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IMMIGRANT CHILDREN

Did US separate families?

Moises Castillo / AP

Dominga Vicente shows a photo of her niece, 20 year-old Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez, who was killed by an agent of the U.S. Border Patrol in Rio Bravo, Texas.

Woman fatally shot by agent came seeking work 20-year-old was unable to find a job in Guatemala

By Christina Caron N EW YORK T I ME S

The aunt of the woman shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent last week after crossing the border illegally near Laredo, Texas, has a message for the United States: “Don’t treat us like animals.”

The aunt, Dominga Vicente, spoke at a news conference Friday, the same day the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala identified her niece, Claudia Patricia Gómez González, 20, of San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala, as the victim of the shooting.

“This is not the first person dying in the United States,” Vicente said at the news conference in Guatemala City. “There are many people that have been treated like animals and that isn’t what we should do as people.”

Vicente said her niece had left Guatemala “out of necessity”

to try to earn money in the United States. Gómez had studied accounting but was unable to find a job in Guatemala, according to the Guatemalan television station Guatevisión.

Gómez’s mother, Lidia González Vásquez, told Guatevisión in an interview posted Friday that she wanted her daughter’s body returned to her.

“She left home 15 days ago, saying: ‘Mamita, we’re going to go on ahead, I’ll make money. There’s no work here,’” González said. “But shamefully they killed her. The migration killed her.”

Carlos Narez, the secretary of the National Council for Migrant Assistance in Guatemala, on Friday called for an “exhaustive, impartial investigation.”

“Guatemala is saddened by whatever violence and excess use

Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

A group of immigrants, including children, walk along a road minutes after smugglers rafted them across the Rio Grande into the U.S. at a site called El Rincon, in Hidalgo County, Texas. The area is known as a place where human smugglers drop off Central American immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S.

Authorities may have lost track of more than 1,000

By Amy Harmon NEW YORK TIME S

President Donald Trump over the weekend falsely blamed Democrats for a “horrible law” separating immigrant children from their parents.

In fact, his own administration had just announced this policy earlier this month.

His comments followed days of growing alarm that federal authorities have lost track of more than 1,000 immigrant children, mostly from Central America, giving rise to hashtags like #WhereAreTheChildren and claims that children are being ripped from their parents’ arms at the border and then being lost.

But the president is not the only one spreading wrong information.

Across social media, there have been confusing reports of what happened to these immigrant children. Here are some answers.

Q: Did the Trump administration separate nearly 1,500 immigrant children from their parents at the border, and then lose track of them?

A: No. The government did realize last year that it lost track of 1,475

Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News

Border Patrol agents question immigrants near Anzalduas Park, southwest of McAllen. A wave of Central American adults with children and unaccompanied minors has overwhelmed U.S. detention centers.

migrant children it had placed with sponsors in the United States, according to testimony before a Senate subcommittee last month. But those children had arrived alone at the Southwest border — without their parents. Most of them are from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and were fleeing drug cartels, gang violence and domestic abuse, according to government data.

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, which

oversees refugee resettlement, began making calls last year to determine what had happened to 7,635 children the government had helped place between October and the end of the year.

From these calls, officials learned that 6,075 children remained with their sponsors. Twenty-eight had run away, five had been removed from the United States and 52 had relocated to live with a nonsponsor. The rest Children continues on A10

Woman continues on A10

CHRISTIAN LAW FIRMS BORDER PATROL

Description of fatal shooting revised A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

RIO BRAVO, Texas — The U.S. Border Patrol has revised its description of an agent-involved shooting in Texas that killed a woman who was part of a group that illegally entered the country.

The agency initially said Wednesday that the lone agent fired his gun after being attacked “by multiple subjects using blunt objects.” But Border Patrol said Friday that the group ignored the agent’s demands to get on the ground and “rushed him.”

The first statement describes the woman killed as “one of the assailants,” while the second calls her “one member of the group.”

Agency spokeswoman Sara Melendez says she can’t address specific questions about the releases but notes they usually do a follow-up statement after the initial one.

Guatemala’s foreign ministry identifies the woman killed as Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez.

Conservatives gain influence

By Paul J. Weber ASSOCIATED PRE SS

AUSTIN — Lawyers who espouse a conservative Christian agenda have found plenty of opportunities in Texas, suing on behalf of Bible-quoting cheerleaders and defending a third-grader who wanted to hand out Christmas cards that read in part “Jesus is the Christ!”

But for the First Liberty law firm, the last few years have been especially rewarding: Their attorneys have moved into powerful taxpayer-funded jobs at the Texas attorney general’s office and advised President Donald Trump, who nominated a current and a former First Liberty lawyer to lifetime appointments on federal courts. Another attorney went to the Department of Health and Human Services as a senior adviser on religious free-

Eric Gay / AP

David J. Hacker, special counsel for AG, right, and Brantley Starr, deputy first AG, left, take part in a meeting on religious freedom laws at the Texas Capitol.

dom.

It’s a remarkable rise for a modest-sized law firm near Dallas with 46 employees, and it mirrors the climb of similar firms that have quietly shifted from trying to influence government to becoming part of it.

The ascent of the firms has helped propel a wave of anti-LGBT legislation and so-called religious-freedom laws in statehouses nation-

wide.

“First Liberty just struck gold with a Republican president and the Texas attorney general. It’s pretty incredible and definitely unusual,” said Daniel Bennett, a professor at John Brown University in Arkansas and author of a book on the conservative Christian legal movement.

Since 2015, First Liberty and a conservative Chris-

tian law firm, the Alliance Defending Freedom, have moved prominent lawyers to top jobs in attorney general’s offices in Texas and elsewhere. In the process, they have shifted from outsiders suing government to insiders pushing religious-freedom issues. Their influence is widening under the Trump administration as it attempts to deliver on his pledges to evangelicals and other religious supporters.

Their work includes a pending U.S. Supreme Court case involving Colorado baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple and another case involving a rural Texas high school whose cheerleaders were prohibited from writing inspirational Bible verses on banners during games.

The organizations have also drafted bills introduced Christian continues on A8

In Brief A2 | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE NATION

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 30

A S S O C I AT E D P R E S S

First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

SATURDAY, JUNE 2 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

1220 McClelland Ave. Hard cover $1, paperback $0.50, magazines and children’s books, $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

MONDAY, JUNE 4 AHEC College Academy. 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. UT Health Regional Campus Laredo, 1937 Bustamante St. A free one-week summer program to prepare students for the high school to college transition. To register: https:// aheccollege2018.eventbrite.com.

Ray of Light Anxiety and Depression Support Group Meeting in English. 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Westcare Foundation, 1616 Callaghan St. The support group welcomes adults suffering from anxiety and/or depression to participate in free and confidential support group meetings.

Contact information: Anna Maria Pulido Saldivar, gruporayitodeluz@gmail.com, 956-307-2014

TUESDAY, JUNE 5 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – English. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. The virtual tour gives mothers-to-be detailed information about what to expect upon arrival and during their stay at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Alzheimer’s Disease Support Group Meeting. 7 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1700 East Saunders, Tower B, 1st floor. The meeting is open to persons who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, as well as family, friends and caregivers of Alzheimer’s Disease patients. For more information, call Melissa Guerra at 956-693-9991 or Laredo Medical Center at 796-3223.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

MONDAY, JUNE 11 Laredo Stroke Support Group Meeting. 7 p.m. San Martin de Porres Church, Family Life Center. The meeting is open to all stroke survivors, family and caregivers. For more information, call 956-286-0641 or 763-6132.

TUESDAY, JUNE 12 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – English. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. The virtual tour gives mothers-to-be detailed information about what to expect upon arrival and during their stay at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Tiny Toes Super Milk Class – English. 6-7 p.m. This class offers mothers-to-be all the information they need before their baby’s birth to ensure a successful breastfeeding experience. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

THURSDAY, JUNE 14 Tiny Toes Super Milk Class – Spanish. 6-7 p.m. This class offers mothers-to-be all the information they need before their baby’s birth to ensure a successful breastfeeding experience. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

MONDAY, JUNE 18 Ray of Light Anxiety and Depression Support Group Meeting in Spanish. 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. Holding Institute, 1102 Santa Maria Ave., classroom #1. The support group welcomes adults suffering from anxiety and/ or depression to participate in free and confidential support group meetings. Contact information: Anna Maria Pulido Saldivar, gruporayitodeluz@gmail.com, 956-3072014.

TUESDAY, JUNE 19 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – English. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. 1700 East Saunders.

Tower B, 1st floor. The virtual tour gives mothers-to-be detailed information about what to expect upon arrival and during their stay at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Tiny Toes Prenatal Class – English.

6-7:30 p.m. This class gives mothersto-be the most important information to help them deliver a healthy, full-term baby from the start of labor until birth. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Dan Anderson / AP

Emily Muller, left, and her father Bob walk through the rain as Subtropical Storm Alberto makes landfall on Monday in Destin, Florida.

ALBERTO STRIKES GULF COAST Subtropical Storm Alberto lumbered ashore Monday on the U.S. Gulf Coast, pelting white sand beaches with blustery winds and stinging rain that kept the usual Memorial Day crowds away.

Forecasters warned heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf posed the biggest threats as Alberto’s ragged core made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida Panhandle. A few brief tornadoes also were possible in much of Florida and parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said at 5 p.m. EDT Monday that Alberto was centered about 15 miles west-northwest of Panama City, Florida. With maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, Alberto was moving north at 9 mph.

Rough conditions were whipping up big waves off the eastern and northern Gulf Coast, and authorities warned swimmers to stay out of the surf because of life-threatening swells and rip currents.

Between four and eight inches of rain could pummel Florida Panhandle, eastern and central Alabama, and western Georgia before the storm moves on. Isolated deluges of 12 inches also were possible as the storm heads inland, threatening heavy rains around the Southeast in the coming

hours and days.

As Alberto’s center heads inland — deprived of the warm waters that fuel tropical weather systems — the storm was expected to steadily weaken. A subtropical storm like Alberto has a less defined and cooler center than a tropical storm, and its strongest winds are found farther from its center. A tropical storm warning is in effect for a stretch of coastline between Aucilla River in Florida’s Big Bend and the AlabamaFlorida border.

Lifeguards posted red flags along the white sands of Pensacola Beach, where swimming and wading were banned.

Meanwhile, the storm forced some Memorial Day tributes to be cancelled across Florida’s Panhandle. Safety was the priority, but the decision was still a “heartbreaker,” said Tom Rice, a 29-year-old Army veteran who leads the organizations that planned a ceremony Monday at Beal Memorial Cemetery in Fort Walton Beach.

Some stragglers still made their way through the rain to pay tribute at the cemetery’s Veterans Tribute Tower, however.

Rice said American flags had been placed Saturday on the graves of all 1,700 veterans buried in the cemetery. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE WORLD Protests in Bolivia spread after death of college student LA PAZ, Bolivia — Thousands of protesters took to the streets of several cities across Bolivia on Monday to demand justice after a university student was killed during a demonstration last week.

Some of the protesters clashed with police in the central city of Cochabamba. Authorities did not immediately report injuries or arrests.

College student Jonathan Quispe was killed last Thursday during a protest demanding an increase in the budget for the public university of El Alto, the municipality that is adjacent to the Bolivian capital of La Paz. The government has said that Quispe’s death was caused by a marble shot from a large firecracker by demonstrators.

But university authorities reject that version and say he was

Jorge Bernal / AFP/Getty Images

University students protest and demand justice for the death of fellow student who was killed during clashes with police.

killed by police.

In an attempt to resolve the conflict, Economy Minister Mario Guillen has called for talks with authorities in Bolivia’s 15 public universities, where an estimated 440,000 students study. The protests come at a difficult time for President Evo Morales, who has been president for 13 years. He presided

over an economic boom fueled by high prices for Bolivia’s minerals and natural gas, but his popularity has fallen recently amid corruption scandals, a deteriorating economy and his efforts to run again despite losing a referendum on allowing him to seek a fourth term. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE STATE Officers kill man during traffic stop SILSBEE — Texas Rangers are investigating the fatal shooting of a 51-year-old man in Southeast Texas after authorities say he threatened officers with a handgun.

Authorities say police from Silsbee and Hardin County sheriff’s deputies pulled over the man Saturday for a traffic stop and he emerged from his truck carrying a handgun.

Sheriff Mark Davis tells Beaumont television station KFDM that when the gunman threatened the officers, they fired. Authorities say he was pulled over in response to a call about a man threatening harm to his family and law enforcement. None of the officers was hurt.

The victim is identified only as a man from Fred, just north of Silsbee.

Gang member gets execution date

Today is Wednesday, May 30, the 150th day of 2018. There are 215 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On May 30, 1958, unidentified American service members killed in World War II and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

On this date: In 1381, the Peasants' Revolt against economic injustice erupted in England during the reign of King Richard II; the king and his men, initially caught off-guard, were able to crush the rebellion several weeks later.

In 1431, Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.

In 1536, England's King Henry VIII married his third wife, Jane Seymour, 11 days after the king's second wife, Anne Boleyn, was beheaded for treason and adultery.

In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death in a stampede sparked by a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of collapsing.

In 1911, the first Indy 500 took place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway; the winner was Ray Harroun, who drove a Marmon Wasp for more than 6 1/2 hours at an average speed of 74.6 mph and collected a prize of $10,000.

In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated in a ceremony attended by President Warren G. Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.

In 1937, ten people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago.

In 1943, during World War II, American troops secured the Aleutian island of Attu from Japanese forces.

In 1968, the Beatles began recording their "White Album" at EMI Recording Studios in London, starting with the original version of "Revolution 1."

In 1971, the American space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a journey to Mars.

In 1982, Spain became NATO's 16th member.

In 1996, Britain's Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.

Ten years ago: A construction crane snapped and smashed into an apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side, killing two workers in New York City's second such tragedy in 2 ½ months. Diplomats from 111 nations meeting in Dublin, Ireland, formally adopted a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs. (The United States and other leading cluster bomb makers — Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan — boycotted the talks.)

Five years ago: Syria's President Bashar Assad said in an interview with Lebanese television that he was "confident of victory" in his country's civil war, and he warned Damascus would retaliate for any future Israeli airstrike on his territory. Arvind Mahankali, a 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, New York, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling "knaidel," a small mass of leavened dough, to win the 86th version of the competition.

One year ago: The Pentagon scored an important success in a test of its oft-criticized missile defense program, destroying a mock warhead over the Pacific Ocean with an interceptor.

Michael Dubke, a top communications aide to President Donald Trump, announced his resignation. Kathy Griffin appeared in a brief video holding what looked like President Trump's bloody, severed head; the comic ended up apologizing, saying she had gone way too far.

Today's Birthdays: Actress Ruta Lee is 83. Actor Keir Dullea is 82. Actor Michael J. Pollard is 79. Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers is 75. Rock musician Lenny Davidson (The Dave Clark Five) is 74.

Actor Stephen Tobolowsky is 67. Actor Colm Meaney is 65. Actor Ted McGinley is 60. Actor Ralph Carter is 57.

Actress Tonya Pinkins is 56. Country singer Wynonna Judd is 54. Rock musician Tom Morello (Audioslave; Rage Against The Machine) is 54.

Actor Mark Sheppard is 54. Movie director Antoine Fuqua is 53. Actor John Ross Bowie is 47. Rock musician Patrick Dahlheimer is 47. Actress Idina Menzel is 47. Actor Trey Parker is 46.

Rapper Cee Lo Green is 43. Rapper Remy Ma is 38. Actor Blake Bashoff is 37. Christian rock musician James Smith is 36. Actor Jake Short is 21.

Thought for Today : "There is a Law that man should love his neighbor as himself. In a few hundred years it should be as natural to mankind as breathing or the upright gait; but if he does not learn it he must perish." — Alfred Adler, Austrian psychoanalyst (1870-1937).

CONTACT US HUNTSVILLE — A death row inmate who was part of the notorious “Texas 7” gang of escaped prisoners has received an execution date for late this summer.

Criminal Justice officials say they’ve received documents setting 45-year-old Joseph Garcia for lethal injection Aug. 30.

Garcia was serving 50 years for a Bexar County murder when he and six others broke out of prison in 2000 and then committed numerous robberies. — Compiled from AP reports

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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 |

STATE

New museum offers more Texas history

By Joe Holley H OUSTON CHRONICLE

SAN FELIPE, Texas — Heading west on I-10 out of Houston, you normally clear the clotted traffic at about the Fort Bend County line, if you’re lucky; a few miles farther on you’ll come to Exit 723.

The Houston Chronicle reports a left turn at the Shell station will take you to Frydek, a tiny Czech farming community that’s known for its historic Catholic church. A right turn takes you into a scattering of comfortable ranch-style houses set among lush, green pastureland, along with a handful of weathered structures from the 19th century, a volunteer fire department, a front yard barbecue stand, a few trucking businesses and a couple of churches. Locals tend to call their small, incorporated community San Phillip.

San Felipe or San Phillip, whatever your choice, is more than just a Sealy suburb. The historic hamlet was home to the Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin and the seat of Texas government for most of the Texas Revolution. If your detour into San Felipe were to take you into a time warp, you’d likely encounter everybody who was anybody in early-day Texas - Austin, of course, but also William Barret Travis, Gail Borden, Jane Long, Noah Smithwick, Angelina Peyton and Judge Robert M. “ThreeLegged Willie” Williamson. (His two-story, woodframe home, thought to have been built in 1836, still stands.)

Because of its vital role in the settlement of Texas and the push toward independence, this little town on the west bank of the Brazos should be as

Joe Holley / Houston Chronicle

This sculpture, by Payne Lara, greets visitors to the museum at San Felipe. The museum is beginning to draw visitors in large numbers, said manager Bryan McAuley.

prominent as Gonzales, Goliad, Washington-onthe-Brazos. And yet it’s been a long time since San Felipe has been anything more than a quiet, little community, its place in Texas history marked only by an obelisk and an Austin statue commissioned for the 1936 Centennial.

Fortunately, San Felipe’s obscurity may be changing. The opening a few weeks ago of the handsome San Felipe de Austin Museum is beginning to draw visitors in numbers the historic site deserves.

With about 600 people at its peak, San Felipe soon became the second largest settlement in Texas, behind San Antonio. It was home to several taverns that provided meals and public accommodations, three hotels, a billiard hall, various merchants, a livery stable, two blacksmith shops, Austin’s home and land office and the first consistently published newspaper in Texas, The Texas Gazette, under the editorship of Godwin B. Cotten. A second newspaper in town, Gail Borden’s Telegraph and Texas Register, edited for a time by Williamson (he of three legs), became the unofficial journal of the revolution.

A bronze sculpture at the new museum by Navasota artist J. Payne Lara commemorates the terrified residents of San Felipe who hastily gathered up what few belongings they could carry and fled eastward during the Runaway Scrape. Many, but not all, began returning after the Battle of San Jacinto, but their town never regained its early prominence. When the railroad picked Sealy in the mid-1870s, San Felipe gradually settled into rural somnolence.

The 10,000-square-foot museum, airy and highceilinged and featuring the latest interactive technology, brings those early decades back to life. A large touch-screen wall mural, for example, depicts an interactive layout of San Felipe’s downtown prior to independence.

Visitors can engage with its stories by touching animations on the large screen. The museum’s collection includes a desk that once belonged to Austin, a cast-iron printing press like the one used to publish Travis’ “Victory or Death” letter and hundreds of artifacts recovered during archaeological digs at the state historic site.

A3

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A4 | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Con artists are dominating the main stage

By Maureen Dowd N EW YORK T I ME S

Con artists have always been slithering around.

Huckleberry Finn tangled with flimflam men on Mississippi riverboats. There was a flirty snake oil salesman in “Oklahoma!” And Marian the Librarian fell in love with a charming charlatan, professor Harold Hill, in “The Music Man.” It was all part of an amusing American tradition of rapscallions doing their little side hustles.

But now narcissistic con artists are dominating the main stage, soaring to great heights and spectacularly exploding.

We have one running amok in the Oval.

And we have one who finally turned himself in at a Tribeca police station Friday. “Shakespeare in Love” was good. But Harvey in handcuffs was great. Harvey Weinstein spent many years prosecuting his nefarious schemes against women before women ensured his prosecution.

Elizabeth Holmes shot to fame as the youngest female self-made billionaire after she dropped out of Stanford at 19 and then founded the company that became Theranos.

She claimed to have created an easier, cheaper way to do blood tests, just by pricking a finger, but then it turned out she was a literal bloodsucker, defrauding investors of $700 million on a nonexistent technology.

As Maria Konnikova wrote in her book, “The Confidence Game,” “The whirlwind advance of technology heralds a new golden age of the grift.

Cons thrive in times of transition and fast change” when we are losing the old ways and open to the unexpected.

We are easy marks for faux Nigerian princes now, when chaos rules, the American identity wobbles, and technology is transforming our lives in awe-inspiring and awful ways.

Trump voters allowed themselves to believe they had a successful billionaire who knew the art of the deal when he only knew the art of the con. They bought his seductive campaign narrative, that the system was rigged and corrupt and only he could fix it.

After winning by warning voters they were being suckered, he’s made them all suckers.

Those who ignored whispers about Weinstein’s grotesque behavior burned to believe that Hollywood was more than juvenile comic-book movies, that it could still make classy, sophisticated films with great roles for mature actresses like Meryl Streep and Judi Dench. And despite tales of misogyny and sickening transgressions, they wanted to buy Harvey’s grand narrative, that he was a liberal feminist who could raise enough money to help elect the first woman president.

With Holmes, people were longing for a young woman to break into the club of boy geniuses conjuring unicorns. She played to that, imitating Steve Jobs by wearing a black turtleneck and driving a car with no license plate. She pitched a Jobs-like mythic story

about her company, that it was not merely about making money, it was designed to be “the most important thing humanity has ever built.”

High-minded elites like to scornfully say that Trump voters fell for his scam because they were ignorant and racist. But the high-minded elites fell for Holmes’ scam, even the fake deep authoritative voice she put on. Her board had George Shultz, Henry Kissinger, Jim Mattis and David Boies; Rupert Murdoch and Robert Kraft were investors.

“It’s a controversial thing to say now, but Holmes wowed all these older men and wrapped them around her finger with her charm and youth and good looks and cool vision,” says John Carreyrou, The Wall Street Journal reporter who broke the scam story and who wrote a book, “Bad Blood,” about it.

Carreyrou says Silicon Valley has always had “a flimflam element” and a “fake it ‘til you make it” ethos, from the early ‘80s, when it was selling vaporware (hardware or software that was more of a concept or work in progress than a workable reality).

“We’ve been lionizing and revering these young tech entrepreneurs, treating them not just like princes and princesses but like heroes and icons,” Carreyrou says.

“Now that there’s a backlash to Silicon Valley, it will be interesting to see if we reconsider this view that just because you made a lot of money doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a role model for boys and girls.”

Jaron Lanier, the scientist and musician known as the father of virtual reality, has a new book out, “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now.” He says the business plans of Facebook and Google have served to “elevate the role of the con artist to be central in society.”

“Anytime people want to contact each other or have an awareness of each other, it can only be when it’s financed by a third party who wants to manipulate us, to change us in some way or affect how we vote or what we buy,” he says. “In the old days, to be in that unusual situation, you had to be in a cult or a volunteer in an experiment in a psychology building or be in an abusive relationship or at a bogus real estate seminar.

“But now you just need to sign onto Facebook to find yourself in a behavior modification loop, which is the con. And this may destroy our civilization and even our species.”

Lanier worries, now that tech has lost its halo, that there is nothing optimistic to replace it.

“We don’t believe in government,” he says. “A lot of people are pissed at media. They don’t like education. People who used to think the FBI was good now think it’s terrible. With all of these institutions the subject of ridicule, there’s nothing — except Skinner boxes and con artists.”

Maureen Dowd is a New York Times columnist.

COLUMN

Doing away with traditional majors in favor of new ones

By Frank Bruni NEW YORK TIME S

History is on the ebb.

Philosophy is on the ropes. And comparative literature? Please. It’s an intellectual heirloom: cherished by those who can afford such baubles but disposable in the eyes of others.

I’m talking about college majors, and talk about college majors is loud and contentious these days. There’s concern about whether schools are offering the right ones. There are questions about whether colleges should be emphasizing them at all.

How does a deep dive into the classics abet a successful leap into the contemporary job market? Should an ambitious examination of English literature come at the cost of acquiring fluency in coding, digital marketing and the like?

Last Sunday The Chronicle of Higher Education published a special report that delved into this debate. One of the stories described what was happening at the flagship campus of the University of Illinois and at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, casting these developments as different harbingers for higher education.

Illinois is pairing certain majors in the liberal arts — for example, anthropology and linguistics — with computer science. Assumption is doing away with a host of traditional majors in favor of new ones geared to practical skills. Goodbye, art history, geography and, yes, classics.

Hello, data analytics, actuarial science and concentrations in physical and occupational therapy.

Assumption is hardly an outlier. Last year the University of Wisconsin at Superior announced that it was suspending nine majors, including sociology and political science, and warned that there might be additional cuts. The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point recently proposed dropping 13 majors, including philosophy and English, to make room for programs with “clear career pathways.”

While these schools are swapping out certain majors for others, some higher education leaders

Illinois is pairing certain majors in the liberal arts — for example, anthropology and linguistics — with computer science. Assumption is doing away with a host of traditional majors in favor of new ones geared to practical skills. Goodbye, art history, geography and, yes, classics. Hello, data analytics, actuarial science and concentrations in physical and occupational therapy. are asking whether such devotion to a single field of study — and whether a college experience structured around that — are the right way to go.

“The future of work calls for something more radical: the elimination of academic majors as we have come to know them,” Jeffrey Selingo, founding director of the Academy for Innovative Higher Education Leadership, wrote in a column that was part of The Chronicle’s special report. He advocated a college education that spans “all academic disciplines.”

Selingo is the author of several books about the rightful role and uses of college, the most recent of which, “There Is Life After College,” illustrates how thoughtful he can be on these matters.

But I worry that he’s suggesting an either/or where there needn’t be one. I worry that the current conversation about majors is part of a larger movement to tug college too far in a vocational direction.

And I worry that there’s a false promise being made. The world now changes at warp speed. Colleges move glacially. By the time they’ve assembled a new cluster of practical concentrations, an even newer cluster may be called for, and a set of job-specific skills picked up today may be obsolete less than a decade down the road. The idea of college as instantaneously responsive to employers’ evolving needs is a bit of a fantasy.

Eric Johnson, an education policy analyst in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, agrees that majors may well be “a poor way of organizing career preparation.”

“But that’s because college is a poor way of organizing career preparation,” he told me.

“Deep, discipline-focused learning is simply a different goal than being adequately skilled to serve mercurial employers.”

Johnson wasn’t saying that colleges should be oblivious to job readiness and career placement.

Nor am I. That notion, too, belongs to some fantasyland in which college doesn’t demand the time and money it does and in which good incomes are easily secured.

But colleges needn’t abandon majors in general or supposedly arcane majors in particular to propel graduates into the workforce. They could do better at encouraging and arranging something that they already promote and that savvy students already embrace, which is the considered, concerted use of research projects, extracurricular activities, part-time employment, internships and networking to set up first jobs.

Colleges needn’t abandon majors to give students breadth and nimbleness. That’s what general-education requirements are for. So why don’t more colleges expand or toughen those?

That would additionally help to create shared experiences and common points of reference in a dangerously fractured society.

Interdisciplinary majors already exist, though colleges could be better at making that clear to students who’d benefit from them. And students with humanities majors are already choosing, as minors, computer science and the like.

Part of the skepticism toward traditional majors reflects a correct feeling that at some schools, some fields of study and course offerings are preserved largely because the faculty have a selfish investment in the status quo. If seats in the class-

room are perpetually empty and money is sorely needed elsewhere, colleges shouldn’t ignore that.

But it’s a balancing act, because colleges shouldn’t lose sight of what makes traditional majors — even the arcane ones — so meaningful, especially now. And they shouldn’t downgrade the nonvocational mission of higher education: to cultivate minds, prepare young adults for enlightened citizenship, give them a better sense of their perch in history and connect them to traditions that transcend the moment. History, philosophy and comparative literature are bound to be better at that than occupational therapy. They’re sturdier threads of cultural and intellectual continuity.

And majoring in them — majoring in anything — is a useful retort to the infinite distractions, short attention spans and staccato communications of the smartphone era.

Perhaps now, more than ever, young people need to be shown the rewards of sustained attention and taught how to hold a thought. That’s what a major does. There’s a reason that it’s often called a discipline.

“Becoming versed in the intricacies of a complex thing is itself a worthwhile skill,” Johnson said. I agree. It also underscores what real knowledge and true perspective are. In a country that’s awash in faux expertise and enamored of pretenders, that’s no small thing.

Students interested in using their education for expressly vocational purposes should have an array of attractive options in addition to college, which isn’t right for everyone and is hardly the lone path to professional fulfillment. Some of those options should be collaborations with employers grooming the workforce they need.

But students who want to commune with Kant and Keats shouldn’t be made to feel that they’re indulgent dilettantes throwing away all hope of a lucrative livelihood.

They’re making a commitment to a major that has endured because its fruits are enduring.

Frank Bruni is a New York Times columnist.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 |

NATIONAL

US team in North Korea raises summit expectations A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials worked with North Korea over the weekend on plans for the on-off-on meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as Trump signaled increasing optimism for the sitdown.

Trump tweeted Sunday that a U.S. team was in North Korea to work on the possible summit. Another delegation was in Singapore to discuss logistics. On Monday, the White House said Trump had spoken with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the North Korea efforts, adding that the two planned to get together to coordinate strategy for the “expected meeting” with Kim. Trump withdrew from the planned June 12 summit in Singapore last Thursday, but quickly announced it could still happen. The president’s Sunday tweet offered praise for the longtime U.S. adversary, another signal that his concerns about the North’s stance toward the summit had been allayed.

“I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!,” Trump tweeted.

The White House did not say when Trump would meet with Abe. Both leaders are expected to attend the Group of Seven summit in Quebec, Canada, on June 8-9.

Both the State Department and South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the American and North Korean officials have been engaged in talks at the Korean village of Pan-

Courtesy / AFP/Getty Images

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, right, shakes hands with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un after their meeting in the DMZ.

munjom, which straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ. The border can be crossed simply by stepping across a painted line, but moving beyond several footsteps into the North at Panmunjom would be rare for U.S. officials.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in gave details about his surprise meeting Saturday with Kim in Panmunjom, saying Kim had committed to sitting down with Trump and to a “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tapped veteran American diplomat Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, to handle pre-summit negotiations. On a separate but complementary track was the CIA team Pompeo set up last year when he headed the spy agency. And on a

third track was a White House logistical group sent to Singapore on Sunday to prepare in case the summit takes place. It was led by Joe Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff for operations.

The Korean leaders’ second summit in a month saw bear hugs and broad smiles. But their quickly arranged meeting appeared to highlight a sense of urgency on both sides of the world’s most heavily armed border.

The talks, which Moon said Kim requested, capped a whirlwind 24 hours of diplomatic back and forth. They allowed Moon to push for a U.S.North Korean summit, which he sees as the best way to ease the animosity that had some fearing a war last year.

Kim may see a meeting with Trump as necessary to easing pressure from crushing sanctions.

A5

Sports&Outdoors

A6 | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION: HOUSTON ROCKETS

The Rockets’ trademark is their Game 7 undoing Houston sets dubious record with poor 3-point shooting Bob Levey / Getty Images

By Hunter Atkins H OUSTO N CHRONI CLE

Live by the 3, die by the 3. The Rockets have stuck by this for two seasons under Mike D'Antoni.

They won a franchise record 65 regular season games and made it to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals this year.

Then it killed their last chance to reach the NBA Finals.

In the 101-92 game 7 loss to the Warriors on Monday night, the Rockets shot 7-for-44, breaking their own record for most 3s missed in a playoff game. The 15.9 percent on 3-point shooting was their lowest of the year.

Shooters turned the rim into a percussion instrument. Bonks, clanks, thuds and rattles arranged the soundtrack of their tragic performance.

After Eric Gordon sank one from beyond the arc with 6 minutes, 43 seconds left in the second quarter, the Rockets missed their next 27 attempts. P.J. Tucker ended the free fall near the midpoint of the fourth quarter, but his 3 would be Houston's only one in the second half.

The Rockets had led by as many as 15 points and would get several wideopen looks, but their drought coincided with the Warriors' tide-turning resurgence, which advanced them to the Finals for a fourth consecutive season.

Golden State rained 10 of 18 3-pointers in the second half. Kevin Durant, almost as a test of his hot hand, drained a shot from 31 feet away. Stephen Curry's effortless flicks from 22, 26 and 28 feet exploited Ryan Anderson – a fading gunner – and exacerbated the fruitless search for baskets by Gordon and James Harden, who combined went 4-for-25 on 3s.

Trevor Ariza shot 0-for-9.

"We just knew that before the game we had a small margin for error," Gordon said. "We had to shoot the ball well. We had to do a lot of things for us to win tonight."

The Rockets trailed by single digits until the end, but shooting struggles in the series put them in the precarious position of Game 7 against the reigning champions.

"In that fourth quarter, we had a lot of opportunities," Harden said. "Three opportunities that we

were open that just didn't go down."

Harden shot 22 percent from 3-point range in the conference finals. He missed 59 3-pointers, 11 more than any other player ever has in a playoff series, according to StatMuse.

For all of the misses, the greatest was their shot at the Finals. It would have been the first appearance for every Rockets player but Ariza. D'Antoni never has been there either.

The Rockets could not find another way to win without the 3.

"Were you yelling drive it?" D'Antoni asked after the game, deflecting some criticism with humor.

D'Antoni committed to his 3-point shooting dogma for more than 20 years in the NBA and consecrated it with the winningest regular season in Rockets history. He can count the other 29 teams among his followers now. The league has set a record for 3s for seven consecutive seasons.

But every era of awakening has heretics. They are the naysayers, doubters and traditionalists, who claim that unwavering devotion will come back to spite zealots.

The failure of Game 7

James Harden and the Rockets were eliminated Monday with a 101-92 loss to the Warriors in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. Houston set an NBA playoff record with 27 straight missed 3-pointers in the loss.

can always be used to discredit the 98 games the Rockets played before it and, for a luminary without a ring, the coach who has led decades of teams far but fallen short.

"After watching the last two games, I have a message to the NBA," TNT analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley said. "It's OK to shoot a 2."

On their worst 3-point shooting night of the regular season, the Rockets had gone 7-for-31 in a blowout loss to the Spurs (a game in which Chris Paul also did not play). In March of last season, the Rockets went 5-for-31 (16.1 percent) in a loss to the Warriors.

D'Antoni did not see Game 7 as evidence that his team could not adapt when needed. He looked across the court to see an opponent succeeding with the same strategy.

"They say two basketballs can fit inside the hoop at one time," said Curry, who overcame an early slump in the series.

"That's kind of how big they are, and for some reason, I couldn't figure it

out. Then eventually kept shooting the same shots and they go in."

"They were 16-of-39, and we were 7-of-44," D'Antoni said. "That's kind of the tale of it. When they make their little runs, we have to be able to hit 3s to keep them at bay, and we just couldn't do it or didn't do it."

It is difficult to imagine what could make the Rockets question their beliefs in volume 3-point shooting. Losing what may have been the best chances they ever will have at a championship has not.

"No, that's what you do," D'Antoni said.

"That's where the game's going. No, now we should have made some more, but no, I don't lose confidence in that. No, we've got the right formula."

Was there a moment, even fleeting, when Harden wondered if he should scrap the strategy for something else?

"No," he said. "There wasn't."

The fearlessness to miss suggested the Rockets were not afraid to die this

way, but it did not make the end any less painful for them.

After the game, players neglected to get fully dressed. They preferred to sulk in chairs and wear the misery of their shortcomings. Ariza emerged from the shower with bloodshot eyes. Nene wrapped his arm around the waist of Clint Capela to console the younger big man. Capela shook his head and pinched his nose to fight off tears.

D'Antoni made the rounds. He took a seat in Gerald Green's locker. He smiled and joked around.

He eventually lifted the spirits of Green and P.J. Tucker.

He affectionately patted their shoulders and headed for Harden. No player carries more on his shoulders than this year's presumptive Most Valuable Player.

Harden avoided eye contact with his coach. He pushed his face into a towel at one point. He was not in a mood to feel better. D'Antoni kept his pep talk short.

"Be good," he said.

NBA FINALS: CLEVELAND CAVALIERS, GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS

ROUND 4: IT’S CLEVELAND VS. GOLDEN STATE IN FINALS, AGAIN Warriors move on in bid for a 2nd straight title

By Tim Reynolds A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS

Here we go again.

And again.

And, well, again.

Round 4 — as many predicted, and others probably lamented — is happening. Cleveland and Golden State will meet for the fourth straight year in the NBA Finals, the Warriors looking for a third championship in that span and LeBron James and the Cavaliers trying to wrestle the crown away just as they did in the 2016 series.

On one side, the best team of this era.

On the other, the best player of this era and maybe any era.

Game 1 will be hosted by the Warriors at Oracle Arena on Thursday night.

“You’ve got to appreciate the moment,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “Somebody asked, ‘Four years in a row getting to the finals, do you appreciate it?’ Yes.” Both teams are entering this title matchup with injury concerns. Cleveland’s Kevin Love is in the concussion protocol and will need to complete a series of tests before he’s cleared to return, and Golden State’s Andre Iguodala — a former NBA Finals MVP — wasn’t able to

Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle file

Stephen Curry and the Warriors will face LeBron James and the Cavaliers in th NBA Finals for the fourth straight season.

finish the Warriors-Rockets series because of a bone bruise in his leg.

The Warriors hoped Iguodala would return to the Houston series, but his progress stalled.

“That’s just not an easy injury to predict in terms of recovery,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

There wasn’t a lot of similarity in Cleveland’s and Golden State’s seasons, but their last few days have been mirror images of one another — both teams had to win Game 6s at home to fend

off elimination, then had to go on the road and prevail in Game 7s to win their respective conference finals.

“One of the most challenging seasons I’ve had,” said James, who may be playing the best basketball of his life right now at the end of his 15th season.

Here’s some of what the Cavaliers have dealt with since Golden State-Cleveland III ended last June: Kyrie Irving got traded for Isaiah Thomas over the summer, coach Tyronn Lue had to

miss time to deal with health issues, Love missed two months, they lost 11 games by 16 or more points, revamped their roster in February and spent much of the season unable to guard anybody.

They’re in the finals again anyway, led by someone who will play in the last series of the season for an absurd eighth consecutive year.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” said James, who is seeking a fourth ring in his ninth finals appearance overall. “It’s been

good, it’s been bad. It’s been roses. There have been thorns in the roses. There’s been everything that you can ask for.”

This wasn’t all peaches for Golden State, either. The Warriors didn’t get the No. 1 seed out West, lost Curry to a knee injury late in the regular season, lost 10 of their final 17 games and got pushed to the brink.

“I’m glad we’re going back,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said.

The Warriors swept the two regular-season meetings with the Cavaliers, winning by seven at home on Christmas Day (without Curry) and prevailing by 10 in Cleveland about three weeks later.

Film-wise, those two games are meaningless now. Of Cleveland’s five leading scorers against Golden State this season, three no longer play for the Cavaliers. James and Love combined to score 100 points in the two games, but Dwyane Wade, Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas were all shipped elsewhere by the Cavs in a series of tradedeadline moves.

“We obviously know what LeBron’s capable of,” Curry said shortly after the Warriors’ Game 7 win at Houston ended. “It’s a new team over there, so the other guys, we’ve got to lock in on their tendencies.”

Cleveland was only 50-32 this season. Should James and his mates get it done, that would be the second-worst, regular-season record for an eventual champion in the last 40 seasons.

Frontera THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 |

A7

RÍO BRAVO

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE

Piden justicia

PROGRAMA AYUDA PARA GANADO 1 La Oficina del Representante Henry Cuéllar invita a conocer el Programa de Emergencia para el Ganado dirigido a ganaderos y agricultores. La cita es el 30 de mayo en el Cento Comunitario de Zapata, de 3:30 p.m. a 5 p.m. ÚLTIMO DÍA 1 El último día de clases en el calendiario de Zapata ISD es el jueves 31 de mayo.

AVIARIO 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita a visitar el aviario Roma Bluffs World Birding Center en el distrito histórico de Roma. El aviario estará abierto desde el jueves a domingo de 8 a.m. a 4 p.m. hasta enero.

Mayores informes al 956-849-1411

Danny Zaragoza / Laredo Morning Times

Miembros de la Alianza de Inmigrantes de Laredo y ciudadanos preocupados piden justicia por Claudia Patricia Gómez González el sábado durante una vigilia por Gónzalez quien falleció a manos de un agente de la Patrulla Fronteriza.

BOTES DE BASURA 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a la comunidad que sólo estará recolectando basura contenida en botes propiedad de la ciudad. Informes al 849-1411 PAGO DE IMPUESTOS 1 Desde diciembre, los pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma deberán realizarse en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, localizado en el 608 N. García St.

Pago en línea 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a sus residentes que a partir de ahora el servicio del agua puede pagarse en línea a cualquier hora las 24 horas del día.

LLENADO DE APLICACIONES 1 La Ciudad de Roma ofrece el servicio de llenado de aplicaciones para CHIP, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Chip, Prenatal y otros. Contacte a Gaby Rodríguez para una cita en el centro comunitario o en su domicilio al 956246-7177.

LABORATORIO COMPUTACIONAL 1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes en horario de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Historical Plaza, a un lado del City Hall. Informes en el 956-849-1411.

MUSEO EN ZAPATA 1 A los interesados en realizar una investigación sobre genealogía de la región, se sugiere visitar el Museo del Condado de Zapata ubicado en 805 N US-Hwy 83. Opera de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m.

Existen visitas guiadas. Personal está capacitado y puede orientar acerca de la historia del Sur de Texas y sus fundadores. Pida informes en el 956-765-8983.

GRUPOS DE APOYO 1 El grupo de apoyo para personas con Alzheimer se reunirá en su junta mensual, a las 7 p.m., en el Laredo Medical Center, primer piso, Torre B en el Centro Comunitario. Las reuniones se realizan el primer martes de cada mes en el mismo lugar y a la misma hora.

Madre: Inmigrante buscaba mejores oportunidades Por César G. Rodríguez TIEMP O DE LAREDO

Familiares de una joven que falleció después de recibir un disparo por parte de un agente de la Patrulla Fronteriza están pidiendo justicia.

Su madre, Nidia González, apenas podía hablar con los medios de comunicación en Guatemala, ya que estaba abrumada por el dolor. Ella declaró que su hija, Claudia Patricia Gómez González, se fue del país hace aproximadamente dos semanas para buscar trabajo con la esperanza de tener un mejor futuro.

“Mamá, vamos a estar bien.

Voy a ganar mi propio dinero”, recordó González las palabras de su hija. “Mi hija no fue allá para robar. En este momento, solo quiero el cuerpo de mi hija, rápido”.

Un hombre identificado en Facebook como el prometido de Gómez González publicó un video en la red social pidiendo justicia.

“Buenas noches. Es con gran dolor que descubrí lo que le sucedió a mi (prometida) en la frontera en Río Bravo. Lo siento terriblemente. Tal vez puedan brindar algún apoyo para que se haga justicia. Les pido su apoyo a todos los que viven en estas comunidades para que podamos

tener justicia", dijo el hombre identificado como Morales Yosimar. Él mencionó que tenía la esperanza de reunirse con Gómez González.

“Hoy les pido por favor a todas las personas que ven este video que me apoyen para hacer justicia a la persona que le hizo esto a mi mujer. Perder a un familiar es doloroso. Les pido su apoyo a todos para que se haga justicia”, dijo.

Claudia Patricia Gómez González.

Licencia administrativa La Patrulla Fronteriza anunció que se la ha impuesto licencia administrativa al agente con 15 años de experiencia que utilizó fuerza letal. Los Texas Rangers y el FBI con apoyo de la Oficina de Responsabilidad Profesional de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza continúan investigando el incidente.

El tiroteo ocurrió el miércoles aproximadamente a las 12:22 p.m. cerca de una obra de drenaje en la calle Centeno Lane en Rio Bravo. El agente había acudido al área tras recibir una denuncia de actividad ilegal. Posteriormente descubrió a un grupo de supuestos inmigrantes indocumentados y les ordenó tirarse al piso.

“De acuerdo con el agente, el grupo ignoró sus órdenes verbales y en su lugar se precip-

itaron hacia él”, declaró la Patrulla Fronteriza.

La agencia primero había dicho que los inmigrantes habían atacado al agente con “objetos cortantes”. Pero la declaración emitida el viernes no hace mención de los objetos. La Patrulla Fronteriza dijo que había una investigación en curso cuando se le pidió clarificar.

Fue en ese momento en el que el agente supuestamente disparó su arma hiriendo fatalmente a Gómez González. El resto del grupo huyó de la escena de los hechos. Agentes que acudieron al lugar después del incidente detuvieron a tres personas supuestamente relacionadas al caso.

El jueves a las 7:32 p.m., la Patrulla Fronteriza envió un correo electrónico a los medios

Foto de cortesía

NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO

de comunicación informándoles sobre una conferencia de prensa que se llevaría a cabo el viernes a la 1 p.m.

Pero una hora y 15 minutos antes de la rueda de prensa, la agencia envió otro correo con letras rojas diciendo, “El evento de prensa programado para hoy ha sido cancelado. Por favor considere la declaración actualizada sobre el incidente”.

Un grupo de personas se reunieron afuera de la sede de la Patrulla Fronteriza ubicada en Del Mar Boulevard el viernes por la tarde. El grupo exigió justicia con pancartas desde el otro lado de la calle.

Un abogado que representa al agente le dijo previamente a Laredo Morning Times que la evidencia demostrará la inocencia de su cliente.

PATRULLA FRONTERIZA

Acusan a 4 estatales de Arrestan secuestro agraviado socio de los

Zetas en Zapata

Por César G. Rodriguez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Cuatro oficiales de la policía estatal en Nuevo Laredo, México, han sido arrestados por cargos de secuestro, dijeron las autoridades el domingo.

La Oficina del Fiscal General de Tamaulipas identificó a los acusados como Gerardo, Abner, Natividad y Leonardo Daniel. Cada uno fue acusado de secuestro con agravantes.

Los fiscales dijeron haber encontrado suficiente causa probable para mostrar que los policías secuestraron a un empresario de Nuevo Laredo en febrero. Después, los sospechosos demandaron un rescate de 5 millones de pesos, o alrededor de 278.000 dólares.

Las autoridades tamaulipecas dijeron condenar a los servidores públicos que participan en actos criminales pues

Mexicano cruzó ilegalmente, dijo ser parte de la organización TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Foto de cortesía/ Oficina del Fiscal General de Tamaulipas

Estos son los cuatro policías estatales arrestados en Nuevo Laredo, México durante el fin de semana.

Ellos fueron acusados de secuestro con agravantes.

traicionan la confianza que la sociedad tiene en ellos.

"Todos los crímenes cometidos por servidores

públicos… serán investigados y no se permitirá la impunidad", dijeron autoridades en una declaración.

Agentes de la Patrulla Fronteriza en la estación de Zapata arrestaron a un inmigrante indocumentado el lunes 21 de mayo asociado con la organización criminal los Zetas, de acuerdo con un comunicado de la agencia.

El sujeto, de ciudadanía mexicana, admitió ser un asociado de los Zetas y tener un extensivo historial criminal El sujeto será procesado de acuerdo con su entrada ilegal a los Estados Unidos.

Todas las personas detenidas por la Patrulla Fronteriza son sometidas a una revisión de su historial utilizando múltiples bases de datos incluyendo el uso de biométricos para asegurar que aquellos con historial criminal sean identificados positivamente sin importar su estatus migratorio.

Para reportar actividad sospechosa como tráfico humano o de drogas, descargue la aplicación para celulares móviles “USBP Laredo Sector” o contacte al Sector Laredo de la Patrulla Fronteriza de forma gratuita al 1-800-343-1994.

A8 | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NATIONAL CHRISTIAN From page A1

by Republicans in state legislatures. The proposals include a bill to allow government clerks who object to same-sex marriage on religious grounds to deny marriage licenses.

It’s not unusual for legal nonprofits to lose key staff to attorney general’s offices. California’s Democratic attorney general, Xavier Becerra, has former ACLU attorneys among his top leadership. And outside groups often work with lawmakers to shape agendas or draft bills. But few have expanded their footprint in recent years like First Liberty.

For Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has hired from First Liberty, two of his largest political donors are board members of the group: oilmen Tim Dunn and Kyle Stallings, who combined have given Paxton more than $767,000 in his political career through personal campaign donations and Dunn’s archconservative group called Empower Texans.

One example of the back-and-forth between First Liberty and Paxton came in 2015, when he worked with the firm on legislation to curtail courtroom payouts to losing lawyers in certain cases.

“Thank you for this,” First Liberty attorney Hiram Sasser wrote to Paxton’s office, according to emails obtained under Texas open-records laws.

“I know you guys worked hard before on this bill and are working hard on this amendment. We appreciate it.”

Asked about the email exchange, Paxton spokesman Marc Rylander said in an email, “When constituents inform us about upcoming legislation, we help put them in touch with key experts in the field.”

But First Liberty’s attorneys are no everyday citizens to Paxton. First Liberty founder Kelly Shackelford has known Paxton for more than 30 years, endorsed his wife for a seat in the Texas Senate and donated $1,000 to a legal-defense fund for Paxton, who is awaiting trial on felony charges of misleading investors in a tech startup before becoming attorney general. He has pleaded not guilty.

Sasser rejected the idea that his firm’s lawyers had become insiders, but he declined to discuss whether they were in contact with the Trump administration, which issued guidelines last fall through the Justice Department for its philosophy on religious-freedom cases. The guidelines envisioned sweeping protections for faith-based practices in private workplaces, in government jobs and grants, and in running prisons.

Sasser and Shackelford

also declined to comment on their work with Trump’s transition team after the 2016 election, citing confidentiality.

About a dozen prominent Christian legal groups are scattered across the country, none bigger than the Arizonabased Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF, which raised more than $50 million in 2016. Others include Florida-based Liberty Counsel, Washington-based Becket and the American Center for Law and Justice, which was founded by Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s personal lawyers.

First Liberty has grown faster than any other group in recent years, having doubled its revenue since 2013 while reporting taking in $11 million last year. Its recent cases include defending a Texas judge who was sued over inviting pastors to give invocations in his court. Sasser said First Liberty is different than similar firms, such as ADF, in that they represent people of all faiths.

“We love having people who care about religious freedom and the Constitution and the First Amendment in the highest positions in government they can get in. We’re all in favor of that. It doesn’t put us as sort of insiders,” Shackelford said.

There is no denying their expanded reach.

First Liberty attorney Kacsmaryk criticized a 2014 ban on LGBT discrimination by federal contractors as caving to “sexual revolution fundamentalism.” The Trump administration later nominated him to the federal bench. If confirmed, legal experts say, he would be the first federal judge appointed to the bench straight from a religious legal organization.

Former President George HW Bush hospitalized, misses parade ASSOCIATED PRE SS

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — The hospitalization of former President George H.W. Bush caused him to miss out on a Memorial Day parade in Maine that he traditionally attends.

The 93-year-old said in a tweet Monday evening that he regrets missing the event earlier that day in Kennebunkport, down the road from his summer home. He also said he’s “forever grateful not only to those patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation — but also the Gold Star families whose heritage is imbued with their honor and heroism.”

Bush was taken to a hospital Sunday after he experienced low blood pressure and fatigue. A spokesman said he’d likely be in the hospital for a couple of days for observation. There was no update on his condition Monday.

Residents attending the parade expressed

Evan Sisley / AP

In this Sunday, May 20, 2018 photo provided by the office of former President George H.W. Bush, the former president waves to supporters as his motorcade arrives in Kennebunkport, Maine. A Bush spokesman said the nation's 41st president was eager to get to Maine after enduring his wife's death and then falling ill with a blood infection that landed him in the hospital.

concern for the nation’s 41st president. The event’s grand marshal, Tom Willey, mentioned the president in his remarks, wishing him a speedy recovery.

“He’s such a figure at our parades. He was definitely missed,” said Shawn Hayes, vice com-

mander of American Legion Post 159.

Bush arrived for the summer in Maine on May 20 without his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, who died in April in Houston.

The day before his hospitalization, Bush attended a pancake breakfast at the local

American Legion hall.

His former national security adviser, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, joined them.

Bush was a Navy pilot in World War II and survived being shot down over the Pacific Ocean.

His two crew members perished.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 |

A9

BUSINESS Trump’s trade agenda runs into reality

By Ken Thomas ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Richard Vogel / AP

Gasoline prices are displayed at a gas station near downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Tax cuts have also left most U.S. households with more money to spend, though that extra cash has been eroded in recent weeks by sharply higher gasoline prices.

Oil extends slump as output increase eyed

By Robert Tuttle B L OOMBE RG NEWS

Oil in New York headed for its longest run of losses in more than three months as Saudi Arabia and Russia consider raising output.

Futures dropped as much as 3.1 percent on Monday, following a 4 percent slump Friday.

Saudi Arabia and Russia have signaled they’ll restore some of their curtailed output after OPEC and allied producers concluded they’ve succeeded in draining a global glut.

The rout that started last Tuesday has wiped out all of oil’s gains in May. Futures reached a 3 ½-year high earlier in the month as U.S. President Donald Trump renewed sanctions on Iran and the Venezuelan crisis deepened.

“The market is now pricing in the possibility that OPEC is going to raise production,” Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago, said by phone. An 800,000 to 1 million barrel a day increase would “barely” offset the expected loss from Iran and Venezuela but “the market is taking that as a big increase.”

WTI for July settlement fell $1.77, or 1.2 percent, to $66.68 a barrel at 12:32 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Trades will be booked Tuesday for settlement purposes because of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Total volume traded was about half the 100-day average.

Brent futures for July fell $1.13 to $75.58 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude traded at a

$8.87 premium to WTI for the same month, on course to close at the widest gap since March 2015.

Demand Worries Higher crude prices are starting to affect demand, Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of consultant IHS Markit Ltd., said on Friday. He was echoing concerns voiced a week earlier by the International Energy Agency, which advises major oil-consuming nations. U.S. President Trump last month criticized OPEC for contributing to higher crude.

OPEC and its allies are likely to gradually raise oil output in the second half, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said last week at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia. He and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak said that while scaling back the supply caps was “on the table,” no decision had been made.

The group has to decide unanimously whether to adjust output, said Suhail Al Mazrouei, energy minister of the United Arab Emirates and holder of OPEC’s rotating presidency. “No decisions made by two countries or three countries are going to be taken,” he said Friday in an interview in St. Petersburg. “We respect all the member countries.”

President Vladimir Putin said last week that oil prices at $60 fully suit Russia and the country doesn’t want them to spiral higher. Anything above that level “can lead to certain problems for consumers, which also isn’t good for producers,” he said. OPEC and his nation don’t plan to stick to existing output cuts, he said.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s hard-line views on trade, a staple of his message long before he entered politics, are beginning to collide with the cold realities of global geopolitics.

Trade talks on China and the North American Free Trade Agreement have hit stumbling blocks, posing a challenge for a president who vowed to make trade deals more equitable for the United States during his 2016 campaign and who famously tweeted that trade wars are “easy to win.”

Trump’s trade agenda — at least lately — has not been so easy.

After threatening China with $150 billion in tariffs, Trump’s administration has suspended plans to impose the tariffs for now and the president tweeted Wednesday that a “different structure” would be needed in the trade talks involving the world’s two largest economies.

The president has bemoaned the massive U.S. trade deficit with China — $337 billion last year — as evidence that Beijing has been complicit in abusive trading practices and outsmarted his predecessors.

Pointing to a pause in the trade dispute, the administration pointed to China’s plans to “significantly increase” its purchases of U.S. goods and services and make “meaningful increases” in U.S. exports of agriculture and energy products.

Financial markets, wary of a calamitous trade war, were relieved.

But Beijing did not agree to any specific dollar amounts, despite the Trump administration’s push to lower the U.S. trade deficit by at least $200 billion. And doubts remain about whether China will address allegations the Chinese engage in cybertheft of trade secrets, force U.S. companies to transfer some of their technology in exchange for market access or back away from its China 2025 plan to dominate emerging technologies.

Separately, on Friday, the U.S. reached a deal on ZTE Corp. that will allow the Chinese telecommunications giant to remain in business. Under the deal, ZTE will oust its management team, hire American compliance offers and pay a fine — on top of the $1 billion it’s already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. In return, the U.S.

Simon Dawson / Bloomberg

People pass by the ZTE Corp. stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Saturday. President Trump's hard-line views on trade are beginning to collide with the cold realities of global geopolitics. Trade talks on China and NAFTA have hit stumbling blocks.

Commerce Department will lift a seven-year ban on ZTE buying components from U.S. companies. The ban, imposed this month, threatened to put ZTE out of business.

Trump said earlier that a resolution would help U.S. firms that supply ZTE with components, but members of Congress, including several Republicans, warned that the U.S. is being too lenient on a company that has violated U.S. sanctions.

“ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States — and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat. “If President Trump won’t put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him.”

Trump’s team, meanwhile, has hit an impasse with Canada and Mexico on negotiations over NAFTA. The president has sought to overhaul NAFTA as a way of returning automobile production to the U.S. and reduce America’s trade deficit with Mexico.

But the talks are running into the complications of Mexican elections in July and the U.S. midterm elections in November along with a dispute over rules for car production.

Seeking leverage, Trump’s administration launched an investigation into whether tariffs might be necessary on car imports, based on national security concerns. The potential penalties could affect Mexico, Canada, Japan and the European Union.

The administration used a similar Commerce Department probe to impose tariffs in March on imported steel and aluminum. But auto manufacturers said they didn’t push for the auto investigation, and members of Congress questioned the

validity of the probe.

“The Honda Accord is not a threat to our national security,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, RTexas, hours after joining Trump for a bill signing at the White House. But he added that “taxing it with trade tariffs is a threat to the economic security of millions of hard-working American families.”

Stephen Moore, a former Trump campaign adviser and visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation, said Trump remains focused on how the trade policies affect the financial markets and economic growth. But he expects the president to continue to press for a better deal with China.

“As a long-term strategy, I don’t see him backing down in his demands on China,” Moore said.

The trade talks with China have come against the backdrop of Trump’s efforts to hold a June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which the president said Friday could get back on track after he nixed it a day earlier. His attempts to push Kim toward denuclearization have required the cooperation of China, something the president acknowledged to reporters earlier in the week.

The president said alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in, prior to this week’s uncertainty over the Singapore summit, that he has a “much bigger picture” in mind as he considers China trade, a reminder that his trade policies are no longer a matter of campaign rhetoric.

“I’m also thinking about what they’re doing to help us with peace with North Korea. That’s a very important element,” Trump said. “So we’ll see how it all works out. But in the end, it will work out. Can’t tell you exactly how or why, but it always does.”

Trump threatens shutdown as talks on budget heat up

By Andrew Taylor A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has warned Congress that he will never sign another foot-tall, $1 trillion-plus governmentwide spending bill like the one he did in March.

His message to lawmakers in both parties: Get your act together before the next budget lands on my desk.

After a brief government shutdown earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans now agree on the need for budgeting day-to-day operations of government the old-fashioned way. That means weeks of open debate and amendments that empower rank-and-file lawmakers, rather than concentrating power in the hands of a few leaders meeting in secret.

But Capitol Hill’s dysfunction is so pervasive that even the most optimistic predictions are for only a handful of the 12 annual spending bills to make it into law by Oct. 1, the start of the new budget year. The rest may get bundled together into a single, massive measure yet again.

The worst-case scenario? A government shutdown just a month before Election Day, Nov. 6, as Republicans and Democrats fight for control of the House and possibly the Senate. Trump is agitating for more money

for his long-promised border wall with Mexico.

So far, he has been frustrated by limited success on that front.

“We need the wall.

We’re going to have it all.

And again, that wall has started. We got $1.6 billion. We come up again (in) September,” Trump said in a campaign-style event in Michigan last month. “If we don’t get border security, we’ll have no choice. We’ll close down the country because we need border security.”

At stake is the funding for daily operations of government agencies. A budget deal this year reversed spending cuts that affected military readiness and put a crimp on domestic agencies. A $1.3 trillion spending bill swept through Congress in March, though Trump entertained last-minute second thoughts about the measure and promised he would not sign a repeat.

The demise of the annual appropriations process took root after Republicans took over the House in 2011 and is part of a broader breakdown on Capitol Hill. The yearly bills need bipartisan support to advance, which has grated on tea party lawmakers. GOP leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWis., and his predecessor as speaker, Ohio Republican John Boehner, have preferred to focus on

other priorities.

Ryan did throw his weight behind a two-year budget agreement this year that set an overall spending limit of $1.3 trillion for both 2018 and 2019, citing a need to boost the Pentagon.

That, in theory, makes it easier to get the appropriations process back on track. But in the GOPcontrolled House, where Democratic votes are generally needed to pass the bills, Democrats are complaining that Republicans have shortchanged domestic agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency.

That’s not the case in the Senate, where the new chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Alabama Republican Richard Shelby, is determined to get the system working again. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York is on board, as is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., himself a decades-long veteran of that powerful committee.

“We want this to work,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who criticized the GOP-controlled House for continuing to pack legislation with “poison pills.”

Obstacles remain, however.

For starters, floor debates could lead to votes

on contentious issues such as immigration, the border wall, gun control and others that some lawmakers might hope to avoid.

Democrats are wary of Republicans trying to jam through the Pentagon spending bill before dealing with some agencies.

And Trump could blow up the whole effort at any time.

Trump is prone to threatening government shutdowns on Twitter or

when he riffs in public, and then backing off when bills are delivered to him.

In the House, a familiar problem awaits.

Many conservative Republicans won’t vote for some bills because they think they spend too much money. That means Democratic votes are a must. But many Democrats are upset over unrelated policy add-ons pushed by the GOP, and they won’t vote for the spending bills unless

those provisions are removed, which usually doesn’t happen until end-stage talks.

At the same time, House GOP leaders are distracted by disputes over immigration, and they haven’t made the appropriations bills a priority.

An effort led by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to cut or “rescind” $15 billion in unspent money has run into greater opposition than anticipated.

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A10 | Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

FROM THE COVER CHILDREN From page A1 were unaccounted for, giving rise to the 1,475 number. It is possible that some of the adult sponsors simply chose not to respond to the agency.

Losing track of children who arrive at the border alone is not a new phenomenon. A 2016 inspector general report showed that the federal government was able to reach only 84 percent of children it had placed, leaving 4,159 unaccounted for.

Q: What is the Trump administration’s policy on separating migrant children from their parents at the border?

A: This is where people are likely getting the idea that the Trump administration has separated children from their parents and then lost them. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new “zero tolerance” policy earlier this month that included imposing criminal penalties meant to deter Central American families from trying to cross the border illegally.

If a mother or father is with a child when apprehended for the crime of illegal entry, the minor must be taken from the parent. Hundreds of immigrant children have already been separated from their parents at the border since October, and the new policy will result in a steep increase. “If you don’t want your child separated, then don’t bring them across the border illegally,” Sessions said.

It’s not clear what has happened to the children that have been separated from their parents since October. This is a deeper explanation on the practice of separating fami-

lies.

Q: What about Trump’s tweet suggesting that Americans pressure Democrats “to end the horrible law that separates children from parents at the border?

A: There is no law mandating separation.

The closest is the Trump administration’s own “zero tolerance” policy.

And the Democrats did not initiate that.

Q: How did the Department of Health and Human Services manage to lose track of 1,475 migrant children?

A: Children who show up at the border by themselves are usually apprehended by federal agents.

Once they are processed, they are turned over to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services’ refugee office, which provides care until they can be turned over to a sponsor.

Sponsors, usually parents or family members already residing in the United States, are supposed to undergo a detailed background check.

Historically, the agency has said it was not legally responsible for children after they had been released from its refugee office. But Congress is now examining the agency’s safeguards.

Q: Why might the government want to track migrant children?

After being placed with a sponsor, unaccompanied minors face deportation proceedings.

They may seek asylum or other relief to try to remain in the country legally.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, chairman of a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee, has said the government has a responsibility to track them so they are not abused or trafficked, and so they attend their court

proceedings. In 2016, under the Obama administration, the subcommittee released a report finding that department officials had failed to establish procedures to protect unaccompanied minors from being turned over to smugglers or human traffickers. Eight children, the report found, had been placed with human traffickers who forced them to work on an egg farm.

To prevent similar episodes, the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services departments agreed to establish new guidelines within a year. It is now more than a year after that deadline.

Q: What will happen to children separated from their parents under the new “zero tolerance” policy?

A: Unauthorized immigrants who are stopped by the Border Patrol or customs officers will be sent directly to a federal court by the U.S. Marshals Service. Children will be placed in the custody of the Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement, administration officials said — the same office that handles minors who show up at the border unaccompanied by an adult. The adult immigrants would be sent to detention centers to await trial.

If convicted, immigrants would be imprisoned for the duration of their sentences, after which time they could be returned to their countries of origin. First-time illegal entry is a misdemeanor that carries up to a six-month prison sentence. Repeat entry constitutes a felony and carries a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment. It is not clear how easily they would be able to reunite with their children.

WOMAN From page A1 of force was used by the Border Patrol and calls to respect, at all times, all the rights of our people and whomever may be held by immigration, especially with respect to life,” he said.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection offered varying accounts of what happened in the shooting, which took place Wednesday shortly before 12:30 p.m.

The agency’s original statement said the officer was searching for “illegal activity” in a culvert on a residential street in Rio Bravo, a border town about 7 miles south of Laredo, when a group of unauthorized immigrants started to hit him with “blunt objects.”

An updated statement,

sent Friday, said that the officer, a 15-year veteran of the Border Patrol, ordered the immigrants “to get on the ground” but “the group ignored his verbal commands and instead rushed him.”

The new statement also used different language to describe the woman now identified as Gómez.

The earlier statement said that the officer, whose name was not released, fired at least one shot with his handgun, “fatally wounding one of the assailants.” The updated statement did not refer to her as an “assailant,” saying instead that the officer fired one round, “striking one member of the group.”

The Border Patrol agent was put on administrative leave, and the FBI and Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.

Marta V. Martinez, who

lives on Centeno Lane, next to the site of the shooting, on Thursday disputed Customs and Border Protection’s first account of the shooting, saying she didn’t see any weapons the group could have used.

“There was no weapon.

They were hiding,” Martinez said of the unauthorized immigrants, adding that she “didn’t hear any yelling or ‘stop’ or ‘don’t run.’”

After hearing the gunshot, she ran outside, saw Border Patrol agents on her block and hit record on her cellphone. She then peered over a chainlink fence to the adjacent lot, she said, and saw an officer flip over a woman’s body.

The officer began doing chest compressions on the woman, but Martinez said it was clear that the woman had already died.