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New border measures ‘Current security approach is too “stove piped”’ By JULIÁN AGUILAR TEXAS TRIBUNE
Courtesy photo
Texas could soon be a staging ground for a new federal border-security operation under President Obama’s executive action on immigration, the country’s homeland securi-
ty chief said on Tuesday. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee that he thinks the current security approach is too “stove piped” and that he is set to announce details soon on the new mis-
sion. “The southern border campaign strategy that we’re developing is an initiative to bring to bear all of the department’s resources in a particular region of the country,” he said at the Washington, D.C., hearing.
The hearing was scheduled by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, almost immediately after Obama made his Nov. 20 announcement that he will use his executive authority to grant up to 5 million undocu-
See BORDER PAGE 11A
A group in Nuevo Laredo, Mexcio protests a decree that makes it more expensive to nationalize American cars in order to cross the border area.
Protesters block bridges
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA
ORION’S FIRST TEST FLIGHT
Decree means it costs more to nationalize U.S. cars THE ZAPATA TIMES
Both downtown border crossings as well as the vehicle import center in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, known in Spanish by its initials CITEV were blocked Thursday into the evening after workers connected to the importation and exportation of vehicles closed the center to traffic from the United States. The blockade began at 12:30 p.m. at the Gateway to the Americas bridge, which later spread to the Lincoln-Juarez bridge and CITEV entrance. Later, International Bridges I and II opened around 7 p.m., after the group of protesters accepted to meet with Héctor Hugo Garza Jalil, Mexico’s Customs Administrator in Nuevo Laredo. The protest was headed by used automobile dealers and employees, joined by paisanos who have been waiting two months to nationalize their vehicles. The used car dealers say Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto needs to provide a solution to the problem, which they say is leaving hundreds unemployed along the Southern border. A decree issued by the nation’s Treasury and Public Credit department
See BLOCK PAGE 14A
Photo by Marta Lavandier | AP
A NASA Orion capsule on top of a Delta IV rocket lifts off on its first unmanned orbital test flight from Complex 37 B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Friday.
NASA: ‘There’s your new spacecraft, America!’ By MARCIA DUNN ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s newest space vehicle, Orion, accomplished its first test flight with precision and
pizazz Friday, shooting more than 3,600 miles out from Earth for a hyperfast, hot return not seen since the Apollo moon shots. For a space agency still feeling the loss of its shuttles, the
four-hour voyage opened a new era of human space exploration, with Mars as the plum. It even brought some rocket engineers to tears. “There’s your new spacecraft, America,” Mission Con-
trol’s Rob Navias said as the unmanned Orion capsule came in for a Pacific splashdown after two orbits of Earth. NASA is counting on future
See ORION PAGE 11A
GUERRERO, MEXICO
Peña Nieto visits state of 43 By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Bernandino Hernandez | AP
Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto, left, speaks to the audience in the town of Coyuca de Benitez in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, Thursday.
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s president on Thursday announced measures to boost the economy in Guerrero, making his first visit to the tumultuous state since 43 students disappeared there more than two months ago and set off the biggest crisis of his administration. Speaking in Acapulco, President Enrique Peña Nieto said
that the highway toll between Mexico City and the resort city would be cut during the holiday season and that he would create a special fund to support small businesses in cities affected by violence and protests. The announcement came a day after the government said federal police and soldiers would take over policing duties in Acapulco and 35 other municipalities in Guerrero and three neighboring states.
It was the latest response by Peña Nieto to the widespread anger triggered when police in the Guerrero city of Iguala intercepted the college students on Sept. 26 and allegedly turned them over to members of the Guerreros Unidos gang. The gang subsequently killed the young men and burned their bodies, prosecutors allege. The case has brought weeks
See GUERRERO PAGE 11A
PAGE 2A
Zin brief CALENDAR
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
AROUND TEXAS
TODAY IN HISTORY
SATURDAY, DEC. 6
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trail clean up. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. LCC Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center. “Shine the Light on Hunger” Health Fair. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 4500 Marco Drive. Call 324-2432 or www.southtexasfoodbank.org. First United Methodist Church. Used Book Sale, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., hardcovers $1; paperbacks 50¢; magazines and childrens books 25¢; Public is welcome. Sue Webber, fumc_office@sbcglobal.net. The Laredo Northside Market. North Central Park. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market will feature Christmas entertainment and special gifts for the children as well as a raffle for adults. Come see us and Santa. Planetarium movies. From 1 p.m. To 5 p.m. TAMIU LBV Planetarium and Science Center. Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu for more information or visit the website www.tamiu.edu/planetarium. For more information call 956.326.DOME (3663).
Today is Saturday, Dec. 6, the 340th day of 2014. There are 25 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 6, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Salmon P. Chase to be chief justice of the United States, succeeding Roger Taney (TAH’-nee). (Chase was installed as chief justice nine days later.) On this date: In 1790, Congress moved to Philadelphia from New York. In 1884, Army engineers completed construction of the Washington Monument by setting an aluminum capstone atop the obelisk. In 1889, Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died in New Orleans. In 1922, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which established the Irish Free State, came into force one year to the day after it was signed in London. In 1947, Everglades National Park in Florida was dedicated by President Harry S. Truman. In 1957, America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit failed as Vanguard TV3 rose about four feet off a Cape Canaveral launch pad before crashing down and exploding. In 1964, the animated puppet special “Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer,” now a Christmas perennial, first aired on NBC-TV. In 1971, the original AutoTrain, which carried rail passengers and their motor vehicles from Lorton, Virginia, to Sanford, Florida, went into operation. (Although the privately owned line went out of business in 1981, Amtrak revived the service in 1983.) In 1989, 14 women were shot to death at the University of Montreal’s school of engineering by a man who then took his own life. Ten years ago: Ohio certified President George W. Bush’s 119,000-vote victory over Democratic nominee John Kerry, even as the Kerry campaign and third-party candidates prepared to demand a statewide recount. Five years ago: President Barack Obama visited the U.S. Senate during a rare Sunday session to rally Democrats behind closed doors on a health care overhaul. One year ago: A day after Nelson Mandela’s death at 95, South Africans of all colors erupted in song, dance and tears in emotional celebrations of the life of the man who had bridged the country’s black-white divide and helped avert a race war. Today’s Birthdays: Comedy performer David Ossman is 78. Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is 69. Rhythm-and-blues singer Frankie Beverly (Maze) is 68. Rock musician Rick Buckler (The Jam) is 59. Comedian Steven Wright is 59. Country singer Bill Lloyd is 59. Singer Tish Hinojosa is 59. Rock musician David Lovering (Pixies) is 53. Actress Janine Turner is 52. Writer-director Judd Apatow is 47. Rock musician Ulf “Buddha” Ekberg (Ace of Base) is 44. Writer-director Craig Brewer is 43. Actress Colleen Haskell is 38. Actress Lindsay Price is 38. Actress Ashley Madekwe is 33. Actress Nora Kirkpatrick is 30. Thought for Today: “Disconnecting from change does not recapture the past. It loses the future.” — Kathleen Norris, American author (1880-1960).
Photo by Bob Daemmrich | Texas Tribune
The Governor’s Mansion in Austin will need to be tweaked in order to accommodate Governor-elect Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair.
SUNDAY, DEC. 7 Pet Fest Laredo 2014. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Laredo Civic Center. Woof@gopetfest.com. 5th Annual Christmas Animal Posada, from 4 to 5 p.m. St. Peter’s Plaza (Matamoros Street and Main Avenue). Contact Berta “Birdie” Torres, president of Gateway Gatos of Laredo, at birdtorres@hotmail.com. Call Birdie at 286-7866.
TUESDAY, DEC. 9 Monthly Orthopaedic Clinic, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. 1220 N. Malinche.Contact Norma Rangel at program.manager@laredo.twcbc.com. Prior registration is required. The South Texas Food Bank Kids Café program honors World War II and Korean War veterans, 6 to 8 p.m. Boys and Girls Club, 500 Moctezuma. For information call veteran Dr. Jesse J. Olivarez of the STFB Kids Cafe program at 726-3120 or veterans officer David Garza 523-4399 Planetarium movies. From 4:00pm To 6:00pm. TAMIU LBV Planetarium and Science Center. Contact Claudia Herrera at claudia.herrera@tamiu.edu. or www.tamiu.edu/planetarium for more information.
THURSDAY, DEC. 11 Spanish Book Club, Laredo Public Library, Calton Road, from 6 to 8 p.m. Contact Sylvia Reash at 763-1810. Christmas Party & Bingo. From 11 a.m. To 1:15 p.m. Blessed Sacrament Parish Hall.
FRIDAY, DEC. 12 “The Great Gatsby” Christmas Party, 7 p.m. Laredo Country Club. For more information contact Nancy De Anda at 763-9960.
SUNDAY, DEC. 21 “Ring we now of Christmas” from 4 to 5 p.m. First United Methodist Church 1220 McClelland. Linda Mott at lmott@stx.rr.com or the church office at 722-1674.
MONDAY, DEC. 29 Monthly meeting of Laredo Parkinson’s Disease Support Group. 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, Tower B, First Floor Community Center. Patients, caregivers and family members invited. Free info pamphlets available in Spanish and English. Richard Renner (English) at 645-8649 or Juan Gonzalez (Spanish) at 237-0666. (Submit calendar items at lmtonline.com/calendar/submit or by emailing editorial@lmtonline.com with the event’s name, date and time, location and purpose and contact information for a representative. Items will run as space is available.)
Updates to Gov.’s Mansion By CHRISTINE AYALA TEXAS TRIBUNE
The first Texas governor to use a wheelchair will soon move into a mansion built 134 years before laws started requiring that public buildings be accessible to the disabled. But thanks to an arsonist’s Molotov cocktail, the 1856 Greek Revival-style mansion in the heart of downtown Austin needs only minor fixes before the January arrival of Gov.elect Greg Abbott and his family. Early on June 8, 2008, an arsonist eluded security and hurled a Molotov cocktail at the mansion, igniting a four-alarm fire. Fortunately, the house was empty. Gov. Rick Perry and his wife had moved out while the building was undergoing repairs, and historic relics and artwork had been removed. The fire and the water used to douse it
caused major damage. Restoring the mansion cost $25 million. The mansion retained its historic antebellum look but was upgraded with bathrooms, doors and elevators in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act. A few details — like the second-floor balcony, which has a seven-inch step — do need to be tweaked. Chris Currens, director of special projects for the State Preservation Board, which oversees the mansion, said a planned ramp would allow the governor to enjoy the eastern view. “We are working on a transition that fits into the historic aesthetic without too much disruption, but allows the governor to use the balcony as he would want to,” Currens said. The governor’s office, across the street at the Capitol, is also getting a look.
Game warden frees 2 deer tangled in rope
8 injured in southeast Austin mobile home fire
Texas man stole deputy’s car during chase
NEW BRAUNFELS — A game warden has come to the rescue of two deer in Central Texas whose antlers were entangled in a nylon rope that was wrapped around a clothesline pole. The deer dashed away when the warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department used a knife to cautiously cut the rope. The warden wore a body camera that videotaped the unusual rescue.
AUSTIN — Authorities say eight people have suffered burns and smoke injuries in a mobile home fire in southeast Austin. Austin firefighters say two adults and six children between the ages of 3 and 12 were injured after the fire broke out around 10 p.m. Thursday. They say a child and an adult were critically injured and another adult was seriously injured. The conditions of the others are unclear.
SAN MARCOS — Authorities in Central Texas have charged a man who they say led deputies on a car chase and later stole an officer’s vehicle. KVUE-TV reports 30-year-old James Moran remained behind bars at the Hays County Jail on Thursday evening. He is charged with evading arrest with a vehicle, theft, burglary of a habitation and marijuana possession.
Man added to FBI’s most-wanted list
Texas man sentenced in butter knife slaying
DALLAS — A Dallas-area taxi driver accused in the 2008 shooting death of his two teenage daughters has been named as one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives. Irving police spokesman James McLellan says the motive is unclear but it’s believed 57-year-old Yaser Abdel Said was upset by his daughters’ relationships.
FORT WORTH — A North Texas man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for fatally stabbing his wife’s teenage lover in the heart with a butter knife. A Tarrant County jury sentenced 31-year-old Luis Hernandez on Thursday for killing 18year-old Devin Toler in June 2013. The Fort Worth men lived at the same apartment complex.
Former teacher charged with biting student AUSTIN — A former Austin elementary school special education teacher has been charged with biting a student. Officers say 30-year-old Samuel Haire bit the 11-year-old Kocurek Elementary School student on the arm on Nov. 10. They say he originally blamed the bite on other students but eventually admitted to the attack. — Compiled from AP reports
AROUND THE NATION Evictions begin in Utah polygamous community SALT LAKE CITY — Sheriff deputies in southern Utah are serving evictions on the first of possibly dozens of homes in Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect. Deputies are doing seven evictions Friday in Hildale, Utah, on the Arizona border. Evictions of seven other homes are expected within weeks. Next year, dozens more homes could face the same fate. The residents are among families on the Utah-Arizona border who for years have failed to pay occupancy fees of $100 a month, depriving the state-run trust of more than $4 million.
Tiger triplets have debut at Washington state zoo TACOMA, Wash. — Sumatran tiger triplets born two months ago have gone on public display Friday at a zoo in Washington
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Jaya walks out with Kirana, Dari, and Indah at the Sumatran tiger enclosure at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium on Thursday. The Sumatran tiger triplets born Oct. 8 weighting between two and half to three pounds. state. The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma says the triplets are a cause for celebration for the endangered species. Only about 300 remain in the wild on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. About 400 live in zoos
worldwide. Kirana, Dari and Indah had been behind the scenes with their mother, Jaya, while they put on weight. The three female tigers each weighed about 3 pounds at birth and now weigh about 15 pounds each. — Compiled from AP reports
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State
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 3A
Medals Flag flap gets Supreme Court review would help families By GREG STOHR
BLOOMBERG NEWS
By JEREMY SCHWARTZ COX NEWSPAPERS
AUSTIN — More than five years after the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, and after several failed congressional attempts, victims of the attack finally appear close to receiving Purple Hearts that would give them and their family members enhanced medical, retirement and hiring benefits. The U.S. House this week passed the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, which funds the Department of Defense and contains a measure that would open the door to Purple Hearts for service members wounded in attacks deemed to have connections to foreign terrorist organizations. The Pentagon had objected to awarding Purple Hearts to Fort Hood victims because officials didn’t consider it a terrorist attack, and previous bills failed to clear the Senate Armed Services Committee. This time, though, Texas lawmakers are optimistic the measure will become law. The House passed the $585 billion spending bill on a 300-119 vote and an aide to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, RTexas, said the measure is unlikely to be altered before the Senate votes next week. The bill then would go to President Barack Obama. “It is a long time coming and just it being acknowledged this wasn’t just some guy who went crazy, that this was a guy who committed an act of war,” said retired Staff Sgt. Shawn Manning, who was shot six times in the attack. “The people who lost their lives were heroes, and having them recognized is important.”
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether Texas officials must issue a license plate depicting the Confederate battle flag, accepting a free-speech dispute with implications for dozens of states with similar programs. The court Friday agreed to review a ruling that Texas violated the Constitution when officials rejected an application by the state chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans while issuing more than 350 other specialty plates. Those include tags that say Stop Child Abuse, Operation Iraqi Freedom and God Bless Texas. The case will determine
how much power states have to control the topics and designs of their specialty plates. A federal appeals court said officials can’t favor one viewpoint over another in choosing which proposals to approve. That ruling will have untenable consequences, Texas officials led by Attorney General and Governor-elect Greg Abbott argued in their appeal. After this ruling, it is not apparent how the state could exclude profanity, sacrilege or overt racism from its specialty license plates. The case will test a court that in other contexts is broadly supportive of speech rights. Most federal appeals to consider the issue have said states
can’t discriminate on the basis of the message a group seeks to convey on a license plate. Texas has a board that approves every license plate design before it is issued to the public. Drivers who want a special plate pay an extra fee, with the money going in part to state agencies and in part to charitable and nonprofit groups. The disputed plate design consisted of a battle flag surrounded by the words Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896. The Texas board said many members of the public found the design offensive. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the state in a 2-1 decision.
By rejecting the plate because it was offensive, the board discriminated against Texas SCV’s view that the Confederate flag is a symbol of sacrifice, independence and Southern heritage, the majority said. A central question will be how the court classifies license plates. Texas contends they qualify as government speech, immune from any requirement that they be viewpoint neutral. The Texas chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans urged the Supreme Court not to hear the case. The flag is a symbol that should be a topic for open debate, without the government censoring one side or the other, the group argued.
The same issue has arisen in the context of the abortion debate. In February, a three-judge panel said Virginia was violating the Constitution by distributing plates that say Choose Life while refusing to issue ones that bear an abortion-rights slogan. The state is one of 29 that issue Choose Life plates. The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Supreme Court to review that decision. The justices Friday took no action on that appeal and probably will defer acting until they resolve the Texas case. The court will hear arguments early next year and rule by June in the case, Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, 14-144.
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Zopinion
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR SEND YOUR SIGNED LETTER TO EDITORIAL@LMTONLINE.COM
COLUMN
OTHER VIEWS
Get older, be happier, docs say A few months ago, Ezekiel Emanuel had an essay in The Atlantic saying that, all things considered, he’d prefer to die around age 75. He argued that he’d rather clock out with all his powers intact than endure a sad, feeble decline. The problem is that if Zeke dies at 75, he’ll likely be missing his happiest years. When researchers ask people to assess their own well-being, people in their 20s rate themselves highly. Then there’s a decline as people get sadder in middle age, bottoming out around age 50. But then happiness levels shoot up, so that old people are happier than young people. The people who rate themselves most highly are those ages 82 to 85. Psychologists who study this now famous U-Curve tend to point out old people are happier because of changes in the brain. For example, when you show people a crowd of faces, young people unconsciously look at the threatening faces but older people’s attention gravitates toward the happy ones. Older people are more relaxed, on average. They are spared some of the burden of thinking about the future. As a result, they get more pleasure out of ordinary activities. My problem with a lot of the research on happiness in old age is that it is so deterministic. It treats the aging of the emotional life the way you might treat the aging of the body: as this biological, chemical and evolutionary process that happens to people. I’d rather think that elder happiness is an accomplishment, not a condition, that people get better at living through effort, by mastering specific skills. I’d like to think that people get steadily better at handling life’s challenges. In middle age, they are confronted by stressful challenges they can’t control, like having teenage children. But, in old age, they have more control over the challenges they will tackle and they get even better at addressing them. Aristotle teaches us that being a good person is not mainly about learning moral rules and following them. It is about performing social roles well — being a good parent or teacher or lawyer or friend. It’s easy to think of some of the skills that some people get better at over time. First, there’s bifocalism, the ability to see the same situation from multiple perspectives. Anthony Kronman of Yale Law School once wrote, “Anyone who has worn bifocal lenses knows that it takes time to learn to shift smoothly between perspectives and to combine them in a single field of vision.
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DAVID BROOKS
The same is true of deliberation. It is difficult to be compassionate, and often just as difficult to be detached, but what is most difficult of all is to be both at once.” Only with experience can a person learn to see a fraught situation both close up, with emotional intensity, and far away, with detached perspective. Then there’s lightness, the ability to be at ease with the downsides of life. In their book “Lighter as We Go,” Jimmie Holland and Mindy Greenstein (who is a friend from college) argue that while older people lose memory they also learn that most setbacks are not the end of the world. Anxiety is the biggest waste in life. If you know that you’ll recover, you can save time and get on with it sooner. “The ability to grow lighter as we go is a form of wisdom that entails learning how not to sweat the small stuff,” Holland and Greenstein write, “learning how not to be too invested in particular outcomes.” Then there is the ability to balance tensions. In “Practical Wisdom,” Barry Schwartz and Kenneth Sharpe argue performing many social roles means balancing competing demands. A doctor has to be honest but also kind. A teacher has to instruct but also inspire. You can’t find the right balance in each context by memorizing a rule book. This form of wisdom can be earned by acquiring a repertoire of similar experiences. Finally, experienced heads have intuitive awareness of the landscape of reality, a feel for what other people are thinking and feeling, an instinct for how events will flow. In “The Wisdom Paradox,” Elkhonon Goldberg details the many ways the brain deteriorates with age: brain cells die, mental operations slow. But a lifetime of intellectual effort can lead to empathy and pattern awareness. “What I have lost with age in my capacity for hard mental work,” Goldberg writes, “I seem to have gained in my capacity for instantaneous, almost unfairly easy insight.” It’s comforting to know that, for many, life gets happier with age. But it’s more useful to know how individuals get better at doing the things they do. The point of culture is to spread that wisdom from old to young; to put that thousand-year-heart in a still young body.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY The Zapata 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. The Zapata Times does not allow the use of pseudonyms. Letters are edited for style, grammar, length and civility. No namecalling or gratuitous abuse is allowed. Via e-mail, send letters to editorial@lmtonline.com or mail them to Letters to the Editor, 111 Esperanza Drive, Laredo, TX 78041.
COLUMN
Perry faces odd end as guv AUSTIN — Power washers prepped the exterior and power players prepped in the interior this week as your state Capitol got ready for the upcoming 84th Texas Legislature. But one man inside was prepping to be outside for the first time in 30 years. Outgoing GOP Gov. Rick Perry came here as a Democratic House member in 1985. Now he’s leaving under odd circumstances. He’s the rare modern Texas governor leaving voluntarily. His future could be private sector, presidency or prison. How’s that for range? At a Thursday holiday reception for journalists, Perry seemed relaxed and ready for what’s next. He’s confident the charges against him will be dismissed. On the personal side there’s another grandkid on the way, a house (life outside of government housing!) under construction in Round Top and that probable second White House bid. “It’s been fun,” he said of Capitol life. At 64, Perry tracks time through the lens of family: “Some of you got to watch (son) Griffin walk in the chamber when he was 2 years old. And now he is 31 and got his own babies.”
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KEN HERMAN
It’s curious what sticks in a long-serving politician’s mind. Perry recounted a 1987 House committee meeting in which a “fairly highranking education” official was caught on camera (after a committee member, not Perry, pointed it out to a TV crew) transferring material from nose to mouth. “It was awesome,” Perry recalled. As he arranged us for a group photo in his secondfloor public reception room in the Capitol, he asked me this: “What is the most interesting thing that’s ever happened in this room? You know what it is.” I came up with this: “When we had a good laugh when you said you were running for president?” Perry, ever a good sport about such nonsense, corrected me and noted the laughter about his 2012 presidential bid actually didn’t start until later. And then he pinpointed his pick for most interesting thing that’s ever happened in the room. “Lighting the menorah
with the Orthodox Jews,” he said, recalling the immortal 2010 moment when he danced around the table with Hanukkah celebrants. So classic is the video that David Letterman still finds reason to show it. I told Perry I noted he’s planning to do it again this year and asked if there will be a dance ban. “No, no, no, man. You gotta do the dancing,” he said, twitching into what was either dancing or a cry for help from a man whose shorts were riding up. Sure enough, Chabad Lubavitch of Austin’s invitation to the Dec. 16 Hanukkah menorah lighting at the Capitol lists Perry as guest of honor and promises refreshments and music and dancing. “Bring the whole family,” it says. And if Perry is going to reprise his dance, you really should. Memories of that classic moment inspired Perry to get wistful, sort of, about the upcoming end of his tenure. “Top 10 interesting things that you did as governor,” he said. “That would be an interesting list. Ran for president. That would be on there, yeah. Danced with the Jews. That would be on there.” Perry, amiable and engag-
ing as he always is in this kind of setting, tried to wrap up the reception about three times. Attempt one: “All right, y’all go and have fun. Go and write something good. My understanding is that either after you’re gone from office or you die, they write nice stuff about you. Is that right? I’m hoping I’m not going to die.” The final attempt to get us to move on included recommended reading of books by Laurence Gonzales, who writes about how people deal with stress. Thirty years in the Texas Capitol can be stressful. So can running for president. So can facing 109 years in prison. The governor felt moved to recount something from Gonzales’ “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why.” “One of the quotes in the book is, ‘S— happens. If you want to live in a world where s— doesn’t happen, it’s going to be really boring,’” Perry said. Here’s something Perry has united us on: The past 30 years have not been boring. Ken Herman is a columnist for the Austin AmericanStatesman. E-mail: kherman@statesman.com.
WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON
Former staffer had a bad week By CHRIS CILLIZZA THE WASHINGTON POST
For roughly the billionth time, we learned this past week that politics and social media are often (always?) a toxic combo. The latest chapter in the “How not to use social media” book, which will have roughly an infinite number of entries before
it’s all said and done, was written by Elizabeth Lauten, aide to Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn. Lauten, having watched Malia and Sasha Obama looking less than enthused at the White House’s annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning, took to Facebook, writing in part: “Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those aw-
ful teen years, but you’re a part of the First Family, try showing a little class. . . . Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.” Knowingly or not, Lauten violated one of the few adhered-to commandments of political Washington: Thou shalt not talk about
politicians’ children. After a backlash, she apologized — via Facebook. “I quickly judged the two young ladies in a way that I would never have wanted to be judged myself as a teenager,” she wrote. Elizabeth Lauten, for bringing us all back to high school, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.
CLASSIC DOONESBURY | GARRY TRUDEAU
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 5A
6A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
US sees best growth since ‘99 By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The resurgence in U.S. hiring accelerated in November and put 2014 on track to be the healthiest year for job growth since 1999. The gain of a robust 321,000 jobs — the most in nearly three years — put further distance between a strengthening American economy and struggling nations throughout the developed world. The job market still isn’t yet fully healthy. But its steady improvement raises the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will start raising interest rates from record lows by mid-2015. The unemployment rate remained at a six-year low of 5.8 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. “These were boom-like numbers,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “They indicate that the U.S. economy is on very solid ground.” Friday’s report also raised hopes that Americans’ pay might finally be starting to increase after barely budging since the Great Recession began seven years ago. The average hourly wage rose 9 cents to $24.66, the biggest gain in 17 months. Fed Chair Janet Yellen has cited stagnant wages as a key reason to keep rates low. Higher wages could lead to higher prices, and the Fed might feel compelled to raise rates to limit inflation. Still, over the past 12 months, hourly pay has risen just 2.1 percent, barely above the 1.7 percent inflation rate. And other economists pointed out that inflation remains below the Fed’s 2 percent target and will likely remain tame because of lower energy prices. That might give the Fed some leeway to wait. The Fed has kept its
Photo by Rick Bowmer | AP file
Subaru wants $118 million in tax breaks intended for job creation for a 4-mile move of its U.S. headquarters to Camden, N.J.
Photo by Paul Sancya/file | AP
Ron Hudgins welds at a factory in Dearborn, Mich., on Nov. 11. The resurgence in U.S. hiring accelerated in November and put 2014 on track to be the healthiest year for job growth since 1999. benchmark rate near zero for six years to encourage more borrowing and spending. Investors welcomed Friday’s news: The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 58 points to close at 17,958. Earlier in the day, it was within nine points of crossing the 18,000 mark for the first time. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.31 percent, from 2.25 percent, a sign that investors expect a healthier economy to push up interest rates. So far this year, the economy has gained 2.65 million jobs. With one month to go, 2014 is already the best year for hiring in 15 years. That is partly a reflection of the anemic pace of hiring for much of the recovery. Only this year, five years after the recession officially ended, have job gains neared levels historically associated with a strong economy. In the 1980s and 1990s, employers regularly added more than 3 million jobs a year. Even now, signs of weakness remain: There are 6.9 million people with parttime jobs who would prefer full-time work — up from 4.1 million before the reces-
sion. And millions have given up looking for work. That has been a factor in the declining unemployment rate: Once people stop seeking a job, they’re no longer counted as unemployed. A broader measure of unemployment, which includes involuntary parttime workers and people who given up looking, stands at 11.4 percent. In addition, the number of unemployed people who have been out of work for more than six months is 2.8 million, more than double its pre-recession level. “At this rate, we won’t return to pre-recession labor market health until October 2016 — nearly nine years since the recession began,” said Elise Gould, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute. Even among the Americans who have found jobs, many are earning less than they did before the recession. One of them is Stephen Tripp, 40, who’s starting a job this month in the Minneapolis area as a cook at Aramark, a corporate foodservices provider, after years of intermittent work at country clubs and res-
taurants. The job pays much less than the $75,000 he made as an executive chef in 2007. But he expects higher-paying positions at the company will open soon. “I’m kind of taking steps back in the hopes of moving forward,” Tripp said. Seasonal hiring related to the holiday shopping season helped lift the overall gains. Retailers added 50,200 jobs, the most in 11 months. Transportation and warehousing gained 16,700. Shipping companies have announced ambitious plans, after some holiday gifts ordered online arrived late last year. UPS has said it expects to add up to 95,000 seasonal workers, up from 85,000 last year. FedEx plans to hire 50,000, up from 40,000. But the hiring was broad-based: A measure of industries that added jobs reached its highest point since 1998. Manufacturers added 28,000 jobs, the most in a year, and education and health services 38,000. Professional and technical services, a category that includes higher-paying jobs such as accountants.
NJ casino closing moved back By WAYNE PARRY ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The owner of the Trump Taj Mahal casino has pushed back the date it’s scheduled to close and become the fifth of the city’s casinos to fail this year. Trump Entertainment Resorts said Friday it decided to move the closing date back eight days to Dec. 20 while talks continue to try to save the casino and its 3,000 jobs. And in a bankruptcy court filing later, the company said the revised closing date could be pushed back even fur-
ther, to an unspecified date, due to progress it’s making with state officials on financial assistance it has long sought. “The debtors continue to make progress with respect to various efforts that are critical to the success of these chapter 11 cases and their ability to keep the Taj open, and therefore it remains possible that the current proposed closing date for the Taj ... will be further extended,” the company wrote in its filing. The filing was made in response to a motion by one of its restaurants, the
Hard Rock, seeking to compel it to decide shortly whether it will keep its lease with the restaurant or reject it. Trump Entertainment has met with state officials to ask for tax relief for itself, and on Monday a package of tax assistance for all eight of Atlantic City’s casinos was introduced in the state legislature. The company also is negotiating with Local 54 of the Unite-HERE casino workers’ union, trying to get it to drop an appeal of a court-ordered cost-savings measure. The company said it
was hopeful it would obtain the necessary financial assistance from government stakeholders and reach a resolution with Local 54 so the Taj Mahal casino can stay open. Earlier Friday, the company, which had planned to close the casino on Dec. 12, issued a statement saying it is “engaged in a last ditch effort” to keep it open. Trump Entertainment and would-be purchaser Carl Icahn have been negotiating with the city’s main casino union and state officials on ways to keep the casino open.
Subaru: $118M tax break for 4-mile move By GEOFF MULVIHILL ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON, N.J. — Subaru announced plans Friday to move its U.S. headquarters to Camden, just four miles from its current home in Cherry Hill, and said it is seeking $118 million in tax breaks intended to lure jobs to the impoverished city. The move by the fastgrowing division of the Japanese carmaker would be a coup for a city that is employing new methods to try to improve its schools, reduce crime and attract business in an attempt at resurgence. “They’re definitely welcome,” Arthur Barclay, a Camden city councilman, said earlier this week. “There’s more jobs, hopefully, for our city residents, and just to put us on the map.” The move would continue a bonanza of state tax breaks for businesses that have agreed to move into Camden with incentives offered in a state law adopted last year. In 2014, the state has awarded $500 million in future business tax credits for moves to the city. Statewide, the breaks total up to $1.8 billion — the most in any year and more than the total the state awarded from 1996 through 2009. That law, the Economic Opportunity Act, was adopted with bipartisan support in the Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Chris Christie last year and includes special enticements for companies to move to Camden, a city where more jobs are direly needed. Subaru said the $118 million in tax credits it is seeking over the course of 10 years is the same value of what it will cost to build its new headquarters. The credits would be granted only after the investment is made and jobs are provided, and the credits could be reduced if the company does not live up to its promises.
The company, which announced last year that it was looking for a new home because it had outgrown its current building, considered locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bridget Palmer, a spokeswoman for Cherry Hill Township, said earlier this week that the municipality did not want to lose Subaru. But she said “if it’s good for Camden, it’s good for Cherry Hill.” The move would be the biggest reversal yet of a generations-long migration of residents and businesses from Camden, the nation’s most impoverished city, to its well-off suburbs, the most populous of which is Cherry Hill. Subaru said it is planning to consolidate more than 500 workers in a new building as part of an office park being developed by Camden’s biggest company, Campbell Soup. It hopes to make the move in about two years. This week, Subaru announced U.S. sales through November had already broken the company’s annual sales record, something it’s achieved six straight years. The office park was announced several years ago, but no other firms have moved in yet. Part of the reason for the delay was Campbell’s litigation over its plan to knock down a stately former Sears store on the site. It was finally razed last year. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority is expected to consider the tax credits for Subaru at its meeting on Tuesday. Other companies that have received tax breaks for moves to Camden include Holtec International, a nuclear power plant components maker that plans to bring manufacturing, engineering and other jobs to the city; Lockheed Martin, which plans to put researchers there; and the Philadelphia 76ers, which plan to move their offices and practice facility there.
Nation
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 7A
Paralegal: Sanofi fired her for whistleblowing By LINDA A. JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRENTON, N.J. — A paralegal recently fired by French drugmaker Sanofi has filed a whistleblower lawsuit, claiming she was discharged after protesting an alleged kickback scheme to increase U.S. sales of its insulin medicines. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court in Newark by Diane Ponte, accuses Sanofi SA, recently ousted CEO Christopher Viehbacher and more than 10 other executives of paying consultants millions to induce pharmacists to fill prescriptions for generic insulin with Sanofi’s brand-name versions, rather than those of rival Novo Nordisk A/S. In a statement, Sanofi denied firing Ponte for whistleblowing, calling her allegations without merit and saying she’s a “disgruntled former employee who is opportunistically attacking our company.” Attempts to contact Viehbacher were unsuccessful. Ponte was fired in October, two weeks before Sanofi’s board ousted Viehbacher, citing slumping sales and problems with his management style. The lawsuit claims his involvement in the alleged fraud also was a reason. The lawsuit alleges that Ponte, whose job in Sanofi’s diabetes division involved approving vendor contacts as meeting the requirements of federal health care laws, was fired in mid-October after months of retaliation from superiors for raising concerns about the alleged bribery and kickback scheme. “She was a model employee, by their standards,” receiving excellent evaluations and commendations from clients over 13 years with Sanofi, Ponte’s attorney, Rosemarie Arnold of Fort Lee, New Jersey, said in an interview Friday. “She loved her job. She was so loyal to this company, and having been fired took a toll on her emotional well-being.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees and other costs. According to the suit, Ponte was retaliated against after she balked when directed in March 2013 to approve nine contracts totaling about $34 million between Sanofi and two consulting firms, Deloitte LLP and Accenture PLC, neither of whom are named as defendants. Arnold said the paralegal told her manager she couldn’t approve the contracts because they had already been signed before her review, which was improper, and they called for huge payments without any services being provided. Arnold said the consulting firms used the money to induce hospitals, pharmacies and doctors to give preference to Sanofi insulin brands such as its top-selling product, Lantus. “Accenture and Deloitte would make deals with the pharmacies whereby when a patient came in with a generic prescription for insulin, the pharmacist would push the Sanofi insulin,” Arnold said. She added that if the prescription specified a Novo Nordisk insulin, the pharmacists would urge patients or even contact their doctors, saying they should choose a Sanofi brand because it was better. The suit states that Raymond Godleski, a supervisor in the U.S. diabetes marketing division, told Ponte that Viehbacher and Dennis Urbaniak, the vice president of Sanofi’s U.S. diabetes business, knew she was holding up the consulting contracts and that Viehbacher was “extremely unhappy.” After Ponte refused to sign off, the company conducted what Arnold termed a “farce” internal investigation. No one was disciplined, she said, but two of the key defendants, Godleski and Urbaniak, “retired” from Sanofi. The suit states they each received “millions of dollars in severance packages and/or in their pensions,” and
both then landed lucrative positions as consultants to Sanofi. Meanwhile, Ponte was subjected to frequent verbal criticism, threatened with violence and even grabbed and yanked around by one manager, the suit states. When she was fired in October, Arnold said, a manager told her it was because of her whistleblowing activity. Sanofi’s U.S. spokeswoman, Mary Kathryn Steel, said that given the pending litigation the company could not comment on the allegations of kickbacks and bribery. Deloitte spokesman Jonathan Gandal said in a statement that “as an organization committed to the public interest, we are confident our contracts and services were entirely appropriate.” Accenture did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The suit notes the alleged illegal activity took place while Sanofi was operating under a corporate integrity agreement with the U.S. government that required it to obey U.S. laws and report any illegal activity to the government, because it had previously failed to follow federal health care laws. It didn’t report the bribery allegations or internal probe, Arnold said. Such corporate integrity agreements have become almost routine in the pharmaceutical industry. Multiple pharmaceutical companies have gotten into trouble with the U.S. government for marketing drugs for unapproved uses, overcharging government health programs such as Medicare for their medicines and other illegal behavior. They have agreed to pay significant fines, sometimes a few billion dollars, although they rarely admit any wrongdoing. Then, the same companies get caught later for similar behavior, leading analysts to say that the drugmakers see the fines as a cost of doing business, because the billions of dollars in resulting extra medicine sales far exceed any fines.
Photo by Sam Penrod/Deseret News | AP
Addie Fausett, 6, stopped growing when she was 3; her undiagnosed illness is causing cerebral atrophy. Doctors say she has less than one year to live.
Dying girl gets lots of Christmas cards By BRADY MCCOMBS ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY — The colorful cards arrive from all over the globe at a clip of 1,200 a day — each wishing tiny Addie Fausett happy holidays on what is expected to be her final Christmas. Six-year-old Addie has an undiagnosed illness that has halted her growth since she was 3 and is now causing cerebral atrophy. Doctors say she has less than one year to live. She hardly talks anymore and struggles to walk and sleep. She weighs less than 25 pounds. And she can’t play with other kids because her illness causes behavior problems. As her family coped with the painful realization that Addie is dying, her grandmother came up with an idea: Let’s ask people from around the globe to send her Christmas cards to cheer her up. Days before the first Facebook post by grandma Maree Jensen, Addie told her mom she wanted friends like her two older sisters and to be able to laugh and play. “Grandma just wanted to be able to tell Addie she has a lot of friends,” said Addie’s mother, Tami Fausett. “My mom wanted Addie to think she was really loved. It worked.” In the first days, they counted the cards one by one, up to eight
the week before Thanksgiving. Then, a Salt Lake City TV station ran a story, getting the campaign wider exposure. Now, they count them by the thousands. About 3,000 arrived on Thursday — the same day the family attended a funeral for Addie’s father. Since Monday, more than 1,000 cards have been arriving daily for Addie, said Barbara Gordon, postmaster in the tiny rural town of Fountain Green, Utah, population 1,000, about a 1 1/2-hour drive south from Salt Lake City. “Some of the stamps are so unusual,” Gordon said. “They are coming from all over the world.” They have come from Germany, Australia and Saudi Arabia, Tami Fausett said. One judge sent a signed and stamped court order for Addie to have a Merry Christmas. One little boy sent a hand-written note telling Addie he was her boyfriend. “She loved that one,” said Tami Fausett, 29. “She has a couple of boyfriends.” She always smiles when they open the cards. Sometimes she lays on top of all of them on the floor. A couple of times, she’s broken down in tears. Not the type that come with a tantrum, her mother said, but the tears that come with emotion. Addie was a happy, healthy child until she turned 3, her mother says. Then they noticed she stopped growing.
Nation
8A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
Rolling Stone casts doubt on rape story By ALAN SUDERMAN AND FREDERIC J. FROMMER ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Rolling Stone cast doubt Friday on its story of a young woman who said she was gang-raped at a fraternity party at the University of Virginia, saying it has since learned of “discrepancies” in her account. “Our trust in her was misplaced,” the magazine’s editor, Will Dana, wrote in a signed apology. The backpedaling dispirited advocates for rape victims who said they are concerned it could lead to a setback in efforts to combat sexual assaults both at U.Va. and college campuses elsewhere. The lengthy article published last month focused on a woman it identified only as “Jackie,” using her case as an example of what it called a culture of sexual violence hiding in plain sight at U.Va. Rolling Stone said that because Jackie’s story was sensitive, the magazine honored her request not to contact the men who she claimed organized and participated in the attack. That prompted criticism from other news organizations. “We were trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault and now regret the decision to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account,” the magazine’s statement said. “We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story.” The statement Rolling Stone posted on its website said discrepancies in the woman’s account became apparent “in the face of new information,” but provided no details about what facts might be in question. That wasn’t enough for some.
“It is deeply troubling that Rolling Stone magazine is now publicly walking away from its central storyline in its bombshell report on the University of Virginia without correcting what errors its editors believe were made,” Attorney General Mark Herring said in a statement. The original story noted that a dangerous mix of alcohol, date-rape drugs and forced sex at fraternity parties is by no means unique to any one U.S. university. In fact, U.Va. is one of 90 schools facing Title IX sexual-violence investigations from the Education Department, a list that includes four others in Virginia: the College of William and Mary; James Madison University; the University of Richmond; and Virginia Military Institute. But U.Va was roiled by the magazine’s initial article, which prompted protests, classroom debates, formal investigations and a suspension of fraternity activities. Phi Kappa Psi, where the gang rape allegedly occurred on Sept. 28, 2012, was attacked after the article was published, with cinderblocks thrown through the fraternity house’s windows. The main point of the article was that too many people at U.Va. put protecting the school’s image and their own reputations above seeking justice for sex crimes. Over the past two weeks, the college community “has been more focused than ever” on preventing and responding to sexual violence on campus, U.Va. President Teresa Sullivan said Friday in a statement. “Today’s news must not alter this focus,” Sullivan said. Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s spokeswoman, Rachel Thomas, said the governor has asked for an investigation while continuing to
Photo by Steve Helber | AP
Rolling Stone has cast doubt on the account it published of a young woman who says she was gang-raped at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity party at University of West Virginia. work with state and educational leaders “to ensure that Virginia’s college campuses are leaders in prevention, response, and awareness efforts.” Sullivan asked Charlottesville police to investigate the alleged gang rape. The police inquiry continued Friday. Some state lawmakers proposed legislation requiring university officials to report sex assault allegations to the criminal justice system, rather than try to handle cases themselves. Another proposed requiring campus police to report assaults to local prosecutors within 48 hours. The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity issued its own statement disputing the account of Jackie, who described being led upstairs by her date, who then allegedly orchestrated her gang-rape by seven men as he and another watched. According to the Rolling Stone article, the woman said she recognized one attacker as a classmate, who reluctantly sodomized her with a bottle as others egged him on, saying, “Don’t you want to be a brother?”
The article said Jackie had met her date while they worked at the U.Va. pool, and that she quit her job as a lifeguard there to avoid seeing him thereafter. But the fraternity said none of its members worked at the university’s Aquatic and Fitness Center in 2012, that it had no social event during the weekend when the woman said the rape took place, and that it doesn’t hold pledging parties until the fall. “No ritualized sexual assault is part of our pledging or initiation process. This notion is vile, and we vehemently” dispute the claim, the fraternity statement said. “We continue to be shocked by the allegations and saddened by this story. We have no knowledge of these alleged acts being committed at our house or by our members. Anyone who commits any form of sexual assault, wherever or whenever, should be identified and brought to justice.” Two fourth-year students on campus said they were disappointed with how Rolling Stone treated Jackie, and said discrepan-
cies in her story don’t mean what she said happened is untrue. “I believe Jackie, period,” said Greg Lewis, who added that he thinks U.Va. has an entrenched rape culture. “At a certain point you have to say how many rapes is enough?” added Anna Boynton. Some advocates expressed anger Friday that the magazine blamed the victim, rather than its own journalistic practices — and that efforts to prevent sexual violence could get waylaid as a result. “It’s an advocate’s job to believe and support, never to play investigator or adjudicator,” said Emily Renda, U.Va.’s project coordinator for sexual misconduct, policy and prevention, and a member of the governor’s Task Force on Combating Campus Sexual Violence.
Renda, who knows Jackie and also was interviewed for the Rolling Stone article, said, “I didn’t and don’t question Jackie’s credibility because that is not my role. Rolling Stone played adjudicator, investigator and advocate — and did a slipshod job at that.” Renda, a May graduate who said she was raped her freshman year at the school, added in an email that as a result of this, “Jackie suffers, the young men in Phi Kappa Psi suffered, and survivors everywhere can unfairly be called into question. “We still have to build a culture of support and reporting so that justice can be done right and survivors can find healing. Rolling Stone has run roughshod over years of advocacy, over fairness and justice, and ultimately, over Jackie.”
Nation
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 9A
Ebola cheaper in Texas than in New York By MICHELLE FAY CORTEZ BLOOMBERG NEWS
New Yorkers are getting a bigger bill shock from Ebola than Texans. In Texas, state, county and city spending on containment and clean-up after the first cases of the Ebola virus cropped up in the Dallas area this year added up to less than $3 million, according to data from local agencies. That even includes more than $26,000 to take care of an infected patient’s dog. New York City estimates it has spent $21 million and counting to treat Ebola patient Craig Spencer, track down dozens of people he interacted with before his condition was diagnosed in October and monitor those people and hundreds of others who enter the city each day from West Africa. New York’s estimate is part of the city’s appeal for
reimbursement from the $6.2 billion fund President Barack Obama has requested to cover Ebola costs in the U.S. and to help fight the virus in West Africa and elsewhere. The city declined repeated requests to provide details of how it reached its estimate, making it impossible to tell how closely its figures compare with the spending figures in Texas. So, is New York overspending? Are its officials overestimating the cost? Or does the city just have bigger needs than Dallas? Comparing the cities handling of the virus sheds some light. Health officials in both New York and Dallas worked with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to trace people who had contact with patients infected there. While patients in both cities moved around in public with infections
So, is New York overspending? Or does the city just have bigger needs than Dallas? in the time before they were admitted to hospitals for treatment, neither had a case of transmission outside of a hospital. In Dallas, two nurses contracted Ebola from contact with a patient. Some of the difference in cost may be due to New York’s role in receiving people from West Africa, where most of the Ebola outbreak has been concentrated. Unlike Dallas, New York has one of the five U.S. airports as a destination for passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. As of Dec. 2, the city’s health department was monitoring 222 people who had traveled to the city
from West Africa in the previous 21 days, a precautionary measure. The department had also been keeping an eye on 114 health-care workers who treated Spencer until the monitoring period ended for the last one. New York said it had 500 staffers working full time on Ebola. The city required police and disease detectives to spend hours finding individuals who needed to be monitored, and it hired substitute health-care workers to cover for the 100 staffers devoted to Spencer’s care. Dallas County officials calculate they spent $384,347, including items such as decontamination
and payroll costs, in October and November after Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. The city of Dallas, meanwhile, estimated it paid $155,000 tied to the Ebola outbreak, including costs for the fire department, police, animal services, utilities, equipment and emergency management services. The Texas Department of State Health Services estimates the expense will eventually total $1.28 million, covering staff costs, travel, supplies and incineration of waste. It isn’t clear whether the total includes some of the city and county expenses. Those price tags don’t include medical treatment for Duncan or the two Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas nurses who were infected while caring for him. While the
hospital hasn’t disclosed its costs, its parent company, Texas Health Resources, attributed an $8.1 million drop in net revenue to the financial impact of the Ebola case, according to a filing. Texas Health Resources has absorbed all the costs associated with treating its Ebola patients, and its patient volumes have returned to normal except in the emergency department, Wendell Watson, a spokesman, said in an email. New York didn’t detail costs of Spencer’s care at city-owned Bellevue Hospital Center. More than 100 people took care of him, and the costs include expenses for protective equipment, medicine, the treatment of hazardous materials and a special lab for blood tests, said Ram Raju, president of the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp.
PÁGINA 10A
Zfrontera
Ribereña en Breve VISITA DE CASAS Se invita a pasar la tarde del 7 de diciembre visitando casas históricas y puntos de referencia de San Ygnacio. Las ganancias se destinarán a la Escuela Primaria Arturo L. Benavides.
PROYECCIÓN DE DOCUMENTAL La Ciudad de Nuevo Laredo, México, será la sede de la primera proyección del documental “Rescatando el elefante herido”, que retrata la labor de la gente que busca la reconstrucción del tejido social en Tamaulipas. La proyección será el 8 de diciembre a las 12 p.m. en Cinépolis Paseo Reforma. El proceso de “Rescatando al elefante herido” comenzó desde principios de 2014 y lo llevó a visitar diversos municipios de la frontera, el centro, el altiplano y la costa. El calendario de presentaciones en lugares como Reynosa, Valle Hermoso, Matamoros, Ciudad Victoria y Tula se dará a conocer después del estreno del documental en Nuevo Laredo.
CAMPAMENTO DE SOFTBALL La Ciudad de Roma, Texas estará realizando un campamento de softball dirigido a jugadores de entre 8 y 14 años de edad. El evento se llevará a cabo el sábado 13 de diciembre, dentro de las instalaciones del Roma High Softball Field, en los siguientes horarios: de 9 a.m. a 12 p.m.; de 12 p.m. a 1 p.m. (se proporcionará la comida); y de 1 p.m. a 3 p.m. Los asistentes recibirán entrenamiento para cubrir las áreas de picheo, bateo, cubrir las bases, moverse entre campos, robar bases, entre otros aspectos. El costo del campamento será de 25 dólares, e incluirá la comida y una playera. Para más información puede llamar a Joel Hinojosa Jr., al 353-1442.
SÁBADO 6 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2014
FRONTERA
Caso contra agente POR PHILIP BALLI TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El caso en contra de agentes del gobierno de Estados Unidos y Patrulla Fronteriza, quienes utilizaron fuerza letal para disparar a un hombre desarmado de nacionalidad mexicana, en las causes del Río Grande hace dos años, fueron el tema principal en una conferencia que se realizó el jueves ante el Juez Magistrado de EU, Guillermo García. A finales de agosto, la esposa e hijas de Guillermo Arévalo Pedraza anunciaron que están demandando al gobierno de Estados Unidos, al agente que ellas señalan disparó a Arévalo, y a los supervisores del agente, por 40 millones de dólares. La demanda acusa al Agente Christopher Boatwright, quien el abogado Bob Hilliard alega, fue quien disparó a Arévalo, y a sus supervisores, hasta llegar a David Aguilar, quien en ese momento estaba a cargo de Aduana y Protección Fronteriza (CBP, por sus siglas en inglés), y a la entonces Secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Janet Napolitano. El propósito de la audiencia del jueves era que García comprobara el estado de notificación de los acusados, dijo Hilliard.
“Todos, a excepción de tres acusados han sido notificados, y al resto de los acusados se les notificará en el futuro cercano”, dijo Hilliard. “Solamente tenemos que presentar las pruebas de notificación”. En la corte federal, un abogado tiene 120 días para notificar a un acusado, usualmente en alrededor de 90 días el juez fijará una conferencia de estatus solicitando una actualización del caso. Durante la audiencia, Christopher Churchill, un abogado litigante en el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos, hizo referencia al hecho de que él podría estar dirigiendo una estancia en el caso, a la espera de un fallo por parte del Quinto Tribunal de Circuito de Apelaciones. El 5 de noviembre, los jueves el Quinto Tribunal de Circuito de Apelaciones ordenó que un caso, derivado de la muerte de un ciudadano mexicano a manos de un agente de Patrulla Fronteriza, fuera expuesto nuevamente, después de que un panel de jueces emitiera un dictamen sobre esta cuestión a favor de Estados Unidos y los supervisores de Patrulla Fronteriza. La victima del caso fue Sergio Adrián Hernández Guereca, de 15 años de edad, un joven de nacionalidad mexicana, quien fue abatido por el agente de Patrulla Fronteri-
za, Jesús Mesa, el 7 de junio de 2010. El caso, similar al caso de Arévalo, involucra el intento de un ciudadano extranjero para invocar la protección constitucional por una lesión que se produjera en Estados Unidos. El incidente con Hernández ocurrió dos años antes que el incidente de Arévalo, y Hilliard cree que esto solo fortalece su caso. “Los supervisores de Patrulla Fronteriza continúan sin modificar las reglas para el uso de la fuerza”, dijo Hilliard. “Los supervisores sabían sobre este suceso y continuaron permitiendo la aplicación de esta política, que permite a los agentes seguir haciendo lo que han efectuado por años, que es matar ilícitamente a ciudadanos mexicanos”. Los argumentos orales para la segunda audiencia en el caso de Hernández están programados para el 20 de enero en el Quinto Tribunal de Circuito de Apelaciones. Hilliard dijo que el caso podría ser detenido hasta nuevo aviso, a la espera del fallo del Quinto Tribunal, si el Juez de la Corte de Distrito de EU concede la estancia a Churchill y éste la pospone. Arévalo y su familia estaban celebrando el cumpleaños de su esposa, Nora Isabel Lam Gallegos, y
ECONOMÍA
AGRICULTURA
AUMENTA EMPLEO
Extienden fecha límite de filiación ESPECIAL PARA TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
PROGRAMA PECDA 2015 El Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA), a través del Instituto Tamaulipeco para la Cultura y las Artes (ITCA), de México, han anunciado el cierre para las convocatorias del Programa de Estímulo a la Creación y al Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA) 2015. Los solicitantes deben ser originarios del Estado de Tamaulipas o comprobar una residencia continua mínima durante los últimos tres años. Los proyectos seleccionados se harán acreedores a un estímulo económico que les facilite las condiciones para continuar con su labor en las disciplinas de artes plásticas, arte urbano, artes visuales, danza, letras, música, patrimonio cultural y teatro. Los postulantes deberán ser mayores de 18 años y harán llegar todos sus documentos y material de apoyo en forma electrónica mediante el portal http://www.pecdaenlinea.conaculta.com.mx, a través de la opción “Registrar nuevo usuario”. El cierre de la convocatoria es el 17 de diciembre.
VISITA DE PAISANOS Se fortalecerá la vigilancia en las carreteras del Estado de Tamaulipas, señala un comunicado de prensa del Estado. Durante una reunión entre el Gobernador Egidio Torre Cantú, las fuerzas federales y estatales que integran el Grupo de Coordinación Tamaulipas, se acordó implementar la vigilancia y la presencia policial durante la temporada decembrinas, periodo durante el cual crece el número de paisanos que visitan México, a través del Estado. — (Reportes con información de tamaulipas.gob.mx)
sus dos hijas el 3 de septiembre de 2012, cuando vieron a agentes en un bote tratando de detener a una persona que nadaba de Estados Unidos a México, de acuerdo con la demanda. En un interrogatorio Lam dijo que los agentes usaron el bote para tratar de ahogar al nadador y que las personas que se encontraban a orillas del río estaban gritando para detenerlos. Cuando el grupo comenzó a alejarse de la orilla, dijo Lam, escuchó disparos. “Fue ahí cuando vi a mi esposo en el suelo”, dijo. “Comencé a gritar ‘ellos lo mataron, ellos lo mataron’”. El bote de Patrulla Fronteriza huyó, dijo ella. Lam y sus hijas sostienen que una política discriminatoria permite a los agentes disparar repetidamente a quienes lancen rocas, quienes no representan una amenaza grave. Durante el anuncio de la demanda dijeron que nadie estaba lanzando piedras el día que se le disparó a Arévalo, frente a sus hijas, mientras la familia estaba en la fiesta de cumpleaños en un parque en Nuevo Laredo, México. Patrulla Fronteriza dijo que agentes en botes de aire respondían a lanzadores de piedras a orillas del río.
Foto por Cuate Santos/archivo | The Zapata Times
Mario González, quien viste una camisa azul, escucha a Ilana Cervas, integrante del personal administrativo de SOS Employment Group en Corpus Christi, mientras busca empleo en el campo del gas y petróleo en una feria de empleo celebrada en el Laredo Energy Arena.
Registran mayor cifra en casi tres años POR CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Los empleadores en Estados Unidos agregaron la notable cantidad de 321.000 empleos en noviembre, el mayor aumento en las contrataciones en casi tres años y la señal más reciente de que el país está teniendo mejor desempeño que otras economías del mundo desarrollado. Adicionalmente, el Departamento del Trabajo informó el viernes que en el bimestre de septiembre y octubre fueron agregados 44.000 empleos más que los que el gobierno había estimado previamente. Este año el promedio en la creación de puestos ha sido de 241.000 mensuales, lo que hace que 2014 esté cerca de ser el año más sólido en
cuanto a contrataciones desde 1999. La tasa de desempleo se mantuvo a 5,8% el mes pasado, el nivel más bajo en seis años. El fuerte aumento de puestos sucede luego que la economía se expandió de abril a septiembre a su ritmo más rápido en 11 años. Los puestos adicionales deberían respaldar un crecimiento estable en los próximos meses. El salario promedio por hora subió nueve centavos de dólar para llegar a 24,66 dólares el mes pasado, la mayor ganancia en 17 meses. Aun así, en los últimos 12 meses el salario por hora ha aumentado sólo 2,1%, apenas por encima de la tasa de inflación de 1,7%. La ganancia de empleos fue impulsada en parte por las contrataciones en tiendas minoris-
tas, servicios temporales y transporte y almacenes. Es muy probable que tales incrementos reflejen las contrataciones por temporada para las vacaciones de invierno. Las compañías de envíos han anunciado planes ambiciosos: UPS dijo que espera añadir hasta 95.000 trabajadores temporales, un incremento frente a los 85.000 del año pasado. FedEx planea contratar 50.000, cifra superior a los 40.000 de 2013. El sector manufactura agregó 28.000 empleos, la mayor cantidad en un año. Los sectores de la educación y la salud sumaron 38.000. Y los servicios profesionales y de negocios, una categoría que incluye empleos temporales pero también mejor pagados en áreas como la contaduría y la ingeniería, registraron su mayor alza en cuatro años.
El Departamento de Agricultura de EU, anunció que el plazo para solicitar ingresar al programa de Protección de Margen para los Productos Lácteos (MPP), se extenderá al 19 de diciembre. El programa, establecido por la Ley Agrícola de 2014, protege a los productores de productos lácteos cuando el precio cae por debajo de los niveles de protección seleccionados por el solicitante. “La Ley Agrícola creó estos programas de protección para proporcionar seguridad contra la incertidumbre por el clima y los mercados, pero esta red de seguridad no es automática. Los productores deben visitar su oficina local de la Agencia de Servicios Agrícolas para inscribirse antes de 19 de diciembre”, dijo el Secretario del Departamento de Agricultura, Tom Vilsack. “Esta inversión puede ser una protección contra pérdidas inesperadas el día de mañana”. Por 100 dólares el agricultor puede cubrir el 90 por ciento de la producción a 4 dólares el cambio de margen y con primas asequibles incrementadas a los productores lácteos se puede cubrir hasta 8 dólares en cambios de margen”, señala un comunicado de prensa. De acuerdo con el comunicado, las personas que se inscriban este año recibirán un aumento en protección de producción. Podrá conocer y calcular los mejores niveles de cobertura para su solicitud puede visitar www.fsa.usda.gov/mpptool. En la página podrá escribir datos de operaciones específicas y explorar las proyecciones de precio y escenarios del mercado. Los agricultores también tienen la oportunidad de compartir comentarios y ayudar a dar forma al Programa de Protección de margen en el futuro. La extensión fue posible por Ley Agrícola de 2014, que se basa en los beneficios económicos que se han registrado en el área rural de EU.
MIGUEL ALEMÁN, MÉXICO
Policía incauta cargamento de marihuana TIEMPO DE ZAPATA
El decomiso de más de 200 kilogramos de marihuana fue efectuado por elementos de seguridad del Estado de Tamaulipas, anunciaron autoridades el miércoles.
El municipio de Miguel Alemán, México, fue el lugar donde elementos de la Policía Estatal Acreditable, la Policía Federal y Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional encontraran un vehículo, cargado con 59 paquetes de diferentes tamaños,
envueltos en cinta color café. Los paquetes sumaron un total de 259,7 kilogramos de marihuana. El decomiso ocurrió el lunes 1 de diciembre, después de que elementos de seguridad que vigilaban el poblado Ángeles, encontra-
ran una camioneta Jeep Grand Cherokee con placas de Texas, abandonada y sin llave de encendido. Los narcóticos fueron entregados a autoridades de la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR).
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
THE ZAPATA TIMES 11A
Planned Parenthood drops Kansas lawsuit By JOHN HANNA ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA, Kan. — Planned Parenthood on Friday dropped a federal lawsuit challenging a requirement in Kansas for abortion providers to have a link on their websites’ home pages to state materials about fetal development and terminating pregnancies. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil issued a onepage order closing the lawsuit, saying the parties had “settled” the claims, without providing details. A trial had been scheduled to begin Monday in Kansas City, Kansas. Elise Higgins, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Kansas and MidMissouri, told The Associated Press in a later email, “We voluntarily dismissed the case, and there was no settlement.”
A spokeswoman for Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt did not immediately return telephone and email messages seeking comment Friday evening. Vratil directed the parties to file a joint statement about the resolution by Monday. Planned Parenthood argued the requirement to link to state materials violated its free-speech rights. The rule was enacted by legislators last year, and was a more specific, Internet-age requirement than a previous version of the law mandating state materials must be provided to patients before they have their abortions. In a statement Friday, Laura McQuade, the group’s president and CEO, said: “We made the decision to focus our resources on expanding access to care for our patients in 2015.”
Planned Parenthood objected because the required language for the link included the phrase “unborn child,” and the materials contained a statement that abortion ends the life of a “whole, separate, unique, living human being.” Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who signed the requirement into law, is a strong abortion opponent, and the Legislature has strong anti-abortion majorities in both chambers. The state said its power to regulate medicine allows for rules about materials so that patients get good, objective information. It also said Planned Parenthood’s home page already links to another page that gives patients access to the state’s materials. Planned Parenthood’s clinic in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park is among three clinics providing abortions in Kansas.
ORION Continued from Page 1A Orions to carry astronauts out into the solar system, to Mars and beyond. The next Orion flight, also unmanned, is four years off, and crewed flights at least seven years away given present budget constraints. But the Orion team — spread across the country and out in the ocean, is hoping Friday’s triumphant splashdown will pick up the momentum. “We challenged our best and brightest to continue to lead in space,” lead flight director Mike Sarafin said with emotion as he signed off from Mission Control in Houston. “While this was an unmanned mission, we were all on board Orion.” W. Michael Hawes, a former NASA official who now leads the Orion program for prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp., choked up as he recalled the pre-shuttle days. “We started with all the Apollo guys still there. So we’ve kind of now finally done something for the first time for our generation,” he said, pausing for composure. “It’s a good thing.” Orion splashed down 270 miles off Mexico’s Baja peninsula, just a mile from the projected spot — “a bull’s-eye” according to NASA. Navy ships quickly moved in to transport the crew module 600 miles to San Diego, where it was expected Monday. From there, it will be loaded onto a truck and returned to Cape Canaveral just in time for Christmas. Preliminary test reports were encouraging: Not only did the capsule arrive intact, all eight parachutes deployed and onboard computers withstood the intense radiation of the Van Allen belts surrounding Earth. What’s more, everything meant to jettison away did so as Orion soared into space. “It’s hard to have a better day than today,” said a beaming Mark Geyer, NASA’s Orion program manager. Sensors placed inside and out of the crew module will tell the full story: “Our big focus now is to get that data from those 1,200 sensors so they can pore over it in the next month or so,” Geyer said. Most critical was the heat shield covering
Orion’s bottom, the largest of its kind ever made. NASA wanted to be sure it would hold before committing to a human mission. Orion reached a peak altitude of 3,604 miles, higher than any crew module since NASA’s final manned moon mission, Apollo 17, in 1972. That’s more than 14 times higher than the International Space Station. The capsule came in over the Pacific at 20,000 mph and endured 4,000 degrees. In just 11 minutes, it slowed to 20 mph for splashdown. A crew would have endured as much as 8.2 Gs, or 8.2 times the force of Earth gravity, double the Gs of a returning Russian Soyuz capsule, according to NASA. Earth shrank from view through Orion’s capsule window during its trip out into space, and stunning images were relayed back home. Having part of the window frame in the picture drove home the fact that this will be an astronaut’s view from inside, Geyer said. “It’s different than a satellite taking a picture of the Earth ... very moving,” he said. More spectacular views came from Orion’s return, recorded by an unmanned drone flying over the recovery zone. Helicopters also provided images of the crew module bobbing in the water. Three of the five air bags deployed properly, enough to keep the capsule floating upright. All but two parachutes were lost at sea. This inaugural run was intended to be brief — just two laps around Earth, shorter than even John Glenn’s orbital achievement in 1962. The same capsule will be reused around 2017 for a launch abort test, followed by a second Orion heading to space in 2018 aboard the SLS megarocket NASA is developing. “The sight of the Orion on top of the Space Launch System is going to take your breath away, even before it takes flight,” promised astronaut Rex Walheim. Officials expect it will be 2021 before Orion carries people, but NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. was already calling Friday’s test “Day One of the
Mars era.” Indeed, the team working the Mars Curiosity rover tweeted a quick congrats: “We’re one step closer to bootprints next to these rover tracks.” Lockheed Martin, which handled the $370 million test flight for NASA using a Delta IV rocket, already has begun work on a second Orion and plans to build a whole fleet. An asteroid redirected to lunar orbit is intended for the first stop in the 2020s, followed by Mars in the 2030s. Monthslong journeys would include habitats as well as the four-person capsules, which are bigger than the old-style Apollo and considerably enhanced. “Everybody wants to go to Mars,” Walheim noted, “and it’s important to go there to figure out what happened to Mars and establish our presence on another planet to become a multiplanetary species.” The atmosphere surrounding Friday’s smooth sunrise launch — one day late because of wind and valve trouble — was a throwback to the shuttleflying days, but considerably more upbeat than that last 2011 mission. Walheim was on board for that mission and welcomed all the excitement returning to Kennedy Space Center. Chris Tarkenton, who traveled from Poquoson, Virginia, to watch from a nearby causeway, called the whole thing “awe inspiring.” “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to launch something of this magnitude,” he said. This Orion — serial number 001 — lacked seats, cockpit displays and lifesupport equipment, but brought along bundles of toys and memorabilia: bits of moon dust; the crew patch worn by Sally Ride, America’s first spacewoman; a Capt. James Kirk doll owned by “Star Trek” actor William Shatner. Officials noted that in two days, it will be exactly 42 years since Apollo 17 launched. “Here we are again now, the United States leading exploration out into the solar system,” Geyer told reporters. Before the news conference ended, a rainbow appeared in the sky.
GUERRERO Continued from Page 1A of demonstrations and sometimes violent protests, including in Acapulco, where activists blocked access to the city’s airport for several hours one day last month. Hotel occupancy rates have been below normal, threatening jobs in the hospitality industry. In late November, the U.S. Embassy recommended its citizens avoid unnecessary travel to Acapulco. “Organized crime has extended itself in parts of
our country and even coopted authorities and police,” Peña Nieto said. Earlier in the day, in Coyuca, Peña Nieto called for Mexico to overcome “this painful period.” Erubiel Tirado, a security expert and professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana, said Peña Nieto has reacted late to the disappearance of the students. The president “is the leader of the Mexican
state (and) it was important that he be there since the early days,” Tirado said. “They should have sent the message that there was a presence.” Last week, Peña Nieto announced an anti-crime plan that calls for Mexico’s municipal police forces to be dissolved and replaced by state police. He also plans to propose legislation that would Congress the power to dissolve local governments.
BORDER Continued from Page 1A mented immigrants in the country a temporary reprieve from deportation proceedings and a work permit. Johnson was vague on the details of the border plan, but according to a White House fact sheet on the president’s action, the border security efforts will build on the surge of law enforcement on the U.S.Mexico border that began over the summer. That effort focused on removing recent illegal crossers by reordering immigration court dockets. McCaul, the chairman of the committee, said the Department of Homeland Security needed to be prepared for a new wave of illegal crossers. He said it’s inevitable, given the crush of undocumented immigrants who crossed into Texas last summer. About 50,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended in the Rio Grande Valley sector of the U.S. Border Patrol during the 2014 budget year. An additional 52,300 families were apprehended in the same area. Republicans blamed that surge, in part, on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 executive action that gave some immigrant youths a reprieve from deportation. The majority of the illegal crossers were from Central America. “We’re going to see a surge and a wave of illegal immigration,” McCaul said. “I am telling you it’s going to happen. It’s coming.” At the state level, Attor-
The border security efforts will build on the surge of law enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border that began over the summer. ney General Greg Abbott, the incoming governor, said recently that because Texans dealt firsthand with the consequences of the illegal surge and had to spend state money to handle it, the state has cause to bring suit against the administration. Abbott could file a lawsuit against the Obama administration as soon as next week. On Tuesday, McCaul also questioned the timing of the president’s announcement, which Obama postponed until after the November elections. “Who should we believe, the president before the election who said he didn’t have legal authority to take this action? Or the president after the election who said he does have the authority to take this executive action?” McCaul said at the hearing. Johnson said the president’s remarks before the election dealt with awarding citizenship or permanent legal status to undocumented immigrants, which cannot be done under current law. The executive action will defer deportation but will not lead to “lawful status,” Johnson said. Johnson also faced pushback from border
Democrats who are in favor of immigration reform but who cringe at the concept of more border security. Congressman Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, said there is a growing concern that expedited removals could circumvent the legal process. “I think we are shortcutting due process, and we threaten to return families and have returned families and children into some very dangerous situations,” O’Rourke said at the hearing. “Certainly there are those who should be deported, but certainly there are those who qualify for asylum in our country.” O’Rourke also pressed for specifics on what more border security means in practical terms. “You and others have said the border has never been more secure,” he told Johnson. “I’d like to know what (more border security) means for my community. Is that simply repositioning resources along the border? Or are you asking for ultimately more Border Patrol agents, more walls, more of these militarization measures? At what point do we have enough security on the border?”
International
12A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
Deportees to be compensated By JAMEY KEATEN AND MATTHEW LEE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS — Thousands of Holocaust survivors and family members in the United States and elsewhere will be entitled to compensation from a $60 million French-U.S. fund announced Friday — reparations to those deported by France’s state rail company SNCF during the Nazi occupation. As part of the deal, the U.S. government will work to end lawsuits and other compensation claims in U.S. courts against SNCF, which is bidding for lucrative high-speed rail and other contracts in U.S. markets. State legislators in Maryland, New York, Florida and California have tried to punish SNCF for its Holocaust-era actions. “This is another measure of justice for the harms of one of history’s darkest eras,” said the U.S. Special Adviser on Holocaust Issues, Stuart Eizenstat, who spent three years working with French officials on the agreement. SNCF transported about 76,000 French Jews to Nazi concentration camps, though experts disagree on its degree of guilt. SNCF has expressed regret for what happened, but argues it had no effective control over operations during the Nazi occupation from 1940 to 1944. The compensation fund will be financed by the French government and managed by the United States. The accord will be signed Monday in Washington, but it still must get approval from the French Parliament, which could take months. France’s government has already paid more than $6 billion in reparations, but only to French citizens and certain deportees. The new accord is to help compensate Americans, Israelis and some
Minister stays in spite of remark ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Michel Euler | AP file
This Aug. 20, 2001, file photo shows French Holocaust survivors gathering at the site of the former Drancy detention camp, north of Paris, France. More than 70,000 Jewish men, women and children passed through Drancy on their way to Nazi extermination camps. others who were not eligible for other French reparations programs. Patrizianna SparacinoThiellay, a French ambassador for human rights who worked closely with Eizenstat on the accord, said “hundreds” of people in the U.S. are eligible under the new fund as direct survivors or spouses, and several thousand could be eligible as heirs. The money should break down to about $100,000 each for survivors and tens of thousands of dollars for spouses, said Eizenstat. Only in 1995 did France acknowledge a direct role in the Holocaust, when then-President Jacques Chirac said the state bore responsibility. Subsequent compensation programs paid out compensation worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The German government has paid around 70 billion euros ($85 billion) in compensation for Nazi crimes, mainly to Jewish
survivors. France already has international accords with four countries — Poland, Belgium, Britain and the Czech Republic — over compensation for deportation victims. Friday’s deal aims to fill the remaining gaps in justice for others also affected. Although SNCF is not a party to the agreement, the company will contribute $4 million over the next five years to fund Holocaust memorials and museums in the U.S., Israel and France, according to Eizenstat. The French government has pledged to encourage French lawmakers to approve the deal, Eizenstat said. Patrizianna SparacinoThiellay said the French government wanted to finish the deal by year-end in part for symbolic reasons: France is hosting several events marking 70 years since the Allies liberated France from the Nazis in 1944.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, who had pushed the U.S. government to pressure France to agree to compensation, hailed the deal as a “breakthrough in a decades-long struggle for justice.” Charles Srebnik, an 80year-old Holocaust survivor from Belgium, said his family began its efforts for redress many years ago over the deportation of his uncle, Herschel Sluszny — a Paris electrical engineer who later died at Auschwitz. “The sad part of it is that in 1995, President Jacques Chirac admitted the complicity and the guilt involved in this,” Srebnik said by phone from New York, “and all these years, the French national railroad denied it.” He said the money would be useful for survivors: “At this point, a lot of survivors can’t meet their daily needs — they’re so badly off.”
Abraham Foxman, national director of the AntiDefamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, said: “There is no amount of money that could ever make up for the horrific injustice done to these victims and their families.” “But agreements like this provide some modest redress, an important recognition of their pain, and acknowledge the responsibility of governments and institutions to leave no stone unturned in seeking every possible measure of justice for Holocaust victims,” said Foxman, himself a Holocaust survivor. The deal comes as France, home to western Europe’s largest Jewish community, is facing new concerns about anti-Semitism. France’s leading Jewish organization, CRIF, estimates that the number of anti-Semitic incidents has grown 91 percent this year compared to a year ago.
NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday rejected demands to fire a government minister whose derogatory comments against non-Hindus have led to a furor that has shut down the Indian Parliament for four days. Junior minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti told a public rally in New Delhi that those who do not follow the Hindu god Ram were “bastards.” Opposition lawmakers want her removed from the council of ministers on the grounds that her comments went against India’s secular constitution. Modi has called the remarks unacceptable, but has refused to fire her. He appealed to lawmakers Friday to let Parliament function. Modi told Parliament that Jyoti’s comments were unacceptable but that she was new and had been elected to Parliament for the first time. “She has apologized. I appeal to the house to move on and that we resume work in the interest of the country,” Modi said. Angry lawmakers have rejected Jyoti’s apology and demand that she face criminal charges for trying to incite communal hatred. Soon after Modi’s appeal to lawmakers Friday, Congress party lawmakers walked out of Parliament and sat in protest outside. They tied black cloths across their mouths and held signs demanding Jyoti’s dismissal. Muslims make up more than 13 percent of India’s population.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
Zentertainment
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Cosby’s Hollywood star vandalized By ANTHONY MCCARTNEY ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Graffiti commenting on sex abuse allegations against Bill Cosby were removed Friday from the comedian’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The word “rapist” was scrawled on Cosby’s star three times, according a photo that Houston television station KRIV-Fox 26 said it received from a viewer and posted on its website Thursday. The comedian has been accused by more than a dozen women of drugging them and sexual abuse, but he has never been charged with a crime. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which manages the stars embedded in several sidewalks in Hollywood, wrote in a statement that the stars were intended to celebrate the positive contributions of its inductees. “When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways then to vandalize a California state landmark,” the
Photo by Nick Ut | AP
Eddy Giron finishes up cleaning the Bill Cosby star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after it was defaced by graffiti in Los Angeles on Friday. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce wrote in a statement that it hoped people upset with Cosby would find different ways to express themselves than vandalism.
chamber wrote in a statement. Cosby received his star in 1977. It’s placed near the busy intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue. A Southern California woman sued Cosby on Tuesday, claiming he forced her to perform a sex act on him with her hand in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old. The incident occurred around 1974, according to the sexual battery complaint. Cosby’s attorneys denied the accusation in a court filing Thursday and sought to dismiss the case. Their motion called Judy Huth’s lawsuit extortion and said she attempted to sell her story to a tabloid a decade ago. They also cited discussions with her lawyer in which her price for silence rose from $100,000 to $250,000 in recent weeks. The renewed accusations of sexual misconduct against Cosby have cost him projects on NBC and Netflix, a trustee position at Temple University, and have forced the cancellation of numerous shows on his comedy tour.
Photo by Charlie Neibergall | AP file
In this Oct. 16, 2012 file photo, moderator Candy Crowley talks to the audience before the second presidential debate.
CNN’s Candy Crowley moving on By FRAZIER MOORE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Veteran newswoman Candy Crowley is leaving CNN after 27 years. Crowley, the network’s chief political correspondent and anchor of “State of the Union,” will exit at the end of this month, she said Friday. Her final appearance hosting the “State of the Union” political broadcast is Dec. 21. She said she doesn’t yet know her next stop, but said her departure has been years in the making. She first got the itch just before the 2008 campaign, she recalled — then things got interesting with the entry of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama into the race. She couldn’t tear herself away. Two years later she was offered “State of the Union.” “Now I’m at the point where I want another chance to do something new, somewhere new,” said Crowley, who turns 66 the day after Christmas. She says she made her decision at summer’s end. Crowley was an anchor for the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, as well as a general assign-
ment and White House correspondent for The Associated Press, before moving to NBC News’ Washington bureau. In 1987 she joined CNN, where she has covered presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections as well as Capitol Hill. In 2012, she moderated the general election debate between President Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. Her honors include Emmy, Edward R. Murrow and DuPont-Columbia University Silver Baton awards. “To say she lives and breathes politics is more than an understatement,” CNN boss Jeff Zucker said in a staff memo Friday. “She has an innate ability to sense its nuance, push its limits and ask questions that others won’t.” “I’ve done a lot of politics,” Crowley allowed, “and I still love it. Not who wins or who loses, but who they are.” Her next job may involve more politics — or may not. In the meantime, news of her leave-taking from CNN spread quickly. “I have 3,777 unread emails,” she was saying Friday afternoon, “and I apologize to everyone who’s reading this who I haven’t replied to. I will!”
Photo by Virgina Sherwood/NBC | AP
From left, John Allyn as Michael Darling, Allison Williams as Peter Pan, Jake Lucas as John Darling, and Taylor Louderman as Wendy Darling from the musical version, "Peter Pan Live!" Thursday’s musical production reached 9.1 million viewers.
Nielsen: 9 million viewers for NBC’s ‘Peter Pan Live’ By DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — “Peter Pan Live” didn’t exactly fly for NBC. The three-hour live musical starring Allison Williams reached 9.1 million viewers Thursday night, or just under half the audience that watched “The Sound of Music” last December, the Nielsen company said on Friday. The unexpected crowd of 18.6 million people last year had NBC swiftly looking for another live production. NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt said he didn’t expect to match last year’s ratings because “The Sound of Music” was the first event of its type on TV in many years. “We’re very pleased with the ’Peter Pan’ rat-
ings and it was a great night for NBC,” he said. “We won every hour, which hasn’t happened on Thursday with entertainment programming since a year ago. I’m proud to be part of a company that takes chances and creates big events, and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do.” He said NBC is already working on putting another musical together. The network announced last spring that “The Music Man” is next in the pipeline. Viewers drifted away from “Peter Pan Live” as the evening went on. During the first half hour, Nielsen said 11.4 million viewers were tuned in. But it dropped every half hour so that 7 million people were watching the final scenes.
One of its television competitors was a Dallas-Chicago NFL game. The musical made a social media splash, however. Twitter said there were 457,000 tweets sent out about the show while it was on, which were seen 106.9 million times. That compares to 68.7 million impressions for “The Sound of Music” and 37.4 million for the recent midseason finale of “The Walking Dead.” In a perverse sense, the production may have been hurt by competence. “Allison Williams ruined hate-watching,” critic Alessandra Stanley wrote in The New York Times. She referenced the phenomenon of people taking pleasure in sub-par performances, or watching people fail. Some critics suggested this boosted the attention to Carrie
Underwood in “Sound of Music” last year. The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon wrote that “Peter Pan Live” wasn’t “the amateur train wreck” that “The Sound of Music” was. “It was worse,” he said. “It was boring.” Williams, an actress on HBO’s “Girls,” drew some social media support from singer Katy Perry, who tweeted: “I believe in you Allison Williams!!!” Christopher Walken’s performance as Dr. Hook drew plenty of commentary. The Associated Press’ Mark Kennedy wrote that Walken’s deliberate take “seemed like a failed ’Saturday Night Live’ sketch about Johnny Depp.” Newsday’s Verne Gay said Walken “came to do camp and he succeeded.”
Sam Smith, Beyonce up for 5 Grammys each By MESFIN FEKADU ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — British newcomer Sam Smith and Beyonce — the most nominated female in Grammy history — are the current leaders at the Grammy Awards with five each. Smith and Beyonce will likely earn nominations for album of the year, the top award, when The Recording Academy announces the nominees Friday night on
“A Very GRAMMY Christmas.” Smith is the real leader so far: He’s up for key awards such as best new artist and song and record of the year for his hit “Stay With Me.” Beyonce, surprisingly, was not up for song or record of the year. Her nominations include best urban contemporary album for her fifth album as well as R&B song and R&B performance for “Drunk in Love.”
For song and record of the year, Smith’s “Stay With Me” will battle Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” and Sia’s “Chandelier.” Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” is nominated for record of the year, while Hozier’s “Take Me to Church” is up for song of the year, a songwriter’s award. Azalea, the Australian newcomer, earned four nominations, including best
rap album for “The New Classic,” best pop duo/ group performance for “Fancy” and best new artist, pitting her and Smith against pop-rock trio HAIM, English band Bastille and country singer Brandy Clark. Usher, Jack White, Miranda Lambert and Eric Church also earned four nominations each. Church and Lambert, both nominated in all four country categories, will compete for best
country album, along with Clark, Dierks Bentley and Lee Ann Womack. Sia, who also earned four nominations, had a breakthrough this year with “Chandelier” after writing songs for other singers, from Rihanna to Beyonce to Katy Perry. Smith’s five nominations include best pop solo performance and pop vocal album for his debut, “In the Lonely Hour,” one of the year’s top-selling albums.
The big-voiced singer will battle Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Katy Perry and Coldplay in the latter category. Pharrell earned three nominations, including best urban contemporary album for “G I R L,” where he will battle Beyonce’s surprise album. The pop queen is also nominated for best surround sound album for “Beyonce” and music film for her “On the Run” tour with Jay Z.
14A THE ZAPATA TIMES
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
In Kenya, police kill suspects freely By TOM ODULA ASSOCIATED PRESS
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan officers are killing unarmed terror suspects, shakedown victims and even children — spreading fear, breeding corruption and complicating efforts to deal with terrorism, an Associated Press investigation has found. Although death squads have long been known to operate in Kenya, a dozen interviews with victims, police, lawyers, activists and analysts suggest a big share of the violence is also being carried out by ordinary beat cops. Evidence examined by AP suggests they are almost never punished. “The broader picture here is one of utter impunity,” said Leslie Leftow, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division. “My fear is that the pattern of extrajudicial killings will only worsen.” Concerns about impunity were also raised when the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor in The Hague on Friday dropped all “crimes against humanity” charges against Kenya’s president for lack of evidence. That case was linked to violence after the 2007 elections. In its investigation of killings by police, the AP spoke to six family members of victims who say their relations either disappeared or were found dead after being taken into police custody. One human rights lawyer said officers shot a 14-year-old during a botched raid and tried to dump her body in a forest. Two survivors of a May 13 police shooting in Nairobi told AP an officer killed their friend after failing to extort a bribe. One officer said he had taken part in a killing in Nairobi. “I took part in an extrajudicial killing at the time there was pressure to reduce muggings downtown and we needed to send a message,” the officer
Photo by Khalil Senosi | AP
Saida Mohammed Kaburu displays a photograph of her son Mohamed Kaburu, as she speaks to The Associated Press in Nyeri, Kenya. Mohamed Kaburu’s body was discovered April 17 with bullet holes in his head. said, without giving details on who was killed. “Illegal killings are the norm rather than the exception,” Dr. Eric Thuo, a forensic specialist at the Independent Medico-Legal Unit, a Kenyan human rights organization, wrote in a recent report. Thuo combed through the forensic records for 1,873 gunshotrelated deaths in six major urban areas between 2009 and 2014. He found that police were involved in nearly two-thirds of those deaths, many of them suspected assassinations. Some killings take place in broad daylight. Mohammed Gulow, 34, and Adan Hussein, 33, saw their 21-year-old friend Aliyow Alinoor shot dead by police on a street corner in Nairobi’s Mukuru slum after the survivors say they failed to pay a 50,000 Kenyan shilling (roughly $550) bribe. Kenyan police spokeswoman
BLOCK Continued from Page 1A stated that to import, or nationalize, a vehicle, it must meet the requirements stipulated in NOM-041-SEMARNAT-2006 which “sets the minimum permissible emission of gaseous pollutants from the exhaust of motor vehicles in circulation that use gasoline as fuel.” Only a few vehicles in model years 2005 and 2006 pay a fee people find acceptable, while vehicles in the model year 2004 and earlier pay a much larger fee. For example, a person wanting to import a 2002 Ford Ranger pays 33,320 pesos in taxes, ($2,353) plus 2,640 pesos ($186) as a fee totaling 8 percent per thousand, and 3,500 pesos ($247) more for the customs agent or importer. In this section of the border, car imports were made using an injunction against the decree issued in the last year of previous President Felipe Calderon, and ratified by Peña Nieto. However, the federal government, through the federal courts, ended the injunction and foreign vehicle imports slowed. The injunction made the import process cheaper. The injunction blocked the requirements set forth in NOM-041-SEMARNAT-2006. The payment ranged from $1,300 to $1,600, depending on the model. “Removing the injunction is leaving us on the street. There are many families whose livelihood depends on sales of vehicles on the border, and we’ve gone 15 days without having sold a single car,” Edwin Gaytan said. Used car dealers said they want the injunction restored. “Eliminating the decree comes at a high cost. They are preventing us from feeding our families,” he said. Used car dealers are not the only ones affected by the lack of foreign vehicle imports. Others impacted are workers employed at the car dealers, used tire dealers, mechanics, tire repair shops, junk yards, paint and body shops and security guards. Antonio Madrazo, a used car salesman, said dealers are no longer able
to pay their employees. “If this is not taken care of, I’ll have to fire my employees. Five workers, five families who will have a bitter Christmas,” Madrazo said.
Paisanos Paisanos, or Mexicans now living outside the country, have joined the protest to raise awareness from waiting two months to nationalize their vehicles. Julio Cesar Arzate Hernandez, who lives in Minnesota, arrived on the border June 26 in a 1977 Jeep Cherokee. He wants to nationalize his vehicle. “I am living in the vehicle that is in the parking lot at a business because I sent my family to Acapulco. I ran out of money to pay for a hotel room and food,” Arzate said. Miguel Angel Mendoza, of Alabama, said he’s been stranded on the border for two weeks, unable to nationalize his vehicle. “The family is sleeping inside the van that’s parked at a business near Bridge II, Mendoza said. “Besides being stranded, Customs wants to charge a much higher import fee. I have run out of money.”
Laredo The City of Laredo temporarily suspended traffic heading towards the bridges on Thursday afternoon, Customs and Border Protection said in a press release received at about 3:40 p.m. Laredo police officers directed traffic away from the bridges. Mucia Dovalina, spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, said CBP continues to operate and is ready to begin processing travelers once both crossings are opened. The press release recommended people wishing to enter Mexico consider using the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge northwest of the city off Mines Road. (Staff writer Cesar G. Rodriguez contributed to this report. An LMT correspondent contributed to this report. Translated by Mark Webber of the Times staff.)
Zipporah Mboroki declined to comment about the allegations of police executions. The Independent Police Oversight Authority would not comment on how many of the police killings were suspected of being extrajudicial assassinations. But three senior officers who spoke to AP confirmed that extrajudicial killings were common. Bosses are well aware of what’s going on, the officers said, adding that, in some cases, the orders to kill suspects come from the bosses themselves. All three officers insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisal. Some of the killings are justified in the press as part of Kenya’s fight against terrorism. That’s what happened in the case of Yousef Mohamed, Mohamed Kaburu, Kevin Kahuri, Simon Kingori and Martha Wairimu, whose bodies were found deep in a forest near the central Kenyan city of Nyeri on April
17. Media accounts cited unidentified officers as linking the youth to the Somali terror group al-Shabaab. Their families deny it. “They were totally innocent,” said Saida Mohammed Kaburu, Mohamed Kaburu’s mother. Observers acknowledge that the country faces a real threat from al-Shabaab, but they warn the killings could end up exacerbating the very problem police are trying to stamp out by pushing disillusioned Kenyans into the terrorist camp. Western governments have spent millions of dollars to help Kenya control the terror threat. The U.S. alone provides an average of $8 million in anti-terrorism training to Kenyan police every year, according to the Congressional Research Service. Exactly how much money goes where is kept secret. Britain’s Foreign Office says it
gives training and “capacity building support” to anti-terror police but refuses to put a figure on the assistance. In a statement, it said the money was being spent to boost security “in line with domestic and international law.” The U.S. State Department on Friday urged the Kenyan government to investigate all of the reported claims. Spokeswoman Marie Harf said all the trainees and units that the U.S. works with have been screened thoroughly as required by U.S. law. The training, she added, is intended to increase the professionalism of the forces and includes support “to improve accountability and transparency in the police services.” Kenyan officials at the interior ministry and elsewhere did not return messages seeking comment. Occasionally, police are called to account for the deaths. Two officers were recently charged with the killing of Kwekwe Mwandaza, 14, whose house in a Kenyan coastal village was raided by officers on Aug. 22. The officers shot her in the head and tried to dump her body in the forest, according to human rights lawyer Harun Ndubi. But impunity remains the norm. Few families get justice. Some never even get answers. Abdifatah Odowa Adan, a 30year-old bus company manager, disappeared on May 5. He had been stopped by five men, one of whom flashed a police badge. Mohammed Korane Abdi, Adan’s relative, said the manager’s whereabouts remain unknown. “We, as his brothers, have the right to know if he is alive or dead,” said Abdi. “If he is alive let him be charged in court, but at least we will know that he is alive. If he is dead, let his people bury him. “The uncertainty is too much to bear.”
Brits sentenced for fighting in Syria By STEPHEN CASTLE AND MELISSA EDDY NEW YORK TIMES
LONDON — Two Britons who fought in Syria and were arrested upon returning to Britain after one of the families cooperated with the police were sentenced to prison Friday in a case that has provoked debate over how to balance the risk posed by returning jihadists against the need to encourage families to cooperate with the authorities. The two men, Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, had concealed their plans to travel to Syria in May 2013, but after they left, Sarwar’s mother found a letter explaining her son’s decision to “do jihad.” Sarwar’s family went to the police, and when the men, both 22 and childhood friends from Birmingham, returned to Britain in January, antiterrorism officers were waiting at Heathrow Airport near London. On Friday, Judge Michael Topolski sentenced each man to 12 years in prison, saying the defendants had “willingly, enthusiastically and with a great deal of purpose, persistence and determination embarked on a course intending to commit acts of terrorism.”
“Both of these defendants are fundamentalists who are interested in and deeply committed to violent extremism,” the judge said at Woolwich Crown Court. While praising the bravery of Sarwar’s mother, Topolski said he was just not able to reflect that in sentencing her son. Peter Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College London, criticized the sentencing, saying it would “definitely send the wrong message to families who, in 90 percent of cases, don’t want their kids to go to Syria and don’t want them to be jihadis.” “As a result of this court case, they will not enlist the support of the authorities because they will understand that their kids will go to prison - and for long periods,” Neumann said. Two others cases came before courts in Western Europe on Friday, highlighting the authorities’ growing concerns that those who fight abroad may come home to commit terrorism. Security officials estimate that about 3,000 Western Europeans have left their home countries to join the fight in Syria. Also in Britain on Fri-
day, Mashudur Choudhury, 31, was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of preparing for acts of terrorism in Syria. And a court in Frankfurt, Germany, sentenced a 20-year-old man who had traveled to Syria to fight with a group associated with the Islamic State to three years and nine months in juvenile detention, Germany’s first conviction of a returned jihadist. The man was identified only as Kreshnik B. because he was tried as a juvenile; German law allows young adults to be tried as juveniles if they are deemed to lack the maturity of an adult. The man’s sentence was focused on rehabilitation after he confessed to willingly quitting the militant group to return home. Kreshnik B. told the court that while in Syria, he grew bored and frustrated that he and other Europeans with no prior military training were given limited responsibilities and sidelined from major battles. Last month, the French authorities sentenced a returned jihadist to seven years in prison in that country’s first verdict of its kind, and Britain handed two brothers prison sentences
(one for three years, the other for 4 1/2 years) for conspiring to attend a terrorist training camp in Syria. The details of the cases underline the potential for violence but also offer some prosaic details about those who leave to fight in Syria. Topolski’s court heard that the two men sentenced Friday were believed to have spent time with the Nusra Front, a radical group affiliated to al-Qaida, and that when the men were stopped at Heathrow, the police found traces of explosives on their clothing and pictures of them brandishing weapons. The court was also told that Ahmed and Sarwar had ordered a book from Amazon called “Islam for Dummies.” Neumann, the radicalization expert, said returning jihadists fell into roughly three categories: “the dangerous, the disturbed or the disillusioned.” Those in the last category can often be reintegrated into society, but the strategies for dealing with such cases need to be more flexible, he said. “If families are getting involved,” he added, “there should be some kind of benefit, perhaps in terms of not being prosecuted or a form of plea bargaining.”
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
ON THE WEB: THEZAPATATIMES.COM
Sports&Outdoors NCAA FOOTBALL: NO. 3 TCU HORNED FROGS, NO. 6 BAYLOR BEARS
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
A final impression TCU looks to avoid slipping up vs. Iowa State By RALPH D. RUSSO ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fourth-ranked TCU has it easy this weekend, relatively speaking. All the other College Football Playoff contenders are playing ranked teams this weekend. The Horned Frogs (10-1, 7-1, No. 3 CFP), on the other hand, will wrap up their regular season Saturday at home in Fort Worth, Texas, against lowly Iowa State (2-9, 0-8). They hope to hold onto their spot in the selection committee’s top four and earn the right to play for the national championship. TCU even gets an early kickoff at 11 a.m. CT. The Horned Frogs can take care of business and still have plenty of time to get
File photo by Ben Margot | AP
The Yankees traded for Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorius on Friday, making him the likely successor to Derek Jeter.
File photo by Ashley Landis | AP
TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin and the No. 3 Horned Frogs are closing in on a playoff spot with their final game of the year against Iowa State.
See TCU PAGE 2B
Yankees find Jeter’s successor By BOB BAUM ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baylor nears Big 12 title By STEPHEN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
Photo by Tony Gutierrez | AP
WACO — Fifth-ranked Baylor is in the same position as a year ago, with its home finale being a de facto Big 12 championship game. The defending champion Bears have even more at stake this time. Baylor (10-1, 7-1 Big 12, No. 6 CFP) can make a strong case for inclusion in the new four-team national playoff with a win Saturday night over ninthranked Kansas State (9-2, 7-1, No. 9 CFP), which is also trying to win another Big 12 title.
Baylor has one game left to make its case for being included in the college football playoff, but at No. 6 is just outside the top four spots.
PHOENIX — In a three-team trade on Friday, the Arizona Diamondbacks sent slick-fielding, light-hitting Didi Gregorius to the New York Yankees, where he becomes a favorite to replace Derek Jeter at shortstop. Gregorius’ first major league home run came in Yankee Stadium in his first at-bat as a Diamondback in 2013. The Tigers acquired right-handed pitcher Shane Greene from the Yankees and sent lefthanded pitcher Robbie Ray and teenage infielder Domingo Leyba to Arizona. The Diamondbacks had a crowd at shortstop and chose to stick with youngsters Chris Owings and Nick Ahmed. The 24-year-old Gregorius hit .241 with 25 dou-
See YANKEES PAGE 2B
See BAYLOR PAGE 2B
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE: HOUSTON TEXANS
File photo by Paul Sancya | AP
Former Indians bullpen coach Kevin Cash was hired as the new manager of the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
Rays replace Maddon Tampa Bay selects Kevin Cash over Don Wakamatsu By FRED GOODALL ASSOCIATED PRESS
offense. “He goes after the ball like he goes after the quarterback and both of those are good,” Crennel said. Watt’s work on offense
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays aren’t wary of Kevin Cash’s age and inexperience. The team tabbed the former Cleveland Indians bullpen coach as Joe Maddon’s replacement on Friday, selecting him over ex-Seattle Mariners manager and current Kansas City Royals bench coach Don Wakamatsu. The Tampa native who turns 37 on Saturday has no previous managerial experience, yet the Rays are confident he has what it takes to be successful. “It came down to the energy, the poise that he has, the confidence, but the open-mindedness that goes along with it. That’s a rare combination to have in an individual,” president of baseball operations Matt Silverman said. Cash wowed the team during a final interview
See WATT PAGE 2B
See RAYS PAGE 2B
Photo by David J. Phillip | AP
Houston defensive end J.J. Watt is becoming a problem on offense as well, catching his third touchdown pass this year for the Texans last weekend.
Watt a threat on offense too By KRISTIE RIEKEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON — J.J. Watt has long been feared for his sacks and swats. This year teams have to worry about his receiving
skills, too. The 6-foot-5, 289-pound defensive end had another touchdown catch in Houston’s win on Sunday to give him three this season. He has one more touchdown reception than star receiver
Andre Johnson and more than all of the Texans tight ends combined. Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel has enjoyed watching the big guy, who began his college career as a tight end, have some fun on
PAGE 2B
Zscores
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2014
WATT Continued from Page 1B hasn’t slowed down his production on defense. He leads the team with 11 1/2 sacks and is first in the NFL with a franchiserecord five fumble recoveries and 36 quarterback hits. He also has a fumble return for a touchdown and another score an interception return. He’s found someone to talk to about playing on the opposite side of the ball in assistant coach Mike Vrabel, a former linebacker who had scored a touchdown on each of his 12 career receptions. Watt’s following in his footsteps in that way with each of his grabs going for scores as well. “He has definitely helped,” Watt said. “I think that he might have helped in getting the package in the first place. He has given me some tips.” Watt wouldn’t divulge any of the insider information he’s received from Vrabel, but he did share one thing the three-time Super Bowl champion told him. “Spike the ball when you score. That’s the one he is adamant about, so I try,” he said. “I was so excited this week I couldn’t even hold on to the thing when I stood up.” Vrabel declined an interview request for this story.
But Houston’s top receivers had plenty to say about Watt’s receiving skills. DeAndre Hopkins, who leads the Texans with 1,041 yards receiving and six touchdown receptions, laughed when asked if Watt was a good receiver. “No. But he makes plays so that’s all that matters,” Hopkins said. “The in between stuff really isn’t a big deal if you go out and make plays. But as far as being receiver, nah.” Watt’s first receiving touchdown was an easy one. He was wide open in the end zone and simply waited for the ball to get to him for the 1-yard score. The second two have been a little more difficult. Watt had to dive in the end zone to grab both of those. Hopkins said what’s perhaps most impressive about Watt’s receiving is that teams know the ball’s going to him, but still can’t stop it. “Ninety-five percent of the time you know that if J.J.’s out there he’s getting the ball, he’s not going to waste his time,” Hopkins said. Johnson knows some people are surprised with Watt’s work on offense, but the he’s not one of them after watching him play defense for four seasons.
“He has great hand-eye coordination,” Johnson said. “You don’t really see guys pick balls off at the defensive line position unless they have bounced around on somebody. He can just jump right up in the air and pick the ball off ... ever since he has been here he has always run around and caught balls with us. I always tell people it’s not surprising for us to see it because we get to see it every day.” Watt joked that the offensive plays are so much more complex than those on defense that he’s often confused when preparing for a play on offense. “I have no idea what they’re saying in the huddle on offense,” he said. “I swear to God. I have no clue what the play calls are or anything. I know my little gambit of plays. I know what I’m supposed to do on those.” Watt said he’ll look at the quarterback after he calls the play and ask him to break it down for him. “I just say: ’Hey which one is this?’ He’ll be like: ’This is the one where you do ...,’ and I say: ’Oh OK, sure. Cool,”’ Watt said. Houston coach Bill O’Brien marvels at all the things Watt can do and said he’s unique because along with defensive end he can play defensive tackle, nose tackle,
linebacker and, of course, tight end. “He is definitely one of the most versatile players I’ve ever been around,” O’Brien said. “The thing ... I think sets him apart is his work ethic, the way that he approaches every single day. He’s got tremendous talent, but he really does a great job of working extremely hard every day to get the most out of that talent.” Hopkins said Watt hasn’t asked him for any pointers on offense, but that he does talk a little trash about how he’s going to score more touchdowns than the receiver this season. Those conversations leave Hopkins shaking his head. “I never thought I’d be having a conversation with a defensive end about scoring touchdowns,” Hopkins said with a smile. Watt’s performance has some wondering if he could become the first defensive player to win MVP since Lawrence Taylor in 1986, but the odds are probably stacked against him. “It’s hard for a defensive player that doesn’t touch the ball as much, it’s hard for him to be an MVP,” Crennel said. “But to this point, J.J. has touched the ball and scored touchdowns, so some of those people who like offensive guys might consider him.”
RAYS Continued from Page 1B that lasted half-a-day. He becomes the youngest active manager in the majors, taking over a team that made the playoffs four of the past seven seasons under Maddon. “After 12 hours we were pretty drained and it felt like Kevin was just getting started,” Silverman said. A former catcher who played with five major league teams, including 13 games for Tampa Bay in 2005, Cash served as Terry Francona’s bullpen coach in Cleveland the past two seasons. He also interviewed recently for the vacant managerial position with the Texas Rangers. He thought that experience helped when the Rays included
him on an initial list of 10 candidates. “It wasn’t something I was anticipating at this stage. But as I started preparing for the Texas opportunity, I almost kind of gained momentum, gained some confidence,” Cash said. “I was able to really process some thoughts.” Tampa Bay went 754-705 in nine seasons under Maddon, making the playoffs four times, winning two AL East championships and the 2008 AL pennant — all while operating under the constraints of one of baseball’s lowest payrolls. The Rays finished 77-85 this year, ending a stretch of six consecutive winning seasons. Maddon was under contract through 2015, but
exercised an option to leave when talks on a new deal broke down and joined the Chicago Cubs. “The voice is obviously probably going to change a little bit, but the players and the personnel, and the culture, what they created, that is something that I’m extremely fortunate to be a part of and join in on,” Cash said. The new manager inherits a roster driven by one of the best pitching staffs in the American League. Most of his coaching staff will be comprised of holdovers from Maddon’s reign. “When it got down to it, the security of our situation with our staff in place, and the clubhouse culture that we have, gave us more com-
fort,” Silverman said. “But, you look at Kevin, his baseball age is much older than his 37 years on this planet,” Silverman added. “He’s been a student of the game, and that transition to manager is one we think will be a relatively (smooth) one, one made easier by the environment that we already have here.” Maddon opted out of his contract on Oct. 24 and was hired to manage the Cubs. Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said Cash’s “energy and dynamic personality will fit seamlessly with our clubhouse.” Wakamatsu was the only candidate among the finalists with prior managerial experience at any level, having gone 127-147 in one-plus
season as the Mariners’ skipper in 2009 and 2010. Veteran outfielder Raul Ibanez, still an active player after spending his 19th big league season with Kansas City and the Los Angeles Angels, was the third finalist. He withdrew his name from consideration this week. A Tampa native, Cash is not a stranger to the AL East after playing all but 20 games of an eight-year big league career with the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Rays. Before joining the Indians in 2013, Cash spent one season as a major league advance scout for the Blue Jays. Silverman said it was a
tough decision between Cash and Wakamatsu, who has spent 10 seasons as a bench coach with the Royals, Blue Jays, Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers. Wakamatsu took over a team that lost 101 games and led Seattle to an 85-77 record in 2009. He fired in August of the following season, when the Mariners stumbled to a 42-70 start. Former Rays bench coach Dave Martinez, one-time Indians manager Manny Acta, Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, San Francisco Giants bench coach Ron Wotus, Rays minor league manager Charlie Montoyo and ex-major league players Craig Counsell and Doug Glanville rounded out a list 10 initial candidates.
YANKEES Continued from Page 1B bles, eight triples, 13 homers and 55 RBIs in 183 games over parts of two seasons with Arizona. He hit .226 in 80 games in two stints with the Diamondbacks last season. “We think there is more in the tank there as he continues to develop,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “So I think he’s exciting but obviously, he’s not a finished product.” Greene, 26, was 5-4 with a 3.71 ERA in 15 games, 14 of them starts, over four stints with the Yankees last season. He struck out 81 in what was his first season in the majors.
Ray, 23, was 1-4 with an 8.61 ERA in nine appearances for the Tigers last season. He was 7-7 with a 4.22 ERA in 20 games, 19 starts, for Triple-A Toledo. Last year, in his first season as a professional, Leyba hit .323 with 18 doubles, a triple, two homers and 24 RBIs in 67 games with short-season Class A Connecticut and Class A West Michigan. Gregorius came to the Diamondbacks from Cincinnati as part of a three-team trade in 2012. In spring training last year, he was beat out for the Arizona starting shortstop job by the roo-
kie Owings. Gregorius started last season at Triple-A Reno but had two stints with the Diamondbacks, becoming the full-time starter when Owings went down with a shoulder injury. With Owings healthy, Ahmed rising through the minors and veteran Cliff Pennington still on the roster, somebody had to go. Cashman said the Yankees had targeted Gregorius for some time. “We believe he hits right-handed pitching,” he said. “ ... As we open up this 2015 season, at the very least we expect him to be utilized in probably a platoon with Brendan Ryan until he sep-
BAYLOR Continued from Page 1B “Everything is motivating at this point. Our team put itself in a position to win another Big 12 championship. That is big in itself,” said Bears receiver Corey Coleman, who has touchdown catches in a nation-best eight consecutive games. “Then you add in the situation with the playoffs, and it makes this week pretty big. ... There’s a lot on the line, and it’s up to us not to let that be bigger than the game itself.” Kansas State is going for its second Big 12 title in three seasons, but had to share the 2012 championship because of a miserable night its last visit to Waco two years ago. The Wildcats were 10-0 and ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings before a 52-24 loss. The Bears and Wildcats will know by kickoff if they are playing to share or win the conference title outright. Fourthranked TCU (10-1, 7-1, No. 3 CFP) can claim its share with a win earlier Saturday against last-place Iowa State (2-9, 0-8). On a bone-chilling first Saturday in December last year, Baylor claimed its first Big 12 title outright with a 30-7 win over Texas, after Oklahoma State lost at home to Oklahoma earlier in the day. “There’s a lot of parallels and a lot of differences,” coach Art Briles said. “We’re a different football team of course, and Kansas State is different than Texas was, but the scenario is certainly the same.” Coach Bill Snyder’s team has mostly been in the Big 12 background this year because of the ongoing national debate about private schools TCU and Baylor, even with K-State having the same chance to win a Big 12 title. “That is not something I think about. Certainly our players do and that is certainly viable. I don’t address it that way,” Snyder said. “I am the same old, same old, one day at a time. ... Other than the fact that we are capable of anything, I do not place any limitations on our football team today and certainly did not however
many months ago when we got started.” Here are a few things to know for the second matchup of Top 10 teams in Waco this season, after the only previous one came in 1956: PETTY’S PROGRESS Bears quarterback Bryce Petty was a full participant in practice by the end of the week after getting knocked out of a 48-46 win over Texas Tech last Saturday with a concussion. But Baylor officials said he was still progressing through the concussion protocol. His status for KState was still undetermined. FORMER BOSS Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett once served in that role on Bill Snyder’s staff at Kansas State (1999-2001). “I don’t like playing him,” Bennett said. “But obviously my allegiance and loyalty is to Baylor. One of the things that I think attracts us to each other is we’re such fierce competitors.” GRAM PERFORMANCE Matthew McCrane, Kansas State’s primary kicker the past eight games, has 77 points to easily pass Martin Gramatica’s freshman scoring record of 54 points set 20 years ago. McCrane has made 14 of 15 field goals, but would rather be kicking a lot of extra points. “I am not too happy that I am kicking this many field goals,” McCrane said. “We need to put it in, especially when we are in the red zone.” BEARS AT HOME Baylor has won 15 consecutive home games, one behind Alabama for the longest active streak. The Bears have won all five games in their new stadium on the banks of the Brazos River, and 24 of their last 25 games in Waco since 2011. BETTER WEATHER For the Big 12 finale at Baylor last December, the temperature at kickoff for the day game was 24 degrees with wind and misty conditions making it feel much colder. The forecast for Saturday night is for cloudy skies with temperatures in the 50s.
arates himself.” Greene joins a Detroit rotation that includes Justin Verlander, David Price, Anibal Sanchez and Rick Porcello. Star right-hander Max Scherzer is a free agent, and although general manager Dave Dombrowski didn’t totally rule out a return, he said Friday the Tigers are “content” with their five starters now. “We’re not waiting for any type of scenarios,” Dombrowski said. “Really, right now starting pitching’s not our priority.” This deal comes five years after the Tigers, Yankees and Diamondbacks pulled off another
three-team trade that helped each team to a degree. Detroit got Scherzer from Arizona in that trade, while Curtis Granderson went from the Tigers to New York and Ian Kennedy was sent from the Yankees to the Diamondbacks. Ray went from Washington to Detroit last offseason in a deal that sent Doug Fister to the Nationals. “We like Robbie a great deal. We made a big deal for him,” Dombrowski said. “Shane Greene’s a little further along as far as being ready at the major league level.”
TCU Continued from Page 1B in front of a big screen and watch the other big games on Championship Saturday. Sounds like a breeze, but TCU coach Gary Patterson is having none of it. “You have an Iowa State team that’s played us, beat us the last time they played here, it was a close ball game when we played them there, so we better get ready to play,” he said. “I think they’ve scored the most points on Texas, which probably is the team that has played the best defense (in the conference).” Patterson has every reason to be on guard, even if the Cyclones and the worst defense in the Big 12 (allowing 6.33 yards per play) don’t pose much of a threat to the high-scoring Frogs (46.1 points per game). If TCU does anything less than throttle Iowa State, it could cause the playoff selection committee to change their minds about the Frogs and give Ohio State (No. 5 CFP) and Big 12 rival Baylor (No. 6 CFP) another look. The Buckeyes play Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game Saturday night. About 85 miles south of Fort Worth, the Bears, who beat TCU in October, take on Kansas State at night in Waco. “They’ll be going out to leave no doubts in anybody’s mind,” Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said about the Horned Frogs. But the last thing Frogs can afford to do is worry how badly they need to beat Iowa State to secure a playoff spot. “As it’s gotten closer and closer, it’s hard to keep saying we can’t focus on it, because at this point it’s the last game of the season and then after this, we’ll find out if we’re in the playoff or not,” cornerback Kevin White said. “We’ve got to focus on winning this game right now at hand. After that, we can start focusing on whatever comes after that.” Here’s what to watch as TCU tries
to make its final argument for a place in college football’s first final four. BOYKIN 4 HEISMAN? Trevone Boykin has become a star directing the Frogs’ new spread offense. He has passed for 3,254 yards and 26 touchdowns and run for 598 yards and eight scores. He is fourth in the nation in total offense at 350.2 yards per game, just ahead of Heisman front-runner Marcus Mariota of Oregon. Boykin has had a season worthy of Heisman consideration, but seems to be on the outside looking in at the most serious contenders. And playing a team that doesn’t have a conference victory on the final day of the season won’t help Boykin make one last loud statement. NOT SO LONG AGO Last season, there was not much difference between Iowa State and TCU. The Horned Frogs beat the Cyclones 2117. Neither team went to a bowl game. Both teams brought in offensive coordinators (Doug Meacham for TCU and Mark Mangino for Iowa State). While Boykin has flourished and TCU has taken off, Cyclones quarterback Sam Richardson has been spotty. The junior has thrown for 2,517 yards and 18 touchdowns. RHOADS STATUS Unless the Cyclones pull off the upset of the season (34-point underdogs), they will finish with one less victory than they had last season. Rhoads, an Iowa native in his sixth season as coach, appears to be safe for another season. Athletic director Jamie Pollard had what sounded like strong words of support for Rhoads this week, acknowledging the path to success at Iowa State is not an easy one and saying, “I look forward to continuing that journey with coach Rhoads and hopefully getting there.” Rhoads has taken Iowa State to three bowl games, but hasn’t had a winning season since his first in Ames, Iowa.
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Dear Heloise: I own a house with a boathouse where PIGEONS roost. I tried the "owl theory," but it didn’t work. You might suggest this: Hang some plastic glitter stars or other decorations. Let them hang down a few inches, where the wind and sun catch them, and the birds will not fly near them. It worked for me! – Ronald G., Friendswood, Texas Hi, Ronald. I know what you mean about some of those pigeons. This hint works well, whether it’s to keep birds from roosting or from flying into windows, like our big picture ones. Hang some decorations or ribbon and it’s usually just enough movement to ward off the birds. – Heloise SNAKES Dear Heloise: My mother-in-law found a few garden snakes in her small garden. She moved into a townhome, but she must have her garden to stay busy and happy. What should she do? – Hannah in Texas Most folks don’t care for
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snakes, especially if you are tending a garden or a flower bed. I live in the "semicountry" in San Antonio, and we do have some of the slithering critters around. Several have found their way into our home through the years. I was NOT happy! Many times, snakes find warmth in and around houses during the winter. Sometimes they are out sunning themselves, but oh how I wish they would do that in someone else’s yard! First, seal all cracks between the house and patio, foundation and basement windows, if you have them. Snakes like to hang out in tall grass, overgrown shrubs, piles of wood, etc., so DON’T stack wood against the house or outbuilding, and keep it off the ground, if possible. Don’t give them a place to make a home. – Heloise
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