10 Americans held in Haiti; tried to move kids Members of U.S. group claim its case of missing documents, not trafficking

What do you think about Haiti’s action of arresting United States nationals for attempting to provide relief to a country in ruin?

Regards,

Andrew Romo

updated 2 hours, 37 minutes ago

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian police arrested 10 U.S. citizens after they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the earthquake-stricken nation, authorities said Saturday.

The Baptist church members from Idaho called it a "Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission," meant to save abandoned children from the chaos following Haiti's earthquake. Their plan was to scoop up 100 kids and take them by bus to a rented hotel at a beach resort in the Dominican Republic, where they planned to establish an orphanage.

Whether they realized it or not, these Americans — the first known to be taken into custody since the Jan. 12 earthquake — put themselves in the middle of a firestorm in Haiti, where government leaders have suspended adoptions amid fears that parentless or lost children are more vulnerable than ever to child trafficking.

"In this chaos the government is in right now we were just trying to do the right thing," the group's leader, Laura Silsby, told reporters at the judicial police headquarters in the capital, where the Americans were being held pending a Monday hearing before a judge.

Silsby said they only had the best of intentions and paid no money for the children, whom she said they obtained from well-known Haitian pastor named Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, was asked if she didn't consider it naive to cross the border without adoption papers at a time when Haitians are so concerned about child trafficking. "By no means are we any part of that. That's exactly what we are trying to combat," she said.

Illegal adoption scheme?
Social Affairs Minister Yves Cristallin told reporters the Americans were suspected of taking part in an illegal adoption scheme.

Cristallin said the 33 children were lodged late Saturday at an SOS Children's Village outside of Port-au-Prince. SOS Children's Villages is a global nonprofit based in Austria.

Many children in Haitian orphanages aren't actually orphans but have been abandoned by family who cannot afford to care for them. Advocates both here and abroad caution that with so many people unaccounted for, adoptions should not go forward until it can be determined that the children have no relatives who can raise them.

UNICEF and other NGOs have been registering children who may have been separated from their parents. Relief workers are locating children at camps housing the homeless around the capital and are placing them in temporary shelters while they try to locate their parents or a more permanent home.

The U.S. Embassy in Haiti sent consular officials, who met with the detained Americans and gave them bug spray and MREs to eat, according to Sean Lankford of Meridian, Idaho, whose wife and 18-year-old daughter were being held.

"They have to go in front of a judge on Monday," Lankford said.

"There are allegations of child trafficking and that really couldn't be farther from the truth," he added. The children "were going to get the medical attention they needed. They were going to get the clothes and the food and the love they need to be healthy and to start recovering from the tragedy that just happened."

Didn't seek Haitian paperwork
Haiti has imposed new controls on adoptions since the earthquake, which left thousands of children separated from their parents or orphaned. The government now requires Prime Minister Max Bellerive to personally authorize the departure of any child as a way to prevent child trafficking.

Silsby said they had documents from the Dominican government, but did not seek any paperwork from the Haitian authorities before taking 33 children from 2 months to 12 years old to the border, where Haitian police stopped them Friday evening. She said that the children were brought to her by distant relatives and that the only ones to be put up for adoption would be those without close family to care for them.

The 10 Americans include members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, as well as people from Texas and Kansas. Idaho friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

"The plan was never to go adopt all these kids. The plan was to create this orphanage where kids could live. And kids get adopted out of orphanages. People go down and they're going to fall in love with these kids, and many of these kids will end up getting adopted."

"Of course I'm concerned for my wife and my daughter," he added. "They were hoping to make a difference and be able to help those kids."

The group described their plans on a Web site where they also asked for tax-deductible contributions, saying they would "gather" 100 orphans and bus them to the Dominican resort of Cabarete, before building a more permanent orphanage in the Dominican town of Magante.

"Given the urgent needs from this earthquake, God has laid upon our hearts the need to go now versus waiting until the permanent facility is built," the group wrote.

More from msnbc.com Click Here To View the Original Article at MSNBC.COM

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Is the Increase in Officer Related Shootings Justified?

Activists seek federal probe of police shootings

By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Jan. 26, 2010, 8:20PM

Civil rights lawyer Randall Kallinen talks about the increased number of shootings by law enforcement officers during a news conference outside City Council chambers Tuesday.

called for the U.S. Department of Justice to review the elevated number of officer-involved shootings in the Houston area last year, and asked the City Council for public access to internal police reviews of the use of deadly force.

In 2009, law enforcement officers took part in 60 shootings across Harris County and killed 27 people. Houston police were involved in 29 shootings, killing 15 people.

Members of the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice, including LULAC, NAACP, American GI Forum and the American Rights Association asked the council to strengthen the Citizen Review Committee by increasing independence and subpoena power.

"In the history of the Houston (police) Department, which is 130 years, never, ever have we ever suffered so much in the community in terms of police brutality and the number of people getting killed," said Sylvia Gonzales, vice president of LULAC.

Longtime activist Johnny Mata, with the American GI Forum, said the city needs to strengthen the power and independence of the citizen review committee, currently operating out of the HPD internal affairs department.

"You cannot fool the community, especially in the minority community," Mata told council members. "So, we need to come up with a transparency, and come up with something that trust will be there and we don't have to go to the federal government every time we turn around."

A spokesman at the Department of Justice in Washington said the agency was not aware of any requests for intervention in Houston.

'Cause for concern'

Two members of the council, Jolanda Jones and Jarvis Johnson, expressed support for a citizens committee with subpoena powers.

After the meeting, Mayor Annise Parker said she does not favor increasing the power of the review committee. Instead, Parker said she has asked Councilwoman Melissa Noriega, who chairs the public safety committee, to consider looking into the operation of HPD's Crisis Intervention Team and the crisis training received by Houston police.

"The fact that police shootings went up in 2009 is cause for concern, " Parker said. "We do need to analyze if this a worrisome trend or an aberration. Council members are concerned about this issue, as well."

NAACP representative Fred Cooper said the shooting upswing has caused questions in the community, including what HPD is doing to determine whether officers could have employed other options before using deadly force.

Councilman Edward Gonzalez, a former HPD officer, said automatic reviews of shooting involve not only investigators with HPD's homicide and internal affairs divisions, but also the Harris County District Attorney's Office and the medical examiners office .

Members of the coalition came to City Hall a day after a Harris County grand jury declined to indict an off-duty HPD officer who shot an killed an unarmed man who was arguing with his fiancee outside their apartment.

james.pinkerton@chron.com\

Will More Houstonians Use Metro?

Metro and Energy Corridor District launches new route for residents

by khou.com staff

Posted on January 25, 2010 at 9:43 AM

Updated today at 9:44 AM

******

HOUSTON—METRO has joined the Energy Corridor District to launch the 75 Energy Corridor Connector, starting Monday.

The new service will run along Eldridge between the Katy Freeway and Westheimer. This will provide employees and residents who live and work in the Energy Corridor District a quick, convenient ride to stores, restaurants and businesses along the route, according to Metro officials.

Energy Corridor District employees who live in the downtown and Midtown areas can connect to the 75 Energy Corridor Connector by riding the 228 Addicks and 229 Kingsland/Addicks from the Central Business District to the Addicks Park & Ride.

The Connector also links with popular routes like the 82 Westheimer and the 131 Memorial.

Service will run every 15 minutes, from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. It will also run every 10 minutes from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A Little Change of Pace

I do not have a news article for you today, but I hope that you will take the time to visit www.childrenagainstviolence.com. Children Against Violence is an organization founded by one of my fellow Mayor's Youth Council members, the goal of the organization is to stop and overcome the traumas of bullying, and domestic violence. I hope that you will spread the word about this very worthy organization to your friends, and family.

Sincerely,
Andrew Romo
City of Houston Mayor's Youth Council, District F

Metro rail-line contract may jump $100 million

CEO says says contractor will bear larger risk in exchange for increase
By MIKE SNYDER HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 21, 2010, 9:32PM
As Metro's leaders try to convince Mayor Annise Parker's administration that the agency is on sound financial footing, its president said Thursday he will recommend a $100 million increase in a contract to build four light rail lines.

In exchange for the increase from $1.46 billion to $1.56 billion the contractors agreed that 98 percent of the costs would be fixed, rather than 75 percent under the existing contract, said Frank Wilson, the Metropolitan Transit Authority's president and chief executive officer.

That means the contractors would absorb almost all increased costs caused by inflation, natural d isasters, new regulatory laws or other factors, Wilson said.

Wilson said he would ask Metro's board next month to approve the new contract terms with Parsons Transportation Group, the lead contractor of a team that will design and build four new light rail lines for the agency.

“It will change the price and fix the risk,” Wilson said, adding that inflation alone could add as much as $130 million in costs during the seven-year contract.

“We don't want to go through years of construction not knowing what this is finally going to cost us.”

Wilson's comments at a board committee meeting Thursday came one day after Metro Chairman David Wolff met with members of Mayor Annise Parker's transition team reviewing the transit agency's finances.

During her campaign, Parker expressed skepticism about Metro's ability to pay for the planned expansion of its rail system and said the agency had not been sufficiently accountable or transparent. Wolff previously had announced his intention to resign from the board, and Parker has suggested Wilson may need to be replaced.

Parker spokeswoman Janice Evans said Thursday that the mayor wanted to be briefed by members of her transition committee before commenting on the proposed changes in the rail contract.

‘We are accountable' Wolff offered a ringing defense of the agency during Thursday's board meeting.

“We are transparent. We are accountable. Those who say we are not are not well informed,” he said.

By May, Wolff said, Metro expects to finalize its $900 million grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration for the north and southeast rail lines.
Construction is under way on those two lines, as well as the East End line, which

Metro is building with local funds. The agency expects to start work in a year or two on its locally funded Uptown line.

Also Thursday, Metro published the final environmental impact statement for the fifth and longest line in its plan, the University line. Metro officials called it an important step in the laborious process of seeking federal funds for the line.

The document states that building the line will require obtaining 23 acres of land and relocating 30 homes, 100 commercial buildings and 38 mixed-use buildings.
mike.snyder@chron.com

Click Here to View Chron.com Original Article

Interesting?

January 20, 2010
Democrats see opportunity to regain 60th Senate seat -- in Texas
National Democrats, crushed by the loss of a Senate seat in Massachusetts, are pointing to an unlikely place to regain their now-lost 60-seat majority.

Campaign photo
The eyes of national Democrats are upon John Sharp.
Texas.
Yes, Texas, our Texas.
Democrats, at least the optimists among them, see the Senate seat currently held by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison as potentially vulnerable in a turbulent, throw-the-rascals-out year.

Hutchison has promised to resign her Senate seat after the Republican gubernatorial primary (and possible runoff), whether or not she unseats Gov. Rick Perry or holds off conservative insurgent Debra Medina.

Democrats believe they have a strong special election candidate in former Comptroller John Sharp, a moderate with rural roots and a populist past.

"We have the potential to regain our filibuster-proof majority in the Senate when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison resigns," said Alejandra C. Salinas, Vice-President of Texas College Democrats. "We will call on other College Democrats, activists, and volunteers from across the country to step up and help us in our still-to-be-announced special election, just as we all stepped up for the race in Massachusetts."

National pundits are less confident than is Salinas, rating the Hutchison seat as solidly Republican. But in a "change" election, Democrats are hoping that deep red Texas is as volatile as deep blue Massachusetts.

"We are confident that Texas can and will elect a Democratic senator in the next election," said Salinas.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, would prefer that Hutchison keep her seat at least through her current term, which ends in 2012. But he said after the Massachusetts results came in that Democrats should be on the defensive.

"Americans are ready to hold the party in power accountable for their irresponsible spending and out-of-touch agenda," Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, declared after the Massachusetts votes were counted. "And they're ready for real change in Washington."

Cornyn just hopes that the "real change" voters want doesn't include a partisan change in the Texas Senate seat.

"Republicans should be confident and emboldened," an analysis from Wilson Research Associates, a GOP polling firm, declared. "But we should also learn one from the Coakley campaign and not take anything for granted."

Click here to view the original posting at chron.com

Posted by Richard Dunham at January 20, 2010 10:47 AM

Eversole joins Democratic effort to block Wilson
By CHRIS MORAN
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Jan. 19, 2010, 7:14PM



Harris County Democrats trying to keep a conservative activist off their primary election ballot are getting help from a surprise ally: Republican Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole.

Of course, Eversole stands to gain. If longtime Republican voter Dave Wilson does not persuade the courts to force the Democratic Party to put him on the March 2 ballot as a candidate for the Precinct 4 seat, Eversole will glide unopposed into his sixth four-year term.

Eversole's attorney submitted a letter to the 14th Court of Appeals on Friday in support of Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Gerry Birnberg, who refused to certify Wilson as a candidate after concluding that Wilson does not live at the address reported on his filing documents.

Wilson's argument
Wilson has petitioned the appeals court to send his case back to a trial court for reconsideration.

Wilson said that although his sign business is at the address he reported, he also lives there. Even if he did not, Wilson said, the law does not allow Birnberg to make a judgment call on where he resides.

Wilson's read of the law is that if the filing papers are complete, it is up to someone with a direct stake in the outcome, not the party chairman, to challenge the eligibility of a candidate. In this case, Wilson said, that could only be Eversole.

“Wilson called him (Eversole) out,” Eversole consultant Allen Blakemore said when asked why the commissioner entered the Democrats' internecine fight. “He's answering an invitation from Wilson.”

Wilson filed just minutes before the Jan. 4 filing deadline as Eversole had drawn neither a Republican nor Democratic opponent and said he wants voters to have a choice in November.

“I must be doing something right,” he said. “I got the Republican and the Democratic bosses mad at me.”

chris.moran@chron.com

This Week in Congress

Subject: Census: Eight Winners, 11 Losers

January 18, 2010


Who the Census Helps and Hurts

The U.S. Census does more than just count people, it also determines which states gain or lose a Congressional seat.

The more seats a state has, the more political power it gains, not only in the number of Members of Congress it has but also the Electoral College votes.

According to an analysis by Election Data Services Inc., the nonpartisan consulting firm specializing in political demographics, eight states are poised to gain seats and 11 states are likely to lose them.

Read more about the eight states the Census will help: Texas, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Georgia and South Carolina.

Read more about the 11 states the Census will hurt: Louisiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Jersey.

Five Ways to Create Jobs

With the unemployment rate at more than 15 percent, job creation will be a top issue in Congress in 2010.

Still, not everyone agrees on how best to create jobs.

Many liberals think government programs to build roads or weatherize homes will get workers such as laborers and contractors back on the job. On the other side, conservatives think tax cuts are the answer.

The only idea that seems to have been definitively ruled out is a massive new public employment program such as the Works Progress Administration, started during the Great Depression.

Even smaller government programs have conservative critics.

Read more about five ideas for job creation.

Delay Imperils Clean Energy Plans

President Obama's green energy initiatives could suffer a severe blow if the Senate doesn't pass a climate bill this year.

The president has long planned on using money from cap-and-trade legislation to modernize the electric grid; develop solar, wind, and geothermal energy projects; and find new energy sources to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

By selling pollution credits to companies , the federal government would earn $646 billion over the next decade from cap and trade. Most of the money would go back to taxpayers, but $15 billion would fund the renewable energy initiatives.

The bill has cleared the House, but it's looking increasingly unlikely that the Senate will get to it before mid-term elections.

Read more about clean-energy proposals.

Fighting Over the Cadillac Plans

Cadillacs
Democrats are butting heads on how to fund the near $900-billion health care overhaul.

A 40 percent tax on high-premium, or Cadillac, insurance plans that was included in the Senate version of the bill is ruffling feathers.

It's no surprise that this particular levy has emerged as a major sticking point, considering the amount of money on the line.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the tax can generate $149 billion in revenue over the next decade, money that can offset the cost of the overhaul. On the other side, insurance companies risk losing a $200-billion subsidy that stemmed from health plans being offered as a pre-tax benefit.

Take a closer look at who's fighting over the tax on Cadillac plans.

Get on Your Online Soapbox

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Each message comes with a direct link to our letter-writing tool and ZIP code directory. That means anyone reading your message can easily go straight from your words to writing their own letter to Congress!

To get on your Soapbox, first register as a member of Congress.org at congress.org/register. Then follow our simple step-by-step guide to get your message out.

Or go to congress.org/soapbox/splash to read what other users are thinking.

Bills of the Week

H.R. 2646 would enhance the oversight authority of the Government Accountability Office.

Click here to tell your Members of Congress what you think of this bill.

H.R. 3237 would affect laws relating to national and commercial space programs.

Click here to tell your Members of Congress what you think of this bill.

A New Look

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Welcome, bienvenue, bienvenido,chào mừng

Welcome,

In this blog I will be posting information that I feel is relevant to most people's daily lives. I will specifically post information pertinent to the City of Houston, and the Mayor's Youth Council. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to e-mail me.

Sincerely,
Andrew Romo
City of Houston Mayor's Youth Council,District F