A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

Jorge Barrera, Director of Eagle Pass Water Works, informed The News Gram of a two-pronged project which stems from an $8.2 million grant which will greatly improve the system by which Eagle Pass water users receive the life-giving resource.

The first, Barrera said, will be the installation of a new type of radio read meter which will be able to be read by remote control in a drive-by setting.

The new technology is the latest trend in municipal water operation equipment which will vastly modernize our existing system.

The other measure will be the design, planning and changing out of the cast iron pipelines underneath our city and to replace them with the more practical, longer-lasting PVC type pipes which will be installed in phases this year.

The cast iron pipes, which have been in place for almost a hundred years have served their purpose and will be replaced by the more practical PVC pipe as the EPWW System have been called upon to repair broken pipelines which both run at an expensive rate and force workers to break into paved roads to access the broken lines.

A.D. Ibarra

-Eagle Pass

State Representative Alfonso Nevarez welcomed family, friends and colleagues to his new offices located on the premises of La Mansion on Williams Street in Eagle Pass.

"I feel welcomed because so many of my family and friends are here, because I consider all of you my friends and many of you my mentors," the newly elected representative eloquently stated in his brief address.

Nevarez was equally introduced by Chamber of Commerce President Billy Davis who expressed our collective pride in having him as our voice in Austin with an amazingly accurate analogy, "Leaders are like Eagles, they don't flock, you find them one at a time," before bringing on the legislator to address the gathering as he introduced us to his colleagues in Austin which include Chief of Staff Obie Salinas, who said, "I feel like today, this ceremony signifies so much for District 74," which Nevarez said if it were a state, it would be the 38th largest in the United States, "And for Eagle Pass and Maverick County constituents having their representative here will do really good things for the community.  We welcome anyone to come by our offices or call (512) 463-0566."

Lauren Cacheaux, Nevarez' General Counsel who helps prepare him to propose his legislation before committees, was also on hand to greet well-wishers and to inform The News Gram of their collective accolades, accomplishments and achievements.  Cacheaux, an attorney who hails from Mc Allen said that her greatest satisfaction thus far in her short time in Nevarez' office is having participated in the passing of HB 5 regarding public education.

     "What it does is it reduces the amount of over-testing which occurs over the course of the school year," stated the General Counsel who also meets with lobbyists and reads over legislation that may affect our district, "It also gives more flexibility to students to choose an extra elective and not be held to the exorbitant amount of required courses they must enroll in."

     Jay Jackson, Nevarez' Legislative aide from Fort Worth, is a Political Science and Communications major at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacodoches, says he ties up loose ends for the State Representative and also does a lot of reading of legislation.  When asked what his studies have focused on in this day and age of economic issues, Jackson mentioned that he is learning a lot about water which, he says is not talked about much in the scope of his classes, but which is a vital, dare I say critical issue across the state and around the world which needs to be taken into serious consideration by legislators everywhere.

     Nevarez informed The News Gram that this week he was steadfast in rallying his support against the voucher system, "I am against the use of public funds for private schools.  I went to a private school. but I don't believe taxpayer's money should fund private education."

     "Yesterday was a long day of arguing budget," stated Nevarez, "But a very important day for all of us," he closed by saying, "Welcome to my office."

WASHINGTON, DC – Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, issued the following statement today on the employment situation in March. You can view the statementHERE.

The Employment Situation in March

Posted by Alan B. Krueger on April 5, 2013 at 9:45AM EST

While more work remains to be done, today’s employment report provides further evidence that the U.S. economy is continuing to recover from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. It is critical that we continue the policies that are helping to build an economy that creates jobs and works for the middle class as we dig our way out of the deep hole that was caused by the severe recession that began in December 2007.

Today’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that private sector businesses added 95,000 jobs last month. Total non-farm payroll employment rose by 88,000 jobs in March. The February and March employment numbers were revised up by a total of 61,000 jobs. The economy has now added private sector jobs every month for 37 straight months, and a total of nearly 6.5 million jobs have been added over that period.

The household survey showed that the unemployment rate fell from 7.7 percent in February to 7.6 percent in March, the lowest since December 2008. The labor force participation rate decreased by 0.2 percentage point to 63.3 percent in March.

It is important to bear in mind that the March household and payroll surveys are the first monthly surveys to look at employment since the beginning of sequestration.  While the recovery was gaining traction before sequestration took effect, these arbitrary and unnecessary cuts to government services will be a headwind in the months to come, and will cut key investments in the Nation’s future competitiveness.  The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the sequester will reduce employment by 750,000 full-time equivalent jobs by the end of the year. 

Now is not the time for Washington to impose more self-inflicted wounds on the economy.  The Administration continues to urge Congress to replace the sequester with balanced deficit reduction, while working to put in place measures to put more Americans back to work like rebuilding our roads and bridges and promoting American manufacturing.  The President will continue to press Congress to act on measures he called for in the State of the Union to promote job growth, ensure workers have the skills they need to compete, and help hardworking Americans make a decent living.

According to the establishment survey, in March employment rose notably in professional and business services (+51,000), education and health services (+44,000), construction (+18,000), and leisure and hospitality (+17,000).  Retail trade lost 24,100 jobs in March, following 8 months of growth.  Job gains in construction have added 169,000 jobs since September.  In the last two years the construction sector has added 317,000 jobs, with over half of that increase occurring in the last six months.

As the Administration stresses every month, the monthly employment and unemployment figures can be volatile, and payroll employment estimates can be subject to substantial revision. Therefore, it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report and it is informative to consider each report in the context of other data that are becoming available.