TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021 | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD | A3 VALLEY/WORLD

them to be literally ene- mies of Islam,” said SOLDIERS Zeller, now a fellow at the Truman National Security FROM PAGE A1 Project. “There’s no mercy for them.” “We are not safe,” the Members of Congress 41-year-old father of six and former service mem- said of Afghan civilians bers have also urged the who worked for the U.S. U.S. government to expe- or NATO. “The Taliban is dite the application pro- calling us and telling us, cess, which now typically ‘Your stepbrother is leav- takes more than three ing the country soon, and years. State Department we will kill all of you spokesperson Ned Price guys.’” said May 10 that the U.S. The fate of interpret- Embassy in Kabul had ers after the troop with- temporarily increased drawal is one of the loom- staff to help process the ing uncertainties sur- visas. rounding the withdrawal, In December, including a possible Congress added 4,000 resurgence of terrorist visas, bringing the total threats and a reversal of number of Afghans who fragile gains for women can come with their if chaos, whether from immediate family mem- competing Kabul-based bers to 26,500, with about warlords or the Taliban, half the allotted amount follows the end of already used and America’s military about 18,000 applications engagement. pending. Interpreters and other Critics and refugee civilians who worked for advocates said the need MIGUEL ROBERTS /THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD the U.S. government or to relocate could swell NATO can get what is dramatically if Airline passengers arrive at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport on Monday. The airport was awarded $1.6 known as a special immi- Afghanistan tumbles fur- million in CARES Act funding. grant visa, or SIV, under a ther into disarray. As it is, program created in 2009 competing warlords referred to in FAA lingo, Brownsville continued to with only 44 COVID-19 and modeled after a simi- financed and empowered and the city to better com- see tourism, predominately cases reported or con- lar program for Iraqis. by U.S. and NATO forces AIRPORT pete for federal monies. medical tourism. As indus- firmed of potential trans- Both SIV programs threaten the future along “We expect another award tries continue to reopen, mission associated with a have long been dogged by with a resurgent Taliban, FROM PAGE A1 for the same category dur- the city hopes to see contin- flight,” officials said. complaints about a which have been able to ing the next fiscal year, the ued tourism growth. Officials said now that lengthy and complicated make substantive territo- The funds and the city said. “Air travel continues to the vaccine is available for application process for rial gains against a poorly improvements envisioned “Since it’s part of the be the safest, most efficient everyone, they have seen security vetting that trained and poorly are to pay for new passen- new passenger terminal way to travel. According to an “amazing” uptick in grew more cumbersome equipped Afghan securi- ger boarding bridges, or project, the benefit is hav- the International Air travel, with American and with pandemic safety ty force largely financed jet bridges, included in ing the newest, most mod- Transport Association United airlines reporting measures. by U.S. taxpayers. phase three of the new pas- ern, and efficient terminal (IATA, which supports avi- load factors at 96% and U.S. Secretary of State “While I applaud the senger terminal project. in the RGV, which includes ation with global standards 95% respectively on flights Antony Blinken told Biden administration’s Airport management had state-of-the art technology for airline safety, security, out of Brownsville South reporters last month that review of the process, if agreed with FAA to break for passenger comfort and efficiency, and sustainabil- Padre Island International the U.S. is committed to they are not willing to down the funding in multi- safety,” city officials said. ity) more than 1.2 billion Airport during April. helping interpreters and sort of rethink the entire year awards to position Officials said despite the people have traveled since other Afghan civilians thing, they are not going who aided the war effort, BRO, as the airport is COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the pandemic, [email protected] to actually start helping often at great personal those Afghans who are risk. The Biden adminis- most at need,” said Noah tration has also launched Coburn, a political anthro- hours, late morning actually had strong winds last two weather events a review of the SIV pro- pologist whose research through the afternoon and that caused damage to the because the ground was grams, examining the focuses on Afghanistan. STORM even overnight Wednesday grid system,” Tomaselli dry and quickly absorbed delays and the ability of Coburn estimates night into sunrise Thursday said. the rain water. However, applicants to challenge a there could be as many as FROM PAGE A1 morning is going to be the In preparation for the now that the grounds are rejection. It will also 300,000 Afghan civilians critical time period,” upcoming heavy rains resi- saturated standing water be adding anti-fraud who worked for the U.S. Tomaselli said Tomaselli said. dents should remove debris could occur, thus creating measures. or NATO in some form Wednesday morning There’s a possibility and trash from drains and perfect breeding condi- Amid the review, for- over the past two decades. should start off with little to that power outages could ditches around their homes. tions for mosquitoes. mer interpreters, who “There is a wide range no rain, but as daytime occur, so residents may Residents should also make Residents should also typically seek to shield of Afghans who would not heating occurs during the want have flashlights on sure they have flood insur- make sure to empty old their identities and keep a be tolerated under the course of the day hand. ance because homeowner’s tires, pots and planters of low profile, are becoming Taliban’s conception of things will change. The “Anytime we have any insurance does not cover water that could become increasingly public about what society should look critical time period will type of thunderstorms flood damage to their breeding grounds for what they fear will hap- like,” said Adam Bates, begin sometime around down here the power grid homes, Tomaselli said. mosquitoes. pen should the Taliban policy counsel for the Wednesday afternoon. takes a couple of jolts and The public should also Tomaselli added that the return to power. International Refugee “When the sun first might knock people out of make sure they go out and public can keep up with the “They absolutely are Assistance Project. comes up on Wednesday their electrical service purchase mosquito repel- latest weather develop- going to kill us,” Those fears have been things should be OK, but as anytime from a few min- lant because all of this rain- ments on the NWS’s Mohammad Shoaib heightened by recent tar- we get heating of the day utes to a maybe a few fall will most likely create Facebook page, Twitter Walizada, a former inter- geted killings of journal- during the course of the hours. The reason we had standing water. account and website at preter for the U.S. Army, ists and other civilians as day and we also get the so many power outages Tomaselli said the weather.gov/bro. said in an interview after well as government work- energy coming out of with the event about a Valley didn’t really see a lot joining others in a protest ers. The Islamic State northern Mexico afternoon week ago is because we of mosquitoes during the [email protected] in Kabul. affiliate in Afghanistan At least 300 interpret- has claimed responsibili- ers have been killed in ty for several, while the Afghanistan since 2016, Taliban and government and the Taliban have blame each other. made it clear they will Biden raised the continue to be targeted, nation’s overall cap on Oprah and CNN: AT&T merging said Matt Zeller, a co- refugee admissions to founder of No One Left 62,500 this month, weeks Behind, an organization after facing bipartisan that advocates on their blowback for his delay in media business with Discovery behalf. He also served in replacing the record the country as an Army low ceiling set by his BY DAVID BAUDER and which they can give officer. predecessor, Donald AND MAE ANDERSON up, that depth means a bet- “The Taliban considers Trump. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ter chance they will use this new one regularly, said NEW YORK — The Raj Venkatesan, professor merger of Discovery and of business administration AT&T’s WarnerMedia at the University of Bidens paid 25.9% rate, operations, marrying the Virginia. The average likes of HBO and CNN with U.S. household spends HGTV and Oprah Winfrey, $40 a month on streaming is another illustration of the services. earned $607,336: Taxes head-spinning speed in “It either has something BY JOSH BOAK Biden’s predecessor, which streaming has trans- for everyone in the family, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Donald Trump, declined formed the media world. or is so diverse that it is to release his tax returns, The companies are hard to explain,” said Jim WASHINGTON — a precedent that the essentially placing a $43 Nail, an analyst for President Joe Biden new administration billion bet that they’ll still Forrester Research. restored a long-standing rejected. be in the mix when con- David Schweidel, a busi- presidential tradition “I would expect that RICHARD DREW/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS sumers decide how to ness professor at Emory Monday by releasing his we will continue to spend their monthly enter- University, questioned tax returns, showing that release the president’s tainment budgets. People pass an AT&T store in New York’s Times Square in whether consumers will be 25.9% of the first couple’s tax returns, as should be The agreement was October 2014. AT&T will combine its media operations that better off with the deal. income went to the fed- expected by every presi- announced Monday after include CNN HBO, TNT and TBS in a $43 billion deal with “If I do decide to cut the eral government in 2020. dent of the United AT&T CEO John Stankey Discovery, the owner of lifestyle networks including the Food cord and I need three to The average federal States,” White House and his Discovery counter- Network and HGTV. five services to get what I income tax rate is just press secretary Jen Psaki part, David Zaslav, worked had before, that bill could over 14%. told reporters Monday out the details in Zaslav’s with a wider array of mate- vices, HBO Max and easily approach what I was Biden and his wife, ahead of the release. Manhattan brownstone rial than either can offer on Discovery+, within the past paying for cable before,” Jill, a teacher, earned The Bidens donated over the past two months. its own, it can join Netflix, two years. It’s still not clear Schweidel said. “This may $607,336 last year while $30,704 to 10 charities “I think, together, the Amazon and Disney in the whether the merger will end up hurting consum- he was running for presi- last year. The largest gift combination makes us the widely acknowledged top result in a single streaming ers.” dent. That is down from was $10,000 to the Beau best media company in the tier of streamers. service or several bundled HBO Max and HBO $985,223 in 2019, when Biden Foundation, a non- world,” said Zaslav, who Analysts say it also together, but it will have a have a combined global they primarily earned profit focused on child will run the new company makes it imperative that vast array of content to subscriber base of about money from book sales, abuse that is named after if approvals are granted, services below that tier — offer: scripted and reality 63.9 million, and Discovery+ speeches and positions at the president’s deceased probably sometime next think Paramount+ or TV, movies, sports includ- has about 15 million sub- the University of son. The president sepa- year. Peacock — find some way ing the NBA and NCAA scribers. That compares Pennsylvania and rately released his finan- The deal also represents to ramp up or risk being men’s basketball tourna- with Netflix, which has Northern Virginia cial holdings through the a strategic retreat for left behind. ment, and news with CNN. more than 200 million sub- Community College. Office of Government AT&T. WarnerMedia and With consumers figur- scribers worldwide, and Those income opportuni- Ethics and has assets The hope for the newly Discovery both launched ing out which streaming Disney+, which counts over ties diminished because worth between $1.2 mil- merged company is that, their own streaming ser- services they use regularly 100 million. of the campaign. lion and $2.88 million.