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CATHOLIC STUDENT CENTER
COAHUILA, MEXICO
Dear Pope Francis Letters going to Vatican plead for construction By PHILIP BALLI THE ZAPATA TIMES
A priest in Hutto, Texas will deliver to the Vatican a handful of letters written by Laredoans who are urging the pope to allow construction of the Catholic Student Center adjacent to Texas A&M International University. Diocese of Laredo Bishop James A. Tamayo’s decision to halt construction of the fully funded center has provoked community members into action. Tamayo has refused to explain his reasoning to anyone close to the 10year-old project, including to TAMIU President Ray
Keck, Dennis Nixon, president and CEO of IBCLaredo and chairman of InternationTAMAYO al Bancshares Corp., and a slew of other donors and supporters. Father Robert L. Kincl, a canon lawyer and former judicial vicar for the Diocese of Laredo, told Laredo Morning Times this week he has around 30 letters he plans on delivering to the Vatican post office. All of the letters are written by Laredoans. “There are some really competent people who
wrote some excellent letters” Kincl said. “I would think once Pope Francis and KINCL his staff read these letters, there will certainly be some sort of reaction.” Kincl will be in Rome on April 15. The Laredo Morning Times received copies of a handful of the letters Friday. Within the contents include pleas for assistance to help move the project forward, commendations toward the Brothers of St. John for the work they
have done within the campus ministry and disappointment concerning Tamayo’s recent and past behavior and decisions. Some of the letters were written by students, according to Kincl.
Canon law violation It’s unclear why the bishop stopped construction of the center. But according to the project’s supporters and donors, Tamayo said a 2009 agreement to allow for the center’s formation was null and void because he was
See VATICAN PAGE 10A
RIO GRANDE
ERADICATION EFFORT
Photo by Harry Cabluck | AP file
The governor of Coahuila from 2005 to 2011, Humberto Moreira, whose in-laws own property in San Antonio, left office to lead the national Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Corrupt group spreads influence Millions spent in illegal kickbacks, drug traffickers in San Antonio By JASON BUCH AND GUILLERMO CONTRERAS SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
A network of politicians and businessmen from the Mexican state of Coahuila relocated to San Antonio over the past seven years, and prosecutors say a corrupt group among them invested millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks here from drug traffickers and state contractors. San Antonio has strong historic ties to Saltillo, Coahuila’s capital. Intellectuals and land-
holders from the state, which borders Texas, took refuge here during the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s. Further back, in the 1800s, Coahuila y Tejas was one state under Mexican rule. Camouflaged among those escaping the more recent problems in the state are drug traffickers, unscrupulous businessmen and high-ranking Coahuila officials who laundered more than $35 million in kickbacks for state contracts, U.S. au-
See CORRUPT PAGE 9A
FOOD STAMP LIMITS
Some could lose SNAP benefits By ROBERT PEAR Photo by Martin do Nascimento | Texas Tribune
Border Patrol agent Isaac Villegas makes his way through Carrizo cane in Roma, Texas while searching for a group of undocumented immigrants reported to have crossed the river on March 8.
Carrizo cane plan reignites old debate By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE
Photo by Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg
Members of the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and other officials release Arundo wasps into a stand of carrizo cane as part of a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pilot eradication program for Carrizo cane in Starr County, Texas, on Wednesday, June 9, 2015.
After sitting dormant for nearly a year for lack of funding, a border security project aimed at ridding the banks of the Rio Grande of an invasive plant that hides smugglers is finally sprouting roots. But fearing that herbicides used for the project will pollute the river, the primary water source for several border communities, an environmental group is planning a fullfledged effort to halt the plan and is recruiting local governments to join its side. Signed in June, Senate Bill 1734 by state Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, directed the Texas State Soil and Water Conserva-
tion Board to create a plan to eradicate Carrizo cane, which can grow up to 30 feet tall on the river banks and area floodplains. The project was listed on Gov. Greg Abbott’s list of border security priorities, and his proposed budget included $9.8 million for it. Budget writers didn’t fund the effort, however, and project coordinators at the conservation board couldn’t do much more than plan. Last month, state leaders decided to transfer $500,000 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to cover a pilot eradication project. The plan calls for using a combination of mechanical, biological and chemical methods, which
See CARRIZO CANE PAGE 9A
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON — Hundreds of thousands of people could soon lose food stamps as states reimpose time limits and work requirements that were suspended in recent years because of high unemployment, state officials and advocates for the poor said. Liberal groups said the time limits, which date to the 1996 welfare law, could result in many unemployed childless adults with low incomes being cut off, starting this month. About 45 million people receive benefits in the food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In Zapata County, about 4,723 people receive the benefits, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Approximately 2,066 of them are adults. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning research and advocacy
group, estimates that 500,000 to 1 million people will lose benefits this year. The federal Food and Nutrition Service said many adults would need to take steps to meet work requirements or risk losing aid. “Able-bodied adults without dependents are eligible for SNAP for only three months in any three-year period unless they are working or participating in qualifying education and training activities,” said Kevin W. Concannon, undersecretary of agriculture in charge of food assistance programs. During and after the latest recession, which ended in mid-2009, most states qualified for waivers from the time limits. But the time limits will be in effect this year in more than 40 states. In 22 states, the limits are coming back for the first time since the recession. As the economy improves, the Food and Nu-
See SNAP PAGE 10A