Rio Grande

• The novel, "Valley of Shadows," was released in paperback by Blackstone Publishing on Sept. 17, 2023, just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month.
• Since its hardcover release in 2022, "Valley of Shadows" became a National Latino Book Club pick and is currently long-listed for Reading the West Book Awards sponsored by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association.
• The Texas Institute of Letters recently honored the book as the winner of the Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction.
• The hero of the story is Solitario Cisneros, a former Mexican lawman who lives up to his solitary name.

• Gulf LNG Tugs of Brownsville, LLC (Gulf LNG Tugs) today announced the signing of two construction contracts with Master Boat Builders, Inc. (Master Boat) and Sterling Shipyard, LLC (Sterling) for each shipyard to construct two tugs to serve the Rio Grande LNG export facility (RGLNG), which has commenced construction in Brownsville, Texas.
• Execution of the construction contracts represents an important milestone for Gulf LNG Tugs’ commitment to provide dedicated tug services to RGLNG.
• In consultation with RGLNG, Gulf LNG Tugs selected Master Boat and Sterling after a rigorous bid process.
• Gulf LNG Tugs and its owners are premier tug service providers, and we’re honored to support their growth,” said Harry Murdock, CEO of Sterling.

• President Joe Biden has been negotiating a new deal with Mexico in the hope of mediating the long-running immigration crisis on the US southern border.
• According to Customs and Border Protection, border crossings from Mexico to the United States have recently fallen from 10,000 a day to approximately 3,500 a day.

Mexico’s role

• Alex Miller, director of the advocacy group Immigration Justice Campaign, called the changes “a stark reversal of the administration’s stated commitment to restoring access to asylum”.
• Former Democrat Representative for Texas 16th congressional district Beto O’Rourke tweeted that the ruling was “the right decision”.
• Both immigration advocates and those calling for stricter guidelines have attacked the Biden administration’s immigration policy since the president took office.
• Vice President Kamala Harris, who was tasked with finding a solution to the border crisis, has been the subject of much Republican criticism.
• Whether the supreme court upholds the San Francisco ruling or not, the White House seems to be in a no-win position.

Immigration attitudes

• Recent polls show that significantly more Americans that identified as Republicans (70%) felt that immigration was a major problem than Democrats (25%).
• Inflation (65%), affordable healthcare (64%) and partisanship (61%) are thought by all parties as the top national problems and outweigh illegal immigration (47%).
• The border crisis is unlikely to cost Biden the election, but it will remain a thorn in the administration’s side beyond 2024.

• The project will include three natural gas liquefaction trains employing Air Products' liquefaction equipment with a production capability of approximately 17.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG.
• Air Products' coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHEs) and AP-C3MR™ LNG Process technology have been selected for their proven reliability for large-scale LNG production.
• "We are pleased to be selected to provide our LNG technology and equipment for the Rio Grande LNG project with its focus on sustainability.
• In support of the LNG industry, Air Products provides process technology and key equipment for the natural gas liquefaction process for large export plants, small and mid-sized LNG plants, floating LNG plants and LNG peak shavers.