The Zapata Times 7/18/2018

MEDIA DAYS

WEDNESDAYJULY 18, 2018

FREE

AGGIES, LONGHORNS HEAD COACHES TALK ABOUT UPCOMING 2018 SEASONS, A13

THE MEADOWS FOUNDATION

TAMIU grant to benefit Zapata $150,000 donation supports health care delivery in Zapata, Jim Hogg and Laredo ZA PATA T I ME S

A $150,000 continuation grant from The Meadows Foundation has been awarded to TAMIU to continue to strengthen its coordinated and integrat-

ed health care delivery network in Laredo and Jim Hogg and Zapata counties.

The grant supports the Sí Texas Juntos for Better Health Grant administered by TAMIU’s College of Nursing and

Health Sciences’ Dr. F. M. Canseco School of Nursing, said Canseco College of Nursing Dean Dr. Glenda Walker, grant principal investigator.

Walker noted that the program, initiated in 2016, has

impacted over 12,000 South Texans, and has gained national recognition.

“The Juntos for Better Health integrated care model has gained awareness and prestige from being featured in academic presentations at the International Organization of Social Sciences and Behavioral Research in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Ohio’s Kent State University is planning to imple-

ment a similar program in their area based on the Juntos model,” Walker said.

She said the continuation grant will help Juntos for Health to scale its operations successfully.

“This grant from The Meadows Foundation will provide vital support to help to continue to realize our Sí Texas - Juntos for Better Health Grant obGrant continues on A11

FFA STATE RODEO FINALS

ZAPATA TEAM TAKES 8TH PLACE

ZCISD / Courtesy photo

The Texas FFA State Rodeo Finals were in Alvarado, Texas during the state convention on June 9 and 10. Zapata High School students placed eighth as a team.

Individual, Victoria Vela (breakaway roping) placed third in round 1, first in round 2 and fifth in the average. Alejandro Gonzalez (team roping) placed third in round 2 and sixth in the average. Pictured from left are CJ Garcia, Edmundo Garcia, Alex Gonzalez, Mikey Cruz and Victoria Vela. Standing are Ferny Rodriguez and Danny Garcia.

ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

IBC Zapata, Ramirez donate Judge halts $225K to mariachi program deportation of reunified families SPECIAL TO THE TIME S

Parents may get one week to decide whether to pursue asylum in U.S.

By Elliot Spagat and Colleen Long A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

A federal judge on Monday ordered a temporary halt to deportations of immigrant families reunited after being separated at the border, as the Trump administration races to meet a July 26 deadline for putting more than 2,500 children back in their parents’ arms.

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw imposed a delay of at least a week after a request

from the American Civil Liberties Union, which cited “persistent and increasing rumors ... that mass deportations may be carried out imminently and immediately upon reunification.”

Justice Department attorney Scott Stewart opposed the delay but did not address the rumors in court.

The ACLU requested that parents have at least one week to decide whether to pursue asylum in the U.S. after they are reunited with their chilPolicy continues on A11

IBC Bank-Zapata Chairman of the Board Renato Ramirez and IBC Bank-Austin CEO and President Robert Barnes provided the mariachi program at the University of Texas at Austin with two large checks, one from IBC Bank in the amount of $100,000 and the other from R&P Ramirez for $125,000.

Ramirez engaged in a fundraising program in the fall to assure sustainability of the Mariachi program at UT. IBC Bank and Ramirez lead by exMariachi continues on A11

IBC Bank-Zapata / Courtesy photo

Officials from IBC Bank-Zapata and R&P Ramirez presented two large checks to the mariachi program at the University of Texas at Austin.

In Brief A2 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

CALENDAR

AROUND THE WORLD

TODAY IN HISTORY

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18

ASSOCIATED PRE SS

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

Domestic Violence Coalition Meeting. 12 p.m. 1700 East Saunders. Tower B, 1st floor. The Webb County Domestic Violence Coalition holds its monthly meeting. The luncheon is open to those interested in learning more about resources available to help victims and their children who find themselves in dangerous situations.

For more information, call Sister Rosemary Welsh at 956-718-6810.

Blood Drive. 12-5:30 p.m. 1700 East Saunders. Tower B, 1st floor. The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center hosts a Blood Drive at Laredo Medical Center. The public is invited to donate blood. For more information, call Liza Guzman at 956-763-7783.

Joint Replacement Surgery Seminar. 6 p.m. Learn more about this innovative program, offered by the Laredo Bone and Joint Center at Laredo Medical Center. To reserve a space, call 956-796-3009 or 7963223.

Weight Loss Surgery Seminar. 6:30 p.m. Learn more about this innovative program, offered by Laredo Medical Center’s Weight Loss Program. To reserve a space, call 956-796-3223.

THURSDAY, JULY 19 Blood Drive. 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. 1700 East Saunders. Tower B, 1st floor. The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center hosts a Blood Drive at Laredo Medical Center. The public is invited to donate blood. For more information, call Liza Guzman at 956-763-7783.

Tiny Toes Prenatal Class – Spanish. 6-7:30 p.m. 1700 East Saunders.

Tower B, 1st floor. This class gives mothers-to-be the most important information to help them deliver a healthy, full-term baby from the start of labor until birth. To reserve a space, call 956-796-4019 or visit www.laredomedical.com/tiny-toes.

Cancer Friends Meet. 6 p.m. Laredo Medical Center, 1700 East Saunders, Tower A, 1st floor. The Laredo Cancer Society, in partnership with Laredo Medical Center, holds its monthly meeting for cancer patients and their families. For more information, call 956-796-4725.

TUESDAY, JULY 24 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – English. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. 1700 East Saunders.

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

Healthy Woman Luncheon. 12 p.m.

Laredo Medical Center invites women between the ages of 21 and 54 to have lunch and listen to a presentation on new products and technology for skin care. To reserve a space, call the LMC Healthy Woman program at 956-7962222.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shake hand at the beginning of a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland on Monday.

TRUMP MEETS WITH PRESIDENT PUTIN HELSINKI — In an extraordinary embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump on Monday openly questioned his own intelligence agencies’ firm finding that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election to his benefit, seeming to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that Moscow’s hands were clean.

The reaction back home was immediate and visceral, among fellow Republicans as well as usual Trump critics. “Shameful,” ‘’disgraceful,” ‘’weak,” were a few of the comments. Makes the U.S. “look like a

World Cup win gives France a sorely needed boost PARIS — The members of France’s victorious World Cup team returned home from Russia to triumphant arcs of water heralding their airplane’s arrival and a red carpet welcome Monday, and that was before the formal homage that awaited them in Paris.

Goalie Hugo Lloris, brandishing the golden trophy from soccer’s eminent tournament,

pushover,” said GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee.

Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki was his first time sharing the international stage with a man he has described as an important U.S. competitor — but whom he has also praised a strong, effective leader. His remarks, siding with a foe on foreign soil over his own government, was a stark illustration of Trump’s willingness to upend decades of U.S. foreign policy and rattle Western allies in service of his political concerns. — Compiled from AP reports

and coach Didier Deschamps led the team from the Air France plane to the tarmac at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Airport personnel and French Sports Minister Laura Flessel, a former champion fencer, were the first to tell them “merci” on behalf of a grateful nation that was sorely in need of a boost.

“Eternal Happiness” read Monday’s headline in French sports daily L’Equipe, summing up the mood of many who hope the euphoria will last for months — even years.

The team expected to take a

victory lap down the grand Champs-Elysees, the grand Paris avenue where hundreds of thousands thronged after France’s 4-2 victory Sunday over Croatia to capture the trophy.

For a third day in a row, the avenue was transformed into a boulevard of pride and happiness following a Bastille Day parade of French military might Saturday that, in hindsight, was a preview for the elation of France’s World Cup win. — Compiled from AP reports

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

TUESDAY, JULY 31 Tiny Toes Virtual Tour – Spanish. 11 a.m.-12 p.m. 1700 East Saunders.

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

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

SATURDAY, AUG. 4 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.

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

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 15 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25. Public is invited. Proceeds are used to support the church’s missions.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 22 First United Methodist Church Used Book Sale. 1220 McClelland Ave. 10 a.m. to noon. Hard cover $1, paperbacks $0.50, magazines and children’s books $0.25.

AROUND THE NATION Chicago activist demands all footage from shooting CHICAGO — A community activist who has pushed for more police transparency said Monday that he’s asked Chicago police for the body camera footage from all the officers at the scene where one of them fatally shot a black man over the weekend. William Calloway said a brief video released by police showing the view from one officer’s body camera does not answer crucial questions, starting with the reasons the officers approached 37-year-old Harith Augustus on Saturday afternoon just before he was shot. Calloway also said that a police spokesman’s explanation that the Augustus was “exhibiting characteristics of an armed person” does justify stopping someone in a city and state where it is legal to carry a concealed weapon.

Police Superintendent Eddie

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Demonstrators march through the South Shore neighborhood protesting the shooting death of 37-year-old Harith Augustus.

Johnson said Sunday that detectives have found no documentation that Augustus had a concealed carry permit, but Calloway said there is no way officers at the scene could have known that when they approached him.

The video released by police did not include sound so it is impossible to hear what was

said by either Augustus or any of the four officers at the scene.

It shows one of the officers trying to grab the arm of Augustus, who spins and runs away with a clearly visible holstered gun on his hip.

Johnson said the release one day after the shooting was the quickest he had ever ordered.

— Compiled from AP reports

AROUND THE STATE Shrimp industry crippled by immigrant visa cap BROWNSVILLE — The Texas shrimp industry is facing a worker shortage as a result of the federal cap on U.S. visas for immigrant seasonal workers.

Andrea Hance, executive director of the Texas Shrimp Association, told the Brownsville Herald that an estimated 70 percent of the BrownsvillePort Isabel shrimp fleet is start-

ing off this season short-handed. The shrimp industry relies heavily on workers with H-2B visas, which are U.S. visas for temporary nonagricultural workers. A decades-old law limits the number of such visas to 66,000 for the whole country.

Congress failed to renew a cap exemption this year for returning workers, creating a worker shortage. The Labor Department last year released an additional 15,000 H-2B visas through a lottery, but it fell short of covering the workers

Today is Wednesday, July 18, the 199th day of 2018. There are 166 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On July 18, 1940, the Democratic National Convention at Chicago Stadium nominated President Franklin D. Roosevelt (who was monitoring the proceedings at the White House) for an unprecedented third term in office; earlier in the day, Eleanor Roosevelt spoke to the convention, becoming the first presidential spouse to address such a gathering.

On this date: In A.D. 64, the Great Fire of Rome began, consuming most of the city for about a week.

In 1536, the English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.

In 1817, English novelist Jane Austen died in Winchester at age 41.

In 1863, during the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, S.C. The Confederates were able to repel the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th's commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.

In 1918, South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo.

In 1932, the United States and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

In 1944, Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II. American forces in France captured the Normandy town of St. Lo. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a Presidential Succession Act which placed the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.

In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and French Premier Edgar Faure held a summit in Geneva.

In 1969, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., left a party on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha's Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne (koh-PEHK'nee), 28; some time later, Kennedy's car went off a bridge into the water.

Kennedy was able to escape, but Kopechne drowned.

In 1984, gunman James Huberty opened fire at a McDonald's fast food restaurant in San Ysidro, California, killing 21 people before being shot dead by police. Walter F. Mondale won the Democratic presidential nomination in San Francisco.

In 1994, a bomb hidden in a van destroyed a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85.

Tutsi rebels declared an end to Rwanda's 14-week-old civil war.

Ten years ago: One of the world's largest mobile cranes collapsed at a refinery in southeast Houston, killing four people and injuring seven others.

Two French humanitarian aid workers were kidnapped in Afghanistan's Day Kundi province. (They were released about two weeks later.) The epic Batman sequel "The Dark Knight," starring Christian Bale as the caped crusader and Heath Ledger as the Joker, premiered.

Five years ago: Once the very symbol of American industrial might, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.

Today's Birthdays: Skating champion and commentator Dick Button is 89. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is 83. Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 80. Musician Brian Auger is 79. Singer Dion DiMucci is 79.

Actor James Brolin is 78. Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre is 78. Singer Martha Reeves is 77. Pop-rock musician Wally Bryson is 69. Country-rock singer Craig Fuller is 69. Business mogul Richard Branson is 68. Actress Margo Martindale is 67. Singer Ricky Skaggs is 64. Actress Audrey Landers is 62. World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 61. Rock musician Nigel Twist is 60. Actress Anne-Marie Johnson is 58. Actress Elizabeth McGovern is 57.

Rock musician John Hermann is 56.

Rock musician Jack Irons is 56. Talk show host-actress Wendy Williams is 54. Actor Vin Diesel is 51. Actor Grant Bowler is 50. Retired NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway is 47. Bluegrass musician Jesse Brock is 46. Alt-country singer Elizabeth Cook is 46. Actor Eddie Matos is 46. MLB All-Star Torii Hunter is 43. Dance music singersongwriter M.I.A. is 43. Rock musician Daron Malakian is 43.

Thought for Today : "While we read history we make history." — George William Curtis, author-editor (18241892).

CONTACT US needed for this shrimp season.

Hance said lacking 750 people from Mexico or Central America is crippling the Texas seafood industry. Most of the state shrimp industry’s workers come from Mexico. Many crews are dealing with the shortage by not hiring headers, which are workers responsible for removing shrimp heads before they’re frozen at sea. Headless shrimp bring in $1 to $1.50 more per pound at the dock than shrimp with heads, Hance said.

— Compiled from AP reports

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The Zapata Times

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 |

A3

LOCAL

Five undocumented immigrants arrested ZA PATA T I ME S

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Zapata area said they arrested five undocumented immigrants after responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle traveling on U.S. 83.

They had responded to a call for assistance from the Texas Department of Public Safety regarding the suspicious vehicle, which was traveling northbound

on the highway. Agents encountered the 2009 Silver Chevrolet Malibu and discovered the driver, a U.S. citizen, was smuggling five undocumented immigrants.

“Events like this demonstrate the vigilance that the men and women of the United States Border Patrol undertake on a daily basis to ensure we maintain a safe community,” said Laredo Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens.

ZCISD to accept requests for uniform vouchers ZA PATA T I ME S

Zapata County Independent School District will begin accepting applications for uniform vouchers on July 23.

Applications must be

submitted no later than Aug. 13 at the ZCISD central office located at 1302 Glenn St., Room 6.

They can be dropped off from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through

Thursday for all grade levels.

Parents or guardians must be present with a photo ID and proof of home income or government assistance.

Courtesy photo

Healthy South Texas Coalition meeting held at the Zapata County Courthouse Attending a recent Healthy South Texas Coalition meeting at the Zapata County Courthouse are, from left, Zapata County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Ray Del Bosque, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Officer Sammy Luera and District 2-A3 VDG Aurelio Villarreal.

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

A4 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

COLUMN

OTHER VIEWS

Should we have expected anything different?

By Leonid Bershidsky B L OOM BE RG NEWS

Given the weeks of apocalyptic speculation that preceded the Helsinki summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the news conference that followed the meeting Monday should have been anticlimactic: Nothing was agreed, nothing gained or conceded. And yet John Brennan, who ran the Central Intelligence Agency during the Obama administration, tweeted that Trump’s performance was "nothing short of treasonous."

"Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of "high crimes & misdemeanors." It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???"

Brennan tweeted.

But Trump didn’t recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea, announce a troop pullout from Syria, promise to disband NATO, withdraw U.S. troops from Germany or stop the deployment of U.S. anti-missile defenses in Eastern Europe.

He didn’t give up his opposition to Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany or express regret about his decision to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine. In fact, he did nothing that could be construed as undermining U.S. interests as traditionally understood. His comments revealed no freebies to Putin or even any sign that the two leaders had attempted to negotiate compromises on the many substantive issues that divide their two countries.

So where’s the treason?

Judging by reactions in the U.S. and the questions at the press conference, the crux of the issue is Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation asserting that Russia had meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.

Trump clearly failed to press Putin on the allegations, even though the Justice Department announced last week that Mueller had indicted 12 Russian military intelligence officers for hacking the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Putin and Trump appeared to work together to parry questions.

Should we have expected anything different?

Trump has said many times he considers the investigation a witch hunt and an attempt to undermine his victory, which he revisited at length at the news conference Monday. He seems eager for any reassurance, including from Putin, that he won without any outside help. Putin, for his part, has denied any Russian government interference and will continue to do so even if the proof becomes overwhelming.

That’s business as usual for Russian spies, and that’s exactly how he has behaved in the case of Malaysia Airline Flight 17, which was downed by a Russian-made missile over eastern Ukraine four years ago. The positions

of Trump nor Putin were complementary and neither leader had any reason to change.

The Russian president did say something new at the press conference: For the first time, he said he’d wanted Trump to win the election. Trump, according to Putin, was his preferred candidate because he talked about normalizing the U.S.Russia relationship. Even Putin tells the truth sometimes — especially when it’s something people want to hear.

Trump clearly believes Putin likes him and wishes him no ill. That’s not hard to do: All it takes is flattering Trump and praising his election victory. I doubt, however, that Putin expects the U.S. president to start treating Russia as an ally.

Being nice to Trump has only one pay-off: Watching him glow in response.

It doesn’t mean Trump will do anything for you.

The U.S. president will continue acting in ways that aren’t in Putin’s interests. He will keep trying to bludgeon and blackmail Europe into buying more expensive U.S. liquefied natural gas rather than cheaper fuel from the Russian pipeline. He will keep pushing sanctions on Iran, an important military ally of Putin’s in Syria, and Russian companies trading with Iran will get no reprieve from these sanctions. He will keep backing Ukraine against Russia, and not just because Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko flatters him, too: He is hemmed in from doing anything else by Congress and by pressure from his own party. He will not drop any Russia sanctions for the same reason.

In other words, he will continue the tough Russia policies that Republican and Democratic administrations pursued before him, and then some: President Barack Obama, for example, was softer on the Iran issue.

His relationship with Putin increasingly looks like a love affair that won’t be consummated.

Each would like to do something for the other.

But Putin has nothing to offer that the U.S. media and the Republican establishment might support, and Trump is mindful of where he stands with both and is blocked by the Constitution from giving anything away.

By this point, Putin is probably sorry that he let his intelligence services and friendly troll factory owners stir up trouble in the U.S. in 2016. It looked like fun and created a beautiful mess, destabilizing Russia’s biggest geopolitical rival for years to come. He would have done better to stand aside and watch Trump win the election anyway. The confusion still would have been there, but bargains, grand and small, probably would have been within reach.

Now, Putin and Trump can only stare at each other like star-crossed lovers and play press conference tag. It’s not treasonous, just sad.

Leonid Bershidsky is a Bloomberg News columnist.

COLUMN

A better way to run schools

By David Leonhardt NEW YORK TIME S

Twelve years later, Nigel Palmer still remembers the embarrassment of his first days as a fourth-grader in Monroe, Louisiana. He was a Hurricane Katrina evacuee from New Orleans, living with his family in a La Quinta Inn, 250 miles from home. As soon as the school year began, he could tell that the kids in his new school seemed different from him.

They could divide numbers. He really couldn’t.

They knew the 50 states.

He didn’t. “I wasn’t up to par,” he quietly told me.

It’s a miserable feeling.

Until the storm, Palmer had been attending New Orleans public schools, which were among the country’s worst. The high school graduation rate was 54 percent, and some students who did graduate had shockingly weak academic skills.

After Katrina’s devastation, New Orleans embarked on the most ambitious education overhaul in modern America. The state took over the system in 2005, abolished the old bureaucracy and closed nearly every school. Rather than running schools itself, the state became an overseer, hiring independent operators of public schools — that is, charter schools — and tracking their performance.

This month, the New Orleans overhaul entered a new stage. On July 1, the state returned control of all schools to the city. The charter schools remain.

But a locally elected school board, accountable to the city’s residents, is now in charge. It’s a time when people in New Orleans are reflecting on what the overhaul has, and has not, accomplished.

So I decided to visit and talk with students, teachers, principals, community leaders and researchers. And I was struck by how clear of a picture emerged. It’s still a nuanced picture, with both positives and negatives.

But there are big lessons.

New Orleans is a great

case study partly because it avoids many of the ambiguities of other education reform efforts. The charters here educate almost all public-school students, so they can’t cherry-pick. And the students are overwhelmingly black and low income — even lower income than before Katrina — so gentrification isn’t a factor.

Yet the academic progress has been remarkable.

Performance on every kind of standardized test has surged. Before the storm, New Orleans students scored far below the Louisiana average on reading, math, science and social studies. Today, they hover near the state average, despite living amid much more poverty.

Nationally, the average New Orleans student has moved to the 37th percentile of math and reading scores, from the 22nd percentile pre-Katrina.

This week, Douglas Harris — a Tulane economist who leads a rigorous research project on the schools — is releasing a new study, with Matthew Larsen, another economist. It shows that the test-score gains are translating into real changes in students’ lives. High school graduation, college attendance and college graduation have all risen.

One example: In most of Louisiana, the share of 12th-graders going directly to college has fallen in recent years, probably because of budget cuts to higher education. In New Orleans, Harris and Larsen report, the share has jumped to 32.8 percent, from 22.5 percent before Katrina.

People here point to two main forces driving the progress: autonomy and accountability.

In other school districts, teachers and principals are subject to a thicket of rules, imposed by a central bureaucracy. In New Orleans, schools have far more control.

They decide which extracurriculars to offer and what food to serve. Principals choose their teachers — and can let go of weak

ones. Teachers, working together, often choose their curriculum.

“It puts decisions really close to the school site and the students,” Towana Pierre-Floyd, the principal of KIPP Renaissance High School, told me.

Victor Jones, an English teacher at G.W. Carver High School, says, “We don’t have to wait to make changes when we know changes need to be made.”

Jones and his colleagues recently decided that their ninth-graders needed more writing practice than they were getting from their literature-heavy curriculum.

But the teachers still wanted to expose the students to great books.

So they combined two curriculum plans to get the right mix, cutting down on novels without eliminating them. The students now read “Lord of the Flies,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Parable of the Sower,” Ray Bradbury short stories and journalism about terrorism, among other things, and also do more writing than they used to.

Crucially, all of this autonomy comes with accountability: Schools must show their approach is working. They are evaluated based on test scores, including ACT and Advanced Placement, and graduation rate — with an emphasis on the trend lines. Schools that fail to make progress can lose their contract.

Over the past decade, the district has replaced the operators of more than 40 schools in response to poor performance. “You have to meet these minimum standards to continue to have the privilege of educating kids,” Patrick Dobard, the superintendent until last year, told me. Harris’ research has found that much of the city’s progress has stemmed from closing the worst charter schools and letting successful charters expand.

Think about how different this is from the norm in U.S. education. In most districts, a single entity — a board of educa-

tion — is responsible for running schools and evaluating them. That combination is not a recipe for rigorous evaluation and consequences. It’s akin to letting students grade themselves.

Obviously, very few districts elsewhere are going to replicate the New Orleans model and start from scratch. But most would benefit from introducing more freedom and more accountability.

Together, the two spark human ingenuity.

For all of the improvement here, the schools still have their troubles.

The academic results still trail those in less impoverished districts, and progress has slowed lately. “We’re not where we want to be,” said Rhonda Dale, the principal of Abramson Sci Academy.

Some residents told me they hoped that the new local control could accelerate academic progress — while also making the school system feel like more a local institution and less like one imposed on the city.

Yet even with the caveats, it would be a terrible mistake to let the imperfections obscure the progress here. The city’s residents certainly recognize that progress. In a recent poll by Tulane’s Cowen Institute, 70 percent of public school parents said the charter schools had improved education.

And what ended up happening to Nigel Palmer? In seventh grade, he moved back to New Orleans, a stronger student than when he left. Fortunately, the city’s schools had improved too. His high school, KIPP Renaissance, was “a fun, competitive environment — people wanted a high GPA,” he said. “School was cool.”

This spring, he graduated from Xavier University, a historically black Catholic college here, and he recently started his first job — as a middle school social studies teacher in New Orleans.

David Leonhardt is a New York Times columnist.

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THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 |

A5

Frontera A6 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

RIBEREÑA EN BREVE SERVICIOS DE GENEALOGÍA 1 ¿Quiere conocer sobre sus raíces familiares? Visite el centro Roma Birding Center/ Computer Lab en Roma, cada martes a las 6:30 p.m., para obtener información.

VERANO SOCIAL 1 Sabor de verano en Dairy Queen, Hwy 83 N., disfrute de un sundae gratis en Zapata DQ el jueves 9 de agosto de 3 a 5 p.m. todas las edades están invitadas. Habrá estaciones para hacer tu propio sundae, premios, souvenir bowls y diversión familiar.

LOGIA 1 Nombramiento de oficiales 2018-2019 de la Logia Masónica de Zapata y la Logia Masónica de Laredo 547 el 21 de julio de 6 p.m. a 9 p.m. en la Logia Masónica de Zapata 1402, ubicada en 14th Street, Zapata.

ZAPATA HS CLASE DE 1993 1 Reunión de la generación de 1993 de Zapata High School, celebrarán su 25 aniversario en Patno’s Patio Bar & Grill, 313 Lake Shore Dr., el sábado 11 de agosto a las 8 p.m.

Solo estudiantes y sus parejas.

AVIARIO 1 La Ciudad de Roma invita a visitar el aviario Roma Bluffs World Birding Center en el distrito histórico de Roma. El aviario estará abierto a partir del jueves hasta el domingo de 8 a.m. a 4 p.m. Mayores informes al 956-849-1411 BOTES DE BASURA 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a la comunidad que sólo estará recolectando basura contenida en botes propiedad de la ciudad. Informes al 849-1411 PAGO DE IMPUESTOS 1 Los pagos por impuestos a la propiedad de la Ciudad de Roma deberán realizarse en la oficina de impuestos del Distrito Escolar de Roma, localizado en el 608 N. García St. PAGO EN LÍNEA 1 La Ciudad de Roma informa a sus residentes que a partir de ahora el servicio del agua puede pagarse en línea a cualquier hora las 24 horas del día.

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

JUNTOS FOR BETTER HEALTH

WEBB

Subsidio de TAMIU beneficia a Zapata

Ex empleado demanda a condado

Apoyo ayudará a fortalecer red de servicios de salud

Por Joana Santillana

E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

La universidad Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) ha recibido un subsidio de continuación de 150.000 dólares por parte de The Meadows Foundation para continuar fortaleciendo su red coordinada e integrada de prestación de servicios de salud en los condados Laredo, Jim Hogg y Zapata.

La subvención respalda el subsidio ‘Sí Texas Juntos for Better Health’ administrado por la Escuela de Enfermería Dr. F. M. Canseco de la Facultad de Enfermería y Ciencias de la Salud de TAMIU, dijo la Dra. Glenda Walker, decana de la Facultad de Enfermería Canseco e investigadora principal.

Walker señaló que el programa, iniciado en 2016, ha impactado a más de 12.000 habitantes del sur de Texas y ha ganado reconocimiento nacional.

"El modelo de atención integrada de Juntos for Better Health ha ganado notoriedad y prestigio al ser presentado en presentaciones académicas en la Organización Internacional de Ciencias Sociales e Investigación del Comportamiento en Las Vegas y Atlantic City. La universidad Kent State de Ohio planea implementar un programa similar en su área basado en el modelo Juntos", dijo Walker.

Ella dijo que la subvención de continuación ayudará a Juntos for Health a escalar sus operaciones con éxito.

"Esta subvención de The Meadows Foundation proporcionará un apoyo vital para ayudar a continuar alcanzado los objetivos fijados para el subsidio de ‘Sí Texas Juntos por Better Health’ a través de una constelación vinculada de educación, alcance y servicios", dijo Walker.

Juntos for Better Health se enfoca en los sistemas de cuidado de la salud en los condados de Webb, Zapata y Jim Hogg. La población combinada de estos condados es 290.688, la mayoría de los cuales se encuentran en el condado de Webb. Laredo representa el 94,8 por ciento de la población que reside en el Condado de Webb.

Los residentes en esta región padecen disparidades de salud desproporcionadas que se derivan de la pobreza extrema, niveles bajos educativos y acceso inadecuado a las necesidades básicas de atención médica.

TAMAULIPAS

INICIA OPERATIVO DE SEGURIDAD VERANO 2018 E SPECIAL PARA TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Tamaulipas — En representación del gobernador Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, el Secretario General de Gobierno, César Augusto Verástegui Ostos y autoridades federales, estatales y locales, iniciaron el Operativo de Seguridad Verano 2018, con el fin de ofrecer seguridad, vigilancia y protección a las personas que visiten los destinos turísticos tamaulipecos durante el periodo vacacional.

En su intervención, el Secretario de Seguridad Pública, Augusto Cruz Morales, destacó el trabajo coordinado de las diferentes dependencias para brindar un mejor servicio a los tamaulipecos, visitantes nacionales y extranjeros que acudan a los centros turísticos de la entidad.

“Por instrucciones del gobernador Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública pone en marcha el Operativo de Seguridad Vacaciones de Verano 2018; nos declaramos listos para recibir más de 2 millones 250 visitantes en la temporada vacacional de este verano 2018”.

COLUMNA

La Región Huasteca y el idioma tenek Por Raúl Sinencio Chávez E S P ECIAL PARA T IE MP O DE ZAPATA

Cultura originaria de México, la Huasteca posee idioma propio. De antiquísimos orígenes, lo hablan principalmente en los confines norteños de Veracruz y el oriente potosino, aunque la región abarca parte de Tamaulipas, Querétaro, Puebla e Hidalgo. Junto con la etnia parlante, a últimas fechas esta lengua es llamada tenek, modalidad jamás empleada durante centurias. Aun ignorándose cómo y cuándo surge, muchos la adoptan.

Sello Tras la conquista hispana, el franciscano Andrés de Olmos redacta “Arte de la lengua huasteca”, complementado por “Vocabulario

Foto de cortesía / Gobierno de Tamaulipas

Autoridades tamaulipecas esperan que más de dos millones de turistas visiten los principales destinos durante las vacaciones de verano.

El operativo contará con la presencia de más de 3.000 efectivos y elementos de diversas corporaciones estatales y federales, que se desplegarán por territorio tamaulipeco en recorridos permanentes de vigilancia para el reforzamiento de seguridad en tramos carreteros.

Se instalarán 14 módulos de orientación, información y auxilio, los cuales prestarán servicio médico, mecánico, de grúa e información turística; ubicados en los

siguientes puntos: Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, Matamoros, Las Norias, Tomaseño, Barretal, Padilla, Victoria, Zaragoza, Tula, Estación Manuel, Tampico, Ciudad Madero y Soto la Marina.

Los “Ángeles Azules” patrullarán las carreteras con 12 unidades tipo pick up, equipadas con herramientas para auxilio mecánico e información turística; cuentan con 12 mecánicos certificados quienes brindarán auxilio vial a quienes se les presente alguna falla

mexicano y huasteco”. Juan de la Cruz, misionero agustino, prepara asimismo “Doctrina christiana en lengua guasteca con la castellana”, de 1571.

Recién abierto el tramo dieciochesco, Carlos de Tapia y Zenteno concluye “Noticia de la lengua huasteca”, impresa en 1767.

Entre 1889 y 1890 Marcelo Alejandre da a las prensas “Cartilla huasteca”, seguida de “Lengua huasteca”.

Con sello mexicano, esta bibliografía suma nuevos títulos. Al transcurrir 1953 Ramón Larsen aporta “Vocabulario huasteco”. Antes de marcharse, el controvertido Instituto Lingüístico de Verano en 1972 circula “Hablemos español y huasteco”.

Diligencias La trayectoria del gentilicio corre paralela.

Fray Bernardino de Sahagún explica: “Los cuestecas” toman el nombre “de la provincia […] Cuextlan, donde los” nativos “se llaman cuexteca si son muchos, y si uno cuextécatl”.

Fuerte influencia náhuatl denota el vocablo reseñado, que luego evoluciona.

El capitán José Tienda de Cuervo antes visita la villa de Altamira, Tamaulipas, para realizar ciertas diligencias. Practicadas en 1757, halla “avecinados […] 17 indios […] huastecos, que […] viven sujetos según los demás pobladores”. En 1960, el arqueólogo Román

mecánica en la carretera, con tan solo llamar al número de emergencias 911.

El grupo de primeros auxilios de la Secretaría de Turismo de Tamaulipas, trabajará coordinadamente con la Policía de Auxilio Carretero, Policía Federal, Ángeles Verdes, Cruz Roja, entre otras instancias, en las principales carreteras del estado.

El Operativo de Seguridad Verano 2018, inició este viernes 13 de julio y concluirá el 19 de agosto.

Piña Chan resume: “La cultura de los huastecos” resulta “de gran importancia paracomprender mejor al mexicano de hoy”.

Comunidad Prescindiéndose de sinónimos, las denominaciones en comento muestran permanencia ininterrumpida, si bien experimentan ajustes. Pero abrupto cambio impacta el panorama a fines del segundo milenio. En 1988, por ejemplo, aparece “Lengua tenek (Huasteca potosina)”. El Instituto Nacional Indigenista lo incluye en “Cuadernos de lenguas indígenas”, volumen XV. Contra la constante histórica expuesta aquí, gana adeptos decirle tenek al pueblo e idioma huasteco. Suelen incluso acentuarlo tének. De manera inexplicable, nada análogo ocurre en materia geográfica.

Conviene volver al libro de Tapia y Zenteno que permite razonar que tenek, voz huasteca, en castellano significa indígena. Ni insinuado asoma que la aludida palabra designe a una etnia o lengua prehispánica.

Más todavía, del vocablo tenek o tének ningún registro nos ofrece la Real Academia Española de la Lengua. Tampoco lo recoge el Diccionario de Mexicanismos. Las únicas definiciones al respecto disponibles versan sobre la comunidad huasteca, el idioma huasteco y la región huasteca.

TIEMP O DE ZAPATA

Un ex empleado del Condado de Webb se encuentra demandando al condado y al abogado del condado por despido injustificado, alegando discriminación por edad, así como represalias políticas por denuncias de irregularidades (conocido como whistleblowing) como las razones de su despido.

Ricardo “Rick” Romo alega que su Montemayor exjefe, el Abogado del Condado Marco Montemayor, lo despidió injustamente tras que él se negara a dejar de hacer campaña para la posición de Comisario del Precinto 1 del Condado de Webb.

Montemayor negó los alegatos, pero dijo que no podía hacer más comentarios por la demanda pendiente.

“Es solo un empleado insatisfecho”, él dijo. “Espero podamos resolver este asunto”.

La petición de Romo indica que ha sido un empleado del Condado de Webb en diferentes funciones desde hace 30 años. Por los pasados cinco años, Romo ha sido el investigador principal de la Oficina del Abogado del Condado de Webb, dice la petición. La demanda alega que Romo fue despedido en junio 25.

De acuerdo con esta petición, Romo fue llamado a la oficina de Montemayor hace un par de meses y se le dijo que lanzarse para un puesto público afectaría su empleo y a su familia. Montemayor supuestamente le dijo a Romo que su campaña lo estaba afectando y poniéndolo en un predicamento. “Él dijo que necesitaba detenerme, quitar las calcomanías, posters y no iniciar mi campaña hasta que él me dijera cuándo o que eso afectaría mi trabajo”, dice la petición. Él cree que esto fue una violación de sus derechos constitucionales y de la Primera Enmienda.

Montemayor después le dijo que lo discutiera con su esposa, de acuerdo con la demanda.

Lanzarse para un puesto público y no quitar los letreros y calcomanías de su campaña, como lo pidió Montemayor, fue una de las razones de su despido. Sin embargo, él dijo que piensa que la edad también jugó un papel. Con 55 años, Romo dijo, que es el investigador de mayor edad en de la Oficina del Abogado del Condado.

Romo también le dijo a Montemayor sobre un supervisor que no estaba trabajando todas las horas debidas, diciendo que esto afectaba a la moral de los empleados, dice la petición.

“Esto hubiera sido un robo de servicios, lo cual creo que el Abogado del Condado tiene un deber de investigar, pero no lo hizo”, indica la demanda. Él cree que esto contribuyó a su despido, de acuerdo con documentos de la corte.

De acuerdo con la petición, la conducta de Montemayor causó daños a Romo por angustia mental, gastos médicos y gastos de abogado. Él continúa experimentando jaquecas, dificultada para dormir y comer, estrés y ansiedad, indican registros.

Marcel Notzon III, el abogado de Romo, dijo que su cliente era un empleado estelar que se ganó varios elogios y fue despedido sin una buena razón.

Notzon dijo que espera la porción de descubrimiento del caso para averiguar quién estaba poniendo presión política sobre el abogado del condado.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 |

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STATE

San Antonio store owner’s killer set for execution

By Michael Graczyk A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

HUNTSVILLE — A Texas death row inmate was set for execution Tuesday evening as lawyers argued in the courts that the state parole board improperly refused his clemency request because he’s black.

Christopher Young was condemned for fatally shooting a San Antonio convenience store owner during an attempted robbery nearly 14 years ago.

Young, 34, has never denied the slaying, which was recorded on a store surveillance camera, but insisted he was drunk and didn’t intend to kill 53-year-old Hasmukh “Hash” Patel after drinking nearly two dozen beers and then doing cocaine that Sunday morning in November 2004. A federal judge in Houston earlier Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit his attorneys filed

against the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles after the panel last week rejected a clemency plea where they argued he was “no longer the young man he was when he arrived” on death row, that he was “truly remorseful” and that Patel’s son did not wish the execution to take place.

In the civil rights suit, his lawyers argued a white Texas inmate, Thomas Whitaker, received a rare commutation earlier this year as his execution was imminent for the slaying of his mother and brother. Young is black and race improperly “appears to be the driving force in this case,” attorney David Dow said in the appeal that sought to delay the punishment.

Attorneys said they would appeal the dismissal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday rejected a similar appeal as improper.

Mike Graczyk / AP

Death-row inmate Christopher Young is seen during an interview outside death row at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas in this file photo.

Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, said the civil rights lawsuit was a

delay tactic, improper, speculative and “legally and factually deficient.”

Young and his lawyers argued he no longer was a Bloods street gang member, had matured in prison and hoped to show others “look where you can end up.”

“I didn’t know about death row,” Young said from prison.

“It needs to be talked about.

You’ve got a whole new generation. You’ve got to stop this, not just executions but the crimes.

Nobody’s talking to these kids. I can’t bring Hash back but I can do something to make sure there’s no more Hashes.”

According to court documents, Young sexually assaulted a woman in her apartment with her three young children present, then forced her to drive off with him in her car. She managed to escape, and records show he drove one block to the

Mini Food Mart where owner Patel was shot during an attempted robbery. He was arrested 90 minutes later after picking up a prostitute and driving to a crack house where the stolen car was parked outside and spotted by San Antonio police.

From prison, he denied the sexual assault, although court records said DNA tests confirmed the attack. He said he shot Patel in the hand and the bullet careened into Patel’s chest, killing him. The surveillance camera recorded both video and audio of the shooting and two customers in the parking lot identified Young as the shooter. Mitesh Patel, whose father was killed by Young, said he supported Young’s clemency bid because “nothing positive comes from his execution” and carrying out the punishment would leave Young’s three teenage daughters without a father.

A8 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

NATIONAL

Trump corrects quote, says he misspoke on Russian meddling

By Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — Blistered by bipartisan condemnation of his embrace of a longtime U.S. enemy, President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to “clarify” his public undermining of American intelligence agencies, saying he had misspoken when he said he saw no reason to believe Russia had interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.

“The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t, or why it wouldn’t be Russia” instead of “why it would,” Trump said, in a rare admission of error by the bombastic U.S. leader. His comment came — amid rising rebuke by his own party — about 27 hours after his original, widely reported statement, which he made at a Monday summit in Helsinki standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I accept our intelligence community’s conclusion that

Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election took place,” Trump said Tuesday. But he added, as he usually does, “It could be other people also. A lot of people out there. There was no collusion at all.”

Moments earlier, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell issued a public reassurance to U.S. allies in NATO and Europe with whom Trump clashed during his frenzied Europe trip last week.

“The European countries are our friends, and the Russians are not,” McConnell said.

Trump maintained Tuesday’s summit with Putin went “even better” than his meeting with NATO allies.

That NATO reference carried an edge, too, since the barrage of criticism and insults he delivered in Brussels in London was hardly well-received. He dismissed it all with a new attack on an old target: the news media. He said his NATO meeting was “great” but he “had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not

being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!”

In fact, the reaction back home has been immediate and visceral, among fellow Republicans as well as usual Trump critics. “Shameful,” ‘’disgraceful,” ‘’weak,” were a few of the comments. Makes the U.S. “look like a pushover,” said GOP Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee.

On Capitol Hill, top Republican leaders said they were open to slapping fresh sanctions on Russia but showed no signs of acting any time soon.

“Let’s be very clear, just so everybody knows: Russia did meddle with our elections,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan.

“What we intend to do is make sure they don’t get away with it again and also to help our allies.”

In the Senate, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York called for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top officials to appear before Congress and tell exactly what happened during Trump’s two-hour private session with Putin.

Schumer also urged the Senate to take up legislation to boost security for U.S. elections and to revive a measure passed earlier by the Judiciary Committee to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference.

But minority Democrats have few tools to push their priorities.

In the House, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi planned a vote Tuesday in support of the intelligence committee’s findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

Senators had floated a similar idea earlier, but The No. 2 Republican, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said sanctions may be preferable to a nonbinding resolution that amounts to “just some messaging exercise.”

Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the first step was to get Pompeo to appear, “hopefully” next week.

Trump’s meeting with Putin in Helsinki was his first time sharing the international stage with a man he has described as

an important U.S. competitor — but whom he has also praised a strong, effective leader.

His remarks, siding with a foe on foreign soil over his own government, was a stark illustration of Trump’s willingness to upend decades of U.S. foreign policy and rattle Western allies in service of his political concerns. A wary and robust stance toward Russia has been a bedrock of his party’s world view. But Trump made clear he feels that any acknowledgement of Russia’s election involvement would undermine the legitimacy of his election.

Standing alongside Putin, Trump steered clear of any confrontation with the Russian, going so far as to question American intelligence and last week’s federal indictments that accused 12 Russians of hacking into Democratic email accounts to hurt Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 |

A9

BUSINESS

Stocks fall as oil prices drop; Amazon struggles after snag

By Marley Jay A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — Major U.S. indexes closed mostly lower Monday as investors bought banks but sold most other types of stocks, including health care and technology companies. Energy stocks sank along with oil prices.

Oil prices fell more than 4 percent after U.S. officials suggested the U.S. will take a softer stance on countries that import oil from Iran after sanctions on Iran’s energy sector go back into effect in November. Banks rose along with interest rates as well as a solid second-quarter report from Bank of America. A strong forecast gave Deutsche Bank its biggest gain in more than a year.

Amazon jumped in midday trading as investors expected strong sales during the compa-

ny’s annual Prime Day promotion, one of its largest sales days of the year, but the stock gave up much of that gain following problems with the company’s website. Most other groups of stocks lost ground, and about twothirds of the companies on the New York Stock Exchange finished lower.

Stocks finished at fivemonth highs Friday as investors remained optimistic about the U.S. economy even as they worried about the trade war between the U.S. and China.

“We’re coming off of a very strong week last week where the market finally started to focus on the expectation of a very strong earnings season,” said Sunitha Thomas, a portfolio advisor for Northern Trust Wealth Management. She said companies are likely to

report big increases in profit and revenue, and while investors are looking for hints the trade war is affecting company forecasts and supply chains, there were no signs of that on Monday.

The S&P 500 index lost 2.88 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,798.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44.95 points, or 0.2 percent, to 25,064.36 as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Boeing climbed. The Nasdaq composite fell 20.26 points, or 0.3 percent, to 7,805.72.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks declined 8.54 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,678.54.

Bank of America’s second-quarter profits jumped, as like other big banks, it got a big boost from the corporate tax cut at the end of 2017 and

Patrick Semansky / AP

A worker applies tape to a package before shipment at an Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore. Amazon jumped in midday trading during the company’s annual Prime Day promotion but gave up much of that gain following problems with the company’s website.

from higher interest rates.

Unlike Wells Fargo and Citigroup, which disclosed their results Friday, Bank of America did better than Wall Street expected. Its stock rose 4.3 percent to $29.78.

Deutsche Bank jumped 8 percent to $12.14 after it said its earnings will be considerably higher than analysts expected.

Deutsche Bank stock has

Retail sales rise at a healthy pace

By Christopher Rugaber A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — U.S. retail sales rose at a solid pace last month despite higher prices and modest wage gains, a sign of underlying consumer optimism.

The Commerce Department said Monday that sales at retailers and restaurants increased 0.5 percent in June, following a big 1.3 percent gain the previous month. May’s figure was revised sharply higher from an initial estimate of 0.8 percent.

Americans are confident about the economic outlook, with the unemployment rate near an 18 year-low and the economy accelerating after a sluggish start to the year. Retail sales rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier, the fastest annual pace in five years.

Still, some of the spending increases, such as gas station sales, simply reflect higher prices. Excluding auto dealers and gas stations, sales rose 0.3 percent in June.

Home and garden stores reported a strong 0.8 percent sales gain, which was likely lifted in part by more expensive lumber. The Trump administration imposed tariffs on some lumber imports from Canada last fall.

With consumer spending strong, most economists believe that growth will jump to a 4 percent to 4.5 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, which would be the strongest in

tumbled as the company has taken three years of losses based on high costs and big fines and penalties linked to past misconduct.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell 4.2 percent to $68.06 in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 4.6 percent to $71.84 a barrel in London.

U.S. officials said countries and businesses that

US challenges nations over steel tariffs

By Paul Wiseman ASSOCIATED PRE SS

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

A shopper carries bags in San Francisco. On Monday, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. retail sales increased in June.

four years. That would follow just 2 percent growth in the first three months of the year.

A survey of business economists found that most companies expect their sales to rise in the coming months and that they plan to raise pay to attract and keep workers. The proportion of businesses planning to raise pay was the largest in roughly 35 years.

Still, most of the respondents to a survey by the National Association for Business Economics said that the Trump administration’s corporate tax cuts last year have yet to affect

their plans for hiring and investment. The administration has sold the tax cuts as an incentive for companies to invest more in plant and equipment.

Nearly two-thirds of companies in the NABE survey said that the administration’s trade policies hadn’t changed their hiring or investment plans.

But a quarter of farmers, manufacturers, and construction companies surveyed said they had delayed making new investments because of the tariffs and retaliatory measures by China, Europe and other trading partners.

import oil from Iran could avoid penalties if they reduce those imports significantly. Recently the U.S. government was pressuring countries to stop buying Iranian oil entirely. The U.S. will reinstitute sanctions on Iran’s energy sector in early November as a result of the American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday brought cases against China, the European Union, Canada, Mexico and Turkey at the World Trade Organization for retaliating against American tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

The United States has imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum on the grounds that the imported metals pose a threat to U.S. national security. China, the EU, Canada, Mexico and Turkey have counterpunched with taxes on more than $24 billion worth of U.S. exports.

U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer said their retaliation violates the rules of the Geneva-based WTO, which mediates trade disputes.

“Instead of working with us to address a common problem, some of our trading partners have elected to respond with retaliatory tariffs designed to punish American workers, farmers and companies,” Lighthizer said. If the WTO agrees that the retalia-

tory duties violate its rules, it would assess the damage and calculate the tariffs that the United States would be entitled to impose in response — retaliation for the retaliation.

But WTO proceedings can drag on for years.

In taxing imported steel and aluminum from some countries in March and others in June, President Donald Trump deployed a little-used weapon in American trade policy: Under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, presidents are empowered to impose unlimited tariffs on imports that the Commerce Department asserts are threats to America’s national security.

The WTO gives countries broad leeway to determine national security interests.

But there was long an unwritten agreement that WTO member countries would use the national-security justification only very sparingly to avoid abuses.

Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs broke that taboo.

Now the Commerce Department is pursuing another, bigger national-security case against auto imports.

A10 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

ENTERTAINMENT

CNN’s Cooper calls Trump’s performance ‘disgraceful’

By David Bauder A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

NEW YORK — Seconds after President Donald Trump’s news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin ended Monday, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper called the American leader’s performance “disgraceful.”

It was the most starCooper tling of several strong media reactions to the session, televised live by the largest American broadcasters and cable news networks, primarily because of Cooper’s role. He was the news anchor directing CNN’s coverage, as opposed to a pundit paid to be opinionated.

“You have been watching perhaps one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president at a summit in front of a Russian leader, certainly that I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Cooper later said it was embarrassing and compared the way Trump repeatedly brings up the issue of former opponent Hillary Clinton’s emails to something the autistic lead character in the movie “Rain Man” might do.

For the president, it’s likely to add another to his list of grievances about a network he has denounced as “fake news.” The White House over the weekend took action following CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s attempt to interject a question into a Trump news conference Friday by pulling Trump national security adviser John Bolton from a planned appearance on Jake Tapper’s weekend show.

Monday’s news conference turned on some sharp questions by Jonathan Lemire, White House correspondent for The Associated Press. Lemire asked Trump whether he agreed with the nation’s intelligence community, which has concluded Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, or Putin, who has repeatedly denied it. Lemire also asked whether Trump would denounce election meddling and warn Putin not to do it again, and asked Putin whether Russia had gathered incriminating material on the American president.

Trump responded, “I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his

denial today.” He denounced the federal investigation into Russian interference efforts as a “disaster for our country.”

Putin said allegations that Russian intelligence agencies had collected compromising information on Trump were “sheer nonsense.” But he acknowledged that he had personally favored Trump in the race over Clinton.

“It’s hard to find words to describe,” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos said after the news conference. “All of you who are watching today will be able to tell your friends, family, your children, your grandchildren you were watching a moment of history. It may not be for the right reasons.”

Added NBC’s Hallie Jackson: “I think a fair word would be extraordinary. I have covered this president since the moment he was sworn in and have never been at a press conference like this one.”

CBS’ Margaret Brennan said she was messaging some U.S. officials during the speech who said they were turning off the television. “It’s a punch in the gut,” she said.

There were mixed reactions on Fox News Channel, whose commentators usually represent Trump’s biggest supporters. Fox will have a key role in the leaders’ attempt to spin the summit, since Trump is being interviewed by Sean Hannity on Monday night, and Putin has sat down with Chris Wallace on Monday. An interview with Trump

by Tucker Carlson will air on Fox on Tuesday night.

“Shameful, disgraceful, treasonous — those are some of the descriptions of what President Trump did today in Helsinki,” Fox’s Shepard Smith said to open his news show. Wallace appeared with Smith to describe his own 35-minute interview with Putin.

Wallace said he did what he suspected Trump did not do in the president’s private meeting with Putin — show the Russian leader a copy of the indictments handed down last week against a dozen Russian intelligence officials for their actions in the 2016 presidential election.

Putin didn’t want to see it, Wallace said. “He put it down on the table,” he said.

Some at Fox seized on tweeted criticism by former CIA director John Brennan, who said Trump’s performance was near treasonous. That was extreme, said Fox’s Ed Henry.

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 |

A11

FROM THE COVER

New IRS policy allows some groups to veil donors

By Marcy Gordon A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is lifting requirements that some tax-exempt groups disclose the identities of their donors to federal tax authorities.

The change benefits groups that spend millions of dollars on political ads, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and an organization tied to the billionaire Koch brothers.

Republicans accused the IRS during President Barack Obama’s tenure of liberal bias and unfair targeting of conservative tax-exempt groups. Now those groups figure among the organizations allowed to withhold names of their donors under the new IRS policy announced late Monday.

Treasury Department officials portrayed the changes as important free-speech and privacy protections for donors, while also preserving government transparency.

But critics see the easing of disclosure requirements as opening the door to more dark money in political campaigns.

“Americans shouldn’t be required to send the IRS information that it doesn’t need to effectively enforce our tax laws, and the IRS simply does not

need tax returns with donor names and addresses to do its job in this area,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

Mnuchin said the same information on tax-exempt groups that was previously available to the public will continue to be so, while private taxpayer data will be better protected.

Critics said the action will hurt openness in political campaigns and allow hidden unscrupulous donors to funnel money into the system.

“It is another Trump blow against transparency and for obscurity — hardly his promised swamp drainage,” said Norman Eisen, the chief ethics lawyer in the Obama administration who is a governance studies fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Eisen said the current required disclosures also allow the IRS to monitor unlawful foreign contributions.

News of the IRS policy change came the same day federal prosecutors charged a gun-rights activist living in Washington with serving as a covert Russian agent gathering intelligence on U.S. officials and political organizations. Court papers show that the activities of the activist, Maria

Butina, included efforts to use contacts with the National Rifle Association to develop relationships with U.S. politicians during the 2016 campaign.

The NRA is one of the groups that will benefit from the new IRS policy.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said Tuesday he’ll vote against President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the IRS, Beverly Hills tax attorney Charles Rettig, unless Rettig commits to restoring the disclosure requirement.

“Trump’s Treasury Department made it easier for anonymous foreign donors to funnel dark money into nonprofits the same day a Russian national linked to the NRA was arrested for attempting to influence our elections,” Wyden said. “It’s the latest attempt by Secretary Mnuchin and Donald Trump to eliminate transparency and keep officials and lawmakers from following the money.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi denounced the IRS move as “President Trump’s latenight giveaway to shady donors and interest groups (that) makes dark money even darker.”

Under the new IRS policy, charities that main-

Susan Walsh / AP

This 2013 photo shows the exterior of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) building in Washington. The Trump administration is lifting requirements for some tax-exempt groups to disclose the identities of their donors to federal tax authorities.

ly receive tax-deductible contributions and political organizations will still have to provide in their annual returns the names and addresses of their donors giving at least $5,000. But so-called social-welfare organizations, business leagues and labor unions will be relieved of a requirement that the Treasury Department said Congress never imposed.

The IRS “makes no systematic use” of donor information provided by those groups in carrying out tax rules, the government said, and if the information is needed for an audit, the IRS can ask the group for it directly.

The Chamber of Commerce praised the new policy.

“This action will help ensure that sensitive donor information will not

POLICY From page A1 dren. The judge held off on deciding that issue until the government outlines its objections in writing by next Monday.

ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told reporters that he was “extremely pleased” by the halt and that parents need time to think over with their children and advisers whether to seek asylum.

“It’s hard to imagine a more profound or momentous decision,” he said.

The hearing in San Diego occurred as the government accelerated reunifications at eight unidentified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement locations. The families are scattered around the country, the adults at immigration detention centers, the children at shelters overseen by the government.

Annunciation House, a shelter in El Paso, said the government has begun transporting children in a “tremendous amount of airline flights” to El Paso and elsewhere. Director Ruben Garcia said he is preparing to take in as many as 100 reunified families a day.

Late last month, Sabraw ordered the government to reunite the thousands of children and parents who were forcibly separated at the border by the Trump administration this spring. He set a deadline of July 10 for children under 5 and gave the government until July 26 to reunite 2,551 youngsters ages 5 to 17.

GRANT From page A1 jectives through a linked constellation of education, outreach and services,” Walker said.

Juntos for Better Health focuses on the health care systems in Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties.

The combined population of these counties is 290,688, most of which are in Webb County. Laredo accounts for 94.8 percent of the population residing in Webb County.

Residents in this region suffer from disproportionate health disparities which stem from extreme poverty, lower levels of educational attainment, and inadequate access to basic health care needs.

In Webb County, 95.5 percent of the population is Hispanic/Latino of Mexican descent and over

Marie D. De Jes's / Houston Chronicle

Allison, 6, and her mother Cindy Madrid share a moment in Houston, where the mother and daughter spoke about the month and one day they were separated under the President Donald Trump administration immigration policy.

On Monday, the judge commended the government for a revised plan submitted over the weekend to reunify the older children. The plan calls for DNA testing and other screening measures if red flags are raised during background checks.

Jonathan White of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, who is overseeing the government’s effort, assured the judge that some reunifications of older children already occurred, and

half (51.2 percent) of the population indicate they speak English less than “very well.” Twenty-three percent of residents in Jim Hogg and 39 percent of Zapata residents are monolingual Spanish speakers.

Walker said the program operates through an approach featuring comprehensive health care and patient engagement.

“We’re focused on comprehensive health care and patient engagement using best practices, alongside an innovative patient education model delivered by our Dr. F. M. Canseco School of Nursing students in a community course. We also deploy a Traveling Health Care Team, a critical community outreach initiative that emphasizes primary screening and links to a medical home or mental health services. Primary

“it is our intent to reunify children promptly.” He went into detail on how the process was working.

The judge praised White’s testimony, saying, “What is in place is a great start to making a large number of reunifications happen very, very quickly.”

“I have every confidence that you are the right person to do this,” he told White.

It was a sharp change from Friday, when the government

screening is medical care assessment that includes glucose test, blood pressure, height, weight, BMI and behavioral health pre-screening,” Walker said.

Service providers include Border Region Behavioral Health Center, City of Laredo Health Department, Gateway Community Health Center, Serving Children and Adolescents in Need, and the Mid Rio Grande Border Area Health Education Center, Walker explained, noting the Traveling Health Care Team provides free of charge onsite visits and services for individuals 18 and over who are residents of Webb, Jim Hogg and Zapata counties.

Secondary program interventions target health education and treatment compliance on topics such diabetes,

submitted a plan for “truncated” vetting that excluded DNA testing and other procedures used for children under 5. The government official said the abbreviated vetting was necessary to meet the court-imposed deadline but put children at significant risk.

Sabraw said late Friday that he was having second thoughts about his belief that the government was acting in good faith. In a hastily arranged conference call, he told admin-

depression and obesity.

Finally, the program’s third intervention looks to build critical capacity and sharing resources with partner organizations to develop referral protocols and a shared information system to improve care and facilitate referrals.

TAMIU remains the primary part of the inaugural cohort of the Sí Texas: Social Innovation for a Healthy South Texas Project, funded by Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, the largest, private, faithbased funding source for healthcare services in South Texas, and a program of the Social Innovation Fund of the Corporation for National and Community Service.

The Project includes organizations in the Rio Grande Valley and Coastal Bend.

fall into the hands of those who wish to suppress the First Amendment right to free speech,” spokesperson Blair Holmes said in a statement. “The U.S. Chamber strongly supports the right of all organizations — no matter their ideological or political persuasion — to participate vigorously in our nation’s important policy conversations.”

istration officials that its plan misrepresented his instructions and showed “a very grudging reluctance to do things.”

Sabraw said in court Monday that the initial plan was “exasperating,” “completely unhelpful,” and “written in a manner that seemed wholly divorced from the context of this case.”

“This is not hard stuff,” he said. “It’s laborious, but it’s not difficult to do.”

Sabraw has scheduled three more hearings over the next two weeks to ensure compliance with his order.

Also Monday, advocates said in federal court in Los Angeles that immigrant children in government custody are being given poor food, kept in unsanitary conditions and face insults and threats.

The allegations came amid a long-running effort by attorneys to have a court-appointed monitor oversee the U.S. government’s compliance with a decades-old settlement governing the treatment of immigrant children caught on the border.

Attorneys interviewed immigrant parents and children in June and July about their experiences in Border Patrol facilities, family detention and a youth shelter. They described much of the testimony as “shocking and atrocious.”

Families described meals of frozen sandwiches and spoiled food, overflowing toilets and guards yelling at them and kicking them while they slept.

Children said they were hungry and scared when their parents were taken away.

MARIACHI From page A1 ample with their respective donations and encouraged others to donate, resulting in a five-year commitment that will generate $750,000 for the mariachi program.

Ramirez noted that this was a very important moment in the trajectory of the UT Longhorn mariachi program. Zeke Castro, 79, is retiring after many years with the UT Butler School of Music.

Monica Fogelquist, a noted first violin and first vocalist for mariachi programs in California and Nevada, has been named the new director of the UT mariachi program.

“It is important to increase recognition of mariachi as a key part of Texas music culture,” Ramirez said. “By helping

the mariachi program at UT Austin, we hope to reach a wider audience and allow students bigger opportunities outside their local towns.”

IBC officers throughout Texas encouraged high school students to participate in the program. As a result, this summer’s Longhorn Mariachi Camp was filled to capacity. UT President Greg Fenves thanked Barnes, IBCAustin and Ramirez and his wife for their generosity and passion for mariachi music. College of Fine Arts Dean Doug Dempster, BSOM Director Mary Ellen Poole, Ernest and Sara Butler, whose historic donation resulted in the school of music being named the Ernest and Sarah Butler School of Music, along with state representatives Tracy King and Richard Raymond, were also present.

A12 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

INTERNATIONAL

Mexicans mob AMLO seeking help for matters big and small

By Joebill Munoz and Sofia Ortega A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

MEXICO CITY — Each morning hundreds of Mexicans crowd at the gates of 216 Chihuahua Street in the capital, home to the white, two-story building that served as President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s campaign headquarters.

They bear handwritten notes, medical records, retirement papers and other documents in the hope he will hear them out on requests ranging from bigger pensions for the elderly to private concerns that normally wouldn’t fall to a head of state: getting a loved one out of jail, help getting into a college course or assistance finding a job or a place to live.

“He has told us he is going to provide for us, help us and change the country,” said Jasmine Lopez Peralta, a 45-yearold nurse who has been without stable work for two years after her hospital said it could no longer pay her. “So that’s why we’re coming to him.”

This personalized, almost-religious faith in Lopez Obrador to help people is fed by his image as a fighter for the poor and his promises to end what he calls a corrupt “mafia of power” that has protected its own interests at the expense of those on society’s lower rungs.

The daily scene outside his offices in Mexico City’s Roma Norte neighborhood reflects not only a breakdown in the ability of government at all levels to solve people’s problems, but also the depth of expectations that Lopez Obrador is the one to finally change millions of

lives after years of disappointment.

Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst at Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Training, attributed the phenomenon in part to the country’s history of rule by “caudillo,” or strongman, and also to the populist promises and commonman persona projected by the man nicknamed “AMLO,” after his initials.

“The expectations that Lopez Obrador has created in terms of truly solving the tremendous number of problems we face are more believed than” with previous leaders, Crespo said. “Presidents always promise to solve

problems; they almost always offer a kind of utopia. With Lopez Obrador it is even beyond utopia ... fixing corruption, fixing the violence that has worn us out for the last 12 years.”

Lopez Obrador’s proposals for how he intends to govern were murky at best during the campaign, and few concrete details have emerged since the July 1 election. On Sunday he said he would slash his presidential salary by over half. He has previously proposed raising pensions and creating a system of paid apprenticeships for underprivileged youth.

Another promise has

been to lower rising homicide rates in the cartelridden country through a vague proposal to grant amnesties to some nonviolent criminals, especially those held on drug offenses.

That brought Hermenegilda Mercado Yanez, a 69-year-old homemaker, to AMLO headquarters recently. She said her incarcerated son was falsely accused of strangling his wife.

“We’ll see if he helps me get my son, who is innocent, freed. ... Because he said he was going to offer amnesty,” Yanez said.

Even after the election, Lopez Obrador has main-

Moises Castillo / AP

Mexico's President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador receives a note from a man, as he leaves his headquarters in the Roma neighborhood of Mexico City.

tained his trademark modest personal style, rolling through the city in a white sedan with the windows down and no bodyguards. The only security at his offices is a simple white fence topped with electrified wire and a rotation of two apparently unarmed guards.

That image of approachability has prompted thousands to make a

kind of pilgrimage.

Teodoro Perez Cruz, a 72-year-old who is partially blind and homeless, said he walked from the southern borough of Iztapalapa — about 15 miles (24 kilometers) — to ask Lopez Obrader to help him get a place to live.

Yanez traveled from the town of El Oro in the State of Mexico, at least 2 ½-hours by car or bus.

Sports&Outdoors

THE ZAPATA TIMES | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 |

A13

NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS LONGHORNS

UT’s Herman talks calling plays, position changes and QBs at Big 12 Media Days Herman set for his second full season leading the Longhorns

By Nick Moyle SA N A NT ONI O E XPRE SS-NEWS

FRISCO — With Texas not scheduled to appear at Big 12 Media Days until Tuesday, the big news regarding the team was the apparent move of freshman D'Shawn Jamison to receiver.

Jamison, an All-American defensive back ranked No. 15 at the position per 247Sports, was listed as a wide receiver in the team's new media guide. But coach Tom Herman on Tuesday said the move may not be permanent, and that Jamison had been working with both the slot receivers and the defensive backs.

"He's going to play both this year," Herman said.

"He's been working at both throughout the offseason. He's been doing drills with both the slot receivers and the DBs. We certainly plan to use him

on offense, but I think it's more of a stopgap.

"And it depends, he may go light the world on fire and may say, 'Hey coach can I stay here?'"

Herman said the 5foot-10, 180-pound Jamison could provide "some dynamism" at one of the team's weakest positions, though UT ultimately views the Houston Lamar graduate as a defensive back.

"By all accounts he's having a really good offseason," Herman said.

Herman took on a more active role as an offensive play-caller in the Longhorns' 33-17 Texas Bowl victory over Missouri.

That sparked questions over whether he would retain those duties throughout the 2018 season, with offensive coordinator Tim Beck taking on a diminished role.

The hiring of former Auburn assistant Herb Hand as co-offensive

coordinator and offensive line coach only fueled that initial speculation. And Herman didn't exactly issue a ringing endorsement of Beck Tuesday, instead choosing to kick that can down the road.

"The good thing is we don't have to make that decision right now in mid-July," Herman said.

"We're going to do whatever is best for the University of Texas and for our offense.

"I have always been very intimately involved with the play-calling on game day. There isn't a play that's called I don't have veto power over."

He added: "The way we handle play-calling is very collaborative. What we do throughout the week is much more important than the three hours on Saturday in terms of game planning and installation of the game plan. No decision has been made, nor do I feel

Cooper Neill / Associated Press

Texas head coach Tom Herman addressed numerous topics during Big 12 Media Days including the potential move of a highly regarded defensive back prospect to wide receiver.

any sense of urgency to have to do that."

Herman would like to have a starting quarterback named at least one week before Texas' Sept. 1 season opener against Maryland at FedExField, but no firm timetable exists.

Sophomore Sam Eh-

NCAA FOOTBALL: TEXAS A&M AGGIES

linger is viewed as the frontrunner, though junior Shane Buechele remains in the mix. Freshmen Cameron Rising and Casey Thompson will also receive every opportunity to prove themselves.

"We'll figure it out," Herman said. "We're going to do what's best for

the team. And if neither one of those guys separates themselves, or maybe Cameron Rising or Casey Thompson jumps into the mix because you just can't keep them off the field. But we'll figure it out. There's no timetable, no deadline, none of that."

NFL: HOUSTON TEXANS

FISHER: TIMETABLE TO Texans on WIN FOR A&M IS NOW relying CB Joseph's

Aggies’ Fisher makes SEC Media Days debut

leadership

By Aaron Wilson HOUSTON CHRONICLE

By Brent Zwerneman H OUSTON CHRONICLE

ATLANTA – Jimbo Fisher is new to the Southeastern Conference as a head coach, but he's an old hand in the league overall.

"I grew up in the SEC – I was there 13 years," Fisher said on Monday, the first of four SEC Media Days at the College Football Hall of Fame. "I was in the ACC 11 years and I was in the SEC 13 years. I understand what it is. You have to line up and play every week. "... (Football) is important to every school that plays in this league. It's going to be extremely competitive and tough. To be able to compete in this league (means having) the mental capacity to understand the venues and things you're going through every week."

The Aggies hired Fisher from Florida State of the ACC, where he won a national title in 2013. He was an assistant at Auburn and LSU (the latter under Nick Saban) prior to heading for Tallahassee, Fla. He touched on a handful of subjects in his SEC Media Days debut, including the biggest question of the offseason: who will be his starting quarterback?

1 On whether he'll go with Nick Starkel or fellow sophomore Kellen Mond at quarterback (spoiler alert, he doesn't yet know, and said he has no timetable in naming a

John Bazemore / Associated Press

Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher was present for his first SEC Media Days on Tuesday after joining the Aggies last year from Florida State.

starter): "I believe this, if the quarterback is not the toughest guy you have on your team, your team is not going to be tough.

That's the only position in the world where you have to stand there and let 310 pound guys run at you. You don't get to hit them back."

In other words, the toughest guy has the early lead – and that's an early draw. Both Mond and Starkel showed a willingness to take a hit last season, with a fair share of starts and playing time for both.

1 On LSU trying to hire him from FSU in previous years, to no avail: "My two boys were born in Baton Rouge. I love Baton Rouge.

They're Louisianans. I always had a great affiliation and great love for the place. Unfortunately it didn't work out at the

time. They've got a great coach (in Ed Orgeron) and a great situation. But I always had a great appreciation for those fans and those people there who treated me unbelievably well."

1 On leaving FSU late last fall before the Seminoles played their final regular season game: "When you leave, is there ever a good way to leave? You try to do it the best you can and wish you could finish out the season. ... I had no intention of ever leaving there. It was very emotional. I was very tight with those players and the people in the community. ... I wish them nothing but the best in the future. It's a tremendous place – it really is."

1 On the fake national championship plaque A&M chancellor John Sharp humorously awarded him in the off-

season before a bunch of program boosters, a plaque with a fill-in date: "People are never going to put more pressure on me than I put on myself in this business. ... There was no problem with that at all. I have a great relationship with (Sharp). I thought it was kind of nice myself. I hope we can fill that in quickly."

1 On his "timetable" for winning a national title at A&M: "Your timetable is as quick as you can put things in place, and everyone buys into what you're trying to do. Your timetable is now. ... You want to win immediately, but is that realistic? I don't know. Could it be?

Yes. Could it not be? Yes. It's all about the process of putting things in place.

Because you want to build a program the right way, and get kids to understand and buy in."

Entering his 13th NFL season, former Pro Bowl cornerback Johnathan Joseph is being counted on for much more than his coverage abilities.

The Texans re-signed the 34-year-old to a twoyear, $10 million contract that included $3.9 million guaranteed partly because of his leadership and influence in the locker room.

New Texans secondary coach Anthony Midget is counting on Joseph to help him operate as a coach on the field.

"That's who he is," Midget said. "He's great with the younger guys, he's great with all his teammates in the classroom. He's an extension of what I'm trying to get done. He does a good job of coaching the guys up

and communicating with the guys the expectations we have for them.

"But just overall, he puts in the time studying the game, studying his opponents and he just passes that off to his teammates and holds them to that standard."

A former Cincinnati Bengals first-round draft pick from South Carolina, Joseph has recorded 639 career tackles, 28 interceptions, seven forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries.

"He's a pro's pro," Texans coach Bill O'Brien said. "He's a guy that has shown up every day since I've been here and put in the work and really been a very consistent player for us. I think that's what's given him the opportunity to last so long in the league. He's got talent, but it's so much more than talent."

Godofredo A. Vasquez / Houston Chronicle file

Re-signed this offseason for $10 million over two years, Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph is also being counted on to bring leadership to Houston’s locker room in 2018.

A14 | Wednesday, July 18, 2018 | THE ZAPATA TIMES

INTERNATIONAL

Marco Longari/AFP / AP

Former US President Barack Obama speaks during the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the Wanderers cricket stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Obama delivers veiled rebuke to Trump in Mandela address

By Andrew Meldrum A S S OCIAT E D PRE SS

JOHANNESBURG — In his highest profile speech since leaving office, former U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday denounced the policies of President Donald Trump without mentioning his name, taking aim at the “politics of fear, resentment, retrenchment,” and decrying leaders who are caught lying and “just double down and lie some more.”

Obama was cheered by thousands in Johannesburg’s Wanderers Stadium as he marked the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth by urging respect for human rights, the free press and other values he said were under threat.

He rallied people to keep alive the ideals that the anti-apartheid activist worked for as the first black president of South Africa, including democracy, diversity, gender equality and tolerance.

Obama opened by calling today’s times “strange and uncertain,” adding that “each day’s news cycle is bringing more head-spinning and disturbing headlines.”

“We see much of the world threatening to return to a more dangerous, more brutal, way of doing business,” he said.

A day after Trump met in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Obama criticized “strongman politics.”

The “politics of fear, resentment, retrenchment” are on the move “at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago,” Obama added.

“Those in power seek to undermine every institution ... that gives democracy meaning,” he said.

The first African-American president of the United States spoke up for equality in all forms, adding: “I would have thought we had figured that out by now.”

Obama praised the diversity of the World Cup champion French team, and he said that those countries engaging in xenophobia “eventually ... find themselves consumed by civil war.”

He noted the “utter loss of shame among political leaders when they’re caught in a lie and they just double down and lie some more,” warning that the denial of facts — such as climate change — could be the undoing of democracy.

But Obama reminded the crowd that “we’ve been through darker times. We’ve been through lower valleys.”

He closed with a call to action: “I say if people can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.”

The crowd gave him a standing ovation in the chilly South African winter.

“Just by standing on the stage honoring Nelson Mandela, Obama is delivering an eloquent rebuke to Trump,” said John Stremlau, professor of international relations at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg. He called the timing of Obama’s speech auspicious — one day after Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin — and said the commitments that defined Mandela’s life are “under assault.”