunteers and reporting of results.

That work paid off Monday as GOP officials smoothly handled a record turnout that gave Ted Cruz a victory over Donald Trump.

Tuesday was the Democrats’ turn for criticism and calls for reform.

Jill Joseph, a Sanders supporter, said the Des

MONITORING Continued from Page 1A aerial resources and U.S. Border Patrol agents but that the request was never acknowledged.

A DHS spokesperson said the agency would respond "directly" to the governor and the congressman.

Monday’s request comes as CBP is reporting a new surge in the number of undocumented immigrants crossing the Rio Grande.

From October to December of 2015, about 10,560 unaccompanied minors entered Texas illegally through the Rio Grande Valley sector of the U.S. Border Patrol. That marks a 115 percent increase over the same time frame in 2014. The amount of family units, defined as at least one child and adult guardian or parent, has increased by 170 percent to

14,336 in the Rio Grande Valley.

The El Paso sector also saw 1,030 unaccompanied minors, an increase of almost 300 percent.

In Monday’s letter, the pair also requested a detailed breakdown of how the DHS determined the reduction in aerial surveillance was warranted and information on how staffing and operation levels would be affected.

While Abbott has spoken extensively about illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America, the letter marked the first time Abbott has referenced a recent surge of Cubans coming into Texas.

Abbott visited the island nation last year to explore expanding trade between

Moines precinct she attended was too small for the high turnout and the line was drastically slowed because there were only two people signing in the flood of caucus-goers.

Dozens of voters left and the precinct, lacking a trained volunteer chairperson, failed to report results.

Activist Julie Stauch of West Des Moines, a Clinton backer, said she heard similar “horror stories” about voter check-ins and registrations being poorly managed and rooms that were packed.

“I think the longterm story is more about poor management by the Iowa Democratic Party and county parties in terms of selecting space,” said Stauch, who chaired a precinct that was packed into a school cafeteria.

Bob Mulqueen, a Sanders precinct captain in

Des Moines, said party officials relocated his precinct several miles across town to a school that wasn’t easy to find. “I remember calling my Sanders folks and most of them said, ‘where the hell is that?”’ he said.

Democratic Party officials said problems were isolated and that the majority of nearly 1,700 precincts went smoothly.

They said that it was difficult to find volunteers to run every site and locations willing to house the gatherings, adding that minor glitches were amplified because of the historically close election.

“I think the folks that care about the process did very well last evening, problems aside,” said Danny Homan, a labor leader who is vice chair of the Iowa Democratic Party.

“Sometimes stuff just happens.”

ZIKA Continued from Page 1A

Cuba and Texas. During that trip, he spoke about the current trade embargo but not the migrant issue.

During the 2015 fiscal year, about 28,400 Cubans entered Texas through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Laredo field office, which extends from Del Rio to Brownsville. That’s compared to about 15,600 in 2014.

The surge came after the Obama administration announced in 2014 its plans to re-establish ties with Cuba, leaving many Cubans fearing they will lose a special designation that allows them to apply for legal residency status, or a “green card,” after living in the country for a year. Cuellar and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have called for the repeal of that designation.

In the epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean, the main villain identified so far is called Aedes aegypti — a species of mosquito that spreads other tropical diseases, including chikungunya and dengue fever. It is found in the southern United States, though no mosquitoborne transmission has been reported in the continental United States to date.

The World Health Organization on Monday declared a global emergency over the rapidly spreading Zika virus, saying it is an “extraordinary event” that poses a threat to the rest of the world. The declaration was made after an emer-

gency meeting of independent experts called in response to a spike in babies born with brain defects and abnormally small heads in Brazil since the virus was first found there last year.

WHO officials say it could be six to nine months before science proves or disproves any connection between the virus and babies born with abnormally small heads.

The CDC said that in the recent Texas case, there’s no risk to a developing fetus.

Zika was first identified in 1947 in Uganda. It wasn’t believed to cause any serious effects until last year; about 80 percent of infected people

never experience symptoms.

The most common symptoms are fever, rash, joint pain and red eyes. The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting several days to a week. Symptoms usually start two days to a week after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

While Thompson told the television station that the case of sexual transmission is “a gamechanger,” he added that he didn’t want people in Dallas County to overreact. Health officials and Thompson noted that sexual partners can protect themselves by using condoms to prevent spreading sexually transmitted infections.

IOWA Continued from Page 1A over rival Bernie Sanders in Monday’s Iowa caucuses. But the razor-thin margin suggested the Democratic contest is headed toward a protracted wrestling match between its progressive and pragmatic wings.

On the Republican side, Cruz’s win provided a twist worthy of the topsyturvy race. Winning 27.7 percent support, the Texas senator proved to be beloved by evangelicals, even if maligned by many others in his party, and adept at mounting a powerful grass-roots operation. Donald Trump’s second-place finish at 24.3 percent was a humbling blow to the boastful mogul who had dominated the polls for weeks. Coming in at a close third with 23.1 percent, Marco Rubio was catapulted to the top of heap of establishment candidates vying to be the party’s preferred alternative to Trump or Cruz.

With all precincts reporting, Clinton bested Sanders by less than threetenths of 1 percent. Although the Iowa Democratic Party declared the contest “the closest in Iowa

Democratic caucus history,” officials said Tuesday afternoon that they would not conduct a recount and Sanders’ campaign said it would not challenge the results.

“There’s no plan to look backwards,” said Sanders strategist Tad Devine.

Clinton’s victory means she will collect 23 delegates and Sanders will win 21.

With her advantage in superdelegates — the party officials who can support the candidate of their choice — Clinton now has a total of 385 delegates.

Sanders has 29.

It takes 2,382 delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president.

After coming in third in Iowa eight years ago, Clinton said Tuesday she was “so proud” of coming out on top.

“I’ve won and I’ve lost there and it’s a lot better to win,” she told supporters in Nashua.

Still, it was clear the results were too close for comfort for the Clinton campaign. Tapping into youthful enthusiasm and the party’s Clinton-fatigue, Sanders was able to hinder the former secretary of

state’s coast to the nomination. New Hampshire presents a formidable challenge for Clinton, who now faces an electorate that has been receptive to Sander’s anti-establishment, antiWall Street message.

Clinton on Tuesday urged voters to get practical and ask themselves “does this just sound good on paper or does this get done? And who is mostly likely going to be able to deliver?”

Sanders said Tuesday he considered the results a “giant step” toward proving his long-term viability.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” he told reporters abroad his flight to New Hampshire early Tuesday.

The senator didn’t waste any time. Upon landing at dawn, he immediately addressed a hardy group of supporters in Bow, New Hampshire who anxiously awaited his arrival.

For Republicans, the pivot to New Hampshire meant the still-crowded cast of the candidates turned toward a less religious and mostly undecided electorate.

New Hampshire has his-

torically favored more moderate candidates than Iowa, and more than 40 percent of the state’s electorate are not registered in any political party, giving them the power to choose which parties’ primary to vote in on Feb. 9. Polls show well over half of GOP voters have yet to make up their minds.

That may be good news for Cruz, who is hoping to avoid the conservatives’ Iowa curse. Unlike past conservatives who found love in Iowa but fizzled fast, Cruz argued Tuesday that his campaign has staying power, resources and broad appeal.

“This is the power of the conservative grassroots and there is a silent majority in this country,” Cruz told CNN. “This is center right country. This is a country built on JudeoChristian values. And the heart of my campaign is based on common-sense principles.”

But as his campaign kept one eye on New Hampshire, the other was on South Carolina, where his fiery conservatism is expected to resonate better than in northern New Eng-

land. Cruz was slated to hold an evening rally in Greenville, S.C. evening rally, before returning to New Hampshire immediately afterward.

Rubio, too, was looking ahead. His campaign announced the endorsement of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only African American Republican in the Senate.

His advisors cast the race as a three-person contest — an attempt box out the other contenders vying for mainstream Republicans.

That won’t be easy. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday stormed into New Hampshire with packed campaign schedules. Christie had five events scheduled on Tuesday; while Bush was holding four and Kasich had three town hall meetings planned.

And then there is Trump, who may be the candidate most in need of a comeback after Iowa. Despite stealing the spotlight and driving the debate for months, Trump appears to have been out-organized by

Cruz in Iowa.

Of the 36 percent of Iowa caucus-goers who said they were contacted by someone asking them to come out to support their candidate, Cruz had a 31 percent to 23 percent advantage over Trump, according to entrance polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks.

On Tuesday, Trump blamed the media for dismissing his “longshot great finish.”

“Because I was told I could not do well in Iowa, I spent very little there - a fraction of Cruz & Rubio.

Came in a strong second.

Great honor,” Trump tweeted.

The fate of another erstwhile Iowa darling was unclear on Tuesday. Ben Carson flew home to Florida after coming in fourth Monday night. Although his campaign said he was still in the race, Cruz’s campaign was circling — looking to scoop up some of Carson’s evangelical supporters.

“Where is Ben Carson?”

Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler pointedly asked as the campaign planes landed at a Manchester airport.

12A THE ZAPATA TIMES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2016