Free Republic

The heat continues claiming the lives of dozens of illegal immigrants facing extreme temperatures day after day out in area ranches. For the Webb County Medical Examiner, more deaths poses a bigger task of identifying all those people who were left stranded to die alone. Our Annette Garcia spoke with her about the illegal crossers their tragic story and chances of being reunited with their loved ones. Dozens try but never make it. This is one who illegally crossed the border who walked for miles most likely days, but fell victim to the blistering heat. “We understand why they want...

LAREDO, July 2 - U.S. residents are being advised not to visit Nuevo Laredo this Fourth of July Weekend. The advisory comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Webb County Sheriff’s Office. Both agencies say they have received credible intelligence from multiple sources indicating that the Zetas Cartel is planning to target U.S. citizens who travel to Nuevo Laredo this weekend. “According to the information we have received, the Zetas are planning a possible surge in criminal activity, such as robberies, extortions, car-jackings and vehicle theft, specifically against U.S. citizens,” said DPS Director Steven C. McCraw. “We...

The county is looking at cheaper ways to deal with the recent spike in paying for indigent burials. According to officials they don't have the necessary resources to bury the bodies. "According to medical examiner they have seen an increase in deaths in illegal crossings. They have seen drowning and even heat exhaustion but the county says they have no space to bury these bodies." "Our department is in charge mandate by the state of Texas to burry all indigent, paupers and John Does and we've ran out of money." Since January the medical examiners office has seen 40 immigrants...

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....

South Texas is not only going to get its first interstate - it is also going to get a second and a third. State transportation officials knew one of three southern highways - U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County, U.S. Highway 77 in Cameron County or U.S. Highway 59 in Webb County - would eventually become part of an interstate stretching from the Texas-Mexico border to Texarkana, in the northeast part of the state. Only Webb County is currently served by an interstate. The state's Trans-Texas Corridor plan calls for an Interstate 69 extension linking South Texas to points north,...

WESLACO — Nearly 80 people filled a lecture hall here Thursday for a town hall forum with Texas Department of Transportation officials on a potential interstate highway designation in the region. The forum at South Texas College’s Mid-Valley Campus was the first of four planned public meetings in the Rio Grande Valley addressing the state’s Trans-Texas Corridor plan for an Interstate 69 extension linking South Texas to points north. TxDOT is developing plans for the first interstate in eastern Texas to connect Texarkana to one of three points in the south: U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County, U.S. Highway 77...

Some Texans are afraid of losing their land to the Trans-Texas Corridor while others loathe the thought of a quarter-mile-wide swath of toll roads and railway lines transforming the countryside into a superhighway. People continue to turn out in droves at public meetings concerning the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor proposal, specifically the portion known as the TTC-69 proposed from Brownsville to Texarkana. A meeting Monday, Jan. 28, at the fairgrounds in Austin County was no exception, drawing more than 1,000 people. Opposition to the proposed corridor has come from people in all walks of life, said Chris Steinbach, chief of staff...

LAREDO, Texas — The Texas Attorney General's Office sued landowners in Webb County, accusing a couple of violating the state's colonia-prevention law. The suit, filed in district court in Austin on Jan. 7, accuses John R. Daves and his wife, Leonor, of selling three residential lots east of Laredo without installing or bonding for water and sewer services as required by state law. The law is designed to prevent the sale of residential lots in border areas without basic utilities. Such sales have led to so-called colonias, low-income residential communities where unsanitary conditions can result from lack of electricity and...

JP Liendo apologizes for DWI By KIRSTEN CROW, LAREDO MORNING TIMES 09/06/2006 Justiceof the Peace Hector Liendo said he doesn’t expect his weekend arrest to affect his job performance.“I apologize to my family and my constituents,” he said. “I would like the public to know that this will not affect my commitment to serving the community.” Liendo was charged Saturday with driving while intoxicated, a Class B misdemeanor, and an open alcoholic container, a Class C misdemeanor. Tela Mange, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said Liendo was pulled over at about 1:15 a.m. by a state trooper. “He...

Webb County Sheriff's deputies made a grisly discovery Thursday morning at the Webb County line. Deputies recovered the decomposed body of a Honduran man about 45 miles east of Laredo, in Bruni. The man, identified as 31-year-old Rafael Cruz Alvarado, was reportedly discovered by a passerby at about 8:30 a.m. in the town with a population of about 500 people. Authorities determined the undocumented immigrant had been dead for at least two weeks. His decomposing body was found behind Bruni's Badger Stadium. He was slumped over on one side underneath a Mesquite tree in a grassy area, Webb County Sheriff's...

An El Cenizo man, one of two charged in connection to the alleged kidnapping, beating, and sexual assault of an unidentified Honduran woman, was arrested this week by Webb County Sheriff's investigators. Authorities have now initiated a manhunt for a second suspect, who is also from El Cenizo. Luis Eduardo Mendoza, 39, who resides at the 500 block of Rodriguez Street, was arrested Tuesday and charged with aggravated kidnapping, a felony one. He was remanded to Webb County jail under a total $100,000 bond set by Justice of the Peace Ricardo Rangel. Authorities say Mendoza, along with one other El...

LAREDO —— Mexican Consul Daniel Hernandez Joseph said Monday he is questioning a Webb County Sheriff's Department investigation into a January shakedown of 16 inmates that ended with allegations of mistreatment and one stitched chin. The inmates were on a hunger strike to protest fewer visitation hours and claim they were treated improperly while detained, Hernandez said. He said Sheriff Rick Flores' investigation into the matter seemed incomplete because the inmates alleging mistreatment said they weren't asked any questions. The sheriff's department has turned its internal investigation over to the FBI, which has since forwarded its findings from a preliminary...

Fund to pay hospital bills for immigrants By JULIE DAFFERN Laredo Morning Times Webb County hospitals will get some relief this spring from the pressure of unpaid medical service provided to illegal immigrants, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said at the Mr. South Texas luncheon Saturday. "The entire Laredo community will benefit from this positive development," Hutchison said. "The funds will ease the pressure on local taxpayers and will lower costs for those who are able to pay for their healthcare needs." The reimbursement program, included in the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act, was mandated by law to begin Sept....

The Mexican government has sent official correspondence to the U.S. Department of State on the proposed new international bridge that Webb County and the city of Laredo are vying to build. The diplomatic note reportedly favors the site chosen by Webb County, county officials said Thursday. This official correspondence, dated Feb. 3, is the first of three requisite diplomatic notes that must be exchanged between both countries before an international bridge is built, Raul Casso, chief of staff to County Judge Louis H. Bruni, said Thursday. It was sent to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, D.C., and is expected to...