The Zapata Times 9/20/2017

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3 members of Congress arrested

Senate GOP approves $1.5T plan on tax cuts

Charged with disorderly conduct A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — Three Democratic members of Congress have been arrested on disorderly conduct charges at a protest outside Trump Tower. U.S. Reps. Raul Grijalva, of Arizona; Luis Gutierrez, of Illinois; and Adriano Espaillat, of New York, were among a small group of demonstrators who sat down in the street on New York’s Fifth Avenue on Tuesday and refused to move. The lawmakers were handcuffed and led away. Police say they were issued desk appearance tickets and released. The protesters were demanding that Congress pass legislation protecting thousands of young immigrants from deporArrested continues on A10

Proposal aimed to increase economic growth By Andrew Taylor ASSOCIATED PRE SS

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are zeroing in on a tax outline that would add about $1.5 trillion to the government’s $20 trillion debt over 10 years, justifying the spurt of red ink with promises of surging economic growth and a burst of new revenues. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, a member of the chamber’s dwindling band of deficit hawks, and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., one of the chamber’s more ardent

believers that tax cuts can pay for themselves, said they sealed an agreement on Tuesday. The $1.5 trillion figure, confirmed by congressional officials familiar with the agreement, would allow deeper cuts to tax rates than would be allowed if Republicans followed through on earlier promises that their upcoming tax overhaul wouldn’t add to the deficit. It’s likely to be announced on Wednesday. The agreement would represent an about-face for Capitol Washington continues on A10

Doug Mills / NYT

President Donald Trump, center, speaks during a bipartisan meeting with lawmakers regarding tax policy, at the White House in Washington on Sept. 13.

NATURAL DISASTER

EARTHQUAKE RATTLES MEXICO

ARIZONA SUPREME COURT

Gays granted equal parental rights By Bob Christie ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Rebecca Blackwell / AP

Enric Marti / AP

People search for survivors in a collapsed building in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City on Tuesday.

An injured man is pulled out of a building that collapsed during an earthquake in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City.

At least 119 people killed throughout the country By Mark Stevenson, Christopher Sherman and Peter Orsi A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

MEXICO CITY — A magnitude 7.1 earthquake stunned central Mexico on Tuesday, killing at least 119 people as buildings collapsed in plumes of dust. Thousands fled into the streets in panic, and many stayed to help rescue those trapped. Dozens of buildings tumbled

into mounds of rubble or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone. The quake is the deadliest in Mexico since a 1985 quake on the same date killed thousands. It came less than two weeks after another powerful quake left 90 dead in the country’s south. Mancera said at least 30 had died in Mexico City, and officials

in Morelos, just to the south, said 54 had died there. At least 26 others died in Puebla state, according to state disaster prevention chief Carlos Valdes. Gov. Alfredo del Mazo said at least nine had died in the State of Mexico, which also borders the capital. Mancera said 50 to 60 people were rescued alive by citizens and emergency workers. At one site, reporters saw onlookers cheer as a woman

was pulled from the rubble. Rescuers immediately called for silence so that they could listen for others who might be trapped. Mariana Morales, a 26-yearold nutritionist, 26, was one many who spontaneously participated in rescue efforts. She wore a paper face mask and her hands were still dusty from having joined a rescue brigade to clear rubble from a building that fell in a cloud of Mexico continues on A10

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a lesbian woman who is divorcing her spouse is entitled to equal parental rights under the U.S. Constitution, even though a state law doesn’t recognize those rights. The ruling from the state’s highest court said U.S. Supreme Court precedent requires same-sex couples be afforded the same rights as straight couples. It goes much further, suggesting that a host of Arizona laws and rules need to be rewritten to avoid case-by-case litigation. The ruling involves a case stemming from artificial insemination. Arizona law assumes the man in a marriage is the father of any child born within 10 months of a marriage. But it doesn’t establish any rights in artificial insemination cases for the non-biological Arizona continues on A10


Zin brief A2 | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE WORLD

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 20

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

First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon.

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 20, the 263rd day of 2017. There are 102 days left in the year.

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

Today's Highlight in History: On September 20, 1967, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.

Webb County Domestic Violence Coalition monthly luncheon. Noon.

Laredo Medical Center’s Tower B, Conference Room, 1st floor. The monthly luncheon is open to those interested in learning more about resources available to help victims and their children who find themselves in dangerous situations. For more information, contact Sister Rosemary Welsh at 718-6810.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 21 Laredo Chapter of the Celiac Disease Foundation monthly meeting.

7:15 – 8:15 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1st floor, Tower B, Rm. #2 in the Community Center. The support group is intended to provide a warm and caring environment where people with Celiac Disease, their family members, caregivers and loved ones can share their experiences, methods of coping, recipes, product reviews, and insights into living with chronic illness. The support group also offers current and accurate information about Celiac Disease and gluten-related disorders, and appropriate community resource information. For more information, call the Celiac Disease Foundation at 818-716-1513 or email laredo@celiac.org.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 23 Joe A. Guerra Public Library and Villa Agustin de Laredo Genealogical Society sponsor speaker Renee

Laperriere; The Gutierrez Family of Ocampo, Tamaulipas. 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Multipurpose room, Joe A Guerra Public Library off Calton. Open to the public. For more info, call Sylvia Reash at 763-1810. Monte Mucho Audubon Society Open House. 2-4 p.m. Laredo Pub-

lic Library, 1st floor multipurpose room. Learn about our local colorful birds, how to set up feeding stations, and using binoculars. Free event; public is invited. Target audience: adults.

Cedrick Isham Calvados / AFP/Getty Images

An uprooted tree covers a small house in a village near Pointe-a-Pitre on Tuesday in the French territory of Guadeloupe after the passage of Hurricane Maria.

HURRICANE MARIA SMASHES DOMINICA ROSEAU, Dominica — Hurricane Maria smashed into the Caribbean island of Dominica with 160 mph winds, ripping the roof off even the prime minister’s residence and causing what he called “mindboggling” devastation Tuesday as it plunged into a Caribbean region already ravaged by Hurricane Irma. The storm was on a track to wallop Puerto Rico on Wednesday “with a force and violence that we haven’t seen for several generations,” the territory’s governor said.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit sent a series of dramatic posts on his Facebook page as the storm blew over the tiny country Monday night — but then stopped suddenly as phone and internet connections with the country seemed to drop. “So far the winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with,” Skerrit wrote. “The roof to my own official residence was among the first to go.” — Compiled from AP reports

SUNDAY, SEPT. 24 United Methodist Men Spaghetti Luncheon. Noon-1:30 p.m. 1220

McClelland Ave. All you can eat spaghetti, bread, salad, drink, and dessert. Public is invited. Free will donations accepted. Proceeds are used to support the church’s mission projects.

MONDAY, SEPT. 25 Laredo Parkinson's Disease Support Group monthly meeting. 6:30

p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1st floor, Tower B in the Community Center. Meetings are held the last Monday of each month at the same time. The meeting is open to anyone with Parkinson's Disease, a friend or family member of a PD patient, and primary care givers of patients with PD who are interested in learning more about the disease. Pamphlets with more information in both English and Spanish are available at all support group meetings. For more information, call Richard Renner at 645-8649 or 237-0666.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon.

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

THURSDAY, SEPT. 28 Spanish Book Club. 6 - 8 p.m. Joe A

Guerra Public Library off Calton Road. For more info, call Sylvia Reash a 763-1810.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 30 Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Texas

A&M International University. Onsite registration begins at 7:30 a.m. in the walkway between the Student Center and the TAMIU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. The walk begins at 9:30 a.m. after a brief opening ceremony at 9 a.m. Those who wish to register online and establish a fundraising team with family, friends, or co-workers can go to alz.org/walk and follow prompts to the Laredo walk.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 4 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon.

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

SATURDAY, OCT. 7 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

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

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 10 a.m. - noon.

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

Brazil’s police confirms death of British kayaker in Amazon SAO PAULO — Brazilian police said Tuesday that a 43-year-old British woman who went missing while kayaking in the Amazon was murdered and three people were in custody. The head of the Amazonas state police homicide division told The Associated Press that

Emma Tamsin Kelty was killed after being robbed. He said three suspects, including a teenager, were in custody. Ivo Martins said Kelty’s body was yet to be found, but that the teenager confessed to taking part in the slaying and said he was with six others at the time. Martins said the teen said the woman was shot and thrown in the Solimoes River. Martins said authorities were working to identify other suspects. Kelty was kayaking in the northern jungle state when she

disappeared. Brazil’s navy said in a statement issued Saturday that Kelty was between the Brazilian cities of Codajas and Coari when she activated an emergency beacon on Sept. 13. The navy also said her kayak and some personal belongings had been recovered. Kelty’s website and social media channels say she was born in London. According to social media posts, she was traveling along the Solimoes River en route to the Atlantic Ocean. — Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE NATION

Steven Senne / AP

Glenn Chin departs federal court after attending the first day of his trial on Tuesday in Boston.

door as quickly as possible. Chin also failed to properly sterilize the drugs, shipped products before they were tested and ignored findings of mold and bacteria in the clean rooms, Varghese said. “Glenn Chin knew better,” Varghese said during his opening statement. “He knew with

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush declined to criticize Blackwater USA, a security company in Iraq accused in a shooting that resulted in civilian deaths, saying investigators needed to determine whether the guards violated rules governing their operations. Five years ago: On a day when thousands of angry Pakistanis tried to make their way to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, the embassy aired an ad on Pakistani TV showing President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denouncing an anti-Islamic video produced in the United States. One year ago: In their final speeches at the annual gathering of world leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon railed against leaders who kept "feeding the war machine" in Syria, while U.S. President Barack Obama said there was no military solution to the five-year conflict.

Lawyers trade jabs as meningitis outbreak murder trial opens BOSTON — An attorney for a Massachusetts pharmacist charged in a deadly meningitis outbreak urged jurors Tuesday not to be swayed by their emotions while prosecutors argued the man’s actions demonstrated a “shocking disregard” for human life. Glenn Chin, the supervisory pharmacist at the now-closed New England Compounding Center, is on trial for seconddegree murder and mail fraud under federal racketeering law for his role in the 2012 outbreak caused by tainted steroid injections that killed 76 people and sickened hundreds of others. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese told jurors Chin instructed staff to use expired ingredients, falsify documents and neglect cleaning to get the products out the

On this date: In 1870, Italian troops took control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy. In 1884, the National Equal Rights Party was formed during a convention of suffragists in San Francisco; the convention nominated Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood for president. In 1911, the British liner RMS Olympic collided with the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off the Isle of Wight; although seriously damaged, the Olympic was able to return to Southampton under its own power. In 1947, former New York City Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia died at age 64. In 1957, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, 91, died. The police drama "M Squad," starring Lee Marvin, premiered on NBC-TV. In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. was seriously wounded during a book signing at a New York City department store when he was stabbed in the chest by Izola Curry. (Curry was later found mentally incompetent; she died at a Queens, New York, nursing home in 2015 at age 98.) In 1962, James Meredith, a black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Democratic Gov. Ross R. Barnett. (Meredith was later admitted.) In 1984, a suicide car bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy annex in north Beirut, killing at least 14 people, including two Americans and 12 Lebanese. The family sitcoms "The Cosby Show" and "Who's the Boss?" premiered on NBC and ABC, respectively. In 1999, Lawrence Russell Brewer became the second white supremacist to be convicted in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas. (Brewer was executed on September 21, 2011.) Raisa Gorbachev, wife of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, died at a German hospital after a battle with leukemia; she was 67. In 2000, Independent Counsel Robert Ray announced the end of the Whitewater investigation, saying there was insufficient evidence to warrant charges against President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton. Former Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov died at age 65.

what he was doing there was a reasonable likelihood that people were going to die, and he did it anyways.” Chin took notes and sometimes shook his head while Varghese spoke to the panel of 11 women and four men who will hear the case. — Compiled from AP reports

Today's Birthdays: Actress Sophia Loren is 83. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Taylor is 82. Rock musician Chuck Panozzo is 69. Actor Tony Denison is 68. Hockey Hall of Famer Guy LaFleur is 66. Actress Debbi Morgan is 66. Jazz musician Peter White is 63. Actress Betsy Brantley is 62. Actor Gary Cole is 61. TV news correspondent Deborah Roberts is 57. Country-rock musician Joseph Shreve (Flynnville Train) is 56. Rock musician Randy Bradbury (Pennywise) is 53. Actress Kristen Johnston is 50. Rock singers Gunnar and Matthew Nelson are 50. Rock musician Ben Shepherd is 49. Actress Enuka Okuma is 45. Actress-model Moon Bloodgood is 42. Actor Jon Bernthal is 41. Singer The Dream is 40. Actor Charlie Weber is 39. Rock musician Rick Woolstenhulme (Lifehouse) is 38. Actress Crystle Stewart is 36. Rapper Yung Joc is 35. Actor Aldis Hodge is 31. Actor Malachi Kirby is 28. Thought for Today: "History must stay open, it is all humanity." — William Carlos Williams, American author and poet (1883-1963).

CONTACT US AROUND TEXAS Joaquin Castro again says he’s not planning gubernatorial run AUSTIN — U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro is repeating that he has no plans to run for Texas governor despite the state’s Democratic Party chairman insisting last week that the

congressman’s still considering it. Castro, a San Antonio Democrat, said Tuesday at the state Capitol, “My plan is to run for re-election.” But he also called Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa a “great friend” and simply laughed when asked if would definitively rule out a gubernatorial run. Asked who might be encouraging him to run, Castro didn’t

answer. The Democrats haven’t won statewide office in Texas since 1994 and don’t yet have a viable candidate to challenge wellfunded Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Asked if believes he is his party’s only option against Abbott, Castro said “absolutely not” but offered no alternatives. — Compiled from AP reports

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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 |

A3

STATE Texas’ GOP speaker calls for removal of Confederate marker A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

AUSTIN — A powerful Texas Republican is calling for the removal of a Confederate marker in the state Capitol that rejects slavery as an underlying cause of the Civil War. Republican House Speaker Joe Straus said Tuesday in a letter to

state officials that the plaque is “blatantly inaccurate.” He says Texans aren’t “well-served by incorrect information about our history.” The plaque titled “Children of the Confederacy Creed” was installed in 1959. It’s one of nearly a dozen Confederate monuments and markers around the Tex-

Jay Janner / AP

This Aug. 17 photo shows the Children of the Confederacy Creed plaque at the Capitol in Austin, Texas.

as Capitol. Straus becomes the most prominent Texas Republican to call for removing a Confederate marker. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has said

doing so won’t erase the past. Last week in Dallas, a Robert E. Lee statute was removed at a park named for the Confederate general.

Dallas ISD considers renaming schools

Guiseppe Barranco / AP

Smoke and fire rise from a heavy oil tank at Valero's Port Arthur, Texas facility Tuesday. No injuries were reported in the incident. Area residents were asked to shelter in place by city officials.

Crews respond to fire at Port Arthur refinery ASSOCIATED PRE SS

A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DALLAS — A Dallas school district is narrowing its focus as it looks to rename some schools bearing the names of Confederate figures. The Dallas Independent School District initially planned to research more than 20 historical figures to see if their ties to the Confederacy or slavery should prompt a school name change. That list

included names like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, The Dallas Morning News reported . District leaders now say they’re focusing only on schools named after Confederate generals. A vote is expected later this month on four elementary schools named after Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Albert Sidney Johnston and William Cabell. Chief of School Leader-

ship Stephanie Elizalde said the district wants to quickly take action on names with a more significant negative meaning. “If it was named for the single purpose of promoting white supremacy, then it should be changed,” Elizalde said. The district is trying to respond to violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally last month in Charlottesville, Virginia, said Board President

Dan Micciche. The board will collaborate with staff and parent groups to come up with new names for schools under review. Micciche said he hopes the name change will be completed by the end of the year. Changing the name of the four schools could cost between $25,000 and $100,000 per school, depending on the type of marquee at the facility, Elizalde said.

PORT ARTHUR — A fire at a refinery in the Southeast Texas city of Port Arthur sent black plumes of smoke into the air and caused officials to tell people nearby to shelter in place. Valero Energy Corp. spokeswoman Lillian Riojas told The Associated Press in an email that the fire started at 11:50 a.m. Tuesday in a heavy oil tank. She says Valero emergency crews re-

sponded and the Port Arthur Fire Department assisted. She said the company also contacted local authorities and is cooperating with public agencies. The city said that the shelter-in-place, which included some schools, was lifted by about 2:30 p.m. Riojas said the shelter-in-place was done as a precautionary measure. Riojas said there were no reported injuries and all employees were accounted for.


Zopinion

Letters to the editor Send your signed letter to editorial@lmtonline.com

A4 | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COMMENTARY

OTHER VIEWS

Trump has had a pretty good eight months By Hugh Hewitt WA S H INGT ON P O ST

Eight months of President Donald Trump is one-sixth of his term. By analogy, he is standing on the fourth tee of his first round. His score is one over, largely because of penalty strokes for the flubbed response to Charlottesville, Virginia, and some out-of-bounds tweets (offset in part by superb federal responses thus far to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma). What have he and his team accomplished? Any golfer knows it’s far too early to guess at the final score, but we can identify the actions and words that will define the first eight months and endure as notable. The president has delivered three significant speeches: his “American carnage” inaugural address, his speech to the assembled leaders of Sunni countries wherein he demanded that they demand of their religious authorities the preaching of a message that the terrorists would find their souls eternally damned, and his “West is best” speech in Poland. All were significant for the bluntness of messages that resonated with large parts of America that believe the president said things that needed saying, and which President Barack Obama refused to say at all and President George W. Bush said only in diluted form. He has appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, thereby guaranteeing at least for a time the continuation and perhaps strengthening of “structural federalism,” the robust defense of the First Amendment, and a generally hands-off policy on election law and redistricting. The balance is delicate, and if Justice Anthony Kennedy retires next year and is replaced by another Gorsuch, it will likely be preserved for a decade or more. If more than one vacancy occurs and the president keeps to his word (and his record on judicial nominations - his appointments to the circuit courts have been slow in coming but steady in their originalism), Trump’s most enduring legacy will be his mark on the courts. These nominations, by the way, are the real dealbreaker with conservatives, not the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Obamacare repeal or anything else. Many things are important to them, but the Constitution is No. 1 and national security No. 2. Breaking faith with the president’s GOP coalition partners on the courts would shatter conservative support for the

Trump administration. There is no sign that the president does not grasp this fundamental truth. Media reports of poisonous relations between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., seem almost absurdly comic in their hyperbole, as do predictions of doom from the base because of a “deal” on DACA. The Trump-congressional GOP coalition government gets along well enough. On national security, Trump has assembled a team of exceptional competence, and the Trump coalition is happy with most of what that team has done, from the cruise missiles into Syria to the explicit embrace of Israel as one of our closest allies. That said, the budget increase for defense is good but not great, and Trump has failed to provide a plan to reach a 350-shipNavy, which could haunt him in 2020 if a Democrat flogs him for this failure. His regulatory rollbacks are proceeding. He and the GOP-led Congress used the Congressional Review Act to rescind 14 Obama-era rules. Key figures including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and many others are pursuing ambitious and much-needed rollback agendas. (Disclosure: My son works at the EPA.) The progress on regulatory reform here is huge and enduring, and the media doesn’t appreciate how much it is welcomed across the country. Oh, and Congress provided the president with plenty of money for repairs of border barriers, more than enough for border-security enthusiasts. A deal on DACA that mandates the use of EVerify and ends chain migration in favor of admission based on skills preferences will be another accomplishment, as will be any sort of tax cut to the corporate rate. Hand-wringing by hardliners on immigration is just media-fueled amplification of the extreme edge of the GOP. All in all, a pretty good eight months. Not perfect by any means, but a bag of big wins and mostly progress on many fronts. We await special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusions, but as long as no indictments include the president or his family (and so far that looks to be the case), it will not trouble the president or his base. Keep the conservative judges coming, and the Trump coalition will hold. Get to 350 ships, and it will prosper.

LETTERS POLICY Laredo Morning Times does not publish anonymous letters. To be published, letters must include the writer's first and last names as well as a phone number to verify identity. The phone number IS NOT published; it is used solely to verify identity and to clarify content, if necessary. Identity of the letter writer must be verified before publication. We want to assure our readers that a letter is written by the person who signs the

letter. Laredo Morning Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. This space allows for public debate of the issues of the day. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No name-calling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Also, letters longer than 500 words will not be accepted. Via email, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.

COMMENTARY

GOP takes 3 big gambles with health care By Jennifer Rubin WASHINGTON P O ST

The Washington Post reports on the latest health-care effort from Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis.: “The latest proposal would give states control over billions in federal health-care spending, repeal the law’s key mandates and enact deep cuts to Medicaid, the federally funded insurance program for the poor, elderly and disabled. It would slash health-care spending more deeply and would probably cover fewer people than the July bill - which failed because of concerns over those details.” The bill also leaves open the possibility that states may radically cut back on the type of coverage offered and what has been a nearly iron-clad protection that those with

preexisting conditions cannot be denied coverage or priced out of the market. In other words, one major risk for Republicans is that this bill passes, and Republicans are held accountable for a severe disruption to the health-care system that results in less coverage for those who need it the most. Louisiana’s health department secretary, Rebekah Gee, already wrote a letter lambasting Cassidy, pointing out that 433,000 people in his state will lose Medicaid. She blasted him for his plan’s inclusion of per-capita caps on Medicaid that would cut services or the numbers who may be covered (or both). She calculated the bill would cost her state $3.2 billion through 2026, making it the eighth-biggest loser among states and “by far the poorest and sickest” state to get hit. A second risk is that

the Republicans get themselves all ginned up again, only to find they lack the votes to pass the newest health-care scheme. They will be ridiculed, embarrassed and divided all over again, giving fuel to Stephen Bannon and his primary challengers and reigniting Trump’s fury at Republicans. It would also serve to remind Democrats that to prevent Republicans from trying again and again to repeal Obamacare, they must turn out in 2018 to win back the majority in at least one house. There is a third, more interesting risk. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., posited that if Congress gives “a big chunk of money to California they’re going to go set up a single-payer system run by the state and then come back and say, ‘We don’t have enough money, we need more.’” That is not altogether fanciful. Sen. Bernie

Sanders, I-Vt., has rolled out his single-payer idea. If Obamacare is dismantled and money simply handed over to the states, every blue-state governor will come under pressure to try a single-payer system. The “laboratories of democracy” will be put to work test running the one health-care system Republicans dislike more than any other: singlepayer. If a substantial number of states try this out, it may be virtually impossible for other states to resist. If, say, New York, New Jersey, California and some New England states all go to single-payer health-care coverage, private insurers might not survive to offer coverage in other states. Imagine the egg on the faces of conservatives if they manage to spur creation of single-payer health care in the United States. After all, Trump did promise he’d cover “everybody,” didn’t he?

COMMENTARY

Trump at the UN General Assembly was reassuring By Ed Rogers WASHINGTON P O ST

So far, President Donald Trump’s approach during his first visit to the United Nations General Assembly has shown an unusual grasp of realism and relatively remarkable restraint. It comes as a surprise given Trump’s nationalist rhetoric and generally hostile disposition toward the U.N. But there he was, at the General Assembly Hall lectern, saying, “We must uphold respect for law, borders and culture and the peaceful engagement these allow and just as founders of this body intended we must work together and confront together those who threaten us with chaos, turmoil and terror.” A week after working to forge agreements with Democratic leaders New York Sen. Charles Schumer and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Trump is making nice with the U.N. But his core supporters (I think “base” is an overused

word) probably have an easier time with him dealing with Pelosi and Schumer than him suddenly seeing the usefulness of the U.N. Anyway, there is talk today about Trump wanting to keep “dreamers” at home in America, maybe sticking with the Paris climate accord, and now this - a salute to the U.N. So, what is a Bannonite to do? Is Stephen Bannon’s departure having that big of an effect? Or maybe Trump is learning something about the presidency. I will not say he is changing or pivoting because I’ve been wrong so many times before about Trump. But maybe it is possible that the president is coming to understand one of the great truths in Washington; specifically, everything easy to do has been done. Trump’s campaign consisted of shallow promises and pithy tweets. He didn’t know much about our nation’s problems or the world’s

complexities. He was encouraged by the likes of Bannon, who likewise had no practical experience in government or diplomacy. Trump was confident when he promised “repeal and replace,” a wall, tax reform and endless winning of whatever there was to win. Well, Bannon is gone, and the president’s dominant adviser is retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly. I don’t think you can get a more “reality based” leader and manager than a Marine general who has commanded troops in combat. And remember, Kelly joined an already in place core of adults at the State Department, Defense Department, National Security Council, Office of Management and Budget and most of the rest of the Cabinet. The last administration office to fall to adult supervision was the White House itself. Which brings us back to Trump at the U.N. Trump’s tone was serious Tuesday. And U.S. Ambassador to the Unit-

ed Nations Nikki Haley has turned out to be a sure-footed star with confidence and a grasp of the issues that has been critical to the administration’s image at the U.N. and around the world. Trump may not ever pivot from or really change his M.O., but it is possible that he sees the futility in saying things that he knows aren’t true and pledging to do things that won’t happen. Those around him certainly won’t enable this behavior or feel as though they should feed his worst instincts to get face time and career enhancement. I am not ready to declare that Trump’s presence at the 2017 U.N. General Assembly was a pivotal event, but it was reassuring. Call me Charlie Brown holding the football - I’m still hopeful. I’m hopeful that at some level, Trump gets it. At some level, he knows he’s over his head, he knows that this is serious business and he knows that it takes more than bluster to be effective.


THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 |

A5

CRIME

Murder suspect says Live video leads police victim struck head in fall

to suspect in killing By Michael Balsamo A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

LOS ANGELES — A teenager suspected of a killing who was named one of Texas’ 10 Most Wanted fugitives was caught in Los Angeles on Tuesday after posting a live video on social media, police said. Christopher Ricardo Gonzalez, 18, was wanted by Dallas police on suspicion of murder, aggravated robbery and engaging in organized crime. He was arrested by Los Angeles officers after Dallas detectives found him when he “posted his location on Instagram Live,”

police in Texas said in a news release. They declined to provide Gonzalez any additional information about the video. Investigators say Gonzalez is affiliated with the Bloods street gang and he had been named to Texas’ Most Wanted list in August. He is accused of fatally shooting Horace Davis, 54, in Dallas last year. Officers who were responding to a report of gunshots found Davis

dead in the driver’s seat of a parked car and later got evidence linking Gonzalez to the crime, investigators said. A warrant was issued Aug. 21, the same day he was dubbed a top Texas fugitive. Gonzalez also is among a group of suspects sought in several homeinvasion robberies in Dallas between October 2016 and February 2017. He was in custody Tuesday and expected to be extradited to Texas, police said. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

McKINNEY, Texas — A Dallas-area man on trial for murder says he and his girlfriend had taken the psychoactive drug GHB before having sex in a shower where she fell and struck her head. Twenty-eight-year-old Jason Lowe of Richardson testified Monday that the couple decided to lie down after the fall but says 27-year-old Jessie Bardwell never awoke. The Dallas Morning News reports that Bardwell’s decomposing body was found in a rural area northeast of Dallas in May 2016. Auto parts found near her body were linked to

Jae S. Lee / AP

Defendant Jason Lowe, left, testifies as he answers questions for his attorney Andrew Farkas, right, during his murder trial in the death of girlfriend Jessie Bardwell at Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas on Monday.

Lowe’s vehicle. He testified tearily that he was “too weak” to tell police what happened. It’s believed that Monday’s testimony was the

first time Lowe offered an explanation to police or prosecutors about Bardwell’s death. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

CitiFinancial to pay $907K for unlawfully seizing cars A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

DALLAS — Prosecutors say CitiFinancial Credit Co. will pay $907,000 to settle a complaint that it violated federal law by repossessing the vehicles of

active military personnel. The settlement approved Monday by a federal court in Dallas reveals that CitiFinancial pursued repossessions even when it had evidence in its records showing service members

were protected from such action. Authorities say CitiFinancial Auto Corp. from 2007 to 2010 repossessed 164 automobiles owned by military personnel without first obtaining the re-

quired court approval. In several cases, loan notes indicated that CitiFinancial was aware that the borrower had been ordered to report for military service. Personnel whose vehicles

were unlawfully seized were each compensated $5,000 in the agreement. The settlement says CitiFinancial cooperated with the federal investigation and denies any liability or wrongdoing.

Elected official indicted 4 bikers reach plea deals on elderly abuse charge over slaying of rival A S S O CIAT E D PRE SS

TYLER, Texas — An East Texas elected official has been indicted on a felony elderly abuse charge over what investigators say was a dispute about setting up for communion at church. Court records show Smith County Commis-

sioner JoAnn Hampton of Tyler was indicted Sept. 7 after a 72-yearold woman reported being hurt at Spring Creek Baptist Church. An arrest affidavit says the 60-year-old Hampton on April 2 shoved the older women during an argument over whose turn it was to lay out communion

items. The older woman fell into a chair and hurt her wrist. The incident happened as the older woman met with a pastor. Hampton, who’s denied any physical contact, was arrested April 24 and freed on $10,000 bond. She didn’t immediately return a message for comment Tuesday.

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

SAN ANTONIO — Four Bandidos motorcycle club members have reached plea deals over the 2006 slaying of an Austin man who allegedly sought to establish a chapter of the Hell’s Angels. Prosecutor Eric Fuchs said Tuesday that Robert Romo, Johnny Romo,

Norberto Serna Jr. and Jesse Benavidez signed plea agreements Sept. 14. The Bandidos were indicted in March in San Antonio on racketeeringrelated charges in the Austin fatal shooting of Anthony W. Benesh III. That indictment was part of a case against ex-club president Jeffrey Pike and former vice president

John Portillo. The Romo brothers pleaded guilty to murder in aid of racketeering. Serna and Benavidez pleaded guilty to a weapons-related count. Authorities say Pike and Portillo await trial on allegations that they ordered members to commit murder, assault, extortion and drug trafficking.

Ex-soldier convicted of threatening rampage A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WACO, Texas — An ex-soldier from Texas has been convicted of making threats to go on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood. A federal jury in Waco on Tuesday found Thomas Anthony Chestnut Jr. guilty of threatening a uniformed service member and using interstate communications to threaten injury. The 29-year-old Dripping Springs man could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on Dec. 1. Trial evidence showed Chestnut called Fort Hood in February saying he was a former soldier wrongly accused of a crime. He said he’d shoot soldiers at the Army post if he didn’t receive back pay.

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A6 | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

BUSINESS

Oil rises as US stockpiles climb less than expected By Jessica Summers B L OOM BE RG

Oil rose as an industry report was said to show U.S. stockpiles climbed less than expected. The price spike in afterhours trading helped erase almost all of the regular session’s loss on Tuesday. U.S. crude inventories increased by 1.44 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report Tuesday. That’s less than half the 3.9 million-barrel increase the Energy Information Adminis-

tration is forecast to report Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg survey. This may be a sign that demand from refineries battered by Hurricane Harvey is coming back to normal. “We’re going to find that refiners are back online sooner,” after Harvey-led shutdowns, James Williams, president of London, Arkansasbased energy researcher WTRG Economics, said by telephone. “Things are returning to normal. In the shortterm, we are going to head back to pre-hurricane status.”

While the U.S. benchmark has tipped above $50 this month, prices haven’t sustained a close above that key level since the end of July as increasing U.S. shale output hindered efforts by OPEC, Russia and other major sources of supply to whittle a stubborn glut. The Energy Information Administration sees shale-oil production reaching a record high next month. Futures rose from the settlement after the release of API data. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery, which expires Wednesday, traded at

Toys R Us files for bankruptcy By Abha Bhattarai WA S H INGT ON P O ST

while.” Brent for November settlement fell 34 cents to end the session at $55.14 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, the lowest level in a week. The global benchmark traded at a premium of $5.24 to November WTI. The API report also showed that gasoline stockpiles slid by 5.06 million barrels, while distillate supplies shrank by 6.13 million, the biggest draw since 2004, according to people familiar with the data, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public.

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games for those devices than traditional playthings. Two in three young teenagers now have their own tablet or smartphone, and the majority of them said spending on those devices has become an important consideration, according to research firm GlobalData Retail. “For many children, electronics have become a replacement for traditional toys,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail. “With the high price tag, there is often little left over - either from the child’s budget or the gifting budget of parents and family - to spend on other toys.” The Toys R Us filing just the latest in a string of high-profile bankruptcies - comes on the heels of the all-important holiday shopping season. More than 300 retailers have filed for bankruptcy this year, including private-equity backed Gymboree, Payless ShoeSource and the Limited. Others, including Macy’s, Sears and Bebe have closed hundreds of stores. Toys R Us is owned by three companies - privateequity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Bain Capital, and real estate firm Vornado Realty Trust - that bought the company for about $7 billion in 2005.

$750 ea. ,

don, chairman and chief executive of Toys R Us, said in a statement. “We are confident these are the right steps to ensure that the iconic Toys R Us and Babies R Us brands live on for many generations.” Toys R Us, based in Wayne, New Jersey, was for decades the country’s preeminent toy retailer, with a towering flagship in New York’s Times Square (now closed and a planned home to Old Navy) and a ubiquitous icon, Geoffrey the Giraffe. In 2009, it purchased competitor FAO Schwarz, but eventually closed its only store, on New York’s Fifth Avenue, citing high costs. (Apple moved into the space.) In recent years, Toys R Us has faced mounting competition from Amazon, and big-box chains like Walmart and Target, which often offer the same toys for less money and more convenience. The company’s annual sales have fallen for six years in a row, and last year it reported a loss of $29 million. (Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.) At the same time, toys have become less of a priority for many children and teenagers, who would rather buy smartphones and tablets - or apps and

Only

<5

Eric Gay / AP

Shoppers walk into a Toys R Us store on Tuesday in San Antonio. Toys R Us has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while continuing with normal business operations.

.

Toy store chain Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy Monday night after struggling for years to pay down billions of dollars in debt and remain relevant in an era of online shopping. Toys R Us been spiraling toward bankruptcy for years as it failed to keep up with competitors. Analysts cited many reasons for the company’s demise: Lousy in-store customer service, a second-rate website and prices that are often higher than at many of its big-box competitors. Add to that piles of mounting debt - much of it dating to a 2005 leveraged buyout and it was clear, many said, that the 60-year-old brand was in trouble. “When you’re cursed with all this debt, there’s no way you can grow or invest or compete anymore,” said Howard Davidowitz, a retail consultant who worked with Toys ‘R’ Us in the 1980s and 1990s. “Now they’re running up and down the halls trying to pick up the pieces, but there’s no way around it: This is a very bad situation.” The company said its 1,600 Toys R Us and Babies R Us locations would operate “as usual,” and that it would work with its investors to address its debt of about $5 billion. The filing cites $7.9 billion in debt against $6.6 billion in assets. The company has more than 100,000 creditors, the largest of which are Bank of New York (owed $208 million), Mattel ($136 million) and Hasbro ($59 million). “Today marks the dawn of a new era at Toys R Us where we expect that the financial constraints that have held us back will be addressed in a lasting and effective way,” Dave Bran-

$49.85 a barrel at 4:44 p.m. in after-market trading after settling at $49.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume traded was about 6 percent below the 100-day average. WTI closed below its 200-day moving average after moving above the level earlier in the session. “It’s no accident” that prices rose slightly above the 200-day moving average before reverting lower, Bart Melek, head of global commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, said by telephone. “We’re going to hover around there for a

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Zfrontera THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 |

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE ROMA FEST 2017 1 Festival Roma Fest 2017 “Decades”, el domingo 8 de octubre desde las 5 p.m. Desfile inicia en el Citizens State Bank.

INTERNACIONAL

TAMAULIPAS

Sismo cimbra México

Gobierno aborda violencia de género E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE

FESTIVAL NUEVO SANTANDER

ZAPATA

1 La Sociedad Genealógica Nueva Santander del Condado de Zapata invita al Festival Nuevo Santander el 13 y 14 de octubre de 10 a.m. a 4 p.m. en el Museo de Historia del Condado de Zapata.

CAMINATA CONTRA CÁNCER 1 Walk All Over Cancer! en su cuarta caminata anual. Inscripciones en el Ayuntamiento llamando al 956849-1411 x 9241 o en el 956-844-1428. Caminata iniciará en Citizens State Bank o en el Centro Comuniario de Roma el sábado 21 de octubre.

Victor Cruz / AFP/Getty Images

Equipos de rescate y voluntarios eliminan escombros de un edificio colapsado en busca de sobrevivientes después de un poderoso terremoto en la Ciudad de México el 19 de septiembre de 2017. El terremoto que sacudió el martes la Ciudad de México causó pánico entre los 20 millones de habitantes de la megalópolis en el 32 aniversario del devastador terremoto de 1985.

Deja al menos 120 muertos en distintos estados

PAGO DE IMPUESTOS

Por María Teresa Hernández

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.

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO — El sismo de 7,1 grados que remeció el martes la Ciudad de México provocó el colapso de edificios en varios puntos de la capital y dejó al menos 120 muertos y un número indeterminado de personas atrapadas bajo los escombros. Horas después de que cesara el movimiento que produjo el derrumbe de varias estructuras y fugas de gas que derivaron en incendios, la angustia y el desconcierto de los mexicanos seguía latente en las calles. Los comercios cerraron, el tráfico mantenía las avenidas paralizadas y desde sus automóviles la gente escuchaba angustiada los últimos reportes de daños y fallecidos. El sismo ocurrió menos de dos semanas después de otro de 8,1 grados de magnitud que dejó más de 90 muertos y en el aniversario del terremoto de 1985, el más letal en la historia del país. Entre el caos y el pánico, gente ubicada en distintos lugares de la ciudad compartió en las redes sociales imágenes que mostraban casas destruidas, humo saliendo a través de las ventanas de edificios y grietas profundas en algunas calles. El Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS, por sus siglas en inglés) indicó que el temblor tuvo una magnitud de 7,1 grados y que el epicentro se ubicó a cinco kilómetros al noreste de la localidad de Raboso, en el estado de Puebla. El sismo, que tuvo 51 kilómetros de profundidad, se registró poco después de la una de la tarde hora local (18:14 GMT). El jefe de gobierno de la Ciudad de México, Miguel Ángel Mancera, precisó en una entrevista con una televisora local que tenía reportes de 44 edificios derribados y 30 fallecidos en la capital. Por su parte, autoridades de Oaxaca,

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

LLENADO DE APLICACIONES 1 La Ciudad de Roma ofrece el servicio de llenado de aplicaciones para CHIP, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Chip, Prenatal y otros. Contacte a Gaby Rodríguez para una cita en el centro comunitario o en su domicilio al 956-246-7177. Laboratorio de Computación 1 La Ciudad de Roma pone a disposición de la comunidad el Laboratorio Computacional que abre de lunes a viernes en horario de 1 p.m. a 5 p.m. en Historical Plaza, a un lado del City Hall. Informes en el 956-849-1411.

A7

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Puebla, Morelos y el Estado de México reportaron uno, 26, 54 y nueve fallecidos en cada estado, respectivamente. Carlos Mendoza, de 30 años, fue uno de los civiles que ayudó a remover escombros y auxiliar en el rescate de víctimas en uno de los edificios caídos en la colonia Roma. Cubierto de polvo, dijo que llevaba tres horas trabajando y había logrado sacar a dos personas vivas del derrumbe. “Al ver esto, venimos a ayudar. Está fea, muy fea... Es muy triste, alarmante”. Tras el sismo, el Aeropuerto Internacional Benito Juárez suspendió todas sus operaciones para revisar la infraestructura. Por la tarde se informó que las pistas no presentaban daños, que había 180 vuelos afectados y que la actividad se reanudaría seis o siete horas después. Después del terremoto, el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto informó que convocó al Comité Nacional de Emergencias para evaluar la situación y coordinar acciones. Más tarde ordenó evacuar los hospitales con daños y trasladar a sus pacientes a otras unidades médicas. Por su parte, el Secretario de Gobernación, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, pidió a la gente salir de sus edificios y seguir indicaciones de protección civil. Las primeras imágenes que circularon en televisión y redes sociales dieron cuenta de los derrumbes en las colonias Condesa y Roma y al menos un edificio se desplomó en la Zona Rosa. También mostraron afectaciones al sur de la ciudad, donde una de las tribunas del estadio Azteca se cuarteó. Edith López, vendedora de un mercado de 25 años, dijo que estaba en un taxi cuando se sintió el temblor y que observó cómo se rompían las ventanas de algunos edificios. De inmediato trató de

localizar a sus hijos, que había dejado encargados a su madre. En otra parte de la capital, en la avenida Álvaro Obregón, Gala Dluzhynska tomaba una clase junto a otras 11 mujeres cuando empezó el sismo. El edificio en el que se encontraba colapsó. Más de dos horas después, Dluzhynska se encontraba sobre la acera cubierta de polvo. Tenía un pie vendado a causa de una cortada y dijo que horas antes se percató de la vulnerabilidad del lugar. Más temprano se había llevado a cabo un simulacro para recordar el terremoto de 8,1 grados que sacudió a México en 1985 y dejó miles de muertos. "Yo estaba pensando que este edificio con el temblor de verdad no está muy seguro pero nunca piensas que va a pasar en el mismo día." Tan pronto inició el movimiento, ella y sus compañeras salieron corriendo mientras escuchaban cómo las ventanas y el techo crujían a sus espaldas. Tras caer por las escaleras la gente empezó a caminar por encima de ella. La mujer gritó por ayuda y alguien le tendió una mano para levantarse. Dice que el polvo era tan denso que no podía ver nada. "Ya no habían escaleras, eran piedras". Cuando finalmente lograron llegar a la entrada el edificio estaba cerrado, pero un guardia de seguridad abrió la puerta. Afuera, el caos. "Yo creo que sobrevivimos los que éramos más abajo", dijo la mujer. En el lugar aún buscan a una de sus compañeras. El pasado 7 de septiembre se registró un temblor de 8,1 grados de magnitud en el sur del país que también se sintió en la capital mexicana y dejó 90 fallecidos además de miles de viviendas dañadas o derruidas, sobre todo en los estados sureños de Chiapas y Oaxaca.

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas— El gobernador Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca presidió en la capital de Tamaulipas la primera sesión del Sistema Estatal para Prevenir, Atender, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia contra las Mujeres (SIPASE), con el que se establecen los mecanismos para garantizar el acceso de las tamaulipecas a una vida libre de abusos. El objetivo del sistema es la conjunción de esfuerzos, instrumentos, políticas, servicios y acciones interinstitucionales para garantizar el desarrollo integral de las tamaulipecas y su seguridad, así como contribuir a mejorar su calidad de vida y bienestar, conforme a los principios de igualdad, no discriminación y respeto por su dignidad y libertad. “Por parte de mi gobierno vamos a hacer todo lo posible para defender el derecho de las mujeres a la equidad de género, pero también a erradicar la violencia contra ella que hoy en día es uno de los principales problemas que tiene nuestro estado”, comprometió el titular del Ejecutivo Estatal, acompañado por la presidenta del Sistema DIF, Mariana Gómez de García Cabeza de Vaca y representantes de INMUJERES e INDESOL. Para lograrlo, indicó, se establecen cinco objetivos principales para la elaboración de los programas y políticas del Gobierno del Estado con perspectiva de género, entre ellos, implementar mecanismos para sustentar la igualdad entre mujeres y hombres, asegurar el respeto a la dignidad de las tamaulipecas, evitar prácticas discriminatorias, estereotipos y valores de inferioridad de un género a otro. Asegurar el pleno disfrute de los derechos y garantías que consagra la Carta Magna y los tratados internacionales suscritos por el Estado Mexicano en beneficio de la mujer y privilegiar el desarrollo de un ambiente social en el cual se promueva la libertad y los derechos de las mujeres en su sentido más amplio. Durante la reunión se realizó la presentación del programa de trabajo del Sistema Estatal PASE 20172022 y su funcionamiento, el cual fue votado y aprobado por los integrantes de la mesa conformada por autoridades de los tres órdenes de gobierno y miembros de la sociedad civil organizada.

GUERRERO AYER Y HOY

Añoranza por Guerrero Viejo Nota del editor: Esta serie de artículos sobre la historia de Ciudad Guerrero, México, fueron escritos por la guerrerense Lilia Treviño Martínez (1927-2016), quien fuera profesora de la escuela Leoncio Leal. Por Lilia Treviño Martínez TIEM P O DE ZAPATA

Entre mis más bellos recuerdos de Guerrero Viejo tiene lugar preferente el espectáculo de sus calles en la época navideña. A partir del 16 de diciembre, los umbrales de

las puertas principales de todas las casas habitadas eran adornadas con faroles o lamparitas de aceite que encendían su luz tan presto se ocultaba el sol y permanecían encendidas hasta el amanecer, siguiendo la tradición cristiana según la cual, este gesto es un ofrecimiento de posada para todo peregrino. Las calles de Guerrero eran rectas, de trazo limpio, libres de smog y basura; las principales avenidas como México, Veracruz y Antonio Zapata estaban empedradas al estilo colonial, y era un

bellísimo espectáculo contemplar, desde el centro de la ciudad, tanto en una como en otra dirección, aquella gran cantidad de luces a un lado y otro de la vía, iluminándola y manifestando el sentimiento hospitalario característico de nuestro pueblo. Esas mismas calles se vestían de gala cuando, en las tardes de fin de semana, las jóvenes casaderas, luciendo sus mejores atavíos transitaban por ellas rumbo a la Plaza, que era el sitio principal de reunión y convivencia.

Foto de cortesía

Celebran con serenata Día de los Abuelos La escuela Zapata South Elementary celebró el Día de los Abuelos con estudiantes y sus abuelos disfrutando quequitos y leyendo libros infantiles. Los abuelos recibieron una serenata por parte de José Zamora y Romeo Ramírez del Grupo Zamorales.


A8 | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

ENTERTAINMENT

Words With Friends adds ‘Stronger’ spawns a friendship 50,000 pop culture words for Gyllenhaal and Bauman

By Mark Kennedy ASSOCIATED PRE SS

By Jake Coyle A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

TORONTO — As the cast and makers of “Stronger” collectively rose to take a bow after the film’s Toronto International Film Festival premiere, Jake Gyllenhaal realized that Jeff Bauman, whom he plays in the film and who wears prosthetic legs, was still sitting, overwhelmed with emotion. “Jake was like, ‘Get up!”’ said Bauman. “And I stood up.” “As soon as he got up, everyone else stood up,” said Gyllenhaal. “I realized: This movie just showed them everything he went through just for that moment. I’ve never had an experience like that making a movie.” “Stronger,” directed by David Gordon Green, is the kind of movie that holds as much drama off the screen as on it. The movie chronicles Bauman’s struggles after the bomb explosion tore through his legs while waiting by the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. He was there to greet his on-again, offagain girlfriend, Erin Hurley, who had previously chided Jeff for never “showing up.” “Stronger,” based on Bauman’s 2014 memoir, is an undoubtedly inspiring story, but maybe not in the way you’d expect. Honest, painful and funny, it avoids the familiar Hollywood beats for a more truthful tale of personal growth. “The big moments of our lives don’t happen in a closeup,” says Gyllenhaal. “Stronger” captures Bauman, now 31, recalibrating his life after the tragedy, still struggling

Chris Pizzello / Invision/AP

In this Sept. 10 photo, Jake Gyllenhaal, left, poses for a portrait with Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto.

with relationship and drinking problems that predated the bombing and chafing at the role cast upon him as a heroic symbol of “Boston Strong.” Bauman instead saw himself merely, he says, as: “Just a dude with no legs.” Bauman’s modesty remains, but he’s also come to terms with being someone who gives hope to others, who can now connect with a wide world of amputees, war veterans and other sufferers trying to get by. One memorable scene, taken from a real experience, shows Bauman mobbed at Fenway and listening to story after story. “There’s so much love coming at Jeff,” says Gyllenhaal. “People line up — they really do — to talk to him. They’re like: ‘This thing happened to me,’ ‘That thing happened to me.’ We are not alone in all that, and that’s what his story says.” Meeting for an inter-

view at a Toronto hotel shortly after the film’s festival premiere, the close bond between Gyllenhaal and Bauman was plainly evident. In the two and a half years since they began working on the movie together, they’ve gotten to know each other well through Gyllenhaal’s regular trips up to Boston to spend time with Bauman and study how he moves physically. Bauman came to New York to see Gyllenhaal on Broadway. They threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park together. “Since we first met, I think he’s a totally different person now,” Gyllenhaal says. “Particularly in the past year, since getting sober. I think he’s been much more open. When we first met, trying to learn about him and figure out what was going on was a little harder. And now I feel like I know him better than even when I played the role.”

NEW YORK — Tell your bae or your bestie: The mobile game Words With Friends is adding thousands of pop culture words as part of its largest dictionary update in the game’s eight-year history. Game developer Zynga told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it is adding 50,000 internet slang words, including BFF, fitspo, delish, FOMO, hangry, kween, smize, TFW, turnt, werk, yas — as well as bae and bestie. Gurpreet Singh, director of product for the Scrabble-esque game, said Words With Friends players are constantly reaching out — on social media and in the game itself, which has a submission feature — with words they’d like added to the dictionary. He said Zynga gets 5,000 suggestions a day, which formed the basis of the update. “For us, it’s a way to listen to our players and also have a bit of fun,” Singh said. “The words that they’re requesting are really a reflection of what they’re doing in their day-to-day life and how they communicate with their loved ones.” The multiplayer phone-friendly crossword game has been installed more than 200 million times since 2009, according to Zynga. This year, an estimated 57 million active Words With Friends games are

Zynga / AP

This image shows the Words With Friends app.

being played around the world at any given time. The 50,000 new words will be added to the existing dictionary of 173,000 words, which is always evolving. The game earlier this year added “covfefe” after President Donald Trump introduced the mysterious term and it spread like wildfire on social media, while twerk and selfie were added in 2014. Singh said there’s no hard-and-fast rule for what constitutes a word and what doesn’t. The team leans toward ones that are inclusive and popular.

“We try to be very holistic in our thinking,” he said. “It’s a game based on connecting and if we feel our values are being adhered to by the word that we’re adding, then even if it’s not a proper word — as a standard dictionary would consider it to be — we would still go ahead and add those.” Does Singh have some favorites? Yes, the highpoint offering queso — “anytime I can use a ‘q,’ I’m happy,” he said — as well as turnt, which is a variation on “turn up” that means getting excited.


Sports&Outdoors THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 |

A9

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: TEXAS RANGERS

Blame Game: Pointing fingers for Rangers failures in 2017 Five players that have attributed to Texas’ struggles in an underachieving season blowing his first three save chances and taking a loss in the season opener. Dyson was 1-6 and allowed 20 earned runs on 31 hits, including six homers, in just 16 2/3 innings for the Rangers. To Dyson’s credit, he rebounded with the Giants and has 13 saves with a 3.21 ERA. He’s allowed one homer in 33 2/3 innings. Good for him. Bad for the Rangers. Dyson’s struggles put Texas in a hole it spent the rest of the season digging out of. 2. Rougned Odor — The young second baseman has been the poster-child for the Rangers’ offensive issues this season and for good reason. Despite 29 homers, he’s hitting .208, fourthlowest in the majors and the worst among second basemen. Same goes for his .251 on-base percentage, which is even more concerning than the batting average. Oh, by the way, he leads all second baseman with 17 errors. At 23, perhaps 2017 will be a turning point for Odor’s maturity and approach at the plate.

By Stefan Stevenson FO RT WORT H STAR-T E LE GRAM

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The body is still warm, but it’s never too early to start the autopsy. What went wrong for the Texas Rangers this season? They’re three games under .500 with 13 remaining and their post-season hopes are flat-lining. Of course, no single player can torpedo a club’s season, so this isn’t about putting all the blame on one (or five guys). And the issues that have plagued the Rangers this season are more complicated than just singling out players having bad years. Entire areas of their makeup need addressing, such as the rotation, which has huge questions going forward, and their offense, which might need a long look in the mirror over their style of scoring runs. But those stories are for the offseason. As the Rangers get

John Sleezer / TNS file

Texas’ Mike Napoli has struggled this season, hitting under .200 with 29 home runs.

set to begin a three-game series in Seattle on Tuesday, we identify the five players who most impacted the Rangers’ disappointing season. 1. Sam Dyson — No one saw this coming. Closer Sam Dyson struggled on Opening Day and never recovered. By June 1, he was designated for assignment before being traded to the Giants. He was demoted after

NBA: SAN ANTONIO SPURS

Manager Jeff Banister is counting on that and expects Odor to be a devoted student of the game. If not, the Rangers have a long-term mess on their hands at second base. 3. Martin Perez — The lefthander was supposed to take a step forward this season. Instead, it was a step back. Although he’s only 26, Perez is in his sixth season. Perhaps expectations were too high from the start. There are some positive signs. He won seven consecutive starts before taking a loss in his last outing. He allowed five or more runs in six starts, including eight on July 30. His 4.82 ERA and 21 homers allowed are career-highs. 4. Jonathan Lucroy — The former All-Star catcher got off to a slow start at the plate but even more alarming, he had an oddly rough season behind the plate. Lucroy’s receiving and framing struggles were understandably the subject of much hand-wringing from the analytics crowd. He

was hitting .242 with four homers and 27 RBIs before being traded to the Colorado Rockies at the deadline. The only reason Lucroy’s bad first half didn’t loom any larger in the Rangers’ decline is because his backup and eventual replacement Robinson Chirinos helped fill the gap with 17 homers, 38 RBIs and a 77-point higher OBP in only four more games for Texas than Lucroy. 5. Mike Napoli — Odor isn’t the worst-hitting player on the team. That’s because Napoli is hitting .193, the lowest in the majors among qualifiers. Napoli, however, is lower on the list because he came close to giving the Rangers about what they expected. He has 29 homers and 66 RBIs (which is a tad less than desired), but he has 23 more walks than Odor and a little better OBP. His clubhouse presence is a major plus, but more production is always more important. Napoli is unlikely to be on the roster in 2018.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: DALLAS COWBOYS

PRESCOTT’S FIGHT OFFSET BY ELLIOTT’S EFFORT Dallas’ young duo struggles during Week 2 By Drew Davison FORT WORTH STAR-TEL EGRAM

Daniel Mihailescu / Getty Images file

Pau Gasol had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds as Spain beat Russia 93-85 Sunday to win a bronze medal.

Gasol tunes up with bronze medal win By Tom Orsborn SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS

SAN ANTONIO – Spurs center Pau Gasol took to social media Monday to celebrate Team Spain collecting the bronze medal in EuroBasket 2017 with a 93-85 victory over Russia. Gasol recorded a double-double Sunday with 26 points and 10 rebounds against the Russians. He also notched three assists and three blocks in 31 minutes. “Back at home savoring this new medal,” Gasol wrote via Twitter, a post that included a photo of him kissing his bronze medal. “Now time to quickly recharge and take

advantage of a few days off before starting my 17th season.” Gasol is set to begin his second season with the Spurs, who open training camp Sept. 25 with their annual Media Day. The bronze-medal game possibly marked the final FIBA Eurobasket game of Gasol’s career. He was at his best when his team needed it the most, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter. Gasol also tallied 12 points in the second quarter while his brother Marc was sidelined with a leg injury. Marc Gasol returned later in the game to finish with 25 points.

FRISCO, Texas — Dak Prescott had a rough outing on Sunday. So did Ezekiel Elliott and the rest of the Dallas Cowboys. It’s hard to find much good for the Cowboys after a 25-point blowout loss to the Denver Broncos. But the effort level within the game is what stands out the most to coach Jason Garrett. Prescott passed with flying colors even though the passing game must improve. Elliott did not. Garrett wasn’t pleased with Elliott’s efforts after the Broncos intercepted Prescott twice, including a 103-yard return for touchdown by Aqib Talib late in the game. Elliott wasn’t seen trying to prevent that score, and had his hands on his hips on an earlier interception as Chris Harris Jr. returned it 23 yards. Hall of Famer and TCU great LaDainian Tomlinson blasted Elliott for "quitting" on his team in analyzing the game for NFL Network. Garrett wouldn’t say Elliott "quit" on the team, but certainly didn’t play up to the team’s standards on those two interceptions. "One of the things we preach to our team on both sides of the ball when there is a turnover, everybody is involved," Garrett said. "If you’re an offensive player, become a defensive player on a fumble or an interception. "Zeke is one of the most natural competitors I’ve ever been around. He loves to play. He loves to practice. I think we’ve seen that through his first year playing. Those two

Michael Ainsworth / Associated Press

Dak Prescott was the Cowboys’ leading rusher with three scrambles for 24 yards while Ezekiel Elliott was held to eight yards on nine touches in Sunday’s 42-17 loss at Denver.

plays were not indicative of the kind of competitor that he was and we have to get that addressed." Expect the Cowboys to address it by showing those plays to the team this week as a teaching moment of what not to do. Expect them also to show plays where Elliott showcases his competitive nature. What work are you proud of? Garrett said he had "no idea" why Elliott had such an uncharacteristic

game, although frustration likely set in with Elliott who had only 8 yards on nine carries. "I haven’t spoken to him specifically. He certainly could have been frustrated," Garrett said. "Obviously, he had been very productive as a running back over the course of his career and certainly in the NFL up to this point and he had a game where he carried the ball nine times for 8 yards, so there’s no question frustration could have set in.

"Those plays were uncharacteristic of him. We’ll certainly address it with him, but we have to address that with our entire team. That’s not the way we play." Prescott, on the other hand, drew praise from Garrett for how he handled his forgettable day. Prescott had his second career multi-interception game, was sacked twice and hit seven times and injured his ankle on a run on the last play of the first quarter.


A10 | Wednesday, September 20, 2017 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

FROM THE COVER ARIZONA From page A1 parent of the same sex. The Arizona Supreme Court could have thrown out the law, but instead extended it to include women in similar circumstances. Citing the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage nationwide, Arizona Chief Justice Scott Bales wrote, “It would be inconsistent with Obergefell to conclude that same-sex couples can legally marry but states

can then deny them the same benefits of marriage afforded opposite-sex couples.” Details of how to define parenting and a raft of other issues have been working their way through state courts since the nation’s high court legalized gay marriage. Artificial insemination cases raise difficult issues. Several states, including New Mexico, Washington and Nevada, allow women or men who consent to another woman’s insemination to be legally considered the

ARRESTED From page A1

tation. Protest organizers said

child’s parent, even if the couple is not married, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Arizona isn’t one of the states. The case decided Tuesday involves a Tucson couple, Kimberly and Suzan McLaughlin. Kimberley had a son through artificial insemination while married to Suzan in 2011, but the couple later separated. The couple had legal agreements to shared parenting, but Kimberly McLaughlin opposed that after the couple broke up.

determining its impact on the government’s books. “We hope this is highly pro-growth. We hope, by the way, that Congress will be firm in closing loopholes,” Corker said. “Honestly, that worries me the most about all of this.” The divide between the Senate GOP’s deficit hawk and “supply side” wings had taken weeks to resolve. Republicans preached a hard line on the deficit while Barack Obama was president but are taking a more lenient approach now that Trump is occupying the Oval Office, promising a huge budget boost for the military and signaling an openness to working with Democrats to increase domestic agency budgets, too. Unlike the House, Senate Republicans aren’t planning to pair the tax measure with spending cuts.

The work of the budget panel is critical since Republicans need to agree on a budget plan in order to pass follow-up tax legislation without fear of a filibuster by Democrats. But both House and Senate Republicans are divided and the budget debate is months behind schedule. Earlier Tuesday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., one of the budget panel’s more ardent advocates of tax cuts, said a 10-year, $1.5 trillion tax cut “ought to be a minimum.” Proponents of strict government spending policies swiftly condemned the apparent agreement, warning of further ballooning of the national debt. “With the U.S. in such a dangerous fiscal situation, policymakers shouldn’t even consider voluntarily adding another $1.5 trillion to our national debt,” Michael Peterson, president of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said in a statement.

before the event the lawmakers planned to get arrested. President Donald Trump delivered an address at the United Na-

tions earlier Tuesday. The Republican was scheduled to stay at Trump Tower afterward but wasn’t present for the protest.

WASHINGTON From page A1 Hill GOP leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who for months have promised that the GOP tax overhaul would not add to the budget deficit, currently estimated to hit about $700 billion this year. The broad-brush tax cut number, if approved by the Senate, would pave the way for the Senate’s tax writers to slice corporate and individual tax rates and curb tax breaks in hopes of boosting economic growth to 3 percent or more as promised by President Donald Trump. Corker had pressed for a lower figure, saying he didn’t want the GOP tax plan to cause the debt to spiral further. Now, he’s taking a more generous view of so-called dynamic scoring, which takes the economic effects of legislation into account when

MEXICO From page A1 dust before her eyes, about 15 minutes after the quake. Morales said she was in a taxi when the quake struck, and she out and sat on a sidewalk to try to recover from the scare. Then, just a few yards away, the three-story building collapsed. A dust-covered Carlos Mendoza, 30, said that he and other volunteers had been able to pull two people alive from the ruins of a collapsed apartment building three hours of effort. “We saw this and came to help,” he said. “It’s ugly, very ugly.” Alma Gonzalez was in her fourth floor apartment in the Roma neighborhood when the quake collapsed the ground floor of her building, leaving her no way out — until neighbors set up a ladder on their roof and

helped her slide out a side window. Gala Dluzhynska was taking a class with 11 other women on the second floor of a building on the trendy Alvaro Obregon street when the quake struck and window and ceiling panels fell as the building began to tear apart. She said she fell in the stairs and people began to walk over her, before someone finally pulled her up. “There were no stairs anymore. There were rocks,” she said. They reached the bottom only to find it barred. A security guard finally came and unlocked it. The quake caused buildings to sway sickeningly in Mexico City and sent people throughout the city fleeing from homes and offices, and many people remained in the streets for hours, fearful of returning to the structures. Alarms blared and

traffic stopped around the Angel of Independence monument on the iconic Reforma Avenue. Electricity and cellphone service was interrupted in many areas and traffic was snarled as signal lights went dark. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 7.1 hit at 1:14 p.m. and was centered near the Puebla state town of Raboso, about 76 miles southeast of Mexico City. Puebla Gov. Tony Gali tweeted there were damaged buildings in the city of Cholula, including collapsed church steeples. Earlier in the day workplaces across the city held readiness drills on the anniversary of the 1985 quake, a magnitude 8.0 shake, which killed thousands of people and devastated large parts of Mexico City. In that tragedy, too, ordinary citizens played a crucial role in rescue efforts that overwhelmed officials.


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