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Laredo Community College got a visit from a Mexican congressman today who talked about Mexico’s stance on the United States immigration reform. Congressman Jose Medina says the immigration crisis is a human problem that begs a human solution and that the U.S., Mexico and other nations should work together to become one America on one continent. Medina also stated his own views on immigration reform. "I think legalization is the solution for people asking for permission to work legally in this country." Medina was elected as a member in Mexico’s lower house of congress in 2000.

LAREDO, Texas -- A Texas Highway Patrol trooper found 5,408 lbs. of marijuana inside a school bus after pulling over the vehicle north of Laredo, Texas Department of Public Safety officials said. The driver fled on foot from the scene. The bus was marked to resemble a United Independent School District bus. DPS officials estimate the marijuana is worth more than $1.7 million. DPS continues to investigate leads in the case.

On July 11th, PFC James Gonzalez told his family he was heading to Laredo to hang out with friends before returning to the Ft Hood. But on July 13th Gonzalez' commander called looking for the private. "They've asked what our thoughts are about him going AWOL. It just doesn't add up with the phone..it goes straight to voice mail. If he would have done it he would have contacted somebody," said Jason Gonzalez, who is James' brother. The Gonzalez family says the FBI called them to say the Army had received a call saying the private had been kidnapped. The...

It's no secret that Martin High School has been in trouble academically for several years. In fact, the state has threatened to take the school over if things don't change. Some say it's so bad that most students are having a tough time graduating, let alone getting ready for college. That’s why interim principal Dr. Severita Sanchez has been put in place. As our Concetta Callahan reports she's ready to get Martin High on the right track by having students speak English. Dr. Sanchez says her team has already started working on a plan of action because she says there...

LAREDO, Tex. — When he was finally caught, Rosalio Reta told detectives here that he had felt a thrill each time he killed. It was like being Superman or James Bond, he said. “I like what I do,” he told the police in a videotaped confession. “I don’t deny it.” ... The young men all paid a heavy price. Jesus Gonzalez III was beaten and knifed to death in a Mexican jail at 23. Mr. Reta, now 19, and his boyhood friend, Gabriel Cardona, 22, are serving what amounts to life sentences in prisons in the United States. Other young...

Martin High will focus on teaching English Painfully aware that Martin High School likely will fail federal standards for the sixth year in a row, LISD officials say they will redouble their efforts to teach English to a hard-core group of students who are not learning the language of their adopted country. "We need to speak as much English as possible," said Severita Sanchez, Laredo Independent School District's executive director of compliance and accountability. "(Freshmen) are coming in with a very weak English foundation. The comprehension is not there." According to LISD, the federally mandated restructuring plan at Martin High...

Note: the following text is a quote: Port runners sentenced to lengthy prison terms LAREDO, Texas - Four people who broke through barriers at the Laredo Port of Entry in October, while trying to smuggle more than 700 kilograms of marijuana, were sentenced Thursday to prison terms ranging from almost 6 years to 16 years in federal prison without parole. U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson announced the sentences; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted the investigation. On Oct. 14, 2008, Jesus Rodriguez-Jasso, 28, drove a large Suburban SUV from Mexico into the United States loaded with 718 kilograms (1,580 lbs.)...

FBI takes case of Laredo father The case of a missing Laredoan who was torn from his wife's arms as they and his brother and sister-in-law left a night club in Nuevo Laredo is now in the hands of the FBI, officials confirmed Tuesday. Mario Espinoza, 27, was reported missing by his family after he was forced into a vehicle by a group of men in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday near Africa, a popular night club in downtown Nuevo Laredo. The FBI is investigating the case of Espinoza, a U.S. citizen who is a resident of Laredo, said Special...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress09/mueller032509.htm Congressional Testimony Robert S. Mueller, III Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Statement Before the Senate Judiciary Committee March 25, 2009 Good morning Chairman Leahy, Senator Specter, and Members of the Committee. I am pleased to be here today. As you know, we in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have undergone unprecedented transformation in recent years, from developing the intelligence capabilities necessary to address emerging terrorist and criminal threats, to creating the administrative and technological structure necessary to meet our new mission as a national security service. Today, the FBI is a...

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican government on Monday offered $2 million rewards each for information leading to the capture of 24 men identified as the country’s narcotics smuggling kingpins, including the bosses of the Gulf Cartel bordering far south Texas. Topping the most-wanted list are Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada of the Sinaloa Cartel based in the Pacific Coast state. Arturo Beltran Leyva, who leads a cartel that carries his name, carried a $2 million reward, as do the heads of the Juarez Cartel based in the violent city opposite El Paso, the La Familia Cartel...

The U.S. Border Patrol plans to poison the plant life along a 1.1-mile stretch of the Rio Grande riverbank as soon as Wednesday to get rid of the hiding places used by smugglers, robbers and illegal immigrants. Although Border Patrol and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials say the chemical is safe for animals, detractors say the experiment is reminiscent of the Vietnam War-era Agent Orange chemical program and raises questions about long-term effects. “We don’t believe that is even moral,” said Jay Johnson-Castro Sr., executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center. Border Patrol agent Roque Sarinana said the...

Rosalio "Bart" Reta pleaded guilty this morning to a December 2005 murder he carried out for the Zetas. Reta, 19, admitted to shooting Moises Garcia as Garcia sat in his car Dec. 8, 2005 in the parking lot of the Torta-Mex restaurant on Corpus Christi street. A judge accepted the deal Reta made with prosecutors and sentenced him to 30 years in prison. Reta and two other sicarios, or hit men, used their vehicle to block Garcia in as he tried to leave the restaurant after eating dinner with his family, according to a plea agreement read in the 49th...

Convicted murderer already serving 80 years Maria Villarreal pleaded with the judge to ask Gabriel Cardona Ramirez where he disposed of her son's body. Standing before U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez on Thursday, Villarreal asked her for help finding the body of her son, 14-year-old Inez Abundo Villarreal, who died in March 2006 at Cardona's hands. "I know the pain your mother is going through, but the stronger sorrow is mine because she knows where you are," Maria Villarreal said to Cardona. "I am begging you on my knees that you tell the judge where my son is." Alvarez did...

City manager says he's 'concerned' but not too worried City of Laredo bridge revenue was 16.6 percent less than expected in January, primarily because of less commercial activity. City Manager Carlos Villarreal said he's "concerned but not completely pessimistic" about Laredo's future. "We'll take whatever precautions we need to take in order to offset any projected losses," Villarreal said. "Then, we'll make sure that we revisit the numbers for the forthcoming year." The City of Laredo budget outlined $3,739,567 in bridge revenue for January. Actual revenue came in at $3,118,442, which comes out to a $621,125 shortage. "Obviously, the economic...

Sheriff: Region needs crime lab, resources Local law enforcement needs a regional crime lab and more resources, Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar told U.S. Sen. John Cornyn during a closed-door briefing Saturday. "We're kind of running behind in DNA and ballistics tests because we're on a waiting list and at the mercy of other crime labs in the area," Cuellar said. "We have to go to San Antonio, where we have a six- to eight-month waiting period." With a regional crime lab serving Webb, Zapata and Jim Hogg counties, the District Attorney's Office could prosecute cases in a more timely...

In the story of the emperor with no clothes, it took someone whose observations are rarely heeded -- a child -- to point out the obvious fact that no one else could acknowledge. In the case of drug policy, it takes people who are usually ignored by Washington policymakers -- Latin Americans -- to perform the same invaluable service. Last week, a commission made up of 17 members, from Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa to Sonia Picado, the Costa Rican who heads the Inter-American Institute on Human Rights, did nothing but admit the truth: The war on drugs is a...

Nuevo Laredo police have arrested six men in connection to two kidnappings. According to authorities the kidnappings have happened on both sides of the border. Our Noraida Negron has the latest. It’s a story you'll see only on eight. They are called express kidnappers. They take their victims to the nearest ATMs and take all of their money. Then they ask the victims family for ransom money. The Nuevo Laredo police department arrested six men in connection to these kidnappings. And they were able to save one of their victims. " Iniciamos con las investigaciones se logro recuperar a la...

Nuevo Laredo police have arrested the third man accused of being part of a teenage hit man cell working for the Zetas in Laredo. Jesus Gonzalez III was arrested in Nuevo Laredo and is accused by authorities there of taking part in a kidnapping ring, said Kevin Labrador, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service. Gonzalez is wanted in Laredo on murder charges, Labrador said. Laredo police issued a warrant for Gonzalez’s arrest in February 2006, alleging that he was involved in two murders. Gonzalez and convicted murderers Rosalio “Bart” Reta and Gabriel Cardona Ramirez, also known as “Gaby” and...

A yellow school bus overflowing with more than 3 tons of marijuana was found parked on the shoulder of U.S. 59 on Saturday. "It's an uncommon occurrence," said Maria Guadalupe Garza, a Texas Department of Public Safety lieutenant. "We don't see that amount of marijuana very often." Garza said that at about 8:30 a.m., a DPS trooper spotted the school bus on highway's shoulder, about four miles outside Laredo city limits. The trooper pulled up behind the bus, which was headed toward Laredo, and exited his vehicle to see if everything was OK, said Garza, of DPS' narcotics division. As...

Three associates of the Zetas were sentenced in federal court today; the heaviest penalty was an 8-year prison sentence. U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez sentenced Jorge Rodriguez, who helped a Zeta operative smuggle large amounts of cocaine from Laredo to Dallas in 2007 and 2008, to 97 months in federal prison for his part in a drug conspiracy. That’s eight years plus one month. Alvarez also sentenced Roberto Camacho and Gustavo Fabian Chapa, who worked for Zeta sicario Gabriel Cardona Ramirez, to nearly three years in prison and two years in prison, respectively. Camacho and Chapa admitted last year to...

A downtown Laredo street bearing the name for more than a century of a Mexican hero was changed by the Laredo City Council on Monday to remove offensive connotations it may have against Arabs or Muslims.Since moving to Laredo nearly 30 years ago, Kamel M. Shrek has studied the meaning of "Matamoros," which means Moor killer or Moor slayer. The phrase was used as a battle cry by the Spaniards during the battle of Clavijo in 844 AD, according to Shrek's research, meant to encourage killing of Muslims. After becoming a nickname in Spain related to killing Catholic Spain's Arabic...

As investigators review video footage they hope will reveal why a Denville police officer shot a 21-year-old motorist five times, the dead man's mother called the officer a murderer and said she has hired an attorney. Miles holds a photo of her son Ruben Martinez when he was a junior at Morris Knolls High School. Martinez now 21 and living in Texas, was shot and killed early Thusrdsay morning by a Denville police officer.  "Last night, I kept visualizing five gunshots pounding into a young man, 140 pounds," Maureen Miles, the mother of Ruben W. Martinez, said Friday. She...

Federal and local law enforcement have arrested seven alleged members and associates of the Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos prison gang over the last week.Prosecutors say the seven people from Laredo and 17 from the Houston area were involved in a conspiracy to transport large amounts of cocaine from Laredo to Houston and launder the proceeds in Laredo. Pedro Gil III, 37, also known as "Master P," "PG" and "Carwash," was arrested over the weekend and charged with five counts of conspiracy with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine and one count of money laundering. Police later arrested his...

A drug dealer named The Spider is wondering why his Jesus Christ still hasn't appeared in Dallas. Thanks to an unusual bust by federal agents in Laredo, they're not going to connect. Drug traffickers mixed as much as six pounds of the illicit white powder into a paste and used it to make a regal statue of the Christian savior, complete with painted-on flowing hair and a gold cape. Smugglers were likely hoping the statue, which could be worth as much as $30,000 on the streets, would be dismissed by border guards as just another of the hundreds of plaster...

McALLEN, Texas - During three years in the low minors, John Odom never really made a name for himself. That sure changed this week - he's the guy the Calgary Vipers traded for a bunch of bats. "I don't really care," he said Friday. "It'll make a better story if I make it to the big leagues." For now, Odom is headed to the Laredo Broncos of the United League. They got him Tuesday from Calgary of the Golden Baseball League for a most unlikely price: 10 Prairie Sticks Maple Bats, double-dipped black, 34-inch, C243 style "They just wanted some...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to build a big highway through the Lone Star State. No, make that a really big highway, as in a monstrously big highway. The exact route hasn't been determined. The mega-highway would run roughly from Laredo on the Rio Grande River through the Hill Country and the Piney Woods and then through Texarkana in that tiny portion of the state that borders Arkansas. Imagine for a moment if that thoroughfare would be pointed in the other direction - from the Valley, through the South Plains and then through the heart of the Panhandle, right past...

Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?...

Security was heavy Thursday as the nine defendants named so far in an indictment targeting the Gulf Cartel's enforcers, the Zetas, appeared in federal court for pre-trial proceedings.At least half a dozen stone-faced U.S. Marshals kept watch over the defendants in U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez's court, along with members of the Correction Corp. of America's special operations response team, who wore body armor. Prosecutors allege that the nine defendants named in the 47-count indictment are members or associates of the Zetas, a violent wing of the Gulf Cartel believed to control most of the narcotics trafficking in Nuevo Laredo....

Laredo has once again been included on a national top 10 list, although not for a distinction the city may necessarily want.According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Laredo ranked sixth nationally in cities with the highest per capita rate of vehicle theft in 2007. The ranking marks a significant increase from 2006, when the agency ranked Laredo 22nd nationally. The agency ranks different metropolitan areas based on the number of vehicle thefts per 100,000 inhabitants. According to the figures, Laredo had 1,914 vehicle thefts last year, a rate of about 821 cars stolen per 100,000 residents. That also puts...

Continuing a lifelong practice of helping rural East Texans, Nolan Alders attended a meeting in Austin Tuesday as a member of the citizens' advisory committee for the Trans-Texas Corridor highway project. Alders was among 18 representatives of communities that run along the route of the proposed highway, which runs from Laredo to Texarkana. The committee members prepared for their roles as community representatives, and heard comments from state transportation leaders, including Texas Department of Transportation Executive Director Amadeo Saenz and Commissioner Ted Houghton of the Texas Transportation Commission. TxDOT literature says the TTC-69 committee — and another committee to represent...

It has been roughly three months since residents of Huntsville and Walker County attended town hall meetings to voice their opinion on the Trans-Texas Corridor/I-69 project to the Texas Department of Transportation. There was no question then that there was strong opposition to the proposed 1,600-mile national highway, and it seems as though residents’ efforts to stop it has not lost any of its momentum. Several residents attended the Walker County Commissioners Court on Monday morning, expressing concerns about the project and encouraged the court to take another step of action. The five-member court agrees with the majority of the...

Investigators believe a 21-year-old Laredo man who died Tuesday at the Laredo Medical Center was a kidnapping victim who may have been tortured, a Webb County prosecutor said Thursday. It's the fifth homicide in Laredo this year.Roberto Oviedo died Tuesday after being found on the pavement in front of his brother's house with what an initial investigation shows were wounds from torture, said Assistant District Attorney Jesse Guillen. At least three men have been arrested and charged in connection with Oviedo's Sunday disappearance, Guillen said. Police on Thursday arrested Jason Fraga and Octavio Rodriguez Jr. on charges of aggravated kidnapping...

The two men who broke into the house of a maquinitas owner who was cooperating with the federal government and threatened him with a gun were likely doing so in an attempted kidnapping or murder for hire, a federal prosecutor said in court Tuesday.Jose Manuel "Whiskey" Nuñez Sanchez, 23, a Mexican citizen, and Sergio "Pelon" Oslan Rivera, 25, a Honduran citizen, were in federal court on Tuesday. They awaited sentencing on weapons charges that stemmed from their involvement in the home invasion of Linh "Larry" Tuan Do. At the time, Do was the owner of Entertainment World and an important...

Despite the uproar over the state's proposal to build Trans-Texas Corridor 69 through East Texas, Lufkin's mayor says he supports the highway — as long as it follows the path of the current U.S. Highway 59. The Trans Texas Corridor/I-69 project is a statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways and utility right-of-ways. Anyone wishing to comment on the proposed road can go online to www.keeptexasmoving.com. TxDOT has expanded its public comment period for TTC-69 to Friday, April 18. Gov. Rick Perry appointed Gorden, along with 17 other Texans, to an I-69...

The FBI is investigating the kidnapping of a 17-year-old former Alexander High School student that may have turned fatal, officials confirmed Thursday. German Antonio Villarreal Muñoz was forced into a sport utility vehicle at Juega Juega, a popular casino in Nuevo Laredo, the night of March 8. His father reported the kidnapping to Mexican authorities the following morning, but nothing was said in public until March 12, when the teen's mother issued a statement to Laredo media, pleading for information about her son. Nearly a month later, hopes for a happy ending are dimming. "Foul play is suspected," said Norm...

As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...

LAREDO - With appearances on CNN and Nightline, Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores drew national attention to his role as top cop of a county on the front line against Mexican drug violence. But keeping that job comes down to a race that is decidedly local - full of harsh exchanges, nasty innuendo and Laredo's trademark tangle of conflicting loyalties. On Tuesday, Flores, 46, faces longtime state police official Martin Cuellar in a Democratic primary runoff, one of the area's hottest races in memory. His opponent's family name couldn't be more formidable - Cuellar, 49, is brother of U.S. Rep....

Federal authorities have their sights set on high-ranking members of the Zetas working in Nuevo Laredo, as indicated by a 50-page indictment partially unsealed earlier this week.The indictment alleges a wide-ranging, drug-smuggling conspiracy that involved several murders, including one in which a defendant is accused of collecting the blood of his victim and making a toast to Santa Muerte before killing the man and burning his body. Two of the 32 people listed in the 47-count indictment were in federal court Thursday. Only four names have been made public; the others are blacked out on the court records because they...

BELTON - There appears to be no easy way to address the challenges that inflation has brought to the Texas Department of Transportation. “We’ve seen 60 percent inflation over the last five years for transportation projects,” said Chris Lippincott, a TxDOT spokesman. To look to the federal government for assistance would appear foolhardy at this point as the Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to become insolvent by 2009. The fund was created in 1956 to ensure a dependable source of financing for U.S. interstates and highways. “The Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to go into the red very...

Members of rival El Salvadorian gangs were arrested by Border Patrol agents over the weekend just north of Laredo on Interstate 35, an indicator of the increasing through traffic by violent gang members the Laredo Police Department has noticed in recent months."Mostly they're transient," said Sgt. Armando Elizondo, supervisor of LPD's Juvenile Enforcement Team, which deals with local gang activity. "They use this area as a crossing point." Sunday, a 22-year-old gang member was arrested by agents at the Texas Travel Information Center at the 18-mile marker on the interstate at about 2 p.m. He had tattoos showing he's a...

They are believed to have smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants into the United States but now, 41 truck drivers, guides, brokers, recruiters and smuggling leaders are facing criminal charges. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents started the investigation in Laredo but made the arrests across several American cities over the last seven weeks. Investigators said the group used truck drivers to smuggle at least 376 illegal immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras into the United States. Most of the immigrants were discovered tractor trailers and attempting to pass through different checkpoints in and around Laredo. Most...

BROWNSVILLE - A 23-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on charges of being part of an auto-theft ring that was allegedly stealing tractors. Tirso Alamillo was charged with six counts of theft of a motor vehicle and one count of engaging in organized criminal activity, police Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique said. The auto-theft ring was stealing large machinery from construction sites, according to a police report. "The ring is accused of stealing six back-hoe tractors ... and a motor grader tractor," Manrrique said. "These vehicle are worth (a lot) of money on the black market and are believed to have been routed...

Border Patrol agents arrested a member of the Mexican Mafia on Tuesday and charged him with smuggling illegal immigrants, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release.Agents from the Laredo South station arrested the gang member after receiving reports of suspicious activity near Rio Bravo, as the Rio Grande is called in Mexico. The release states that the vehicle driven by the Mexican Mafia member matched the description of a car seen near the location of the suspicious activity. When agents stopped the vehicle, occupied by a driver and four passengers, they performed an immigration inspection. The agents...

Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....

There's been a lot of talk about the new Trans-Texas Corridor — the next-generation "super-highway" — and opinions are varying. Now the debate is coming to Lufkin's doorstep. On Monday, the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range and TURF will hold a workshop at Lufkin's Pitser Garrison Civic Center on how to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor 69. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A portion of Texas citizens have voiced their opposition to the TTC-69 in public meetings held by the Texas Department of Transportation, but believing they are not being heard, four cities and their...

Officials with the Spanish toll road operator Cintra have announced that the company has secured $430 million in loans from the U.S. government to build and operate two segments of a toll road in central Texas. Cintra officials announced the company’s financial plan for the $1.36 billion Highway 130 segments on Monday, March 10. OOIDA Senior Government Affairs Representative Mike Joyce told Land Line that the Association does raise red flags when federal dollars are used to subsidize private investors. Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association are not, however, categorically opposed to a state using future toll revenue to...

Webb County taxpayers paid approximately $5.17 million in 2006 to fund law enforcement and justice system services for undocumented immigrants, a 41-percent increase from the costs incurred in 1999, according to a border counties coalition study released this week.The price tag, an estimated $22.34 per Webb County taxpayer each year, is one that elected officials said should not be a local burden. "This has long been a problem and something that, frankly, I think this administration should have done better but didn't," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "But at least Congress is in a position to remedy it to some...

McALLEN -- A 28-year-old Mexican national pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting a U.S. Border Patrol agent last year during a failed arrest attempt. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Garcia, of Villa De Ramos, S.L.P., Mexico, faces up to 20 years in prison for the attack which left the agent with a fractured left shoulder. He told authorities he was one of three men in a pick-up truck stopped on Dec. 13 just outside of Roma, according to court documents. But when agents discovered he was in the country illegally and tried to arrest him, Gonzalez resisted, knocking himself and the arresting agent...

Heated comments flew around the room as more than 175 citizens gathered to voice their opinions at the TxDOT open house and public hearing on the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor held at the Humble Civic Center on Feb. 28, 2008. Congress designated I-69 as a high priority corridor in 1991 and again in 1998. In 2002, TxDOT unveiled the Trans-Texas Corridor project to accommodate Texas' future transportation needs. The TTC is a part of a 4,000-mile system of rail lines, truck and car lanes and concentrated utility routes to improve international and intrastate movement of goods and people from Canada to the...

Providing public services within a municipality on the U.S.-Mexico border requires carrying out duties beyond those a typical city would provide, especially homeland security, which is why the City of Laredo believes it is important to keep federal legislators and agencies abreast of the challenges and needs of the Gateway City.A delegation of about 15 City of Laredo officials is in Washington, D.C., this week. There, the officials plan to attend more than three dozen meetings. Tops on the list of priority issues is homeland security - namely, funding for the river vega master plan, additional police officers and emergency...