STATE MEDALISTS
SATURDAY MARCH 29, 2014
FREE
ZAPATA POWERLIFTERS PLACE AT STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1B
DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
HEALTH CARE
THE BORDER
Insurance woes Official: State opposition hasn’t helped sign-ups By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — Political opposition in Texas to the federal health care overhaul hasn’t helped enrollment numbers that lag behind expectations as next week’s deadline to sign up looms, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday. Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents in the nation. As of March 1, about 295,000 people in Texas had signed up for coverage — less than half of the target of 629,000 enrollees originally set by the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Gov. Rick Perry and Repub-
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS lican leaders have consistently slammed the health overhaul while simultaneously refusing Medicaid expansion in a state where nearly 1 out of every 4 residents is uninsured. Millions of uninsured na-
tionwide have until Monday to pick a plan or face penalties. More than 6 million Americans have signed up so far. “I don’t think it’s been a help when you have government officials trying to block navigators from getting information to the people. And you have everything from legal challenges to a constant barrage of misinformation,” Sebelius said. “That isn’t terribly helpful to folks trying to figure out what the law means and whether or not the law applies to them, or whether it’s even in place in Texas.” Making a final push, Sebelius visited a United Way center in Austin where about a dozen navigators manned a
call center for coverage-seekers. Texas is hostile territory. State regulators in January mandated that “navigators” who help Texas residents enroll under the Affordable Care Act undergo an additional 20 hours of training — half what Perry originally sought, but still enough to rankle nonprofits receiving
See INSURANCE
PAGE 9A
HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL
TRYING TO CLEAN UP
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
See OIL SPILL PAGE 9A
See SHERIFF PAGE 9A
Investigation ongoing in Houston oil spill AUSTIN — The barge operator that spilled nearly 170,000 gallons of tar-like oil into the Houston Ship Channel, closing one of the nation’s busiest seaports for several days, will be fined by Texas regulators regardless of the outcome of state and federal investigations. Investigators are still trying to pinpoint the cause of last weekend’s accident in-
Lupe Treviño cites ‘pressures’ in his decision to step down
volving a barge owned by Houston-based Kirby Inland Marine Corp., but Texas law considers the company carrying the oil a responsible party, said Greg Pollock, deputy director for the Texas General Land Office’s oil spill response division. “What that will be now I can’t say because we don’t have a closed case,” Pollock said. It won’t be the first fine
Top: photo by Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle | AP; below: photo by Kevin M. Cox/The Galveston County Daily News | AP
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hidalgo Co. sheriff out EDINBURG — A South Texas sheriff whose office had attracted the attention of federal investigators suddenly announced his resignation Friday, only slightly more than a year into a new elected term. Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño cited “internal and external pressures placed on me since December 12, 2012,” in a letter to the county judge. The letter first referred to his retirement, but Treviño issued a new letter later at the county judge’s request changing the language to resignation. County Judge Ramon Garcia said the wording made a difference for the process to fill the position. Hidalgo County’s location on the TexasMexico border brought Treviño national attention in recent years as he became an outspoken counterweight to claims from the state’s Republican leadership that the border was being overrun and its communities falling prey to spillover violence from the drug war in Mexico. The 2012 date referenced by Treviño in his letter was significant, coming only weeks after his overwhelming re-election victory. But on Dec. 13, 2012, federal prosecutors announced the arrests of one of Treviño’s sons — a local police officer — and two of Treviño’s deputies. They were members of a joint task force targeting the street-level drug trade. Within months they pleaded guilty to participating in a conspiracy to steal drug loads and resell them to another trafficker. Treviño has maintained that he had no knowledge of the rogue unit’s activities, including the role of his son, who was living in his home at the time. During the trial of one of his deputies, Treviño took the stand to testify in federal court. The sheriff, who had spent 12 years commanding the local High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force, detailed the events of Dec. 12, 2012, when he was among the first from his department to arrive on the scene of what turned out to be the federal sting operation that took down his son. Treviño testified that “it was pretty obvious to me what the deal was” — that it was a federal sting. He and officers from his department had found drug packages carrying tracking devices.
Top: An oiled gull preens its feathers at the Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary in Bolivar, on Monday. Below: An oil-covered containment boom waits to be decontaminated on the Texas City Dike on Wednesday, in Texas City, in the aftermath of an oil spill.
By PAUL J. WEBER
Photo by James Coburn/The Monitor | AP
Hidalgo County Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño, whose office had attracted the attention of federal investigators, announced his resignation Friday.
MEXICO
Consulate General of Mexico is in town today THE ZAPATA TIMES
The Consulate General of Mexico has announced it will station a mobile unit in Zapata today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to provide consular services to local and area resi-
dents. The unit will be located at the Zapata County Technical & Advanced Education Center, on U.S. Highway 83 at 9th Street. Services will include issuing Mexican identification cards, also
known as matricula consular, passport services and providing legal advice to those needing this guidance. Also, Texas’ Health and Human Services, through its Border Affairs office, will hold a health fair
where free services will include taking glucose readings, taking blood pressure, measuring body mass index and providing information on dental hygiene, sexually transmitted diseases and medical insurance, among other topics.
Consulate General officials urge residents in Zapata and the area to visit the mobile unit to take advantage of its services. For more information, call 956723-0990 or toll free 1-877-639-4835 in the United States.