Laredo's districts not taking advantage of drop-out prevention program

According to the below information from the Texas Education Agency's website, neither of Laredo's school districts are participating in the Ninth Grade Transition and Intervention Program which has been touted as being rather effective in cutting down dropout rates.

From TEA: Proven Dropout Prevention Strategies

The Texas Education Agency focuses state and federal resources on identifying and replicating proven strategies for dropout prevention and recovery. The Ninth Grade Transition and Intervention Program utilizes data systems to identify struggling students who need early intervention.;

The purpose of the Ninth Grade Transition and Intervention (NGTI) Program is to provide services that target students as they leave eighth grade, who are at-risk of being retained in the ninth grade or dropping out.

Grantees are required to provide a summer transition program, use an early warning data system to identify and monitor ninth grade students who are off-track for graduation, and to provide on-going interventions and activities throughout the school year.

EXHIBIT 12.2: NINTH GRADE TRANSITION AND INTERVENTION PROGRAM, CYCLE 1 CONTINUATION

Grant/Project Period

May 16, 2010 – June 30, 2011

Grantees and Funding Amounts Grantee	Funding Amount
Aldine ISD	$ 258,380
Bloomington ISD	$25,838
Brazos School for Inquiry and Creativity	$21,729
Brownsville ISD	$151,988
Carrizo Springs ISD	$39,517
Chilton ISD	$21,729
Dallas ISD	$258,380
Del Valle ISD	$60,795
Edinburg ISD	$151,988
Faith Family Academy of Oak Cliff	$30,398
Ft. Hancock ISD	$21,729
Girls and Boys Prep Academy	$25,838
Houston ISD	$258,381
La Vega ISD	$39,517
Mission CISD	$121,591
Pharr San Juan Alamo ISD	$151,988
Raul Yzaguirre School for Success	$25,838
Rio Grande City ISD	$60,795
Robstown ISD	$45,597
Valley View ISD	$45,597
Weslaco ISD	$121,591
Total	$1,939,204

Ol' Rick Perry says "no thanks" to medicaid expansion

At least he didn't threaten to secede this time around, but Texas GOP governor Rick Perry has sent a letter to the feds saying that he will not implement the medicaid expansion plan called for by Obamacare.

It's funny how the GOP / Tea party always hold up the constituion and claim that Obama loves to ignore it.  Yet, for the most part, they have all banded together to ridicule Supreme Court chief justice Roberts and his decision to uphold many parts of the Affordable Care Act.  All of a sudden, they don't think much of the constitution nor of laws the court has found to be constitutional.

From The Christian Science Monitor

The provision that Perry wants the state to reject would add to the state’s Medicaid rolls more than 1.5 million poor, childless adults who are currently ineligible, plus as many as 300,000 pregnant women, children and extremely poor parents who already qualify but aren’t enrolled.


The coverage would begin in 2014. In the first five years, the state’s costs for the expansion would be $5.8 billion, and Texas would receive $76.3 billion in federal matching funds. Despite that prospective gain, Perry said it would be unwise to enlarge “a broken system that is already financially unsustainable.”


The Republican governor also told Sebelius he opposes a state health insurance exchange, which he said would open the door to federal control of Texas’ insurance markets. Some other conservatives have argued Texas should take steps to set up the exchange on its own, in case the federal law survives. If it does, the federal government will establish the exchange.


Federal officials declined to respond directly to Perry, saying that under the law, the exchanges and other benefits will help expand coverage and pledging to work with states to provide flexibility.

Laredo's PIO talks about changing image-then fails to do so herself

Over at La Sanbe,  Laredo's Most Imposing Blog, Editor-in-chief Keyrose is rocking another Laredo-style fiasco.  Yesterday, Blogging Juggernaut BTB posted about Mcallen's (they of our lunch-eating fame) super-sized library.  Today, La Sanbe picked up on a Facebook discussion spurred by the mega-library in which City of Laredo Public Information Officer, Xochitl Mora took umbrage with the fact that some Laredoans were giving kudos to McAllen for having apparently given high priority to their public library.

In her post/rant, Ms. Mora admonishes KR and others for even mildly criticizing our own city's lack of similar support for public places of learning.  She defends the city's mis-handling of the South Laredo library branch construction and scolds laredoans that they shouldn't complain because, according to her, we don't even use the library nor its services.

The most incredulous part of her post/rant was her remark about how we should all be working to change Laredo's image by being the city's biggest cheerleaders.  Obviously, Ms. Mora absolutely failed in her own opportunity to do so. Instead of taking the high road, as befits her position with our city's government, she, instead took the Salinas Regime's usual approach of badmouthing the citizens for even daring to question the city of Laredo on anything what-so-ever.

The Mayor will be truly proud.

VIDA's Dr. Hector Farias : guarding the chicken coop at city hall

Dr. Hector Farias from VIDA (Voices In Democratic Action) again addressed the city council this week.  He once again urged the city to move on fully activating the still-dormant City of Laredo ethics commission.

Not having the hi-tech digital equipment that Laredo's Most Imposing Blogger, La Sanbe has, I had to resort to typing out the text of his comments to the best of my (and my aching wrist)'s ability.
From the City of Laredo city council meeting for Monday, July 2, 2012

Dr. Hector Farias speaks to Laredo city coucil

"How appropriate that we are here on the eve of fourth of July. We are a country of laws, we are ruled by a constitution, we are obliged to observe that constitution, the const of this city is the city charter. 

Some of you have not read the city charter or chose not to understand it.Let me  give you a very simple example for those of you who have not read it.

Just imagine that city hall is the chicken house and in it are the chickens, we are all here, we are the taxpayers, we pay you, the guards , to protect us from the fox, not to feed us to the fox.

Unfortunately, some of these foxes are already inside the chicken coop and we need that ethics commission to remove the fox. That’s all you need to r3emember….about the city charter. 

You took an oath, and I have Mr. San Miguel’s, they’re all the same: (reads oath) 

I, Charlie San Miguel do solemly swear that I will faithfully execute the duties of The city of Laredo dist 6 of the state of texas and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the laws of the United states and of this state, so help me God  

Signed on the 20^th of December 2010.

Vida is here because you all  have violated the city charter and we believe that the ethics commission has not been implemented because it is replete with the violations that have been committed. We’ve got a slew of violations to report.....as soon as it’s active, so we’re waiting. 

Now, we know that there was one and there was some work done, it’s not been activated. We are here to tell you that by the next meeting, we want to have that ethics commission working, you’ve had years to work on it. 

We know that there have been some reasons for stonewalling, for delaying, because you all know what’s coming. I mean, you all are very smart people, you know exactly what our complaints are going to be and it’s going to be a very busy ethics commission. 

Our attorney will be sending you a demand letter these days and if need be, we’ll go to court to enforce what’s in the city charter, whats in the law. We don’t want to do that but after years of waiting, you leave us no choice".

If we're going to do this, let's do it right!

Below is an entry from the Laredoissafe.com "blog" that seeks to clarify, once and for all, that Laredo is, not in Mexico, but in the state of Texas, and therefore-in the United States.

The problem is that, upon quickly perusing the article, I came across several mistakes that many Laredoans and non-Laredoans alike might readily notice. These appear in red. It would serve our city well to be a little more careful in putting together a website that seeks to present Laredo in a positive light;being a little bit more vigilant in proofreading entries before posting would be a good start.

From Laredoissafe.com

While Laredo will always embrace its Mexican heritage, the city is equally as (superfluous) proud to be a part of the great state of Texas, firmly within the United States boundary. (Should be boundaries)
Much like Ellis Island in the east (East) and San Francisco to the west (West), Laredo is a major point of entry into the United States. It is a beacon of hope that welcomes(,) with open arms(,) all those who aspire to the great American legacy and wish to further the American way in any capacity.
While a negative hyperbolic image of Laredo tarnishes its good name(,) an outcry for a response has been welling in the city and amongst its many advocates.

Baeza: Officer had good reason to be in such close proximity to beer run girl

I dont' think many Laredoans wanted the officer of "Mami Chulas" fame to be fired but it was still surprising to see LPD spokesman Joe Baeza completely absolve the officer of any wrong doing.

Baeza pointed out that the officer was responding to a call, did not choose that particular call himself and had an explanation for the Mami Chula's girl to be in such close proximity to him. A viral photo shows the officer's patrol car with its driver's-side door open and the girl practically, as the lady taking the picture put it, "sitting on his lap".

If nothing else, the officer should have been reprimanded for being so lax with his own safety, and that of the girl.  As the lady taking the picture said on Pro8News, whenever she has dealt with an LPD officer in the past, they have made it clear that she keep her distance for safety reasons.

Can anyone imagine what would happen if a police officer responded to a call and a male subject walked over to the officer's car, opened the car and practically crawled in?  I don't think we want to find out. 

Essentially, the police spokesman stated that the officer did nothing wrong. Does this means that this type of behavior is invited? If it is completely acceptable then can every officer on the department can follow the same protocol without any repercussions?

Most of the people I've talked to (about 10) have indicated, in no uncertain terms, that the officer was definitely wrong in handling the Mami Chula's call the manner in which he did.

LMT: Mayor, council "flush with campaign cash" from Unitrade owner

Instead of paraphrasing, I will just let you read the following excerpt from an article on Raul Garza, owner of Uni-trade forwarding. The story appeared in today's Sunday edition of the Laredo Morning Times.

From LMT

Recipients of Garza’s contributions include nearly every sitting member of Laredo City Council and, before he was termed out, Valdez.

And in several of those cases, council members reported Garza and his companies as their top contributor.

Council members Mike Garza, Cindy Liendo Espinoza, Juan Narvaez and Johnny Rendon reported receiving between $1,250 and $2,900 each from Garza in campaign contributions between 2008 and 2010.

The mayor reported having received more than $15,000 in monetary and in-kind support from Garza since 2006 — making him the mayor’s second-biggest single contributor.

Garza found himself at the center of public attention four years ago when it was disclosed that the customs broker paid for flights to Mexico City for Salinas and Villarreal on his personal plane.

Councilman Charlie San Miguel, who abstained from voting on the cold storage facility contract, is the brother of Garros partner Raquel San Miguel.

Although the bid on the customs facility contract was considered by a council flush with campaign cash from Garza, a review by a city staff committee gave Garros strong scores compared to the other firms that submitted bids.

In the staff scores, the firm’s proposal received 80.2 of 100 points, while the Pharr-based firm received 53.7 and Laredo Facilitators, the firm led by Valdez, a 31.6.

“I think that council acted with prudence,” Salinas said.