Facebook post by Cindy Fritsch Casburn (shared with permission)

12-19-24

  If you are wondering what’s going on at the “Y,” it is a very Merry Christmas present for Keep Sabinal Beautiful and the Sabinal community!

KSB is so grateful for the gif and collaboration with KUB.  There will be homage paid to Utopia in the structure for their goodwill.

Press Release submitted to the Uvalde Hesperian

12-20-2024

The Uvalde Tex Best Convenience Store donated toys to the Knippa Volunteer Fire Department. We will be distributing this Sunday

by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

12-17-24

Uvalde CISD Board of Trustees voted to approve the purchase of new cafeteria tables for Morales Junior High School and Uvalde High School and a food service vehicle for deliveries and walk-in coolers and freezers amounting to $330,000. The tables would be purchased from Jean’s Restaurant Supply not to exceed $120,000.

Uvalde CISD Superintendent Ashley Chohlis stated that the current tables are old and in disrepair and the maintenance department can no longer find replacement parts.

“The cafeteria tables at those two locations are awful,” Uvalde CISD Chief Financial Officer Pam Bendele said

Chohlis stated the Food Service Departments funds is not part of the District’s General Fund, but the district would need to pay a part of the cost. She explained that the food service fund currently has an excess balance, and the district is required by the State of Texas Department of Agriculture to spend the balance down.

Chohlis also stated that if the Food Service Budget was used exclusively for the purchase, the tables would not be able to be used for other purposes like community meetings and PTO meetings and other non-food service activities.

Regarding the General funds, Bendele stated monies can be reallocated from the Morales Junior High new marquis budgeted amount.

By Michael Robinson |Uvalde Hesperian

Top Photo: Chief Financial Officer Pam Bendele (file photo)

12-16-12

  Uvalde CISD Chief Financial Officer Pam Bendele spoke to the Uvalde CISD Trustees at Monday night’s board meeting on the status of the GMP Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment 1 with the Broaddus and Company for the construction of District Wide Security Vestibules. 

  After a discussion, the board voted to table the vestibule agenda item.

 “We did meet Thursday, and they are still too high compared to the money that I have” referring to a proposed amount to construct the security vestibules. Bendele indicated the grant timeline to fund the project is looming. Bendele continued stating there were aspects of the project that could bring the price of the project down and she expects to hear back from the PBK Architects soon. “They are meeting as a team, and they may call back tomorrow morning,” Bendele said.

 “Prices keep going up, inflation is just eating our lunch,” Uvalde CISD Superintendent Ashley Chohlis said.

 ” I think a lot of it is, they are having a hard time finding subs (subcontractors) to come to Uvalde to work,” Bendele said.

  Chohlis stated due to the grant’s timeline; the board may need to meet again this Friday if PBK Architects come back with a price this week.

 by Michael Robinson| Uvalde Hesperian

12-17-24

   Uvalde Dual Language Academy Principal Elsa Ayala delivered an item of information report to the Uvalde CISD Trustees about the school.

  “UDLA is a bilingual campus: bilingual and bicultural based on the best practices through a rigorous school curriculum. Our goal is to achieve bilingualism,” Ayala said.

  “When you think bilingualism and biculturalism, I want you to know “If it is sometimes difficult to teach in one language, try teaching in two languages. It is quite challenging, but I have wonderful teachers,” Ayala said. 

  She also stated that English and Spanish speaking students are often paired to learn together which enables both students to learn a new language a little bit faster.

  UDLA currently has 26 teachers and 537 students. 

 Ayala stated that the cafeteria at UDLA is filled with parents during school meetings.

Students are currently learning about the debates and the rules and formalities as well as hosting Spanish spelling bee events. The teachers and students are very involved and participate in many community activities including the Palomino Fest Parade, Christmas at the Crossroads Parade. UIL events, the Veterans Day Ceremony. the Thanksgiving luncheon and UDLA students participated in Posada happening this week. 

Reading Hall of Fame

Ayala said reading is encouraged and the school has an armor display case at the school featuring a “Reading Hall of Fame” with students’ pictures and the parents like it very much.”

 “A healthy environment has to be cultivated every single day,” she said. 

 “Every morning as the school day begins, you can feel the energy and love that define our environment.” Ayala said.

 “Your passion speaks volumes,” Uvalde CISD Trustee Jesse Rizo said to Ayala following her report on UDLA.

by Michael Robinson | Uvalde Hesperian

12-16-24

  The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees is set to meet tonight at 6:00 PM at the Benson Board Room at 601 Dean Street in Uvalde. 

  An open forum for public comments is scheduled following the Superintendent’s report. 

  Among the items on the agenda include an item of information on the district’s recent security audits, negotiations with Broaddus and Company on financial topics involving construction of security vestibules at the district’s campuses. Additionally, an item of information on proposed budget cuts will be delivered to the Trustees from the Office of Business and Finance. 

   A public report will also be provided on the recent campus security audits followed by the board adjourning into a closed executive session to further discuss the security audit report. 

  A video livestream of tonight’s proceedings can be viewed at Uvalde CISD School Board Meetings – YouTube

 Press Release from Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz

11-13-24

Top Picture: (20) WATCH: Senator Ted Cruz hosts press conference with AI deep-fake victims to call on the House to pass the TAKE IT DOWN Act / X

Last week, the Senate unanimously passed my TAKE IT DOWN Act—a monumental step toward empowering innocent victims, particularly teenage girls, to seek justice against those who exploit them by publishing abusive images. This week, I stood proudly with my colleagues, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), and alongside courageous victim advocates to urge the House of Representatives to take immediate action and pass this legislation. The TAKE IT DOWN Act will criminalize the publication of non-consensual intimate imagery, including AI-generated “deepfakes,” ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable. At the press conference, victim advocates shared powerful stories, highlighting how this legislation can spare countless women, teenage girls, and boys from enduring similar trauma. I am determined to see it passed into law before the end of this Congress. The time to act is now.

“[The TAKE IT DOWN Act] has passed the Senate unanimously. 100 to nothing. Amy and I worked on both sides of the aisle. Every single Democrat in the Senate supported it. Every single Republican in the Senate supported it. … All of us have spoken to House leadership urging the House to take it up and pass it before the end of the year. … If this bill gets a vote in the House it will pass. The only question is, will it get a vote or not? We’re here today on behalf of the victims, on behalf of women, on behalf of teenage girls across this country to say: bring this up for a vote. Pass it and put it on the President’s desk. We can get it done and we can get it done before the end of the year.”

As a father of two teenage girls, I am appalled by the pain and trauma inflicted upon women and teenage girls who experience non-consensual AI-generated intimate images published of them on social media. In today’s hyperconnected world, such exploitation is not just harmful—it’s devastating. This year, I had the privilege of meeting fifteen-year-old Elliston Berry, a courageous victim advocate from Aledo, Texas, whose story exemplifies the urgent need for change. When Elliston was in 9th grade, she became the victim of a deepfake image. Despite her mother’s repeated pleas to Snapchat, it took over nine agonizing months—and one call from my office—to have the image removed. It should not require intervention from a sitting senator to achieve what Big Tech companies are fully capable of doing immediately. The TAKE IT DOWN Act will mandate that social media platforms and similar websites promptly comply with users’ requests to remove non-consensual imagery, ensuring no one else endures what Elliston and her family went through.

This legislation is essential to holding tech companies accountable and protecting victims.

  “I will say one of the real keys to this getting passed has been Elliston just telling her story. There’s another, another teenage girl [in New Jersey], Francesca Mani who had almost the identical thing happen to her, at almost the exact same time. Both of them were freshmen in high school, [and] both of them [experienced] a boy in their class taking innocent pictures from social media and using an AI app to create fake naked pictures of them. In Elliston’s case, [the photos were] sent to everyone of her classmates. It is hard to be a teenager period today, but the nightmare of going through that it’s fundamentally wrong.

  “When Elliston and her mom came to meet with me several months ago in my office, … I asked, ‘What’s happen with the pictures now?’ They said, ‘They’re still up [and] it’s been nine months.’ Elliston’s mom said she’d called Snapchat, she’d email them, and they wouldn’t do anything. I turned to my team, and I said, ‘I want you to get the CEO of Snapchat on the phone today. I want those photographs down today.’ Within an hour, they pulled them down. … It shouldn’t take a sitting senator making a phone call. Elliston should have the right to say, this is garbage. This is me. I didn’t consent. Take it down.”

I am confident that with President Trump back in the White House and a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, we will deliver real and meaningful change for the American people. The nation has spoken with a clear mandate: it’s time to restore order, accountability, and common sense to Washington. Together, we will secure our borders, tackle inflation, and wars across the world. The failures of Joe Biden and the Democrats have left America weaker and more vulnerable, but we stand ready to clean up their mess and rebuild a stronger, safer, and more prosperous nation. The time for action is now, and we are ready to get to work.

 “We have a real obligation to deliver on our promises. … Number one, we will secure the border. I think Texans and people across the country are deeply dismayed with Joe Biden and the Democrats open borders. … We’re going to follow it up by having Congress pass legislation providing funding to ensure that we secure the border and keep our communities safe.

“I think there’s also a clear mandate to get the economy moving [and] to get inflation under control. There are a lot of elements of that. One is reining in out-of-control spending from Washington, but another critical element of that is ending the Biden administration’s war on energy and Texas oil and gas.

“And finally, when it comes to foreign policy and national security, when Trump was president last we had peace and prosperity. We saw peace flowering in the Middle East, and [then] Joe Biden and the Democrats came into office. They produced utter chaos [and] two major wars waging simultaneously across the globe. I believe [both of those wars] … because that’s what happens when you have a strong commander in chief who our enemies are afraid of.”

The chaos at our southern border under Democratic leadership is unprecedented and unacceptable. As of July 2024, ICE has released an astonishing 650,000 criminals into the United States—14,944 of them murderers, 20,061 convicted of sexual assault, and 105,461 with assault charges. This staggering failure has put countless American lives at risk. Under a renewed Trump administration, we will take decisive action to deport illegal aliens and restore safety and security to our communities.

This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee heard the devastating testimony of Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin, who was tragically murdered by an illegal alien due to Joe Biden’s reckless open border policies. Patty’s story is a chilling reminder of the human cost of this administration’s negligence. I am confident that with President Trump’s leadership, we will end the wave of violence, murders, and assaults to ensure that no other American family endure such unimaginable loss.

  “Elections have consequences. For the last four years, we have seen the most radical experiment in open borders this nation has ever seen. … I would ask my Democrat colleagues if they were here, why does the Biden administration not go and arrest every one of these criminals and deport them? What rational world says America is better off with more criminals?

  “Ms. Morin, thank you for being here. The country grieves the loss of your daughter. Your daughter was beautiful. She was a mom, who I know loved her kids, and she’s not with us today. She was raped and murdered because this administration chose to release a violent criminal into America. … I cannot imagine the pain. … No parent should have to bury their child. Children should bury their parents, not the other way around.”

Rest assured; change is coming for our country. God Bless!