horned - Laredo Morning Times
Transcription
horned - Laredo Morning Times
Drugs for Texans HORNED Longhorns get past Aggies in Texas-sized blowout SPORTS | 1B Bill would allow medicine from Canada PAGE 5A Hariri buried Thousands of mourners attend funeral in Beruit PAGE 7A Laredo Morning Times THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2005 ON THE WEB: LMTONLINE.COM 50 ¢ A HEARST NEWSPAPER COURTS | FEDERAL INDICTMENT US-VISIT | BORDER CROSSINGS Bribery, fraud charges hit city official ID checks to toughen By ADRIANA ARCE LAREDO MORNING TIMES New requirements for entering country take effect in 3 years By SUZANNE GAMBOA ASSOCIATED PRESS An employee of the city’s Planning and Zoning Department has been arrested on charges of obstruction of justice and mail fraud in an alleged bribery scheme, federal officials said Wednesday. Juan Segovia, 43, made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcel Notzon on Wednesday morning. Bond was set at $100,000. A warrant for Segovia’s arrest in the FBI investigation was issued late Tuesday, after a grand jury returned a five-count indictment dating back to 2003 incidents. “The message today is simple: We will use the full measure of federal law to hold accountable any public official, who abuses his position for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby. The first two counts of the indictment charge that Segovia, as a public servant, “accepted a bribe in exchange for providing his recommendation and other exercise of discretion to secure a zoning reclassification from Mixed Residential District to a Community Business District,” for a property on 2401 Arkansas Avenue. After he accepted the bribe, the indictment states, Segovia mailed notices about the zoning change to neighboring residents between January 2003 and August 2003. WASHINGTON — In three years, U.S. citizens and Canadians will have to show passports or a federally issued ID card linked to Homeland Security databases to re-enter the country from across the border. The intelligence bill passed by Congress last year mandates the new identification requirements be in place by Jan. 1, 2008. It also requires that the Department of Homeland Security have by then a registered traveler program for border travelers like those now being tested at five airports. The programs allow frequent travelers to avoid extra security inspections by volunteering for background checks. The airports testing the registered traveler program are Houston Bush’s Intercontinental Airport; Boston’s Logan Airport; Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles International Airport; and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Jim Williams, US-VISIT program director, said this week that Homeland Security wants to develop a system that would expedite travelers, immigrants and visitors entering and exiting the country. He said the agency’s concept is to develop a type of travel card for frequent border crossers. The card would be designed so when swiped it would provide information about the traveler to the homeland security border protection and immigration agencies and State Department workers in real time. “All those people should have easy access to the same information about See CHECKS | PAGE 10A NATIONAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH | CELEBRATION See CHARGES | PAGE 10A AMERICA | TERROR THREAT Officials warn of future terrorist acts By KATHERINE SHRADER ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Speaking with one voice, President Bush’s top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States. They said the best defense was for Congress to approve the president’s military and anti-terror budget. But some in Congress, including prominent Republicans, were questioning some of that spending. Offering few specifics on terror threats, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a House hearing that the government could reasonably predict attacks would come from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other means. Meanwhile, new CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee the Iraq war was giving terrorists experience and contacts for future attacks, and FBI Director Robert Mueller expressed worry that a sleeper operative in the U.S. may have been in place for years, awaiting orders for an attack. “I remain very concerned about what we are not seeing,” Mueller said in remarks he submitted to the senators. Photo by Cuate Santos | Laredo Morning Times Gethon Robinson, right, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Pilot, talks with CBP Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Daniel Molina Jr., during a luncheon honoring Robinson as part of National Africian-American History Month. The event was held Wednesday at the National Guard Armory. Border Patrol pilot honored at luncheon By ERICA CORDOVA LAREDO MORNING TIMES Gethon Robinson Jr. never gave up on his childhood dream, and today he’s turning heads. Robinson, 36, is the first African-American pilot for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and he told colleagues and others at a luncheon Wednesday that his love for the skies started at age 4. “I had at least 100 model airplanes hanging all over my room on top of my dresser drawers,” Robinson said. “My mom would go out and she’d buy a couple of models and I’d put them together in 20 or 30 minutes. She’d say, you need to take your time on stuff like that.” The Dallas native was honored Wednesday for his achievements as part of the agency’s celebration of National African American History Month. Robinson said he received his first pilot’s license after going through a high school program that allowed students to focus on various fields. He learned about air dynamics and aircraft classifications. “I was an artist,” Robinson said. “I loved building war planes.” Shortly after, he enrolled in Mountain View College in Dallas and graduated with a degree in aviation technology. He went on to attend several other schools and soon earned his bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Science. He then received his commission as a naval officer, graduated from flight school and received his professional pilot’s license. But then he hit a wall, landing at the unemployment office a few years later. “I was unemployed for six months at the age of 25,” Robinson said. “There was congressional downsizing … and they got rid of my aircraft See HONORED | PAGE 10A See TERRORIST | PAGE 10A SPORTS | LABOR DISPUTE Salary cap issue ends National Hockey League season By IRA PODELL ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — The NHL canceled what little was left of the season Wednesday after a series of lastminute offers were rejected on the final day of negotiations. A lockout over a salary cap shut down the game before it ever got a chance to start in October. Now the NHL, already low on the popularity scale in the United States, becomes the first major pro sports league in North America to lose an entire season to a labor dispute. “As I stand before you today, it is my sad duty to announce ... it no longer is practical to conduct even an abbreviated season,” commissioner Gary Bettman INSIDE Related story/Page 4B said. “Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-05.” “This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided,” he said. Bettman said the sides would continue working to get an agreement. “We’re planning to have hockey next season,” he said. A few hours later, NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow stressed that the players had given a lot of ground. “Every offer by the players moved in the owners’ direction,” Goodenow said at a press conference in Toronto, where the union is based. “Keep one thing perfectly clear,” he said. “The players never asked for more money — they just asked for a marketplace.” “The scary part now for hockey is do the fans come back? We’re not baseball, we’re not the national pastime,” Nashville forward Jim McKenzie said. The league and players’ union traded a flurry of proposals and letters Tuesday night, but could never agree on a cap. The players proposed $49 million per team; the owners said $42.5 million. But a series of conditions and fine print in both proposals made the offers farther apart than just $6.5 million per team. “We weren’t as close as people were speculating,” Bettman said. Although Bettman was unequivocal in announcing the cancellation, Detroit Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman held out hope that some kind of a miracle was still possible. “If you read into what (Bettman) said, it sounds like there is still an opportunity to get things done,” Yzerman said. “The principles are there to make a deal, so I still think something can happen in the next day or two, because we’re really not that far apart.” Goodenow was less optimistic. “I think it’s a fresh start and everything is off the table,” he said. “It’s a totally new environment. That much is for sure. “As far as anything happening this afternoon, it’s not happening.” See SALARY | PAGE 10A OPINION | PAGE 4A THEATERS | PAGE 6A OBITUARIES | PAGE 9A SPORTS | SECTION B COMICS | PAGE 6A FEATURES | PAGE 7A WEATHER | PAGE 8B CLASSIFIED | SECTION C ON CAMPUS 123rd Year, No. 249, 52 pages