LADY HAWKS WIN AGAIN
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2014
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FEDERAL COURT
SECURITY
2 years in prison
Abbott wants more funding for security
Convicted for role in firearms trafficking ring By MATTHEW NELSON THE ZAPATA TIMES
A woman involved in a Zapata firearms trafficking ring was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday for her role in the conspiracy after she recruited others to purchase firearms that eventually made their way to mem-
bers of Los Zetas drug cartel. Adriana Garza, 32, of Mission, was sentenced for conspiracy to make a false statement in connection with the acquisition of certain firearms. Garza was one of seven women sentenced in connection to the illegal purchasing of firearms that
eventually made their way into the hands of members of Los Zetas in Mexico. The women would then be paid for purchasing the firearms, Garza’s plea agreement states. On April 1, 2010, Garza suggested co-defendant Anna Salinas-Alaniz, 53, would purchase firearms. Garza said she could not
because she did not have the proper identification, according to her plea agreement. Approximately six days later, court documents state, Garza accompanied Salinas-Alaniz to Gladiator Guns and Ammo in Roma on two separate occasions
See CONVICTION
PAGE 10A
WINTER WEATHER
NEVER-ENDING SNOW
Photo by Mike Lawrence/The Gleaner | AP
Top: Students from Henderson County’s North Middle School head to their buses after an early dismissal for yet another winter storm on Tuesday, in Henderson, Ky. Below: Icicles hand from the front grill of a vehicle at Will Rogers World Airport on Tuesday, in Oklahoma City.
Midwest to get socked again by cold front By KATHY MATHESON ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Just as the East Coast dug out from a canopy of wet, heavy snow that again shut schools and emptied workplaces, another hit was expected to sock the Midwest. The National Weather Service said Monday’s storm, which brought 8
inches of snow to New York City, 3 to 9 inches to the Philadelphia area and up to 9 inches to central New Jersey, will be followed by a new storm in the Midwest on Tuesday. The heaviest accumulations are expected in Kansas and Missouri. The double whammy continues for the Northeast
See WEATHER
PAGE 10A
Photo by Jim Beckel/The Oklahoman | AP
Pledges $300 million to help secure the state’s border with Mexico By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Republican Greg Abbott pledged Tuesday to double border security spending if elected Texas governor while deflecting talk of Democratic opponent Wendy Davis and her scrutinized biography that has dominated the race in recent weeks. “It’s time to move beyond all this,” said Abbott, the state’s attorney general. “It’s time that we do exactly what I’m doing today, and that is focusing on the issues that matter most to Texas.” Abbott said those issues for him are public safety, education and transportation. Unveiling his most comprehensive policy rollout since launching his long-expected candidacy in July, Abbott outlined a nearly $300 million border security plan that includes an extra 500 troopers along the Texas-Mexico border. Federal data show a decrease in violent crime along the border, which tracks with national trends. But Republicans and the top officials at the Texas Department of Public Safety reject those statistics because they don’t include such crimes as public corruption or human and drug trafficking. The presumptive GOP nominee recalled a former South Texas prosecutor convicted last summer of accepting bribes, including an $80,000 payment in a scheme that allowed a convicted murder to escape. “This creeping corruption resembles third-world county practices that erode the social fabric of our communities,” Abbott said. Davis’ campaign seized on the “third world” language and characterized his plan as a rehash of gettough Republican views on immigrants who are in the country illegally. Davis has spent much of the previous two weeks fighting back criticism after small
discrepancies in her personal story about going from a trailer park to Harvard Law School emerged. “Actions speak louder than words, and Greg Abbott’s actions are downright hostile,” Davis spokeswoman Rebecca Acuña said. “(His) positions don’t vary much from the ‘stop the invasion’ rhetoric we’re hearing from his allies.” Abbott said he also wants all state agencies checking the immigration status of employees under the federal E-Verify system. When asked why he wouldn’t instruct lawmakers to impose the same requirement on private businesses, Abbott said the state should first show that the system works and set a standard. Also left unclear is whether the state currently has a problem with giving jobs to immigrants who aren’t authorized to work in the country. “We’ll find out,” Abbott said. Abbott said his border security plan would be paid from state general revenue, which lawmakers wield the most control over — and causes the most friction in the Legislature, even when state coffers are flush with cash. He claimed that taxpayers are already forking over $150 million annually for county jails to house immigrants in the country illegally, and cited that as an area where savings could be found if his policies work. It was Abbott’s third policy rollout after laying out earlier plans on the economy and constitutional rights. Notably absent from Abbott’s remarks Tuesday was overt bashing of President Barack Obama, one of his favorite targets, and his administration’s efforts on the U.SMexico border. Davis’ only policy rollout so far has been on Texas schools, which figures to emerge as one of the dominate issues in the race.
STATE OF TEXAS
Tech fund shows gains despite bankruptcies By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — More bankruptcies within Gov. Rick Perry’s portfolio of Texas startups funded with taxpayer dollars didn’t dampen a better year on paper for the Emerging Technology Fund, but behind a reported $30 million uptick is a wrinkle complicating that bottom line. A new state report is also unlikely to muzzle Republicans who’ve grown publicly weary of the state playing venture capitalists. Calls to eliminate the fund have become common at GOP campaign stops this primary season, casting doubt over one of Per-
But the tech fund that weathered scrutiny from Democrats and good government groups … also faces conservative criticism. Top Republicans began speaking more skeptically about the fund as tea party groups panned taxpayer dollars for private companies. ry’s signature initiatives once he leaves office in 2015. For now, the last annual fund report Perry will deliver suggests improvement; of the $192.7 million the state has awarded to 142 private startups since 2006, fund managers late last week put the value of those investments at $221
million. That’s a sharp increase from 2012, when the fund was valued at just $2.4 million above what taxpayers put in. At least 16 fund recipients have filed for bankruptcy or shut down, including one in January. Those still in business reported modest overall job growth.
“I think we’re tracking pretty well for an early-stage fund,” said Terry Chase Hazell, who in September took over as the fund manager in Perry’s office. But the $30 million difference between the fund’s current value and the money paid out to startups doesn’t reflect all the dollars
Perry’s office has spent to take pieces of private companies. That’s because a $40 million grant to the Texas A&M University System in 2012 was contingent on the fund getting a 20 percent stake in Kalon Biotherapeutics LLC, said Dr. Brett Giror, the interim executive vice president and CEO of the Texas A&M Health Science Center. Kalon was created by A&M to help operate a major federal biodefense laboratory in College Station. Giror said “the whole project would’ve gone down the tubes” if the A&M System hadn’t agreed to give equity in Kalon as part of the
See TECH FUND PAGE 10A