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BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) —
A former UPS Inc. worker in South Texas, his daughter and another ex-employee are going to prison for using the company to smuggle drugs.
Prosecutors say 46-year-old Mario Enrique Patlan and 24-year-old Cristina Patlan were sentenced Tuesday to four-year prison terms. A federal judge in Brownsville sentenced Reymundo Abel Brown Jr. to two years in the drug case from 2007 to 2012.
Mario Patlan and Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and cocaine. Cristina Patlan pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. All three are from Brownsville.
UPS fired both men amid the investigation.
Investigators say drugs were shipped to Minnesota, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Michigan and New York. Parcels were smuggled via ground and airports in Harlingen and McAllen.
BURNET, Texas (AP) —
A former assistant high school football coach has pleaded guilty to assault for an attack on a game referee by two of his players.
Mack Breed, former assistant football coach at John Jay High School in San Antonio, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge Monday in a Burnet (BUR'-niht) County court. County Court-at-law Judge Linda Bayless sentenced Breed to 18 months of probation, fined him $1,500 and ordered him to serve 120 hours of community service and pay restitution to referee Robert Watts.
Burnet County Attorney Eddie Arredondo says Breed also must forfeit his Texas teaching certificate permanently and attend anger management sessions.
The two players hit the referee during a Sept. 4 game at Marble Falls. They said they did so at Breed's direction, but Breed denied the allegation.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ordered Texas National Guard troops on Tuesday to remain at the Mexico border, extending once again a mission that began in 2014 when unaccompanied children started pouring into the country and that will now continue due to another wave of arrivals.
As many as 1,000 armed troops patrolled the Rio Grande Valley at the height of what the White House once called a "humanitarian crisis" of children showing up at the Texas border. Military officials who previously refused to publicly state an end date on the deployment said after Abbott's announcement that December was supposed to have been the end of a nearly 18-month mission.
Neither Abbott nor the Texas National Guard would say when troops would now go home. Lt. Col. Travis Walters also would not disclose how many troops would remain, but said no new troops would be deployed.
Abbott issued the order in response to U.S. Border Patrol figures showing that more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossed into the U.S. in October and November, double the number of crossings in the same two months of last year. The increase has already prompted federal officials to open two shelters in Texas and one in California.
"Texas will not sit idle in the face of this challenge," Abbott said. "We will not be victimized as a state by a federal government's apathetic response to border security."
The criticism is similar to what former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said last year when he first announced the deployment. Perry said at the time that he was sending National Guard troops because Border Patrol agents were getting too overwhelmed to keep an eye on the border. In recent months, only a few hundred National Guard troops have remained as the mission has wound down.
Walter said plans for all troops to return home by the end of December had already been in place but did not specify for how long. "This was the tentative plan for us," he said.
During a trip to the Texas border on Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske declined to directly comment on Abbott's order but said the Border Patrol works well with all the agencies in the area, including the Guard.
"They are all in the same areas, and they all work together," he said.
Kerlikowske described the surge of Central American children and families, who normally turn themselves over to Border Patrol agents, as a "border management issue" and not a "security issue."
The Obama administration has defended the amount of federal resources put toward border security in the last two decades as more than at any point in history. But a letter obtained by The Associated Press this week revealed Sylvia Burwell, the secretary of Health and Human Services, renewing concerns to Congress that too little money will be available to house the latest influx of children.
Federal officials are hoping to avoid a repeat of the crisis it saw in the summer of 2014, when tens of thousands of children and families came over the border. Border Patrol holding areas became overcrowded, with children sleeping on concrete floors covered by aluminum foil-like blankets.
Abbott, who took office in January, approved a record $800 million in state border security spending earlier this year. The governor had previously declined to say when the National Guard mission could end, saying he did not want troops to leave until Texas trained hundreds of new law enforcement officers to replace them.
Abbott said he has also ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to increase patrols in the air and on the Rio Grande. He is also providing more money to two counties near Dallas where as many as 1,000 of the children are expected to stay at two rural camps.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
Texas officials that are suing the U.S. government in efforts to block Syrian refugees from resettling in the state say more could be on the way.
Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Chris Traylor said Tuesday that no more Syrian families are expected to arrive in the coming weeks. But he says the potential remains for others fleeing the war-torn country to eventually join 21 Syrian refugees who settled in Houston and Dallas earlier this month.
Traylor told state lawmakers that federal officials haven't cooperated to his satisfaction over security concerns raised by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Traylor was testifying to members of the Texas Legislature for the first time since his agency took the Obama administration to court.
A federal judge has rejected efforts to immediately block Syrian refugees.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday extended the deployment of National Guard troops at the Mexico border due to a spike in the number of unaccompanied minors entering the country.
The order comes in the wake of U.S. Border Patrol figures that show more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossed into the U.S. in October and November. That is double the number of crossings in the same two months last year.
The uptick has already prompted Border Patrol to open two shelters in Texas and one in California.
"Texas will not sit idle in the face of this challenge," Abbott said. "We will not be victimized as a state by a federal government's apathetic response to border security."
Former Gov. Rick Perry first deployed National Guard troops to the border in 2014. He sent more than 1,000, though only a few hundred have remained in recent months.
Abbott, who took office in January and approved a record $800 million in state border security spending earlier this year, did not indicate how long the deployment would last. Abbott has previously declined to say when the National Guard mission could end, saying he did not want troops to leave until Texas trained hundreds of new law enforcement officers to replace them.
The Obama administration is hoping to avoid a repeat of the crisis it saw in the summer of 2014, when tens of thousands of children and families poured over the border. Border Patrol holding areas became overcrowded, with children sleeping on concrete floors covered by aluminum foil-like blankets.
The surge in children arriving without parents overwhelmed the U.S. government and the White House labeled it "a humanitarian crisis."
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —
A Qatar (GUH'-tur) military official training in Texas and his wife face up to 20 years in U.S. prisons for lying to get visas for two domestic workers and mistreating them.
Prosecutors in San Antonio say the women from Indonesia and Bangladesh were given little food and slept on a pallet in a barren apartment.
Hassan Al-Homoud and his wife, Zainab Al-Hosani, of the United Arab Emirates, pleaded guilty Friday to visa fraud. They're free pending sentencing.
Al-Homoud was training at Camp Bullis. The couple in 2014 brought the two workers to Texas, falsifying documents required to secure visas.
A San Antonio police officer in April came upon one of the workers, upset and along a road. A search of a nearby apartment found only a pallet on the floor.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) —
More than 100 dogs, cats, ducks, pheasants and a peacock have been removed from a San Antonio home amid concerns for overcrowding and living conditions.
Officials with San Antonio's Animal Care Services on Friday took custody of the various creatures, including at least one turtle.
ACS spokeswoman Audra Houghton says most of the animals appear to be well-fed, but the living conditions could be hazardous. The dozens of animals were found inside the home and in the backyard.
Authorities say the homeowner has had previous issues with ACS over having large numbers of animals on her property. The woman was cooperating with ACS as state health officials also review whether she has any issues.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
The University Interscholastic League has announced robotics competitions starting next year.
Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams says robotics programs are now commonplace in many school districts and the numbers continue to grow.
League officials in Austin, in a statement Thursday, said all UIL high schools will have access to the robotics pilot project. The program will have two divisions.
The UIL Robotics Championships: FIRST Division will take place at the Austin Convention Center in late July. The UIL Robotics Championships: BEST Division will occur next fall.
The Texas Tribune-
Gov. Greg Abbott has agreed to spend up to $2.7 million in taxpayer funds to bring the barrage of blood, sweat and spandex that is WrestleMania to Texas next year.
During his 2014 campaign for governor, Abbott expressed discomfort with such taxpayer-funded economic incentives, saying he wanted to get government "out of the business of picking winners and losers.”
But last week, his office signed off on the award from the state’s Events Trust Fund, state records show, one of 20 such awards approved since September. That's when the governor's office took the reins of a few incentive programs designed to strengthen Texas' hand in vying for large sporting events and conferences from the state comptroller's office.
The Events Trust Fund is designed to defray the costs of some large events by paying state taxes collected during the events, such as those levied on hotel reservations and car rentals, back to event organizers. Local governments or nonprofits they authorize must approve the events, and the cities that host them are required to chip in some of their local tax receipts, too.
In just over three months, Abbott’s office has approved more than $26 million in incentive awards for 20 events, according to a review of state records. Nearly three-quarters of that money, $19.5 million, is assigned to a single event, this year’s Formula One race in Austin. That award has been a source of controversy, as it is less than the $25 million the race has received in state support in the three previous years.
Officials in the governor’s office say that figure is lower than it was in previous years because they are calculating tax revenue gained from such events differently than the comptroller did. A September report from the State Auditor’s Office found that the comptroller’s office was at times overly generous in calculating some awards by factoring in estimates of tax revenue that were not permitted under state law.
“With this change came consistency, accountability and increased efficiency for the state’s event trust fund programs,” said Cait Meisenheimer, a spokeswoman in Abbott’s office.
Bernie Ecclestone, chief executive of the Formula One Group, told the Austin American-Statesman last month that the reduction in state support could lead to the event’s cancellation.
After Formula One, WrestleMania is the largest award Abbott has approved. WWE, which puts on WrestleMania, announced in January that its 2016 event would be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Multiple venues around the country lobbied for the event, which could have an economic impact akin to a Super Bowl, according to Marty MacInnis, chief financial officer for the Stadium Events Organizing Committee, which handles such bids for AT&T Stadium. Organizers are hoping to draw more than 90,000 attendees, which would be a record for the event.
“It’s a massive event,” MacInnis said. “... They’ve got fan festivals. They’ve got golf tournaments. They’ve got rallies. It’s one of those things where people from all over the world will come to this.”
The potential for a state subsidy helped the organizing committee plan out its bid and determine how much it could ultimately agree to pay WWE, MacInnis said. The total funding WWE is receiving for the event is still being worked out, he said.
“The trust fund played a part in the decision to try and bid for the event,” MacInnis said. He added that while organizers weren't sure they'd get the incentive funds, they were optimistic.
The other 18 events approved for incentives by Abbott’s office each drew awards of less than $1 million. The Irving Tennis Classic, scheduled for March, drew the smallest state award at $27,959.
Since 2004, the state has spent more than $300 million subsidizing over 500 events around the state, according to state records. Under state law, the Events Trust Fund can defray the costs of an event in which a Texas venue is in competition with other sites. A separate Major Events Reimbursement Program handles subsidies for a specific list of high-profile events, such as Super Bowls and Formula One races.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) —
Gun-rights groups that wanted to stage a mock mass shooting at the University of Texas agreed to move their event off-campus after getting a warning from the school that they could be arrested.
The groups Come and Take It Texas and Dontcomply.com announced plans for the Saturday event that would include cardboard guns and fake blood.
The Austin campus is the site of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history: sniper Charles Whitman killed 16 people in 1966, shooting dozens of victims from a perch atop the central clock tower.
The university issued a statement Wednesday warning that the Austin campus isn't open to outside groups staging demonstrations. The university said violators could face criminal trespassing charges.
The groups then said they would move their demonstration to an area next to campus.
Organizers said the purpose of staging a mock shooting is to rally support for gun rights. The event would come less than two weeks after shooters killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California.
University officials said they support free speech but outside groups are routinely barred from demonstrating on campus.
"When outside individuals come on campus and violate our rules regarding use of our grounds and facilities, they are asked to leave. If they do not, it becomes a criminal trespass matter," Texas spokesman J.B. Bird said.
The groups planning the mock mass shooting would coincide with a planned "open carry" march in Austin with demonstrators carrying long rifles.
State law currently bans guns from college campuses, but that will change next year. State lawmakers voted to allow concealed handgun license holders to bring their weapons on campus, including classrooms and dorms, with some limitations.
University of Texas officials will soon release recommendations on where concealed handguns will be allowed and where they will still be prohibited.
The law has met vigorous resistance from students and faculty. Some teachers have threated to quit or sue if they are not allowed to ban guns from their classrooms.
