FEATURED: Former 464th District Court Judge Ysmael Fonseca (wearing glasses), an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott, and former House District 40 state representative Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg, are the two candidates on the March 1, 2022 Republican Party Primary election for Justice, Place 3, 13th Court of Appeals, which holds court hearings in Edinburg and in Corpus Christi. The winner will face incumbent Justice Leticia Hinojosa, D-McAllen, during the November 2022 statewide election.
Photograph COURTESY YSMAEL FONSECA, AARON PEÑA FACEBOOKS
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Ysmael Fonseca and Aaron Peña – Republican candidates for 13th Court of Appeals with ties to the Texas Legislature – among 17 GOP hopefuls to be showcased during Republican Candidate Dinner Forum hosted by Rio Grande Valley Republican Women on Wednesday, February 9
By DAVID A. DÍAZ
[email protected]
Former 464th District Court Judge Ysmael Fonseca of McAllen, an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott, and former House District 40 state representative Aaron Peña, R-Edinburg – individuals who have strong ties to the Texas Legislature – will participate in a Republican Candidate Dinner Forum on Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 6 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel in McAllen.
Both men are seeking the March 1, 2022 Republican Party nomination for Justice, Place 3, Texas 13th Court of Appeals, which maintains offices in Edinburg and Corpus Christi, for the right to face off against incumbent Justice Letty Hinojosa, D-McAllen, in the statewide election in November 2022.
The Texas Courts of Appeals is one of 14 appellate courts in the Texas judicial system with intermediate jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases that are appealed from the lower district or county courts.
https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Courts_of_Appeals
The event, which also include 15 other Republican candidates for county, regional and statewide offices, is being hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Republican Women (RGVRW), a local Texas Federation of Republican Women chapter, according to Maricela “Mari” De León, Program Chair, who may be reached for more information at 956-393-9902.
Fonseca, an appointee of Gov. Greg Abbott, served as Judge of the 464th District Court of Hidalgo County from 2019 to 2020, where he managed and presided over thousands of criminal, family and civil cases.
He specializes in civil defense, municipal and governmental law, and small business and non-profit representation.
Fonseca is now a partner at Guerra & Sabo, PLLC in McAllen, which is led by Rep. R.D. “Bobby” Guerra, D-McAllen.
Guerra served as Chair, Hidalgo County Democratic Party, from 2000 to 2004.
Peña was a longtime member of the Democratic Party before switching to the Republican Party in December 2010.
Peña represented House District 40 for 10 years in the Texas House of Representatives (2003 through 2013), having served as the Chair of three committees: Criminal Jurisprudence; Emergency Preparedness; and Technology.
In 2014 Peña went on to serve as an Assistant General Counsel in the Texas Department of Agriculture.
In 2015 George P. Bush asked him to act as the Director of Litigation for the Texas General Land Office. He further served as a government relations liaison for the agency.
Sergio Sánchez, former Hidalgo County Republican Party Chair, and Co-Host at KURV 710AM, will moderate the forum.
“The RGVRW is a chapter association of The Texas Federation of Republican Women (TFRW) organization. TFRW is one of the largest women’s political organizations in the nation and a member of the National Federation of Republican Women,” De León said.
TFRW holds fast to the underlying principles of the Republican Party, government by the people, and the belief that as many people as possible must be part of the process if it is to work effectively. TFRW considers itself as “deniably the most powerful women’s political organization in Texas today.”
Rio Grande Valley Republican Women provides the avenue for women to influence policy, develop candidates, and elect the leaders of Hidalgo County and Texas.
“We are a multi-generational, multicultural organization that provides the structure and support for political activists to learn, engage, and flourish,” added Della Fay, President, Rio Grande Valley Republican Women. “We plan to hit the ground running this year on educating voters about our conservative values, registering people to vote and recruiting strong women to run for office.”
In addition to Fonseca and Peña, the other Republican candidates who are confirmed to participate in the forum are:
• Mark Goloby is seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for Texas State Comptroller. Incumbent Comptroller Glenn Hegar is seeking the nomination as well.
The Comptroller’s office serves virtually every citizen in the state. As Texas’ chief tax collector, accountant, revenue estimator, treasurer and purchasing manager, the agency is responsible for writing the checks and keeping the books for the multi-billion-dollar business of state government. The current two-year state budget for Texas is more than $248 billion.
• John Spiers is seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office. There are eight other Republicans seeking the nomination: Ben Armenta, Víctor Ávila, Dawn Buckingham, Rufus López, Weston Martínez, Don W. Minton, Jon Spiers, and Tim Westley.
The oldest stage agency in Texas, the General Land Office was formed to determine who owned what and where after the Texians and Tejanos won independence. Today the General Land Office manages state lands, operates the Alamo, helps Texans recovering from natural disasters, helps fund Texas public education through the Permanent School Fund, provides benefits to Texas military veterans, and manages the vast Texas coast.
• Carey A. Counsil is seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for Texas Agriculture Commissioner. Incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and James White also are seeking the party nomination.
The Texas Legislature established the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) in 1907. The agency’s key objectives are to promote production agriculture, consumer protection, economic development and healthy living. The agriculture commissioner oversees the agency.
• Tom Slocum, Jr. is seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for Texas Railroad Commissioner. Wayne Christian, Sarah Stogner, Marvin “Sarge” Summers, and Dawayne Tipton are also seeking the party nomination.
The Railroad Commission of Texas (Commission) is the state agency with primary regulatory jurisdiction over the oil and natural gas industry, pipeline transporters, natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline industry, natural gas utilities, the LP-gas industry, and coal and uranium surface mining operations.
• LJ Francis and Hilda Garza DeShazo are seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for State Board of Education, District 2.
The State Board of Education (SBOE) sets policies and standards for Texas public schools. The primary responsibilities of the SBOE include: Setting curriculum standards; and Reviewing and adopting instructional materials.
• Israel Salinas is seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for State Senate District 27 (currently held by Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., D- Brownsville, who is retiring at the end of December 2022). Adam Hinojosa and former Rep. Raúl Torres, R-Corpus Christi, are also seeking the party nomination.
• ÓscarRosa is seeking the Republican Party primary nomination for State Representative District 35.
State senators and state representatives are part of the legislative branch of government – the Texas Legislature. Their primary duties are to create and vote on bills that make new laws or modify and update old ones.
• Esmeralda Flores, Ph.D. and Jane Cross are seeking the Republican Party nomination for Hidalgo County Judge.
County judges, as presiding supervisors of the commissioners courts, help govern county government, including providing safety protection, public transportation, parks, hospitals and buildings, providing zoning, waste, water and permit regulations, levying and collecting taxes for county and municipal organizations and overseeing and enforcing more specific duties, as laid out by Texas statutes. Though county judges are presiders, they may not veto the commissioners.
• Juan Tijerina is seeking the party primary nomination for Hidalgo County District Attorney.
A district attorney in Texas has the following duties: Represents the state in prosecuting felony criminal cases. Works with law enforcement officers in the investigation of criminal cases. Presents cases to the grand jury.
• Minerva Díaz, Doctor of Ministry, is seeking the party primary nomination for Hidalgo County Clerk.
The main duties of the county clerk are to serve as clerk of the county court and the county commissioners court, act as recorder of deeds and other instruments, issue marriage licenses and take depositions.
https://www.county.org/About-Texas-Counties/About-Texas-County-Officials/%E2%80%8BTexas-County-Clerk
• Rubén Luna is seeking the party primary nomination for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, Place 2.
The Justice of the Peace presides over the justice court in cases involving misdemeanors, small civil disputes, landlord/tenant disputes and more. They also conduct inquests and may perform marriage ceremonies.
• Adrienne Peña-Garza and Lina Garza are seeking the party primary nomination for Chair of the Hidalgo County Republican Party.
The County Chair is the leader of the local Republican Party in each county throughout the state. Some of their responsibilities include overseeing the Republican Party primary, candidate filing, and other elections; chairing County Executive Committee meetings; organizing and leading the local party; as well as overseeing and/or assisting with precinct or Senate District Conventions as required.
https://texasgop.org/county_chairs/
FIRST DIGITAL PLATFORM TO TRACK AND PREVENT DRUG OVERDOSES IN TEXAS LAUNCHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
The rate of opioid and other drug overdoses is on the rise in Texas, but there has been no statewide system to collect overdose data — until now.
An interdisciplinary team of developers, designers, clinical partners and researchers led by Dell Medical School and theSteve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin has created a digital reporting and surveillance system to track drug overdoses statewide.
Known as Project CONNECT, the program aims to provide a more complete picture of the overdose crisis in Texas and guide future interventions.
The effort is funded by the Texas Targeted Opioid Response (TTOR) program of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
As of December 2, 2021, the Project CONNECT team had already conducted a four-month pilot with harm reduction groups in Williamson, El Paso, Bexar and Travis counties, and it is now preparing to launch the platform statewide.
“Based on anecdotal evidence, between 50% and 90% of overdoses in Texas go unreported,” saidKasey Claborn, lead researcher on the project and an assistant professor at both Dell Med and the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. “One of the biggest hurdles to solving this crisis is the lack of accurate, consistent and timely statewide data available on both fatal and nonfatal overdoses.”
Project CONNECT will track overdoses by location — as they happen — creating data pools that can be used to understand the scope of the problem and get resources to the areas and people who need them.
But the current reporting gap and the uncounted overdoses it represents extend beyond opioid use.
“We’ve been seeing a rise in stimulant, cocaine and meth overdoses within the last five years, which has been amplified during COVID,” Claborn said. To improve overdose reporting, Dell Med’s information technology team worked with Google Cloud partnerMaven Wave to develop a pilot reporting site:
TxCOPE.org: Texans Connecting Overdose Prevention Efforts.
TxCOPE is an application and web-based digital platform designed to track overdose data by a variety of groups, gathering input including demographics, overdose event details and the use of drugs such as naloxone to reverse overdoses.
“The research data gathered during the pilot will help us develop digital platforms uniquely tailored to various end users, from health care workers and first responders to harm reduction groups and the community at large,” saidAndrea Daugherty, Interim Chief Information Officer at Dell Med.
“This robust tracking system is designed to gather key metrics about overdose trends across the state and deliver that info to people who can put it to use, including those who direct funding and allocation of resources.”
That’s especially important to harm reduction groups, which can also use the TxCOPE website to order supplies including life-saving drugs such as naloxone.
“We need real-time, actionable data to improve overdose prevention and response efforts,” said Daniel Sledge, lead outreach paramedic for theWilliamson County Mobile Outreach Team, which serves as a link between people using substances and local resources. “But to create a system people will actually use, first we need a genuine understanding of the barriers to reporting overdoses. That includes fear of legal repercussions among users and their communities, social stigma and concerns over the anonymity of data they submit to a reporting site.”
To develop a comprehensive picture of existing barriers, Project CONNECT worked with community advisory boards at the four pilot sites across Texas to identify obstacles to secure, accurate data collection.
In addition, the team has also interviewed more than 100 people in the community, including those who use drugs, harm reductionists, first responders, health care workers and other key stakeholders.
The knowledge gained from these advisory boards, along with the pilot study, will help the team create an implementation protocol that can be scaled statewide.
The team aims to have that protocol ready for launch by early 2022.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS RIO GRANDE VALLEY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE RECEIVES GRANT TO MEET HEALTHCARE NEEDS OF BORDER RESIDENTS
The UTRGV School of Medicine has been awarded a grant to help meet the healthcare needs of Hispanic communities on the South Texas border.
The $5,000 grant from The University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine Academy of Health Science Education is for a nine-month certificate pilot program – “Better Teachers, Better Healthcare for Historically Underserved Hispanics at the Border: MedEd Teaching Certificate Program” – meant to focus on innovative medical education and best teaching practices.
Because the program is tailored to the border’s specific healthcare needs, medical educators will gain professional development opportunities as clinical faculty members to enhance student learning and, in turn, produce physicians better trained to meet the healthcare needs of historically underserved Hispanics at the Border.
Dr. Karina Madrigal, EdD, MA, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Faculty Development, is principal investigator on the grant.
“We will be able to increase our current efforts to train the next generation of physicians in using modern medical education and innovative teaching strategies in both the classroom and clinical setting,” Madrigal said. “These efforts are significant to me because I am a Valley native, and I believe we can further prepare our students to better care for our underserved communities.”
The end goal, Madrigal said, is to enhance the patient experience in medically underserved communities like the Valley.
The team’s goals include:
• Implementing active learning techniques and technology.
• Strategically developing educational innovations.
• Incorporating evidence-based medical education strategies.
The team also aims to establish an educational philosophy anchored in Hispanic border healthcare needs by recognizing the unique social determinants of health, cultural awareness, and cultural competency.
In addition to Madrigal, the team of co-investigators includes:
• Dr. Beatriz Tapia, MD, EdD, MPH, Interim Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Development, Assistant Dean for Pediatrics and Associate professor of Pediatrics.
• Dr. Robert Nelson Jr., MD, MS, FAAP, Interim Vice Dean for Educational Affairs, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Chair of Pediatrics.
Dr. Rene Corbeil, EdD, Professor in the UTRGV Department of Teaching and Learning, Educational Technology, served as a technology consultant.
The grant helps reinforce the UTRGV MedEd Teaching Certificate Program launched in November 2021.
Founded in 2005, the Shine Academy was created to serve The University of Texas System through the support and advancement of excellence in health science education, educational scholarship, and leadership.
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Shahreen Abedin and Saira Cabrera contributed to this article. For more on this and other Texas legislative news stories that affect the Rio Grande Valley metropolitan region, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature (TitansoftheTexasLegislature.com).
