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BORDER REGION
RIO GRANDE
Health center works to fill executive director position
Criminal activity rises
Trustees will discuss who will be interviewed By Judith Rayo LA R ED O MORNI NG T IME S
The Border Region Behavioral Health Center board of trustees will discuss this morning in Zapata who should be selected to be interviewed for the executive director posi-
tion. The directors put together a search committee comprised of four board members to search for a new executive director. Board members Julie Bazan, Roberto Vela, Rosie Benavides and Yolanda Davis are part of the search commit-
tee. The search for an executive director comes after Daniel Castillon resigned in June to pursue other interests. Castillon had been employed with the mental health center for 26 years. He served in the capacity of executive director for 10 years. “They had a very deliberate and careful process to make sure that they choose the candidate they feel is best qualified for the position,” said the
center’s attorney, Juan Cruz. Currently, Maria Sanchez and Rolando Gutierrez are serving as co-interim executive directors. “The operations of the center have been running smoothly under the co-interim executive directors,” Cruz said. Vela added, “They have managed the center's business very successfully. They have been employed at the center for many years and are very experienced.
BORDER SECURITY
DOMESTIC CUTS MIGHT FINANCE WALL Taxpayers, not Mexico, to cover down payment By Andrew Taylor A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is proposing immediate budget cuts of $18 billion from programs like medical research, infrastructure and community grants so U.S. taxpayers, not Mexico, can Trump cover the down payment on the border wall. The White House documents Border continues on A12
Bryan Denton / NYT
This Jan. 28 file photo shows a vendor set up along the U.S.-Mexico border fence on the beach in Tijuana, Mexico.
By Aaron Nelsen RIO GRANDE VALLEY BUREAU
FRONTON – Along a remote bend in the Rio Grande, where invasive Carrizo cane obscure surrounding farm fields, border agents are on heightened alert. Earlier this month three men fishing on the river were shot, likely by gunfire from Mexico, authorities said. One of the men was killed. It was the latest in a spate of violent incidents over the past year, including assaults on U.S. Border Patrol agents, reinforcing the notion that Starr County is the most volatile stretch of the 2,000 mile border with Mexico. “Look at the cartel activity on the south side,” said Manuel Padilla, Jr. the Border Patrol’s sector chief in the Rio Grande Valley. “You have armored vehicles, you have grenade launchers, you have 50 (calibers), you have very ugly stuff on the south side that Mexico is battling.” Back at sector headquarters Padilla explained that personnel, technology and infrastructure helped border agents bring down illegal activity in its Tucson, San Diego and El Paso sectors. Significant investment in all three elements are also present in Cameron County and parts of Hidalgo County. But as enforcement ratcheted up in other South Texas counties, the problems of an unruly border have shifted to Starr, a county that has in recent years become ground zero in state and federal border security efforts. As Padilla sees it, the county’s relative lack of technology and infrastructure has made it a smuggling hotbed. “Cameron County accounts for less than 6 percent of my (immigrant) apprehensions, guess where it went,” Padilla said. “And when you have a Rio Grande continues on A11
ZAPATA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Missing Migrant International Summit held ZAPATA TIME S
Courtesy
A recently held Missing Migrant International Summit offered a way to formulate and share practices to prevent migrant deaths, locate and rescue those in distress, identify those who have perished and reunite their remains with their families.
The number of undocumented migrant deaths along the southern border of the United States remains at critical levels. Various entities continue to work to identify deceased migrants and arrange for their repatriation to their home countries, often with limited resourc-
es and funding. This work has historically been independent, with cooperation involving only agencies/entities of similar disciplines (eg. medical examiners, law enforcement, human rights groups and consulate offices). These multi-disciplined efforts have had some measure of success, but those successes have usually been restricted to
local levels and specific geographic locations. The purpose of a recently held Missing Migrant International Summit, attended by the Zapata County Sheriff’s Office, was to offer a broad range of stakeholders an opportunity to formulate and share best practices to prevent migrant deaths, Summit continues on A11
Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
CALENDAR
AROUND THE WORLD
TODAY IN HISTORY
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach.
Today is Wednesday, March 29, the 88th day of 2017. There are 277 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History: On March 29, 1867, Britain's Parliament passed, and Queen Victoria signed, the British North America Act creating the Dominion of Canada, which came into being the following July.
Spanish Book Club. 6-8 p.m. Joe A. Guerra Public Library on Calton. or more info call Sylvia Reash 763-1810. Laredo Next Generation Rotary Club “Unsung Heroes” dinner. 7:30 p.m. Montecarlo Reception Hall, 6415 McPherson Road. This year’s recipients are Ignacio Urrabazo, Samuel Ayala and Gigi Ramos. For more information about sponsorship levels or to reserve a table, contact Rudy Morales at 956-206-5378 or Hector Chapa at 956-206-1505 or visit nextgenerationrotary.com
THURSDAY, MARCH 30 Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach. Speaker and book signing. 6-7:30 p.m. Multipurpose Room at Joe A. Guerra Public Library on Calton. Hosted by Villa San Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society and the library. The speaker is Mauricio J. Gonzalez, LCC instructor and author of “My Grandfather’s Grandfather: Tomas Rodriguez Benavides.” Open to the public. For more info call Sylvia Reash 763-1810.
FRIDAY, MARCH 31 Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach. Diocese of Laredo Youth Jam! 7 p.m. Bill Johnson Student Activity Complex Auditorium. Performing at the Youth Jam will be Catholic rock band The Thirsting from Portland, Oregon. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the Diocese of Laredo Pastoral Center, 1201 Corpus Christi St. and Religious Goods Center, 812 E. Calton Road. For more information, call Gustavo Martínez, director of Youth Ministry, at 956-727-2140 or gmartinez@dioceseoflaredo.org.
SATURDAY, APRIL 1 Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Widener Book Room, First United Methodist Church. Public invited, no admission fee. Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach.
SUNDAY, APRIL 2 Open viewing for Children of Children: Portraits & Stories of Teenage Parents by Michael Nye. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. This exhibit is designed as an educational initiative from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. in collaboration with First United Methodist Church Laredo as host. This exhibit is meant to bring awareness and help launch an upcoming Parents Helping Parents ministry as part of the church’s community outreach.
Felipe Dana / AP
In this March 24 file photo, Ahmed Pesher cries next to the destroyed houses where 23 members of his family were killed during a fight between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State.
US DENIES RULES TO AVOID CIVILIAN CASUALTIES BAGHDAD — U.S. airstrikes probably played a role in the deaths of dozens of civilians in Mosul earlier this month, U.S. and Iraqi military officials acknowledged Tuesday, but they denied the rules for avoiding civilian casualties have been loosened despite a recent spike in civilian casualties. Speaking from Baghdad to reporters at the Pentagon, the top commander of U.S. forces in Iraq said an ongoing investigation may reveal a more complicated explanation for the March 17 explosion that residents say killed at least 100 people, including the possibility that Islamic State militants rigged the building with explosives after forcing civilians inside.
Worst humanitarian crisis hits as Trump slashes foreign aid NAIROBI, Kenya — The world's largest humanitarian crisis in 70 years has been declared in three African countries on the brink of famine, just as President Donald Trump's proposed foreign aid cuts threaten to pull the United States from its historic role as the world's top emergency donor. If the deep cuts are approved
Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said a recent spate of civilian casualties in Mosul was "fairly predictable" given the densely populated urban neighborhoods that the IS fighters are defending against Iraqi government troops. But the civilian deaths cannot be attributed to any loosening of American military rules of combat, he said, and Washington hasn't decided to tolerate greater risk of civilian casualties in U.S. airstrikes. Amnesty International on Tuesday said the rising death toll suggested the U.S.-led coalition wasn't taking adequate precautions as it helps Iraqi forces try to retake the city. — Compiled from AP reports
by Congress and the U.S. does not contribute to Africa's current crisis, experts warn that the continent's growing drought and famine could have far-ranging effects, including a new wave of migrants heading to Europe and possibly more support for Islamic extremist groups. The conflict-fueled hunger crises in Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan have culminated in a trio of potential famines hitting almost simultaneously. Nearly 16 million people in the three countries are at risk of
dying within months. Famine already has been declared in two counties of South Sudan and 1 million people there are on the brink of dying from a lack of food, U.N. officials have said. Somalia has declared a state of emergency over drought and 2.9 million of its people face a food crisis that could become a famine, according to the U.N. And in northeastern Nigeria, severe malnutrition is widespread in areas affected by violence from Boko Haram extremists. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Lawmakers in Republican-led Kansas vote to expand Medicaid TOPEKA, Kan.— Kansas' Republican-controlled Legislature approved an expansion Tuesday of state health coverage to thousands of poor adults under former President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, days after the collapse of GOP leaders' repeal effort in Washington. The bill would expand the state's Medicaid program for the poor, disabled and elderly so that it would cover up to 180,000 additional adults who aren't disabled. It now heads to conservative Republican Gov. Sam Brownback. The collapse of efforts by President Donald Trump and top Republicans in the U.S. House to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act buoyed supporters of expanding Medicaid in Kansas. But
Thad Allton / AP
One nay vote was added Tuesday, March 28, in favor of expansion of KanCare by the Senate.
the move's success in the GOPleaning state also reflected elections last year that brought more moderates and liberals into the Legislature. "I'm ecstatic! I am, and I'm high on happiness," said state Sen. Barbara Bollier, a moderate Kansas City-area Republican and retired anesthesiologist. "The citizens of this state took a
stand in November and said we wanted change, and now you're seeing it." But lawmakers on both sides of the debate expect Brownback to veto the measure. He has long been a vocal critic of Obama's health care law and endorsed a plan pursued by Trump and GOP congressional leaders. — Compiled from AP reports
On this date: In 1638, Swedish colonists settled in present-day Delaware. In 1790, the tenth president of the United States, John Tyler, was born in Charles City County, Virginia. In 1792, Sweden's King Gustav III died, nearly two weeks after he had been shot and mortally wounded by an assassin during a masquerade party. In 1912, British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, his doomed expedition stranded in an Antarctic blizzard after failing to be the first to reach the South Pole, wrote the last words of his journal: "For Gods sake look after our people." In 1936, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler claimed overwhelming victory in a plebiscite on his policies. In 1943, World War II rationing of meat, fats and cheese began. In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted in New York of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. (They were executed in June 1953.) The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I" opened on Broadway. In 1973, the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1984, under cover of early morning darkness, the Baltimore Colts football team left its home city of three decades and moved to Indianapolis. In 1992, Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton acknowledged experimenting with marijuana "a time or two" while attending Oxford University, adding, "I didn't inhale and I didn't try it again." Ten years ago: A defiant, Democratic-controlled Senate approved, 51-47, legislation calling for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within a year (however, supporters of the bill were unable to muster enough votes to override a promised veto by President George W. Bush). Veteran diplomat Ryan Crocker was sworn in as the new U.S. ambassador to Iraq. West Virginia beat Clemson, 78-73, for its first NIT title in 65 years. Five years ago: A divided House approved, 228-191, a $3.6 trillion Republican budget recasting Medicare and imposing sweeping cuts in domestic programs. Stanford routed Minnesota 75-51 to win the NIT title. One year ago: In the clearest sign yet of the impact of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, labor unions won, on a tie vote, a high-profile Supreme Court dispute they had seemed all but certain to lose. President Barack Obama told the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta that opioid abuse needed to be a higher-priority issue for the federal government. A man described as "psychologically unstable" hijacked a flight from Egypt to Cyprus, threatening to blow it up; his explosives turned out to be fake and he surrendered with all passengers released unharmed after a bizarre, six-hour standoff. Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke, 69, died in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Today's Birthdays: Author Judith Guest is 81. Former British Prime Minister Sir John Major is 74. Comedian Eric Idle is 74. Composer Vangelis is 74. Basketball Hall of Famer Walt Frazier is 72. Singer Bobby Kimball (Toto) is 70. Actor Bud Cort is 69. Actor Brendan Gleeson is 62. Actor Christopher Lawford is 62. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Earl Campbell is 62. Actress Marina Sirtis is 62. International Gymnastics Hall of Famer Kurt Thomas is 61. Actor Christopher Lambert is 60. Comedianactress Amy Sedaris is 56. Model Elle Macpherson is 54. Movie director Michel Hazanavicius is 50. Rock singer-musician John Popper (Blues Traveler) is 50. Actress Lucy Lawless is 49. Country singer Regina Leigh (Regina Regina) is 49. Country singer Brady Seals is 48. Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is 46. CBS News correspondent Lara Logan is 46. Actor Sam Hazeldine is 45. International Tennis Hall of Famer Jennifer Capriati is 41. Actor Chris D'Elia is 37. Pop singer Kelly Sweet is 29. Thought for Today: "To silence criticism is to silence freedom." — Sidney Hook, American philosopher and author (1902-1989).
MONDAY, APRIL 3 Chess Club. Every Monday, 4-6 p.m. LBV-Inner City Branch Library, 202 W. Plum St. Compete with other players in this cherished game played internationally. Free instruction for all ages and skill levels. Chess books and training materials are available. Ray of Light anxiety and depression support group meeting. 6:30—7:30 p.m. Area Health Education Center, 1505 Calle del Norte, Suite 430. Every first Monday of the month. People suffering from anxiety and depression are invited to attend this free, confidential and anonymous support group meeting. While a support group does not replace an individual’s medical care, it can be a valuable resource to gain insight, strength and hope.
CONTACT US
AROUND TEXAS Mom angry over Dallas airport security pat down of special needs son GRAPEVINE, Texas — A mother says she and her special needs son were "treated like dogs" after her request for alternate screening at DallasFort Worth International Airport led an officer to closely
pat down the boy. Jennifer Williamson videotaped Sunday's search of her son, Aaron, who appears to cooperate. The Facebook video was viewed nearly 6 million times by Tuesday. Williamson, who didn't give her son's age or their destination, says he has sensory processing disorder. She says he didn't set off any alarms through security. A Transportation Security
Administration statement says approved procedures were followed to resolve an alarm on the passenger's laptop. Williamson says they were detained more than an hour. TSA officials say Williamson and her son were at the checkpoint 45 minutes, including to discuss screening procedures with her. — Compiled from AP reports
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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 |
A3
LOCAL & STATE
Dallas using officers Famed culinary historian to lecture to ease staffing woes at 911 center at TAMIU today ASSOCIATED PRE SS S P ECIAL T O T HE T I ME S
One of Laredo’s shining stars in the world of culinary history, Maite Gomez-Rejón will return to the Gateway City briefly for a special guest lecture at Texas A&M International University Wednesday, March 29. Gomez-Rejón joins the University for its A.R. Sanchez, Jr. Presidential Lecture Series (Distinguished Lecture Series) at 6:30 p.m. in the Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Theatre. Her lecture topic will be “Food, Identity and Authenticity in Latin America.” The lecture is free of charge and open to the public. Gomez-Rejón earned her BFA from The University of Texas at Austin, an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Grande Diplome from the French Culinary Institute in New York City. Since 1995, she has worked in the education departments of renowned museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the J.
GomezRejón
Paul Getty Museum. She has also worked as a private chef and caterer for rock stars and celebrities. In 2007, Gomez-Rejón founded ArtBites, which combines art and culinary history with handson cooking instruction, and now teaches at museums across the country. She has been a guest on the Today Show, featured in Food & Wine Magazine and interviewed on NPR’s Splendid Table, among others. Her blog, “Cooking Art History,” appears in The Huffington Post. She has also lectured at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and
The University of Texas at San Antonio, and has brought her programs to inner city and private schools in and around LA County. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two dogs. Gomez-Rejón is the daughter of the late Dr. Julio C. Gomez-Rejón and Beti Gomez-Rejón. The A.R. Sanchez, Jr. Presidential Lecture Series (Distinguished Lecture Series) is an occasional series at the University that seeks to bring innovative thinkers and creators to the University in public lectures open to both students and the University community at large. It is made possible through generosity and vision of Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Sanchez, Jr. The most recent lecture featured the insight of former Pakistan Minister of Education, Dr. Khalid Khan who presented “One Generation of Educated Women.” The Lecture Series is coordinated by University College. To learn more about Gomez-Rejón, visit http:// artbites.net
Supreme Court rules for Texas death row inmate A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court sided on Tuesday with a Texas death row inmate who claims he should not be executed because he is intellectually disabled. The justices, by a 5-3 vote, reversed a Texas appeals court ruling that held that inmate Bobby James Moore was not intellectually disabled. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in her majority opinion that Texas’ top criminal appeals court ignored current medical standards and required use of outdated criteria when it decided Moore isn’t mentally disabled. That ruling removed a legal hurdle to Moore’s execution for the shotgun slaying of a Houston grocery store clerk in 1980. The decision was the second this term in which the high court has ruled for a Texas death row inmate. In February, the justices said race
improperly tainted inmate Duane Buck’s death sentence. Moore Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, along with Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. The Supreme Court held in 2002 that people convicted of murder who are intellectually disabled cannot be executed. The court gave states some discretion to decide how to determine intellectual disability. The justices
have wrestled in several more recent cases about how much discretion to allow. In 2014, the court ruled unconstitutional a Florida law that barred any other evidence of intellectual disability if an inmate’s IQ was over 70. Texas looks at three main points to define intellectual disability: IQ scores, with 70 generally considered a threshold; an inmate’s ability to interact with others and care for him- or herself and whether evidence of deficiencies in either of those areas occurred before age 18.
DALLAS — Dallas is using police officers to help staff its 911 call center as the city contends with chronic staffing shortages that have contributed to long wait times for people calling about emergencies. City council members have expressed concern
that officers are being taken off their patrols to staff the call center at a time when the police department is facing its own staffing shortfall. Officials say progress is being made in reducing the spike in wait times that have plagued the call center in recent months. There have been times
when hundreds of 911 calls were placed on hold and it may have contributed to delays in emergency response for two people who died in separate incidents. Officials have previously said technological glitches were fixed and have helped reduce the spike in wait times.
Easing coal rules unlikely to make US energy independent By David Koenig ASSOCIATED PRE SS
DALLAS — The Trump administration is gutting Obama-era regulations opposed by the coal industry, but the strategy isn't likely to have much effect on U.S. energy independence. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was ushering in "the start of a new era" in energy production by signing an executive order that seeks to block, reverse or review several of President Barack Obama's initiatives to limit climate change. Some will take effect immediately; others could take years and face long court challenges. A new era in U.S. energy began a decade ago, when drilling companies used new techniques to extract vast amounts of natural gas and oil be-
neath Texas, New Mexico, North Dakota, the Rockies and other regions of the country. And still the country imports millions of barrels each day of the oil it consumes each day to power its cars, trucks and factories. The moves Trump announced will do little to change that equation. The order helps Trump fulfill his campaign promise to roll back President Barack Obama's plan to cut climate-changing emissions, which was bitterly opposed by coal companies and many voters in coal country. It also would start a review of rules opposed by the oil and industry. It's not clear that the order will boost production as advertised. Production has responded more to market prices and technological advances more than the regulatory environment.
"U.S. oil production nearly doubled under President Obama not withstanding increased regulatory efforts to address climate change," said Jason Bordoff, a Columbia University professor and former adviser to Obama on energy and climate change. Deregulation would reduce producers' costs at the margin, he said, "but these are pretty small cost impacts compared to the massive collapse we've seen in the global oil market over the last two years." U.S. oil production bottomed out at 5 million barrels a day in 2008. Since then it has nearly doubled, to 9.4 million in 2015, although if fell back to 8.9 million barrels a day last year because lower prices caused operators to shutter some wells.
Zopinion
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A4 | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
OP-ED
OTHER VIEWS
Latin America needs more whistle-blowers Mac Margolis BL O O M BE RG
In Latin America, crooked business goes by many names. Whatever you call corruption, people in 13 countries in the Americas agreed that it is one of the region’s biggest scourges, according to pollster Latinobarometro. The algae bloom of scandal trailing dodgy Brazilian contractor Odebrecht SA’s continental dealings has only cemented that conviction. The systemic nature of fraud and graft in Latin America discourages nonconformists, and the complicity of sitting government officials and ranking executives makes whistle-blowers more vulnerable targets. Some individuals have been willing to speak out or at least to demure when illicit deeds or temptations loom. That fearlessness is a heartening sign in societies where scruples sometimes seem a luxury and elected office, a private franchise. Unless Latin Americans can not only encourage but protect their refuseniks, however, these gains will ephemeral. The stakes are considerable, as the latest scam involving dicey practices at Brazil’s slaughterhouses has shown. The toxic pact between some outlaw meat-packers and allegedly crooked health inspectors might never have come to light, let alone bloom into an international scandal, if not for an upright bureaucrat, who tipped off the federal police after higher-ups in the agriculture ministry ignored his back-channel warnings. Last year, Mexican highway police drew praise, and not a few gasps, when they pulled over fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and arrested him rather than look the other way and pocket the difference. Then there was the case of the El Salvador national football team: Last September, it declined and denounced a proposal to fix a match in a World Cup qualifier. The team’s public “no” stood in sharp contrast to the collective “sí” another Salvadoran squad gave to game-fixing in 2013, thereby landing 14 players a lifetime ban from the beautiful game. The penalty for taking such stands looms large, however. Consider the fate of Jose Maria Bakovic, a former World Bank analyst and Bolivian bureaucrat who tried to clean up the government’s graft-riddled roads services department but ran into a wall
of vested interests. He became a target of investigation himself, after populist strongman Evo Morales was elected president in 2006. Ill and ageing, Bakovic spent his last years trying to clear his name in 72 lawsuits in courtrooms across Bolivia, finally collapsing after being ordered to a hearing — against doctor’s orders — in the thin air of La Paz, the 3,600meter-high capital. The coroner reported that he died of heart failure; former President Jorge Quiroga called the cause “judicial bullying.” In a region where witness protection is frail and the independent judiciary a work in progress when it isn’t a fiction, that anyone speaks up at all is a wonder. This failing is not just ethical, but institutional. “In countries that have the rule of law, those who say no to corruption have a chance,” said Venezuelan-born human rights advocate Thor Halvorssen, of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation. “In the southern cone, whistle-blowers get shamed and persecuted.” Latin America’s increasing engagement with the global economy has helped, as companies that do business abroad must comply with tighter international anti-bribery compacts, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act. As a result, U.S. regulators are receiving reports on corruption from a growing number of countries across Latin America, while tip-offs from Brazil doubled from 2014 to 2015. And yet there is much more to do. A 2016 survey by Miller & Chevalier, a Washington law firm, found that since 77 percent of respondents in 19 Latin American countries had little faith in anti-corruption measures, most thought reporting illicit activity a “futile exercise.” That could explain why another Brazilian refusenik, Flavio Turquino, quietly quit his job in the agriculture ministry when he learned of a bribery scheme linked to disgraced federal lawmaker Eduardo Cunha, who was deposed and jailed for taking bribes and influence peddling last year in the Carwash case. True, Turquino didn’t call out Cunha for the crime, but at least he did say no. Margolis writes about Latin America for Bloomberg View. He was a reporter for Newsweek and is the author of “The Last New World: The Conquest of the Amazon Frontier.”
COLUMN
Once we listened to Beatles; now we eat beetles Tyler Cowen BL OOMBERG
Since the 1960s and ‘70s, food has replaced music’s centrality to American culture. These are invariably somewhat subjective impressions, but I’d like to lay out my sense of how the social impact of music has fallen and the social role of food has risen. In the earlier era, new albums were eagerly awaited and bought in the hundreds of thousands immediately upon their release. Diversity in the musical world was relatively low, as genres such as rap, heavy metal, techno and ambient either didn’t exist or weren’t well developed. It was also harder to access the music of the more distant past — no Spotify or YouTube — and thus people listened to the same common music more frequently. That was by no means a good deal for every listener in terms of pleasure, but it did give music a powerful social influence. Bob Dylan, the Beatles and various forms of hippie music shaped political debates, introduced many people to drugs or long hair, and were a touchstone for the age. With the possible exception of Kendrick Lamar, musicians today don’t have comparable ideological reach. Taylor Swift is a paradigm of the nonpolitical, intellectually generic pop star, and it was mostly a nonevent when Kanye West endorsed Donald Trump for president. In contrast to the past, today’s pop hardly ever cites literary sources, a sign of its relatively generic content. Furthermore, pop is holding steady, and rock ‘n’ roll is on the decline. The rhythmic, propulsive and sometimes dissonant nature of cutting-edge music in the
Diversity in the musical world was relatively low, as genres such as rap, heavy metal, techno and ambient either didn’t exist or weren’t well developed. 1960s and ‘70s often impelled us to get up and do something. Both black and white music were central to the civil-rights era and the protests against the Vietnam War, and Pete Seeger’s “We Shall Overcome” was known to millions of Americans. These days, streaming has replaced music ownership, and so music is less of a source of identity and social connection. Teenagers and 20-somethings signal their affiliations with social media, so music’s bonding function has diminished significantly, along with much of its political power. The big political struggles of the last 15 years, whether over the Iraq War or Obamacare, just weren’t that closely tied to music. Most of the top music from the 1990s, such as say Alanis Morissette, would sound current if released today, a sign of cultural stasis in what was once a highly socially charged and rapidly changing sector. In 1967, music from 20 or even 10 years earlier sounded quite different and indeed archaic. As for where the change and innovation have come, it’s hard to think of any sphere of American life where the selection and quality have improved so much as food, whether in the supermarket or in restaurants. American cities become more interesting places to dine each year, and the attention paid to food on TV and online has been growing steadily since the 1990s. Restaurants are increasingly an organizing and revitalizing force in
our cities, and eating out has continued to rise as a means of socializing. America’s educated professional class may be out of touch with sports and tired of discussing the weather, and so trading information about new or favorite restaurants, or recipes and ingredients, has become one of the new all-purpose topics of conversation. Food is a relatively gender-neutral topic, and furthermore immigrant newcomers can be immediately proud of what they know and have eaten. But, in spite of my own rather passionate connection to the food world, I consider this a Faustian bargain because it reflects, and may to some extent be inducing, what I elsewhere have described as a complacency and a slowing down of cultural change. Music made us get up and dance, or occasionally throw a rock. Food, especially if combined with wine, encourages a state of satiety and repose. Most conversation about food is studiously nonpolitical and removed from controversial social issues. There is a layer of leftwing critique of food corporations, genetic modification and foodassociated pollution, but its impact on broader American culture has been marginal. These days, it could be said that food is the opiate of the educated classes. Anecdotally, I observe that the contemporary preoccupation with a particular kind of food fanciness and diversity has penetrated black communities less, and those are also the groups where music
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DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
might in some cases remain politically important. Otherwise, the contemporary food world grants diners the ability to cite a multicultural allegiance without controversy. One can mention a taste for Senegalese food, and win credibility for sophistication and worldliness, as well as knowledge of Africa. At the same time, one isn’t pinned down to having to defend any other specific feature of Senegalese culture. Maffa — usually a meat in peanut and tomato sauce — isn’t that controversial or revolutionary as a concept. The current culinary touchstone is the foodie or TV host who “eats everything,” from pig snouts to worms to scorpions. Cannibalism aside, the list of what has been consumed on television is now so long it’s hard to shock viewers (not only do some insects taste like potato chips, but in some dining circles consuming potato chips is arguably the more rebellious act). The more prosaic truth, however, is that eating everything is not much of a revolution. If anything, historical resonance has been achieved by people who refused to eat certain foods, whether the underlying doctrine was vegetarianism, Jainism, Judaism or Islam. I like to think music might win back its social and intellectual resonance, but in the meantime please pass me the green mango chili fish sauce. Cowen is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University and writes for the blog Marginal Revolution. His books include “Average Is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation.”
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 |
A5
CRIME
Houston vet charged in murder-for-hire plot leaps to death A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS
HOUSTON — A Houston veterinarian charged with attempting to orchestrate the murder of her ex-husband has leapt to her death the day before she was scheduled to appear in court, authorities confirmed on Tuesday. Valerie Busick McDaniel jumped Monday morning from her seventh-floor condo, according to the Harris County district attorney's office and Houston police. "A note detailing instructions concerning her final wishes, as well as sealed letters addressed to family members, were found inside her apartment," Houston police said in a state-
ment. A court hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday for the 48-year-old McDaniel, who was charged earlier this month with solicitation of capital murder. She had earlier posted bail. The case against McDaniel would be dismissed when the district attorney's office receives an official death certificate, according to prosecutors. Authorities said McDaniel and her boyfriend hired an undercover police officer posing as a hit man to kill their former partners. Both were charged with solicitation of capital murder. Her boyfriend, 39year-old Leon Philip
Jacob, remains in the Harris County jail, held without bond. Before his arrest, Jacob was already facing charges of stalking and assaulting his exgirlfriend. George Parnham, an attorney for Jacob, said his client was "devastated" by the news of McDaniel's death. A bond hearing in Jacob's case was set for Wednesday. A request by Jacob to attend McDaniel's funeral was denied by a judge on Tuesday. Prosecutors say McDaniel wanted her ex-husband killed, while Jacob sought to have his exgirlfriend kidnapped and later killed to prevent her from testifying against him in the assault case.
Dallas woman guilty of buttocks injection that killed client ASSOCIATED PRE SS
DALLAS — A Dallas salon worker was found guilty Tuesday of murder in the death of woman injected in the buttocks with industrial-grade silicone during an illegal cosmetic procedure. Denise "Wee Wee" Ross was found guilty after the Dallas County jury deliberated over the course of two days. The 45-year-old cosmetician also was found guilty of practicing medicine without a license. Prosecutors said Ross injected the silicone into Wykesha Reid's buttocks to give her what the salon called the "Wee Wee Booty." The compound circulated through the 34-yearold woman's lungs, probably causing the 34-yearold client difficulty breathing, said Dr. Stephen Lenfest, who performed the autopsy on Reid.
She was found dead at the salon early one morning in 2015, having been dead Ross for four to eight hours, Lenfest testified. Defense attorney Heath Harris said he and Ross never denied giving the illegal injections at the time of Reid's death, but Harris said prosecutors had not proved that Ross had given Reid her injections. The trial moved to the punishment phase Tuesday afternoon. Ross faces up to life in prison. According to trial testimony, Reid had given illegal injections for more than three years in Dallas, telling customers they were getting saline or "hydrogel" injections. Jimmy Joe "Alicia" Clark also gave the sil-
icone injections to Reid, who died of a pulmonary embolism. However, Clark's murder charge was changed to manslaughter in return for her testimony against Clark. She goes on trial in June. The conviction of Ross came on the same day that a Florida judge imposed a 10-year prison sentence on a South Florida woman who performed illegal buttocks-enhancements, injecting her clients with toxic materials including tire sealant and superglue and causing one woman's death. Local media outlets report that 36-year-old Oneal Ron Morris was sentenced Monday in Broward County court. She pleaded no contest last month to manslaughter and practicing medicine without a license. A woman died from complications related to the injections.
1 Texas death row inmate gets appeal, 2nd inmate rejected By Michael Graczyk A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HOUSTON — A federal appeals court is allowing an inmate who has been on Texas' death row for nearly 25 years for a double slaying in Houston to move forward with an appeal and has upheld the conviction of another prisoner condemned for the shooting deaths of four people in suburban Dallas in 2004. In the Houston case involving 52-year-old inmate Rick Allan Rhoades, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to consider
Rhoades
Cortez
whether his trial judge in 1992 was wrong during the sentencing phase to exclude from jurors childhood photos depicting Rhoades in normal, happy activities to show he was nonviolent and would do well in a prison environment. The judge had ruled the photos were irrelevant. The appeals court also
said in its ruling issued late Monday that it will consider arguments on whether jurors were improperly told Rhoades could be released on furlough from a life sentence when actually no Texas convict with a life sentence for capital murder had ever been allowed a furlough. In addition, the appeals court told attorneys they would look at whether two potential jurors were improperly disqualified because they were black. Rhoades is white but the court said he can raise the issue. His lawyers contend that prosecutors questioned
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the potential jurors who were black differently. Rhoades was convicted of fatally stabbing two Houston brothers, Charles Allen, 31, and Bradley Allen, 33, during a robbery at their home. The Sept. 13, 1991, killings occurred one day after Rhoades had been released on parole after serving three years of a five-year burglary sentence. In the second case, the appeals court rejected claims from 36-year-old Raul Cortez that his lawyers were deficient at his trial for the quadruple fatal shooting in McKinney in 2004.
A three-judge panel of the court last year said it had "considerable doubt" that Cortez's claim would be successful, but the judges who ruled Monday said if there was doubt in a death penalty case it deserved to be reviewed. Cortez's attorneys argued his trial lawyers were deficient for not objecting to numerous instances in which prosecutors referred to inadmissible polygraph evidence. The court said the evidence did not prejudice his case. Lower courts said the defense strategy not to object was reasonable to
gain credibility with the jury. Testimony showed the killings at a McKinney home, which authorities called the worst mass slaying ever in Collin County, were the result of a botched robbery attempt. Killed were Rosa Barbosa, 46, the manager of a check-cashing business; her nephew, Mark Barbosa, 25; and his friends, Matthew Self, 17, and Austin York, 18. The case went unsolved for three years until an accomplice acknowledged his participation and implicated Cortez.
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Zfrontera A6 | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
BORDER REGION BEHAVIORAL HEALTH CENTER
TAMIU
Buscan director ejecutivo Graduación será en LEA Por Judith Rayo TIEM P O DE ZAPATA
La junta diectiva del Centro de Salud del Comportamiento Border Region discutirá esta mañana en Zapata quién debe ser seleccionado para ocupar el puesto de director ejecutivo. Para buscar un nuevo director ejecutivo, fue formado un comité de búsqueda integrado por cuatro miembros del consejo. Los miembros del consejo que forman parte del
comité de búsqueda son Julie Bazan, Roberto Vela, Rosie Benavides y Yolanda Davis. La búsqueda de un director ejecutivo se produce después de que Daniel Castillón dimitiera en junio para ocuparse de otros intereses. Castillón trabajó para el centro de salud durante 26 años. Se desempeñó como director ejecutivo durante 10 años. "Ellos tuvieron un proceso muy deliberado y cuidadoso para asegurarse de elegir al candidato que
consideran que está mejor calificado para el puesto", dijo el abogado Juan Cruz. En la actualidad, María Sánchez y Rolando Gutiérrez se desempeñan como co-directores ejecutivos interinos. "Las operaciones del centro han funcionado sin problemas bajo los codirectores ejecutivos interinos", dijo Cruz. No ha habido retraso en el nombramiento de un director ejecutivo. El comité de selección compuesto por 4 miembros de la junta directiva ha sido
muy minucioso en la selección de varios candidatos. El comité proporcionará información y recomendaciones sobre las calificaciones de los solicitantes seleccionados durante la sesión ejecutiva en la reunión de la junta directiva de mañana. Corresponderá a la junta decidir qué medidas tomar. La junta directiva nombró a dos directores interinos que han gestionado con éxito las operaciones del centro.
POLÍTICA
Plantea recorte millonario Por Andrew Taylor A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — El presidente Donald Trump propone recortes presupuestarios de 18.000 millones de dólares que afectarán la investigación médica, la infraestructura y el desarrollo comunitario para que los contribuyentes estadounidenses, no México, puedan hacer el pago inicial del muro fronterizo.
La Casa Blanca presentó los documentos al Congreso en medio de las negociaciones por un proyecto que evitaría el cierre parcial del gobierno a fines de abril. El paquete incluye 1,1 billones para facturas pendientes de pago y el pedido del gobierno de 30.000 millones de dólares adicionales para el Pentágono. La propuesta de Trump, revelada el martes, eliminaría 1.200 mil-
lones de dólares en subsidios para la investigación otorgados por los Institutos Nacionales de Salud. El programa de ayuda comunitaria se reduciría en 1.500 millones de dólares y el proyecto de subsidios para transportes llamado TIGER tendría 500 millones de dólares menos. Tal como el proyecto de presupuesto 2018 de Trump, rechazado tanto por demócratas como por
los republicanos a principios de mes, estas propuestas difícilmente se convertirán en ley. La lista de recortes fue enviada al legislativo como un conjunto de opciones para los legisladores republicanos y sus colaboradores. El gobierno quedaría paralizado, salvo por algunas funciones, a partir del 29 de abril de no aprobarse una medida para los gastos.
Por Judith Rayo TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Más de 700 estudiantes de TAMIU se graduarán en mayo, convirtiéndose en la clase más grande en la historia de la institución de educación superior. Con la graduación de 748 estudiantes, la Universidad Internacional Texas A&M celebrará el 19 de mayo con una ceremonia en el Laredo Energy Arena. Tom Mitchell, rector de TAMIU y vicepresidente de asuntos académicos, dijo que es común que cada estudiante invite al menos a 10 familiares o amigos a la ceremonia de graduación. Para evitar que el edificio se llenara o tuvieran que rechazar a personas en la entrada, funcionarios de TAMIU decidieron reubicar la ceremonia. En un correo electrónico dirigido a los estudiantes, el presidente de TAMIU, Pablo Arenaz, describió la ceremonia como una "clase histórica". "La graduación es un momento cúspide en su vida y debe ser compartido con todos los que le
han ayudado a completar este viaje trascendental", dijo Arenaz. Mitchell dijo que los estudiantes que cursan 15 créditos por semestre impulsaron a los estudiantes a graduarse en cuatro años, un objetivo que los funcionarios de TAMIU siguen promoviendo. Desde el otoño de 2015 hasta el otoño de 2016, el número de créditos semestrales cursados aumentó en un 5 por ciento. "Vemos esto como un éxito para conseguir que los estudiantes ingresen a la fuerza de trabajo más rápidamente", dijo Mitchell. Aunque TAMIU está celebrando su logro, los funcionarios entienden que algunos estudiantes podrían estar decepcionados en la ubicación de la ceremonia. “Ellos aman su campus”, dijo Mitchell. “Ellos pasaron su carrera educativa aquí. Preferiríamos tenerlo en el campus, simplemente no tenemos suficiente espacio”. En el correo electrónico, Arenaz aseguró a los estudiantes que su experiencia de graduación sería histórica y memorable.
FRONTERA
RIBEREÑA EN BREVE
AYUDARÁN A PAISANOS EN SEMANA SANTA
CAMINATA
1 La Ciudad de Roma invita al público el próximo 1 de abril a asistir a la caminata para concientizar sobre el autismo en el Parque Municipal de Roma a partir de las 9 a.m. Para mayores informes llame al 956-844-4641 o 956-573-7063 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 está capacitado y puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores. Pida informes al 956-765-8983. 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.
Foto de cortesía | Gobierno de Nuevo Laredo
Nuevo Laredo brindará ayuda a los paisanos en semana santa mediante un módulo de auxilio en el CITEV durante el periodo del operativo que inició el 27 de marzo.
Módulo estará hasta 27 de abril E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Nuevo Laredo, MÉXICO — Para facilitar el flujo de visitantes por esta frontera en vacaciones de Semana Santa, el gobierno municipal coordi-
na con autoridades federales y estatales el Operativo Paisano. Se instaló un módulo de auxilio en el CITEV durante el periodo del operativo que inició este 27 de marzo. Omar Enriquez Sán-
chez, director de Protección Civil y Bomberos explicó que el operativo inició este 27 de marzo y concluirá el 27 de abril, durante este periodo instalarán un módulo de auxilio para los connacionales que acudan a las instalaciones del CITEV. “Las indicaciones del presidente municipal, Enrique Rivas es brindar todas las facilidades a los
paisanos para que su paso por esta frontera no tenga contratiempos, vamos apoyarlos en caso de alguna emergencia o falla mecánica”, comentó el funcionario. Añadió que los días previos al arranque del operativo, sostuvieron reuniones con autoridades federales y aduana Americana para coordinar las acciones que ayu-
den a agilizar el paso de los viajeros. “Tenemos un puente internacional cerrado sólo funciona el Puente 2 para los vehículos, iniciamos reuniones con autoridades de la Aduana Americana para agilizar el tráfico, ya que en vacaciones de Semana Santa se incrementa el flujo de viajeros del interior del país”.
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. LABORATORIO COMPUTACIONAL
1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes en horario de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Historical Plaza, a un lado del City Hall. Informes en el 956-849-1411.
GUERRERO AYER Y HOY
Virrey autoriza repartir tierras Nota del editor: Esta serie de artículos sobre la historia de Ciudad Guerrero, México, fueron escritos por la guerrerense Lilia Treviño Martínez (1927-2016), quien fuera profesora de la escuela Leoncio Leal. Por Lilia Treviño Martínez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
El 18 de julio de 1757, José Tienda de Cuervo fue comisionado por el
Virrey para realizar visitas a las fundaciones escandonianas, y en el informe que rindió sobre Revilla le instó sobre la urgencia de practicar un repartimiento de tierras para determinar el derecho de los vecinos a establecer sus fincas con base legal, pues la Villa contaba ya con cerca de 400 habitantes. Cabe aclarar que en los primeros años de vida de las fundaciones Escando-
nianas, la propiedad de la tierra era comunal, pues Escandón consideró que era el régimen apropiado para la primera etapa de colonización. Con base en la opinión de José Tienda de Cuervo se hicieron los primeros repartimientos en 1767, y estos están consignados en la general visita, practicada en tiempos del Virrey Marqués de Croix, quien ejerció su gobierno en la Nueva
España durante el período 1766-1771. Para hacer el pedimento sobre repartición de tierras los habitantes de Revilla nombraron como apoderados a Pedro de los Santos, Bernabé Gutiérrez y José Antonio Guerra Cañamar. El número de vecinos empadronados para el reparto de tierras fue de 66, mismo que fue aumentado a 69 en los días
del repartimiento. Una vez obtenida la autorización del Virrey, el gobernador del Nuevo Santander, que era Juan Fernando de Palacio, dio la orden de que se procediera al reparto. El 13 de julio de 1767 se hicieron los repartimientos, partiendo las medidas del centro de la Villa y dejando espacio suficiente para fundo legal, en atención a su futuro crecimiento.
Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 |
A7
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
Witten extended for four years Cowboys get cap flexibility with new deal By Clarence E. Hill Jr. FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
Gregory Shamus / Getty Images file
Cowboys tight end Jason Witten signed a four-year extension worth nearly $30 million but containing no guaranteed money on Tuesday, freeing up cap room for Dallas in the process.
By John McClain H OUSTON CHRONICLE
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Even though Texans coach Bill O'Brien has posted winning records in each of his first three seasons and has won back-to-back AFC South titles, he will not be getting an extension this year. O'Brien is in the fourth year of the fiveyear contract he signed O'Brien with the Texans in 2014. "We'll talk to him about it at the end of this year," owner Bob McNair said Monday. "That's typically when we do that sort of thing." O'Brien has a 27-21 record. Two coaches who were hired the same year as O'Brien — Minnesota's Mike Zimmer (26-22) and Washington's Jay Gruden (21-26-1) — signed two-year extensions. O'Brien is the only one in that threesome who has a playoff victory. Oakland's Jack Del Rio (19-13), who was hired in 2015, already received a four-year extension. "We'll sit down and see what he's (O'Brien) happy with and if he wants to be extended and see how we feel," McNair said. McNair has hired three coaches. Dom Capers was fired after four seasons. Gary Kubiak, hired in 2006 to replace Capers, earned an extension and was fired in 2013.
ing sure Jason Witten was with us as we go forward. "He’s a guy who represents what we want in our football team. He represents that each and every day in everything that he does. He is a great example beyond being a great football player." Witten is a 10-time Pro Bowler with a team-record 1,089 catches for 11,888 yards. He needs 17 receiving yards to pass Michael Irvin’s team mark of 11,904. He has played in more consecutive games (219) or started more consecutive games (163) than anyone in Cowboys history. He is sixth all-time in NFL history in receptions and second among tight ends behind Tony Gonzalez. He remains a veteran voice and leader in a locker room that will begin next season with only two players over the age of 30, Witten and deep snapper L.P. Ladouceur.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: HOUSTON ASTROS
NFL: TEXANS
O'Brien, Texans to talk extension next offseason
PHOENIX - While best friend and former quarterback Tony Romo is headed out the door, tight end Jason Witten reaffirmed his commitment to the Dallas Cowboys by signing a four-year contract extension Tuesday, per executive vice president Stephen Jones. Witten didn’t get any guaranteed money in the new deal, which has a value of $29.6 million. But it gives Cowboys flexibility in being able to restructure his contract for cap relief. The Cowboys have roughly $200,000 in available cap money, according to a source. Vice president Stephen Jones said the Cowboys will exercise the option in the contract to gain cap relief year. "We are just lucky to have him," Jones said from
the NFL Owners meetings in Phoenix. "He wants to make sure he is never not in the last year of his contract. It worked out for everybody. It helped us under the cap this year as well. Witten, who will be 35 next season, was in the final year of his contract with a base salary of $7.4 million and a $12.2 million cap hit. The Cowboys turn the base salary into a signing bonus to lower his cap hit this year. But can Witten play four more years? "If I’m betting on anybody to do it, I’m betting on Witten," Jones said. The deal ensures that the team’s all-time leading receiver and likely future Hall of Famer is a Cowboy for life with a future past the 2017 season. "There was a combination of objectives," coach Jason Garrett said. "Certainly the cap relief was something but also mak-
MCCULLERS NAMED ASTROS’ NO. 2 STARTER Houston will throw McCullers vs. Seattle By Jake Kaplan HOUSTON CHRONICLE
JUPITER, Fla. — Astros manager A.J. Hinch officially set his opening day rotation Tuesday when he announced Lance McCullers will start the team's second game of the regular season April 4 against the Seattle Mariners at Minute Maid Park. McCullers will follow opening day starter Dallas Keuchel, the only lefthander among the Astros' starters. Charlie Morton, Joe Musgrove and Mike Fiers will begin the season as the Nos. 3 through 5 starters, respectively, with Collin McHugh opening on the 10-day disabled list as he plays catch up after "dead arm" delayed the start to his spring training. Hinch's decision to start McCullers over Morton ensures Morton will face the Mariners, one of four teams he has never faced, in each of his first two turns. McCullers will oppose the Kansas City Royals in his second start. His only career start against Kansas City came in Game 4 of the 2015 ALDS, when he allowed just two runs on two hits in 6 1/3 innings before the Astros' bullpen imploded. McCullers will make his 2017 debut on normal four days' rest, as he will start Thursday night's exhibition games against the Chicago Cubs at Min-
Joel Auerbach / Getty Images file
Astros pitcher Lance McCullers has been tabbed as the team’s No. 2 starter behind Dallas Keuchel.
ute Maid Park. Morton will be pitching on six days' rest. He is scheduled for six or seven innings in a minor league game Wednesday in West Palm Beach. "It was really splitting hairs with deciding between the two of them," Hinch said before the Astros' afternoon game against the Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. "There was really not a ton of drama surrounding it. I just had to pick." The 33-year-old Morton was the Astros' best pitcher this spring, allowing only two earned runs and 10 hits over 17 1/3 innings while sitting 94 to 96 mph with his fastball. The injury prone veteran has surpassed 160 innings only once in his nine-year career. The Astros bet $14 million over the next two years on his upside if they
can keep him on the mound. The 23-year-old McCullers, who came into the spring as the Astros' presumed No. 2 starter, gave up eight runs on 15 hits in 12 Grapefruit League innings. The young righthander spent the spring working on his changeup, which he will bring into the season as a complement to his mid-90s fastball and signature power curveball. Fiers is the likely odd man out of the rotation when McHugh is ready to debut. After pitching his scheduled simulated game Saturday, McHugh will join the Astros in Houston for Monday's opening day festivities and then begin an official rehab assignment with one of the team's upperlevel minor league affili-
ates. It's unknown how many rehab starts McHugh will require before he's ready, but the results from his Grapefruit League debut suggest he will need multiple. He allowed three runs on five hits and a walk in just 1 2/3 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. His fastball, which averaged 91 mph last season, sat 88 mph and topped out at 90, according to one scout's radar gun. "Right now I don't want to commit past anything more than one (rehab start) because I don't know how Saturday's going to go and how the first rehab start's going to go," Hinch said. "But one or two makes sense." Odds & ends 1 Dallas Keuchel reached
90 pitches but completed only 4 2/3 innings Tuesday against the Miami Marlins in his final start before opening day. He allowed three runs on six hits, including a Giancarlo Stanton home run, but afterward deemed himself ready for the season. "We like Florida," he said, "but at the same time we're ready to get back and get some of those Houston bright lights." 1 First baseman Conrad Gregor, the Astros' fourth-round draft pick in 2013, and lefthander Zac Person, their ninthround pick in 2015, were among 13 minor leaguers the team released on Tuesday. 1 Righthanded relievers James Hoyt and Jandel Gustave each will make their final spring training appearance in Thursday night's exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs before the Astros pick one Friday for the final spot in their bullpen. 1 Chicago Cubs righthander Kyle Hendricks, who finished third in National League Cy Young Award voting last season, will start opposite the Astros' Joe Musgrove in Friday afternoon's exhibition game at Minute Maid Park. Righthander Brett Anderson will start opposite McCullers in the Thursday night game. 1 Infielder Tyler White, catcher Garrett Stubbs, outfielder Ramon Laureano and righthander Trent Thornton are among the minor leaguers accompanying the Astros to Houston for the two exhibition games. White will begin the season in Class AAA while Stubbs, Laureano and Thornton will start back in Class AA.
A8 | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
STATE
Longtime fugitive pleads guilty in 1983 death of Texas woman A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
AUSTIN, Texas — A man who authorities had sought for decades in the death of a woman in Austin pleaded guilty Tuesday to murder and described himself as a "coward" for running so long. Robert Van Wisse, 52, entered his plea as part of an agreement reached earlier with prosecutors. He'll be imprisoned for 30 years. Van Wisse in December was added to the FBI's list of Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives and a $100,000 reward was offered for information leading to his arrest. He was named in an arrest warrant issued in 1996, charging him with murder in the September 1983 strangling of 22-year-old Laurie Stout. She also was sexually assaulted. Van Wisse was 18 when Stout's body was found in an office building where she worked the night shift cleaning. In-
FBI / AP
This 2016 file image shows Robert Van Wisse, a former University of Texas student sought in the 1983 slaying of a cleaning woman in Austin.
vestigators say he was known to have been in the building registering for a course. The FBI has said investigators initially believed the killing was done impulsively but later changed their findings to say it was premeditated, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The former University of Texas student was born and raised in Mex-
ico and fled to that country after learning he was a suspect. A U.S. warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was issued in 1997. He surrendered to authorities in January at the Laredo border crossing to Mexico. "I want to say that I have no answers for what happened in September 1983," Van Wisse said in court Tuesday, explaining that he had never been
violent before and was never violent in the years afterward. Van Wisse's attorneys, Perry Q. Minton and Rick Flores, said later that they had already negotiated the terms of his plea prior to his surrender to authorities in January. They said Van Wisse married and had children but took steps to avoid detection, working farm jobs and other manual labor while occasionally doing low-level technical support like fixing computers. The lead Travis County prosecutor in the case, Amy Casner, said negotiations that were held to have Van Wisse turn himself in were done with an eye toward avoiding extradition, which can be a lengthy and complicated process. "I'm in my 25th year of prosecuting and this is my first and probably only case like this (involving such a longtime fugitive)," Casner said.
Senate Texas House strengthens OKs bills immigration rules for energy opposing sector open records laws ASSOCIATED PRE SS
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate has approved two proposals seeking to rollback recent state Supreme Court rulings that advocates say weakened open records laws. Passed 31-0 on Tuesday was Sen. Kirk Watson’s bill mandating that governmental entities disclose contracts and other bidding process agreements. It would effectively undo the so-called “Boeing decision” in 2016, where the Texas Supreme Court ruled that such records didn’t have to be made public, citing competitive advantage concerns. A second bill by Watson, an Austin Democrat, was approved 28-3. It opposes a 2015 state Supreme Court ruling involving the Greater Houston Partnership. Watson said that allowed entities fully and partially publicly funded to keep how they spend public money secret. Echoing free-speech advocates’ objections, Watson said the ruling blew “a gaping hole” in Texas’ Public Information Act.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas House has voted to require oil and gas firms to step up efforts to refrain from employing people in the country illegally. Tuesday's 97-46 vote mandates that energy companies use E-verify, a program which lets employers check employees'
legal status. The rule was included in a larger bill regulating the Railroad Commission, which oversees Texas' oil and gas industry. The Legislature is expected to pass a separate, sweeping measure punishing so-called "sanctuary cities," where local authorities don't help the federal government enforce immigration policy.
Democrats argue that Texas is targeting immigrants while ignoring industries employing them — and the proposed E-verify rule drew surprisingly strong bipartisan support. The full Railroad Commission regulation bill cleared the House but still needs Senate approval, meaning the E-verify provision may not survive.
Micro: Rural internet users can expect fewer options By Omar L. Gallaga COX NEWSPAPERS
AUSTIN, Texas — Several readers over the last few months have asked about what their options might be for highspeed internet if they’re living far outside major cities. “Because of our location (12 miles outside Bertram, Texas), the only internet options we currently have are satellite, or dial-up,” a reader named Van wrote. “Our approximately 80 homes endure slow speeds and punishing data caps. It is almost impossible to carry on daily business here that requires any real form of connectivity. “I am writing you to see if there are other options available to communities like ours and if there are, how do we find them? Like much of Austin, we are experiencing growth and the subdivision has the potential to grow to 400 homes. We live in a stunningly beautiful area and our only downfall is our poor connectivity.” Glen, a reader who lives two miles south of Elgin, Texas, said, “I pay for the fastest speed, which usually tops out at 3 MB/sec for downloading. This is just barely fast enough to stream video, which is how we watch TV most of the time via our Roku box as we cannot get cable and choose not to use satellite due to problems that our neighbors and friends have reported. “I’m beginning to feel like the farmers and ranchers must have felt in the days before the Rural Electric Coops were funded. It seems to me that a
similar program needs to happen if people like us will have access to technology that requires fast internet connections.” First, the bad news: If you are far out of the range of modern cellphone towers and away from the reach of even rural internet providers using fiber or other wired technology, you are probably left with the options of satellite internet (good download speeds, slow uploads, though that technology continues to improve to address that) or something through a phone provider such as dial-up or, if you’re lucky, DSL internet. However, wireless tech has come a long way since the dial-up days and if Sprint, AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile have decent LTE coverage in your area, you could look into a wireless home router or hotspot from one of these providers. It’s likely to be much faster than those other options, though you may be limited to whatever the provider’s idea of an “unlimited” data plan entails. These days, some utility companies offer internet service, so ask around in your area. And the new chair of the FCC is apparently bullish on expanding internet in rural areas, so we may see some improvements in that area in the next few years. Connected Texas, a website that frequently posts about internet trends in Texas, has a list of internet providers listed by county. You can contact Connected Texas on Twitter — @connectedtx — and on Facebook with more specific questions.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 |
A9
BUSINESS
Tribes' battle over Dakota Access pipeline not over By Blake Nicholson A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
BISMARCK, N.D. — American Indian tribes fighting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline said Tuesday that the pumping of oil into the pipe under their water source is a blow, but it doesn't end their legal battle. Industry groups say the imminent flow of oil through the pipeline is good news for energy and infrastructure. The comments come after Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners said Monday that it has placed oil in a section of the pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir that's upstream from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. It was the final piece of construction for a pipeline that will carry crude from western North Dakota's Bakken oil fields 1,200 miles through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point near Patoka, Illinois. The pipeline should be fully operational in about three weeks, according to company
spokeswoman Vicki Granado. "We need to build pipelines, roads, rail and transmission lines to grow our economy and secure our nation's energy future," North Dakota Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven said. Cheyenne River Sioux Chairman Harold Frazier said Sioux tribes in the Dakotas still believe they ultimately will persuade a judge to shut down the pipeline that they maintain threatens cultural sites, drinking water and religion. "My people are here today because we have survived in the face of the worst kind of challenges," he said. "The fact that oil is flowing under our lifegiving waters is a blow, but it hasn't broken us." Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault called oil under the lake "a setback, and a frightening one at that." But he and Phillip Ellis, spokesman for the Earthjustice environmental law nonprofit, which is representing that tribe, said they are confident in the court case.
Mike McCleary / AP
In this Feb. 22, 2017, file photo, a large crowd representing a majority of the remaining Dakota Access Pipeline protesters march out of the Oceti Sakowin camp before the 2 p.m. local time deadline set for evacuation of the camp mandated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers near Cannon Ball, N.D.
"The flow of oil under Lake Oahe is a temporary reminder of the pain this pipeline has perpetrated to those that have stood with Standing Rock and the devastation it has wreaked on sacred tribal sites, but hope remains," Ellis said. ETP maintains the pipeline is safe and disputes the tribes' claims. The legal battle isn't confined to the Dakotas. In Iowa, the state chapter of the Sierra Club and a
group of landowners are appealing a lawsuit challenging the pipeline to the Iowa Supreme Court. The crux of that dispute is whether the pipeline benefits the public in that state and whether the government was right to allow ETP to use eminent domain to obtain land for the project. "Resistance is more than just the Lake Oahe crossing," said environmental lawyer Carolyn Raffensperger, executive
director of the Science and Environmental Health Network and chairwoman of the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club. ETP wrapped up construction on the pipeline this month after receiving permission from the U.S. government in February for the Lake Oahe work, which had been held up several months by protests and the legal dispute. The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the Missouri River for the government, rescinded a planned environmental study that President Barack Obama's administration had ordered and gave ETP permission to complete the pipeline at the urging of President Donald Trump. "This is a public triumph for President Trump and his commitment to support U.S energy and economic development," said Craig Stevens, spokesman for the MAIN Coalition, made up of agriculture, business and labor entities that benefit from Midwest infrastructure projects. Ron Ness, president of
the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a trade group that represents nearly 500 energy companies including ETP, said the pipeline will "have a significant impact on Bakken transportation going forward." North Dakota is the second-biggest oil producer in the U.S., after Texas. At capacity, the pipeline will be able to transport half of the state's daily oil production of about 1 million barrels. Once the oil reaches Patoka, Illinois, it will be pumped into an existing pipeline that will take it to terminals in Texas, according to Granado, the ETP spokeswoman. ETP has said in court documents that it has long-term transportation contracts with nine companies to ship oil through the pipeline. It could move enough oil to fill 500 or more railroad cars each day, according to the company. It is generally cheaper to move oil by pipeline than by rail, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Hospital stocks soar, big problems remain Texas spending By John Lauerman and Katherine Greifeld BL O O MBE RG
One for-profit hospital in south Texas scrimps on scrubs, blankets, mops and employee overtime. A nonprofit in Boston is fighting to preserve its world-renowned academic research program. The future for both hospitals remains uncertain. With the failure of the Republicans’ overhaul of the Affordable Care Act, hospital administrators from every corner of the U.S. have been breathing a sigh of relief. But the respite will likely be short-lived. True, 24 million Americans won’t be losing their insurance, a fact that has investors buoying hospital stocks for now. Even so, the industry is up against market forces that will compel hundreds of hospitals to shrink, remake themselves or even close in the months and years to come. Obamacare made big strides in providing health coverage, cutting the U.S. uninsured rate almost in half. But more than 220 U.S. counties still have uninsured rates at or above 20 percent, according to an estimate from Enroll America, a
health-advocacy group. Rising interest rates threaten to bog down hospital chains -- including Tenet Healthcare and Community Health Systems -- with debt. Rising patient contributions -- deductibles and co-pays -- are both adding to unpaid bills and discouraging patients from undergoing profitable procedures. “If you have a $5,000 or $10,000 deductible plan and your hip hurts, do you get the surgery, or do you take a couple more Advils a day and hope for the best?” said Spencer Perlman, an analyst at Veda Partners. “I understand this rally, but longer term, I still see more headwinds than tailwinds for hospitals.’’ National bed-occupancy rates are now about 46 percent, part of the migration of patients from ward beds to doctors’ offices, surgery centers and other settings where care is far cheaper to provide, according to John Morrow, a managing director at Franklin Trust Ratings. Most big hospital chains are predicting flat or slow admissions growth this year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jason McGorman.
Many hospitals may not survive. Roughly half broke even or had negative operating margins last year, with most of the poorest performers among the nonprofit and government ranks, Morrow said. “When you see the core business numbers under water, but the place is still skating by, you have to ask yourself, is that sustainable?” he said. “We hope moving forward that policymakers will focus on improving access to affordable health-care coverage for Americans, protect and strengthen the Medicaid program for the most vulnerable and restore needed Medicare funding so community hospitals have sufficient resources to continue to deliver high quality care,” Chip Kahn, CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals, a for-profit industry group, said in a March 24 statement. About 60 miles from the Texas-Mexico border, the 25-bed Big Bend Regional Medical Center is in a virtual Obamacarefree zone. Texas didn’t expand Medicaid, and few locals signed up for individual ACA plans. On an average day, eight of
the beds are occupied, and about one in four patients is uninsured, said Diane Moore, chief executive officer of Big Bend, a member of the Quorum Health Corp. for-profit chain. Big Bend’s operating margin in 2016 was minus 32 percent, or a loss of $400,000. Moore is trying to keep the institution afloat, hiring surgeons to drive in for one or two days a week so patients won’t have to travel more than 140 miles to a bigger hospital in Odessa. In the meantime, she cautiously doles out supplies and holds off on painting and other maintenance. Compounding last year’s pain, Big Bend had bad debt, including unpaid bills, of $4 million on a budget of $55 million. The good news, Moore said, is that uninsured patients at least try to pay their bills, for which she charges a discounted rate. “This is better than any hospital I’ve ever been at for self-pay,” Moore said. Still, “we average 15 cents on the dollar for collections.” Hospitals long for the days when they could count on steady increases in Medicare reimbursement that they gave up when the ACA passed.
bill passes Senate amid budget woes By Paul J. Weber ASSOCIATED PRE SS
AUSTIN, Texas — Budget woes in Texas caused by a prolonged oil slump would be patched with cuts to higher education, kicking the can down the road on growing Medicaid and rebuffing priorities of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott under an austere spending bill passed unanimously Tuesday by the state Senate. Texas’ finances are not as bleak as other energy states — Oklahoma is grappling with a roughly $870 million shortfall that could decimate core state services, and Kansas is considering big tax increases to offset serious budget problems. But booming Texas is still belt-tightening in the wake of sagging energy prices. Budget observers put the state short as much as $6 billion to meet the current level of state services over the next two fiscal years. That has increased tensions among Republicans over how to cut back at an already divisive
time in the GOP-controlled Legislature. Lawmakers are at each other’s throats over thorny social issues, including a North Carolina-style “bathroom bill” targeting transgender people and an immigration crackdown on socalled “sanctuary cities.” The $106.3 billion package, approved 31-0, doesn’t fully fund future Medicaid caseloads in rapidly growing Texas. It also closes a state prison and doesn’t give Abbott the dollars he wants for pre-kindergarten and bringing elite researchers to state universities. Classrooms are spared from cuts, but the status quo is unsatisfying to schools and teachers after the Texas Supreme Court last summer ruled that the state’s school finance system is flawed but still barely constitutional. Texas also wouldn’t let up on an $800 million border security mission, even though the Republican leaders have enthusiastically embraced President Donald Trump’s promises to build a wall along the state’s border.
A10 | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
NATIONAL
‘Free speech zones’ on campuses face scrutiny By Collin Binkley ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
From right, Ivanka Trump, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, John R. "Jack" Dailey, director of the National Air and Space Museum and NASA Astronaut Kay Hire, applaud at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, Tuesday, March 28, 2017, during an event to celebrate Women's History Month.
Ivanka Trump, DeVos promote STEM careers By Maria Danilova A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — Ivanka Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday exhorted young girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math, saying those fields will provide the jobs and innovation for the future. Their tour of the National Air and Space Museum with a group of middle school students came as the Trump administration proposed further cuts to education and science, drawing harsh criticism from teachers' unions and others. Ivanka Trump, a successful entrepreneur who considers herself as a women's rights activist, lamented that women make up 48 percent of America's work force but only 24 percent of STEM professionals. "This statistic is showing that we are sadly
moving in the wrong direction. Women are increasingly underrepresented in important fields of science, technology, engineering and math," Trump said. "But I dare you to beat these statistics and advance the role of women in STEM fields." She said she and her 5-year-old daughter Arabella plan to take a coding class together this summer because "coding truly is the language of the future." Astronaut Kay Hire and female researchers at NASA also spoke to the students and DeVos urged the children to follow in their footsteps by studying, working hard and mentoring younger peers. "You can do your part to improve the lives of women in the future," DeVos said. As she praised the role of women in the American space program, Ivanka Trump also said her father's administration has expanded NASA's
space exploration to add Mars as a top objective. But as she spoke, the Trump administration sent Congress a series of "options" for budget cuts, including slashing $3 billion from Education Department, as well as cuts to NASA and the National Institutes of Health. The American Federation of Teachers accused the administration of hypocrisy. "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Ivanka Trump are feigning an interest in STEM careers with a photo op at the National Air and Space Museum while eliminating all funding for NASA's education programs. This takes chutzpah to a new level," AFT president Randi Weingarten said in a statement. "The next generation of astronauts, scientists, engineers and mathematicians need support, not budget cuts eliminating the very programs being promoted."
On some college campuses, students and outsiders are allowed to protest and distribute flyers only in so-called "free speech zones." Supporters say it's a way to protect against disruptions to school operations, but opponents call it censorship. The debate is headed to a federal court in California, where a student on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles Pierce College's "free speech area." Kevin Shaw, 27, says the community college violated his First Amendment rights in November when he was barred from passing out copies of the
U.S. Constitution because he wasn't in the free speech zone — an outdoor area roughly the size of three parking spaces — and because he hadn't applied to use it. Calls to the college and to the Los Angeles Community College District, which oversees Pierce, were not immediately returned. The lawsuit is part of national campaign by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia free speech group whose lawyers are offering to help students fight similar policies at other colleges across the country. The group says 10 percent of the 450 colleges it monitors have similar free speech zones, which
became common in the 1960s as a way to control campus protests against the Vietnam War. Many colleges dropped the practice decades later amid opposition from students, but experts say it has survived at some schools as a way to rein in protests and to regulate outside provocateurs looking for a campus soapbox. "I worry that when we talk about zoning speech, we're really talking about limiting it," said David Hudson, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who has written about campus free speech zones. "On the other hand, the school admittedly does have weighty interests like safety and order."
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 |
A11
ENTERTAINMENT Documentarian to make Muhammad Ali film A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
NEW YORK — The late Muhammad Ali is getting the Ken Burns treatment. The PBS documentarian announced Tuesday that he and two partners will make a two-part, four-hour film about the former heavyweight champ, who died last June. Burns, his daughter Sarah and David McMahon collaborated for Ali a PBS documentary on Jackie Robinson that debuted last year. The tentative plan is to air the Ali film in 2021. Sarah Burns said the outpouring of good will at Ali's death made it easy to forget how divisive it was when the former Cassius Clay took the Ali name when he converted to Islam and refused to join the Army during the Vietnam War. She said filmmakers want to examine what influenced Ali's choices and how he stuck with them despite public condemnation.
Everyone is talking about Rihanna on ‘Bates Motel’ By Bethonie Butler WASHINGTON P O ST
Rihanna has never been one to adhere to tradition when it comes to her music or fashion. So it’s fitting that the pop singer’s two-episode arc on A&E’s “Bates Motel” would buck convention. The horror-drama, now in its fifth and final season, has been billed as a contemporary prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic “Psycho.” Rihanna, an avowed fan of the show, played Marion Crane, the role made famous by Janet Leigh. Even if you’ve never seen “Psycho,” you probably know that Marion doesn’t fare well in the film’s most iconic scene, Marion is brutally stabbed by Norman Bates in the shower.
But that isn’t what happened on Monday’s episode, despite the fact that Rihanna’s Marion did take a steamy shower shortly after checking into the Bates Motel. As in “Psycho” (and the novel that inspired it), Marion arrived at the hotel with a secret: She had stolen a lot of money. The show crafted a suspenseful moment that gave a nod to “Psycho”as Norman - disturbed and imagining his dead mother encouraging him to commit murder - leered at Marion through a hole in the wall of her room. The camera zoomed in on the translucent shower curtain, which Marion pulled back to reveal ... nothing. “Screw this s---,” she said. Marion headed back to the
Cate Cameron / A&E
Rihanna as Marion Crane in A&E's horror-drama "Bates Motel."
motel office, where Norman informed her that her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, was actually married. Marion enacted her revenge - on Sam’s car before speeding away. She went back to the motel, where she was consoled by Norman, who urged her to get out of town, ostensibly to protect herself from being arrested for her crime. Ultimately, it was Sam who was stabbed while taking a shower at the motel, where he had hoped to find Marion. “Mother” urged Norman to kill Sam for treating women the way his father had treated her and Norman carried out
her orders in unsparing detail. “Fundamentally, it was not going to be possible to make Marion Crane an empowered woman of 2017 if she just died in the shower,” co-creator Carlton Cuse told Vulture. “Rihanna really embraced our idea of redefining the character. That was the moment in which she said I’m all-in.” “Bates Motel” has four more episodes until the big finale. Rihanna’s star turn is over since Marion made her getaway, but if you want to see more Riri, you can always re-watch the video of her reacting in real time to her “Bates Motel” debut last week.
World Video Game Hall of Fame names 2017 finalists By Carolyn Thompson A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The World Video Game Hall of Fame's 2017 finalists span decades and electronic platforms, from the 1981 arcade classic "Donkey Kong" that launched Mario's plumbing career to the 2006 living room hit "Wii Sports," that made gamers out of grandparents. The hall of fame at The Strong museum in Rochester said Tuesday that 12 video games are under consideration for induction in May. They also include: "Final Fantasy VII," ''Halo: Combat Evolved," ''Microsoft Windows Solitaire," ''Mortal Kombat," ''Myst," ''Po-
kemon Red and Green," ''Portal," ''Resident Evil," ''Street Fighter II" and "Tomb Raider." The finalists were chosen from thousands of nominations from more than 100 countries, said museum officials, who will rely on an international committee of video game scholars and journalists to select the 2017 class. The winners will be inducted May 4. More about this year's finalists, according The Strong: 1 "Donkey Kong" (1981): Helped to launch the career of game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and sold an estimated 132,000 arcade cabinets. 1 "Final Fantasy VII" (1997): The Sony Playstation's secondmost popular game introduced
3-D computer graphics and full motion video, selling more than 10 million units. 1 "Halo: Combat Evolved" (2001): A launch game for Microsoft's Xbox system, the science-fiction game sold more than 6 million copies and inspired sequels, spin-offs, novels, comic books and action figures. 1 "Microsoft Windows Solitaire" (1991): Based on a centuries-old card game, it has been installed on more than 1 billion home computers and other machines since debuting on Windows 3.0. 1 "Mortal Kombat" (1992): The game's realistic violence was debated internationally and in Congress and was a factor in the 1994 creation of the Entertain-
Vargas 1 Guatemalan Consulate - Del Rio, TX: Vice Consul Karla Orellano 1 Guatemalan Consulate - McAllocate and rescue those in dislen, TX: Consul Cristy Andrino tress, identify those who have Matta perished and reunite their re1 Guatemalan Consulate - Housmains with their families/counton, TX: Consul General Jose tries of origin. Barillas Trennert Emphasis was on the estab1 Guatemalan Consulate - Phoelishment of critical relationships to expand the network of entities, nix, AZ: Consul General Oscar Padilla processes and mechanisms, to accomplish these goals. Key stake- 1 Guatemalan Consulate - Tucholders included members of law son, AZ: Consul Enrique Carlos enforcement agencies at all levels, De Leon Lopez 1 Guatemalan Consulate - Guatemedical examiners, foreign govmala: Representatives Noelia Paz ernment officials, members of and Raquel Donado non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and professionals/educa- 1 Honduran Consulate - McAllen, TX: Consul Ana Bulnes tors from various forensic fields 1 Honduran Consulate - Dallas, of study. TX: Consul Suyapa Carias Related topics included: 1 An overview of deoxyribonucle- 1 Mexican Consulate - Laredo, ic acid (DNA), how it is retrieved, TX: Consul General Carolina Zaragoza Flores analyzed and used for identifica1 Mexican Consulate - Del Rio, tion purposes, and entered into the Combined DNA Index System TX: Consul Carlos Gustavo Obrador Garrido Cuesta (CODIS). 1 Mexican Consulate - Eagle Pass, 1 An overview of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons TX: Consul Ismael Naveja Macias 1 Mexican Consulate - Tucson, System. AZ: Consul Ricardo Pineda AlParticipants: barran 1 U.S. Customs and Border Pro1 Mexican Consulate - McAllen, tection (CBP) TX: Vice Consul Oscar H. Alva 1 Joint Task Force West - South Delgadillo Texas Corridor: Commander Forensic Professionals/EducaManuel Padilla Jr. tors 1 Joint Task Force West - South 1 Maricopa County Medical ExTexas Corridor: Chief of Staff aminer: Investigators Christen John R. Morris Eggers and Courtney Haug 1 Tucson Sector: Division Chief 1 University of North Texas: FoRonald Bellavia 1 Big Bend Sector: Assistant Chief rensic Anthropologist Dr. Harrell Gill-King Patrol Agent Stephen D. Crump 1 University of North Texas: Di1 Del Rio Sector: (A) Chief Patrol rector of DNA Laboratory Dr. Agent Mathew J. Hudak Bruce Budowle 1 El Paso Sector: (A) Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Victor F. Acos- 1 University of North Texas: Forensic Odontologist Dr. Robert ta Williams 1 CBP Attaché in Monterrey, 1 Webb County Medical ExaminMexico: Assistant Chief Patrol er: Dr. Corinne Stern Agent Dionicio Delgado 1 CBP Laboratories and Scientific 1 National Missing and Unidentified Persons System: Director B.J. Services: Assistant Laboratory Spamer Director Jose L. Velez Non-Governmental OrganizaConsulates tions 1 Brazilian Consulate - Houston, TX: Deputy Consul General Cris- 1 Aguilas Del Desierto: Vicente Rodriguez tiano Franco Berbert 1 Argentine Forensic Anthropol1 El Salvadorian Consulate ogy Team: Consultant ResearchMcAllen, TX: Consul General ers Molly Miranker and Carmen Nancy M. Guevara Stapley Osorio 1 El Salvadorian Consulate 1 Catholic Charities of the Rio Houston, TX: Vice Consul Jaime Grande Valley: Sister Norma E. Escobar Pimentel 1 El Salvadorian Consulate 1 Humane Borders/Border AcTucson, AZ: Vice Consul Fredy
SUMMIT From page A1
ment Software Rating Board. 1 "Myst" (1993): The slow-paced, contemplative game harnessed early CD-ROM technology and became the best-selling computer game in the 1990s, selling 6 million copies. 1 "Pokemon Red and Green" (1996): Since appearing on the Nintendo Game Boy, the Pokemon phenomenon has produced more than 260 million copies of its games, 21.5 billion trading cards, more than 800 television episodes and 17 movies. 1 "Portal" (2007): The Game Developers Conference's 2008 Game of the Year was the breakout hit out of the four firstperson shooter games it was packaged with, recognized for game mechanics that relied on
tion Network: Executive Director Juanita Molina 1 International Committee of the Red Cross: Protection Coordinator Kirsty Macdonald 1 South Texas Human Rights Center: Director Eddie Canales 1 South Texans’ Property Rights Association: Executive Susan Kibbe Government of Mexico Representatives 1 Policia Federal - Mexico City, MX: Dr. Mario Arturo Alvarez Torrecilla 1 Procuraduria General de la Republica - San Antonio, TX: Deputy Regional Attaché Maria Fernanda Perez Galindo 1 Procuraduria General de la Republica - Nuevo Laredo, MX: Delegado Estatal Miguel Angel Campos Ortiz 1 Proteccion Civil in Nuevo Laredo, MX: Director Omar Enriquez Sanchez 1 Instituto Tamaulipeco para los Migrantes - Nuevo Laredo, MX: Director Jose M.Carmona Flores Law Enforcement Agencies 1 Federal Bureau of Investigation - Laredo, TX: Supervisory Special Agent Jorge A. Hernandez 1 Homeland Security Investigations - Laredo, TX: Deputy Special Agent in Charge Tim Tubbs 1 Laredo Fire Department: Fire Marshal Andres Jimenez Jr. 1 Laredo Police Department: Assistant Chief Jesus Torres 1 Texas Parks and Wildlife Laredo, TX: Sergeant Oscar Jaimez 1 U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service - Houston, TX: Assistant Special Agent in Charge Patrick Mills 1 Kansas City Southern Police Department - Laredo, TX: Senior Special Agent Jose Luis Alonso 1 Union Pacific Police Department - Laredo, TX: Lieutenant Russel Cerda 1 University of Texas Police Department - Laredo, TX: Sergeant Gabriel Garcia 1 Brooks County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Benny Martinez 1 Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office: Division Chief Joel Rivera 1 Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Deputy Tony Rodarte 1 Webb County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Martin Cuellar 1 Zapata County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Raymundo Del Bosque
portal physics. 1 "Resident Evil" (1996): Among spin-offs of the survival horror game are movies that have grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide. 1 "Street Fighter II" (1991): One of the top-selling arcade games ever helped spark an arcade renaissance in the 1990s and inspired numerous sequels. 1 "Tomb Raider" (1996): Its female protagonist, Lara Croft, is the face of a franchise that has sold more than 58 million units worldwide. 1 "Wii Sports" (2006): Launched with the Nintendo Wii home video game system, its motioncontrol technology let gamers of any age serve a tennis ball or throw a left hook.
“Apprehension levels began to decrease as law, policy, and strategy aligned. Unfortunately, we are now seeing an increase in assaults against our agents,” From page A1 Padilla said. Between October and Februcrazy border your deaths are ary assaults on border agents high.” Indeed, it was near Fronton across the nation spiked 179 that a Border Patrol agent and percent compared to the same period a year ago. The border Department of Public Safety said assaults included the use of trooper last November surweapons, thrown projectiles, vived a shooting. That same and close quarter combat. In month, a man and his 3-yearthe Rio Grande Valley, where old son were gunned down most assaults were by rock inside inside a pickup in Rio throwers near the river, assaults Grande City. The use of highpowered rifles prompted Dis- increased 135 percent, up to around 90 in that five month trict Attorney Omar Escobar span. raise the specter of drug trafThe challenge of subduing ficking gangs. A 17-year-old the charged atmosphere is comRio Grande City resident was plicated by geography, accordcharged with two counts of ing Padilla. A lack of roads and capital murder for the deaths several weeks later. Both case thick vegetation give agents limited access to the river. Even remain under investigation. In early December, 26-year- if illegal activity is detected an old Texas fisherman was shot interdiction is fraught. But that could change if the and killed on nearby Falcon Trump administration moves Lake, an international reservoir on the Rio Grande. Zapata forward with plans to build 14 miles of border wall and levee County deputies and Texas Rangers and investigating the in the Valley, infrastructure Padilla says the region needs. killing. Perhaps most chilling of all Almost 60 miles of fence and levee were built in the Valley was the discovery last March of two Rio Grande City school under the 2006 Secure Fence district employees were found Act. Nearly $1 billion of the president's proposed 2017 budwith their hands bound and get amendment could be used gunshot wounds to their to construct fencing that was heads. The Texas Rangers never finished around Roma investigation has yielded no and Rio Grande City. arrests in the case. For its part, the DPS reportOfficials in the embattled county did not return calls for ed that one of its trooper assigned to a Cortina Unit, which comment, but the shooting partners a border agent with a deaths have the full attention DPS trooper, was assaulted last of state and federal law enweekend in Roma. forcement. DPS said it will continue On Tuesday, Border Patrol reported several attacks on its working with area district atagents over one 24 hour start- torneys and conducting investigations into cases of asing Sunday night, when two agents around Rio Grande City saults on border agents. Starr County is the agency’s area of suffered minor injuries in a confrontation with a Guatema- operation for the state-directed $800 million Operation Secure lan immigrant. Texas Early Monday morning, in “We anticipated this would an attempt to escape arrest, a Mexican national threw dirt at result in more confrontations a McAllen Border Patrol agent and violence by those engaging just above the eye. The subject in illicit activity,” the state law enforcement agency said in a absconded but was later apstatement. “Nonetheless, it is prehended. The agent was intolerable.” transported to the hospital where he was medically cleared. Charges are pending anelsen@express-news.net on this subject as well. Twitter: @amnelsen
RIO GRANDE
A12 | Wednesday, March 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
ON THE COVER BORDER From page A1 were submitted to Congress amid negotiations over a catchall spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown at the end of next month. The package would wrap up $1.1 trillion in unfinished spending bills and address the Trump administration's request for an immediate $30 billion in additional Pentagon spending. The latest Trump proposal, disclosed Tuesday, would eliminate $1.2 billion in National Institutes of Health research grants, a favorite of both parties. The community development block grant program, also popular, would be halved, amounting to a cut of $1.5 billion, and Trump would strip $500 million from a popular grant program for transportation projects. Like Trump's 2018 proposed budget, which was panned by both Democrats and Repub-
licans earlier this month, the proposals have little chance of being enacted. But they could create bad political optics for the struggling Trump White House, since the administration asked earlier for $3 billion to pay for the Trump's controversial U.S.Mexico border wall and other immigration enforcement plans. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly promised Mexico would pay for the wall, a claim the country has disputed. "The administration is asking the American taxpayer to cover the cost of a wall — unneeded, ineffective, absurdly expensive — that Mexico was supposed to pay for, and he is cutting programs vital to the middle class to get that done," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "Build the wall or repair or build a bridge or tunnel or road in your community? What's the choice?" The roster of cuts were sent to Capitol Hill as a set of op-
tions for GOP staff aides and lawmakers crafting a catchall spending bill for the ongoing budget year, which ends Sept. 30. Those talks are intensifying, but Senate Republicans are considering backing away from a showdown with Democrats over whether to fund Trump's request for immediate funding to build a wall along the U.S.Mexico border. Senate Democrats have threatened to filibuster any provision providing money for the wall. And many Republicans aren't very enthusiastic about it and say the White House hasn't given them many specifics to go on. "I'd like to hear the details. What is this wall?" asked Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Asked about including Southern border wall financing in the broader spending package, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a key negotiator, said, "They will not pass together. That's just my view." Blunt added, "My view is there's a path to get 60 votes"
in the Senate, the total required to overcome a Democratic filibuster. Blunt is a member of the Senate GOP leadership team and a major player on health and human services accounts. The government would shut down except for some functions at midnight April 28 without successful action on spending. GOP leaders are eager to avoid a politically damaging shutdown, especially in the wake of last week's embarrassing failure to pass the Trumppushed bill to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law. Negotiators have made progress on the core elements of a dozen must-do funding bills, but have ignored the White House's list of cuts in doing so. But the White House badly wants funding for the Mexico wall and hasn't fully engaged in the Capitol Hill negotiations. Pitfalls lay ahead in the talks, and the situation is especially fragile because of divisions among GOP ranks and un-
certainty over who's playing the lead role at the White House on the particulars of budget work. According to new details sent to Congress, the administration wants immediate funds to complete an existing barrier in the Rio Grande Valley, $500 million to complete 28 miles of border levee wall near McAllen, Texas, and $350 million for construction along two segments near San Diego. Other cuts include $434 million to immediately eliminate a program to encourage community service opportunities for senior citizens, eliminating $372 million in remaining funding for heating subsidies for the poor, and cutting $447 million in transit grants. White House budget office spokesman John Czwartacki said the proposals were not being shared with the media. A Capitol Hill aide described the cuts to The Associated Press, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the budget document is not yet public.