by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

03-03-26

With less than two hours left before the polls close, last minute voters were seen approaching the Civic Center to cast their respective votes, Many voters opted to walk along the sidewalk closest to the Civic Center in what seemed to be an effort to avoid passing through the assembly of candidates and their supporters holding waving signs with some shouting, “Vote for…”

The assembly of candidates and their respective camp of supporters was one of the biggest in recent history.

With the polls closed after 7 PM, eyes will be on the Uvalde County Election Office waiting for early voting results and then today’s votes from the Uvalde County Precinct.

Press Release from the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

03-03-26

Commentary by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian
Image by Alex Schuler from Pixabay
02-26-26

Near the end of Tuesday night’s City of Uvalde City Council meeting, Mayor Hector R. Luevano announced that the City has been communicating with Amazon officials on the sale of 12.62 acres of land located in the industrial park near Garner Field for the online retail giant to build a new distribution center.
The news was announced after city officials reconvened into open session from its executive session. As city councilmen proceeded to return to their seats, officials were seen and heard laughing. Perhaps because the news that was about to break was good news.
That said, it may not be the city or the citizens of Uvalde that get the last laugh.
According to a New York Times article, Amazon has said internally, they’ll automate seventy-five percent of ops by twenty twenty-seven, cutting hundreds of thousands of warehouse gigs company-wide.
In a New York Times article published October 25th, 2025, it reads,
“Now, interviews and a cache of internal strategy documents viewed by The New York Times reveal that Amazon executives believe the company is on the cusp of its next big workplace shift: replacing more than half a million jobs with robots.
Amazon’s U.S. work force has more than tripled since 2018 to almost 1.2 million. But Amazon’s automation team expects the company can avoid hiring more than 160,000 people in the United States it would otherwise need by 2027.”
Uvalde might get a boost—entry-level work, maybe seasonal spikes—but it’s not “thousands of jobs” like some big fulfillment centers. More like a pit stop that runs lean.
And dig deeper: warehouses mean truck traffic, diesel fumes, noise. The jobs are often part-time, high turnover, no benefits until you’re full-time. Not glamorous.
How much water will this new Amazon warehouse use? While this facility is not being called a data center, the AI, robots and digital components used at this center will likely be substantial and may draw heavily on Uvalde’s water supply.
What about the environmental impact? Remember the “clean”: solar energy farm located east of Uvalde that burned untold acres of brush emitting plumes of smoke into the air for the people of Uvalde to breathe?
The Uvalde Hesperian has reached out to Amazon’s public relations department via email with several detailed questions about automation and estimated jobs it will likely bring as well as other questions, and did get a general response, but nothing specific. (See previous article for that statement)
Amazon’s tight-lipped, so that’s your first red flag: expect maybe fifty to a hundred roles at best for a small delivery station—loading trucks, sorting, maybe some tech maintenance. But here’s the twist.
These locations are basically last-mile hubs: packages get dropped off, scanned, loaded onto vans. And Amazon’s already rolling out heavy automation—robots like these guys hauling bins, arms picking boxes, AI routing everything so fewer humans touch it.
Similar to a new neighbor moving next door, how will the situation be overall? I don’t think anyone knows at this point.

02-23-26

By Michael Robinson| Uvalde Hesperian

Top Photo: Diana Olvedo-Karau; Uvalde Hesperian File Photo

Diana Olvedo-Karua spoke to the Uvalde County elected officials where she addressed issues that she claimed might not be illegal but are, in her opinion, unethical.

Karau addressed the county court during citizens’ comments portion of this morning’s meeting.

“A few years ago, County Commissioner Mariano Pargas moved from Precinct 2 to Precinct 1 and the argument from Judge Mitchell was that he already been elected and he’d finish out his term,” Karau said,

She added that a few more years passed, and the court decided, during required redistricting, the court decided to gerrymander, a little nook out of the east side of Uvalde so that Commissioner Pargas could continue to be in Precinct 2.

“Then a few years more…County Attorney John Dodson no longer lives in Uvalde County, but there’s loopholes, and he continues to be in that position though he no longer lives in this community and is not adequately serving the residents of Uvalde County,” she said.

Additionally, she pointed out that Uvalde County Commissioner John Yeackle filed to run for Uvalde County Judge in November 2025, the same month, Uvalde County Judge William “Bill” Mitchell was suspended. “There was no judge to fill that seat, she said.”

“This court has always argued that if someone is running for an election, it gives them an unfair advantage to remain on the court.” she said.

Karau went on to say Interim Judge Jerry Bates has the ability to appoint someone to fill the Precent 1 seat on the Uvalde County Commissioner’s Court held by Yeackle.

02-23-26

By Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

SFC Everardo (Lalo) Zamora, Veterans Services Officer pleaded with Uvalde County commissions this morning for getting an additional staff employee to help in assisting area veterans with obtaining Veterans Administration benefits including pensions for themselves and their eligible spouse. Zamora who has worked for the County for over 20 years with the County serving veterans fill out forms to receive V.A. benefits stated what he used to believe as part time work has grown into a full-time role.

Just prior to Zamora’s report, a citizen spoke and said Zamora is overworked. He went onto said, “The paperwork to get assistance from the Veterans is unbelievable.”

Zamora stated he as previously asked for an additional staff member to help him at the County’s Veterans Services office but was told that there is no money to hire another employee. When Zamora mentioned there was a grant available for the funding Zamora stated he was told he needed to fill out the grant application himself.

“The county has never helped me with a grant,” Zamora said,

In his report, Zamora said, in 2024, Uvalde County veterans received $23,000,926.

Later in the meeting, Emma Trimble asked if the court approved the requested employee Zamora for which Zamora had asked. Uvalde County Commissioner John Yeackle said the issue would be addressed in the next budget.

Uvalde County employs Carl Esser as its grant writer who applies for county grants to fund county services including the Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, Uvalde County Emergency Services Office and other county departments.

Zamora stated he holds two Veterans Fairs events a year to help inform veterans of benefits for which they may be eligible.

He went onto say sometimes veterans come to see him for counseling or just to vent.

According to the Uvalde County Veterans Services website it lists the following services with which it provides help with:

Forms and Notices

• Reimbursement Form 

• GI Benefits

• Texas Veterans Home Improvement Program Credit Application

• Credit Application for Property Improvement Loan

• PACT Act & Vietnam, Cold War Era Veterans Flyer PACT Act &
  Gulf War, Post-9/11 Era Veterans Flyer

Uvalde Hesperian question: “Why is Uvalde County Grant Writer Carl Esser not being utilized for V.A. Grants?”

by Michael Robinson |Uvalde Hesperian

Top Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

02-22-26

  Many elected officials as well as local government entities and law enforcement officials and other agencies often post their respective “press releases” directly to their respective Facebook pages.

  Occasionally one of these will contact the Uvalde Hesperian and ask if their “press release” could be copied and pasted and run as an article on the Uvalde Hesperian news website?  As the publisher of the Uvalde Hesperian, the answer with some rare exceptions, will generally be “No”.

  Some government officials and politicians find it easier to bypass both traditional and digital news media and just share on their Facebook pages.

  While this is an option, for sure, Facebook is a for-profit quasi-government platform and a “press release” or “news release” becomes a newsletter article for followers or fans.

  The Uvalde Hesperian and other serious news outlets strive to publish original news content or news releases specifically for the press. You will see some of the latter published on the Uvalde Hesperian.

  If something is published on Facebook first, then every other news outlet is an afterthought. 

  As for individuals who contact the Uvalde Hesperian and say, ” I published something really good on my Facebook page, can you run it? Again, with a few exceptions, the answer is “No.”

  While in the past, The Hesperian has published complete content from Facebook, it will not anymore.

  Social media has made actual news reporting outlets work much harder to generate authentic news and also as a place for actual press releases meant for the press and the general public rather than affinity groups that follow said political and/or government entities.

  While Facebook pages do reach a lot of people, “news” shared only on specific Facebook pages, such news does not reach a wide audience.

  Many news reporting outlets view political/government or agency Facebook posts as a prompt to dig deeper and ask hard questions and expand the topic adding more information.

The public has access to more information than ever before, but curated news directly published to Facebook, X, or TikTok by government agencies and officials is news published with an official filter. 

It is and has always been the calling of news reporting outlets to dig deeper and ask, “What is really going on here?”

Top Photo: File Photo from the Uvalde Hesperian archive

Press release from Senator Roland Gutierrez

 02-20-26 (AUSTIN, TX) – Yesterday, Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez demanded the Texas Department of Public Safety answer questions on whether Texas state resources are being used to target and harass Latinos under the guise of enforcing immigration law.

  “Texas Latinos and immigrant children are being targeted by brutal and barely trained ICE agents. They are terrorizing U.S. citizens, separating families, deporting months-old babies, and raiding the dorms of whistleblowers. This cruelty and inhumanity has no place in our Nation, let alone our great state,” said Senator Gutierrez.

  “I am demanding a full account of the Texas Department of Public Safety’s involvement in the targeting of Latino communities and immigrant children in our state. I will not stand by or be silent while our communities are being traumatized by the people currently in power.”

Senator Gutierrez has demanded in an open records request that Texas DPS provide the following information:

·      Any and all documents concerning immigration enforcement strategies targeting Latino communities in Texas in the last 120 days;

·      Any and all documents concerning immigration enforcement strategies targeting recipients of Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the last 120 days;

·      Any and all documents concerning immigration enforcement strategies targeting immigrant children in Texas schools in the last 120 days;

·      Any communications from, to or between DPS and the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or any federal agency within DHS concerning immigration enforcement strategies in Texas targeting Latino communities, DACA recipients, or immigrant children in Texas schools;

·      Any communications from, to, or between DPS and the Office of the Governor of Texas concerning immigration enforcement strategies in Texas targeting Latino communities, DACA recipients, or immigrant children in Texas schools.

Senator Gutierrez’s open records request can be viewed here in full.