DEDMON HITS FREE AGENCY
WEDNESDAYMAY 31, 2017
FREE
SPURS CENTER DECLINES OPTION, A7
DELIVERED EVERY SATURDAY
TO 4,000 HOMES
A HEARST PUBLICATION
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
NAFTA
TRUMP/RUSSIA PROBE
Mexico to review rules of origin
Flynn agrees to provide documents
Senate continues to search Foreign minister: country is set to look for any possible meddling in the 2016 election over trade deal By Chad Day, Eileen Sullivan and Jake Pearson
A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
MIAMI — Mexico's foreign minister says the country is "inevitably" set to review rules of origin when renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, giving a boost to President Donald Trump's manufacturing push. Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray said on Tuesday at an event in Miami that NAFTA has allowed Mexican industry to enter the U.S. market with lax rules of origin. The rules dictate how much U.S. content a product assembled in Mexico must have in order to escape tariffs when being imported into the United States. Currently set at 62.5 percent for the auto industry, that number could increase. The Trump administration told Congress earlier this month there would be 90 days of consultations on the renegotiation of the 23-yearold pact before beginning talks with Canada and Mexico.
HEALTH CARE
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
WASHINGTON — Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn will provide documents to the Senate intelligence committee as part of its probe into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, The Associat-
ed Press has learned. Flynn will turn over documents related to two of his businesses as well as some personal documents the committee requested earlier this month, a person close to Flynn said. Flynn plans to produce documents by next week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Flynn continues on A12
Carolyn Kaster / AP
This file photo shows Michael Flynn sitting in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
HURRICANE SEASON
TEXANS CAREFULLY MONITOR RISING SEA
Medicare to replace Social Security numbers By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — Officials said Tuesday the government is on track to meet a 2019 deadline for replacing Social Security numbers on Medicare cards with randomly generated digits and letters to protect seniors against identity theft. Planning for the massive transition has been underway for years. Beneficiaries and their families should start seeing changes next April, Medicare announced Tuesday. That's when the agency will begin mailing out new cards to more than 57 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries. They'll be instructed to destroy their old cards after they get the new one. New cards may be used right away. Health care transitions can be notoriously tricky for the
government. Remember the "Obamacare" computer system that didn't work at first? Or the Medicare drug program rollout, when millions of low-income beneficiaries couldn't get their prescriptions filled initially? In a statement Tuesday, Medicare chief Seema Verma said the Trump administration is aiming for "a seamless transition" over a 21-month period that will involve coordination with beneficiaries, family members, hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, pharmacies and state governments. Congress has set an April 2019 deadline for all beneficiaries to have new cards. Medicare has set up a website that provides some basic information. True to government form, the new Medicare number already has an acronym: MBI, Medicare continues on A12
Michael Ciaglo / AP
In this Monday photo, Lalo Ojeda points at the water line on his garage from Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas. Ojeda is watching the Atlantic hurricane season that begins Thursday with more concern than usual. The retired Coast Guard employee worries that rising sea levels could make the next hurricane more destructive than those he's lived through.
Study shows levels are increasing fast in Texas Gulf Coast By Harvey Rice HOUSTON CHRONICLE
GALVESTON, Texas — Lalo Ojeda has lived with hurricanes all his life. The Houston Chronicle reports he was 14 when Hurricane Carla inundated Galveston Island in 1961. He evacuated as Hurricane Rita barreled toward the coast in 2005, then rode out the devastat-
ing Hurricane Ike in his Galveston home in 2008. But Ojeda is watching the Atlantic hurricane season that begins Thursday with more concern than usual. The retired Coast Guard employee worries that rising sea levels could make the next hurricane more destructive than those he's lived through. "That's really scary to
me," the 70-year-old said. A study released in May shows that rising sea levels threaten to make storm surges more dangerous, seemingly reinforcing Texas officials' push for federal funding for a storm-surge barrier, or Ike Dike, to protect Galveston. "Every storm surge today reaches higher because it starts from a higher level, because sea level
is higher," said study coauthor Ben Strauss, a scientist who is vice president for sea level and climate impacts for Climate Central, a group of scientists and journalists dedicated to climate change awareness. "A small amount of sea-level rise can lead to an unexpectedly large increase in damages to most kinds of Hurricane continues on A12