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MEXICO VIOLENCE
9 bodies discovered in Nuevo Laredo Findings occurred after gang-related threats By César G. Rodriguez and Taryn T. Walters LA R ED O MORNI NG T IME S
Mexican authorities said they discovered a pile of bodies dumped outside a residence Thursday near a sports complex in east Nuevo Laredo. Another body was found mutilated inside the home, according to
reports. Tamaulipas Department of Public Safety spokesman Luis Alberto Rodriguez told Mexican media outlets that authorities have opened an investigation into the nine bodies found. Authorities said they were discovered on the sidewalk near the intersection of Abraham Lincoln and Porfirio
Diaz streets. A banner lying over the bodies reads, “This is not a game, nephew,” according to a photo posted on social media. “I just passed by that street and the people who live there were washing those sidewalks, the hideous blood odor,” a Facebook user commented under a picture showing the
bodies. Earlier, some Nuevo Laredoans took to Facebook asking what was happening in the area. An investigation is underway. This comes a week after the sentencing of Ivàn “El Taliban” Velázquez Caballero, who served as a plaza boss for Nuevo Laredo in
Courtesy
Bodies continues on A11
Pictured is a banner found lying over the bodies of the victims in Nuevo Laredo.
EL PASO, TEXAS
WHITE HOUSE
MANY STILL RISK IT ALL TO CROSS INTO U.S.
Chief of Staff Priebus replaced John F. Kelly called by Trump to fill position By Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman NEW YORK TIME S NEWS SERVICE
while, the number of people apprehended while attempting to enter the U.S. illegally in that sector has dropped slightly. Officials say at least 15 people have attempted to cross the river in the same area this week. The five deaths reflect some of the hazards immigrants may face when trying to enter the U.S. illegally.
WASHINGTON — Reince Priebus, the establishment Republican-turned-loyalist to President Donald Trump who served as his White House chief of staff for the last six months, was pushed out on Friday in the latest convulsion in a chaoswracked West Priebus Wing to which he had repeatedly failed to bring some semblance of order. Convinced that Priebus was not strong enough, Trump Kelly has been talking about bringing in “a general” as chief of staff and chose John F. Kelly, the retired Marine four-star general serving as secretary of homeland security. But some
El Paso continues on A11
Replaced continues on A11
Ruben R. Ramirez / AP
A fifth person has died this week in the El Paso area after being pulled from the Rio Grande while attempting to cross from Mexico.
Fifth person found dead while trying to leave Mexico By David Warren A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
DALLAS — Even as the deaths of 10 immigrants found in the back of a sweltering tractor-trailer in Texas have captured international attention, the deaths of five others who drowned this week while trying to get into the U.S. by swimming across the Rio Grande
have largely gone unnoticed. The latest death was discovered Thursday, when U.S. Border Patrol agents conducting a river patrol with Mexican law enforcement officials found the body of a man believed to be in his 30s. The bodies of three people, all Guatemalan nationals, were recovered Tuesday. Another person who was pulled from the water this week later
died at a hospital. The number of deaths is unusual for the Border Patrol’s El Paso sector, which extends from the Arizona border to the west down to just southeast of El Paso in Texas. Three waterrelated deaths were reported there during the last fiscal year, compared with eight so far this year, according to Border Patrol spokesman Joe Reyes. Mean-
IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
Two drug cartel members convicted in agent’s killing A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
WASHINGTON — A federal jury on Thursday convicted two members of a violent Mexican drug cartel in the 2011 ambush slaying of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent, U.S. authorities said. Five other Mexicans in the Los Zetas cartel pleaded guilty earlier to federal charges in the shooting death of ICE Special
Agent Jaime Zapata and the wounding of another agent in central Mexico during a roadside attack on their car by gunmen in San Luis Potosi, a central Mexican state. All seven were extradited to the U.S. on federal charges. “With today’s guilty verdicts, a total of seven members of the violent Mexican drug cartel, Los Zetas, have now been brought to justice for the ruthless ambush that took the
life of ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata and that injured and could have killed ICE Special Agent Victor Avila,” U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia said in a statement. Jurors in U.S. District Court in Washington found 36-yearold Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota and 29-year-old Jesus Ivan Quezada Pina guilty of murder and attempted murder of a federal officer and a related
firearms offense, the statement added. It said 22 witnesses, including Avila, the special agent who survived the attack on Feb. 15, 2011, testified at the trial that began July 10. No sentencing date was immediately announced, and the statement said both men face mandatory life sentences for the murder conviction. Their next status hearing is scheduled Aug. 29. ICE continues on A11
Zapata
Zin brief A2 | Saturday, July 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
CALENDAR
AROUND THE WORLD
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, JULY 29
ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Habitat for Humanity Laredo-Webb County fundraiser The Hottest Golf Tournament in Texas two-man scramble. 8 a.m. Casa Blanca Golf Course. $125 per golfer. Texas Community Bank is the title sponsor. Other sponsorships are available. Proceeds benefit local victims of May 2017 storm. For more information, call Carol Sherwood or Cindy Liendo at 724-3227 or email resource@habitatlaredo.org San Antonio ISD on-site interviews for teachers. 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Embassy Suites Hotel, 110 Calle Del Norte. San Antonio ISD is coming to Laredo to conduct on-site interviews for teacher candidates. The district will be interviewing for Texas-certified teachers in the following areas: bilingual, math and science. Applicants can apply in advance online at www.saisd.net. For more information call SAISD’s Department of Human Resources at 210-554-8500.
SATURDAY, AUG. 5 Brightwood College Back to School Event. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. 6410 McPherson Road. Event is free and open to the public. Will feature refreshments, a moonwalk, face painting, a bike show, a Taekwondo exhibition, a photo booth, a variety of food booths, campus tours, program demonstrations and a school supplies drive for which everyone is invited to bring and donate supplies. Attendees will be entered to win prizes such as Amazon gift cards and backpacks filled with school supplies.
FRIDAY, AUG. 18 South Texas Food Bank Empty Bowls XI. Laredo Energy Arena. Tex-Mex power rock trio Los Lonely Boys will perform. The event includes a dinner, a benefit concert and a silent auction featuring artworks from local and regional artists. Sponsorship tables of 10 that include dinner and access to silent auction items are available. There are different levels of sponsorship available: Diamond $20,000, Platinum $10,000, Gold $5,000, Silver $2,500 and Bronze $1,500. Individual table tickets are $150. Table tickets are available at the food bank, 1907 Freight at Riverside. Concert only tickets are $10, $15 and $25. Tickets are available at the LEA box office, Ticketmaster.com, select Ticketmaster outlets or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000.
SATURDAY, AUG. 26 Football Tailgating Cook-Off. 2 p.m. - 11 p.m. Uni-Trade Stadium. Event will feature cook-off competitions, brisket tasting/sampling for People's Choice from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., car show, live music, food vendors, arts & crafts and merchandise vendors and much more. For more information, contact LULAC Council 14 at 956-286-9055 Submit calendar items by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location, purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.
Today is Saturday, July 29, the 210th day of 2017. There are 155 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History: On July 29, 1967, an accidental rocket launch on the deck of the supercarrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin resulted in a fire and explosions that killed 134 servicemen. (Among the survivors was future Arizona senator John McCain, a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander who narrowly escaped with his life.)
Wong Maye-E / AP
This April photo shows people wave flags as a float with model missiles with the words "For Peace and Stability in the World" is paraded across Kim Il Sung Square in North Korea.
N. KOREA SECOND ICBM TEST PUTS U.S. IN RANGE PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea on Friday test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew longer and higher than the first according to its wary neighbors, leading analysts to conclude that a wide swath of the U.S., including Los Angeles and Chicago, is now within range of Pyongyang’s weapons. Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the missile, launched late Friday night, flew for about 45 minutes. The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan’s island of Hokkaido. “We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, as had been expected,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in Washington. Analysts had estimated that the North’s first ICBM could have reached Alaska, and said Friday that the latest missile appeared to extend that range significantly. David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in Washington that if reports of the missile’s maximum altitude and flight time are correct, it would have a theoretical range of at least 10,400 kilometers (about 6,500 miles). That means it could have reached Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago, depending on vari-
ables such as the size and weight of the warhead. Bruce Klingner, a Korean and Japanese affairs specialist at the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, said, “It now appears that a significant portion of the continental United States is within range” of North Korean missiles. Klingner recently met with North Korean officials to discuss denuclearization, the think tank said. Washington and its allies have watched with growing concern as Pyongyang has made significant progress toward its goal of having all of the U.S. within range of its missiles to counter what it labels as U.S. aggression. There are other hurdles, including building nuclear warheads to fit on those missiles and ensuring reliability. But many analysts have been surprised by how quickly leader Kim Jong Un has developed North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs despite several rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions that have squeezed the impoverished country’s economy. President Donald Trump has said he will not allow North Korea to obtain an ICBM that can deliver a nuclear warhead. But this week, the Defense Intelligence Agency reportedly concluded that the North will have a reliable ICBM capable of carrying a nuclear weapon as early as next year. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION FDA to target addictive levels of nicotine in cigarettes For the first time, the federal government is proposing cutting the nicotine level in cigarettes so they aren’t so addictive. U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb on Friday directed the agency’s staff to develop new regulations on nicotine. The FDA has had the power since 2009 to regulate nicotine levels but hasn’t done so. Stocks of cigarette makers plunged after the announcement. As part of the new strategy, the FDA is giving e-cigarette makers four more years to comply with a review of products already on the market, Gottlieb said. The agency intends to write rules that balance safety with e-cigarettes’ role in helping smokers quit, he said. “A renewed focus on nicotine
Branden Camp / AP
In this 2016 photo, test cigarettes sit in a machine in a lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
can help us to achieve a world where cigarettes no longer addict future generations of our kids,” Gottlieb said in a speech to staff in Silver Spring, Maryland. Tar and other substances inhaled through smoking make cigarettes deadly, but the nicotine in tobacco is what makes them addictive.
Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable heart disease, cancer and death in the United States, causing more than 480,000 deaths annually. Smoking rates, though, have been falling for decades and are at about 15 percent. Gottlieb said he has asked the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products to explore whether lower-
ing nicotine could create a black market for higher nicotine products and what role e-cigarettes and other products play in reducing harm from smoking. Battery-powered e-cigarettes turn liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor. He also wants new rules to address flavored tobacco products and kids. The FDA announcement is great news, said Eric Donny, a University of Pittsburgh researcher who has studied what happens when smokers puff on cigarettes with lower levels of nicotine. Donny and other researchers found that reducing nicotine substantially — by around 90 percent — leads to smokers being less dependent on cigarettes and smoking fewer of them. There have been concerns that smokers might react to lower nicotine levels by smoking more. But the research shows that’s not what happens — not if enough nicotine is taken out. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND TEXAS El Paso boy, 4, mauled to death by pack of dogs EL PASO, Texas — A 4-yearold boy has been mauled to death by the family’s four dogs while playing in his family’s backyard. El Paso police were sent about 8 p.m. Thursday to the boy’s home in the Lower Valley section on the southern end of the city. There, they found his body.
On this date: In 1030, the patron saint of Norway, King Olaf II, was killed in battle. In 1588, the English attacked the Spanish Armada in the Battle of Gravelines, resulting in an English victory. In 1890, artist Vincent van Gogh, 37, died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. In 1914, transcontinental telephone service in the U.S. became operational with the first test conversation between New York and San Francisco. Massachusetts' Cape Cod Canal, offering a shortcut across the base of the peninsula, was officially opened to shipping traffic. In 1921, Adolf Hitler became the leader ("fuehrer") of the National Socialist German Workers Party. In 1948, Britain's King George VI opened the Olympic Games in London. In 1957, the International Atomic Energy Agency was established. Jack Paar made his debut as host of NBC's "Tonight Show." In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA. In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford became the first U.S. president to visit the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland. In 1981, Britain's Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a glittering ceremony at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. In 1994, abortion opponent Paul Hill shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and Britton's bodyguard, James H. Barrett, outside the Ladies Center clinic in Pensacola, Florida. (Hill was executed in Sept. 2003.) In 2004, Sen. John Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination at the party's convention in Boston with a military salute and the declaration: "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty." Ten years ago: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived at Camp David in Maryland for a private dinner as well as meetings with President George W. Bush. Five years ago: Standing on Israeli soil, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States had "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability. One year ago: Pope Francis visited the former Nazi death factory at Auschwitz and Birkenau in southern Poland, meeting with concentration camp survivors as well as aging saviors who helped Jews escape certain doom. Former suburban Chicago police officer Drew Peterson was given an additional 40 years in prison for trying to hire someone to kill the prosecutor who put him behind bars for killing his third wife. Today's Birthdays: Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum-Baker is 85. Actor Robert Fuller is 84. Former Sen. Elizabeth H. Dole is 81. Actor David Warner is 76. Actress Roz Kelly is 75. Rock musician Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon) is 71. Actor Mike Starr is 67. Documentary maker Ken Burns is 64. Style guru Tim Gunn is 64. Rock singer-musician Geddy Lee (Rush) is 64. Rock singer Patti Scialfa (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) is 64. Olympic gold medal gymnast Nellie Kim is 60. Actor Kevin Chapman is 55. Actress Alexandra Paul is 54. Actor/comedian Dean Haglund is 52. Country singer Martina McBride is 51. Rock musician Chris Gorman is 50. Actor Rodney Allen Rippy is 49. Actor Tim Omundson is 48. Actor Ato Essandoh is 45. Actor Wil Wheaton is 45. Rhythm-and-blues singer Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men) is 44. Country singer-songwriter James Otto is 44. Actor Stephen Dorff is 44. Actor Josh Radnor is 43. Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 40. Actress Rachel Miner is 37. Actress Allison Mack is 35. Actress Kaitlyn Black is 34. Actor Matt Prokop is 27. Thought for Today: "An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it." — Don Marquis (MAHR'kwihs), American journalist-author (born this date in 1878, died 1937).
CONTACT US A police statement says the boy’s mother had left the child in an enclosed trampoline in the yard where the dogs were. The dogs have been turned over to the city’s animal control department. The mother was placed in protective custody and turned over to medical professionals. No charges have been filed. — Compiled from AP reports
Baylor ordered to provide sex assault
reports dating to 2003 WACO, Texas — A judge has ordered Baylor University to turn over to plaintiffs’ attorneys records of all cases of sexual assault and harassment since 2003 in a lawsuit against the nation’s largest Baptist school. A group of women is suing Baylor, claiming the school in Texas mishandled or ignored claims of sexual assault for
years. Baylor officials wanted to provide the court with a summary of cases. They cited privacy concerns for students not part of the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in Waco said Wednesday that the assault reports will be covered by a protective order against public release. Pitman said Baylor would not have to turn over documents it provided to the Big 12, investigators for the NCAA and a state criminal probe. — Compiled from AP reports
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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, July 29, 2017 |
A3
STATE
Texas executes man for killing woman in 2004 By Michael Graczyk A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
HUNTSVILLE, Texas — A Texas prisoner was executed Thursday evening for killing a San Antonio woman after breaking into her apartment more than 13 years ago. TaiChin Preyor, 46, was put to death after his attorneys failed to convince courts that he had deficient legal help during earlier stages of his appeals and that he deserved a reprieve so his case could be reviewed more fairly. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal about 2 1⁄2 hours after the six-hour execu-
tion window opened at 6 p.m. CDT. Once the justices ruled, Preyor was taken to the death chamber in Huntsville, Texas, for lethal injection. Preyor’s execution was Texas’ fifth this year and the 16th nationally. Asked by the prison warden if he had a final statement, Preyor replied, “First and foremost, I’d like to say: Justice has never advanced by taking a human life,” and attributed the statement to Coretta Scott King. Then he said that he would love his wife and children “forever and always.” “That’s it,” Preyor said. As the lethal dose of
Dallas halts housing program after federal review A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
DALLAS — Federal inspectors have found problems with how Dallas runs its housing department. The Dallas Morning News reports the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has reviewed housing records from 2011 to 2015 to see how the Dallas Homebuyer Assistance Program used federal money. The newspaper obtained a letter the department sent to the city in April. The letter says the
program didn’t properly vet families’ income levels, kept inaccurate records of the number of households the program helped and didn’t document property inspections. The city’s housing department has struggled for decades to comply with federal rules and keep documents about funding and expenses. City Hall has halted the program as it works to fix the issues. Dallas must receive federal approval before continuing to assist families.
pentobarbital began taking effect, he took several deep breaths, then began snoring, each sound decreasing in volume. Within a minute, all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 19 minutes later at 9:22 p.m. Preyor selected no friends or relatives to witness his punishment. No one related to the victim in his case attended. Preyor was convicted in the February 2004 slaying of 24-year-old Jami Tackett, who court records identified as Preyor’s drug supplier. She was stabbed and her throat was cut.
Preyor’s lawyers earlier argued unsuccessfully in the Texas courts and lower federal courts that an inexperienced California attorney who handled federal appeals in his case from 2011 to 2014 was “utterly unqualified.” They said she employed a disbarred lawyer for guidance, perpetrating a fraud on the courts. State attorneys said the late appeals to reopen his case were legally improper and that it was Preyor’s decision to stay with the inexperienced lawyer who didn’t appear to miss any filing deadlines and filed appropriate pleadings. The disbarred lawyer wasn’t
precluded from assisting Preyor’s attorney, state lawyers said. Testimony showed that in the early hours of Feb. 26, 2004, Preyor, dressed in black and wearing a hood and gloves, kicked in the door of a San Antonio apartment where Tackett lived and kept drugs in a safe. Tackett recognized Preyor when he barged into a bedroom, calling him by his nickname “Box.” He attacked her boyfriend, who escaped to a neighbor’s apartment and called for help. Evidence showed Preyor, a drug seller and user since adolescence, then stabbed Tackett and cut
STR / AFP/Getty Images
This photo shows TaiChin Preyor.
her throat. He fled the apartment but returned because he lost his car keys in the struggle. By the time he tried to flee a second time, police had arrived and used pepper spray to subdue him. He was covered with the blood of his victims. At least six other Texas prisoners are scheduled to be executed in the next several months.
Texas AG now facing December trial ASSOCIATED PRE SS
AUSTIN, Texas — A new trial date of Dec. 11 is set for Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to face felony securities fraud charges. It’s the third time a trial date has been set. Paxton’s case was previ-
ously scheduled to begin in April, then September. The Houston ChronPaxton icle reports that jury selection is now expected to start Dec. 1.
The case previously was moved from the conservative Dallas suburb of McKinney, where Paxton lives, to Houston after special prosecutors argued Paxton’s allies had spent years tainting the original jury pool. Paxton’s lawyers then successfully had the
original judge replaced. The attorney general was indicted in 2015 over allegations he duped investors in a tech startup before taking office. He’s pleaded not guilty. Paxton faces 5 to 99 years in prison, if convicted.
DPS drops plans to charge fees for crime lab testing ASSOCIATED PRE SS
DALLAS — The Texas Department of Public Safety is dropping its plan to charge law enforcement for state crime lab services this fall. The announcement
came Friday after Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to DPS Director Steven McCraw. The letter asked the DPS to drop the proposed charge for forensic analysis of controlled substances, toxicology and DNA
that was to have been levied Sept. 1. PBS officials had said charges were believed necessary after state lawmakers approved a budget removing almost $12 million from the department’s annual budget.
Some charges included $75 for alcohol analysis and $550 for DNA analysis. Abbott’s letter says nearly $63 million in additional money has been allocated to ensure the lab can continue to operate.
Zopinion
Letters to the editor Send your signed letter to editorial@lmtonline.com
A4 | Saturday, July 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
COMMENTARY
OTHER VIEWS
Trump’s transgender ban isn’t just anti-gay. It’s anti-military. By Ronit Y. Stahl and Jennifer Mittelstadt WA S H INGT ON P O ST
When President Donald Trump abruptly declared on Twitter that “the United States Government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military,” he gleefully overturned the Obama administration’s 2016 carefully researched and meticulously planned inclusion of transgender service members in the armed forces. The military has long been a flash point for social conflict because it operates as a legitimizing institution in American life. Citizenship has historically intertwined with military service, and once the military recognizes a marginalized group as an equal member of the services, it legitimizes them in civil society as well. This debate over who can be a legitimate soldier is a recurring feature of the history of inclusion and exclusion in the military. Political and military officials mobilized the language of “efficiency,” “effectiveness,” “readiness” and “disruption” to exclude people from service. But the military also eventually changed its policies and used the very same language to promote inclusion on the basis of creating an “efficient,” “effective” and “ready” fighting force. Since the turn to an all-volunteer force in 1973, the urgent need for manpower has promoted ever greater inclusion: of racial and religious minorities, of women, of gays and lesbians, of immigrants and of transgender people. The pragmatic need for people to fill and sustain the ranks undergirded these shifts, whether enacted by a commander in chief, the military hierarchy or civilian legislation. When the Obama administration dismantled “don’t ask, don’t tell” and then allowed for the inclusion of transgender people, it followed in the path of opening the military to new people to meet the needs of the force. Neither the inclusion of transgender people nor the changes in personnel before it constituted, as critics have charged, “social engineering” in a prospective, calculated sense. But inclusion has had consequences. The military has been a participant in and sometimes even an unintentional driver of social change. When forced to train, worship, sleep and eat together, Americans have learned about one another and often realized that shared experiences can overcome divergent backgrounds. The military included Catholics and Jews as
chaplains even as antiCatholicism and antiSemitism reigned in U.S. public life. The military desegregated prior to public schools. The military opened staff corps positions to women as the Equal Rights Amendment failed to be ratified. The repeal of don’t ask, don’t tell preceded the Supreme Court decisions in Windsor, which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act for treating same-sex and opposite-sex couples differently under federal law, and Obergefell, which legalized gay marriage nationally. This tradition of opening the military to marginalized Americans derives from pragmatic rather than progressive views. But once the military recognizes these groups as equal, it becomes harder for civilian society to overtly retain prejudices and rescind civil rights. There is nothing pragmatic about excluding transgender people from the military. In fact, the costs to the military will be greater if the policy is rolled back. Not only does the inevitable litigation tie up funds, time and people, but the loss of transgender people will undermine readiness. There are transgender personnel who don’t tell regime, perform essential military duties. It is the fear of recognizing the military as a diverse, integrated institution and of seeing transgender people in uniform that drives Trump and others to try to restrict military space to cisgender people: If the military accepts them, civil society will, too. The military is both a machine of war and a machine of social change. In fact, these roles are interdependent. In the early 1970s, after commanding swift boats in Vietnam, Chief of Naval Operations Elmo Zumwalt recognized women as “a vital personnel resource” and insisted on “according women equal opportunity.” As a result, he later remarked, “there’s a good deal of indecision as to whether I am a drooling-fang militarist or a bleeding-heart liberal.” It is precisely because the military wages war that it can enact largescale social transformation. The need for a sufficient supply of bodies to fight has been the primary driver of a more diverse military population, which, in turn, has pressured American society to recognize diversity as a benefit. Despite Trump’s single-handed decision to ban transgender Americans from the armed forces, history suggests that military need will ultimately overturn discriminatory impulses — and be a stronger institution as a result.
COMMENTARY
Republicans’ dream of repealing Obamacare ends By Jennifer Rubin WASHINGTON P O ST
We’ve said it before, but the Senate has reached a new low point in a once revered body. To the rescue, however, rode two brave women and a war hero stricken with cancer. Since the healthcare debate got underway, the Republican-controlled Senate has had a fundamental problem: It had no bill it could pass. So they hit upon the idea of passing an atrocious bill that would repeal the individual mandate, dumps 15 million people off healthcare insurance and raises premiums 20 percent. Then the kicker, as The Post reported Thursday: “In other words, millions more people wouldn’t have insurance, and it’d be more expensive for everybody else. It’s no wonder, then, that even the Republicans
who are voting for this bill don’t want it to become law. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., called it a ‘disaster’ and a ‘fraud.’ Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said ‘the only possible problem’ with it is that the House might vote for it too. And Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., wants a guarantee that the House won’t turn around and pass it.” Three senators actually held a press conference to say they’d vote for it but only if they got an ironclad guarantee the House wouldn’t pass it. That’s right: They would only pass something they hate in order to kick the can down the road, with no prospect they can find a bill satisfactory to enough Senate Republicans. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan tried to accommodate them, but had to hedge. “If moving forward requires a conference committee, that is
something the House is willing to do,” he said in a written statement. “The House remains committed to finding a solution and working with our Senate colleagues, but the burden remains on the Senate to demonstrate that it is capable of passing something that keeps our promise.” Whatever that meant, a final vote on the skinny repeal took place in the wee hours of the night on Friday. In the end, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. voted no along with Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins RMaine. The bill died, and with it perhaps, finally, the quixotic vote to end Obamacare. And what was the excuse for the rest of the Senate? They all had the power to stop a bill many openly trashed as a joke and conceded would do great damage. Nevertheless, all hoped someone else would do the dirty
EDITORIAL
McCain points way to better process BL OOMBERG
"It is time to move on," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. With a one-vote margin provided by Sen. John McCain, an institutional warrior girding for his own battle against brain cancer, the Senate voted down the Republicans’ latest attempt to destroy the Affordable Care Act. The bill would have eliminated the individual mandate to buy health insurance and suspended, for eight years, enforcement of the employer mandate requiring companies with 50 or more workers to provide employees with coverage. The effect on insurance markets would have been devastating. The proposal
also would have eliminated funds for prevention and public health and made it easier for states to avoid federal requirements on insurance benefits. It took an obligatory swipe at Planned Parenthood, restricting Medicaid beneficiaries from being reimbursed for Planned Parenthood services for a year. What McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan must "move on" from, first and foremost, is a reflexive habit of misleading Americans about the complex realities and difficult trade-offs inherent in health-care policy. When they are ready to make an honest start, Republicans will find there are feasible ideas for solving the real prob-
lems with Obamacare. To start, Congress should permanently authorize the cost-sharing payments to insurers meant to keep deductibles low for needy families. It should find alternatives for people living in "bare counties" where all insurers have left the marketplace. And it should shore up the health-care marketplaces by either strengthening the individual mandate that penalizes the uninsured or through another mechanism, such as automatic enrollment. If nothing else, maybe this sorry episode has taught Congress how not to enact legislation. Neither the House, which passed its own ramshackle repeal bill in May, nor
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work of derailing it. I’m hard-pressed to think of another instance in which virtually all senators of one party declared their inability to make a critically important decision. It’s junk but send it to conference where someone else can make the tough calls. So why are they there? The ambitious GOP senators who hid from their responsibilities have no business being in the United States Senate, let alone seeking higher office. After seven years of protest and seven months of legislative paralysis, Republicans have not figured out what to do about Obamacare, but they cannot admit their failure and refuse to take their medicine in the form of the base’s wrath. It took three brave souls, one in the twilight of his career, to finally put their constituents and the country above partisan hackery.
DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
the Senate held a single public hearing on replacing the Affordable Care Act. Experts, patient advocacy groups and professional organizations, who were virtually unanimous in their opposition, were blithely ignored. The goal was clearly not to fix problems with the American health-care system or improve its outcomes, but to solve a political problem stemming from seven years of falsehoods about the law. In a statement after the vote, McCain emphasized that legitimate outcomes depend on a legitimate process. "We must now return to the correct way of legislating," he said. It’s a prescription Congress should heed.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, July 29, 2017 |
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Sports&Outdoors A6 | Saturday, July 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS
Deshaun Watson making steady improvement Texans’ rookie impressing early on in camp By John McClain HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Brett Coomer / Associated Press
Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson is coming off an impressive offseason and has looked good during the first three practices at The Greenbrier.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – After winning a national championship at Clemson last season, rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson is adjusting to his first Texans training camp. Watson, the firstround pick, is coming off an impressive offseason and has looked good during the first three practices at The Greenbrier. "I's a great environ-
ment," he said after practice Friday. "It's a thick playbook, of course. It's something new, something different, and I'm taking it one step at a time and trying not to overwhelm myself. "I just try to find a way – it doesn't have to be a lot – just one percent better in whatever I'm doing. That's my processing information, making a good decision, ball-handling, throwing, being more accurate. Just find a way to get better each day." Watson gets a lot of
advice from quarterbacks Tom Savage and Brandon Weeden as well as his teammates. "Guys like Tom and Brandon, they've been through this situation as a rookie," Watson said. "Coming from college to the NFL is totally different, especially as a quarterback. I'm trying to ask them questions - how they went through it and just trying to find ways to get through this process." Watson was asked about the "quarterback room" because they
spend so much time together. "It's amazing," he said, "It's good not just for me but for those guys, too. We've all pretty much grown to be best friends, and we're always hanging with each other. On the practice field, we're rooting for each other. We're always communicating and finding ways – even outside of football – we're always hanging out, talking about golf, cars, watches, different things outside of football. It's a great environment."
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS
Texans’ Savage-to-Hopkins connection already strong By John McClain H OUSTO N CHRONI CLE
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – Quarterback Tom Savage and receiver DeAndre Hopkins continue to connect like Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson during their heyday. Sure, it's just the first three days of training camp, but the Savage-to-
Hopkins connection has been impressive so far. "(Savage) led us down the field in a competitive situation, connected with Hopkins a few times (and) looked good," coach Bill O'Brien said. Hopkins, who's expected to get a contract extension before regular season begins, has caught everything in the neighborhood with his
flypaper hands. He's made great catches over the middle and on the sideline. In practice Friday, Hopkins got behind the secondary and caught two perfectly thrown touchdown passes from Hopkins. "Yeah, he's been good," O'Brien said. "He's a dynamic player. He can make great catch-
es. He's got incredible hands. He can jump. He knows our system. We can move him around a lot. He ran some really nice routes today. "I don't think people talk about his hands enough. This guy's got great hands. He's got good feet on the sideline. He's got a lot of good things going for him."
Brett Coomer / Associated Press
Houston quarterback Tom Savage has found receiver DeAndre Hopkins early and often during the first three days of training camp.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS
LONG ROAD TO RECOVERY NEARING END FOR COWBOYS’ JAYLON SMITH By Schuyler Dixon A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
OXNARD, Calif. — Jaylon Smith found himself being greeted by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones after the linebacker’s first day off at training camp, and following his first stretch of three consecutive practices in about a year and a half. Nobody has been more optimistic about Smith’s recovery from a devastating knee injury in his final college game than Jones, the general manager who drafted the Notre Dame standout in the second round even though the Cowboys were almost certain he wouldn’t play in 2016. Jones got another glimpse of the same Smith who stood out to coach Jason Garrett and the Dallas staff at the NFL combine 17 months earlier: smiling, upbeat, seemingly incapable of having a bad day in the face of an injury so severe there was no guarantee he would play again. Now Smith has been through his first padded practice with the Cowboys. He anticipates his first preseason game, which he hopes is no more than a couple of weeks away. And while there’s still plenty of caution, Smith just smiles and responds rhetorically with “What
do you think?” when asked if he’ll be ready for the season opener Sept. 10 against the New York Giants. “It’s all about patience,” said Smith, who figured to be a top-five pick before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and sustaining nerve damage in his left knee in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State on New Year’s Day 2016. “But with sitting out a year, I learned so much about myself as a man. Like I said, everything I do is with a clear-eye view. It’s a focused vision, a determined belief and earned dream. So it’s something that I live by and I walk with every single day.” The “vision ... belief ... dream” mantra turned up in Smith’s answer about every fifth question in frequent interviews through the first few days of camp. Everyone wants to talk to one of the more intriguing NFL players going into the season. And they want pictures and video of him going through drills. After practice, they want to know whether there’s apprehension about a foot brace that’s supposed to help him while the nerve continues to regenerate. Or what the next benchmark might be. Or when he started to believe he could make it all the way back.
Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press
Dallas outside linebacker Jaylon Smith was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NFL draft by the Cowboys, but didn’t play because of a knee injury.
“It’s what comes with the territory,” he said. “I understand that and I’m very welcome to it. I answer all the questions truthfully. There’s no hiding anything. It’s just a
constant work.” A year ago, most of what Smith did at training camp was rehab work behind the scenes. While it wasn’t any more complicated than rehab asso-
ciated with most ACL recoveries, it left him somewhat isolated. Most days he showed up on the field near the end of practice. Now Smith, an AllAmerican his final season as a junior with the Irish, is on the field from the start. He’s getting work in 11-on-11 drills, which first happened in offseason practices . He’s another one of the guys, which is all he ever wanted to be. “Sometimes those days can feel like dog years when you’re coming off an injury,” Garrett said. “He spent so much time on his rehab and worked very hard at it.” The Cowboys gambled on Smith near the top of the second round coming off a 4-12 season in 2015 because they were hearing others would be interested later in the round. “Sick” was a word used to describe Dallas’ sense if Smith hadn’t been around early in the third. If Smith becomes a significant piece in a defense seeking playmaking improvement, the draft class will go down as an all-timer for the Cowboys. Running back Ezekiel Elliott, the fourth overall pick, and quarterback Dak Prescott, a fourthrounder, formed a dynamic rookie duo that carried the Cowboys to the best record in the NFC. Sixth-round cornerback Anthony Brown
showed plenty of promise. “When you see him, you believe in him,” vice president of player personnel Will McClay said of Smith. “He’s got some of the ‘Dak factor’ in that people believe in him because of who he is and how he approaches his job and the things that he overcomes and his infectious spirit that he does it with.” Jones never wavered in his optimism, even suggesting during and after last season that he thought Smith could have helped the Cowboys late in 2016. They lost a divisional playoff at home against Green Bay. In his camp-opening remarks, Jones had a convoluted way of saying Smith was high enough on their draft board for the risk to be worth it. The owner has always had a hard time containing his enthusiasm for a player who was such an unknown. “The caveat is what we all wonder, can he play like he had the career playing at that particular time?” Jones said, referring to Smith’s Notre Dame years. “So that’s what we’re here to see. To me, he’s just like looking at a No. 1 draft pick out here coming out on the field for the first time.” Smith smiles for his owner the same way he does everyone else.
Zfrontera THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, July 29, 2017 |
RIBEREÑA EN BREVE REGRESO A CLASES 1 El distrito escolar Zapata County Independent District invita a los padres de familia a inscribir a sus hijos para el ciclo escolar 2017-2018 del 1 al 3 de agosto de 9 a.m. a 1 p.m. y de 2 p.m. a 4 p.m. Las inscripciones se realizarán en cada campus; evento de arranque del año escolar , el 10 de agosto y el primer día de clases se realizará el 28 de agosto.
NUEVO LAREDO, MÉXICO
LCC
Encuentran 9 cuerpos
Invitan a curso gratuito de seguridad en línea E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
FERIA DE SALUD COMUNITARIA 1 El Condado de Zapata junto con organismos y entidades públicas invita a la Primera Feria Anual de Salud Comunitaria, el 16 de agosto, de 5 p.m. a 7 p.m.; Club Boys & Girls, 302 6th Avenue. Habrá regalos para los primeros 500 niños. PRUEBA DE AGUA 1 Texas A&M Agrilife Extension invita al público a realizar pruebas de agua de manera gratuita. Pruebas permitirán encontrar salinidad, nitratos, arsénico y presencia de bacterias. Lleve sus muestras a la Oficina de la Extensión del Condado de Zapata en 200E. 7th avenue, suite 249, el martes 1 de agosto. Las pruebas se realizarán el miércoles 2 de agosto. Mayores informes en 956-765-9820. NOCHE MEXICANA 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita a la Noche Mexicana que se celebrará el 14 de septiembre de 7 p.m. a 11 p.m. Disfrute de bailes folclóricos y antojitos mexicanos en la Plaza Guadalupe de la Ciudad de Roma.
Foto de cortesía
Un recado escrito en una manta fue encontrado sobre los cuerpos de las víctimas en Nuevo Laredo, México.
Sicarios dejan recado encima de víctimas Por César G. Rodriguez y Taryn Walters TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
Autoridades mexicanas dijeron que descubrieron al menos nueve cuerpos el jueves en la mañana afuera de una residencia cerca de la Unidad Deportiva al este de Nuevo Laredo, México. Un cuerpo fue encontrado mutilado dentro de la casa, de acuerdo con reportes. Las autoridades dijeron que los cuerpos encontrados en la banqueta cerca de la intersección entre las calles Lincoln y Porfirio Díaz.
Una manta colocada encima de los cuerpos supuestamente dice “Esto no es un juego sobrino”, de acuerdo con una fotografía publicada en redes sociales. Un funcionario estatal dijo que los cuerpos encontrados afuera de una residencia eran de cinco mujeres y cuatro hombres. La casa donde fueron descubiertos los cuerpos es propiedad de una mujer relacionada a Pablo César “Takia” Álvarez, un comandante regional del Cartel del Noreste, una facción de la generación
más joven de los Zetas, de acuerdo con reportes de prensa. Se cree que los fallecidos eran parientes o miembros del Cártel del Noreste. Medios de comunicación en México han reportado que una facción de los Zetas, conocida como La Vieja Guardia, se ha adjudicado la masacre. En un mensaje que circulaba por redes sociales el miércoles, La Vieja Guardia amenazó al Cártel del Noreste. En el mensaje se lee, “Gente de Nuevo Laredo, díganles a sus hijos que
dejen de frecuentar los antros ya que de repente aventaremos granadas y quemaremos los antros y todo lo que sea financiamiento a los Norestitas (miembros del CDN)”. El mensaje también amenazaba a agencias aduanales en Nuevo Laredo. La advertencia está firmada por el Z-47 y el Z-33. Aunque la identidad del Z-47 es desconocida, registros judiciales presentados en el distrito del sur de Texas identificaron al Z-33 como Eduardo Mendoza Robles, de 50 años.
ESCARAMUZA CHARRA “LA RIBEREÑA”
CAMPEONATO NACIONAL
CAMINATA CONTRA CÁNCER 1 Walk All Over Cancer! en su cuarta caminata anual. Inscripciones en el Ayuntamiento llamando al 956-8491411 x 9241 o en el 956-844-1428. Caminata iniciará en Citizens State Bank o en el Centro Comuniario de Roma, el 21 de octubre. ANIVERSARIO DE CIUDAD DE ROMA 1 La ciudad de Roma invita al 250 aniversario de su fundación el sábado 14 de noviembre de 2015, de 8 a.m. a 11:30 p.m.
Foto de cortesía | Laredo Morning Times
La alcaldesa de Miguel Alemán, México, Rosa Isela Corro, quinta de izquierda a derecha en la primera fila, sostuvo audiencia con el grupo de niñas pertenecientes a la Escaramuza Charra “La Ribereña”, a fin de brindarles su apoyo en el próximo Campeonato Nacional en el que representarán a Tamaulipas.
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 Ciudad de Roma ofrece llenado de aplicaciones. Informes 956-2467177.
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COLUMNA
Padilla, pueblo de asombrosa historia Por Raúl Sinencio Chávez TIEMP O DE ZAPATA
El sol cae a plomo y deja sentirse. Ningún diluvio amenaza. Ni siquiera llovizna. Pero las aguas suben rápido de nivel. Cada vez más y más. Antes del ocaso, abarcan de extremo a extremo al pueblo, entonces desierto. Bastante real, nada ficticio, el fin de Padilla, Tamaulipas, resulta sin duda asombroso y único. Fundado por José de Escandón y Helguera, con escasos pobladores en 1749 surge Padilla a orillas del río Purifica-
ción. En 1821 reúne apenas 996 habitantes. Manuel Payno lo considera “pueblo tristísimo, ceniciento y melancólico”. Gabriel García Márquez prefiere llamarlo “pueblo polvoriento y ardiente de la provincia mexicana”. En 1824, aloja el primer constituyente tamaulipeco. Por esas fechas, en su plaza termina fusilado el ex monarca Agustín de Iturbide, cuya osamenta luego trasladan con gran pompa a la Catedral metropolitana, donde permanece. Ahí también en 1832 empuña su propia espada para arrancarse la vida Manuel de Mier y Terán,
otrora correligionario de José María Morelos. Descuella de nueva cuenta Padilla cuando el reelecto gobernador porfiriano Guadalupe Mainero en 1901 le coloca polémico monumento a Iturbide, desatándose tremendo escándalo nacional. Algo fuera de lo común marcaría los festejos patrios de 1970 en la villa.tiendas y demás construcciones del “pueblo polvoriento y ardiente”. Autoridades y vecinos arrancan puertas, rejas y ventanas, llevándolas consigo. Al traslado se incorporan papeles, enseres y diversos objetos. Por las prisas, tiran anti-
quísimos expedientes. Todo va río arriba de inmediato. Cerca y hacia el norte, sobre la ribera opuesta del Purificación los espera un centro urbano, levantado a la carrera. Lleva el nombre de Nuevo Padilla. La mudanza tiene por ende máxima prioridad. A la par, casi está lista gigantesca obra de infraestructura hidráulica, financiada con recursos federales. Le sirve de asiento la confluencia de los ríos Corona y Purificación, que bajan de la serranía. Inaugurada el lunes 27 de septiembre de 1971, la denominan “Presa Vicente Guerrero”.
Las personas con interés en la ciberseguridad y en las tecnologías de información tendrán una oportunidad de obtener el entrenamiento necesario para iniciar una carrera en la industria de la tecnología. Una nueva certificación en ciberseguridad será ofrecida en Laredo Community College (LCC por sus siglas en inglés) a través del Centro de Desarrollo Económico (LCCEDC por sus siglas en inglés), del colegio . El programa arrancó durante un anuncio formal el 19 de julio en el campus Fort McIntosh. Líderes de LCC y la comisión Texas Workforce Commission incluyendo al representante de Sindicatos de esta comisión Julián Álvarez III, estuvieron presentes para conocer más del curso y su beneficio al sector laboral. La certificación ahondará en varios temas incluyendo el uso de herramientas de detección de amenazas, realizar análisis de datos e interpretación de análisis del comportamiento para combatir malware y amenazas de ciberseguridad. El programa consiste de un curso intensivo de seis semanas programado para iniciar el 7 de agosto y que se llevará a cabo hasta el 15 de septiembre. Las clases se impartirán de lunes a viernes de 8 a.m. a 5 p.m. en el edificio De La Garza del campus Fort McIntosh. El entrenamiento, patrocinado a través de LCCEDC, se ofrecerá sin costo para los participantes. Los participantes deben ser mayores de 18 años de edad, con capacidad para trabajar en los Estados Unidos y tener antecedentes generales en tecnología de la información. Los estudiantes potenciales deben llenar una solicitud para entrar al programa. Aquellos que completen el curso pueden ser elegibles para recibir una certificación como analista de ciberseguridad CSA. Al adquirir esta certificación, los participantes estarán mejor equipados para ingresar a esta competida industria. “Con el alto volumen y sofisticación en aumento de las amenazas a computadores para negocios y organizaciones, esta certificación preparará a futuros expertos en ciberseguridad para trabajar en la comunidad. Además, los expertos en ciberseguridad ayudarán a los negocios y organizaciones a interpretar datos y a usarlos para ayudar a construir una estrategia de seguridad”, dijo Rodney H. Rodríguez, director ejecutivo de Desarrollo Económico y Asuntos Externos de LCC. Rodríguez agregó, “La mayoría de los negocios y organizaciones ahora están haciendo certificaciones CSA, un requisito en los empleos, aumentando la posibilidad de contratar al personal adecuado para las operaciones de ciberseguridad”. El curso es posible gracias a la asociación entre LCCEDC y CompTIA, una asociación sin fines de lucro de la industria de las tecnologías de la información. Informes al 956-765-1804.
A8 | Saturday, July 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
ENTERTAINMENT
‘The Emoji Movie’ has zero score on Rotten Tomatoes By Michael Cavna WA S H INGT ON P O ST
There is perhaps no single emoji to reflect just how savagely film critics are trashing “The Emoji Movie.” A succession of skulls and dumpster fires would only begin to suggest the intensity of the verbal carpet-bombing. Reviews began strafing the movie Thursday like drone strikes, one day ahead of the Sony flick’s big debut. And by early Friday, the only metric worse than the average reviewer score of “9” (on
a 100-point scale) on Metacritic.com was the deadflat “zero” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “Emoji” is being panned so badly that the cheeky review headlines might offer more punch lines than the movie. Amid all that snarky display type, Screen Crush is the early leader out of the gate with: “We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Poop Emoji.” The Wrap’s headline says of “Emoji’s” depths of dreckness: “There Are No Words.” Yet Screen Crush’s Matt Singer
Sony Pictures Animation / AP
This image shows Gene, voiced by T.J. Miller, center, in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation's "The Emoji Movie."
counters that claim by unleashing a volley of scathing words: “It would be fitting if there were no words to describe ‘The Emoji Movie’; if the ephemeral experience of consuming this unique entertainment could only be summarized in a couple of small pictures dashed off in a text message. But, no,
there are plenty of words that can describe ‘The Emoji Movie.’ Here are a few of them: Unfunny. Saccharine. Nonsensical. Painful. And, of course, crappy. (If you prefer the poop emoji, that works too.)” The verdict from the Wrap’s Alonso Duralde can be boiled down to one description: “soul-crush-
ing disaster” (if only that blurb would make the film’s national ad spots). But Duralde wants to be clear about his critical forensics: “ ‘The Emoji Movie’ is not a soul-crushing disaster simply because its dramatis personae are the range of emotive faces and symbols that live inside your cell phone. It
is a soul-crushing disaster because it lacks humor, wit, ideas, visual style, compelling performances, a point of view or any other distinguishing characteristic that would make it anything but a complete waste of your time, not to mention that of the diligent animators who brought this catastrophe into being.”
Sarah Silverman’s show asks US to give love a chance By Lynn Elber ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Francois Mori / AP
In this Feb. 24 file photo, actor George Clooney and Amal Clooney arrive at the 42nd Cesar Film Awards ceremony at Salle Pleyel in Paris.
George Clooney threatens prosecution over pics of baby twins A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
George Clooney says photographers who captured images of him and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, cradling their newborn twins will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” The pictures published by French magazine Voici were taken at the Clooneys’ residence in the Lombardy region of Italy. The magazine claims the
photos are the first to be made public of twins Ella and Alexander, who were born June 6. The actor says the photographers “scaled our fence, climbed our tree and illegally took pictures of our infants inside our home.” He adds that the photographers, the photo agency and the magazine will face prosecution because the safety of the couple’s children “demands it.”
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Sarah Silverman is out to show that Americans can bridge even their deepest differences and enjoy a laugh as well. Speaking to a TV critics’ meeting Thursday, Silverman said that’s the goal for her fall Hulu series, “I Love You, America.” Silverman said the show is intended to be the opposite of an echo chamber, instead allowing Silverman to connect with “un-like-minded people” across America. That’s regular people, not politicians, and no mockery will be involved, she said. The show is intended to be intelligent and moving but also silly, Silverman said. “Anything smart that’s in there will be served in a big, fat, bready sandwich of super, super dumb, because that’s how I like my comedy, and I don’t like to be told what to think,” she said. The edgy comic acknowledged she knows
Joe Scarnici / Getty Images
Executive producers, from left to right, Amy Zvi, Adam McKay, Sarah Silverman and Gavin Purcell speak onstage during Summer TCA at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Thursday in Beverly Hills, California.
what it’s like to be a target, sharing a few of the crude and insulting tweets she’s received. She’s reached out to some of her detractors and found common ground, Silverman said, including with a country singer in
Nashville. She said the singer, whom she didn’t identify, stays in touch and sends her his new cuts. “I Love You, America,” which Silverman is producing with, among others, Oscar-winning screenwriter Adam
McKay (“The Big Short”), is scheduled to debut Oct. 12. It will include studio and field pieces, a monologue and a regularly appearing focus group made up of people “from all walks of life,” Silverman said.
‘Manhunt: Unabomber’ takes smart look at history By Rick Bentley TR IB UN E NEWS SE RV ICE
Two of the most dominating images at the end of the 20th century were a police artist’s sketch of a hooded man wearing sunglasses who would be tagged the Unabomber by the FBI and the actual photo of the scruffy man captured for sending bombs to universities and airlines, Ted Kaczynski. They represented the focus of the massively expensive manhunt waged to find the man who mailed and planted bombs across the country from 1978 to 1995. That story serves as the basis for the Discovery Channel’s latest miniseries, "Manhunt: Unabomber" starring Sam Worthington and Paul Bettany. Through eight episodes, the tale is told of how a new FBI profiler with a knack for linguistics finally helped bring the man who terrorized the nation for 17 years to justice. Writer Andrew Sodroski doesn’t just regurgitate the news coverage and official reports but presents the story as if two intellectual prizefighters were facing off in the ring of public opinion. That approach makes the mini-series a captivating tale of obsession that eventually
Jason Elias / Discovery Channel
Ted Kaczynski (Paul Bettany), who holed up in a tiny cabin deep in the Montana woods to get away from society and make his bombs, finally is surrounded by law enforcement and taken into custody in 'Manhunt: Unabomber' on Discovery Channel.
leads to destruction. Jim Fitzgerald (Worthington) is a veteran beat cop who has worked his way up to become an FBI profiler. His first assignment is to join the huge FBI task force in San Francisco that has been struggling to catch the Unabomber. Fitzgerald offers radicle ideas including the introduction of linguistic
forensics that he contends can be used to identify a person simply by the way they use words. This approach is so alien to the task force members who have spent years chasing down miniscule leads that his efforts are rejected as just a lot of meaningless words. That changes when Ted
Kaczynski’s brother (Mark Duplass) and sister-in-law (Katja Herbers) see a similarity between the letters they would receive from Ted and the Unabomber’s manifesto published in the Washington Post. The series shows how at the same time Kaczynski’s using words to sell his views through the media, it is those same
words that will eventually be the biggest clues to his identity. Instead of making this a simplistic tale of good finally triumphing over evil, "Manhunt: Unabomber" takes a much deeper look at the similarities of the principle players in this intellectual battle of wills. Both feel like their ideas are not being accepted, they
are outcasts among their peers and an allpowerful need to make themselves heard comes at the price of all social ties and family commitments. Both men are broken in their own way. The real Fitzgerald served as an adviser on the project but he didn’t use his influence to paint himself as a pure hero. The FBI profiler doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions to family, friends and co-workers as long as he stays true to the only thing of importance in his life stopping the Unabomber. Comparisons and contrasts of the central players don’t have to wait until the final act because of the clever way the miniseries has been put together. There is a parallel story that looks at events after Kaczynski is caught where he has a series of meetings with Fitzgerald. Each scene is beautiful staged to show how a vicious battle can be fought through only acts of intellect. The scenes between Worthington and Bettany are some of the best and that makes the decision to mix the time periods a superb way to get to those moments earlier in the mini-series.
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, July 29, 2017 |
A9
BUSINESS
Iowa trucking firm faces Austin PD scrutiny after Texas deaths pulls Ford Explorers off patrol By Ryan J. Foley A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The trucking company linked to the recent deadly human smuggling case in Texas had promoted itself as an American success: a family firm whose hard-working drivers helped keep the U.S. economy running. But behind that image was a cutthroat business that flouted federal laws for years, yet managed to stay afloat despite financial troubles and tangles with prosecutors, regulators and tax collectors, according to public records and interviews with former drivers. Now, Pyle Transportation faces the biggest threat to its survival yet after one of its contract drivers was charged Monday in the deaths of 10 immigrants found in a sweltering Pyle trailer in San Antonio’s 100-degree heat. Investigators are scrutinizing Pyle’s claim that it knew nothing about an operation that federal authorities have described as sophisticated and possibly linked to a Mexican cartel. Federal regulators have launched an investigation into the company’s safety record. The driver, 60-year-old James “Bear” Bradley Jr., has told investigators that he was unaware any immigrants were in the trailer, saying he heard their pleas after stopping Sunday at a Walmart to urinate. Investigators say dozens of immigrants were packed into the dark trailer after being smuggled across the border. Company owner Brian Pyle has denied any knowledge of human smuggling, but declined to comment Monday on the company’s operations and did not return additional messages left Thursday seeking comment. On its website, which has since been taken down, Pyle Transportation advertised its fleet of high-end rigs and boasted of delivering refrigerated shipments of meat and produce on time to customers from its rural Iowa base. Playing upbeat music and flashing photos of smiling truckers, the site touted love of country, faith in God and the company’s slogan: “Keepin’ it Cool Since 1950.” Yet former drivers told The Associated Press
By Jim Vertuno ASSOCIATED PRE SS
Jared Strong / AP
In this July 24 photo, Brian Pyle, owner of Pyle Transportation Inc., the Iowa trucking company linked to the deadly case of immigrant smuggling in Texas, speaks to reporters in Schaller, Iowa.
that the company routinely pushed them to violate federal safety rules. They say they were pressured to drive too many hours without rest, to falsify their logs to conceal those violations and to transport overweight loads on unrealistic deadlines. They said they faced retaliation if they complained and that Pyle refused to pay wages they were owed when they quit. Two of Bradley’s former Pyle colleagues were stunned to learn about the deaths and struggling to understand what happened. “Knowing Bear, the pieces don’t fit,” said Paul Terry, 68, of Denver. “I believe Bear was set up. He is a country boy and he don’t know that much. No way in the world could he orchestrate something like that. I will say that on my kids’ grave.” Former driver Tim Moffitt said Thursday that he believed the company had to have some knowledge of the operation, calling it a good place to work only “if you don’t like rules.” “They are always looking for ways to save money and make money,” said Moffitt, who has known Bradley for 30 years. Brian Pyle told the AP on Monday that the company had sold the trailer and hired Bradley as a contractor to drive it to the border city of Brownsville, Texas, to deliver it to the buyer, whom he refused to identify. He showed a reporter what he said was a bill of
sale dated May 10 that had no price. Bradley told investigators he was unaware of the trailer’s contents, adding that he knew its refrigeration system didn’t work, according to the complaint against him. He described taking a looping route with stops in Laredo and San Antonio, several hours west of Brownsville. Pyle said Bradley was given an address and told to deliver the trailer last Friday, disputing Bradley’s claim to investigators that he had been given neither a location nor a time to make the delivery. The company’s relationship with Bradley was reflected on its nowdefunct website, where he was pictured smiling with Pyle in its “Hall of Fame” of workers. Pyle Transportation has long been an influential company in Schaller, a northwest Iowa town of 750 that doesn’t have a police officer. Residents say it was run by the late Don Pyle before facing troubles in the 1990s after it was passed to his son, Michael. The son and his Pyle Truck Lines pleaded guilty in 2001 to falsifying Department of Transportation records and were put on probation. Michael Pyle’s children took control of the business a few years later when Pyle Transportation formed, but he remained involved. Michael Pyle declined comment, hanging up on a reporter who called Thursday. The IRS alleged in 2015 that Pyle Transportation
refused to pay employment and highway use taxes for years, racking up $150,000 in liabilities. The company has also been ordered to pay penalties for falsifying records on drivers’ hours and has been operating with a “conditional” safety rating, meaning it had been out of compliance with regulations. Bradley went to work for the company in 2010 in response to an internet ad, and later recruited Terry and Moffitt to join him, they recalled. Terry said at first they made good money delivering pork from Iowa slaughterhouses to Texas and returning with loads of produce and steel. But Terry and Moffitt left after employment disputes. “They will run you to death and you have to falsify your logs to make it work,” said Terry, who according to court records has been unable to collect a $2,000 judgment for unpaid wages that he obtained after quitting in 2014. Cody Winters, 29, of Charles City, Iowa, said he would be stunned if Pyle was complicit in smuggling even if the company was “crooked’ in other ways. He sued the company to collect $3,300 in unpaid wages after he was fired and left stranded at a truck stop in 2015. “They appeal to drivers by keeping big Peterbilts to drive. But then you get there and it’s not good at all. It’s just a show,” he said. “I thought, ‘How is this place even staying in business?”’
AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Police Department on Friday pulled nearly 400 Ford Explorer SUVs from its patrol fleet over worries about exhaust fumes inside the vehicles. The move comes as U.S. auto safety regulators investigate complaints of exhaust fume problems in more than 1.3 million Explorers from the 2011 through 2017 model years. In Austin, more than 60 officers have reported health problems since February and more than 20 were found to have measurable carbon monoxide in their systems, city officials said Friday. “We need to remove these vehicles immediately,” interim City Manage Elaine Hart said “We need to keep (officers) safe as well as our community.” The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found more than 2,700 complaints of exhaust odors in the passenger compartment and fears of carbon monoxide in an investigation that it started a year ago. Among the complaints were three crashes and 41 injuries, mostly loss of consciousness, nausea and headaches. Many of the complaints came from police departments, which use the Police Interceptor version of the Explorer in patrol fleets. Police complaints included two crashes with injuries and one injury allegation due to carbon monoxide exposure. Ford spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt said the company is working with police, customers and NHTSA to investigate the reports and solve problems. “Safety is our top priority,” Weigandt said. The decision by Austin police left the city scrambling to find replacement cars for more than half of its patrol fleet. The Police Department said it will move equipment from the Explorers to about 200 Ford Taurus and Crown Victoria
models, many of which will be unmarked, and have them ready for patrol ready by Monday. Interim Police Chief Brian Manley said Austin will have just as many officers on patrol, but that they will ride in pairs. The city will closely track response time to emergency calls. “There will a concern there will be a spike in crime,” Manley said. “But for those criminals who think they can take advantage of the circumstances, remember we now have a whole fleet of unmarked vehicles on patrol.” The city installed carbon monoxide alarms after officers began reporting getting sick while in the vehicles, and parked 60 of them when the alarms activated. Of the 20 officers found to have elevated levels of carbon monoxide, three have not been able to return to work. The NHTSA has said nearly 800 people have complained to the government about fumes, while Ford has received more than 2,000 complaints and warranty claims. The agency says it has tested multiple vehicles at its Ohio research center, and made field inspections of police vehicles involved in crashes. As of Thursday, the agency had found no evidence or data to support claims that injuries or crash allegations were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. But the agency said it had early tests that suggest carbon monoxide levels may be higher in certain driving conditions, but the significance and effect of those levels remain under investigation. The NHTSA also said that the Police Interceptor version of the Explorer is experiencing exhaust manifold cracks that are hard to detect and may explain exhaust odors. Investigators will evaluate the cause, frequency and safety consequences of the cracks, and whether Explorers used by civilians are experiencing cracked manifolds, the agency said.
A10 | Saturday, July 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES
NATIONAL
States seek military transgender protections By Audrey Mcavoy A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS
HONOLULU — The top legal officers in 18 states and the District of Columbia have asked Congress to pass legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgender service members. Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin sent the letter dated Thursday in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement, via Twitter a day earlier, that he would ban transgender people in the military. The letter asks the
chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees to reaffirm in legislation that transgender people may not be banned from serving in the military. It urges lawmakers to include transgender protections in the National Defense Authorization Act. Eighteen other attorneys general, who like Chin are all Democrats, also signed the document. The president’s position would put in place a policy that “violates fundamental constitutional and American values,”
the attorneys general said. “The new ban harms our states’ transgender residents and marginalizes an entire group of people based solely on gender identity,” the letter said. On Thursday, Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. policy on transgender individuals serving in uniform hasn’t and won’t change until Defense Secretary Jim Mattis receives the president’s policy direction and Mattis determines how to implement it.
The Pentagon hasn’t released data on the number of transgender people currently serving, but a Rand Corp. study has estimated between 1,320 and 6,630, out of 1.3 million active-duty troops. Attorneys general from the following joined Hawaii in signing the letter: California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
Marco Garcia / AP
In this March 9 file photo, Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin speaks at a news conference in Honolulu.
No bail reduction in crash recorded on Instagram By Scott Smith A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS
LOS BANOS, Calif. — A teenage driver accused of causing a crash that killed her younger sister while livestreaming on Instagram will remain in jail after a California judge on Friday refused to lower bail. Obdulia Sanchez, wearing yellow jail garb, sobbed as she entered the Merced County courtroom, and a bailiff handed her tissues. Bail remains set at $560,000. Merced County Superior Court Judge David Moranda said it was on probation officers’ recommendations, and that Sanchez had a prior reckless driving case as a juvenile. Defense attorney Ramnik Samrao asked the judge to either lower the bail or allow his client to go free pending the case.
He said that she has lived in group homes and has no way of raising Sanchez that large sum. “That’s just absurd to believe that she would be able to do that,” Samrao said outside the courtroom. “I think this bail is excessive for her, and it should have been reduced.” Prosecutors say the video, which includes images of the 18-year-old bouncing to music while in the driver’s seat and taking her hands from the steering wheel, will be a key piece of evidence in the case. Sanchez has pleaded not guilty to six felony counts that include gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving resulting in injuries. She
After a gap in the livestreamed video, Sanchez is seen leaning over the girl’s body, saying she was sorry. She said she expected to spend the rest of her life in prison but doesn’t care.
could spend more than 13 years in state prison if convicted of all the charges. Authorities say the Stockton woman was driving one week ago when the car veered onto the shoulder of a road about 75 miles (121 kilometers) northwest of Fresno. She overcorrected, causing the vehicle to swerve and overturn into a field, ejecting and killing her 14-year-old sister, Jacqueline Sanchez, authorities say. Obdulia Sanchez also spit and hurled racial slurs at first responders
Missouri man accused of dropping TV onto woman A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man is accused of critically injuring a woman by purposely dropping an old television set onto her from a third-floor balcony. Jackson County prosecutors charged 36-yearold Otishus Kirkwood of Kansas City, Missouri, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Authorities say the victim, who was not identified, sustained life-threatening injuries. Investigators allege in court filings that officers on Thursday found the victim unconscious in
front of the apartment building, near a broken tube television set. Police say a witness reported that Kirkwood threw the large television from an apartment’s third-floor balcony, striking the victim on the head. The apartment’s
occupant said the victim and Kirkwood were homeless, and that he allowed them to occasionally sleep in his apartment. Online court records don’t show whether Kirkwood has an attorney.
on the scene, kicking a paramedic in the face, so they strapped her to a gurney, say police reports in her court file. An officer reported that she gave off a strong smell of alcohol and refused an alcohol screening, so officers obtained her medical records from the hospital where she was treated, showing she was legally drunk, the police reports say. Before entering the courtroom, Nicandro Sanchez said that he feels he has lost two daughters. “Now I don’t have my daughters — the
young one, and the other one I lost too because (she is) in jail,” the father said in English. He spoke briefly on his daughter’s behalf in court, saying through a Spanish interpreter that he had no hard feelings against her. “We’re asking that she be returned home or to the home where she was being taken care of,” he said. Samrao said that the video does not show his client calling for help immediately after the crash, refuting claims that she didn’t try to assist her dying sister. The attorney explained his client’s belligerent behavior toward first responders as her emotional reaction to being pulled away from her dead sister. After a gap in the livestreamed video, Sanchez is seen leaning over the girl’s body, saying she
was sorry. She said she expected to spend the rest of her life in prison but doesn’t care. “This is the last thing I wanted to happen, OK? ... Rest in peace, sweetie,” the teen says. “If you don’t survive, I’m so (expletive) sorry.” Samrao said the teen believes she killed her sister. However, the court hasn’t yet determined whether Sanchez committed any crimes, he said. Merced County Chief Deputy District Attorney Harold Nutt has called the behavior displayed on the video “disturbing and shocking.” He said the judge’s decision to retain the bail was appropriate. “I think she is a danger to society,” Nutt said in court. “She doesn’t have a stable home environment or a stable place to go to.”
THE ZAPATA TIMES | Saturday, July 29, 2017 |
A11
FROM THE COVER
Arkansas asks LGBT rights ordinance be blocked By Andrew DeMillo A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas asked a judge Friday to block enforcement of a city ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, months after the state’s highest court ruled the measure violated a law aimed at prohibiting local LGBT
protections. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and a group opposed to the Fayetteville antidiscrimination ordinance asked Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin to issue a preliminary injunction against the measure. The state Supreme Court in February reversed a ruling that the ordinance didn’t violate a state law pro-
hibiting cities from enacting protections not covered by state law. Arkansas’ civil rights law doesn’t cover sexual orientation or gender identity. Justices sent the case back to Martin’s court and said they couldn’t rule on the state law’s constitutionality since it wasn’t addressed in the lower court. Rutledge and Protect Fayetteville
said in the court filing that the fight over the law’s constitutionality could take months to resolve, so the local ordinance should be blocked in the meantime. “If a preliminary injunction is not issued, enforcement of Fayetteville Ordinance 5781 will prevent the state of Arkansas from fully implementing the purpose and goals of the Interstate
Ex-officer allegedly shocked man 12 times By Margery A. Beck A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
OMAHA, Neb. — An attorney for a former Omaha police officer charged with felony assault after the death of a mentally ill man questioned assertions by prosecutors Friday that the man was shocked a dozen times with a police stun gun. Defense attorney Steve Lefler, who is representing former officer Scotty Payne, said investigators came up with that number after an audit of the officer’s Taser showed it was activated 12 times during a June 5 altercation with Zachary Bear-
heels. But Lefler said it’s not clear whether the stun gun’s probes made sufficient contact with Bearheels to say the man was shocked that number of times. Lefler’s comments came after Payne appeared in a jailhouse courtroom for his first hearing on a seconddegree felony assault charge. He’d turned himself in hours earlier as arranged by officials and his defense team and was released after posting bail later in the day. Payne’s preliminary hearing was set for Sept. 11. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Payne and former officer Ryan McClarty were charged earlier this week in the altercation at an Omaha convenience store that preceded the death Bearheels, 29. Police cruiser video shows Payne using a stun gun on Bearheels and McClarty dragging Bearheels by his hair and repeatedly punching him in the face. McClarty has been ticketed for misdemeanor assault in the case. Two Omaha police unions have criticized the charges, saying Bearheels was combative when the officers tried to take him into custody. “I mean, what’s the
next step? You pull out your gun?” Lefler asked following Friday’s hearing. “Just because someone is mentally ill doesn’t mean that they’re not a risk to the public.” But prosecutors say the use of the stun gun was excessive, saying Bearheels had committed no crime and that Payne at one point held the trigger of the stun gun, shocking Bearheels for 18 seconds. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said earlier this week that he had decided against filing more serious charges because a coroner could not directly link the officers’ actions to Bearheels’ death.
RAPID CITY, S.D. — A mobile home fire that killed three people Friday in western South Dakota could be seen for miles and drew firefighters from a dozen agencies, officials said. Investigators recovered the bodies by midafternoon Friday, Rapid City fire officials said. Two of the bodies appear to be adults, but authorities don’t know their age, gender and relationship to each other. Investigators were trying to determine the age of the third victim. Two people were able to escape the home before firefighters arrived.
BODIES From page A1 2004 under the Gulf Cartel before moving up the ranks and becoming one of the leaders of the Zetas from 2005 until his arrest by Mexican authorities in 2012. Velásquez received a 30-year prison sentence last Friday in a local federal court for drugtrafficking and moneylaundering charges he pleaded guilty to in 2014.
REPLACED From page A1 of his advisers oppose that idea, arguing that Trump needs someone more in tune with the nationalist political movement that helped propel him to the White House. Priebus, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, lost his job just hours after the president’s signature drive to repeal his predecessor’s health care program collapsed on the Senate floor and a day after an ugly feud with the new communications director erupted in a public airing of the deep animosities plaguing the White House. The announcement capped a fraught 24 hours in which the president’s advisers waited for a change they had long anticipated. Priebus accompanied Trump on Air Force One for a day trip to Long Island as his
Chris Huber / AP
Emergency responders investigate the scene of a mobile home fire Friday in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The two had minor injuries. After talking to witnesses, law enforcement and firefighters began looking for three people who were unaccounted for. Firefighters say they
found the mobile home engulfed in flames when they arrived about 5 a.m. Firefighters made several attempts to enter the home and rescue those inside, but could not enter because of the
Macabre The macabre discovery also came a day after a threatening message circulated on social media. An old faction of the Zetas drug trafficking organization, known as La Vieja Guardia, threatened the Cartel del Noreste, or younger generation Zetas. The message, which continues circulating on social media, states, “People of Nuevo Laredo, tell your children to
stop frequenting the night clubs. All of the sudden, we will throw out grenades and burn down the clubs and everything that finances the Norestitas (CDN members).” The message also threatens forwarding agencies in the Sister City. It’s unclear if the threats are related to the bodies discovered Thursday. Z-47 and Z-33 signed the warning.
fate was being decided. Making for a tense flight, his rival, Anthony Scaramucci, the communications director who had publicly vowed to force Priebus’ resignation, was also on the plane and in the motorcade. In barely half a year on the job, Priebus never won the full confidence of the president nor was granted the authority to impose a working organizational structure on the West Wing. Priebus represented a more conventional breed of senior White House figure, chosen by the president despite a career defined by the calculations of traditional Republican Party politics, which Trump regards as part of “the swamp” he was elected to drain. As party chairman last year, Priebus was slow to embrace Trump’s candidacy — and the president, who sometimes called him “Reincey” in private, never let his chief of staff forget it.
EL PASO From page A1
Z-33
Reyes said the difference this year for people trying to cross the Rio Grande is more rainfall than usual that’s resulted in elevated water levels. Heavy rain that began Sunday had pushed the river water nearly 2 feet higher than normal and produced an undercurrent that moved about 25 mph. “We haven’t seen it this
ICE From page A1 “Drug cartels bring death and destruction across our Southern border and sell drugs that take lives all across America,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “Today’s conviction of two cartel members in the horrific murder of ICE agent Jaime Zapata
Fayetteville who have intervened in the case, said it would oppose the effort to block the ordinance. “Fayetteville’s ordinance has been in place for nearly two years. There is no need for an injunction against it and we will oppose their request,” ACLU of Arkansas Legal Director Holly Dickson said.
Institute wants to create transplant organs for vets MANCHESTER, N.H. — A bio-research and manufacturing institute that hopes to develop transplant tissues and organs for injured American soldiers and other patients has opened in New Hampshire. The Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, which opened Friday in Manchester, will be led by Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway, an all-terrain electric wheelchair and several other devices. The University of New Hampshire and the DartmouthHitchcock Medical Center will be part of the institute. Kamen, speaking after an opening ceremony, said he was optimistic the institute could develop artificial skin, bones and nerves and eventually organs that could be implanted into patients in the next few years. He said it would start with developing the technology allowing for the production of pieces of organs and “way down the road” producing livers, kidneys and lungs. He said one of the challenges is figuring out which organs would be easiest to reproduce. Kamen said the goal was to scale up the developments in regenerative medicine by forming this public-private partner-
ship, which brings together 26 universities and medical centers, 80 private companies and nearly $300 million in government and private-sector funding. “What we are saying is that there are all sorts of miracles that already exist in roller bottles and petri dishes at medical schools, labs,” Kamen said, comparing their effort to what Campbell’s Soup Co. has done with the production of soup. “We said let’s go out to the biggest, best companies that do automation, controls, sensors and that understand process, that understand high-level manufacturing, and let’s bring them to the same place as all the people who have the magic in their roller bottles.” The state’s Democratic congressional delegation and Republican Gov. Chris Sununu welcomed the project, saying it would bring good jobs to Manchester and give the state’s college graduates opportunities to work on cutting-edge biomedical research. “It is an exciting day for Manchester and New Hampshire, and, as Dean said, for our war fighters and the country,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen said, recalling a 2006 event she attended at Harvard University, where Kamen talked of one day being able to produce organs and replace a lost kidney.
Court records filed in the Southern District of Texas identified Z-33 as Eduardo Mendoza-Robles, 50. A 21-page indictment filed in a local federal court in 2012 lists Mendoza-Robles as one of eight defendants charged with various kidnapping, hostage-taking and firearms charges. Mendoza-Robles faces a sole count of conspiracy to export arms. The gun smuggling charges against Mendo-
za-Robles, who remains a fugitive in Mexico, stem from November 2010, when local law enforcement seized 40 weapons that were allegedly going to be smuggled to the Zetas. The San Antonio Express-News reported that it’s a case with ties to weapons traffickers who provided the Zetas drug cartel with a gun used in the killing of Jaime Zapata, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement special
agent who was ambushed and killed by the gang in February 2011 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. In early 2014, the Treasury Department announced Kingpin Act sanctions against Mendoza-Robles for the arms smuggling case. Mendoza-Robles is a member of the gang who smuggled “drugs, weapons and cash across the U.S.-Mexico border on behalf ” of the cartel, according to the Treasury Department.
bad in the last few years,” Reyes said. Border Patrol has distributed Spanish-language public service announcements to Mexican media warning of the dangers of crossing the border, he said. The announcements also are played in U.S. detention centers. Investigators believe the case involving the tractor-trailer found Sunday in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio may involve a larger organization involved in human
smuggling. Dozens of immigrants were pulled from the rig. Ten died, while others were treated for extreme dehydration and heatstroke. Heat is a hazard immigrants can face when crossing on foot as well. Federal officers regularly find the bodies of migrants, one or two at a time, who succumb to heat or exposure in the remote landscape of western or southern Texas. Many of the bodies go unclaimed, resulting in
their burial in unmarked graves in Texas cemeteries. Javier Prieto, a Border Patrol spokesman southeast of El Paso in the Big Bend sector, said those whose bodies have been found in isolation likely were not traveling alone. “If there’s a group and one or two are not feeling well or aren’t strong enough to make it across or they get hurt or become sick, usually they get left behind, unfortunately,” Prieto said.
in Mexico is the next step in the Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the cartels and bring them to justice.” Sessions said the prosecutions in the case bore witness to the “enormous resources devoted to this investigation” both by law enforcement agents in the United States and in Mexico. Phillips’ statement
said prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Garcia Sota and Quezada Pina were members of two Los Zetas hit squads and were on a mission the day of Zapata’s killing to steal vehicles for the cartel’s operations. It said they were among a group of cartel members who targeted an armored Chevrolet Suburban bearing diplomatic plates and driven by the special
agents on a busy highway south of the city of San Luis Potosi. Cartel members fired at the agents’ vehicle with semi-automatic assault weapons, including assault rifles, as well as handguns. Zapata, 32, was fatally shot and Avila, then 38, was wounded. According to trial evidence, investigators later found about 90 shell casings at the scene.
3 die in mobile home fire in South Dakota A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS
Commerce Improvement Act,” the filing said. “Prevention of the state’s policy of statewide uniformity in antidiscrimination law constitutes irreparable harm.” Attorneys for Fayetteville did not immediately return messages seeking comment late Friday afternoon. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, which represents LGBT residents in
“heavy fire conditions,” authorities said in a statement. The mobile home was destroyed. Firefighters had to move slowly as they searched the home because of concerns about the stability of the structure, Rapid City Fire Lt. Jim Bussell said. The fire damaged a second home at the B & J Mobile Home Park in Rapid City and ignited a small grass fire. Officers were able to quickly evacuate the second mobile home. Crews reported seeing flames visible from several miles away as they responded to the blaze. The cause remains under investigation.
By Michael Casey ASSOCIATED PRE SS
A12 | Saturday, July 29, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES