Free Republic

After the Uvalde City Council voted against a leave of absence for embattled school district police chief Pete Arredondo on Tuesday evening, Mayor Don McLaughlin harshly criticized Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw for blaming local police in last month's shooting at Robb Elementary School. It came hours after McCraw told a special committee in the Texas senate that there was "a sufficient number of armed officers wearing body armor to isolate, distract, and neutralize the subject" within three minutes of the shooting, but Arredondo "decided to place the lives of officers before the lives of children." McLaughlin told...

SAN ANTONIO -- Authorities released a travel warning again advising Texans to stay out of Mexico. Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw issued a travel warning stating nobody should head to Mexico at this point. McCraw stressed the advisory due to the increased violence and threat from drug cartels. The statement comes weeks after American tourist David Hartley was believed to have been gunned down while jet skiing in falcon lake. The lead investigator in that case was beheaded. Published reports say since 2006 more than 22,700 people have been killed due to an ongoing drug war in Mexico. Since...

MCALLEN - State law enforcement officials say spillover violence is happening. The state defines spillover as anything that includes violence or crime with a cartel connection. The Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety Steve McCraw says some of the violence can be measured because it goes unreported. "From our definition it's very simple. The state of Texas defines spillover violence as Mexican cartel related violence that occurs in Texas. We include aggravated assault, extortion, kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder," says McCraw. The federal government has a different definition for spillover violence. It defines it as violence as a...