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A.D. Ibarra
-Commissioner's Court
Maverick County Commissioner's Court held their regular meeting on Monday where the decision to hire legal counsel to address the current issue with County Auditor Fidencio Ortiz.
The Law Firm of Luis Vera out of San Antonio was approved to accomplish this task, but not after lengthy discussion in reference to Item 23 which was discussion with possible action to waive policy for professional services due to time constraints, which prompted intense discussion on how Commissioner's Court can waive the requirement due to what they are calling a time constraint.
Eventually the decision was made to hire Vera as outside counsel on issues dealing with the county auditor.
A.D. Ibarra
-Maverick County
Eagle Pass Fire Fighters battled yet another blaze on Friday evening at a residential area adjacent to Ray Darr Elementary.
First responders could be seen surrounding the structure as their emergency lights brilliantly lit up neighborhood.
According to a press release from the Maverick County Sheriff's Department, Maverick County deputies responded to the structural fire on the 100 block of Sandalo Street Friday evening, near the 7:45 hour.
A.D. Ibarra
-ICT
Rudy Rodriguez of the Dos Republicas Coal Mining Partnership informed The News Gram of the fact that their job fair to hire drivers for their many heavy tractors and other advanced machinery was held on Monday, December 8th from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
Hundreds of interested applicants waited in line for hours to get into the trade center, some arriving as early as 4:00 AM to have the opportunity to be interviewed.
"It's overwhelming, I think we have a full house inside and a full house outside, more people than we anticipated, but we'll be here until 8 o'clock tonight," said Rodriguez, "We've got good jobs with competitive wages, benefits. Hopefully we can get some of these people hired by the first quarter of 2015."
Mr. Rodriguez added that they are making the preparations at the mine to be able to ship out that first scheduled load of coal on June 1st, the first of what will be about 3 million tons of the sub-bitumnous coal, the best of its kind in the state of Texas.
He also stated that dirt is beginning to be moved in order to begin construction on the $10 million office complex/warehouse facility which will begin this month and the proverbial ball begins to roll forward with this project despite the lack of the highly contested flood plain permit which was denied back in October.
The Associated Press
The Energy Department has again slashed its prediction for next year's average price of gasoline across the U.S., this time to $2.60 a gallon. That's 23 percent below the projected average for this year and the lowest since 2009.
If that comes to pass, the price drop will save U.S. drivers $100 billion over the course of the year. In its most recent short-term energy outlook, released Tuesday, the Energy Department cut its gasoline price forecast for 2015 by 35 cents a gallon. It was the second cut of more than 30 cents a gallon in two months.
The average national price of gasoline fell to $2.66 a gallon Tuesday, according to AAA, 61 cents less than last year. The national average has fallen every day since September 26.
STEVEN K. PAULSON, Associated Press NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) —
When President Obama outlined why he was letting as many as 4 million immigrants stay and work legally in this country last month, it sounded like he was talking about Arturo Hernandez. Hernandez, 42, meets the criteria for Obama's deportation relief. He has a daughter who was born here and is a U.S. citizen, a steady job and he has lived here without being convicted of crime since 1999. But the president's administration is trying to deport Hernandez anyway. The deportation case stems from an arrest and charges in 2010, of which he was later acquitted. Hernandez fought it for four years, hoping Obama would live up to his pledges to fix the country's immigration system. When the president gave his White House address outlining the program, Hernandez and his family watched from the basement room of a church where he has been living for the past month to prevent immigration authorities from sending him back to Mexico.
A structure fire was reported Thursday afternoon involving a large property in the Indutrial Blvd and Kifuri area. Smoke could be seen from a considerable distance as local firefighters fought to keep the blaze under control.
Several blocks around the area had to be closed down and traffic was diverted. Firefighters battled the blaze for hours attempting to control the large area as smoke rose into the air alarming nearby residents. Water was redirected to the area as firefighters needed more resources to gain control of the massive blaze that caught the attention of the entire city as the smoke billowed for miles around.
The Eagle Pass Fire Department, Police Department and rescue crews were all dispatched into the area and assisted in the effort. A nearby bunsiness was evacuated due the proximity and the intensity of the fire.
The situation was compounded for our local fire department as the structure was near power lines and adjacent to oncoming railroad traffic.
According to witnesses, a series of explosions were heard from inside the building. As of press time multiple rescue crews and fire department personnel were on hand to battle the blaze. The cause of the fire was not determined at the time and it remians under investigation.
Coahuila businessman and media entrepreneur Rolando Gonzalez Treviño entered a not guilty plea in reference to money laundering charges facing him of working with the Mexican government to open a series of media outlets with money obtained from members of a former governor of the state of Coahuila.
Gonzalez was arrested on Halloween weekend when arriving in Las Vegas and was taken before a magistrate judge there before being transferred at an undisclosed date to San Antonio to appear before US Magistrate Judge John W. Primomo.
In court Tuesday, not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to transfer stolen securities from Mexico to the United States and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The proceedings took somewhere between five to ten minutes where Judge Primomo advised him of the charges before him, but failed to read the entire indictment.
He and his attorneys Alfonso Cabañas and Brandon Hudson could have waived the arraignment, but the hearing proceeded quickly and the defendant was lead out of the court room exiting the US Federal Court Building. Gonzalez remains in custody and is pending a date in US Federal Court.
There are at least six others involved in this indictment, six individuals who are yet to be named and according to the defendant's attorneys, they have not even been made aware of.
González-Treviño owns Canal 24 in Eagle Pass. He is also president of the media consortium Núcleo Radio Televisión de Monclova in Coahuila, also known as NRT.
Commissioner’s Court Maverick County Commissioner's Court voted unanimously to seek additional legal counsel in reference to the issue at hand of County Auditor Fidencio Ortiz' status as an employee on Monday evening. As reported earlier District Court Judge Amado Abascal issued an Order to Vacate stemming from a previous decision made by Commissioner's Court to freeze the auditor's salary citing that Ortiz has not fulfilled his job requirements. Excessive absences, monthly reports not provided on a monthly basis in 2014, a lack of an audit for 2013 which according to sources has set back departments such as the Maverick County Sheriff's Department who have had to return funds which could have been used in 2014 are among some of the reasons behind the court's original decision.
BY BRANDON BAILEY, AP Technology Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The FBI has confirmed it is investigating a recent hacking attack at Sony Pictures Entertainment, which caused major internal computer problems at the film studio last week.
Sony's corporate email and other internal systems were knocked offline, according to reports by Variety and other trade publications. Sony workers reportedly saw a message appear on their computer screens that said "Hacked by #GOP," which may be the initials of a group calling itself Guardians of Peace. Copies of some unreleased Sony films such as "Still Alice," ''Annie," ''Mr. Turner," and "To Write Love on Her Arms" are now being distributed on unauthorized file-sharing websites, as well as the still-in-theaters "Fury," although a direct connection to the hacking hasn't been confirmed.
ERICA WERNER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
A House committee chairman says President Barack Obama's move to protect millions of immigrants from deportation will encourage more illegal immigration and undermines the Constitution and democratic process. Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas made the comments Tuesday as he opened a hearing where Homeland Security Secretary Jeh (JAY) Johnson was defending Obama's controversial move. In prepared testimony for the House Homeland Security Committee hearing Johnson argued that deferring deportation for longtime residents who aren't deportation priorities anyway is "simple common sense." Republicans disagree strongly and are trying to figure out the best way to block Obama's executive actions from taking effect.
