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ZAPATA COUNTY COURTHOUSE
Tip leads to theft arrest
Drug Take Back Day
Sheriff’s Office busts man for attempting to steal rims By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
A man was recently arrested for attempting to steal a couple of rims from a home, the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office said Monday. On March 9, authorities received anonymous information indicating that a man riding a bike, wearing maroon shirt and a cap was trying to enter a residence in the ALANIZ 200 block of Fourth Street. The man allegedly reached over the fence of the property to take two rims but dropped them when he was spotted, got on his bicycle and rode off into a
See THEFT PAGE 11A
DEA encourages locals to turn in old medicine By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ THE ZAPATA TIMES
The Drug Enforcement Administration National Prescription Drug TakeBack Day is set for April 30. Authorities and the Zapata County Community Coalition of Serving Children and Adults in Need encourage people to turn in unused or expired medication for safe disposal from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Zapata County
Courthouse, 200 E. Seventh Street. The DEA said the TakeBack Day provides a safe, convenient, and responsible way of disposing of prescription drugs. Additionally, authorities and local groups also look forward to educating the community about the potential for abuse of medications, according to the DEA web-
SHERIFF’S OFFICE
See DEA PAGE 11A
Photo by Victor Strife | Laredo Morning Times file
A DEA agent collects a bag of unused prescription medicine from a vehicle during the nationwide drug "take-back" day Oct. 26, 2013.
ZAPATA LIONS CLUB
Man faces VISION SCREENING FOR CHILDREN injury to a child charge By CÉSAR G. RODRIGUEZ LAREDO MORNING TIMES
A man was recently arrested for assaulting his son, the Zapata County Sheriff ’s Office said Monday. The suspect, Eduardo Abel Leal, 26, was charged with injury to a child, a third-degree felony that carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. In addition, an emergency protective order was issued for the mother and children, according to the Sheriff ’s Office. LEAL Leal posted bond March 22. Authorities said the case was reported at 7:13 p.m. March 15. That evening, deputies responded to an assault in the 1800 block of Kennedy Street. The caller stated to deputies that her husband, Leal, had assaulted their eldest son, reports state.
See CHILD PAGE 11A
Courtesy photo
The Zapata Lions Club proudly welcomes the Rio Grande City Lions Club in helping promote the Pediavision screening program at Zapata’s two Head Start centers. Pictured from left to right are Zapata Lions Club members Sergio Ramirez, Jose Luis Morales, Humberto Gonzalez Jr., Aurelio Villarreal; Rio Grande City Pediavision Team members Ruben Saenz, Alberto Barrera, Rafaela Garza Rosa, Enrique Gonzalez and children at Lago Head Start Center. Pediavision is a program that helps screen eye abnormalities in children at an early age and encourages them to get help.
GULF CARTEL
Top cartel leaders find haven in Dallas By DAVID WARREN ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News | AP
A March 23 photo shows the home of Southlake attorney Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa, who was killed by a masked gunman in May 2013 in the parking area in Southlake, Texas.
DALLAS — A man who was slain at an upscale suburban Dallas shopping center is identified in federal court documents as the acting leader of a notorious Mexican cartel, a claim that would run counter to the long-held belief that drug kingpins seldom try to hide in the United States. Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa moved into a milliondollar home in Southlake in 2011, two years before he was fatally shot by three men who prosecutors say
had been stalking him for months. According to a recent court filing submitted by the lawyers for Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda — one of three suspects slated to stand trial for Chapa’s killing — Chapa became the interim head of the Gulf Cartel — one of Mexico’s most violent drug-trafficking rings — following the arrest of predecessor Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, who was extradited to the U.S. in 2007 and later sentenced to 25 years in prison. As head of the Gulf Cartel, “Chapa ran a large
criminal enterprise whose activities included murders, narcotics trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, bribery, money laundering and torture,” the court filing says. It appears Chapa in part was seeking anonymity with his family in moving to the Dallas metro region. Court records said he had been living in fear because “he had been found by people who wanted to kill him.” Federal officials say it’s unusual to find high-rank-
See CARTEL PAGE 11A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
Wednesday, April 13
ASSOCIATED PRESS
IBC Keynote Speaker Series. 7 p.m. TAMIU Student Center Ballroom, 5201 University Blvd. Open to the public and free of charge. “Still Midnight in Mexico? Mexico’s Challenges, Journalism and the Borderlands, and the New American Narrative” presented by Alfredo Corchado, Mexico bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News.
Today is Wednesday, April 13, the 104th day of 2016. There are 262 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 13, 1970, Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.) On this date: In 1613, Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, was captured by English Capt. Samuel Argall in the Virginia Colony. (During a yearlong captivity, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and ultimately opted to stay with the English.) In 1742, Handel’s “Messiah” had its first public performance in Dublin, Ireland. In 1743, the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony. In 1861, at the start of the Civil War, Fort Sumter in South Carolina fell to Confederate forces. In 1912, the Royal Flying Corps, a predecessor of Britain’s Royal Air Force, was created. In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C., on the 200th anniversary of the third American president’s birth. In 1958, Van Cliburn of the United States won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition for piano in Moscow; Russian Valery Klimov won the violin competition. In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award for his performance in “Lilies of the Field.” In 1965, 16-year-old Lawrence Wallace Bradford, Jr. was appointed by New York Republican Jacob Javits to be the first black page of the U.S. Senate. In 1975, the President of Chad, Francois Tombalbaye (tahm-bahl-BAH’-yeh), was killed in a military coup. In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of worship. In 1992, the Great Chicago Flood took place as the city’s century-old tunnel system and adjacent basements filled with water from the Chicago River. Ten years ago: Confessed al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui expressed no remorse for his role in the 9/11 attacks as he took the stand for the second time in his death-penalty trial in Alexandria, Virginia. Five years ago: Ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons were detained for investigation of corruption, abuse of power and killings of protesters. One year ago: Republican Sen. Marco Rubio entered the 2016 presidential race with a rally in Miami. Today’s Birthdays: Movie director Stanley Donen is 92. Actor Paul Sorvino is 77. Singer Al Green is 70. Comedian Gary Kroeger is 59. Actress Page Hannah is 52. Reggae singer Capleton is 49. Singer Lou Bega is 41. Actor-producer Glenn Howerton is 40. Rapper/singer Ty Dolla $ign is 34. Actress Allison Williams is 28. Actress Hannah Marks is 23. Thought for Today: “In the landscape of extinction, precision is next to godliness.” — Samuel Beckett, Irish poet and playwright (born this date in 1906, died 1989).
Thursday, April 14 TAMIU presents the Mariachi International Recital. 7:30 p.m. TAMIU’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall. Admission requires a minimum $5 scholarship donation per person. There is no charge for TAMIU students with ID and children under 12. For more information, please contact Oswaldo Zapata at 956-326-3044 or email oswaldoa.zapata@tamiu.edu. Laredo Area Retired School Employees Association meeting. 11 a.m. Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall, 2219 Galveston. Guest speaker Tony Ramirez will be speaking about alternative medicine and herbs. Preschool Read & Play. 11 a.m.–12 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. Story time and crafts for preschoolers. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Family Story Time & Crafts. 4–5 p.m. McKendrick Ochoa Salinas Branch Library, 1920 Palo Blanco St. For more information, contact Priscilla Garcia at priscilla@laredolibrary.org or 795-2400 x2403. Spanish Book Club. 6–8 p.m. City of Laredo Public Library, 1120 E. Calton Road. For more information call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810.
Friday, April 15 TAMIU Band Concert. 7:30 p.m. Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall at TAMIU. This concert is open to the public. Admission requires a $5 minimum scholarship donation per person. No charge for TAMIU students with ID and children under 12. For more information, contact Dr. James Moyer at 956-326-2640 or email james.moyer@tamiu.edu. TAMIU 2016 Spring Dance Concert. 8 p.m. Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Theater. This event presents the work of students enrolled in dance courses. General admission is $5. Children under 10 and TAMIU students with a valid ID enter free. For more information, please contact Bede Leyendecker at 956-326-2649 or email bleyendecker@tamiu.edu.
Saturday, April 16 El Centro de Laredo Farmers Market. 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Jarvis Plaza. This month’s market celebrates Earth Day with a theme of trees, rio and a focus on the monarch butterfly. Free and open to the public. Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium shows. 1–5 p.m. TAMIU. “The Little Star that Could,” “Origins of Life,” “New Horizons” and “Black Holes.” This event is open to the TAMIU community and public. General admission is $4 for children, TAMIU students, faculty and staff, and $5 for adults. Matinee shows are $1 less. For more information, contact Claudia Herrera at 956-326-2463 or email claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu. TAMIU 2016 Spring Dance Concert. 8 p.m. Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Theater. This event presents the work of students enrolled in dance courses. General admission is $5. Children under 10 and TAMIU students with a valid ID enter free. For more information, please contact Bede Leyendecker at 956-326-2649 or email bleyendecker@tamiu.edu.
Monday, April 18 Chess Club. Every Monday from 4–6 p.m. LBV – Inner City Branch Library. Free for all ages and skill levels. Basic instruction is offered. For more information call John at 956-795-2400 x2520. TAMIU 2016 Percussion Ensemble Concert. 7:30 p.m. Center for the Fine and Performing Arts Recital Hall. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. James Moyer at 956-326-2640 or email james.moyer@tamiu.edu.
Tuesday, April 19 5th Annual Bowl-A-Thon. 5:30 p.m. Jett Bowl North. Funds raised from the event will go toward Jaime J. Zapata Scholarships. Registration for a five-player team is $125 before April 12 and $150 on the day of the event. Door prizes, best team T-shirt prize.
Photo by Eric Gay | AP
In this July 29, 2015 file photo, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks during a hearing in Austin, Texas. Federal securities regulators have filed civil fraud charges against Paxton, Monday, April 11, 2016, over recruiting investors to a high-tech startup before becoming the state’s top prosecutor.
Republicans stay silent By PAUL J. WEBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — The Texas attorney general has been indicted for allegedly duping investors in a tech startup, and the agriculture commissioner reportedly used tax dollars to travel to obtain a so-called Jesus shot supposedly offering long-term relief from pain. So far, fellow Republicans are all but ignoring the troubles. Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been charged with two felonies, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who last year unapologetically shared a Facebook post that suggested using a nuclear bomb on the Muslim population, coasted to election in 2014 as part of a new slate of GOP leaders. Other Republicans who won that year included Gov. Greg Abbott and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, son of Jeb Bush.
Democrats, who have called on Paxton to resign, lament what they call the pitfall of a politically one-sided state. Republicans seem content to stay quiet. “What we’ve seen is rather endorsement by silence,” said Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the state’s bedraggled Democratic Party, which has not won a statewide election since 1994. “It’s disappointing that the Republican Party isn’t willing to speak out when it sees bad behavior on behalf of their statewide officials.” Abbott, who spent more than a decade in Paxton’s job before becoming governor, has repeatedly declined to comment on his successor beyond saying last summer that the legal process needed to “work its course.” The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is the latest to heap problems on Paxton, accusing him of investor fraud.
Police seek suspect who stole ring from corpse
Border officers in El Paso find $1.6M in meth
Teen kills mom, brother before killing himself
ODESSA — Police in West Texas are trying to find a woman seen on surveillance video stealing a ring from a corpse at a funeral home. The suspect would face felony theft from a corpse charges for swiping the ring worth about $10. Security video shows the woman reaching into an open casket and fumbling to remove something from the corpse.
EL PASO — Federal officers in West Texas have seized more than $1.6 million worth of methamphetamine hidden in the rear tires of an SUV entering from Mexico. The bust occurred at the Paso Del Norte border crossing in El Paso. The driver from Dallas was detained on drug smuggling charges after officers found more than 50 pounds of meth in the vehicle.
DALLAS — Investigators are trying to determine what led a Texas teenager to fatally stab his brother and his television-personality mother before mortally wounding himself, police said Monday. Police in the Dallas suburb of Plano said 19-year old McCann Utu Jr. attacked his 45year-old mother, Stacy Fawcett, and his 17-year-old brother early Friday before stabbing himself.
District cancels school after hail storm damage
Police investigate assault allegations at university
2 women and their 2 daughters dead in crash
WYLIE — A Dallas-area district has called off school a day after hail the size of baseballs broke windows and caused other building damage. The Wylie Independent School District, which has more than 14,000 students, canceled classes Tuesday. A district statement says educators were not able to provide a safe learning environment due to “significant” damage.
CANYON — Police are investigating allegations that two women were sexually assaulted at a fraternity party at West Texas A&M University. Authorities tell the Amarillo Globe-News that the women are both students at West Texas A&M who told officers they attended a fraternity party Saturday and believed they may have been assaulted after drinking.
ARGYLE — Two women and their two young daughters were killed when their vehicles collided in a wrong-way crash in North Texas. Denton police say Ashley Morgan’s vehicle was traveling near Argyle on Saturday evening when it crossed into a northbound lane, crashing head-on into a vehicle being driven by Emma Lourdes Shaffer. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Navy secretary to discuss women in combat SAN DIEGO — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has squared off against Marine Corps leaders who resisted recruiting women for all combat jobs. On Tuesday, he took his case to a broader audience at Camp Pendleton, California. Marine Corps leaders had sought to keep certain infantry and combat jobs closed to women, citing studies showing combined-gender units are not as effective as male-only units. Defense Secretary Ash Carter overruled them in December, ordering all positions open to women. Since then, the military services have put together plans outlining how they will integrate women into male-only units
Company drops chemicals linked to bee declines DENVER — Amid ominous warnings about threats to polli-
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Navy Secretary Ray Mabus speaks to Marines regarding women in combat during a speech at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base, Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Anaheim, Calif. nators and the food crops they make possible, garden-care giant Ortho said Tuesday it will stop using a class of chemicals widely believed to harm the most important pollinators of all: bees. Bees are critical to the food supply because about one-third
of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and honeybees are responsible for 80 percent of that pollination. Concern about bee health is growing, with federal officials considering whether to protect bumblebees. — Compiled from AP reports
SUBSCRIPTIONS/DELIVERY (956) 728-2555 The Zapata Times is distributed on Saturdays to 4,000 households in Zapata County. For subscribers of the Laredo Morning Times and for those who buy the Laredo Morning Times at newsstands, the Zapata Times is inserted. The Zapata Times is free. The Zapata Times is published by the Laredo Morning Times, a division of The Hearst Corporation, P.O. Box 2129, Laredo, Texas 78044. Phone (956) 728-2500. The Zapata office is at 1309 N. U.S. Hwy. 83 at 14th Avenue, Suite 2, Zapata, TX 78076. Call (956) 765-5113 or e-mail thezapatatimes.net
State
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Welfare agency gets new leaders ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Waller County Sheriff’s Department | AP file
In this undated file image made from video provided by the Waller County Sheriff’s Department, Sandra Bland stands before a desk at Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas. The small-town Texas jail where Sandra Bland died last summer needs to be replaced.
Problems with jail identified By NOMAAN MERCHANT ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — The smalltown Texas jail where Sandra Bland died last summer needs a new building, more expertise among its staff to identify mental health issues, and body cameras and anger-management training for its jailers, according to a report issued Tuesday by a panel convened after Bland’s death. The sheriff’s office in Waller County agreed to have outside experts review the county jail in Hempstead, about 50 miles northwest of Houston after Bland died. Bland, who was black, was jailed after a state trooper pulled her over in July for a minor traffic violation. Dashcam video of her arrest and the circumstances of her death provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. Video of the stop near Houston shows the trooper, Brian Encinia, yelling at Bland, then pulling a stun gun and saying, “I will light you up!” Encinia has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor perjury charge stemming from the stop. He
has also been fired. Bland, who was in the process of moving to Texas from the Chicago area, was found dead in the Waller County Jail three days after her arrest. Authorities said she was hanging from a jail cell partition with a plastic garbage bag around her neck. A medical examiner ruled it a suicide and a grand jury declined to indict any sheriff’s officials or jailers in her death. Bland’s supporters have questioned whether the jail’s conditions had anything to do with her death. While the panelists who presented their jail report at a news conference Tuesday in Hempstead mostly stayed away from specifics about Bland’s death, their recommendations target mental health screenings and the overall treatment of inmates. One panelist, former U.S. Rep. Craig Washington, said anyone entering the jail was “entitled to be treated with dignity and respect as a human being.” Ultimately, that will require a new facility with more space, he said. “The jail is not adequate, in our judgment,” Washington said.
The panel also called on the sheriff’s office to develop a policy for storing video footage and to purchase body cameras. It also said the jail should employ medical personnel who can screen incoming inmates for mental health issues. Jailers supervising inmates should be separated from the officers who arrested them, the panel said. And jailers should undergo anger-management courses and routine evaluations. Authorities have already said that Bland indicated on an intake questionnaire that she once tried to kill herself and was taking medication for epilepsy. Following her death, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards cited the jail for not observing inmates in person at least once every hour and not documenting that jailers had undergone training on dealing with potentially suicidal inmates. Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith said he liked the report and was already starting to implement parts of it. He said jail staff would undergo “de-escalation” training in June, and that the county has already applied for a state grant to purchase body cameras.
“I’m open, willing to listen, and while we may not all agree on everything ... we’re going to move forward,” Smith said. “We’re going to make a difference.” But the news conference was contentious at times. One person questioned why more attention wasn’t paid to the high fees many jails charge inmates to make phone calls. Another accused Washington of being used by authorities to cover up their mistakes in Bland’s case, to which he angrily replied, “You’re absolutely wrong.” If the sheriff’s office implements the report, Washington said, “I bet you six months from now, a year from now, we’ll turn around and say, ‘Wow, look at what they did in Waller County.”’ Bland’s family has sued the county and the trooper who arrested her. “It shouldn’t take somebody dying to be self-reflective,” said the family’s attorney, Cannon Lambert, who had not seen the report. “It may be a legacy that Sandy leaves that through her death, advances are made,” Lambert added. “To that end, obviously, we would hope that problems at the jail get rectified.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott named the former head of the Texas Rangers to lead the state’s embattled child welfare agency MonABBOTT day, calling the status quo “unacceptable” while making the unusual move of putting a career law enforcement officer in charge of the foster care system. Henry “Hank” Whitman takes over as the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services commissioner five months after a federal judge ruled that the state’s foster care
system is so flawed that it violates the constitutional rights of more than 30,000 youngsters. Recent newspaper investigations have also revealed deep failings within the agency. “I’ve insisted on overhauling a broken system, and I applaud the leadership changes that will provide a new direction and focus that puts protecting children first,” Abbott said in a statement. Whitman had nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience before retiring from the Rangers in 2012. His appointment is a departure from a decade of agency commissioners who were either elevated state bureaucrats, judges or those with backgrounds in juvenile services.
PAGE 4A
Zopinion
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Roots of political dysfunction run deep In the middle of this depressing presidential campaign I sometimes wonder, How could we make our politics better? It’s possible to imagine an elite solution. The next president could get together with the leaders of both parties in Congress and say: “We’re going to change the way we do business in Washington. We’re going to deliberate and negotiate. We’ll disagree and wrangle, but we will not treat this as good-versus-evil blood sport.” That kind of leadership might trickle down. But it’s increasingly clear that the roots of political dysfunction lie deep in society. If there’s truly going to be improvement, there has to be improvement in the social context politics is embedded in. In healthy societies, people live their lives within a galaxy of warm places. They are members of a family, neighborhood, school, civic organization, hobby group, company, faith, regional culture, nation, continent and world. Each layer of life is nestled in the others to form a varied but coherent whole. But starting just after World War II, America’s community/membership mindset gave way to an individualistic/autonomy mindset. The idea was that individuals should be liberated to live as they chose, so long as they didn’t interfere with the rights of others. By 1981, the pollster Daniel Yankelovich noticed the effects: “Throughout most of this century Americans believed that self-denial made sense, sacrificing made sense, obeying the rules made sense, subordinating oneself to the institution made sense. But now doubts have set in, and Americans now believe that the old giving/getting compact needlessly restricts the individual while advancing the power of large institutions ... who use the power to enhance their own interests at the expense of the public.” The individualist turn had great effects but also accumulating downsides. By 2005, 47 percent of Americans reported that they knew none or just a few of their neighbors by name. There’s been a sharp rise in the number of people who report that they have no close friends to confide in. Civic life has suffered. As Marc J. Dunkelman writes in his compelling book “The Vanishing Neighbor,” people are good at tending their inner-ring relationships — their family and friends. They’re pretty good at tending to outer-ring relationships — their hundreds of Facebook acquaintances, their fellow progressives, or their TED and Harley fans. But Americans spend less time with middlering township relationships — the PTA, the neighborhood watch. Middle-ring relationships, Dunkelman argues, help people become skilled at deliberation. The guy sitting next to you at the volunteer fire
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DAVID BROOKS
company may have political opinions you find abhorrent, but you still have to get stuff done with him, week after week. Middle-ring relationships also diversify the sources of identity. You might be an O’Rourke, an Irish Catholic and a professor, but you are also a citizen, importantly, of the Montrose neighborhood in Houston. With middle-ring memberships deteriorating, Americans have become worse at public deliberation. People find it easier to ignore inconvenient viewpoints and facts. Partisanship becomes a preconscious lens through which people see the world. They report being optimistic or pessimistic depending on whether their team is in power. They become unrealistic. Trump voters don’t seem to realize how unelectable their man is because they hang out with people like themselves. We’re good at bonding with people like ourselves but worse at bridging with people unlike ourselves. (Have you noticed that most people who call themselves “connectors” are actually excluders because they create groups restricted to people with similar status levels?) With fewer sources of ethnic and local identity, people ask politics to fill the void. Being a Democrat or a Republican becomes their ethnicity. People put politics at the center of their psychological, emotional and even spiritual life. This is asking too much of politics. Once politics becomes your ethnic and moral identity, it becomes impossible to compromise, because compromise becomes dishonor. If you put politics at the center of identity, you end up asking the state to eclipse every social authority but itself. Presidential campaigns become these gargantuan two-year national rituals that swallow everything else in national life. If we’re going to salvage our politics, we probably have to shrink politics, and nurture the thick local membership web that politics rests within. We probably have to scale back the culture of autonomy that was appropriate for the 1960s but that has since gone too far. If we make this cultural shift, we may even end up happier. For there is a paradox to longing. If each of us fulfill all of our discrete individual desires, we end up with a society that is not what we want at all. The highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, is actually connected to the lowest level, group survival. People experience their highest joy in helping their neighbors make it through the day. (David Brooks is a New York Times columnist.)
COLUMN
Funny how life’s twists, turns shape attitudes, goals Most of us are or have been dreamers. As youngsters, we see or read about successful, well-known people. Everyone says wonderful things about them, so we start developing our ideas about life’s journey based on those attitudes. Many youngsters want to be like one or both parents. I knew my mother was a rock solid, honest and true to her faith, so I wanted to have those qualities. Dad was a rancher who had a formal education of 7th or 8th grade; it was never quite clear to me which. What was abundantly clear was that, from a math standpoint, he had a PhD mind. I was blessed enough to inherit some of that math ability but no desire to be a rancher or a mathematician. My high school buddies all took a lot of math courses, especially my best pal, Douglas Aycock. We didn’t do IQ tests in those days, but I believe Doug would’ve been off the charts. He became a doctor specializing in psychiatry. I followed Doug and a couple of other friends and took five math courses in high school: Algebra I, Algebra II, Plane Geom-
etry, Solid Geometry and Trigonometry. I didn’t take a solitary math course in college in attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism. At age 14, the writing bug bit me. I wanted to be the world’s greatest sportswriter and wrest the crown from Grantland Rice, acknowledged as America’s best in the first half of the 20th Century. Journalism-English teacher and school newspaper sponsor Louise Forke began to nudge me toward the writing field in junior high and, of course, I joined the paper staff in my freshman year and remained through high school. As a senior, I received a one-year scholarship of tuition, books and fees from Dr. Ferol Robinson, head of the journalism department at then-Sam Houston State Teachers College. That and a job as an evening short order cook in the Club Café across the street from the campus paid for the first semester. While the scholarship continued for the second
term, I moved out of the kitchen and into the job of sports publicity director for SHSTC for a whopping $45 a month and got to travel with the Bearkat football team and some with the basketball team. I was told the job was part time and I was still carrying a full course load. I was also required to run the public address system at home basketball and baseball games. Things cruised along busily through the rest of that freshman year and well into my sophomore year before it became painfully apparent that I was running out of money. Forty-five dollars a month and no scholarship didn’t enable me to pass Go. So, Grantland Rice was in no immediate danger, and I sought full time employment in order to replenish the college fund. My hometown newspaper, The Teague Chronicle, was in an ownership transition and needed a newsman to handle all general news except “society,” which the bookkeeper-receptionist would handle. And, shucks, they were going to quadruple my monthly salary as SHSTC’s sports publicity director. Plus I could live at home with no room and
board bill. After a year in Teague, I decided I needed to go to school where there were more job opportunities than Huntsville offered and off I went to the University of Houston, where I could get cheap room and board with an aunt and uncle and attend a BIG school. With the help of Huntsville Item editor Don Reid Jr., I garnered a $1,000 scholarship ($500 each semester) to private school U. of H. Three part-time jobs the first year and a full-time job my senior year dictated night school. The fulltime slot was as general manager of a suburban weekly paper completed the erasure of the sports writing hall of fame from my dreams. I was inoculated with the special brand of printer’s ink that flows through a newspaperman’s veins. And, the magic of full immersion in a small town’s life dictated a half century-plus as a country editor. It was a blast. Willis Webb is a retired community newspaper editor-publisher of more than 50 years experience. He can be reached by email at wwebb1937@att.net.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer’s first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The
phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our
readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the letter. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-call-
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
ing or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
Zentertainment
PAGE 5A
‘The Jungle Book’ is dazzling By LINDSEY BAHR ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Michel Euler | AP
A 400-year-old painting that might have been executed by Italian master Caravaggio is presented in Paris, Tuesday.
Possible classic painting found By SAMUEL PETREQUIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — A 400-year-old picture that might have been painted by Italian master Caravaggio has been found in an attic in southern France. Eric Turquin, the French expert who retrieved the painting two years ago, says it is in an exceptional state of conservation and estimates its value at 120 million euros (about $135 million). The picture, whose authenticity hasn’t been established, had been left for more than 150 years in a property on the outskirts of Toulouse. Called “Judith Beheading Holofernes,” it depicts the biblical heroine Judith beheading an Assyrian general. It is thought to have been painted in Rome around 1604-05. Turquin told a news conference on Tuesday that there “will never be a consensus” about the name of the artist. Two Caravaggio experts he consulted with attributed the painting to
Louis Finson, a Flemish painter and art dealer who was familiar with Caravaggio, Turquin said. Finson possessed a number of works from the Italian master and made copies of his pictures. “But the third expert I met told me that it was not only a Caravaggio, but also a masterpiece,” Turquin said. “’Judith Beheading Holofernes’ must be considered the most important painting, by far, to have emerged in the last 20 years by one of the great masters.” The picture has been awarded “National Treasure” status by French authorities, meaning that it can’t be exported for 30 months, leaving the national museums enough time for its acquisition. While stating that the art work has yet to be authenticated, France’s Culture Ministry justified its decision to ban the export of the painting because it “deserves to be kept on (French) territory as a very important landmark of Caravaggism.”
You can practically feel the beating heart of the jungle in Jon Favreau’s stunning adaptation of “The Jungle Book,” which is easily the most visually dazzling movie to hit theaters this year. Like “Avatar” before it, this CG and live action interpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale of the boy raised by wolves feels like a momentous occasion in the technical advancements of big budget cinema. From the thrill of a distant waterfall to the terror of a mudslide or stampeding buffalo, Favreau and his visual effects maestros have created artificial living things that truly look and feel real. Even the animals’ ability to communicate in English seems as natural as their breathing and emoting. They have not been sanitized to be cute or less threatening either — even the tender mama wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o). They still look like wild animals and, for the most part, act like wild animals, too. At first, this actually makes their close interactions with the human boy Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi) even more disarming. Eventually your nerves calm and you submit to the magic of this world. The story follows the same beats as Disney’s animated feature from 1967, but Favreau and his team made sure to up the intensity a few notches — the hyperrealism of the animals necessitates it. The tension created by the fact that they all have claws and teeth and instinct to contend with is always there. You’re already on edge
Photo courtesy of Disney | AP
In this image released by Disney, Mowgli, portrayed by Neel Sethi, right, and Baloo the bear, voiced by Bill Murray, appear in a scene from, "The Jungle Book." by the time the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba, in a truly stunning vocal performance that’s both terrifying and relatable) enters the picture. He adamantly believes that humans should not be living among them and is prepared to use whatever intimidation tactics are necessary to rid their world of Mowgli. This sends the young boy on a journey to the human village with the stoic panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). Anyone with the vaguest memory of “The Jungle Book” will remember the characters the boy encounters on the way — the snake Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), the bear Baloo (Bill Murray) and the orangutan King Louie (Christopher Walken). Although it is somewhat distracting to have such famous voices overwhelming every scene, each does a fine job — especially Murray, who brings a much-needed comedic lightness to the story with his affably conniving Baloo in the second
act. Sethi is energetic and enthusiastic as Mowgli — an adventurous kid who’s as unfazed by a handful of bee stings as he is a gargantuan snake. But for all the attention to detail, there’s an unnatural modernity to the dialogue he’s given that can be trying at times. For the most part he blends in as well as the sole human among wild
CG animals could possibly be expected to. On the subject of things seeming out of place, there are also two songs from the 1967 film that are integrated into the story —"The Bear Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You.” ("Trust In Me” plays over the credits). “The Jungle Book,” a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG.
PÁGINA 6A
Zfrontera Tema de campaña
MIÉRCOLES 13 DE ABRIL DE 2016
TAMAULIPAS
Agenda en Breve ENTREGA DE BECAS 2016
El evento Becas 2016, un evento annual para recaudación de fondos, para alumnos de Zapata High School, se llevará a cabo el viernes 22 de abril de 5 p.m. a 10 p.m. en El Rincón de los Ángeles Restaurant. Agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza fuera de servicio serán “meseros” y todas las “propinas” y “donaciones” se destinarán al fondo de becas. Se realizará también el 3er. concurso anual de la “Big Burger” (gran hamburguesa). Pida informes en el 956-765-8900.
TORNEO DE PESCA El sábado 23 de abril se realizará el torneo de pesca Bass Champs Fishing Tournament, en Zapata County Public Boat Ramp desde las 8 a.m. hasta las 5 p.m.
POR AARON NELSEN SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
REYNOSA — Los residentes de esta ciudad industrial están poco dispuestos a discutir temas del crimen organizado, pero como las campañas por la gubernatura han comenzado a principio de este mes, temas como el de seguridad en un estado que ha tenido algo de esto se ha convertido en el centro de atención. Entre el 2010 y el 2012, Tamaulipas experimentó cerca de 2.600 homicidios entre sus 3,5 millones de habitantes. Aunque los homicidios han declinado desde entonces, los secuestros han tenido un alza de 3.87 por cada 100.000 personas, casi cinco veces más que la media nacional de .78 por cada 100.000 habitantes. El estado ha permitido el creci-
vador Partido Acción Nacional. “¿En qué momento nos acostumbramos a no acudir a restaurantes por las noches? La pregunta perHINOJOSA maneció en una ciudad que tiene tantos anuncios de campaña para Cabeza de Vaca y de Baltazar Manuel Hinojosa Ochoa, candidato a gobernador por parte del Partido Revolucionario Institucional, como anuncios que ofrecen recompensas por información de aquellos que han desaparecido. Hinojosa, ex presidente municipal de Matamoros, dijo a los reporteros que sus planes para restaurar la seguridad incluirían una fuerza policíaca profesional municipal que responda a los secuestros express, robos y que “mantenga la lealtad
hacia las familias de Reynosa”. A pesar de la captura de más de una docena de altos miembros de los cárteles que han alimentado la esperanza de que los grupos criminales se han debilitado permanentemente, la seguridad permanece en el aire. El retiro de soldados en diciembre fue, en parte, relacionado con la formación de una fuerza policíaca estatal. Sin embargo, ante el resultado de una primavera violenta, los expertos dicen que Tamaulipas no está preparada para garantizar la seguridad ciudadana. “La salida y entrada de fuerzas de seguridad federales en Tamaulipas en los últimos años luce más como un guacamole que una estrategia a largo plazo”, dijo Christopher Wilson, el director asistente del Instituto para México del Centro Wilson.
EDUCACIÓN
PEMEX
SERÁN AGGIES
Hubo menos robos
TORNEO DE SÓFTBOL Un torneo de sóftbol tendrá lugar el 23 de abril en Zapata. Lo recaudado será a favor de Alejandro Cañedo, para la adquisición de una prótesis ya que perdió una pierna en un accidente. Habrá equipos femeninos y masculinos. Cuota 150 dólares. Informes en 956-2513075.
miento del Cártel del Golfo y el grupo ultraviolento conocido como los Zetas. Pero conforme los jefes principales han caído, los cárteles se han dividido en gru- CABEZA DE VACA pos más pequeños con cambios continuos de alianzas. Meses de relativa calma terminaron en marzo cuando balaceras entre grupos rivales aparecieron en las calles, paralizando el área de Reynosa, Matamoros y Ciudad Victoria. Para calmar la violencia, los militares desplegaron 900 soldados en el estado. “¿En qué momento nos acostumbramos a tener que cruzar nuestro estado detras de un convoy de la policía federal?”, dijo el senador Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, candidato a gobernador del conser-
ZAPATAN OF THE YEAR Zapata High School, 2009 SHW 16, informa que el sábado 23 de abril se celebrará la ceremonia “2016 Zapatan of the Year” honrando a Roberto O. Hein. El evento será en la misma preparatoria en horario de 3 p.m. a 5 p.m.
ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
REUNIÓN SOCIEDAD GENEALÓGICA La Sociedad Genealógica Nuevo Santander celebrará su reunión el sábado 21 de mayo a las 2 p.m. en el Zapata County Museum of History. Los oradores invitados para esta ocasión son Del & Marsha Shumway, así como Viqui Uribe, con el tema “Búsqueda Familiar” (Family Search).
Foto de cortesía | ZCISD
Los estudiantes del grado 12 en Zapata High School María A. Lerma, Kaitlyn Ramírez, Norma Ramírez, Rebecca Villarreal, Andrea Rai Garza, Christopher Garza, Rebecca Ramírez, junto con estudiantes de los distritos de United ISD y Laredo ISD asistieron al evento Aggiebound Experience el cual se celebra para estudiantes quienes hayan sido admitidos a Texas A&M University College Station. Los alumnos asistieron a la ceremonia donde fueron homenajeados con un banquete, además de tener acceso a sesiones informativas.
TEXAS
RECOLECCIÓN DE MEDICAMENTOS La Coalición Comunitaria del Condado de Zapata y la DEA realizarán el evento nacional Pill Take Back (recolección de medicamentos) el 30 de abril, de 10 a.m. a 2 p.m. en el Palacio de Justicia del Condado de Zapata. Se buscan medicamentos caducos o que ya no se estén utilizando a fin de retirarlos de forma apropiada. Informes en la oficina de SCAN en el 765-3555.
CONCURSO DE DIBUJO El Sistema DIF de Miguel Alemán, México, invita al Quinto concurso de dibujo sobre trabajo infantil. Habrá dos categorías (Categoría A para niños y niñas de 6 a 12 años de edad; y, Categoría B, para niños y niñas de 13 a 17 años de edad). El dibujo se debe realizar en media cartulina blanca (35cm x 50cm), utilizar colores de madera, plumones, óleo, acuarela o colores de cera, y anexar en un sobre una descripción con una propuesta para eliminar las peores formas de trabajo infantil. La propuesta debe ser de dos a cuatro párrafos en letra de molde legible. Incluir al reverso del dibujo su título, nombre completo del participante (como indica el acta de nacimiento), edad, grado escolar, nombre de la escuela, teléfono, domicilio particular, y municipio. La fecha límite para entregar el trabajo es el 13 de mayo en las oficinas del DIFMiguel Alemán, calle Puerto de Chetumal # 130 en la Colonia Jardines de San Germán. Más información llamando al 972-0155.
Afirma víctima era líder de cartel POR DAVID WARREN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — Un hombre que fue asesinado en 2013 en un lujoso centro comercial de los suburbios en Dallas fue identificado en documentos judiciales como el representante de un conocido cártel mexicano, una afirmación que iría en contra de la creencia de que los capos de la droga rara vez tratan de ocultarse en Estados Unidos. Juan Jesús Guerrero Chapa se mudó a una casa de un millón de dólares en Southlake en 2011, dos años antes de ser fatalmente baleado por tres hombres que según los fiscales lo acecharon durante meses. Un documento presenta-
do a una corte para el juicio de los tres sospechosos de asesinato sostiene que Guerrero se volvió el líder provisional del cártel del Golfo —uno de los grupos del narcotráfico más violentos de México— después que el líder anterior, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, fue detenido y luego extraditado a Estados Unidos en 2007 y más tarde condenado a 25 años de prisión. Como jefe del cártel del Golfo, “Chapa encabezó una gran empresa criminal cuyas actividades incluyeron asesinatos, tráfico de drogas, secuestro, extorsión, soborno, blanqueo de dinero y tortura”, dice el documento judicial. Parece que Guerrero en parte buscaba el anonima-
to junto con su familia cuando se mudó a la región metropolitana de Dallas. Documentos de la corte señalan que él tenía temor de ser “encontrado por personas que querían matarlo”. Jesús Gerardo Ledezma Cepeda y los otros dos acusados afrontarán juicio antes de que termine el mes, según lo previsto, bajo los cargos de asociación delictuosa para perpetrar un homicidio por encargo y acechar a alguien a nivel interestatal. Wes Ball, uno de los abogados de Ledezma, dijo que Chapa encabezó el cártel del Golfo en calidad transitoria o provisional. Las autoridades estadounidenses han dicho que Chapa era abogado de Cárde-
nas Guillén y una importante figura en el funcionamiento del grupo criminal. Ball agregó que el juicio contra los tres hombres acusados de la muerte de Chapa podría permitir un vistazo extraordinario a las operaciones del cártel. “La mayoría de los jefes de los cárteles jamás son enjuiciados, casi siempre se declaran culpables”, declaró Ball. “Así que los juicios públicos en los que se exponen los detalles esenciales son en verdad muy raros”, agregó. La muerte de Chapa cerca de Dallas en 2013 tuvo lugar el mismo mes en el que fue declarado culpable en Austin el hermano de los dos principales jefes de un cártel rival.
La empresa paraestatal de hidrocarburos Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) reportó que el robo de combustible en la red de ductos había descendido en un 34 por ciento durante enero. En enero se registró una sustracción de 414.000 barriles, en comparación con los 628.000 barriles que se reportaron en el mismo periodo el año anterior. Según el director de Pemex, Emilio Lozoya, sólo en el periodo de septiembre del 2013 a septiembre del 2014 Pemex detectó más de 2.700 tomas clandestinas. Las pérdidas llegan a ascender a más de 7.5 millones de barriles y un costo equivalente a 15,300 millones de pesos. Los casos ocurren en Tamaulipas y once estados más de México, y esto incluye el poliducto CadereytaBrownsville. Se atribuyó un fortalecimiento al marco jurídico en la materia, como factor determinante para este cambio y uno de los aspectos esenciales de esta estrategia es proteger a la población y el medio ambiente, de los daños colaterales en la sustracción ilegal de combustibles. “Con estos resultados y a través de las diversas acciones emprendidas por la Subdirección de Salvaguardia Estratégica, se espera además reducir los volúmenes de productos petrolíferos e insumos robados”, afirmó Lozoya. (Con información del sitio de noticias eleconomista.com.mx)
COLUMNA
Relata arribo del xolotzcuintli a Tamaulipas Nota del editor: El xolotzcuintli es un perro nativo de América que ahora alcanza grandes precios
POR RAÚL SINENCIO CHÁVEZ ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
Con las huestes de Hernán Cortés llegan animales desconocidos en México, como los perros mastines. Cuando los embajadores de Moctezuma regresan, aún impresionados le informan que las tropas europeas traen lebreles (perros), “enormes, … de grandes lenguas colgantes;” sus
“ojos derraman fuego, están echando chispas […] Son muy fuertes y robustos, no están quietos, andan jadeando, andan con la lengua colgando”, recoge fray Bernardino de Sahagún. De mandíbula recia y atronadores ladridos, aquellos especímenes han sido entrenados para el combate fiero. Enormes, ágiles, bravos, prestos a las órdenes de ataque, se lanzan contra los ejércitos adversarios, destrozándolos batalla tras batalla. Resalta el Códice Florentino: “Ponían gran temor en todos los que los
veían”. Suman por lo menos diez las variedades propias. Una de ellas la describe Francisco Javier Clavijero. “El xolotzcuintli … en algunos individuos” alcanza “cuatro pies de largo. Tiene las orejas derechas, el cuello grueso y la cola larga. Lo más singular … es estar enteramente privado de pelo … Sólo tiene sobre el hocico algunas cerdas largas y retorcidas. Todo su cuerpo está cubierto de una piel lisa, blanda, de color ceniza, … manchada en parte de negro y leonado”. Agrega: Los
hay “de … aspecto melancólico” y por completo mudos. Desde tiempos inmemoriales también los domestican. Sirven de compañía en la vida hogareña. Nuestros pueblos originarios creían que guiaban el alma de los difuntos en su camino al inframundo. Los sacrificaban en consecuencia, enterrándolos al lado del propietario fallecido. Consumada la empresa conquistadora, los perros cambian de funciones. Algunos pasan al campo y cuidan allá del ganado. Otros se vuelven precursores de
jaurías callejeras en ciudades novohispanas. Los perros nativos, por lo contrario, resultan diezmados sin miramientos. Apunta Clavijero: “Los españoles … hacían la provisión para sus buques con carne de estos cuadrúpedos”. De ahí proviene el topónimo prehispánico de Tampico. En la antigua lengua huasteca, tam significa lugar y pico quiere decir perro; entiéndase lugar de perros. (Con permiso del autor, según se publicó en La Razón, el 25 de marzo)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
One final farewell File photo by David J. Phillip | AP
Golden State’s Klay Thompson and the Warriors are one win away from setting the new NBA single-season wins record at 73 games as they host Memphis in their regular-season finale.
Warriors a game away from history By JANIE MCCAULEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAKLAND — Stephen Curry never figured the Chicago Bulls’ 72-win mark could be matched or eclipsed. Twenty years later, the reigning MVP and his defending champion Golden State Warriors are on the brink of doing just that and making yet more history this season. “I knew what it was but you never really thought about it in perspective of anybody chasing it. It was kind of that number that was out there that seemed invincible,” Curry said after practice Tuesday. “Even at the beginning of this year, even when we started 24-0, it was kind of: ’Well, maybe we can do it. We’re going to keep playing every night with the intention of winning as many games as possible,’ but it just sounded kind of ludicrous, 72-10, how much good play has to go into it. We’re there now, 72-9, and we’ve got one more chance to beat it.” That comes Wednesday, when the Memphis Grizzlies visit Oracle Arena as Golden State goes for win No. 73 to best the 1995-96 Bulls. And to think of all the scrutiny the Warriors got last June when they captured their first championship in 40 years. The Warriors were annoyed for a moment, then went to work showing the rest of the NBA they were for real — and playing with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, no doubt
about it. They were knocked again along the way, with Curry’s pull-upand-shoot-from-anywhere style criticized by some Hall of Famers and other former greats. “It’s a big deal for sure,” Curry said. “It’s our last regular-season game, our last tuneup before the playoffs and nobody wants to lose their last game going into the playoffs if you can avoid it, and obviously 73. We want to get that number. Why not?” Curry and coach Steve Kerr expected the Warriors to be better this season, but this good? No way. This many wins? Hardly. Not with every opponent bringing its best every night. Triple-double machine Draymond Green can’t believe Golden State’s position now, either. “It would have been cool to take care of the games we were supposed to take care of and have it already out of the way,” Green said. “The way this thing has played out, to be at home with one shot at it, it’s pretty amazing. You can’t not talk about it at this point. The whole world’s talking about it now. It’s everywhere. There’s no way to hide from it now. Honestly, realistically, I didn’t think it could be done.” Whatever happens Wednesday, the Warriors know their ultimate task remains bringing home another championship. “It should be a fun 48 minutes and hopefully a night we’ll remember for a long time,” said Curry.
File photo by Branimir Kvartuc | AP
After two decades spent carving his name in the NBA record books, Bryant will end his basketball career at home with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.
Kobe Bryant ends 20-year career Wednesday By GREG BEACHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant is down to one last shot, and everybody knows he’s going to take it. After two decades spent dazzling the world, Bryant will end his basketball career at home with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night. He’ll walk off the court in front of his devoted fans in the building where he hung five championship banners. He retires this week as the third-leading scorer in league history. Nobody ever got to spend 20 seasons with one NBA team before the 37-year-old Bryant, and he intends to thank Los Angeles with one last display of his transcendent talent. "It means everything" to finish at home, Bryant said. "I grew up a die-hard Laker fan, so it’s like a dream come true for a kid to grow up and play for his favorite team, and play here for 20 years, his entire career," he added. "I’ve
seen the city grow. I’ve seen the city develop, and vice versa. There’s no place I’d rather end my career." Tickets are reselling for hefty sums, and merchandise commemorating the day is moving briskly. Fans without seats will gather downtown to show love for Bryant, a globally admired athlete who both fearlessly represented and strongly resembled LA. "I’ve grown up in front of this crowd from the age of 17," Bryant said. "A lot of faces that I saw in the crowd in my very first game are still here. That’s very special. Kids that are sitting there now, that were kids when I first came in, now come to the game with their kids. You know, that’s pretty cool to see." While Bryant’s fellow Nike athletes around the globe wear shoes honoring the event they’ve dubbed "Mamba Day," the Lakers will attempt to send Bryant out in style against the Utah Jazz, who could be eliminated from the playoff race shortly before tipoff.
Coach Byron Scott expects Bryant to play more than 37 minutes, and Kobe’s teammates will be feeding the ball to him on practically every possession - admittedly not much of a change from most games during this otherwise horrific season. With two 30-point performances this month, Bryant has proven he’s still capable. He’ll have every opportunity to run up the score one last time. "I think it’s going to be crazy," Scott said. "We got a chance to celebrate one of the greatest to ever play the game this season, and I think we did it the right way." Bryant said last week that every season is a failure unless it ends with a title. The 15th such failure of his career has been comically bad, yet the ineptitude of the worst team in Lakers history (16-65) actually has made it easier to enjoy his farewell tour. "We’re not playing for a championship, and I’m pretty black-and-white on where I stand with that sort of stuff," Bryant said. "I’ve allowed myself to
take the blinders off and enjoy the fans, enjoy the crowd. Laugh a little bit more. Engage a little bit more." When Bryant was asked to name his greatest basketball accomplishment Monday, he didn’t cite his rings. Instead, he chose his ability to find the motivation to return from three consecutive seasonending injuries from 201315. Bryant hasn’t had a major health setback this season, although he sat out 16 games, constantly iced his joints, rarely practiced and hardly ever attended morning shootarounds. Bryant’s finale is the conclusion of a 20-year competition with himself. One last time, Kobe just wants to play. "For me, it’s coming out in front of the fans and competing hard, and playing against Utah and them not taking it easy at all," Bryant said. "To me, that is the greatest form of competition. That’s the best last game to have. A very competitive one. A physical one. That’s the way basketball should be."
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Facebook shows new ways to chat at annual conference By BRANDON BAILEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO — Looking for new ways to engage with its audience, Facebook says people who use its Messenger chat service will soon be able to order flowers, shop for shoes and talk with a variety of businesses by sending them direct text messages. And soon, if you haven’t “chatted” with those businesses on Messenger in a while, they’ll be able to send you a paid message that offers a special deal or encourages you to buy a product you liked before. CEO Mark Zuckerberg used Facebook’s annual software conference Tuesday to describe its latest initiatives at a time when some reports indicate people may be sharing less personal information on the social network — either because of privacy concerns or the growing appeal of competing apps. Analysts say that underscores the importance for Facebook of adding more features to its growing chat services: It needs to keep people engaged — and continue to learn about their interests for advertising purposes. But Zuckerberg also reiterated Facebook’s goals for connecting people around the world, adding a jab that seemed directed at the likes of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and others who have called for cracking down on immigration and rebuffing refugees. “As I look around the world, I’m starting to see people and nations turning inward,” Zuckerberg said at one point during a keynote speech that mostly focused on new software initiatives. “I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing peo-
Photo by Eric Risberg | AP
Ime Archibong, Facebook director of product partnerships, during the keynote address at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference. ple they label as ‘others.’ I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases even for cutting access to the Internet.” Zuckerberg went on to say he prefers optimism over fear and believes technology should be used “to build bridges” instead of walls. The billionaire tech mogul has previously backed efforts to ease U.S. immigration restrictions and provide more Internet access in developing countries. Most of Zuckerberg’s talk, meanwhile, was focused on new ways that people can use chat services, live video and even virtual reality technology to help people communicate. With its new emphasis on chatting with businesses, Facebook is joining several tech companies working to promote the use of intelligent software programs known as “chatbots,” which let businesses interact with customers in conversational language. Microsoft recently announced a similar effort with its Skype service, but Facebook appears further along.
Facebook already has more than 30 companies signed up to deploy chatbots on Messenger, including major corporations like CNN, eBay, Burger King and Bank of America. Facebook is also releasing programming tools that other companies can use to build their own chatbots for Messenger. “We think you should just be able to message a business the same way that you message a friend,” Zuckerberg said, noting many people hate the experience of calling businesses on the phone. Facebook is also making it easier for individuals to contact businesses by searching for their bots within Messenger or clicking on an ad in Facebook’s regular news stream. But Vice President David Marcus said the company wants to be careful not to annoy users by filling the Messenger app with unsolicited spam. Facebook is testing a program that charges businesses for the opportunity to send a “sponsored message,” but they’ll only be able to contact people who are existing customers or have already messaged the
A look at the LGBT law By JONATHAN DREW AND GARY D. ROBERTSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has filed an executive order that extends further protections to state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but leaves intact the bulk of a new state law regarding rights for lesbian, gay and transgender people. McCrory said he wants state lawmakers to change part of the law that prevents people from suing over workplace discrimination, but he would need the legislature to make that change. He said that after hearing feedback from the public, “I am taking action to affirm and improve the state’s commitment to privacy and equality.” Chris Brook, an ACLU lawyer who’s fighting the law in court, said even if provisions about suing in state court were changed,
Photo by Scott Hoffmann | AP
In this Dec. 2, 2015, file photo, Gov. Pat McCrory kicks off his re-election campaign. the state law still excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from classes protected from discrimination. And local governments are still precluded from passing anti-discrimination laws that go further. Below is a look at significant provisions of the executive order, along with measures in state law that remain unchanged. PROTECTIONS FOR STATE EMPLOYEES McCrory added protection for gender identity and
sexual orientation to an antidiscrimination policy covering state employees. He also affirmed the ability of private businesses and local governments to create nondiscrimination policies for their own employees. Brook said that private businesses have always been able to create nondiscrimination policies that go beyond state law, and he noted that the state law passed in March already appeared to give local governments the ability to set policies for their own employees. THE BATHROOM DEBATE McCrory isn’t asking the legislature to change the provision of the law regarding transgender people’s access to bathrooms. Essentially, the law requires government agencies to direct men and boys to multi-stall restrooms and locker rooms designated for use by people born as male, and keep women and girls in those designated for people born female.
business, Marcus said. Individuals on Messenger will be able to block future messages from a business at any time. That’s consistent with the conservative approach Facebook has used to gradually introduce paid video ads on its main platform and commercials on its Instagram photo-sharing service. The company doesn’t want to risk driving people away with too many annoying ads, Marcus said. “It’s a very high-quality, personal environment,” he said in an interview. “We want to keep it that way.” The effort comes as more people are embracing the Internet chat service and its competitors. Messenger now has 900 million active users worldwide, while WhatsApp, another chat service owned by Facebook, claims 1 billion. “More and more of our mobile time is spent within messaging,” said Ken Sena, an investment analyst at Evercore ISI, who examined the apps in a recent report. He’s one of several analysts who say they believe consumers would prefer talking to a business within the messaging app they’re already using, rather than download a separate app and create another user name and password for each business. That’s already a popular model in some Asian countries, where people use China’s WeChat, Japan’s Line and other texting services to schedule doctor’s appointments, pay for meals, order merchandise or send gifts to their friends. Facebook Inc. is also releasing a host of other tools for developers to build apps that work with its services, including software for streaming video from drones and other gadgets.
Photo by Grant Hindsley/seattlepi.com | AP
John Charlton appears in court at the King County Jail Courtroom in Seattle on Tuesday.
Woman dismembered in home, dumped By WALKER ORENSTEIN AND LISA BAUMANN ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE — A man dismembered a nurse and mother of three in her suburban home then drove her head and other remains to Seattle, where they were found in garbage bags in a recycling bin, authorities said Tuesday. The disclosure came as a King County judge ordered the suspect in the case, John Robert Charlton, held on $2 million bail and prosecutors said he could face a second-degree murder charge. Charlton has a criminal history and his parents had sought a restraining order against him in 2006, saying he had taken the movie “Hannibal” — about a serial killer — from a shelf and told his mother she should watch it and “beware.” Charlton, 37, was arrested Monday after police said remains believed to be those of Ingrid Lyne of Renton were found over the weekend in a homeowner’s recycling bin. A head, arm with a hand, lower leg and foot were recovered, court documents state. Lyne, 40, was reported
missing on Saturday. The coroner’s office was working to confirm the remains were hers. Lyne had planned to go on a date to a Mariners baseball game Friday night, friends said. A neighbor told detectives she had been dating a man named John. Charlton told police he went to the baseball game with Lyne and returned to her home that night but was so intoxicated he couldn’t recall what happened. He said he had been dating Lyne for about a month. Seattle police detectives searched Lyne’s suburban home Sunday and found a 15-inch pruning saw near the bathtub, an empty box of plastic garbage bags identical to the type containing the body parts, and collected swabs of suspected blood, according to court documents. Jennifer Worley, a King County prosecutor, said investigators found bits of human flesh and blood in the bathtub near the saw. Police said Charlton had abrasions on his forehead and hand, injuries to his lip and chin, and scratches on his chest.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
THE MARKET IN REVIEW STOCK EXCHANGE HIGHLIGHTS
u
NYSE 10,238.69 +124.11
GAINERS ($2 OR MORE)
u
DAILY DOW JONES
NASDAQ 4,872.09
+38.69
GAINERS ($2 OR MORE)
Name
Last Chg%Chg Name
Last Chg%Chg
ChesEng BonanzaCE DenburyR SeadrillLtd SM Energy ChesEn pfD Tidwtr SiderurNac EP Energy W&T Off
6.05 2.49 3.23 3.83 25.48 25.57 7.97 3.12 4.85 2.54
4.39 4.26 40.42 2.35 3.47 2.34 3.27 10.98 2.41 5.14
+1.55 +.63 +.67 +.75 +4.84 +4.57 +1.41 +.54 +.78 +.39
+34.4 +33.9 +26.2 +24.4 +23.4 +21.8 +21.5 +20.9 +19.2 +18.1
LOSERS ($2 OR MORE) Name
LegcyR pfB LegcyR pf LibtyGlobB HighpwrInt VanNR pfB AmElTech VanNR pfC VoyagerT n EV Engy Breitbrn pf
24.96 -6.66 8.92 -2.22 14.84 -2.89 3.30 -.50 18.31 -2.68 21.65 -2.83 111.80-14.39 19.71 -1.92 16.08 -1.58 14.55 -1.39
-21.1 -19.9 -16.3 -13.2 -12.8 -11.6 -11.4 -8.9 -8.9 -8.7
+34.3 +31.5 +29.0 +19.9 +16.8 +15.3 +15.1 +13.9 +13.7 +13.2
Name
Vol (00) 1814820 972175 654390 580141 570826 564759 445644 435837 409437 339988
Last Chg Name
13.42 -4.80 -26.3 4.01 -.76 -15.9 9.15 -1.45 -13.7 5.93 -.81 -12.0 2.50 -.27 -9.8 14.42 -1.55 -9.7 10.71 -.97 -8.3 2.69 -.24 -8.2 5.62 -.49 -8.0 2.07 -.18 -7.9
Vol (00)
6.05 +1.55 13.27 +.30 9.48 -.26 10.43 +.67 5.32 +.44 6.43 +.54 10.89 +1.37 13.12 +1.45 31.96 +.07 3.83 +.75
SiriusXM HorizPhm Cisco Apple Inc Facebook MicronT Microsoft Starbucks s IntgDv Intel
2,444 621 104 3,169 124 10 4,140,602,457
Advanced Declined Unchanged Total issues New Highs New Lows
DIARY Advanced Declined Unchanged Total issues New Highs New Lows
Volume
17,840
Close: 17,721.25 Change: 164.84 (0.9%)
17,660 17,480
18,000
18,351.36 8,953.18 672.28 11,254.87 5,231.94 947.85 2,134.72 1,551.28 22,537.15 1,296.00
10 DAYS
17,500 17,000 16,500
511466 462200 268095 267702 258844 253089 242529 171708 167210 163617
Last Chg 3.86 +.05 13.42 -4.80 27.64 +.02 110.44 +1.42 110.61 +1.62 10.17 -.28 54.65 +.34 59.50 -1.40 20.22 +.79 31.86 +.19
DIARY
Volume
1,876 909 178 2,963 34 27 1,715,993,542
15,370.33 6,403.31 539.96 8,937.99 4,209.76 809.57 1,810.10 1,215.14 18,462.43 943.09
Name
Last
Dow Industrials Dow Transportation Dow Utilities NYSE Composite Nasdaq Composite S&P 100 S&P 500 S&P MidCap Wilshire 5000 Russell 2000
CURRENCIES
Last PvsWeek
15,500
O
N
D
J
F
M
A
Last
YTD Chg %Chg
STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Name
Div
Yld
PE
AT&T Inc Alcoa AEP BkofAm B iPVixST Caterpillar ChesEng CCFemsa CmtyHlt ConocoPhil Dillards DirDGldBr EmpIca ExxonMbl FordM FrptMcM GenElec HP Inc HomeDp iShEMkts Intel
1.92 .12 2.24 .20 ... 3.08 ... 1.98 ... 1.00 .28 ... ... 2.92 .60 ... .92 .50 2.76 .84 1.04
5.0 1.3 3.4 1.5 ... 4.0 ... 2.4 ... 2.3 .4 ... ... 3.5 4.7 ... 3.0 4.1 2.1 2.4 3.3
17 38.67 26 9.48 21 66.31 10 13.27 ... 18.12 15 76.10 ... 6.05 ... 83.66 10 18.53 ... 43.47 11 73.12 ... 2.06 ... .94 22 84.35 7 12.81 ... 10.43 ... 30.81 11 12.22 25 134.38 ... 34.33 14 31.86
Last
YTD Chg %Chg
+.28 -.26 +.63 +.30 -.64 +1.47 +1.55 +2.40 +.27 +2.28 +.09 -.05 +.00 +1.03 +.15 +.67 +.10 +.09 +1.37 +.52 +.19
+12.4 -4.0 +13.8 -21.2 -9.9 +12.0 +34.4 +18.1 -30.2 -6.9 +11.3 -87.5 +22.2 +8.2 -9.1 +54.1 -1.1 +3.2 +1.6 +6.6 -7.5
Name
Div
Yld
IntlBcsh IBM Lowes Lubys MetLife MexicoFd Microsoft Modine Penney Petrobras S&P500ETF SanchezEn Schlmbrg SearsHldgs SonyCp UnionPac USSteel UnivHlthS Vale SA WalMart WellsFargo
.58 5.20 1.12 ... 1.50 1.81 1.44 ... ... ... 4.13 ... 2.00 ... ... 2.20 .20 .40 .29 2.00 1.50
2.4 3.5 1.5 ... 3.5 ... 2.6 ... ... ... 2.0 ... 2.6 ... ... 2.8 1.1 .3 5.5 2.9 3.1
PE
12 24.19 +.46 -5.9 10 149.63 +.38 +8.7 23 75.73 +.58 -.4 ... 4.95 +.15 +10.7 10 43.16 +.73 -10.5 ... 17.34 +.19 +4.3 35 54.65 +.34 -1.5 ... 10.39 -.06 +14.8 ... 9.75 -.04 +46.4 ... 6.43 +.54 +49.5 ... 205.92 +1.90 +1.0 ... 6.92 +.47 +60.6 23 75.90 +2.02 +8.8 ... 14.95 +.51 -27.3 ... 27.97 +.99 +13.7 15 79.64 +.95 +1.8 ... 17.62 +.29 +120.8 18 122.49 +.75 +2.5 ... 5.32 +.44 +61.7 15 68.80 +1.40 +12.2 12 47.77 +.74 -12.1
Stock Footnotes: g=Dividends and earnings in Canadian dollars .h= Doe not meet continued- listings tandards lf = Late filing with SEC. n = New in past 52 weeks. pf = Preferred. rs = Stock has undergone a reverse stock split of at least 50 percent within the past year. rt = Right to buy security at a specified price. s = Stock has split by at least 20 percent within the last year. un = Units. vj = In bankruptcy or receivership. wd = When distributed. wi = When issued. wt = Warrants. Mutual Fund Footnotes: b = Fee covering market costs is paid from fund assets. d = Deferred sales charge, or redemption fee. f = front load (sales charges). m = Multiple fees are charged. NA = not available. p = previous day’s net asset value. s = fund split shares during the week. x = fund paid a distribution during the week. Source: The Associated Press. Sales figures are unofficial.
Prime Rate Discount Rate Federal Funds Rate Treasuries 3-month 6-month 5-year 10-year 30-year
3.50 3.50 1.00 1.00 .25-.50 .25-.50 0.22 0.34 1.21 1.78 2.60
YTD 12-mo Chgg %Chg %Chg %Chg
17,721.25 +164.84 +.94 +1.70 -1.75 7,758.69 +59.20 +.77 +3.33 -10.80 662.77 +5.26 +.80 +14.70 +12.76 10,238.69 +124.11 +1.23 +.94 -7.83 4,872.09 +38.69 +.80 -2.70 -2.11 915.50 +8.93 +.98 +.45 -.08 2,061.72 +19.73 +.97 +.87 -1.63 1,439.75 +14.94 +1.05 +2.94 -5.96 21,228.87 +207.63 +.99 +.29 -4.46 1,105.71 +11.37 +1.04 -2.66 -12.62
MONEY RATES
16,000
Last Chg%Chg
HorizPhm OptimB rs T2 Biosys DragonW rs TechComm StarBulk19 Net1UEPS XteraCm n MitekSys EntertG rs
MOST ACTIVE ($1 OR MORE) MOST ACTIVE ($1 OR MORE) ChesEng BkofAm Alcoa FrptMcM Vale SA Petrobras WhitingPet MarathnO Pfizer SeadrillLtd
Dow Jones industrials
LOSERS ($2 OR MORE)
Last Chg%Chg Name
DrxCySBull DxSPOGBr s DrxNGBear Och-Ziff CSVInvNG PrUSOGEx CSVInvCrd DxEnBear DxRsaBr rs ETrMLPSht
+1.12 +1.02 +9.08 +.39 +.50 +.31 +.43 +1.34 +.29 +.60
STOCK MARKET INDEXES 52-Week High Low
0.19 0.27 1.18 1.72 2.55
Australia Britain Canada Euro Japan Mexico Switzerlnd
Last
Pvs Day
1.3008 1.4273 1.2753 .8774 108.53 17.4440 .9549
1.3144 1.4236 1.2891 .8763 107.94 17.6001 .9538
British pound expressed in U.S. dollars. All others show dollar in foreign currency.
MUTUAL FUNDS Name AB GlbThmtGrA m Columbia ComInfoA m Eaton Vance WldwHealA m Fidelity Select Biotech d Fidelity Select BrokInv d Fidelity Select CommEq d Fidelity Select Computer d Fidelity Select ConsFin d Fidelity Select Electron d Fidelity Select FinSvc d Fidelity Select SwreITSvcs d Fidelity Select Tech d T Rowe Price SciTech Vanguard HlthCare Waddell & Reed Adv SciTechA m
Total Assets Obj ($Mlns) NAV WS 483 84.41 ST 2,780 54.98 SH 887 11.11 SH 9,957 173.83 SF 335 57.80 ST 180 27.48 ST 420 68.27 SF 90 11.65 ST 1,474 75.34 SF 1,098 79.87 ST 3,214 118.82 ST 2,998 116.86 ST 2,946 33.37 SH 10,810 199.51 ST 3,005 12.34
Total Return/Rank 4-wk 12-mo 5-year +2.8 -8.7/D +1.8/E +1.1 +2.7/A +11.2/B +2.3 -10.4/B +16.1/D +6.9 -27.7/E +23.3/A -1.8 -18.0/E +4.5/D -1.0 -12.0/E +2.0/E +2.2 -12.2/E +6.4/E +1.7 -10.9/D +10.1/A +0.7 -3.2/C +11.9/A +0.9 -9.2/C +6.4/C +2.9 +6.2/A +15.2/A +3.4 -0.9/B +9.5/C +2.1 -0.6/B +10.0/B +0.4 -6.7/A +18.0/B +1.7 -17.3/E +9.8/C
Pct Min Init Load Invt 4.25 2,500 5.75 2,000 5.75 1,000 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 2,500 NL 3,000 5.75 750
CA -Conservative Allocation, CI -Intermediate-Term Bond, ES -Europe Stock, FB -Foreign Large Blend, FG -Foreign LargeGrowth, FV -Foreign Large Value, IH -World Allocation, LB -Large Blend, LG -Large Growth, LV -Large Value, MA Moderate Allocation, MB -Mid-Cap Blend, MV - Mid-Cap Value, SH -Specialty-heath, ST - Technology, WS -World Stock, Total Return: Chng in NAV with dividends reinvested. Rank: How fund performed vs. others with same objective: A is in top 20%, E in bottom 20%. Min Init Invt: Minimum $ needed to invest in fund. Source: Morningstar.
Ford F-150 gets highest rating By DEE-ANN DURBIN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DETROIT — The 2016 Ford F-150 is the only fullsize pickup truck to score the top rating in new front crash tests performed by the insurance industry. Rival pickups from Chevrolet, GMC, Ram and Toyota didn’t fare as well, according to results released Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The institute evaluated 2016 models in a small overlap crash test, which replicates what happens when a vehicle runs off the road and a portion of its front end hits a tree or a pole at 40 miles per hour. The tests evaluated both crew cab and extended cab versions of each truck, since those are the most popular body styles. A crew cab has four full doors and two full rows of seating. An extended cab has two full front doors, two small rear doors and smaller second-row seats. The institute also evaluated different body styles because past tests have shown varying results. In tests last year, the 2015 F-150 SuperCab — the extended cab version of the F-150 — lacked some of the structural elements of the larger F-150 SuperCrew so it got lower safety
Photo courtesy of Ford Motor Company | AP
The 2016 Ford F-150 with 5.0-liter Ti-VCT V8 engine rolls off the line at Kansas City Assembly Plant. ratings. Ford responded by adding reinforcements to the 2016 SuperCab, including high-strength steel tubes in the wheel wells and aluminum rocker panels on the sides that help absorb energy from a crash. Ford also added nylon reinforcements to the door hinges. With those enhancements, both versions of the F-150 now have the institute’s highest safety rating of “good.” The results were a vindication for Ford Motor Co., which switched to a lightweight aluminum body on the F-150 in the 2015 model year in order to increase fuel economy. Ford was the first auto-
maker to move away from a steel body on its pickups, and some had questioned whether aluminum would perform as well. Crash test results varied for other brands. The extended cab versions of the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Toyota Tundra, for example, all performed better than the larger crew cab versions. But the institute said all of them failed to protect the crash test dummy’s lower leg and foot. None got the highest safety rating. Toyota Motor Corp. is evaluating the results, spokeswoman Cindy Knight said. She stressed that the Tundra meets or exceeds all federal safety
requirements. The institute performs a different set of tests than federal regulators. Both versions of the Ram pickup were the worst performers on the small overlap test. The institute said the trucks had a poor structure and the force of the crash pushed the instrument panel and steering wheel back toward the dummy. A message seeking comment was left with Fiat Chrysler. The institute also tested roof strength to see how well the pickups would protect an occupant in a rollover crash. Roof strength is especially critical for pickup trucks, since studies have shown that pickup drivers are less likely to wear seat belts. A crushed roof can break window glass and doors and make it more likely that an unbelted occupant will be thrown from the vehicle. The F-150, both Silverados, both Sierras and the Tundra Double Cab — the extended version of the Tundra — all got the highest ratings for roof strength. The Tundra CrewMax crew cab and both Rams got lower ratings. The institute said it plans to test two more full-size pickup trucks, the Nissan Titan and the Honda Ridgeline, later this year after both are redesigned.
Officials face fragile economy By PAUL WISEMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — World finance officials who meet in Washington this week confront a bleak picture: Eight years after the financial crisis erupted, the global economy remains fragile and at risk of another recession. “Growth has been too slow for too long,” Maurice Obstfeld, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, warned on the eve of the spring meetings of the IMF, the World Bank and the Group of 20 major economies Thursday through Saturday. The IMF on Tuesday downgraded its outlook for growth for most regions and for the global economy as a whole. It now foresees a weaker financial landscape than it did in January. Like the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the IMF has repeatedly overestimated the strength of the world economy in the aftermath of the 2008
financial crisis. Problems span the globe. China’s sharp slowdown has hurt commodityexporting countries by driving down demand for everything from iron ore to coal. Prices of raw materials have sunk as a result. A rising dollar has pinched American factories by making their goods more expensive in foreign markets and contributing to a sharp deceleration in U.S. growth since late 2015. The 19 countries that use the euro currency have struggled to gain any momentum despite aggressive easy-money policies from the European Central Bank. Japan’s economy is hobbled by consumers wary of spending. Obstfeld expressed concern about volatility in financial markets, the refugee crisis caused by violence in the Middle East and the possibility that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union — a prospect that could undercut Europe’s political and economic stability. In the United States and Europe, Obstfeld said that
“a backlash against crossborder economic integration threatens to halt or even reverse the postwar trend of ever more open trade.” The dangers could “pull the world economy below stalling speed,” Obstfeld said. Experts have been confounded since the financial crisis by trends that in some ways have defied economic history. Wages haven’t risen significantly in advanced economies even though unemployment has fallen. Inflation has remained dangerously subpar despite ultra-low borrowing rates engineered by major central banks. And those historically low loan rates have yet to encourage businesses to step up investment meaningfully. One especially pressing concern: With rates already low and government debts high, many countries wouldn’t have much ammunition to fight another recession should one occur. Obstfeld issued an urgent warning for countries
to make a pre-emptive effort to jump-start their economies through continued low rates, government spending that encourages growth and reforms that promote economic efficiency. “There is no longer much room for error,” he said. The IMF foresees global growth of 3.2 percent this year, down from the 3.4 percent it predicted in January. Still, even the scaledback forecast would mark an improvement over last year’s 3.1 percent growth, the slowest pace since the recession year of 2009. The agency cut its forecast for 2016 economic growth in the United States to 2.4 percent from 2.6 percent; Japan to 0.5 percent from 1 percent; and the 19-country eurozone to 1.5 percent from 1.7 percent. The IMF did raise its growth forecast for China to 6.5 percent from the 6.3 percent it predicted in January. It cited resilient consumer demand and fast growth in Chinese services industries.
Photo by Mark Lennihan | AP file
This April 22, 2010, file photo, shows a Wall Street sign in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
Gains in the energy sector lift stocks By KEN SWEET ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Stocks posted solid gains on Tuesday, led by energy companies after news reports said Saudi Arabia and Russia were working toward an agreement to cut oil production. Investors also worked through the initial batch of earnings from the first quarter of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 164.84 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,721.25. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 19.73 points, or 1 percent, to 2,061.72 and the Nasdaq composite increased 38.69 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,872.09. Corporate earnings got underway on a weak note after Alcoa, the aluminum mining giant, reported a 15 percent decline in revenue late Monday. Alcoa also had a huge drop in first-quarter profit from a year earlier as aluminum prices fell. Alcoa’s stock fell 26 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $9.48. Later this week big U.S. banks will start releasing their results, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Investors will be watching the banks to see how well they’ve weathered the market’s recent volatility and low oil prices earlier this year. Banks are often seen as a proxy for how the U.S. economy is doing. “It’s not going to be a clean earnings season for financials at all,” said Peter Stournaras, a portfolio manager at BlackRock. “The banks have suffered from fears about oil loans, but those fears are overblown.” Expectations for earnings are low this quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect corporate profits to be down 9.1 percent from a year ago, hurt primarily by the steep drop in oil
prices and other commodities. The entire energy sector is expected to report a loss this quarter, according to FactSet. “Earnings will paint an important picture over the next few weeks, but the more important story is the continued improvement in the macroeconomic environment here in the U.S. and globally,” said Ryan Larson, head of U.S. equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago. Oil prices moved sharply higher after Russian officials told Interfax, the Russian news agency, that they planned to reach a deal with Saudi Arabia to cut oil production. OPEC ministers meet this Sunday in Doha, Qatar. Benchmark U.S. crude oil climbed $1.81, or 4.5 percent, at $42.17 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $1.86 to $44.69 a barrel in London. Energy stocks, which have been beaten down in recent months, followed the price of crude oil higher. The energy component of the S&P 500 jumped almost 3 percent. U.S. government bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.77 percent from 1.73 percent late Monday. The euro fell to $1.1397 from $1.1412 while the dollar rose to 108.53 yen from 107.94 yen. In other energy commodities, heating oil rose 6 cents to $1.276 a gallon, wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $1.534 a gallon and natural gas rose 9 cents to $2.004 per thousand cubic feet. Precious and industrial metals prices closed broadly higher. Gold gained $2.90 to $1,260.90 an ounce, silver rose 25 cents to $16.22 an ounce and copper climbed six cents to $2.15 a pound.
International
10A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
Photo by Guillermo Arias | AP file
In this Sept. 14, 2008 file photo, relatives and friends of inmates stand outside La Mesa state penitentiary.
Photo by Juan Mabromata/AFP | Getty Images
Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner waves to supporters upon her arrival at Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires on April 11. Kirchner returns to the Argentine capital to face the first of an expanding series of corruption allegations against her.
Corruption probes closing in By LUIS ANDRES HENAO ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Corruption allegations always swirled around former President Cristina Fernandez during her two terms in office, but they never stuck. Now, the walls seem to be closing on the fiery populist leader who typically criticized those who dared to question her management and ethics. In the past week, a federal prosecutor has asked that she be included in a widening investigation into money laundering. Her former transportation secretary and a businessman with close ties to her family were arrested in separate corruption probes that could implicate her. A separate money-laundering probe into hotels owned by her family has been relaunched. To top it off, she has been called to testify Wednesday in an alleged scheme to manipulate Argentina’s currency, marking the first time she has been legally summoned in an investigation against her. “This has happened all of a sudden,” said Sergio Berensztein, a local political analyst and pollster. “Four months ago, Cristina (Fernandez) was still one of the most powerful people in Argentina.” But then, she was succeeded in the presidency in December by a conservative political rival, Mauricio Macri, the former Buenos Aires mayor and son of one of the country’s richest businessmen. Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, had been the most dominant political leaders to come out of Argentina in decades and are often credited with lifting the country out of its worst economic crisis in 2001. But detractors say their social policies contributed to spiraling inflation and criticize her combative rhetoric, the couple’s personal enrichment, and their ties to scandals. She always dismissed the
accusations as lies by the press or defamations by enemies aimed at discrediting the achievements of their collective 12 years in power. While the corruption cases seem to be getting closer to Fernandez, she hasn’t been formally charged with as a suspect in any crime. When she decided not to run for another office last year — such as senator, a move that would have afforded her certain immunities — her supporters said it showed she had nothing to hide. “Of course, we think this all goes back to political motives,” said Daniel Filmus, a Fernandez ally and former Argentine education minister. “This is revenge by sectors that were punished by the politics of economic growth and social equality that were led by Cristina.” Since Fernandez ended her term in December, the new administration has promised to crack down on the corruption that has long plagued Argentina. Analysts say that has emboldened judges who are now more independent to pursue sensitive cases against the former leader and her close circle without fear of retribution. “When Fernandez was president, she exercised power very forcefully and everyone was scared,” Berensztein said. “But this fear has dissipated.” A once seemingly untouchable friend of the presidential couple was arrested last week as soon as he landed in his private jet at a Buenos Aires airport. Lazaro Baez, a millionaire businessman who got public works contracts during the Kirchner and Fernandez administrations, is accused of embezzling and laundering about $5 million. When brought before a judge, he refused to testify and remains jailed. Prosecutors began looking into Baez after a 2013 journalistic investigation named him as Kirchner’s figurehead in an elaborate scheme. The news report said Baez used his compa-
nies to launder money for the former presidents. Argentines are accustomed to corruption scandals that grab headlines before becoming lost in slow-moving investigations. But even in a country that ranked 107 out of 167 on Transparency International’s annual corruption index last year, many Argentines were shocked by recent images on local TV that showed one of Baez’s sons and others counting wads of cash at a company under investigation. Prosecutors have said they are looking into the financial transactions at several top hotels owned by the Kirchner family in the southern province of Santa Cruz, where Fernandez has been living since she stepped down from office. Local news reports say the hotels are usually empty, raising questions about how they generate the income they report. Fernandez remains popular with many Argentines. She traveled on Monday to Buenos Aires ahead of testimony she was ordered to give on Wednesday. Fernandez is suspected of being part of a scheme to keep the Argentine peso inflated by selling derivatives below market value. The sales led to a sharp drop in central bank reserves. Her supporters say that the courts should instead focus on other former presidents and even Argentina’s current leader. “In this country we have corruption cases that go back all the way to the 1990s,” said Roberto Bacman, a political analyst and director of the Center for Public Opinion Studies, a South American research firm. “It’s strange that justice is rushing things just now.” Former President Carlos Menem’s status as a lawmaker has protected him from imprisonment, including a 4 1/2-year sentence for embezzlement and a 7-year sentence for weapons smuggling. Earlier this year, he declined to testify in a case in which
he is accused of derailing the investigation into Argentina’s worst terrorist attack. Macri, who campaigned on promises to root out corruption, has recently drawn attention for his role in two offshore companies, including one that emerged in the recent “Panama Papers” leak. He said last week that he will set up a blind trust to make his finances transparent, and he has been careful in comments about Fernandez. When asked about Fernandez during an interview with The Associated Press last month, Macri noted she had not been charged with anything. But he said he would not stand in the way of any investigation. Hugo Ron, who owns a newspaper stand in downtown Buenos Aires, doesn’t think much of any of them. “It seems like everything is dirty,” he said. “There are no clean politicians.”
Most Mexican prisons dirty, overcrowded By MARIA VERZA ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission said Tuesday that most of the country’s prisons are illequipped, overcrowded and dangerous. A report by the governmental commission said that of 130 state prisons inspected, 95 lack adequate guards and staff and 104 fail to adequately separate convicted inmates from people facing trial. The most shocking part of the report was the overcrowding found at 71 of the 130 penitentiaries. Commission President Luis Raul Gonzalez said as many as 30 inmates were found living in cells designed for four people. Inmates were found to be partly in control of more than half the prisons, the report added. In February, a brawl between inmates armed with hammers, cudgels and makeshift knives at the Topo Chico prison resulted in 49 deaths. Gonzalez said the government should not “wait until something else serious happens at a prison to turn its attention” to the problems.
Gonzalez said there had been only “minimal” improvement over the last year in the 247,000-inmate prison system. The report said only one of Mexico’s 31 states had acceptable conditions at its prisons. The commission said it found similar problems at Mexico’s 21 federal prisons, although it said those facilities were somewhat better than the state prisons. Conditions had improved slightly at the country’s highest security prison, the Altiplano penitentiary west of Mexico City, where drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is being held, the report said. It said there was less overcrowding and control had improved at the facility, from which Guzman escaped last July, before being recaptured and returned in January. The report said Altiplano was built to hold 836 inmates and holds 1,018. “A federal prison, when it is overcrowded, the first thing that goes is its maximum-security status,” said commission inspector Ruth Villanueva. “That is something that has been the focus of attention. They are working on it and it’s getting fixed.”
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Obama digs in for other Democrats By JOSH LEDERMAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — In a rural stretch of Kentucky, voters picked up the phone in March to hear President Barack Obama on the line, urging them to vote for a little-known Democrat named Jeff Taylor. That an obscure special election for a Kentucky House seat had caught the president’s attention seemed odd. Yet Taylor won, joining two other victorious Democrats to deny Republicans the chance to take over the last Democratic-run legislative chamber in the South. Though he’s staying neutral in the Democratic presidential race, Obama is wading deep into Democratic primaries for Congress, state legislature and even mayoral races, cherrypicking candidates he sees as stronger while preparing to campaign in person for Democrats in the fall. Democratic officials said Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are in high demand this year —a sharp reversal from just two years ago, when Obama was politically toxic. Most Democratic candidates in 2014 practically begged Obama and his sagging poll numbers to stay away, relegating the president to a few Democrat-friendly states like Michigan. This year, upbeat economic news and rising approval ratings have increased his value to Democrats in the last election cycle before he leaves office. “You’re going to see ever-increasing requests for Obama and Biden to campaign for candidates this year,” said Amy Dacey, the CEO of the Democratic National Committee. So far this year, Obama has endorsed candidates in nine races, in addition to four he endorsed last year. He’s backed former Gov. Ted Strickland for Senate in Ohio over Cincinnati councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, and he came to the aid of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who faces a surprisingly strong primary challenge despite being the chairwoman of the Democratic Party. Obama and Biden also endorsed Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania, who faces an uphill battle to defeat former Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary for Senate. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which works to elect Senate Democrats, touted the endorsements in a television ad released Tuesday as part of a $1.1 million campaign. In Florida, Obama sided with Rep. Patrick Murphy over Rep. Alan Grayson, a favorite of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party who is under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee. The two Democrats are running for outgoing GOP Sen. Marco Rubio’s seat. All the Senate candidates Obama has endorsed have also been endorsed by the DSCC, a
wing of the Democratic Party. “It’s mirroring what’s going on with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, where the establishment Democrats are backing different candidates than their liberal, progressive base wants,” said Andrea Bozek, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Bozek called it a sign of desperation that Democrats felt they needed to bring in Obama to secure their preferred candidates. Even Democrats denied Obama’s endorsement are reluctant to complain about favoritism, wary of turning off loyal Obama supporters. Tim Canova, the law school professor challenging Wasserman Schultz, said the attention actually helped because it “really put us on the map.” “It seemed like a sign that Wasserman Schultz is worried about our campaign, that she would have gone running to the White House for an endorsement,” Canova said. Two years ago, Democrats fought their toughest Senate races in conservative-leaning states where Obama has always been deeply unpopular. The map shifted this year to states Obama won twice, including New Hampshire, Nevada and Colorado — also critical states for winning the White House. “The president right now is the most popular elected official in the country among Democrats and independents,” said David Simas, the White House political director. “When you start looking at what these battleground states will be at the presidential, Senate and House level, the map is pretty wide open for the president to engage and be helpful.” Though Obama won’t be on November’s ballot, the stakes for his legacy are just as high. A return of the White House to GOP control would augur the likely rollback of many of his policies on health care, immigration and the environment. Yet Democrats say the chaos in the GOP presidential race has created an opening to take back the Senate and maybe even the House, preserving Obama’s policies for years to come. Obama’s involvement in lower-tier races stands in contrast to his lower profile in the presidential race, where Obama is avoiding publicly choosing sides between Clinton and Sanders. White House officials said Obama will campaign full-force for the eventual nominee, but in the meantime his main role has been to attack Donald Trump. Biden, huddling with House Democratic candidates over the weekend in New Mexico, told them having Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on the ballot would benefit Democrats in lower-tier races, said a Democratic aide who requested anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Biden has already campaigned for Senate candidates in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Ryan won’t run for president By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday definitively ruled out a bid for president this year, insisting that the party’s choice should emerge from the group of candidates who pursued the GOP nomination. “Count me out,” he said. In a brief news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, the Wisconsin Republican sought to tamp down rampant speculation that he could end up as the party’s standard-bearer if front-runner Donald Trump and the other candidates flame out at a contested convention. “We have too much work to do in the House to allow this speculation to swirl or have my motivations questioned,” said Ryan, who was the 2012 vice presidential nominee. “Let me be clear: I do not want, nor will I accept, the Republican nomination.” Ryan’s comments come as a contested convention looks likelier by the day. Ryan and his aides have continually denied the speaker has presidential ambitions this year, but their statements have not put the issue to rest. That’s partly because Ryan also denied he wanted to be speaker last fall after thenSpeaker John Boehner announced his resignation, but he ended up with the job anyway. Tuesday’s appearance was an attempt to shut down the speculation once and for all, and end what aides said has become a major distraction to Ryan’s work as speaker.
Photo by J. Scott Applewhite | AP
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill, Tuesday. Yet it may not be enough to quiet the talk about Ryan, given the unpredictable twists of the GOP presidential primary. “So let me speak directly to the delegates on this: If no candidate has a majority on the first ballot, I believe you should only choose a person who actually participated in the primary. Count me out,” Ryan said. “I simply believe that if you want to be the nominee — to be the president — you should actually run for it. I chose not to. Therefore, I should not be considered. Period.” Trump looks unlikely to accumulate the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination ahead of the July Republican convention in Cleveland. That would allow his lead challenger, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, to make a play for the job. A third hopeful, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, trails in the delegate count. Yet party leaders fear neither the erratic Trump nor the polarizing Cruz could beat likely Democratic
Trump’s delegates are feeble By THOMAS BEAUMONT AND STEPHEN OHLEMACHER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES, Iowa — Already behind the curve in organizing for the Republican convention, Donald Trump has missed crucial deadlines in a number of states to lock up delegates who would stay loyal beyond the first ballot. Trump’s shortcomings in this behind-the-scenes campaign, which hasn’t played much of a role in selecting the GOP nominee in decades, could doom his presidential candidacy if he is unable to win the nomination in the initial voting at this summer’s national convention in Cleveland. After that first ballot, most delegates are no longer bound to support the winner of their state’s party primary or caucuses — they’re free agents who can support the candidate of their choosing. Most of the actual delegates are elected at state and congressional district conventions run by party insiders, members of the Republican establishment that Trump has run against from the outset of his campaign. And while Trump’s team has had little contact with these loyal party activists, his chief rival for the Republican nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has been actively courting them for months. Trump has spent the past three days hammering at his party’s delegate selection process as ‘’unfair.” At a rally in Rome, New York, Tuesday evening, Trump angrily denounced Saturday’s final allocation of all of Colorado’s delegates to Cruz, blasting the party’s system as “rigged” and “corrupt.” Trump’s team is only now starting to engage in the delegate selec-
Photo by Mike Groll | AP file
In this April 11, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Albany, N.Y. tion process, the choosing of the actual people who will attend and vote at the convention. Republicans have already selected delegates in at least nine states. And in others, such as Virginia and Arizona, the deadline to apply to be a delegate has passed. Indiana’s primary, for example, won’t take place until next month. But the deadline to become a national convention delegate was in mid-March. “Are we concerned? Yes, definitely,” said Tony Samuel, vice chairman of Trump’s Indiana campaign. The Cruz team feels the opposite. “Even if (Trump) jumped into high gear, he can’t do it,” said Shak Hill, a Cruz campaign leader in Virginia. “That’s where he’s been shut out of the game.” Trump’s delegates must vote for him on the first ballot at the convention. But if no one gets a ma-
CHILD Continued from Page 1A Leal allegedly “grabbed the minor by the throat and sat him down on the couch followed by
slapping him across the face and pulling and twisting his ears,” states the report.
(César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
CARTEL Continued from Page 1A ing gang leaders like Chapa in Texas, and particularly North Texas, a region the cartels over the years have used as a jumping off point to spread their drug distribution network. The Dallas region, fed by several freeways and small airports, allows for direct routes into the Midwest and beyond. Ledezma-Cepeda and the two other defendants are scheduled to stand trial later this month on charges including conspiracy to commit murder for hire and interstate stalking. One of Ledezma-Cepeda’s attorneys, Wes Ball, said Chapa headed the Gulf Cartel in a transitional or interim capacity. Federal authorities have said Chapa was Cardenas-Guillen’s lawyer and a principle figure in the cartel’s operation. Cartels often have lower-level members living in the U.S. to broaden drug-trafficking efforts, Russ Baer, a spokesman for the
nominee Hillary Clinton in November. They also fear the GOP won’t be able to hold onto control of the Senate with Trump or Cruz at the top of the ticket. So if neither Trump nor Cruz can get the delegate votes necessary as balloting progresses at the convention, chaos could result — and along with it, the potential for some other Republican who’s not currently running to emerge. As a young and charismatic conservative, popular with donors and with some conservative activists, Ryan’s name has been at the top of that list for months. Ryan is also seen as a possible candidate in 2020. Early in the campaign season he announced he would not be making a run in 2016, yet some of his own actions fueled the talk. He’s delivered high-profile speeches calling for a more principled politics, and his staff uses social media to promote developments as varied as Ryan’s recent trip to the Mideast and his decision to “give up impatience and anxiety” for Lent. Ryan insisted Tuesday that such moves have been aimed at communicating on behalf of House Republicans, though he has yet to unveil the policy proposals he’s been promising. Removing the presidential speculation would put Ryan’s focus squarely on his day job as the leader of the House, and he faces several key tests soon. In a long-brewing embarrassment, it’s become plain that Ryan has all but given up hope of passing a budget for the upcoming budget year.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement. These operatives are usually in the states for limited periods and then rotated back to Mexico to avoid law enforcement scrutiny. However, upper-level leaders usually do not live in the U.S. due to the increased likelihood of capture, Baer said. Ball added that the trial for the three men charged in Chapa’s death could offer a rare look into cartel operations. “Most of your cartel heads never go to trial, they almost always plead guilty,” Ball said. “So public trials where all the nitty gritty details are laid out is actually pretty rare.” Chapa’s death near Dallas in 2013 came the same month as the conviction in Austin of the brother of two top leaders for a competing cartel. Jose Trevino Morales and others
used proceeds from U.S. drug sales to purchase American quarter horses and launder the money. Court records show the operation was based out of suburban Dallas, and Trevino Morales was found to have invested $16 million of drug money in the buying, training and racing of horses across the Southwest United States. Trevino Morales is the brother of two former leaders of the Zetas, an organization that has expanded beyond the drug trade to become the biggest criminal group in Mexico. One of the men was captured in 2013 by Mexican authorities and the other two years later. In another case, Juan Francisco Saenz-Tamez was arrested by federal agents in 2014 while shopping in the South Texas city of Edinburg. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has said Saenz-Tamez was a leader of the Gulf Cartel.
jority, most of the delegates can then bolt if they choose. Trump is the only candidate with a realistic path to the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the convention. But the path is narrow, and Cruz is working to block him. Cruz has built an organization of volunteers who are working in state after state to get his supporters selected as delegates, even those who must vote for Trump at first. Trump is just ramping up his operation, but in some states he’s too late. In Virginia — a state where Trump won the primary — he has missed the deadlines to assemble lists of potential delegates. Cruz, however, has delegate candidates in 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. The application deadline was last month.
DEA Continued from Page 1A site. Last September, more than 3,800 federal, state and local agencies colleted more than 702,365 pounds of unused, expired or unwanted drugs at more than 5,000 collection sites nationwide, according to the DEA website. “The numbers are shocking — approximately 46,000 Americans die each year from drug-related deaths. More than half of those are from heroin and prescription opioids,” said Acting DEA
Administrator Chuck Rosenberg. “With four out of five new heroin users starting with prescription medications, I know our take-back program makes a real difference.” The service is free and anonymous — no questions asked. For more information, call 800-882-9539 or visit www.dea.gov. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
THEFT Continued from Page 1A nearby creek, the Sheriff ’s Office said. Deputies canvassed the area and located a man matching the description of the suspect, who was later identified as Gary Alaniz, 24. “After matching the footprints on the ground to Alaniz’s shoes, Alaniz was questioned about the incident and admitted to being the individual suspected,” states a Sher-
iff ’s Office news release. Alaniz was charged with theft, a Class B misdemeanor punishable with up to 180 days in jail or a $2,000 fine or both. Custody records show Alaniz was behind bars at the Zapata County Regional Jail on Tuesday. The case remains open. (César G. Rodriguez may be reached at 728-2568 or cesar@lmtonline.com)
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016