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SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
SHIPPING SECURITY
Package explodes at Schertz FedEx facility
Ground packages undergo limited checks By David Koenig ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Packages intended to be placed on a truck, like the bomb that exploded Tuesday at a FedEx facility in Texas, are not screened as carefully as items carried by passenger planes. Largely that is because of the high cost of screening every parcel intended for domestic delivery. Delivery companies such as FedEx and UPS rely on a risk-based strategy. They hope to detect illegal or dangerous shipments by spotting something unusual about the package or the shipper. Some security experts give the companies good marks while pointing out the limitations of their approach. FedEx and UPS say only that they have security measures in place and cooperate with law enforcement. They declined to discuss specifics, saying that would compromise security. Here are some questions and answers about security of parcels:
Scott Olson / Getty Images
FBI, ATF and local police investigate an explosion at a FedEx facility on Tuesday in Schertz, Texas. A package exploded while being transported on a conveyor shortly after midnight this morning causing minor injuries to one person.
New blast sends investigators to shipping center in Austin By Paul J. Weber and Will Weissert
ARE ALL PACKAGES SCREENED? Cargo on passenger planes must be screened, usually by Related Articomputed-tomography scancle: ners although explosive-trace detection and dogs are also Fear mounts in used, said Jeffrey Price, an aviaAustin as serial tion-security expert at Metbomber uses tripwire ropolitan State University in Denver. See page A3 If a package is going to be placed on a truck for delivery within the United States, as with the device that exploded on a conveyer belt at a FedEx facility in Schertz, Texas, “there is much less likelihood that it’s going to be physically screened with X-ray or even a person examining the package,” said John Cohen, a former counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security.
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
Investigators pursuing a suspected serial bomber in the Texas capital shifted their attention Tuesday to a FedEx shipping center near San Antonio where a package exploded on a conveyor belt in the middle of the night and caused minor injuries to a worker. Although the latest blast did not inflict serious harm, it added to the widening fear of more strikes like those that have already killed two people and badly wounded four others. Hours after the explosion, police sent a bomb squad to a FedEx facility outside Austin’s main airport to check on a suspicious package that
William Luther / San Antonio Express-News
FBI public affairs specialist Christina Garza talks to the media Tuesday outside the FedEx ground shipping facility in Schertz where a package bomb exploded a little after midnight Tuesday.
was reported shortly before sunrise. There was no immediate word about whether that package contained explosives. Investigators also closed off an
Austin-area FedEx store where they believe the bomb was sent to the distribution center. Authorities roped off a large area around the FedEX continues on A11
HOW ARE SHIPMENTS CHECKED? For truck shipments, cargo carriers train employees to look for suspicious behavior, including anything that looks odd about the package, or a shipper who buys too much insurance for what he says is in the box, Cohen said. Those procedures developed in the 1980s to detect shipments of drugs or guns and evolved to be used to find explosives. FedEx and UPS officials declined to say whether they screen ground-shipping packages at dropoff points or distribution centers. On Tuesday, investigators closed off an Austin-area FedEx store where they suspect that the bomb was dropped off. The most stringent screening rules apply to packages that will be carried on passenger airplanes. Security continues on A11
NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
Talks aim to limit junk food warning labels By Azam Ahmed, Matt Richtel And Andrew Jacobs N EW YORK T I ME S
MEXICO CITY — The contentious negotiations over the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement have veered into one of the world’s most pressing health issues: fighting obesity. Urged on by big American food and soft-drink companies, the Trump administration is using the trade talks with Mexico and Canada to try to limit the ability of the pact’s three members — including the United States — to warn consumers about the dangers of junk food, according to confidential documents outlining the U.S. posi-
tion. The U.S. stance reflects an intensifying battle between trade officials, the food industry and governments across the hemisphere. The administration’s position could help insulate U.S. manufacturers from pressure to include more explicit labels on their products, both abroad and in the United States. But health officials worry that it would also impede international efforts to contain a growing health crisis. Obesity has at least doubled in 73 countries since 1980. Many public health officials, worried about the rapid spread of highly processed foods, have found hope in a new tactic: the use of vivid warnings on foods with
high levels of sugar, salt and fat. Officials in Mexico and Canada — along with governments in Brazil, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia — are discussing options like the use of colors, shapes and other easyto-understand symbols that warn consumers of health risks. They were inspired in large part by Chile’s introduction of stringent regulations in 2016 that include requirements for black stop-sign warnings on the front of some packages. But the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which is leading the NAFTA talks on the U.S. side, is trying to head off the momentum. It is pushing to limit the ability of any NAFTA NAFTA continues on A11
Adriana Zehbrauskas / The New York Times
A family shops for soft drinks at Bodega Aurrerá, a discount chain that is owned by Walmart, in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. Urged on by big American food and soft-drink companies, the Trump administration is using NAFTA talks to try to limit the ability of the pacts three members to warn consumers about the dangers of junk food.
In Brief A2 | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
CALENDAR
AROUND THE NATION
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
THURSDAY, MARCH 29 Villa San Agustin De Laredo Genealogical Society Meeting, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Joe A Guerra Public Library- Calton, speaker are Lola O Norris- General Alonso De Leon's Expeditions Into Mexico and Booksigning For more information, call Sylvia Reash at (956) 763-1810.
TUESDAY, APRIL 3 Community Conversation on Teen & Young Adult Mental Health. 6
Alex Brandon / AP
An officer walks in front of Great Mills High School, the scene of a shooting Tuesday. A student shot two classmates before he was fatally wounded by a school resource officer.
1 DEAD, 2 WOUNDED IN SCHOOL SHOOTING
p.m. to 8 p.m. Border Region Behavioral Health Center, 1500 Pappas St. For more information, call the Area Health Education Center at 956-7120037.
SATURDAY, APRIL 7 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
SATURDAY, APRIL 14 Habitat for Humanity Laredo major fundraiser Golfing For Roofs golf tournament. Max A. Mandel Municipal Golf Course. Hole sponsorships are title $10,000, platinum $5,000, diamond $2,500, gold $1,500, silver $1,000, bronze. For information, call 724-3227.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25 Border Region Behavioral Health Center Volunteer Services Council’s 26th Annual Administrative Professionals' Day Luncheon & Musical Fashion Show. 11:30 a.m. Laredo Country Club. If you would like to purchase tickets or reserve a table, RSVP with Laura Kim 956-7943130 or blaurak@borderregion.org. Tickets are $75 a person.
TUESDAY, MAY 1 15th Annual Mental Health and Substance Abuse Symposium. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. UT Health Regional Campus Laredo. 1937 Bustamante St. For more information, call the Area Health Education Center at 956-7120037.
SATURDAY, MAY 5 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
SATURDAY, JUNE 2 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
SATURDAY, JULY 7 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.
FRIDAY, JULY 13 6th U.S. – Mexico Regional Binational Health Conference. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. UT Health Regional Campus Laredo. 1937 Bustamante St. For more information, call the Area Health Education Center at 956-7120037.
GREAT MILLS, Md. — A teenager with a handgun shot a girl inside his Maryland high school Tuesday before he was fatally wounded during a confrontation with a school resource officer, a sheriff said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the shooter took his own life or was killed by the officer’s bullet, St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron said. The 16-year-old girl was hospitalized with a life-threatening wound, the sheriff said. A 14-year-old boy also suffered a gunshot wound, but it wasn’t clear who shot him. He was in stable condition. The
$500K bond set for shooting suspect’s brother for trespass FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A judge set an unusually high $500,000 bond on Tuesday and imposed a host of other restrictions for the brother of the Florida school shooting suspect, who was charged with trespassing at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. A prosecutor said that Zachary Cruz, 18, expressed admiration for his brother Nikolas
officer, who doubles as a SWAT team member, was unharmed. It appeared that the shooter had illegally possessed the gun. In Maryland, a person must be 21 to possess a handgun, unless carrying one is required for employment. The shooter was identified 17-yearold Austin Rollins. Authorities believe he had a prior relationship with the girl but a motive wasn’t immediately clear. The sheriff praised the officer, Deputy Blaine Gaskill, for containing the situation in less than a minute. — Compiled from AP reports
Cruz’s fame since the Feb. 14 shooting and that they had discussed whether it might attract girls and pen pals. “He has been heard observing how popular (Nikolas’) name is now,” said Assistant State Attorney Sarahnell Murphy at a hearing. “Weeks after his brother murdered, injured and terrorized at the school, (Zachary) was there,” she said. “Many (parents) kept their children home today. They have again been terrorized.” Prosecutors said it was the
third time he had visited the campus even though he was warned to stay away. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Zachary Cruz on Monday afternoon, saying he rode his skateboard onto the campus. He is in the same Fort Lauderdale jail where Nikolas Cruz is housed. Joseph Kimok, who is representing Zachary Cruz, said the bond and conditions were far out of proportion to the trespassing offense. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE WORLD Rocket attack on Syrian capital kills 35 people BEIRUT — Rockets fired on a market in a governmentcontrolled neighborhood of Damascus on Tuesday killed 35 people and wounded more than 20 others, Syrian staterun media said, marking one of the highest death tolls in a single attack targeting the capital. The government blamed rebels in the eastern suburbs of Damascus for the attack on the Kashkol neighborhood. The capital, seat of President Bashar Assad’s power, has come under increasing attack as government forces continue to pound rebel-held eastern Ghouta, with military backing from Russia. With government forces tied up in the monthlong offensive on eastern Ghouta, Islamic State militants seized a neighborhood on its southern edge, forcing the government to rush in reinforcements. IS militants captured the
HO / AFP/Getty Images
A Syrian child receives treatment at a hospital in Damascus after a rocket hit a busy shopping area in the Jaramana area.
neighborhood of Qadam late Monday, a week after rebels had surrendered it to the government. At least 36 soldiers and pro-government militiamen were killed in the clashes, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said dozens more were captured or wounded.
Last year, the Islamic State group lost the swath of territory it had controlled in eastern Syria since 2014 — and where it had proclaimed its self-styled “caliphate” — but it retains pockets of control in areas across Syria, including two neighborhoods on the southern edge of Damascus. — Compiled from AP reports
CONTACT US
SATURDAY, AUG. 4 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. 1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions. Submit calendar items by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location, purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.
Today is Wednesday, March 21, the 80th day of 2018. There are 285 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On March 21, 1918, during World War I, Germany launched its Spring Offensive on the Western Front, hoping to break through the Allied lines before American reinforcements could arrive. On this date: In 1556, Thomas Cranmer, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, was burned at the stake for heresy. In 1788, fire broke out in New Orleans on Good Friday, destroying 856 out of more than 1,100 structures; one death was reported. In 1804, the French civil code, or the "Code Napoleon" as it was later called, was adopted. In 1925, Tennessee Gov. Austin Peay (pee) signed the Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of the Theory of Evolution in public schools. (Tennessee repealed the law in 1967.) In 1935, Persia officially changed its name to Iran. In 1946, the recently created United Nations Security Council set up temporary headquarters at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York. In 1952, the Moondog Coronation Ball, considered the first rock and roll concert, took place at Cleveland Arena. In 1963, the Alcatraz federal prison island in San Francisco Bay was emptied of its last inmates and closed at the order of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. In 1972, the Supreme Court, in Dunn v. Blumstein, ruled that states may not require at least a year's residency for voting eligibility. In 1981, Michael Donald, a black teenager in Mobile, Alabama, was abducted, tortured and killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan. (A lawsuit brought by Donald's mother, Beulah Mae Donald, later resulted in a landmark judgment that bankrupted one Klan organization.) In 1990, Namibia became an independent nation as the former colony marked the end of 75 years of South African rule. In 2006, the social media website Twitter was established with the sending of the first "tweet" by cofounder Jack Dorsey, who wrote: "just setting up my twttr." Ten years ago: Officials admitted that at least four State Department workers had pried into the supposedly secure passport files of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, prompting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to personally apologize to the presidential contenders. Five years ago: On his second day in the Middle East, President Barack Obama insisted "peace is possible" as he prodded both Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations with few, if any, pre-conditions, softening his earlier demands that Israel stop building settlements in disputed territory. One year ago: U.S. and British officials announced they were barring laptops and tablets from the cabins of some international flights because of longstanding concerns about terrorists targeting jetliners. Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army commander who led his underground, paramilitary movement toward reconciliation with Britain, and was Northern Ireland's deputy first minister for a decade in a power-sharing government, died in Londonderry at age 66. Chuck Barris, whose game show empire included "The Dating Game," ''The Newlywed Game" and "The Gong Show," died at his home in Palisades, New York, at age 87. Today's Birthdays: Actress Kathleen Widdoes is 79. Songwriter Chip Taylor is 78. Folk-pop singer-musician Keith Potger is 77. Actress MarieChristine Barrault is 74. Singer-musician Rose Stone is 73. Actor Timothy Dalton is 72. Singer Ray Dorset is 72. Singer Eddie Money is 69. Rock singermusician Roger Hodgson (Supertramp) is 68. Rock musician Conrad Lozano is 67. Rhythm-and-blues singer Russell Thompkins Jr. is 67. Comedy writer-performer Brad Hall is 60. Actress Sabrina LeBeauf is 60. Actor Gary Oldman is 60. Actress Kassie Depaiva is 57. Actor Matthew Broderick is 56. Comedian-actress Rosie O'Donnell is 56. Rock musician Jonas "Joker" Berggren (Ace of Base) is 51. Rock MC Maxim (Prodigy) is 51. Rock musician Andrew Copeland (Sister Hazel) is 50. Hip-hop DJ Premier (Gang Starr) is 49. Actress Laura Allen is 44. Rapper-TV personality Kevin Federline is 40. Actress Sonequa Martin-Green (TV: "The Walking Dead") is 33. Actor Scott Eastwood is 32. Actor Forrest Wheeler is 14. Thought for Today: "Among individuals, as among nations, peace is the respect of others' rights." — Benito Juarez, Mexican statesman (born this date in 1806, died 1872).
AROUND THE STATE Execution set for convicted killer of 93-year-old woman TYLER, Texas — An East Texas man on death row for the slaying of a 93-year-old woman during a robbery at her home has received an execution date. State District Judge Christi
Kennedy signed an order Monday setting 34-year-old Clifton Williams for lethal injection June 21 in Huntsville for the fatal beating and stabbing of Cecilia Schneider at her home in Tyler in July 2005. Evidence showed Williams entered through a back door, attacked Schneider and then set her body and bed on fire. He fled with her car and her
purse containing $40. Authorities said he wanted money for drugs. Defense attorneys argued he was mentally impaired and ineligible for the death penalty. Williams came within hours of execution in 2015 when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted his scheduled punishment. — Compiled from AP reports
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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 |
A3
STATE CRIME
Fear mounts in Austin as serial bomber uses tripwire By Paul J. Weber and Will Weissert A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
AUSTIN — The hunt for the serial bomber who has been leaving deadly explosives in packages on Austin doorsteps took a new, more sinister turn Monday when investigators said the fourth and latest blast was triggered along a street by a nearly invisible tripwire. Police and federal agents said that suggests a “higher level of sophistication” than they have seen before, and means the carnage is now random, rather than targeted at someone in particular. Underscoring that point, a relative says the most-recent explosion left what appeared to be nails stuck in his grandson’s knees. “The game went up a little bit — well, it went up a lot yesterday with the tripwire,” Christopher Combs, FBI agent in charge of the bureau’s San Antonio division, said in an interview. Two people have now been killed and four wounded in bombings over a span of less than three weeks. The latest happened Sunday night in southwest Austin’s quiet Travis Country neighborhood, wounding two men in their 20s who were walking in the dark.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman / AP
Investigators on Monday work at the scene of a bomb explosion on Dawn Song Drive in Austin that seriously injured two men Sunday.
They suffered what police said were significant injuries and remained hospitalized in stable condition. Police haven’t identified the victims, but William Grote told The Associated Press that his grandson was one of them, saying he is cognizant but still in a lot of pain. Grote said one of them was riding a bike in the street and the other was on a sidewalk when they crossed a tripwire that he said knocked “them both off their feet.” “It was so dark they couldn’t tell and they tripped,” Grote said. “They didn’t see it. It was a wire. And it blew up.” Grote said his son, who lives about 100 yards (91 meters) away from the blast, heard the explo-
sion and raced outside. “Both of them were kind of bleeding profusely,” Grote said. That was a departure from the three earlier bombings, which involved parcels left on doorsteps that detonated when moved or opened. The tripwire twist heightened the fear around Austin, a town famous for its cool, hipster attitude. “It’s creepy,” said Erin Mays, 33. “I’m not a scared person, but this feels very next-doorneighbor kind of stuff.” Authorities repeated prior warnings about not touching unexpected packages and also issued new ones to be wary of any stray object left in public, especially one with wires protruding.
Man condemned for icepick slaying gets execution date A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HOUSTON — A 66year-old Texas man on death row for the icepick slaying of a 20-year-old woman in Houston in 1979 has been set for execution.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg says a judge has signed an order setting Danny Bible for lethal injection June 27 in Huntsville. Bible faces execution for killing Inez Deaton.
Evidence showed she went to his house in Houston to use a telephone and later was found stabbed 11 times, raped and dumped on the bank of a bayou. Her killing went unsolved for
“We’re very concerned that with tripwires, a child could be walking down a sidewalk and hit something,” Combs said. Investigators are looking at a variety of possible motives, including domestic terrorism or a hate crime. Local and state police and hundreds of federal agents are investigating, and the reward for information leading to an arrest has climbed to $115,000. “We are clearly dealing with what we believe to be a serial bomber at this point,” Austin police Chief Brian Manley said, citing similarities among the four bombs. He would not elaborate, though, saying he didn’t want to undermine the investigation. While the first three
nearly two decades until his arrest in Fort Myers, Florida, for a Louisiana rape. He told authorities about killing Deaton in Houston and a woman and her baby west of Fort Worth in North Texas. Records show he’s confessed to four killings.
bombings all occurred east of Interstate 35, a section of town that tends to be more heavily minority and less affluent, Sunday’s was west of the highway. Also, both victims this time are white, while those killed or wounded in the earlier attacks were black or Hispanic. Those differences made it harder to draw conclusions about a possible pattern, further unnerving a city on edge. Thad Holt, 76, said he is now watching his steps as he makes his way through a section of town near the latest attack. “I think everybody can now say, ‘Oh, that’s like my neighborhood,”’ he said. Fred Milanowski, agent in charge of the Houston division of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the latest bomb was anchored to a metal yard sign near the head of a hiking trail. “It was a thin wire or filament, kind of like fishing line,” he said. “It would have been very difficult for someone to see.” Milanowski said authorities have checked over 500 leads. Police asked anyone with surveillance cameras at their homes to come forward with the footage on the chance it captured suspicious vehicles or people.
Noel Holmes, whose house is about a mile away, was stunned by how loud Sunday’s explosion was. “It sounded like a very nearby cannon,” Holmes said. “We went out and heard all the sirens, but it was eerie. You didn’t feel like you should be outside at all.” Spring break ended Monday for the University of Texas and many area school districts. University police warned returning students to be alert and to tell their classmates about the danger, saying, “We must look out for one another.” None of the four attacks happened close to the campus near the heart of Austin. The PGA’s Dell Technologies Match Play tournament is scheduled to begin in Austin on Wednesday, and dozens of the world’s top golfers were to begin arriving. “I’m pretty sure the tour has enough security to keep things safe in here. But this is scary what’s happening,” said golfer Jhonattan Vegas, already in town. Andrew Zimmerman, a 44-year-old coffee shop worker, said the use of a tripwire adds a new level of suspected professionalism and makes it harder to guard against such attacks. “This makes me sick,” he said.
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A4 | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Donald Trump never accepts responsibility By Albert R. Hunt B L OOM BE RG V IEW
President Donald Trump knows little history. But he can read a short take, so someone should slip him a copy of Dwight Eisenhower’s brief note of June 5, 1944, on the eve of the largest seaborne assault in history, D-Day, with World War II at stake. "The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do," the supreme allied commander wrote in a message he intended to deliver only if the Normandy invasion failed. "If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone." Imagine Trump’s reaction. He’d probably wonder why Ike didn’t blame a British military leader like Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, or insult General George C. Marshall. And what about President Franklin D. Roosevelt? The Germans are laughing their asses off. Trump never accepts responsibility for anything. Reflecting the lessons he learned decades ago from his fixerlawyer-mentor Roy Cohn, his approach is always to stay on the offensive, as if any sign of contrition amounts to an unacceptable show of weakness. At some stage this tactic will threaten his already fragile presidency. Most of Trump’s blame-spraying during his 14 months in the White House has involved small stuff. Before voters gave the nod last week to a Democratic congressional candidate in a Pennsylvania district that Trump had carried in 2016 by 20 percentage points, the White House sneered that the Republican candidate was weak and that the winner, Conor Lamb, ran as a Trumpite. That was nonsense; Lamb consistently blasted the Republican tax cuts, Trump’s signature legislative achievement. The truth is that Trump’s standing has tumbled. He doesn’t have coattails. Trump played the same blame game last fall when Republicans took a beating in the Virginia governor’s race and suffered the loss of an Alabama Senate seat for the first time in 26 years. Trump went out of his way to say that these defeats had nothing to do with him. OK, that’s just politics, somebody might say, but it’s just as bad when it comes to policy. When the House of Representatives failed last year in its first attempt to repeal Obamacare, Trump first blamed Democrats, then Republican Speaker Paul Ryan, then the right-wing congressmen of the Freedom Caucus. But Republican representatives reported that when they were being lobbied at the White House, Trump’s lack of knowledge was striking, making the task of persuading skeptics tougher. Trump’s most dangerous evasion of presidential responsibility involves the investigation
into possible connections between his campaign and Russian hackers who, according to a U.S. intelligence report, tried to help him win the 2016 election. Trump started by blaming former President Barack Obama. Confronted with reports that a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer met secretly with his son and son-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, to dish dirt on Hillary Clinton, he first lied about the purpose of the meeting. Then he blamed it on Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch, on the grounds that the Justice Department had approved a visa for one of the Russian attendees. More recently he has attacked his own attorney general, Jeff Sessions, for failing to hold Obama responsible for Russian election meddling. If Americans believe that a president won’t admit a mistake, "the public fears he will go on to make the same error again," said the presidential scholar Michael Beschloss. Acknowledging mistakes, by contrast, shows that a president is "human and learns from his shortcomings, all qualities the public finds attractive in a leader," Beschloss added. There are many examples illustrating his point. In the opening months of John F. Kennedy’s presidency, Cuban refugees directed by the U.S. government invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs to try to topple Fidel Castro. They failed. Kennedy, observing that "victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan," took the blame. "I am the responsible officer of the government," he said. Voters recognized his candor and his approval rose. "The worse I do the more popular I get," Kennedy later joked. A quarter-century later, President Ronald Reagan, embroiled in the Iran-Contra scandal involving attempts by his administration to swap arms for U.S. hostages held in Tehran, ultimately owned up to his mistakes. Of his earlier representation that the U.S. doesn’t trade weapons for hostages, he said: "My heart and my best intentions still tell me that is true. But the facts and evidence tell me it is not. I take full responsibility." That admission, Beschloss said, took a scandal threatening Reagan’s presidency and "helped the public to turn the page." It would be a disaster if a president had to apologize repeatedly for some long series of errors; that would convey a lack of steadiness and stability. But when there’s a crisis of the president’s creation - and there are always a few of those there’s a premium on candor and credibility. Trump is incapable of the former, which means he won’t have the latter. Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist.
COLUMN
Tips to avoid tax collection scams By Miguel Segura BETTER BUSINE SS BUREAU
If you have not done so already, you have just under a month to file your taxes before the April 17th deadline. This time of year, is also peak season for tax collection scams. The longer you wait to file your returns, the more chances a scam artist might have to steal your money. According to Time, close to 20% of Americans still wait until April to file their returns. Tax-related scams are among the most tenacious cons out there. Although, they are no longer one of the top ten riskiest scams, according to Better Business Bureau’s 2017 Risk Report, there has still been over 3,500 reports filed on BBB Scam Tracker since January 2017. They reappear often, each time with a slightly differ-
ent spin. In the most recent version of this scam, thieves use phishing and other schemes to steal client data from tax professionals. Then, using that data, they file fraudulent tax returns and use the taxpayers' real bank accounts to deposit erroneous tax refunds. Finally, the thieves, posing as an IRS or debt collection agency, call attention to the error and ask taxpayers to return the money to them. These imposters often go to great lengths to appear real. The scammer may give a fake badge number and name, or your Caller ID may look like the call is coming from Washington, D.C. Another scam to look out for is tax identity theft. A scammer may use your Social Security number to file a tax return in your name and collect
your refund. It can also be someone using your information to get a job. Consumers don’t usually realize they have been victims of tax identity theft until they get a written notice from the IRS saying that more than one tax return was filed, or they were paid by an employer they don't know. BBB Serving the Heart of Texas has the following tips to avoid becoming a victim of this all-toocommon scam: 1. Be wary if you are being asked to act immediately. Scammers typically try to push you into action before you have had time to think. The IRS will give you the chance to question or appeal what you owe. 2. The IRS doesn't call, text or email. The IRS won't call about payments or overdue taxes without
first contacting you by mail. 3. Don't wire money or use a prepaid debit card. The IRS says it will never demand immediate payment, require a specific form of payment, or ask for credit card or debt card numbers over the phone. 4. Get and IP PIN. You can get an Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) from the IRS before you file your return. This is a six-digit number, which, in addition to your Social Security number, confirms your identity. This can be done at IRS.gov. If you are the victim of tax identity theft in the U.S., contact the IRS at 1-800-908-4490. You can also file a report at BBB.org/scamtracker. Miguel Segura is the regional rirector of the Better Business Bureau.
COLUMN
Filling in the blanks on bombings By Ken Herman COX NEWSPAPERS
Confronted and confounded by the unknown, our minds rush to fill in the blanks. And in the sad mystery that shrouds the Austin bombings that have frightened our community, the unknown far outweighs the known. To date, we know what our professional investigators want us to know as they go about the business of protection, prevention and prosecution. That’s as it should be. In these troubling days — as in every day — we depend on them. As they search for facts, the rest of us — because we’re humans — arrive at conclusions and surmises based on what we know, or think we know, about this most unfortunate chapter in Austin’s history and what we know about life on Earth in 2018. The four bombings and
two deaths to date provide a Rorschach test that tells us something about ourselves as we search for answers about what is going on here. See if you see yourself in any of these three amateur, semiinformed conclusions about motive. Until the Sunday night explosion in Southwest Austin, the victims had been people of color. There are people who hate people of color and wish them harm. Even worse, there are people who hate people of color and are willing and eager to do them harm. Ergo, what we are seeing play out slowly and frighteningly in our city is a hate crime that is garnering attention and staining our reputation on an international scale. I was heartened Sunday night when Bill Murray, at a quirky show at the Long Center, dedicated a song to Draylen Mason, 17, who was killed in one of the
bomb incidents. Murray, aware of Mason’s talents, identified him as a player of the double bass. Murray sang the mournful Scottish lament “The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond.” Unfortunately, it is a fitting time for mournful laments in the Live Music Capital of the World. Maybe you’re among those who, given what we know about the facts and victims to date, are sure what we are seeing is hatred at its hateful worst. Or maybe you surmise something more intramural. Maybe — fueled in part by police comments about a drug raid on the block where one of the explosions occurred — you see drug dealers or other criminal elements meting out their own perverted form of justice in their unjust world. Nothing we know about the victims so far would lend credence to that. But, for some, that remains the
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
first surmise. Racism. Drug deals gone bad. What else has crossed our minds? What other theories can be theorized based on the relatively little we know about this case and the whole lot we know about the world in which we live? There’s this: We are a society that produces twisted minds with twisted motives for murder, sometimes on a mass and random and senseless scale. Often —– too often — it’s done with guns and ammunition legally acquired. In this case, as far as we know from what investigators have told us, it’s being done with materials readily available at stores and, I’ll surmise, instructions readily available online. I’m open to other suggestions as to what’s going on here. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 |
A5
Frontera A6 | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
RIBEREÑA EN BREVE Bingo 1 El Sistema DIF Nueva Ciudad Guerrero realizará un bingo en el Centro Cívico a las 5 p.m. el miércoles 21 de marzo.
Reunión de padres 1 Se realizará una reunión del Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (SE PAC) en el salón de conferencias administrativas de Zapata el jueves 22 de marzo de 11:30 a.m. a 1 p.m. Los ponentes invitados son Servicios de Transición de Derechos Legales y Texas Workforce Solutions.
Impuestos 1 Voluntarios de VITA estarán asistiendo de forma gratuita a aquellas personas con ingresos menores a 66.000 dólares y que deseen presentar su declaración de impuestos. La cita es el 24 de marzo en Zapata County Technical and Advanced Education Center, en la Carretera 83 y 7th Street.
Huevos de Pascua 1 Evento de Búsqueda de Huevos de Pascua en su sexta edición, organizado por la Ciudad de Roma, de 10 a.m. a 12 p.m., en Roma Texas Municipal Park, el sábado 24 de marzo.
Aviario 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita a visitar el aviario Roma Bluffs World Birding Center en el distrito histórico de Roma. El aviario estará abierto desde el jueves a domingo de 8 a.m. a 4 p.m. hasta enero. Mayores informes al 956-8491411
Botes de basura 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a la comunidad que sólo estará recolectando basura contenida en botes propiedad de la ciudad. Informes al 849-1411
Pago de impuestos 1 Desde diciembre, los pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma deberán realizarse en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, localizado en el 608 N. García St. Pago en línea 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a sus residentes que a partir de ahora el servicio del agua puede pagarse en línea a cualquier hora las 24 horas del día.
Llenado de aplicaciones 1 La Ciudad de Roma ofrece el servicio de llenado de aplicaciones para CHIP, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Chip, Prenatal y otros. Contacte a Gaby Rodríguez para una cita en el centro comunitario o en su domicilio al 956-2467177.
FEDEX
Estalla bomba Trabajador sufrió lesiones menores en Schertz Por Paul J. Weber y Will Weissert ASSOCIATED PRE SS
AUSTIN— Un paquete bomba que se cree está vinculado con explosiones recientes en Austin estalló el martes por la madrugada en un centro de distribución de FedEx cerca de San Antonio. Un trabajador sufrió lesiones menores. Horas después, la policía envió un equipo especializado en explosivos a un local de FedEx en Austin para verificar un paquete sospechoso. La explosión tuvo lugar alrededor de la 1 a.m. en el FedEx en Schertz, cerca de San Antonio y 95 kilómetros al suroeste de Austin según la agente del FBI Michelle Lee. Un trabajador recibió atención médica por
lesiones menores y luego el alta, dijo la policía. Lee dijo que “sería una tontería no reconocer que sospechamos que está relacionado” con las cuatro explosiones en Austin que han matado a dos personas y herido a otras cuatro desde el 2 de marzo. La funcionaria no precisó cómo era el paquete que estalló el martes. El paquete estaba en una cintra transportadora cuando estalló. El secretario de Justicia texano Ken Paxton dijo que el paquete fue enviado desde Austin a un domicilio en la misma ciudad. Añadió que en el mismo local en Schertz se descubrió otra bomba que no explotó. El incidente ocurrió luego de varias explosiones más registradas en Austin en las últimas tres
semanas. Según las autoridades, el responsable podría ser un atacante en serie, pero por el momento no parecen estar cerca de realizar detenciones. Los tres paquetes bomba que aparecieron ante distintas puertas en el lapso de 10 días desde el 2 de marzo mataron a dos personas y causaron otros dos heridos. El domingo en la noche, otro explosivo activado por un cable trampa casi invisible dejó otros dos heridos. En un primer momento, la policía barajó la hipótesis de posibles delitos de odio. Ahora, las víctimas son afroestadounidenses, hispanos y blancos de diferentes zonas de Austin, una ciudad cada vez más diversa. Tras buscar posibles vínculos entre los fallecidos y heridos, la policía admite que la existencia
TAMAULIPAS
LAREDO
GRADUACIÓN Integran a 171 cadetes a la policía estatal E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas— Durante una ceremonia en la capital del estado el viernes por la mañana, 171 cadetes tamaulipecos se graduaron de los Cursos de Formación Inicial de Policía Preventiva Estatal y Especialización de Policía de Reacción, egresados de la Universidad de Seguridad y Justicia de Tamaulipas, el Gobernador de Tamaulipas Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca presidió la ceremonia. García Cabeza de Vaca señaló que para dar respuesta a la demanda social de preservar el orden y la paz pública, el gobierno finca su estrategia de combate a la inseguridad en dos puntos esenciales: la prevención y contención del delito. “Prevenir no exenta de contener, por ello uno de los principales compromisos de mi gobierno es fortalecer a la policía estatal. Necesitamos más policías, mejor seleccionados, equipados y capacitados”, dijo el gobernador. “Ustedes cuentan con la confianza de la sociedad y de su gobierno para conducirse con honestidad y lealtad a su trabajo, sin duda, de alta dificultad, pero de grandes satisfacciones”. Los egresados de los cursos de formación y especialización policial recibieron preparación a lo largo de 972 horas en el desarrollo integral de competencias, capacidades y habilidades, bajo
del cable trampa supone que la elección de las víctimas podría ser totalmente aleatoria. Por el momento, los investigadores tienen más preguntas que respuestas mientras el miedo se extiende por Austin. Durante días, la policía ha advertido a la gente que no toque paquetes que no espera o de apariencia sospechosa, lo que causa escalofríos porque las personas reciben más entregas afuera de las puertas de sus casas que antes por el aumento de las compras por internet. Centenares de agentes del FBI y del departamento de Alcohol, Tabaco, Armas de Fuego y Explosivos se han sumado a la investigación, y la recompensa por información que conduzca a un arresto fue aumentada a 115.000 dólares.
Arrestan madre e hija acusadas de distribución Por César G. Rodriguez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Foto de cortesía/ Gobierno de Tamaulipas
El Gobernador de Tamaulipas Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca se dirige a un grupo de cadetes recién graduados que se integrarán a las filas de la Policía Estatal Acreditable, el viernes en Ciudad Victoria.
un régimen disciplinario en áreas como la función policial, técnicas y tácticas operativas, marco normativo, protocolos de actuación, prevención y vinculación social. Durante la presente administración el reclutamiento de policías estatales ha incrementado de 24 a 50 por ciento. En poco más de un año y medio, la Universidad de Seguridad y Justicia ha graduado e integrado a las filas de la Policía Estatal Acreditable a cerca de 650 elementos. Ante autoridades estatales, académicos e instructores de la USJT y elementos de la Policía Estatal Acreditable, García Cabeza de Vaca condenó el
atentado sufrido por elementos de la corporación en la región ribereña el pasado jueves, que derivó en el lamentable fallecimiento de un elemento y heridas para otros cuatro. “Por ningún motivo retrocederemos en la lucha para recuperar la paz, el orden y el Estado de Derecho en Tamaulipas”, dijo él. “Quiero, en honor de quien falleció en el cumplimiento de su deber, que se escuche en todo Tamaulipas, en cada rincón del estado: Jamás bajaremos la guardia para ceder el paso a la barbarie. No habrá tregua contra los violentos, no habrá tregua contra los enemigos de la paz”.
Regalan bicis en Guerrero
Museo en Zapata 1 A los interesados en realizar una investigación sobre genealogía de la región, se sugiere visitar el Museo del Condado de Zapata ubicado en 805 N US-Hwy 83. Opera de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m. Existen visitas guiadas. Personal puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores.
Foto de cortesía/ Gobierno de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero
La Presidenta de Nueva Ciudad Guerrero Betty Posada realizó la entrega de bicicletas a niños y jóvenes de diferentes escuelas del municipio el miércoles 14 de marzo por la mañana. La intención de esta acción es facilitar el transporte a los niños estudiantes, para que asistan a su centro de estudios.
Madre e hija han sido arrestadas bajo sospecha de vender medicamentos controlados desde su casa en Subdivisión Las Misiones, por Texas 359, de acuerdo con la policía de Laredo. Julia Ortiz, de 62 años de edad y Jocelyn Ortiz, de 24 años, fueJulia Ortiz ron arrestadas después de la ejecución de una orden de cateo el viernes en la cuadra Jocelyn 400 de Ortiz Campanario Lane. Cada una fue acusada de manufactura, distribución de una sustancia López controlada. Maldonado La policía había arrestado a la madre previamente en septiembre por supuestamente vender medicamento controlado que había cruzado de Nuevo Laredo, México a Laredo, dijeron autoridades. Sobre los alegatos del viernes, las unidades vice y de narcóticos de LPD organizaron una operación para ejecutar una orden de cateo en la cuadra 400 de Campanario después de realizar una investigación a nivel calle de narcóticos. La policía dijo que vieron actividad de droga suceder mientras realizaban vigilancia en la casa. Con la ayuda de la división de patrulla, autoridades detuvieron un auto azul Ford Fusion 2017 que había salido de la casa. La policía habló con la conductora, Julia Ortiz, sobre obtener las llaves de la residencia para evitar daños de propiedad. Las autoridades también querían evitar “una
entrada dramática” ya que había reportes de varios menores de edad presentes en la casa, dijo el Investigador Joe E. Baeza, portavoz de la policía. Julia Ortiz supuestamente se encontraba en posesión de 360 pastillas de Alprozalam con un peso de 98 gramos. En la residencia, los oficiales encontraron a Jocelyn Ortiz y dos adultos que no se encuentran enfrentando cargos. Ahí, la policía dijo que incautaron 1.028 pastillas de Alprozalam con un peso de 271,8 gramos, 164 pastillas de Tramadol con un peso de 75 gramos y 1,7 gramos de marihuana. La medicina tenía un valor en las calles de 5.960 dólares de acuerdo con la policía. Las autoridades también incautaron 560 dólares. Arresto en septiembre Alrededor de mediados de septiembre, la policía dijo que una pista de Crime Stoppers les ayudó a descubrir una operación donde sospechosos cruzaban medicamentos de Nuevo Laredo a Laredo. Entonces, las pastillas eran vendidas en Las Misiones. Julia Ortiz y Rosa Elia López Maldonado, de 42 años de edad, fueron arrestadas y acusadas de dos cargos de manufactura, distribución de una sustancia controlada. López Maldonado supuestamente compraba largas cantidades de Alprazolam y Clonazepam en Nuevo Laredo y las entregaba a Julia Ortiz en Laredo. López Maldonado supuestamente compraba los medicamentos en las Farmacias Guadalajara, Farmacias Calderón y Farmacias Benavides. En total, las autoridades dijeron que confiscaron 1.950 pastillas de Alprazolam con un peso de 505 gramos y 375 pastillas de Clonazepam con un peso estimado de 80 gramos. El valor estimado en las calles era de 10.000 dólares, de acuerdo con la policía.
Sports&Outdoors
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 |
A7
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: HOUSTON ASTROS
NBA: DALLAS MAVERICKS
MVP Altuve, Astros finalize a $163.5M, 7-year contract
In midst of brutal season, hospital visit gives Carlisle new perspective
Houston locks down its star second baseman By Eddie Sefko A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jose Altuve sat behind a table set up on the field at the Houston Astros’ spring training complex, and his teammates looked on as the World Series champions announced his $163.5 million, seven-year contract, the longest in team history. “You made me more nervous, because I don’t like talking in front of a lot of people. You know that,” he said Houston finalized a deal Monday that guaranteed the AL MVP an additional $151 million over five seasons. “Certainly a fan favorite. Our fans love Jose,” owner Jim Crane said. “Winner, MVP — what else can you say? He always leads by example. When I talk to the guys in the locker room, everybody is better because of Jose, and he’s a great leader. So, Jose, you’re the heart of the team. We’re happy to have you for the long-term.” The 27-year-old second baseman had been among baseball’s best bargains. He agreed in 2013 to a deal that originally guaranteed $12.5 million from 2014-17 and included club options for 2018 at $6 million and 2019 at $6.5 million. His new deal keeps those salaries and adds a $21 million signing bonus, of which $1 million
John Raoux / Associated Press file
Jose Altuve’s seven-year, $163.5 million extension is the longest deal in Astros’ history.
is payable upon the deal’s approval by the commissioner’s office and $10 million each on July 1 in 2018 and 2019. He gets annual salaries of $26 million from 2020-24. Altuve all gets a notrade provision, a hotel suite on road trips and premium stadium seats. From 2021-24, his salaries in the remainder of the contract would increase by $3 million if he is voted MVP, $2 million if he finishes second and $1 million if he finishes
third. “This a very important day for me,” he said. “It was a priority, because that way it doesn’t take attention from the season.” Altuve would have been eligible for free agency after the 2019 season. The 5-foot-6 Altuve hit .346 last season to win his second straight AL batting title and third in four seasons. He had 24 homers, 82 RBIs and 32 stolen bases.
“There’s some stability that comes with writing Jose’s name in the lineup every single day,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “and to think that he’s going to be the franchise player for years to come is good for him, it’s good for the organization, it’s obviously good for me as a manager and most importantly is good for his teammates because he’s the most reliable player I’ve ever been around.” After winning its first World Series title, Houston also hopes to reach more long-term deals. Pitcher Dallas Keuchel and designatted hitter Evan Gattis are eligible for free agency after this season. Houston added pitcher Justin Verlander for its stretch run last fall and Gerrit Cole in a trade during the offseason. “We’d love to keep all the guys I’m looking at here for their entire careers,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “Jim is committed to keeping the best team on the field for as long as possible and giving us a chance to win multiple championships, and part of that is developing our own players and keeping our own players and bringing in the right types of players. And we’ve done that. We’ll see what the future holds but we certainly have a desire and an intention to keep our core together as long as possible.”
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS
THE ‘HONEY BADGER’ ARRIVES IN HOUSTON Texans' Mathieu plays with flexibility, hard-nosed mentality By Aaron Wilson H OUSTON CHRONICLE
New Texans safety Tyrann Mathieu plays the game with a hard-nosed mentality, throwing around his relatively undersized body with reckless abandon. Although the Louisiana native and former Arizona Cardinals AllPro selection is just 5foot-9, 185 pounds, Mathieu is a thumper who tackles like a much bigger man as he delivers punishing hits. "Well, l I think it's just everything I've been through," Mathieu said when asked about where his hitting ability comes from. "Always being doubted, always being counted out and I think you just kind of take that, you put a chip on your shoulder and you take it on the football field with you and that's all I try to do. I try to play with a chip on my shoulder, I try to play as if I had a point to prove and I try to play as if no one believes in me." Growing up in Louisiana, Mathieu was a big fan of former Baltimore Ravens and Texans safety Ed Reed, a future Hall of
Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle
Ex-Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu had his introductory news conference with the Houston Texans on Monday.
Fame selection. Mathieu plays the game with a lot of natural instincts. He's also devoted to studying film and gleaning opponents' tendencies. "I think coming from Louisiana, you always looked up to guys like Ed Reed," Mathieu said. "I think part of it is film study, I think the other part is natural, just you going out there, letting your hair down and just
playing fast. I try to watch enough film so that on gamedays I'm able to just play the game." Signed to a one-year, $7.5 million contract, Mathieu has recorded 303 career tackles, 11 interceptions, 41 passes defended, 28 tackles for losses, four sacks, four forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. Mathieu has lined up at both safety positions, at the nickel spot and at
cornerback. He's an extremely versatile player who thrives in coverage, run support and rushing the passer. "I just try to put it all on the table. Whatever my coaches ask me to do, I always try to do it. I'm a team player and I just try to put it all on the line for the team and whatever my coaches want me to do, whether it's safety or nickel or cornerback, I'm willing to do that."
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
NEW YORK — Rick Carlisle was feeling down in the dumps. The Mavericks were off to a terrible start to the season. They were 3-15 and preparing for a tough game against the Memphis Grizzlies. It already was looking like this was going to be a long, slow, painful year. Then, something remarkable happened that gave Carlisle a renewed definition of what hard times really are. The evening before playing the Grizzlies, the Mavericks went to the Ronald McDonald House, which is part of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. That’s where Carlisle met Dylan Vanormer and began laying the foundation of a rewarding friendship. Turns out Dylan, 17, is a pretty good entrepreneur, as Carlisle tells the story. "He was by himself with his grandparents off to the side," Carlisle said. "I went over and sat down with him. He’s a man of few words. But I got him talking a little and I asked him about his hobbies. "He said, ’I’m a painter.’ "I said, really? What kind of paintings? And he said: ’Abstract.’ "Wow, I thought that’s interesting and he pulled out his phone and showed me a few of his paintings." That’s when things got interesting. Here’s a teenager who has been in and out of St. Jude’s since he was 7. He had two brain tumor operations and is not a candidate for a third. His angioblastoma was deemed too advanced by doctors, his mother, Michelle Opalio said. Now remember, Carlisle is an NBA coach who deals with large egos and has to negotiate difficult situations on a daily basis in his job But this haggling was way different. "I asked if he would ever sell one of his paintings to someone like me if I was interested?" Carlisle said. "And he goes, ’I was hoping you might be able to hook me up with high rollers.’ I said, high rollers? So I said, how much do you sell your paintings for? He said: a thousand. "I said, a thousanddollars? I was going to offer you $100 for one of your paintings. You wouldn’t take $100? "He thought for a second and then said: ’I’ll take a hundred.’ So we did a deal." As a bonus, Carlisle was sent a necktie that Dylan also customized with his own artwork. He wore that during a home game earlier this season. And Carlisle came away with something else, as well. "I can’t possibly imagine what it’s like to go through that," said Carlisle, who has a 13-yearold daughter. "At that point in time, our season had gotten off to a rocky start. "After that visit to St. Jude’s, I took a completely different view of our definition of a difficult
Ron Jenkins / Associated Press file
A relationship forged with a teenage patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis has given Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle new perspective on struggle.
situation." Over the last 11 years, Dylan has spent as much time at St. Jude as he has at home with his mom in Rolla, Mo., which is about 275 miles from Memphis. Opalio works four days a week as a single mom, then drives to Memphis on Thursday nights to get a long weekend with her son. During the week, her mom and dad stay with Dylan. His story is particularly meaningful now as this week is Hoops For St. Jude week in the NBA. Many NBA coaches have been wearing the St. Jude logo pin on their lapels. Carlisle has worn it all season since his trip to St. Jude and meeting Dylan, who by the way was a bit of a daredevil before the tumor became part of his life. He learned to ride a bike at age 3 without the help of training wheels and was standing up on the bicycle seat riding that way a couple years later. When his health began compromising his balance and he couldn’t physically do the things that he once could, he turned to painting. "Somehow, he and Rick started talking," Opalio said. "They connected, took some selfies. And Dylan asked him if he knew anybody with connections. You know, people who want to spend big bucks on artwork. "It kind of grew from there. They spent the rest of the day together and they traded shirts. Rick got a shirt with art from the teen art gallery at St. Jude and Dylan got a Mavericks shirt. "It means a lot to the kids when something like that happens. Rick was the first one to really make a connection with Dylan. It definitely perked him up." And there have been, as Dylan would say, some high rollers that have come through. Michelle Obama visited, among others, and met Dylan. The ending of this story is not going to be pleasant. Dylan has been on hospice care for more than two years. The tumor in his brain is too aggressive and it has impacted his spine. Dylan gets around in a wheelchair these days. He still has some good days, his mother says. His 18th birthday will be April 10. "The doctors are shocked he’s still alive," Opalio said. "He’s a fighter, for sure." A fighter in the sort of catastrophic situation that makes all others — including a basketball season gone sour — a little easier to handle.
A8 | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
NATIONAL
Dems reject immigration deal as budget deadline nears By Andrew Taylor A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill Democrats have rejected a White House bid to extend protections for so-called Dreamer immigrants in exchange for $25 billion in funding for President Donald Trump’s longsought border wall as Washington talks on a $1.3 trillion catchall spending bill hit a critical stage on Monday. Disputes remain over immigration enforcement and a smaller infusion of wall funding, as well as a major rail project that pits Trump against his most powerful Democratic adversary, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Monday’s developments were described by congressional aides in both parties who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks remain secretive. All sides pressed toward an agreement by Monday night, though aides said it appeared more likely that the measure would be unveiled Tuesday for a House vote Thursday. House and Senate action is needed by midnight Friday to avert another government shutdown. The bipartisan measure is loaded with political and policy victories for both parties. Republicans and Trump are winning a long-sought budget increase for the Pentagon, while Democrats obtain funding for infrastructure, the opioid crisis and a wide swath of domestic programs. The bill would implement last month’s budget agreement, providing 10 percent increases for the
Pentagon and domestic agencies. Coupled with last year’s tax cuts, it heralds the return of trillion-dollar budget deficits as soon as the budget year starting in October. While most of the funding issues in the enormous measure have been sorted out, fights involving a number of policy “riders” — so named because they catch a ride on a difficult-tostop spending bill — continued into the weekend. As is typical, many or most of the policy riders were melting away. For instance, an effort to add a plan to revive
federal subsidies to stabilize the individual health insurance market and help the poor cover outof-pocket costs under President Barack Obama’s health law appeared to be failing. A complicated dispute involving abortion was at fault. President Donald Trump told two Republican senators on Saturday that he supports adding proposals to a huge spending bill that would provide billions in federal subsidies to insurers to help curb health care premium increases. Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Susan Collins of Maine spoke to
Trump for an hour on Saturday in a call initiated by the two lawmakers, the sources said. Alexander and Collins are among Republicans backing proposals to revive payments to insurers that Trump halted last fall that reimburse the carriers for reducing out-of-pocket costs for many low-earning customers. Those reductions are required by the Obama health law, and insurers have made up for the lost federal payments by boosting premiums. They would also create a $30 billion, three-year reinsurance program that states could use to help
insurers afford to cover their most seriously ill, expensive consumers. Both proposals are in trouble because Democrats oppose GOP provisions that would forbid the federal payments from being used to help pay for insurance policies that provide abortion. And Republicans appeared likely to fail in a bid to fix a glitch in the recent tax bill that subsidizes grain sales to cooperatives at the expense of for-profit grain companies, several aides said. Efforts to use the measure as a vehicle to extend protections for young
immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, or DACA, program appeared likely to fail, aides said. Trump killed the Obamaera program in September, but a court decision has essentially left it in place, for now. The White House had revived the idea in recent days — offering on Sunday a 30-month extension of DACA protections in exchange for $25 billion for Trump’s border wall — but Democrats demanded protections for a broader pool of immigrants than had signed up for DACA, a request denied by GOP negotiators.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 |
A9
BUSINESS
Facebook drags market down as stock slides By Marley Jay A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — Facebook plunged to its worst loss in four years Monday and led a rout in technology companies. The social media company’s stock fell following reports that a data mining firm working for the Trump campaign improperly obtained data on 50 million Facebook users. The drop in Facebook stock came after the New York Times and the Guardian reported that the firm, Cambridge Analytica, was able to tap the profiles of more than 50 million Facebook users without their permission. Legislators in the U.S. and Europe criticized Facebook and said they want more information about what happened. Investors wondered if companies like Facebook and Alphabet will face tighter regulation as a result. Daniel Ives, chief strategy officer and head of technology research for GBH Insights, said Facebook is in a crisis, and it will have to work hard to reassure users, investors and governments. “This is a defining moment for them,” he said. “It either becomes a blip on the radar and it helps the platform mature... or it becomes the start of something broader.” Elsewhere, the British pound rose and European stocks slumped after Britain and the European Union said they are getting closer to a deal that will complete Britain’s departure from the EU in
Bryan R. Smith / AFP/Getty Images
Traders work on the floor at the closing bell of the Dow Industrial Average at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Shares of big technology companies tumbled following a Facebook data breach scandal.
March 2019. The S&P 500 index sank 39.09 points, or 1.4 percent, to 2,712.92. The benchmark index took its biggest loss since Feb. 8, when it tumbled almost 4 percent as investors worried that rising inflation would slow the progress of the market and the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 335.60 points, or 1.3 percent, to 24,610.91. During the day it fell as much as 493 points. The Nasdaq composite gave up 137.74 points, or 1.8 percent, to 7,344.24. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks declined 15.49 points, or 1 percent, to 1,570.56. Larger technology companies including Apple and Microsoft fared worse than smaller ones. Another market favorite, Amazon, also dropped, and health care stocks fell more than the rest of the market. Representatives of Britain and the European Union said they made
progress on the terms of Britain’s departure from the bloc. British envoy David Davis said important steps have been made in the last few days and he thinks EU leaders will back them in a meeting Thursday and Friday. Britain is scheduled to officially leave the EU on March 29, 2019. The pound rose to $1.4050 from $1.3938. The British FTSE 100 index fell 1.7 percent and Germany’s DAX fell 1.4 percent. France’s CAC-40 was 1.1 percent lower. Facebook said late Friday that it suspended Cambridge Analytica and its parent company. It said Cambridge obtained data from 270,000 people who downloaded a purported research app that was described as a personality test. A former employee said Cambridge was able to get data from tens of millions of other users who were friends with the people who downloaded that app. Facebook first learned
of the breach more than two years ago but hadn’t disclosed it. Facebook also said it recently received a report that Cambridge Analytica hadn’t deleted all of the data it obtained from Facebook, something Facebook said the company claimed to have done. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg should testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee while legislators in Britain and the European Union also called for inquiries. On Monday Facebook said it hired an outside firm to audit Cambridge. Its stock sank $12.53, or 6.8 percent, to $172.56, its biggest one-day loss since March 2014. Ives, of GBH, said Wall Street is more concerned about the latest situation than it was about issues like Facebook’s platform spreading fake news. That’s because Cambridge reportedly got access to the personal data of a large number of users, and the backlash suggests Facebook may face more regulation and could lose users, advertisers or advertising revenue. He estimated that $5 billion in annual revenue for Facebook might be a risk and said the situation could create problems for other tech companies, especially Twitter and Alphabet’s YouTube unit. Alphabet lost $34.35, or 3 percent, to $1,100.07. Twenty-nine of the 30 Dow stocks finished the day with losses. The only exception was airplane maker Boeing.
Claire’s files for bankruptcy By Joseph Pisani A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — Claire’s, the mall chain that has pierced the ears of millions of teens, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The accessories chain said Monday that its stores will remain open as it restructures its debt. It’s just the latest retailer to seek bankruptcy protection, close stores or go out of business entirely as more people skip the mall and shop online. Toys R Us, for example, announced last week that
it would close or sell all its stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year. Claire’s said it is “confident” it will emerge from bankruptcy protection in September, having reduced its debt by nearly $2 billion. It believes it can compete with the shift to online shopping, arguing that its “iconic ear piercing services are unmatched and cannot be replicated online.” Besides the Claire’s chain, the company also operates Icing stores. Both sell earrings, lip gloss, iPhone cases and
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
People walk by a Claire's store at the Northgate Mall in San Rafael, California. Teen jewelry chain store Claire's announced that they have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an effort to eliminate $1.9 billion in debt and plans to shutter underperforming stores.
other accessories. Last year, it had more than 4,000 stores around the world. Claire’s, based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, said
it has pierced more than 100 million ears since it began offering the service 40 years ago. The company was founded in the 1960s.
Thomas Patterson / The New York Times
Ryan Santos with son Remy, 2, are shown at a Toys "R" Us in Portland, Oregon. Amazon has looked at the possibility of expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some locations from bankrupt Toys “R” Us.
Amazon eyes some Toys ‘R’ Us stores By Matt Townsend, Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Spencer Soper BL OOMBERG NEWS
Amazon.com Inc. has looked at the possibility of expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some locations from bankrupt Toys “R” Us Inc., according to people with knowledge of the situation. The online giant isn’t interested in maintaining the Toys “R” Us brand, but has considered using the soon-to-be-vacant spaces for its own purposes, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. Such a move would let Amazon quickly expand its brick-and-mortar presence, coming on the heels of buying Whole Foods Market Inc. and its more than 450 locations last year. The Seattlebased company also has opened its own line of bookstores and a convenience-store concept. Representatives for
Amazon and Toys “R” Us declined to comment. Additional stores would give Amazon space to showcase its popular Echo line of devices, which run on the Alexa voice-activated platform. Amazon sees voice as the next interface for people to access technology -- supplanting computer mouses and touch screens -- and the benefits may be easier to demonstrate in a real-world setting. A bigger network of stores also would put inventory closer to where shoppers live, potentially enabling quick delivery to e-commerce customers. Still, the company is under little pressure to hammer out a deal and deliberations may lead nowhere. In 2015, Amazon held discussions about acquiring some RadioShack locations around the time of the electronics retailer’s bankruptcy filing, people familiar with the matter said. Nothing came of the talks.
A10 | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
ENTERTAINMENT
‘Black Panther’ film climbs up the ranks of biggest modern blockbusters A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — The MGM-Warner Bros. reboot “Tomb Raider” couldn’t dethrone “Black Panther” at the weekend box office in U.S. and Canada theaters, as Ryan Coogler’s superhero sensation stayed No. 1 for the fifth straight weekend. Disney’s “Black Panther” grossed $26.7 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to final studio figures Monday. In five weeks, “Black Panther” has steadily climbed up the ranks of biggest modern blockbusters, with $605 million thus far domestically. Not since 2009’s “Avatar” has a movie topped the box office five straight weekends. “Tomb Raider,” starring Alicia Vikander, failed to rekindle the dormant video-game franchise. The $90 million
film debuted in second with $23.6 million. But it fared better overseas, where it grossed $84.5 million, including $41.1 million in China. The surprise of the weekend was the Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions Christian drama “I Can Only Imagine,” which grossed $17.1 million on about 1,700 screens. The film, which co-stars Dennis Quaid and Cloris Leachman, cost only $7 million to make. It stars J. Michael Finley as the singer behind one of the most popular Christian songs, by the band MercyMe. Twentieth Century Fox’s “Love, Simon,” the first film from a major Hollywood studio featuring a gay teen protagonist, opened with $11.8 million and an A-plus CinemaScore from audiences. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian the-
aters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Sunday by comScore: 1. “Black Panther,” Disney, $26,650,690, 3,834 locations, $6,951 average, $605,027,218, 5 Weeks. 2. “Tomb Raider,” Warner Bros., $23,633,317, 3,854 locations, $6,132 average, $23,633,317, 1 Week. 3. “I Can Only Imagine,” Roadside Attractions, $17,104,797, 1,739 locations, $9,836 average, $17,104,797, 1 Week. 4. “A Wrinkle In Time,” Disney, $16,256,879, 3,980 locations, $4,085 average, $60,751,533, 2 Weeks. 5. “Love, Simon,” 20th Century Fox, $11,756,244, 2,402 locations, $4,894 average, $11,756,244, 1 Week.
Ilze Kitshoff / AP
Daniel Wu, left, and Alicia Vikander are shown in a scene from "Tomb Raider." Black Panther has become the first film since 2000s Avatar to top the weekend box office five straight weekends.
6. “Game Night,” Warner Bros., $5,602,230, 2,686 locations, $2,086 average, $54,206,414, 4 Weeks. 7. “Peter Rabbit,” Sony, $5,201,647, 2,725 locations, $1,909 average, $102,441,915, 6 Weeks. 8. “Strangers: Prey At Night,” Aviron Pictures, $4,701,089, 2,464 locations, $1,908 average, $18,503,141, 2 Weeks. 9. “Red Sparrow,” 20th Century Fox, $4,531,187, 2,583 locations, $1,754 average, $39,664,829, 3 Weeks. 10. “Death Wish,” MGM, $3,368,565, 2,676 locations, $1,259 average, $29,950,250, 3 Weeks. 11. “Annihilation,” Para-
mount, $1,733,605, 1,087 locations, $1,595 average, $29,628,348, 4 Weeks. 12. “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle,” Sony, $1,622,505, 1,556 locations, $1,043 average, $400,246,103, 13 Weeks. 13. “7 Days in Entebbe,” Focus Features, $1,592,645, 838 locations, $1,901 average, $1,592,645, 1 Week. 14. “The Greatest Showman,” 20th Century Fox, $1,134,199, 737 locations, $1,539 average, $169,703,817, 13 Weeks. 15. “The Hurricane Heist,” Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, $1,033,246, 2,283 locations, $453 average, $5,369,167, 2
Weeks. 16. “The Shape Of Water,” Fox Searchlight, $793,617, 758 locations, $1,047 average, $62,682,254, 16 Weeks. 17. “Gringo,” STX Entertainment, $655,891, 2,314 locations, $283 average, $4,522,102, 2 Weeks. 18. “Fifty Shades Freed,” Universal, $610,535, 873 locations, $699 average, $99,626,835, 6 Weeks. 19. “The Death of Stalin,” IFC Films, $537,497, 32 locations, $16,797 average, $801,066, 2 Weeks. 20. “Thoroughbreds,” Focus Features, $487,690, 564 locations, $865 average, $2,294,050, 2 Weeks.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 |
A11
FROM THE COVER SECURITY From page A1
FEDEX From page A1
FedEx and UPS each have their own fleet of planes, and the rules are not as strict. Price said the companies aren’t required to use X-ray, explosive-trace detection or canine screening but can at their option. He said they are required to physically inspect all packages. Cohen said that at a minimum, cargo carriers likely vet shippers and X-ray packages going on their planes.
shopping center in the enclave of Sunset Valley. FBI agent Michelle Lee said the explosion happened around 1 a.m. at a FedEx facility in Schertz, which is just northeast of San Antonio and about 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Austin. “It would be silly for us not to admit that we suspect it’s related” to the other four Austin bombings since March 2, Lee said. She did not have details about the size, weight or description of the package. One worker reported ringing in her ears. She was treated at the scene. Before it exploded, the package had been sent from Austin and was addressed to a home in Austin, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said. Police initially reported finding an unexploded parcel at the same FedEx facility, but later said they were mistaken and that the only bomb found was the one that exploded. The FedEx blast came less than two days after another bombing wounded two men Sunday night in a quiet Austin neighborhood. It was triggered by a nearly invisible tripwire, suggesting a “higher level of sophistication” than agents saw in three package bombs left on doorsteps, according to Fred Milanowski, the agent in charge of the Houston division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities have not identified the two men who were hurt Sunday, saying only that they are in their 20s and white. But William Grote told The Associated Press on Monday that his grand-
for more explicit warnings through the NAFTA negotiation is especially appealing to the food and beverage industry because it could help limit domestic regulation in the United States as well as averting a broad global move to adopt mandatory healthlabeling standards. “It kind of kills a law before it can be written,” said Lora Verheecke, a researcher at the Corporate Europe Observatory, a group that tracks lobbying efforts. “And once you put it in one trade agreement, it can become the precedent for all future deals with future countries.” In most cases, trade law allows governments to retain the right to make rules in the interest of public health, experts say, but the proposal by the United States appears to be aimed at curbing that. Jones of the George Institute said research found that trade policy had also been used to try to block efforts to adopt warnings in Ecuador, Peru, Thailand, Chile and Indonesia. Chile has moved forward as has Ecuador, but with a less aggressive labeling system, Jones said. Thailand and Indonesia “appear to have been deterred,” she said, adding, “We call this ‘regulatory chill.’” One reason that the warning labels are seen as so vital to the efforts to curb obesity is that consumers appear to heed them. Mexico’s current labeling rules allow for — but do not require — the display of daily intake recommendations of salt, sugar and fat. But they are “indecipherable to consumers” and “totally useless to people,” Jones said. Government researchers at Mexico’s National Institute for Public Health recently found that only 17 percent of consumers bothered to look at the front-of-pack labels mandated by law. In separate research, scientists asked college students to try and crack the current labeling system, which, to use effectively, requires mathematics. “These college kids couldn’t even do it,” said Dr. Simón Barquera, director of health research and nutrition policy at the Mexican public health institute. After starting a campaign several years ago to impose a tax on soda, Barquera and two other backers of the soda tax were targeted by sophisticated spyware sold only to governments on the explicit understanding that it be used strictly against terrorists and criminals. Mexicans drink on average 167 liters — more than 44 gallons — of soda a year per person, eclipsing what are considered high consumption rates in the United States. In some remote areas of the country, soda is more readily available than clean drinking water.
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tion. Both have recommended that Mexico pass regulations to help combat diabetes, which claims 80,000 lives a year there. That is one of the highest rates in the world — and more than double the record number of homicides that the nation suffered in 2017. Mexico’s Ministry of Health, which is directly involved in the trade negotiations, said it was reviewing the U.S. proposal with the nation’s health authorities. Public health experts have hailed Chile’s rules as a new standard. They include a ban on the use of cartoon characters like Tony the Tiger, but the package warnings are considered the most aggressive of the tactics. “We have shown that a simple message and a symbol is enough to communicate that you should be consuming less of certain foods,” said Dr. Camila Corvalán, a nutritionist at the University of Chile who helped develop the logos. “There’s nothing misleading about a warning logo, and clearly this is what worries the industry.” Food companies have been forced to take note. Over the past two years, more than 1,500 products have been reformulated to make them healthier and to avoid having to carry a warning logo, according to AB Chile, a food industry association. But passage of the regulation in Chile did not happen without a fight. Eleven countries, led by the United States, raised issues with the proposal before the World Trade Organization. The Chilean government successfully argued that the measures were a necessary tool to fight the nation’s mounting obesity crisis. Today, Chile’s success has inspired nutrition advocates around the world, including those in Mexico. “The fact that the industry is freaking out is reassuring, but at the same time it’s worrisome that the U.S. government is trying to defend the position of the food industry,” Corvalán said. All told, at least 23 countries use some version of front-of-label consumer education. Some of the warnings already adopted or proposed include black boxes or red octagons that draw attention to foods regulators deem unhealthy, using less intense imagery but the same approach as cigarette packaging. Still, public health experts consider most of the labels other than those required by Chile to be relatively weak or ineffective. “Chile’s warnings are the new frontier,” said Alexandra Jones, a lawyer at the George Institute for Global Health in Australia. “They represent a potentially much more effective public health intervention: warn people away from the ubiquitous junk foods.” Heading off pressure
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member to require consumer warnings on the front of sugary drinks and fatty packaged foods, according to a draft of the proposal reviewed by The New York Times. The U.S. provision seeks to prevent any warning symbol, shape or color that “inappropriately denotes that a hazard exists from consumption of the food or nonalcoholic beverages.” Some experts have likened the fight over food labeling to that over tobacco — and the fierce if ultimately unsuccessful opposition and lobbying that industry waged to prevent the imposition of health warnings on packaging. The Trump administration’s position on food labeling reflects the desires of a broad coalition of soft-drink and packaged-foods manufacturers in the United States. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, a food industry trade group that sits on the advisory board to the trade talks, says it favors voluntary labeling programs. The group says it “supports a modernized NAFTA that will ensure standards are based on science, minimize unnecessary trade barriers, and benefit consumers in all three countries.” The organization is fighting to keep Chile’s model from being adopted more widely. Roger Lowe, a spokesman for the group — whose board members include executives from Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Mondelez International, which owns brands like Oreos, Chips Ahoy and Ritz crackers — said it was concerned about the “evidence and impact” of Chile’s laws. Emily Davis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative, said she could not comment on what she called “alleged negotiating documents.” In general, she said, “the United States supports science-based labeling that is truthful and not misleading.” Proponents of more explicit labels said the Trump administration’s proposal and the corporate pressure behind it hold the potential to handcuff public health interests for decades. “It is one of the most invasive forms of industrial interference we have seen,” said Alejandro Calvillo, founder of El Poder del Consumidor, or Consumer Power, a health advocacy group in Mexico that was illegally targeted with government spyware when it fought for a soda tax in Mexico. “The collusion between the industry and the government is not only at the level of spying — it reaches the level of the renegotiation of NAFTA and the nation’s own policy against obesity.” The U.S. proposal conflicts with the guidance from Mexico’s national health institute and the World Health Organiza-
bound planes after officials got a tip from authorities in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. then banned large toner and ink cartridges from passenger planes and ordered new inspections of high-risk shipments on cargo planes coming into the country.
FREE
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lighted in a 2010 plot aimed at blowing up planes flying to the United States. Bombs hidden in printer cartridges were shipped from Yemen but intercepted in Dubai and the United Kingdom and were defused. The bombs were pulled off U.S.-
down a sidewalk and hit something,” Christopher Combs, FBI agent in charge of the bureau’s San Antonio division, said in an interview. Police originally pointed to possible hate crimes, but the victims have now been black, Hispanic and white and from different parts of the city. “We are clearly dealing with what we believe to be a serial bomber,” Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said, citing similarities among the bombs. He would not elaborate, saying he did not want to undermine the investigation. While the first three bombings all occurred east of Interstate 35, a section of town that tends to be more heavily minority and less affluent, Sunday’s attack was west of the highway. The differences in location, the lack of a motive and other unknowns make it harder to draw conclusions about any possible pattern. Thad Holt said he is now watching his steps as he makes his way through a section of town near the latest attack. “I think everybody can now say, ‘Oh, that’s like my neighborhood,”’ he said. The latest bomb was anchored to a metal yard sign near the head of a hiking trail, Milanowski said. “It was a thin wire or filament, kind of like fishing line,” he said. “It would have been very difficult for someone to see.” Police asked anyone with surveillance cameras at home to come forward with the footage on the chance it captured suspicious vehicles or people.
<5
HAVE TERRORISTS TRIED TO HIDE BOMBS IN CARGO? Yes. The threat posed by bombs given to delivery companies was high-
Reshma Kirpalani / AP
An FBI agent carries a box into a FedEX store Tuesday in the southwest Austin suburb of Sunset Valley, Texas.
son was one of them and that he had what appeared to be nails embedded in his knees. Grote said his grandson was in a lot of pain. On the night of the bombing, one of the victims was riding a bike in the street and the other was on a sidewalk when they crossed a tripwire that he said knocked “them both off their feet.” “It was so dark they couldn’t tell, and they tripped,” he said. “They didn’t see it. It was a wire. And it blew up.” Grote said his son, who lives about 100 yards (90 meters) from the blast, heard the explosion and raced outside to find both of the young men bleeding profusely. The presence of a tripwire was a departure from the first three bombings, which involved parcels left on doorsteps that detonated when moved or opened. The tripwire heightened fears around Austin, a town famous for its cool, hipster attitude. In Washington, President Donald Trump said the assailant behind the bombing is “very sick.” During an Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump described the situation as “terrible.” “This is obviously a very sick individual or individuals,” and authorities are “working to get to the bottom of it.” Police repeated prior warnings about not touching unexpected packages and issued new ones to be wary of any stray object left in public, especially ones with protruding wires. “We’re very concerned that with tripwires, a child could be walking
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A12 | Wednesday, March 21, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
INTERNATIONAL
6 months after Mexico quake some still camp outside homes By Christopher Sherman and Rebecca Blackwell A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
MEXICO CITY — Under a patchwork shelter of overlapping tarps and repurposed vinyl advertisements, several dozen residents of 18 Independence Street pack cheek by jowl into donated tents in the street near their building, which was damaged in the Sept. 19 earthquake. Six months after the temblor, improvised camps like this one erected by displaced residents are among the most visible signs that not everyone has moved on from the earthquake that killed 228 people in Mexico City and 141 more elsewhere. Mexico City Reconstruction Commissioner Edgar Oswaldo Tungui Rodriguez said there are 27 such camps around the capital, but denied that people were living in any of them. Rather, he said, quake victims had just
posted guards to watch over their property. Camps visited by Associated Press journalists offered a different reality. Maria Patricia Rodriguez Gonzalez has been living under tarps on the sidewalk near the Independence Street building with her 13-year-old son and 27-year old daughter for the past six months. The residents are still allowed to enter the building, but nobody risks staying there. The bedroom floor in Rodriguez’s apartment has sunk since the earthquake. The ceiling sags and plaster has fallen from the walls. Afraid to use the bathroom there, she heats water on a gas burner under the tarps and manages a sort of bath inside a portable toilet on the sidewalk. At first, Rodriguez and other residents say, there was a lot of solidarity in the neighborhood. Some neighbors let them use
their bathrooms and shared food after the magnitude 7.1 quake. But as the days turned to weeks and then to months, sentiments shifted. People have stolen the gas tanks they use to heat food. Cars have come close to driving through the camp. Some neighbors have stopped speaking to them, others hurl insults. “It makes us sad that people insult us without knowing the reality we are living,” Rodriguez said. “We’re not here because we want to be. We’re here out of necessity.” Displaced residents received 3,000 pesos ($160) each month for the first three months from the government. The idea was that they would rent apartments elsewhere. But residents say that was not enough to rent apartments in their neighborhood and they fear that without their presence, looters will clear out their possessions.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Neighbors and earthquake victims raise their fists during a memorial ceremony on the six month anniversary of the Mexico City earthquake on Monday. People who lost their homes and businesses inside heavily damaged buildings have been protesting the slow rate of progress with demolitions and repairs.