WHAT’S INSIDE  EDITORIAL: Congrats to Reader’s Choice winners. Page 4B | Opinion  McAllen gears up for 11th annual PalmFest A BILINGUAL NIGHT OF WORSHIP WITH Page 1B | Valley&State CHRIS TOMLIN TICKETS START AT WITH LATIN GUEST STAR JON CARLO Hard knocks $25 OCTOBER 5 See how your favorite high PLUS FEES MORE INFO: 956.358.2755 school football team fared in Thursday night matchups. Page 1C | SportsDay

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 SERVING THE SINCE 1909 75 CENTS DAILY

STARR COUNTY | UT Regent Locations Hall appeals Fight to court in fight with erupts chancellor over BY MATTHEW WATKINS THE TRIBUNE

University of Texas Sys- tem Regent Wallace Hall’s early public fi ght with the chan- cellor of the system he oversees isn’t over yet. With the clock ticking on his time on the board voting of regents, Hall has fi led Nathan Lambrecht | [email protected] an appeal to the Texas Su- The skeletal head of a Tyrannosaurus named “Sue” revolves on a display during a news conference celebrating the 15th year BY BERENICE GARCIA preme Court of HESTEC Thursday at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s campus in Edinburg. HESTEC begins on Monday and ends STAFF WRITER to get access the following Saturday. to confi den- RIO GRANDE CITY — A tial student verbal altercation over early records that voting sites broke out dur- Chancellor ing a meeting of the Starr Bill McRaven Hall County Commissioners has denied Court this week. UTRGV celebrates Hilda Garza, the chief him. Hall is election administrator for seeking the the school district, ap- records to peared before the commis- gain more sioners with information a proposed MY monitor news.com about an agreement admissions McRaven 15 years of HESTEC between the Read a scandal in- county and previous volving stu- the school chapter in dents with MY monitor district that news.com this story. powerful Expands events to would allow connections Read: the district to use two coun- who were Judge Brownsville and Harlingen ty facilities in admitted to dismisses addition to the Univer- UT Regent BY DANYA PEREZ-HERNANDEZ the county courthouse as sity of Texas Hall’s suit STAFF WRITER at Austin early voting locations. seeking The agreement was ap- even though access to EDINBURG — This year marks the they had proved by the school board admissions 15th anniversary, or quinceañera, of low scores. last week. records. HESTEC — Hispanic Engineering Hall wants Science and Technology week — and Commissioner Eloy to see the the University of Texas Rio Grande Garza, who represents the records used Valley is commemorating the occa- precinct where the two to compile sion by expanding the reach of the additional sites would be an investi- conference. located, was alone in sup- gative report that criticized “We’ve seen throughout these porting the agreement. the university for its admis- 15 years literally thousands and Although the proposal sions practices. failed to get approval from McRaven has offered re- See HESTEC | 4A the county, Commissioner dacted versions, but says Joel Martinez | [email protected] Garza suggested he would he needs to protect student Local middle school student experience hands on robotics at HESTEC, still allow the district to use MY monitor View HESTEC information. The full board Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology on Oct. 7, 2015 at the the sites. news.com 2016 schedule. University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg. See APPEAL | 5A See STARR COUNTY | 4A Texas prisons ban ‘The Color Purple’ but not ‘Mein Kampf’

BY DEREK HAWKINS what detractors say are arbitrary Different editions THE WASHINGTON POST MY monitornews.com reasons. Among the latest to be of Adolf Hitler’s added to the scroll of offend- Texas is banning more “Mein Kampf” Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” ing material is “Wolf Boys: Two and more books from are on display is allowed, but an illustrated American Teenagers and Mexi- prisoners. Dec. 11, 2015, history of World War II isn’t. A co’s Most Dangerous Drug Car- at the Institute 700-page defense of racial segre- ment of Criminal Justice, home tel” by Dan Slater, which TDCJ for Contemporary to 140,000 prisoners and a list of gation is fi ne, but not Langston banned before it even hit the History in 15,000 banned books. Hughes’s poetry. shelves this month. Munich. Kinky paperback memoir? The state’s prison system, The book is a narrative nonfi c- Matthias Balk | No problem. Suggestive Shake- which is the largest in the coun- tion thriller that tells the story of dpa via The spearean sonnets? No way. try, has been repeatedly criti- Associated Press Welcome to the Texas Depart- cized for censoring books for See BOOKS | 5A

TODAY’S WEATHER | 2A Looking for a Sunny. HIGH 90 new vehicle? LOW 68

An AIM Media Texas MISSION - McALLEN EDINBURG - HARLINGEN Newspaper Vol. 108, No. 65 WWW.BERTOGDEN.COM 50 Pages, 6 Sections 4A , www.themonitor.com | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 HESTEC It was important for us to try to see From Page 1A thousands of students who what we could do have come through our to take out some of campuses,” said UTRGV the activities that Provost Havidán Rodri- guez. “This has had a re- HESTEC offers to ally positive impact in the other parts of the education of our students. Valley.” It is about expanding edu- cation opportunities, and what better example than Velinda Reyes HESTEC.” assistant vice president This will be the fi rst year for community relations the university will host two and operations of its most popular events, the Robotics Day and the U.S. Navy SeaPerch Chal- lenge, in Brownsville and out, within an hour, more Harlingen, respectively. than 30 faculty had regis- The conference was cre- tered, and we are hitting ated at the former UT-Pan 100 now.” American with help from As part of this year’s cel- Congressman Rubén Hi- ebration, the university is nojosa to engage students also planning to unveil new starting at the middle scholarship opportunities school level in STEM — for Valley high school stu- science, technology, engi- dents who wish to pursue neering and mathematics a degree in STEM fi elds. — activities and encourage Details on the scholarship them to seek jobs in these will be unveiled Sunday fi elds. Nathan Lambrecht | [email protected] during the congressional UTPA merged with its Congressman Ruben Hinojosa speaks via a pre-recorded message during a news conference on the 15th HESTEC week Thursday at dinner, which will kick off neighbor UT Brownsville the UTRGV’s campus in Edinburg. HESTEC begins on Monday and ends the following Saturday. the week of events. in 2015 to create UTRGV, “One of the impedi- which also offers teach- continuing the tradition of But it was also important do to take out some of the ulty Colloquium in which ments for students to go to ing facilities in Harlingen, HESTEC is important, Ro- to begin the expansion activities that HESTEC of- UTRGV professors will school has been fi nancial McAllen, Rio Grande City driguez said. into Brownsville and Har- fers to other parts of the have the ability to inter- and some students don’t and South Padre Island. “We are developing un- lingen and allow students Valley,” Reyes said, adding act with guests like Robert qualify for some of the In its 15 years of exis- dergraduate degree pro- in those areas to have eas- the challenge was to try to Russell from the National grants that are out there,” tence, HESTEC has reached grams, master’s degree ier access to some of the keep it at a college cam- Science Foundation and said Veronica Gonzales, more than 58,000 middle programs and doctoral events, said Velinda Reyes, pus. “We are trying to keep Amanda Quiñonez from UTRGV vice president of and high school students, degree programs that will assistant vice president for it on a college campus be- the U.S. Department of governmental and com- 22,000 college students be new programs for The community relations and cause for a lot of these kids Energy. munity relations. “So we and 8,000 educators, offi - University of Rio Grande operations. The Robotics it is also the fi rst time they “We thought, ‘How do want to make this available cials said, and the hope is Valley and have never Day will take place this go to a college campus.” we bring them together to for students who are pur- to continue reaching out been offered in the Val- year at the Jacob Brown The exposure is not only talk to faculty, to talk about suing the STEM fi elds and to more students in the ley,” he said. “A lot of those Building in Brownsville, for students, as educators opportunities for expand- are qualifi ed students. We area. programs are in the STEM while the SeaPerch Chal- are also usually engaged ing the programs that they want to tell them that col- One of the main focuses fi elds, so there’s a great lenge will be hosted at the in the learning process have and what are some lege is attainable and great of UTRGV is to become an correlation between what Harlingen school district and even have an entire of the tips for putting in careers are attainable.” emerging research univer- we are doing with UTRGV aquatic center. day dedicated to them. successful grants?’” Reyes sity and expand the degree and what we are doing “It was important for us This year, Reyes said they said. “On the fi rst day dperez-hernandez@ offerings in STEM fi elds, so in HESTEC.” to try to see what we could will also showcase a Fac- that the application went themonitor.com

STARR COUNTY the commissioners alone “I think it is a civil rights “Bacho” Villarreal and Leo- district, said she under- election administrator that had authority to allow the violation,” he said and ar- nel Lopez. Villarreal and stood the county was re- if you don’t approve this From Page 1A district to use those sites. gued the county was sup- Lopez’s wife, Leticia “Letty” ducing early voting sites contract, which I antici- County Judge Eloy Vera Commissioner Garza pressing votes. Lopez, are running for the for fi nancial reasons but pated, then the other alter- requested an opinion from then suggested the district Garza also accused Ca- school board in this year’s raised issue with a notice native would be to do what County Attorney Victor Ca- fi le a lawsuit against the nales of working for former elections. the district received from we call an election service nales, who said he believed commissioners. Board Members Basilio “I am representing the Canales. agreement,” Hilda Garza county’s interests, not any “What I do fi nd interest- said. one particular person that ing is that before we had She stated the agreement is not a member of this our board meeting, your would only require approv- commissioners court,” county attorney sent us a al from the elections ad- 7HDFKHU&HUWLÀFDWLRQ3URJUDP Canales said. “I take issue letter advising us that the ministrator, whom she said Compare program costs, we offer the lowest cost of ALL teacher with you, commissioner, only voting place was the was required by law to sign saying that I am represent- county courthouse,” Garza and enter into it. prep programs in all of South Texas. Why pay more for your ing another individual. I said. “My situation is that “I ain’t going to play no teacher certification. We do it for less and YOU save. am not.” no letter was sent to any- puppet for anyone,” Starr Vera argued the district body else with regards to County Elections Adminis- had schools in the area that.” trator Rafael Montalvo shot they could use as polling She said that it seemed back. “Don’t tell me that GET READY FOR THE FALL!! sites. like the county was threat- you’re going to put me in a “I don’t want to get ening the district by issuing corner and tell me to shut We have our own classroom facilities. caught in the middle of a that letter to them before up because I’m the elec- Instructors are certified in their teaching content, possess years of experience political power struggle,” the school board even took tions administrator.” and include District and Campus Teachers of the Year. They are dedicated Vera said. “I think the rea- up the issue. Montalvo said it was all son they want to use this However, Canales said politics and echoed Vera’s educators who are extremely knowledgeable educational leaders. is for political advantage. the letter was simply a sentiment in refusing to get Don’t settle for less. Come by our offices and you will see why Another group doesn’t recitation of what county involved. want them to use it be- commissioner had already By law, if the county has a South Texas Transition to Teaching is your best bet! cause it’s their disadvan- voted on. polling site for early voting, tage, so I believe I’d rather The commissioners did, the district has to use that WE ARE 100% FULLY ACCREDITED by the leave the county out of it in fact, approve only one site, too, but it can have ad- TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY and the completely.” voting site during a meet- ditional sites to run on its STATE BOARD for EDUCATOR CERTIFICATION Hilda Garza, election ad- ing in August. own. ministrator for the school “I already advised the The agreement with the county, Montalvo said, • South Texas Transition to Teaching ACP focuses on certifying teachers in would require him to be on High need/High Demand teaching contents and we assist our students in MARKET DAYS site while district employ- job placement. ees run the site, which he said would be a waste of • Our program offers more tutoring classes in content preparation and time. pedagogical instruction at our onsite classrooms than any other program. “I don’t want to be placed in the middle to play these • We offer day, evening, and weekend class schedules to meet your needs. Saturday, October 1, 2016 • 9am - 3pm politics games,” he said. “I Browse through booths filled with have a general election to LIVE MUSIC antiques, collectibles, hand crafted items, run and that’s my priority.” 2542 WWest t TTrenton, t Gilbert Gomez. M. Ed. Charles Hearn Quartet plants, music, great food & more. & Wild Cat Thicket bereniceg@ McAllen, Texas Program Director 956-423-4041 themonitor.com [email protected] 956-631-4424 Diana Lopez www.sotexacp.com Program Specialist It is the [email protected] supreme art of the teacher to Amanda Perez awaken joy in creative Program Specialist expression [email protected] and knowledge. Mary Niño ~ Albert Einstein Program Specialist [email protected] SOUTH TEXAS TRANSITION TO TEACHING ALTERNATIVEA CERTIFICATION PROGRAM TM MA-30018913 MA-30018444