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Cuero ISD Awarded Safety Grant by Texas Political Subdivisions JSIF

Cuero Independent School District (Cuero ISD) has been awarded a $13,564.57 Safety Grant for 2025 by the Texas Political Subdivisions JSIF (TPS). This grant will enable Cuero ISD to procure essential tools, equipment, and training to enhance workplace safety and develop a solid loss prevention program.

Cuero ISD may use the grant money to purchase approved safety equipment, enhancing the safety of their employees and property.  Their successful grant application underscores their commitment to fostering a safer work environment. TPS JSIF is proud to support Cuero ISD in their efforts to implement effective safety practices and loss prevention programs.

Cuero ISD is holding Career and Technical Education Night February 19, 2025

Cuero Independent School District (ISD) is thrilled to announce a Career and Technical Education event featuring Texas Education Agency (TEA) approved programs of study. All Cuero ISD students and their parents are invited to attend this enriching event.

Event Details:
– Date: February 19, 2025
– Time: 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
– Location: CHS Cafeteria

Admission to these programs is open to all Cuero ISD students, limited English language skills are not a barrier to admission and participation in any of our educational and career and technical education programs. We are committed to providing an inclusive environment where every student can thrive.

For more information, please contact Title IX Coordinator, Kimberly Fleener.

cisd@cueroisd.org

960 E Broadway St, Cuero, TX, United States, Texas

361-275-1900

Cuero City Council Member Matthys Announces He Will Not Seek Re-Election

Cuero, TX – January 2025 – Cuero City Council-Member-at-Large, William Bill Matthys who also serves as Mayor Pro Tem, has announced that he will not be seeking re-election in the upcoming May 2025 term.

Matthys, who has served on the City Council for seventeen years, has been a dedicated public servant and a strong advocate for the community.  During his tenure, Matthys has been instrumental in various initiatives. His leadership and commitment to the residents of Cuero have left a lasting impact on the city.

Matthys expressed his gratitude to the community for their support over the years and said that serving as a Councilman has been one of the greatest honors of his lifetime.

The filing period for candidates interested in running for the Council-Member-At-Large for May 3, 2025, begins Wednesday, January 15, 2025.  Candidate Packets are available in the City Secretary’s Office no later than the first day of the filing period.

AlphaLyfe Nutrition is excited to announce the addition of delicious coffee drinks to their menu! Get ready to indulge in these irresistible new offerings:


City Council Candidate Packet

Council Places 1, 4, and (2) At Large will appear on that ballot. The links below are from the 2025 Candidate Packet.

The filing period for the May 3, 2025, General Election begins Wednesday, January 15, 2025. All necessary forms will be linked on this page, and printed Candidate Packets will be available in the City Secretary’s Office no later than the first day of the filing period.

To appear on the ballot, qualified persons must submit the following to the City Secretary’s Office (212 E. Main, Cuero, TX 77954) no later than 5:00 p.m. Friday, February 14, 2025: 
Mandatory Filings

The Redemption Story: Dr. Kennon Vaughan Lone Survivor of Yoakum Plane Crash

 

The Redemption Story being held this weekend reflects on the events that took place on January 18, 2023, when a single-engine Piper PA-46 plane carrying five members of the Harvest Church, based out of the Memphis suburb of Germantown, Tennessee, went down and crashed in an open field south of the Yoakum airport. The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of four church members, with the only survivor, Lead Pastor Kennon Vaughan, sustaining injuries that required his hospitalization.

        The Redemption Story: A Weekend of Uplifting Music and Worship

The victims of this heartbreaking accident were Bill Garner, the church’s Executive Vice President; Steve Tucker, a church elder; and Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer. These individuals were beloved members of Harvest Church, and their loss left a profound impact on their community.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Lead Pastor Kennon Vaughan has shown remarkable resilience and strength. Despite his injuries, he continues to lead and inspire the Harvest Church community.

Uplifting Music and Worship

In honor of those lost and to celebrate the spirit of hope and renewal, Harvest Church is hosting “The Redemption Story,” an event filled with uplifting music, worship, and a powerful message from Dr. Kennon Vaughan, the sole survivor of the plane crash. This revival event promises to be a significant and inspiring occasion.

Event Schedule:

Saturday, January 18:
– Pre-Event Activities (4:00 PM – 6:00 PM): Enjoy family activities and entertainment by Jellie Holcomb.
– Main Event (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Worship by Harvest Memphis.

Sunday, January 19:
– Pre-Event Activities (4:00 PM – 6:00 PM): Enjoy family activities and entertainment by Aaron Watson.
– Main Event (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Worship by Harvest Memphis.

Location: 37 County Road 462, Yoakum, TX 77995

Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and picnic blankets to enjoy the event comfortably. The family activities include a kid’s fun zone with a bounce house, inflatables, face painting, and more.

Mark your calendars for this incredible weekend of faith, music, and community. We look forward to seeing you there!

Fall Clean-Up Achieves Major Environmental Milestones

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Cuero, TX  –

The Fall Clean-Up event held from October 21st to October 26th, 2024, was a resounding success, bringing together community efforts to significantly impact the environment positively. The event saw extensive participation and resulted in impressive outcomes, demonstrating the community’s commitment to sustainability.

Summary of Clean-Up Activities:
– Equipment Hours: 38 hours
– Man Hours: 198 hours
– Brush Collected: 76 loads at Cheatham Rd
– Tires Collected: 14
– Batteries Collected: 29 batteries + 81 lbs
– Trash Collected: 81.09 tons (12.5 containers)
– Metal Collected: 400 lbs
– Oil Collected: 35 gallons

The efforts didn’t stop there. The clean-up resulted in substantial environmental benefits, with significant savings in tree preservation, landfill space, energy, and electricity.

Environmental Impact:
– Tree Preservation: Recycling cardboard saves 17 trees per ton.

– Landfill Space: One ton of cardboard saves over 9 cubic yards of landfill space (equivalent to 3 metal dumpsters). The event saved over 1,197 cubic yards of landfill space, equivalent to 400 dumpsters.
– Energy Savings from Aluminum Cans: Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours. With approximately 32 cans making a pound, the community saved 9,600 days of 24-hour TV running time.
– Electricity from Used Motor Oil: Recycling 2 gallons of used motor oil can generate enough electricity to power an average household for almost 24 hours. The clean-up event saved 24-hour days of electricity for 14.5 months.

These results underscore the importance of community involvement in environmental initiatives and highlight the significant positive impact that concerted clean-up efforts can have.

The community is encouraged to continue supporting and participating in such events to ensure a cleaner, greener future for everyone.

For more information and future clean-up events, please contact the Cuero Environmental Services Department.

Together, we can make a difference!

 

Russian Nationals Face Criminal Charges with Cryptocurrency Money Laundering Scam

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For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging three Russian nationals for their involvement in operating the cryptocurrency websites.  Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik are in custody and were charged by a federal grand jury. The third defendant, Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov was also charged but remains at large.

“According to the indictment, the defendants operated cryptocurrency websites that served as safe havens for laundering criminally derived funds, including the proceeds of ransomware and wire fraud,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  The defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that jeopardized both public safety and national security. The indictment and arrests follow an earlier takedown of the defendants’ criminal infrastructure and demonstrate the value of our international partnerships in countering the global threat from cybercrime.”

Blender.io and Sinbad.io were allegedly used by criminals across the world to launder funds stolen from victims of ransomware, virtual currency thefts, and other crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “Last year, with the assistance of our international partners, we successfully dismantled Sinbad.io,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Sean Burke of the FBI Atlanta Field Office.According to court documents and publicly available information, Blender.io and Sinbad.io were cryptocurrency mixers that allowed their users, for a fee, to send cryptocurrency to designated recipients in a manner designed to hide the source of the cryptocurrency. Blender.io and Sinbad.io were available for use by the public via the internet and used by criminals looking to distance themselves from the fact that their funds came from cryptocurrency thefts, ransomware attacks, and other crimes.

Blender.io operated from approximately 2018 to 2022. The service was advertised on a popular internet forum as having a “No Logs Policy” and deleting any traces of user transactions. Additionally, in the advertisement, Blender was described as not requiring users to sign up, register, or “provide any kind of detail except the receiving address!” The advertisement asserted that, “[a]s there are no personal details asked for, there’s no way your identity is compromised, or can be linked back to, because as far as blender.io goes they don’t know who you are.” After Blender.io shut down, Sinbad.io began operating a few months later. Like Blender.io, Sinbad.io provided users with Bitcoin concealment services. And, on November 27, 2023, Sinbad.io was taken down through law enforcement action.

Both Blender.io and Sinbad.io have been sanctioned by the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). On May 6, 2022, OFAC sanctioned Blender.io, citing its use by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to launder stolen virtual currency. OFAC’s public sanctions announcement also explained that Blender.io laundered funds for multiple ransomware groups. On Nov. 29, 2023, OFAC sanctioned Sinbad.io, publicly citing its use by a DPRK state-sponsored hacking group and cybercriminals to obfuscate transactions linked to other criminal offenses.

Trial Attorney Ethan Cantor of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, who is a member of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Samir Kaushal for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Assistant U.S. Attorney Maxwell Coll for the Central District of California provided significant assistance.

Updated January 10, 2025

Cuero New City Hall Lobby Hours

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New City Hall Lobby Hours. Please note, the drive thru will remain open until 6 pm Monday-Thursday and until 12 pm Friday as usual.

Republican Chip Roy isn’t having it! Calls out Fellow Republicans

Chip Roy just called out his fellow Republicans for their astonishing hypocrisy. He stated, “Since we maintained the majority on November 5, 2024, you’ve already added $5 trillion to the debt!” When will we stop misleading and pretending to be accountable to the American people

Chip Roy is a Republican congressman who serves on the House Judiciary, Rules, and Budget Committees. He has a background in law, politics, and finance.  He is on his third term in Congress representing Texas’s 21st Congressional District which includes South Austin, North San Antonio, and the Texas Hill Country.


January 14, 2025

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Rep. Chip Roy (TX-21) and Rep. Seth Magaziner (RI-1) announced the bipartisan reintroduction of the TRUST in Congress Act to ban Members of Congress and their families from engaging in insider trading.

“The American people should have faith that Congress is at work for the good of the country, not for their own bank accounts. For years I have been working to address the problem of stock trading in Congress, first introducing the bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act with Rep. Abigail Spanberger back in 2020,” said Representative Roy. “Now that Abigail has retired, I am proud to reintroduce this critical and bipartisan legislation alongside my friend Rep. Magaziner (D-RI). We have a long road ahead to address this Congress, but we can and should fix the problem during this term. We have the will and the mandate of the American people to do this. Let’s deliver.”

The Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act would require Members of Congress, their spouses, and dependents to place certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust while serving in office. That way, Representatives and Senators cannot leverage their power as public servants to line their pockets.

“Trust in Congress is at an all-time low, but we can strengthen the integrity of our government by ensuring Members of Congress are serving their constituents and not their stock portfolios,” said Rep. Seth Magaziner. “I am proud to introduce this bipartisan, commonsense bill with Representative Chip Roy to ban Members of Congress — and their families — from trading individual stocks, so that we can hold Washington accountable to the people it serves.”

The bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act has been endorsed by many key advocacy and government accountability organizations, including the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), National Taxpayers Union, Public Citizen, Protect Democracy, Government Accountability Project, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Issue One, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and Americans for Prosperity.

Specifically, the TRUST in Congress Act would:

  • Require all Members of Congress, and their spouses and dependent children, to put certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust within 180 days after the enactment of this legislation. New Members of Congress, and their spouses and dependent children, would be required to place covered investments into a qualified blind trust within 90 days of assuming office. Affected individuals can remove assets from the blind trust 180 days after the Member leaves Congress.
  • Require all Members to either 1) certify to the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary of the Senate that they have established a blind trust to include covered investments or 2) certify to the Clerk or the Secretary that they do not own any covered investments. The status of these certifications would be made publicly available by the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate.
  • Define covered investments as the following: a security, commodity, future, or any comparable economic interest acquired through synthetic means such as the use of a derivative.
  • Clarify that the following do not qualify as covered investments for the purpose of this bill: a widely held investment fund (such as a mutual fund) or a U.S. Treasury bill, note, or bond. These investments would not have to be placed in a blind trust.

This bipartisan bill was co-led by Rep. Seth Magaziner (RI-2), and cosponsored by Reps. Alma Adams (NC-12), Don Beyer (VA-8), Greg Casar (TX-35), Juan Ciscomani (AZ-6), Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5). Angie Craig (MN-2), Elijah Crane (AZ-2), Jason Crow (CO-6), Sharice Davids (KS-3), Suzan DelBene (WA-1), Christopher Deluzio (PA-17), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Jared Golden (ME-2), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Jared Huffman (CA-2), Dusty Johnson (SD-AL), William Keating (MA-9), Young Kim (CA-40), Greg Landsman (OH-1), Michael Lawler (NY-17), Teresa Fernandez (NM-3), Mike Levin (CA-49), Nancy Mace (SC-1), Betty McCollum (MN-4), Frank Mrvan (IN-1), Gregory Murphy (NC-3), Jerrod Nadler (NY-12), Joe Neguse (CO-2), Eleanor Norton (DC-AL), Marie Glusenkamp Perez (WA-3), Scott Perry (PA-10), Brittany Pettersen (CO-7), Mark Pocan (WI-2), Andrea Salinas (OR-6), Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11), Eric Sorensen (IL-17), Greg Stanton (AZ-4), Hayley Stevens (MI-11), Dina Titus (NV-11), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Gabe Vasquez (NM-2), and Nikema Williams (GA-5).

Full text of the legislation is available here.

Issues:Rep. Roy’s Pledge to Texas 21

City of Cuero Mayor Garza presents Proclamation

Cuero, TX – January 13, 2025 – During the recent City Council meeting, Mayor Emil Garza presented a proclamation to Sean Mooney, Principal of St. Michael’s Catholic School, in recognition of Catholic Schools Week. This honor highlights the significant contributions of Catholic education to our community and celebrates the dedication of educators, students, and families at St. Michael’s Catholic School.

A moment of pride for St. Michael’s as they are acknowledged for their commitment to excellence in education and community values!