Sunday, April 28, 2024
WHAT IS CITY PROPOSITIONS A AND B ELECTION ALL ABOUT? TUESDAY LAST DAY TO CAST EARLY VOTE
The upcoming May 4, 2024, election will see residents of Brownsville's Extra Territorial Jurisdiction area, also known as the ETJ, voting on Proposition A. Those living in Brownsville city will vote on Propositions A and B. Both initiatives could affect the city and its growth area's development.
Proposition A aims to create the Greater Brownsville Municipal Development District (MDD). The existing sales tax in Brownsville, currently at 8.25 percent. It will not change for city shoppers. But, if both measures pass, the ETJ's (five miles past the city limits) sales tax would increase from 6.25 percent to 6.75 percent.
The MDD would fund various projects, such as infrastructure development, park and recreational facility upgrades, (hike-and-bike trails for Rose), job training, small business development, and economic growth. The proposed sales tax increase in the ETJ would mean an extra five cents (0.05₵) on every $10 purchase.
Proposition B suggests ending two voter-approved economic development corporations, the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation (BCIC) and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation (GBIC). If both propositions pass, it's estimated that an extra $400,000 would be generated annually for economic development and quality of life projects.
The MDD would be managed by a board appointed by the Brownsville City Commission, although he has made public statements saying that the same administration and staffs would remain on the payroll despite their dismal performance in the past. Brownsville City Mayor, John Cowen, Jr., highlighted the importance of the vote, stating that residents can fund future development with the additional funding throughout the City and Cameron County.
CITY OF BROWNSVILLE SPECIAL ELECTION
(This one can only pass if...)
Proposition A
Authorizing the creation of the Greater Brownsville Municipal Development District and the imposition of a sales and use tax at the rate of one-half of one percent (0.50%) for the purpose of financing development projects beneficial to the district, within the incorporated City limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Brownsville, Texas, which boundaries shall automatically conform to any changes in the corporate boundaries and extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City, contingent upon the majority of eligible voters approving a ballot proposition to terminate the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.
Proposition B
(...this one does.)
Termination of the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, contingent upon the majority of eligible voters approving a ballot proposition to create the Greater Brownsville Municipal Development District.
Click on link below to find early voting places:
Saturday, April 27, 2024
TUESDAY IS LAST DAY FOR EARLY VOTING: HAVE YOU VOTED?
AS OF SATURDAY, APRIL 27
EARLY VOTE BY JURISDICTION
CAMERON COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT: 8,976
Place 1
Bill Hudson
Jose Raul Davila
Alejandro Garcia-Moreno
Erasmo Castro
Place 2
Ruben Martinez
Fernando Lazo
Minerva Simpson
Ricardo "Ricky" de la Garza
Place 3
Philip T. Cowen
Norlene C. Chamberlain
TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE: 6,161
Place 6
Mirla Veronica Deaton
Edward C. Camarillo
J.J. De Leon
Place 7
Norma Lopez Harris
Hilda Silva
Eva Alejandro
BROWNSVILLE NAVIGATION DISTRICT (PORT): 4,875
Place 1
Patrick Everitt
Humberto "Beto" Torres
Carlos L. Garcia
Ernesto "Ernie" Gutierrez
Place 3
Andres Rios
John Reed
Norma Lee Valle
Eduardo "Eddie" Campirano
Place 5
Josette Cruz Hinojosa
Sergio Tito Lopez
CITY OF BROWNSVILLE SPECIAL ELECTION: 4,566
(Proposition 1, 2)
BISD SPECIAL ELECTION: 4,013
Place 6
Marisa F. Leal
Minerva Peña
THE ORIGIN OF THE "TEXAS HAND" STRATEGY TO ANNEX TERRITORIES
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
The earliest Anglo-American colonization in imperial Mexican Texas under the Spanish crown took place in 1820, but just one year after Mexico gained its independence, halting negotiations between empresarios like Moses Austin, the father of the so-called "Father of Texas" Stephen S. Austin.
After that, Anglo-Americans settlements under the new government took place between 1821 and 1835 despite Mexico's passing laws in 1830 to stop the flood of settlers that swarmed across the Sabine River without any authority and soon became a majority, bolstered by a slave population they brought with them.
Spain had been unable to persuade its own citizens to move to remote and sparsely populated Texas and there were only three settlements in the province of Texas in 1820: Nacogdoches, San Antonio de Béxar, and La Bahía del Espíritu Santo (later Goliad), small towns with outlying ranches.
As early as the 1790s, Spain invited Anglo-Americans to settle in Upper Louisiana (Missouri) for the same reason. The foreigners were to be Catholic, industrious, and willing to become Spanish citizens in return for generous land grants. Mexico continued the Spanish colonization plan after its independence in 1821 by granting contracts to empresarios who would settle and supervise selected, qualified immigrants.
(A reader has pointed out, correctly, that the Mexican government altered some of its requirements to allow settlers of other faiths to continue their religious private worship and to own slaves under promise of manumission at a given period of time. The original 300 settlers who came with Austin were joined by two other groups to total near 1,000.)
The settlers – with the encouragement of expansionists like Andrew Jackson and other national figures – then called for U.S. military intervention to protect their "rights.
Jackson, who was responsible for the removal of natives tribes in Florida despite the Supreme Court's ruling that the tribes owned the land, was responsible for the Trail of Tears. To this day, some Native Americans refuse to accept $20 bills bearing his image.
Thus, the so-called "Texas Hand" strategy was born which called for the illegal settlement of Texas by southerners, a declaration of independence against the Mexican government for the "tyrannical" treatment of illegal white settlers, and the taking of their property (slaves), and calls for the U.S. to come to their aid. It was to serve the blueprint for the United States to eventually annex California and, later, northern California and Oregon from the British.
Jackson and supporters of the land grab of Mexican territories based their claim to the territory charging that Texas had been American territory all along and had been erroneously ceded to Spain with under the Onís-Adams Treaty of 1819 and ratified in 1821. Under the treaty, the United States and Spain defined the western limits of the Louisiana Purchase and Spain surrendered its claims to the Pacific Northwest. In return, the United States recognized Spanish sovereignty over Texas.
Alarmed at the flood of Anglo-American illegal migration, the Mexican government in 1827 named
General Manuel de Mier y Teran to lead a scientific and boundary expedition into Texas to observe the natural resources and the Indians, to discover the number and attitudes of the Americans living there, and to determine the United States-Mexico boundary between the Sabine and the Red rivers.
Mier y Teran was a member of the Comisión de Límites (Boundary Commission) when it left Mexico City on November 10, 1827, and reached San Antonio on March 1, 1828, San Felipe on April 27, and Nacogdoches on June 3. By that time he had been named Commander of the Army of the North, which encompassed Coahuila and Texas.
He traveled with commission members Rafael Chovell, a mineralogist and later military commander at Lavaca; Jean Louis Berlandier, a botanist, zoologist, and artist; and José María Sánchez y Tapía, cartographer and artist. All kept diaries that have been published in part. On January 16, 1829, they started for Mexico City.
In his report on the commission, Mier y Terán recommended that strong measures be taken to stop the United States from acquiring Texas. He suggested additional garrisons surrounding the settlements, closer trade ties with Mexico, and the encouragement of more Mexican and European settlers. His suggestions were incorporated into the Law of April 6, 1830, which also called for the prohibition of slavery and closed the borders of Texas to Americans.
In November, 1829 – seven years before Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836 – he warned the Mexican government of the "Texas hand" strategy by Texas settlers to break away from Mexico using the tactics they had used against France and Spain to dispossess them of vast territories in their American colonies.
"The Texas Department is in contact with a nation which has shown itself to be rapacious for land," he wrote. "While the world has taken little notice, the norteamericanos have grabbed all land that has been within their reach and in less than half a century have become owners of extensive colonies that belonged to Spain and France and of vast distant regions belonging to an infinity of native tribes which have since disappeared from the face of the earth."
After Jackson's death, his successors openly proclaimed that the United States would utilize the "Texas hand" to acquire more western lands, Mier y Teran said there was no other more powerful nation like the norteamericanos which would travel silently through dark roads and make conquests of major importance throughout the world.
"They start by claiming feigned rights as in Texas which are impossible to sustain in a serious discussion, and base their ridiculous pretenses on historical acts that no one can prove...until they assert rights that are veiled under phrases of equality and freedom that result in a concession of territory by the targeted nation..."
"The sale of this department (Texas) reduces the territorial property and worth of the lands of all the rest of Mexico to half of what they are worth now. He who consents and does not oppose to the loss of Texas is a heinous traitor who should be punished with every kind of death."
In 1830, Mier y Terán was made commandant general of the Eastern Interior Provinces, a position in which he supervised both political and military affairs in Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas.
Mier y Terán continued to be concerned over the inability of incoming American settlers to assimilate into the Mexican culture. In 1832, he grew despondent over the problems of colonization in Texas and the continuing political problems on both the state and national levels and the increasing influx of Anglo-American settlers after abrogation of the Law of 1830, the general committed suicide by falling on his sword behind the church of San Antonio in Padilla, Tamaulipas.
His headquarters were near the new port of Matamoros, which had just opened.
Mier y Terán continued to be concerned over the inability of incoming American settlers to assimilate into the Mexican culture. In 1832, he grew despondent over the problems of colonization in Texas and the continuing political problems on both the state and national levels and the increasing influx of Anglo-American settlers after abrogation of the Law of 1830, the general committed suicide by falling on his sword behind the church of San Antonio in Padilla, Tamaulipas.
Friday, April 26, 2024
THE TENNESSEE CONNECTION: JACK DANIELS, THE TEXAS "FORMULA" AND LEX, THE SNOWBIRD
I met Lex (I can't recall his last name) a few years ago.
I had stumbled into the old Frontier Lounge when it used to front Washington Street on one of those hot, late fall/early winter afternoons when temperatures in the 80s are not uncommon. It is now a segunda, a second-hand store.
The entrance and walkway was dark and only lighted once you walked toward the back where a bar was lit up by one of those Budweiser beer wagon displays with the Clydesdale draft horses pulling a beer wagon and the Dalmatian mother dog is leaning over the side keeping an eye on her litter of spotted black and white puppies running alongside the wagon.
Having acquired a taste for old country music from the years I spent in the military in North Carolina and as a child the Midwest, I noticed an old-time Victrola jukebox and sauntered over to see their selection. I plunked a few quarters in the slot (they actually took quarters back then) and punched in some Johnny Horton, Hank Williams (Sr.), George Jones (Mr. Jones to you) and, of course, Patsy Cline.
I even threw in a few by Johnny Cash and the Carter Family for leavening. At the time, the place was filled with Winter Snowbirds quaffing a few and they turned appreciatively from the bar when the music started to play.
One of those was Lex, a strapping, ruddy 6'5" open-faced farm boy who walked over to the corner table where I was sitting with his hand outstretched in greeting.
One of those was Lex, a strapping, ruddy 6'5" open-faced farm boy who walked over to the corner table where I was sitting with his hand outstretched in greeting.
"Now, that's music, buddy," he said as an introduction. "Where'd you hear the Sinking of the Bismark?"Turned out Lex was wintering in Brownsville with his mother and was staying at a trailer park on Boca Chica Blvd. just before you go to the airport.
They were from Tennessee and they had heard about the weather and the cost of living from friends. He and his brother back home raised Tennessee Walking Horses on a farm not far from Lynchburg, home of the Jack Daniels distillers. Lex had come to Brownsville over the past few years once winter set in Tennessee.
"I guess you haven't heard of too many folks coming all the way down here from our neck of the woods?" he joked.
"I guess you haven't heard of too many folks coming all the way down here from our neck of the woods?" he joked.
I thought about that for a while and told him that historically, the state of Tennessee had provided many personages that figured prominently in the development of Texas.
"David Crockett, one of the heroes of the Alamo, was from Tennessee," I said. "In fact, Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas was also from there. Go figure."
Lex was intrigued when I told him that the reason he was sitting in a bar in Brownsville, Texas talking to someone in English was because of another Tennessean, James K. Polk, the nation's 11th president. Although he wasn't born in Tennessee, he moved there as a young man and quickly became a popular politician.
He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1823 to 1825, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1825 to 839, was Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839 and was later elected Governor of Tennessee and served from 1839 to 1841.
While he was the speaker, he was the floor leader of President Andrew Jackson's fight against the U.S. Bank. That relationship was to serve Polk well in his quest to the U.S. presidency.
I explained that both men were ardent expansionists, with Jackson eyeing Texas as the next logical step for the nation to annex, while Polk wanted California as the next U.S. acquisition. Polk served as president from 1845 to 1849, and the "Texas question" played a large role in getting Jackson's endorsement in his bid for office.
I told Lex that author a writer named Walter R. Borneman in his book, "POLK: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America," makes clear that the traditional view of Polk as a warmonger whose embrace of Manifest Destiny prompted his invasion of a peaceful nation without any provocation is too simplistic.
This line of thinking has been the thrust of historians like John D. Eisenhower (So Far From God: The U.S. War with Mexico, 1846-1848), and earlier, of iconoclasts like Bernard De Voto (The Year of Decision: 1846). Both these works made Polk out to be the quintessential imperialist set to grab as much real estate as he could by force of arms, if need be.
But Borneman makes clear that there were many forces at work that prompted Polk to order Zachary Taylor and the U.S. Army from Fort Jasper, in Louisiana, to the mouth of the Nueces and then to the Rio Grande.
To begin with, when the presidential aspirants to the Democratic nomination of 1844 were quizzed on their stand on the annexation of Texas, only Polk responded in the affirmative.
John Quincy Adams, who only 17 years before the declaration of the Republic of Texas in 1836, had negotiated the Adams-Onis Treaty recognizing the territory as part of Mexico, came out publicly against its annexation.
Martin Van Buren, who was vying for a second presidential term, also wrote against the inclusion of Texas as a state. And when even Henry Clay, a Whig (later the Republican Party), wrote his famous “Raleigh Letter” in opposition to annexation, the die was cast.
With no one else championing Texas, the Manifest Destiny mantle fell comfortably on Polk’s shoulders. Before then, the petition by the Texans (Sam Houston, of Tennessee, was president) for annexation by the U.S. was rejected twice by the previous administrations. Even after Texas declared her independence in 1836, the president and the Congress refused to act and risk the eruption of a civil war over the slavery question, which eventually did happen.
That's where the boys from Tennessee came in.
Former president Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, Sam Houston, Polk, and even Crockett, who had served in the U.S. Congress with Polk, got in the picture.
Houston, who left Tennessee after a failed marriage, would later go on to be president of the Republic of Texas and maintained a running correspondence with both Jackson and Polk.
Former president Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson, Sam Houston, Polk, and even Crockett, who had served in the U.S. Congress with Polk, got in the picture.Houston, who left Tennessee after a failed marriage, would later go on to be president of the Republic of Texas and maintained a running correspondence with both Jackson and Polk.
Houston was riled because twice he had proposed U.S. presidents and the U.S Congress to annex Texas as a state, and had been left at the altar twice. But with Jackson’s encouragement from The Hermitage and Polk’s platform for annexation, he was dissuaded from encouraging closer ties between the Texas Republic and Britain and assured that annexation would occur once Polk took over the presidency.
The answer? The so-called "Texas Hand" formula which called for the settlement of Texas by southerners, a declaration of independence against the Mexican government for the "tyrannical" treatment of illegal white settlers, and the taking of their property (slaves), to call for the U.S. to come to their aid.
In fact, Jackson Andrew Donelson - Jackson’s nephew and Polk confidant - was quickly named charge d’affaires to Texas after the death from yellow fever of Tilghman A. Howard. Donelson, another Tennessean, was to deliver Polk’s message to Gov. Houston that help was on the way.
"So you see," I told Lex, "you're not the first resident of the Volunteer State to look our way. We just wish you had brought your friend Jack Daniels instead of Zachary Taylor."
"Amen to that," Lex laughed.In the years after that initial encounter with Lex, I found out through friends he had reunited with his estranged wife, was still raising horses in Tennessee and had become a member of the Opossum Society of the United States (He claimed that the American possum was the most misunderstood marsupial in the world).
I'll probably never hear from again, but he, like his fellow Tennesseans before him, sure stirred shit up.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
TEXAS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNED BY ILLEGAL ALEINS
By Buzz Adams
600 AMEl Paso
I heard a commercial for one of our excellent and beloved clients.
What caught my ear was an offer for “a free copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence”. I know our governor is currently locking horns with the federal administration but…has it gotten to the point that Texas has drafted a new Declaration of Independence?
Investigation further, I’m PRETTY sure they’re talking about the Texas Declaration of Independence of 1836, when Texas declared its independence from Mexico. But, as read more and more about that document, I discovered a fact that you may not have learned in state history class.
The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed by predominantly illegal aliens.
Let’s go back in time to March 2, 1836. The Texas Revolution was fully underway. In fact, the Battle of the Alamo was still being fought in San Antonio. The Alamo wouldn’t be captured until 4 days later on March 6.
While that was happening in San Antonio 160 miles away in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas a meeting was convened to adopt a formal declaration of independence from Mexico. In all, 60 men signed the document. Most of the 60 were illegally in the country of Mexico (Texas).
Here’s how this worked. All but three of the signatories had moved to Texas from the United States. Only ten of them had lived in Texas for more than six years. Fully one quarter of the rest had only come to the Mexican province of Texas within the previous year.
Here’s why that’s significant. Mexico had passed a law in 1830 that explicitly banned any further immigration to Texas from the U.S.
This means that, by Mexican Law, almost ALL of the men who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence were ILLEGAL ALIENS!
What does this mean to us? It all depends on your perspective. The message COULD be, “Be kinder to (illegal) immigrants because that’s who founded Texas”. OR…the message could be, “Don’t let illegal immigrants in or they’ll steal part of your country!” It’s all in how you look at it.
AMERIKA, WHERE ARE YOU NOW? DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS...
TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT: "PROTESTORS BELONG IN JAIL."
...AND THE COURTS COME TO THE RESCUE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION...
Charges were dropped against 46 individuals after defense attorneys raised concerns about “deficiencies” in charging documents known as arrest affidavits, Travis County Attorney Delia Garza said Thursday in a text message.
IF YOU DON'T VOTE, YOU CAN'T COMPLAIN OF THE RESULTS
EARLY VOTE BY JURISDICTION
CAMERON COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT: 4,927
Place 1
Bill Hudson
Jose Raul Davila
Alejandro Garcia-Moreno
Erasmo Castro
Place 2
Ruben Martinez Fernando Lazo
Minerva Simpson
Ricardo "Ricky" de la Garza
Place 3
Philip T. Cowen
Norlene C. Chamberlain
TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE: 3,406
Place 6
Mirla Veronica Deaton
Edward C. Camarillo
J.J. De Leon
Place 7
Norma Lopez Harris
Hilda Silva
Eva Alejandro
BROWNSVILLE NAVIGTION DISTIRCT (PORT): 2,656
Place 1
Patrick Everitt
Humberto "Beto" Torres
Carlos L. Garcia
Ernesto "Ernie" Gutierrez
Place 3
Andres Rios
John Reed
Norma Lee Valle
Eduardo "Eddie" Campirano
Place 5
Josette Cruz Hinojosa
Sergio Tito Lopez
CITY OF BROWNSVILLE SPECIAL ELECTION: 2,465
(Proposition 1, 2)
BISD SPECIAL ELECTION: 2,156
Place 6
Marisa F. Leal
Minerva Peña
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
TRUMP IN CONTEMPT FOR STABBING COHEN WITH BIC PEN
NEW YORK—Violating the judge’s order prohibiting the former president from killing his one-time fixer, Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday after stabbing Michael Cohen to death with a ballpoint pen.
“Given the defendant’s willful and repeated refusal to comply with this court’s instruction not to shank a witness in the throat, I hold Mr. Trump in contempt of court,” said Judge Juan Merchan, responding to Trump’s assertion that he was perfectly within his First Amendment rights to snuff out Cohen’s life using the tip of a cheap Bic pen.
“Though this court exercised leniency when the defendant strangled the witness known as Stormy Daniels with his bare hands, let this be a warning to the offending party that any further murders will not be tolerated. Defendant Donald Trump is hereby ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 for each day he continues to use an office writing implement to mutilate the late Mr. Cohen before finally leaving him for the vultures.”
At press time, Judge Merchan claimed failure to comply with the contempt ruling — which bars Trump from desecrating the corpse of his former lawyer with whatever office supplies he has on hand during the trial — could result in probation.
“Though this court exercised leniency when the defendant strangled the witness known as Stormy Daniels with his bare hands, let this be a warning to the offending party that any further murders will not be tolerated. Defendant Donald Trump is hereby ordered to pay a fine of $1,000 for each day he continues to use an office writing implement to mutilate the late Mr. Cohen before finally leaving him for the vultures.”
At press time, Judge Merchan claimed failure to comply with the contempt ruling — which bars Trump from desecrating the corpse of his former lawyer with whatever office supplies he has on hand during the trial — could result in probation.
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
IES CFO GONZALEZ PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL CHARGES OF CONSPIRACY, EMBEZZLEMENT: GALLEGOS' TRIAL SEPT. 3
Former IES finance director Juan Jose Gonzalez (in black suit and white hair) leaves the federal courthouse with relatives after his guilty pleas.
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Gonzalez stood before Rodriguez at the defendants' table accompanied by his attorney Reynaldo "Trey" Garza" and said guilty when the court asked his plea after an assistant U.S. Attorney read a lengthy indictment on the two counts arising from acts he admitted to committing between 2014 and 2017 conspiring with IES president Ruben Gallegos Sr. and his son Ruben Gallegos Jr., IES chief executive officer.
(The relationship between Gonzalez and the Gallegos go further than being fellow executive officers at IES. Gonzalez is married to a sister of Gallegos Sr., making him his brother-in-law and uncle to Gallegos Jr.)
He had previously pleaded not guilty to both charges at the time of he was arrested along with the Gallegos Aug. 30, 2022. He had his re-arraignment hearing on Tuesday morning and changed them to guilty. In approximately 30 minutes that the re-arraignment lasted, he admitted that in those four years, he and the Gallegos were responsible to conspiring to steal and embezzle millions in federal funds.
Gallegos Sr. and his son Gallegos Jr. pleaded not guilty with conspiracy and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds. They are currently in the process of discovery and jury selection is currently scheduled for Sept. 3.
The are also accused in their indictment of misapplying millions of dollars in federal grant funds meant to be used for temporarily housing migrant children at IES, a nonprofit. The Brownsville Herald's Mark Regan reported that IES abruptly shuttered its doors and fired all of its employees on March 31, 2018, although neither the federal government or IES explained why the nonprofit suddenly closed.
The Herald filed a successful Freedom of Information Act request with the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s Administration for Children & Families for communication between those agencies and IES following the closure and also reviewed years of IES tax documents.
Th newspaper reported at the time that the information revealed how the organization used millions of dollars in federal grant monies, including that IES employees profited from leased properties owned by its executives and that those executives paid themselves salaries that were more than federal grant rules allowed.
During the re-arraignment, the U.S. attorneys charged that the three men conspired to increase their salaries in 2017 to pay themselves salaries way over the $183,000 cap limit. Gallegos Jr. set his 2017 salary at $435,416.88, Gallegos Sr. was paid $506, 0032.22 and Gonzalez $377,060.96. But in later tax filings, both Gallegos paid themselves more than $650,000 and Gonzalez over $550,000.
The government said no waivers hadd been issued allowing IES to pay the three salaries above the $183,000 cap.
Those numbers were not included in the indictments. They are also charged with using federal grant funds to rent properties they owned at exorbitant prices.
“Ruben Gallegos Sr. and Juan Jose Gonzalez approved less-than-arms-length transactions in which IES used federal grant funds to pay for multiple leases on the same properties that were owned by Ruben Gallegos Sr., or related entities, in order to inflate rental income paid with federal grant funds to Ruben Gallegos Sr.,” the indictment stated.
That 13-page indictment also alleges they purchased a $1 million San Benito property and falsely claimed it was operational and would serve more than 1,000 children in Fiscal Year 2015.
“The IES San Benito Shelter was not operational during FY-2015,” the indictment stated.
At Gonzalez's attorney request, Rodriguez said he would consider his request to travel out of the county to attend to a relative with cancer getting treatment in Houston.
Attorney Garza also said he hoped the judge will consider granting the elderly defendant probation in light of his assistance to federal prosecutors and his willingness to testify on the government's behalf. He said that Gonzalez will continue to assist prosecutors in the upcoming trial of the Gallegos, saying that he continues to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Rodriguez asked Gonzalez if he was aware that any agreement with the prosecutors was not binding on him, and asked if he was pleading guilty voluntarily and if Gonzalez understood that any agreement with the prosecutors would not determine if he will grant probation, or influence any sentence he might impose.
Yes, sir," Gonzalez replied.
THE EVOLUTION OF A BUS SHELTER ON OLD PORT ISABEL ROAD
(BEFORE)
(DURING)
(ALMOST AFTER)
(A newfangled bus shelter erected this week at OPI and Coveway)
Special to El Rrun-RrunThe city of Brownsville told bus riders that they would get 30 new bus shelters.
That was in May 2022.
Construction was scheduled to begin in November and was expected to be completed in either June or July 2023. Well, it's now May 2024, and, according to the city they're coming, aunque sea en burro.
The addition of the new bus shelters was discussed and approved at a May 3, 2022 city commission meeting. The city has 600 bus stops and of that number 100 have some kind of shelter. The new coverings were to be 5-feet-by-10-feet prefabricated bus shelters.
“We understand the need for additional bus shelters. The City has a couple hundred bus stops and we are prioritizing shelters as quickly as possible. We had eight new much-needed shelters go up recently in the Southmost area and will be constructing 30 more this coming year,” said then Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez.
However, Brownsville being Brownsville a contract snafu forced the city to rescind an agreement with the original company and now the shelters, after slight alterations, are beginning to go up. The shelters, according to BUS-Metro honchos, would protect the bus riders from harsh weather conditions and have lighting in them for safety reasons.
The solar powered bus shelters were heralded to include benches, USB chargers, solar lighting, advertising space and a space to identify a passenger’s route map and bus schedule times. Also, they were to have sidewalks, ADA ramps and concrete pads.
Construction was scheduled to begin in November and was expected to be completed in either June or July 2023. Well, it's now May 2024, and, according to the city they're coming, aunque sea en burro.
The addition of the new bus shelters was discussed and approved at a May 3, 2022 city commission meeting. The city has 600 bus stops and of that number 100 have some kind of shelter. The new coverings were to be 5-feet-by-10-feet prefabricated bus shelters.
“We understand the need for additional bus shelters. The City has a couple hundred bus stops and we are prioritizing shelters as quickly as possible. We had eight new much-needed shelters go up recently in the Southmost area and will be constructing 30 more this coming year,” said then Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez.
The solar powered bus shelters were heralded to include benches, USB chargers, solar lighting, advertising space and a space to identify a passenger’s route map and bus schedule times. Also, they were to have sidewalks, ADA ramps and concrete pads.
Well, the new ones being put up now don't approach such luxury. USB chargers? ADA ramps? Solar lighting? Don't think so. Bait and switch. There are, of course, none of those amenities. Just a roof and a bench with wire mesh walls. Think of them as hike-and-bike trails of caliche.
But there is a sign on the inside wall peddling advertising space that reads: GET NOTICED. ADVERTISE HERE.
In case you're interested in keeping an eye on the "progress," however delayed, here's a schedule that was released to commissioners when the work finally started. Take it with a grain of salt. Sientense pa que no se cansen.
GROUP 1
SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY NOW(?)
Alton Gloor Blvd. (Outside Wal-Mart)
Alton Gloor Blvd. & Morrison
Frontage Rd. (at SAM's Club)
Ruben M. Torres (at Spanish Meadows)
McAllen Rd. & Haney Bee Ln.
McAllen Road & Heart Institute
Military HWY. & Calle Pluton
US 77 Frontage & North of Lorenaly
Old Military Hwy. & Ruben M. Torres
Morrison Rd. (at La Tiendas Plaza)
GROUP 2
SHOULD BE COMPLETED LATE APRIL/EARLY MAY
Ruben M. Torres & Old PI Rd.
Alton Gloor & Stagecoach
Paredes Line Rd. & Rancho Viejo Blvd.
Paredes Line Rd. (at HEB Plus)
Old PI & Coveway St.
Paredes Line Rd. & Lake Shore Dr.
Alton Gloor & Paredes Line Rd.
Ruben M. Torres & Grande Blvd.
Ruben M. Torres & Castellano Circle
Ruben M Torres & Trail Head Ct.
Paredes Line Rd. & Heritage Trail
FM 802 (at Valley Resaca Palms Apts.)
GROUP 3
SHOULD BE COMPLETED MAY/OR BY FIRST WEEK OF JUNE
4200 Boca Chica Blvd.
Austin Rd. & Iowa Ave.
4524 Boca Chica Blvd.
1304 Central Blvd.
1101 Central Blvd.
McDavitt Blvd. & Roosevelt St.
275 Kings Hwy.
Boca Chica Blvd. and Cowan Terrace
W. Elizabeth St. & Browne St.
Central Blvd. & Pecan St.
ART OF THE DEAL: MAGA DUPES, HAVE I GOT A NICE HAT FOR YOU!
(Rrun-Rrun Graphic)
Special to El Rrun-Rrun
*JUST ARRIVED! TRUMP 2024 HATS FOR JUST $35!
*Trump Steaks, launched for Sharper Image in 2007, ranged from $199 for a pack of 12 steak burgers and four steaks to $999 for a selection of 16 top cuts. The steaks lasted only about two months at Sharper Image
* Trump Vodka launched around 2006, but Trump's financial disclosures don't list it after 2015.
* "Trump: The Game," a "Monopoly"-style board game that was released in 1989, was discontinued after selling only 800,000 copies.
* In 2015, Macy's and PVH Corp., the parent company of Trump's menswear collection, both decided to end business with Trump in response to his comments about Mexican immigrants.
* Donald Trump-branded menswear is still available through sellers on Amazon and eBay.
* Serta, the giant mattress company that sold Trump mattresses, stopped selling Trump Home products for the same reason as Macy's and PVH.
* Perfumania, the carrier of Trump-branded perfume and deodorant, also cut ties in July 2015.
* Downlite, a bedding company that previously sold Trump-branded pillows, let the license expire in 2015
* The makers of Donald J. Trump Eyeglasses also reportedly let the license expire
* Elk Lighting's Donald Trump Regency Collection has been rebranded as just the Regency Collection
* Two Rivers Coffee, the maker of Select by Trump coffee, stopped making the coffee pods last year. Sam Blaney from Two Rivers Coffee told The Post the decision was made because of a lack of sales.
* Of the 19 companies that were paying to produce or distribute Trump-branded products in 2015, only two remain doing so: the Turkey-based Dorya and the Panama-based HomeStudio
* Last year the Trump Organization opened an online store selling Trump-branded merchandise like keychains and T-shirts, which typically range between $20 and $35, as well as more expensive polo shirts and outerwear that sometimes cost upwards of $100.
Monday, April 22, 2024
ENJOY AND CELEBRATE MOTHER EARTH WHILE WE STILL CAN
MARS SUCKS
Its weather sucks. Its distance sucks. Its atmosphere sucks. The little water it has, sucks.
It has sucked for billions of years. And will suck for billions more.
You know what doesn’t suck? Me, Earth.
I have life. I have vast oceans and lush forests. I have rivers to swim. Air to breathe.
But the way I’m being treated, that part sucks.
You use me and pollute me. You overheat me. You use every resource I have and return very little back from where it came.
And then, you dream of Mars. A hellhole. A barren, desolate, wasteland you can’t set foot on fast enough.
Why not use some of that creative energy and billions on saving me? You know, the planet that’s giving you what you need to live right now.
Mars can wait. I can’t.
EARLY VOTING FOR MAY 28 DEMOCRATIC RUNOFF (MAY 20-24). *PLEASE NOTE RUNOFF RACES NOT ON THE BALLOT TODAY
Ruben Cortez, Jr.
Jonathan Gracia
CAMERON COUNTY SHERIFF
Eric Garza
Manuel "Manny" Trevino
CAMERON COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR-COLLECTOR
Antonio "Tony" Yzaguirre, Jr.
Eddie Garcia
EARLY VOTING FOR MAY 4 ELECTIONS (MONDAY APRIL 22- APRIL 30)
Place 6
Marisa F. Leal
Minerva Peña
BROWNSVILLE NAVIGATION DISTRICT
Place 1
Patrick Everitt
Humberto "Beto" Torres
Carlos L. Garcia
Ernesto "Ernie" Gutierrez
Place 3
Andres Rios
John Reed
Norma Lee Valle
Eduardo "Eddie" Campirano
Place 5
Josette Cruz Hinojosa
Sergio Tito Lopez
CAMERON COUNTY APPRAISAL DISTRICT
Place 1
Bill Hudson
Jose Raul Davila
Alejandro Garcia-Moreno
Erasmo Castro
Place 2
Ruben Martinez Fernando Lazo
Minerva Simpson
Ricardo "Ricky" de la Garza
Place 3
Philip T. Cowen
Norlene C. Chamberlain
TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE
Place 6
Mirla Veronica Deaton
Edward C. Camarillo
J.J. De Leon
Place 7
Norma Lopez Harris
Hilda Silva
Eva Alejandro
CITY OF BROWNSVILLE SPECIAL ELECTION
Proposition A
Authorizing the creation of the Greater Brownsville Municipal Development District and the imposition of a sales and use tax at the rate of one-half of one percent (0.50%) for the purpose of financing development projects beneficial to the district, within the incorporated City limits and extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City of Brownsville, Texas, which boundaries shall automatically conform to any changes in the corporate boundaries and extraterritorial jurisdiction of the City, contingent upon the majority of eligible voters approving a ballot proposition to terminate the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation.
Proposition B
Termination of the Brownsville Community
Improvement Corporation and the Greater
Brownsville Incentives Corporation, contingent
upon the majority of eligible voters approving a
ballot proposition to create the Greater
Brownsville Municipal Development District.
Click on link below to find early voting places:
Sunday, April 21, 2024
U.S. SUPREME COURT RULES TRAFFIC IMPACT FEES UNCONSTITUTIONAL; LIKENS IDENTICAL HELEN RAMIREZ SCHEME TO "EXTORTION"
By Juan Montoya
Just four days after the United States Supreme Court declared traffic impact fees as a condition of issuing building permits on new residential housing and and commercial development assessed by El Dorado County in California unconstitutional, the City of Brownsville Commission passed an identical ordinance on first reading.
The second and final reading is scheduled for the city commission's May 7 regular meeting.
The city commission unanimously approved the amendment to the ordinance during a regular meeting on April 16 on the recommendation of Eddie Haas, a consultant from Freese and Nichols Inc. of Ft. Worth, members of the Capital Improvement Advisory Committee, and city manager Helen Ramirez, unaware that four days before, on April 12, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that traffic impact fees were unconstitutional and vacated and remanded and overturned a decision of the the Third Appellate District in the case Sheetz vs. County of El Dorado, California.
The traffic impact fees contained under the proposed amendment to the ordinance by the City of Brownsville are identical to those of El Dorado County in California. It establishes categories and rate schedules for private dwellings and commercial development and establishes different zones for the fee schedule. City building permits for new development – both residential and commercial – are conditioned on the payment of the Capital Recovery Fees (CFR).
In the Sheetz case, the fee was part of a “General Plan” enacted by the County’s Board of Supervisors to address increasing demand for public services spurred by new development. The fee amount was not based on the costs of traffic impacts specifically attributable to Sheetz’s particular project, but rather was assessed according to a rate schedule that took into account the type of development and its location within the county, identical to Brownsville's CFR scheme. Sheetz was required by the County of El Dorado to pay a $23,420 traffic impact fee before it would grant him a residential building permit for his new building.The city's passage of the CRF resolution states that the "Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 395, authorizes Cities to adopt and amend capital recovery fees for the purpose of financing capital improvements for public infrastructure required by new development to the extent new development places demands upon public infrastructure...those demands should be satisfied by sharing the responsibility for financing these facilities from the public at large to the developments creating the demands."
Under a project called Capital Recovery Fee, people applying for building permits will be assessed an average of $2,000 to pay for an estimated $27 million the city wants to have in an account to be ready for an expected increase in population estimated at more than 248,600 by 2033, compared to a little more than 211,000 today.
The number of units are projected to rise from 61,018 now to 75,702 by the year 2033. The fees would change as the plan calls for dividing the city into 19 sections.
For a large commercial business, such as a big box measuring 159,000-square-foot, the fee would be $31,000 or more.
Under a project called Capital Recovery Fee, people applying for building permits will be assessed an average of $2,000 to pay for an estimated $27 million the city wants to have in an account to be ready for an expected increase in population estimated at more than 248,600 by 2033, compared to a little more than 211,000 today.
The number of units are projected to rise from 61,018 now to 75,702 by the year 2033. The fees would change as the plan calls for dividing the city into 19 sections.
For a large commercial business, such as a big box measuring 159,000-square-foot, the fee would be $31,000 or more.
In California, Sheetz paid the fee under protest and obtained the building permit. He later sought relief in state court, claiming that conditioning the building permit on the payment of a traffic impact fee constituted an unlawful “exaction” of money in violation of the Takings Clause.
He contended that the law required the county to make an individualized determination that the fee imposed on him that was necessary to offset traffic congestion attributable to his project. The lower courts sided with El Dorado County which contended that precedent applied only to permit conditions imposed on an ad hoc basis by administrators, and not to a fee like this one imposed on a class of property owners by board-enacted legislation.
The Supreme court ruled that when the government wants to take private property for a public purpose, the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause requires the government to provide the owner “just compensation,” regardless of which jurisdiction applies it.
"The Takings Clause saves individual property owners from bearing “public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole and when the government withholds or conditions a building permit for reasons unrelated to its legitimate land-use interests, those actions amount to extortion," states the unanimous decision written by Justice J. Barret, and concurrent opinions delivered by six other members of the court.
The effective date of the Capital Recovery Fees will be May 7, 2024, upon passage of the second reading. With at least two attorneys already champing at the bit to file lawsuits upon its passage, will the City of Brownsville thumb its nose at the U.S. Supreme Court?
Click on link below to read decision and concurring opinions:
Saturday, April 20, 2024
DERBEZ'S "RADICAL": ART IMITATING LIFE, OR LIFE IMITATING ART?
AP Entertainment Writer
On their first day sixth grade, the students of Jose Urbina Lopez Elementary School in the Mexican border city of Matamoros find their new teacher rolling on the floor surrounded by overturned desks.
They’re not desks, he exclaims. They’re lifeboats.
So begins Christopher Zalla’s “Radical,” an inspirational based-on-a-true-story drama about an unconventional teacher named Sergio Juarez Correa (Eugenio Derbez). His day-one lesson is ultimately about buoyancy. But the metaphor isn’t hard to grasp. In Lopez’s classroom, education is a life raft.
"Radical," which opens in theaters Friday, is a conventional but stirring entry in the crowded canon of uplifting educator tales like “Stand and Deliver,” “Lean on Me” and “The Class.”
“Radical,” though, isn’t set at an inner-city school in Los Angeles, New Jersey or Paris, like those films are. Matamoros, along the Rio Grande and across from Brownsville, Texas, is considered a lawless place, known for extreme violence and migrant encampments. “Radical” is also set in 2011, among the bloodiest years of Mexico’s drug war.
Sergio’s self-empowering method is to allow kids to follow their curiosity and find answers for themselves. They’re skeptical at first but soon are engaged and excited by their freedom to lead their own learning. More than once, Sergio says the students don’t even really need him.
There are plenty of familiar beats as the school year moves along. Sergio’s ways draw the ire of other teachers. Parents are distrustful, wondering if he’s giving kids facing a harsh future false hope. But while “Radical,” an audience winner at the Sundance Film Festival, is formulaic in its approach, it gets enough out of it likable cast to earn at least a passing grade
Derbez, the Mexican actor and comedian, already made an impression in the classroom as the encouraging music teacher of best picture-winning "CODA." Here, he takes center stage, playing Sergio with a winning sincerity and full-bodied resistance to the rules.
Three of the students are brought into focus: Paloma (Jennifer Trejo), a math whiz with astronaut dreams who lives beside the landfill her father works at; Lupe (Mia Fernanda Solis), a budding philosopher whose pregnant mother expects her to help with childcare; and Nico (Danilo Guardiola), a plucky kid who’s being trained by a local dealer as a drug courier.
Their stories are never quite at the center of “Radical,” which sticks closest to its star teacher. But each young actor is natural, particularly Trejo. Her real-life character, Paloma Noyola Bueno, was the central figure in a Wired article that “Radical” is partially derived from.
But the best relationship captured in “Radical” is the one between Sergio and the school’s cautious, less energetic principal Chucho (a wonderful Daniel Haddad). He at first seems like an impediment to Sergio, warning him not to “kick the hornet’s nest.” But before long, he’s a co-conspirator, willing to — in a further experiment on buoyancy — cannonball into a cold tub. Together, Derbez and Haddad help make “Radical” float, too.
“Radical,” though, isn’t set at an inner-city school in Los Angeles, New Jersey or Paris, like those films are. Matamoros, along the Rio Grande and across from Brownsville, Texas, is considered a lawless place, known for extreme violence and migrant encampments. “Radical” is also set in 2011, among the bloodiest years of Mexico’s drug war.
Sergio’s self-empowering method is to allow kids to follow their curiosity and find answers for themselves. They’re skeptical at first but soon are engaged and excited by their freedom to lead their own learning. More than once, Sergio says the students don’t even really need him.
There are plenty of familiar beats as the school year moves along. Sergio’s ways draw the ire of other teachers. Parents are distrustful, wondering if he’s giving kids facing a harsh future false hope. But while “Radical,” an audience winner at the Sundance Film Festival, is formulaic in its approach, it gets enough out of it likable cast to earn at least a passing grade
Derbez, the Mexican actor and comedian, already made an impression in the classroom as the encouraging music teacher of best picture-winning "CODA." Here, he takes center stage, playing Sergio with a winning sincerity and full-bodied resistance to the rules.
Three of the students are brought into focus: Paloma (Jennifer Trejo), a math whiz with astronaut dreams who lives beside the landfill her father works at; Lupe (Mia Fernanda Solis), a budding philosopher whose pregnant mother expects her to help with childcare; and Nico (Danilo Guardiola), a plucky kid who’s being trained by a local dealer as a drug courier.
Their stories are never quite at the center of “Radical,” which sticks closest to its star teacher. But each young actor is natural, particularly Trejo. Her real-life character, Paloma Noyola Bueno, was the central figure in a Wired article that “Radical” is partially derived from.
But the best relationship captured in “Radical” is the one between Sergio and the school’s cautious, less energetic principal Chucho (a wonderful Daniel Haddad). He at first seems like an impediment to Sergio, warning him not to “kick the hornet’s nest.” But before long, he’s a co-conspirator, willing to — in a further experiment on buoyancy — cannonball into a cold tub. Together, Derbez and Haddad help make “Radical” float, too.
“Radical,” a TelevisaUnivision release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for some strong violent content, thematic material and strong language. In Spanish with subtitles. Running time: 127 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
rita
