Income tax 2022-2023, special depreciation allowance. Let's do some wealth preservation with some tax preparation. Most of this information comes from publication 946, How to Depreciate Property Tax Year 2022. You can find it on the IRS website, irs.gov, irs.gov. Looking at the income tax formula, we're focused on line one income. Remember, in the first half of the income tax formula is, in essence, an income statement. Although just an outline, the scaffolding, other forms and schedules flowing into these line items, one of those, the Schedule C, having business income minus business expenses, in essence an income statement in and of itself, the net business income flowing into line one income in our income tax formula. If we look at the form 1040, we note that the Schedule C would flow into the Schedule 1, flowing into the first page of the form 1040, line number eight. The Schedule C is the profit or loss from business form, structured as an income statement where we have income minus expenses. We are focused on the expenses side of things here, business deductions in essence, and more specifically on depreciation and more specifically still on a special type of depreciation. Remember, the general outline is expenses that are ordinary and necessary in order to generate revenue are expenses we can typically take when we have a deviation, a big deviation with the purchase of property planting equipment from a cash-based type of system, meaning support accounting instruction by clicking the link below, giving you a free month membership to all of the content on our website broken out by category, further broken out by course, each course then organized in a logical, reasonable fashion, making it much more easy to find what you need than can be done on a YouTube page. We also include added resources such as Excel practice problems, PDF files, and more like QuickBooks backup files when applicable. So once again, click the link below for a free month membership to our website and all the content on it. Even if we have a cash-based type of system, when we buy property planting equipment, the code is going to force us to do an accrual thing, putting it on the books as an asset and depreciating it over its useful life, which is a normal kind of accounting concept, but then they might add accelerated depreciations, which are still kind of normal accounting concepts, but then special front-loaded depreciations and 179 type of deductions, which are more designed to like stimulate the economy and have rationale that is usually different than normal accounting rationale. And that's what we're talking about here. Remembering that from a tax standpoint, normally we would like to get the deduction as soon as possible. We want the deduction to be as high as possible and get it as soon as possible because of the time value of money, although there are exceptions to that rule. Okay, given that, we want to talk about claiming the special depreciation allowance introduction. So you can take a special depreciation allowance to recover part of the cost of qualifying property defined next placed in service during the tax year. The allowance applies only for the first year you place the property in service. So this is the point. It's like a big upfront type of deduction that you might be able to get for types of property that you would otherwise have to depreciate over the useful life of the property. The allowance is an additional deduction you can take after any section 179 deduction and before you figure regular depreciation under the makers. That's the normal kind of depreciation method, basically like a double declining method. So we're trying to take this before we kick into the normal depreciation which would allocate over multiple years in the future. The 179 as we have talked about in the past is another kind of format of special depreciation kind of upfront depreciation. So for some time at this point in time, they've been trying to stimulate the economy most likely overheating the economy trying to push too hard possibly at this point and that's why they've got these big front loaded items in the tax code. Now it looks like just from an economic standpoint that we might be overheating the economy right now which you would think that would lead them to kind of try to pull back on some of these kind of stimulating things but that's unpopular to do. So it will be interesting to see in the future what they do with like the 179 deduction and the special depreciation deductions. In any case, you figure regular depreciation of makers for the year you place the property in service. Okay, this chapter explains what is qualified property. It also includes rules regarding how to figure an allowance, how to elect not to claim an allowance and when you must recapture an allowance. Okay, what is qualified property? So your property is qualified property if it is one of the following. Qualified reuse and recycling property. Certain qualified property acquired after September 27, 2017 and certain plants bearing fruits and nuts. The following discussion provides information about the types of qualified property listed above for which you can take the special depreciation allowance. Qualified reuse and recycling property. You can take a 50% special depreciation allowance for qualified reuse and recycling property. Qualified reuse and recycling property is any machinery or equipment not including building or real estate along with any apportionments that used exclusively to collect, distribute or recycle qualified reuse and recyclable materials as defined in section 168M3B of the internal revenue code. Qualified reused and recycling property also includes software necessary to operate such equipment. The property must meet the following requirements. The property must be depreciated under makers. That's the general kind of depreciation rules. The property must have a useful life of at least five years. So it's not under five years in terms of the length of the life. The original use of the property must begin with you after August 31, 2008. You must have acquired the property by purchase as discussed under property acquired by purchase in chapter 2. After August 31, 2008 with no binding written contract for the acquisition in effect before September 1, 2008 the property must be placed in service for use in your trade or business after August 31, 2008. So accepted property. Qualified reuse and recycling property does not include any of the following. Any rolling stock or other equipment used to transport reuse or recyclable materials property required to be depreciated using the alternative depreciation system that's the ADS not the makers which is the standard form at this point in time. For other property acquired to be depreciated using ADS as required use an ADS under which depreciation system GDS or ADS applies in chapter 4. We'll talk more about that possibly later. Other bonus depreciation property to which section 168K of the internal revenue code applies property for which you elected not to claim any special depreciation allowance. We'll discuss that later. Property placed in service and disposed of in the same tax year. Property converted from business use to personal use in the same tax year acquired. Okay, certain qualified property acquired after September 27, 2017. So you can elect to take 100% special depreciation allowance for property acquired after September 27, 2017 and placed in service before January 1, 2023 or before January 1, 2024 for certain property with a long production period and for certain aircraft. So your property is qualified property if it meets the following. So we've got tangible property depreciated under makers tangible meaning you can touch it makers being the normal kind of depreciation type of rules with a recovery period of 20 years or less. 20 years or less when you get over the 20 years you're often you know going to start getting into like real estate property which has those longer lives over that point. So computer software defined in and depreciated under section 167F1 of the internal revenue code. Water utility property, qualified film, television and live theatrical productions as defined in sections 181D and E of the internal revenue code. A specified plant for which you made the election to apply section 168K5 for the tax year in which the plant is planted or grafted explained later under certain plants bearing fruits and nuts. So it is not except accepted property explained later under accepted property. Okay so qualified property must also be placed in service before January 1, 2027 or before January 1, 2028 for certain property with a long production period and for certain aircraft and can be either new property or certain used property. Note for certain qualified property acquired after September 27, 2017 and placed in service after December 31, 2022 and before January 1, 2024 other than certain property with a long production period and certain aircraft you can elect to take an 80% special depreciation allowance. Alright so now we're looking at the long production period property. To be qualified property, long production period property must meet the following requirements. The property has a recovery period of at least 10 years or is transportation. Transportation, chaos. Property. Transportation property is tangible. You can touch it, personal property used in the trade or business of transporting persons or property. The property is subject to section 263A of the Internal Revenue Code. The property has an estimated production period exceeding one year and an estimated production cost exceeding $1 million. You must have acquired the property or acquired the property pursuant to a written contract entered into before January 1, 2027. Okay so now we've got the non-commercial aircraft. I'm going to go through these fairly fast because some of these are kind of special type of areas that you might not have like non-commercial aircraft is going to be specific to specific areas. So to be qualified property, non-commercial aircraft must meet the following requirements. The aircraft must not be tangible personal property used in the trade or business of transporting persons or property except for agricultural or firefighting purposes. The aircraft must be purchased as discussed under property acquired by purchase in Chapter 2 by a purchaser who at the time of the contract for purchase makes a non-refundable deposit of the lesser of 10% of the cost or $100,000. The aircraft must have an estimated production period exceeding four months and a cost exceeding $200,000. You must have acquired the aircraft or acquired the aircraft pursuant to a written contract entered into before January 1, 2027. Special rules syndicated leasing transactions. Again I'm going to go through this fairly quickly because this is a special type of situation. If qualified property is originally placed in service by a lessor, the property is sold within three months of the date it was placed in service and the user of the property does not change, then the property is treated as originally placed in service by the taxpayer no earlier than the date of the last sale. Multiple units of property subject to the same lease will be treated as originally placed in service no earlier than the date of the last sale if the property is sold within three months after the final unit is placed in service and the period between the time the first and last units are placed in service does not exceed 12 months. Okay, accepted property. Qualified property acquired after September 27, 2017 does not include any of the following. So these are going to be the specific exceptions to the rule. So property placed in service or planted or grafted and disposed of in the same tax year. So if you did it in the same tax year, you would think it wouldn't be a long term property wouldn't be normally a depreciable type of item. So that would be exempted property converted from business use to personal use in the same tax year acquired. You have a similar situation here. It's not really long term property. If it was business property, but then you converted it to personal use because you would only get the deduction you would think if it was business related, not personal related property converted from personal use to business use in the same or later tax year may be qualified property. Property required to be depreciated under the alternative depreciation system because that's the ADS system. We'll talk about the ADS versus the maker system in future presentations. But currently you would think that most of the depreciable property would be under the makers system, not the ADS of the ADS would be an indication that it might not qualify then for this either. So this includes listed property used 50% less in a qualified business use for other properties required to be depreciated using ADS. You can see required use of ADS under which depreciation system ADS or I'm sorry, GDS or ADS applies in Chapter 4 property for which you elected not to claim any special depreciation allowance. So you could just elect out of the special depreciation. Why would you do that? Possibly because you don't want to take the depreciation in the current year because maybe the current year doesn't have as much income as you think later years will have. And you would rather get the deduction in later years breaking from the normal rule of I would like to get the deduction as high and as soon as possible due to the time value of money. Property described in Section 168K9A and placed in service in any tax year beginning after December 31, 2017. Property described in Section 168K9B and placed in service in any tax year beginning after December 31, 2017. Certain plants bearing fruits and nuts. You can elect to claim a 100% special depreciation allowance for the adjusted basis of certain special plants defined later bearing fruits and nuts planted or grafted after September 27, 2017. And before January 1, 2023, a specified plant is any tree or vine that bears fruits or nuts and any other plant that will have more than one yield of fruits or nuts and generally has a pre productive period of more than two years from planting or grafting to the time it begins bearing fruits or nuts. So any property planted or grafted outside the United States does not qualify as a special as a specified plant. If you elect to claim the special depreciation allowance for any specified plant, the special depreciation allowance applies only for the tax year in which the plant is planted or grafted. The plants will not be treated as qualified property eligible for the special depreciation allowance and the subsequent tax year in which it is planted in service. So to make the election, attach a statement to your timely filed return, including extensions for the tax year in which you plant or graft the specified plants, indicating you are electing to apply section 168K5 and identifying the specified plants for which you are making the election the election once made cannot be revoked without IRS consent. So again, that to me is more of a specialty type of situation. I haven't dealt with taxpayers as much with that situation with the planting, but it might be applicable to a lot of people. In any case, note for certain specified plants bearing fruits and nuts planted or grafted after December 31, 2022 and before January 1, 2024, you can elect to claim an 80% special depreciation allowance. See section 168K5 of the Internal Revenue Code for more detail. How much can you deduct? Let's get down to the nitty and the gritty. Figure the special depreciation allowance by multiplying the depreciable basis of qualified reuse and recyclable property, certain qualified property acquired after September 2017 and certain plant bearing fruits and nuts by the applicable percentage. For qualified property other than listed property, enter the special depreciation allowance on form 4562 that we've seen in prior presentations, Part 2, Line 14. For qualified property that is listed property, enter the special depreciation allowance on form 4562 Part 5, Line 25. Tip, if you place qualified property in service in a short tax year, you can take the full amount of a special depreciation allowance. Depreciable basis, this is, so now we're talking about the depreciable basis kind of like the adjusted cost, right? This is the property's cost or other basis multiplied by the percentage of business investment use. So the cost of whatever you're putting in place, you're not expensing it, you're putting it on the books as an asset to be depreciated, but now you want to apply the special depreciation. If you had a partial personal use versus business use, you would think you would have to then multiply it by the percent of business use to adjust the basis to whatever is business. In other words, if it was 80% business use, you would think you have to multiply it times 80% to get the basis. So basis investment use reduced by the total amount of any credits and deductions allocable to the property. The following are examples of some credits and deductions that reduce depreciable basis. So you got this, you got any section 179 deduction. So if you took a 179 deduction, which is another kind of upfront type of deduction, that's going to be an adjustment to the basis that then might be applicable. Then if you're also doing the special. So any deduction for removal removal or barriers to the disabled and the elderly. Any disabled access credit enhanced oil recovery credit or credit for employer provided childcare facilities and services basis adjustment to investment credit property under section 50 C of the internal revenue code section 181 expense deduction. For additional credits and deductions that affect basis C sections 1016 of the internal revenue code for information about how to elect the cost or other basis of property. See what is the basis of your depreciable property in chapter one for a discussion of business. There's another link that you can take a look at here, but in any case that is that depreciating the remaining cost. So after you take, you know, the special depreciation upfront, then you may have basis left over then that you might need to be depreciating in a normal kind of basis then going forward. So after you figure your special depreciation allowance for your qualified property, you can use the remaining cost to figure your regular makers. That's going to be the normal depreciation methods. Oftentimes we'll talk about later depreciation deduction discussed in chapter four. So therefore you must reduce the depreciable basis of the property by the special depreciation allowance before figuring your regular makers depreciation deduction. So so which would make sense. So right.  But instead of using straight line depreciation, you use makers, which is usually a form of double declining balance. But then you might have these upfront kind of deductions. You get upfront like the special depreciation or the 179 depreciation, which might completely allow you to take the full amount upfront of the cost. Just like if you would have just been allowed to expense it without doing this whole capitalization thing in the first place. But if you don't get the full amount upfront, then you would take the remaining basis that you didn't get to write off upfront and allocate it according to the normal depreciation rules of makers usually. So once again, therefore you must reduce the depreciate the depreciable basis of the property by the special depreciation allowance before figuring your regular makers depreciation deduction example. On July 1st, 2022, you place in service in your business qualified property that costs $450,000 and that you acquired after September 27, 2017, you did not elect to claim a section 179 deduction. So we're not going to mess muddy up the waters with the 179. So you deduct 100% of the cost $450,000 as special depreciation allowance for 2022. You have no remaining cost to figure a regular makers depreciation deduction for your property for 2022 and later years. So that's a typical case in these cases for small businesses and that the special depreciation completely wiped out the whole amount just like you would have been able to just expense it in the first place without having to go through this business of putting it on the books as an asset in the first place. Like kind exchanges and inventory conversion. So if you acquire qualified property in a like kind exchange or involuntary conversion. So like kind of exchange you're often dealing with real estate with it, which is a life kind kind of exchange involuntary conversion possibly.  So or involuntary conversion after September 27, 2017 and the qualified property is new property that carry over basis and any excess basis of the acquired property is eligible for the special depreciation allowance. If you acquired qualified property in a like kind exchange or involuntary conversion after September 27, 2017 and the qualified property is used is used property. Only the excess basis of the acquired property is eligible for the special depreciation allowance after you figure your special depreciation allowance. You can use the remaining carry over basis to figure your regular makers depreciation deduction. So somewhat of a more unusual situation, although they do come up fairly often. You can see figuring the deduction for property acquired in non taxable exchange in chapter four under how to depreciate deduction figured. So how can you elect not to claim an allowance? So you might say, what if I don't want to claim the allowance? So you can elect for any class of property, not to deduct any special depreciation allowance for all property in such class placed in service during the tax year. So why would you want to do that? Because again, you might have a situation where your taxes are lower this year possibly because you have left income putting you into a lower tax bracket than you think might happen in following years. So you'd rather not take the big deduction this year and possibly spread it out over the future years where maybe you have higher tax brackets you are expecting to make an election. Attach a statement to your return indicating what election you are making and the class of property for which you are making the election tax software helps with this process. The election must be made separately by each person owning qualified property. For example, by the partnership by the S corporation or for each member of a consolidated group by the common parent of the group. So when to make the election? Generally, you make the election on a timely file tax return, including extensions for the year in which you place the property in service. However, that would make sense, of course. However, if you timely filed your return for the year without making the election, you can still make the election by filing an amended return within six months of the due date of the original return, not including extensions. Attach the election statement to the amended return on the amended return right filed pursuant to section 301.9100-2. Revoking an election. So now you want to change it. Once you elect not to deduct a special depreciation allowance for a class of property, you cannot revoke the election without IRS consent. So you want to make sure that you're sure about what you're doing in that case and not trying to flip flop on it. A request to revoke the election is a request for a letter ruling caution. If you elect not to have any special depreciation allowance applied, the property placed in service after 2015 will not be subject to an alternative minimum tax adjustment for depreciation. When must you recapture an allowance? We have this recapture type of situation because when we allow this big depreciation upfront, it can cause issues when we sell the property, especially if we have a situation where we have different tax rates for different types of income. For example, capital gain income and ordinary income. So when you dispose of property for which you claimed a special depreciation allowance and a gain on the disposition is generally recaptured included in income as ordinary income up to the amount of the special depreciation allowance previously allowed or allowable. See when do you recapture maker's depreciation in chapter four for more information. So the general idea here would be if you sold the property and you are going to end up with a gain. Part of the question is, well, is that a capital gain or is that going to be an ordinary income gain? Sometimes when you sell property that is a long lasting type of property, it might be subject to a capital gain in some cases, which most commonly for individual taxpayers would be applied to like the sale of stock, for example, which you might have a favorable tax rate for. And usually the rationale for the rate for the favorable tax rate would be that if you had a long term investment type of thing, the gain might have accumulated over a long period of time. And if you sold it all in one year, then that big gain that you get in that one year could increase your tax brackets because it's going to result in you realising that giant gain that actually happened over multiple years in one year. And because we have a progressive tax system, it could increase your ordinary income rates. So that's one argument to have like different rates related to capital gains versus ordinary income, the capital gains rates being a favourable rate. But in this situation, the gain that's going to be generated is probably and almost certainly kind of artificial because when you take a look at the basis of the property that you sold, it's artificially low because the IRS has been putting in place these special depreciation, which allowed you to get this big expense upfront instead of doing what would normally be done under normal accounting rules, which would be to allocate the cost over the useful life of the property. So when you do that, you can imagine a situation where people try to take advantage of that situation where they would basically possibly buy property. They get this massive depreciation of the property in ordinary income deductions and then they try to sell it in the future year where they end up with this giant gain. But the gain would be taxed not at ordinary income rates, but rather at capital gain rates, favourable rates. So you can imagine the tax code would have to have a recapture, then you'd have to say, no, you can't do that. If you had a gain that was only due to over depreciation in the past or because of the special depreciation, then you have to recognize the income as ordinary income. Why? Because you got a deduction that was on the basis of ordinary income. So when you have these differences in the tax rates, it causes these kind of issues.


What's going on everybody welcome to a very special walk-and-talk episode of the hot-pot boys I just got the Osmo pocket three so I figured I tested out today the article that we're gonna be breaking down is Relevant to the street of East Broadway because East Broadway has a lot of Asian supermarkets in the article that we're talking about that went viral Already it's talking about how big conglomerate Asian chains that have developed over time such as 99 Ranch Hmart and even Latino based ones such as Viada are taking over the traditional supermarket space in Southern, California But also on the East Coast as well So we're talking about supplanting things like Albertson's Ralph's Vons and what are the reasons for that? So if you have noticed this in any community that you visited or the one that you're living in make sure you like subscribe and turn Your notifications because we're gonna get into the reasons what the article stated But as well as some of the reasons that I think so the main Reason that the article stated was they were saying that a lot of younger Americans are a lot more open to shopping at Asian markets Specifically the more refined ones with a more refined presentation that would be an Hmart That would be a 99 Ranch that would be a minsooah in the sense of like these are big companies now that have very refined marketing It's very clean. You know the the experience has been half Americanized But the products are still Asian and a lot of people are open to this in a way that they were previously not They also said that um due to the way the economic flow was that supermarket surged during the Pandemic, but then it switched back to restaurants But now it is switching back again to supermarkets because of hyperinflation Of course, everybody's been complaining about tipping everybody's can be complaining about just like how expensive restaurants are getting Obviously, that's due to the fact that their costs on a lot of shipping and raw goods is going up But at the end of the day the end consumers getting squeezed that's driving a return back to supermarkets And then of course, we're also talking about business mergers and consolidation, you know Albertsons is from Iowa then they bought vans and vans is trying to buy rouses and rouses from Southern California But they got to consolidate because anytime there is business mergers You just can't have that many stores that you own underneath one umbrella competing with each other So those are the reasons that the article stated. However, I think I have my own thoughts Let me know if you guys agree or disagree with them I think that quick service delivery such as Amazon Fresh You know for all the normal items the normie items that you can even get at a CVS Let alone Albertsons Rouser of Vans You could get that on Amazon Fresh as well or you can get it from a number of delivery services You know, obviously they're gonna vary per city. So it makes it even you know more normalized But you can't get that for the Asian items and also think it's very fun It's fun to browse for the Asian items in a way that it is not fun to browse at like a Ralph's even anymore Um, I think that also people want more specialized stores. Even if you look on the western side I think people want sprouts trader Joe's whole foods Obviously every year a baller and you want to spend 25 dollars on Six pack of eggs era one, you know, um, it's a meme at this point, right? Um, I also think that You know Asian supermarkets ethnic supermarkets such as Viada They're almost like a community gathering place in a way that you know, maybe Traditional American middle America markets were a gathering place for the American community in the 1930s or 40s or 50s or 60s But that is perhaps a bygone era, but the Asian community might still very much be in that place technically Also, I think that you know to be honest the Asians, you know, the Asian companies the way they operate they keep a lot of cash They're looking for good prices, you know the American items They're looking the Americans they're looking to sell for good prices because like we said They got consolidation that they're trying to make happen on a business side. So I think that that's just like a business Transactional equation aspect of it. I also think who else is gonna replace a bunch of Rosses and Halloween stores and shut down Burlington co-factories and TJ Maxx's as you know retail begins to shut down Check out the feces I just saw some am a monnier threes, but of course, yeah, they probably you know Those were from you know, the real ones are made in Shenzhen too, but also the the non real ones I also think that you get an aspect at ethnic grocers of exploring a new world that you're not gonna get at a traditional American grocery store Maybe if you were an air one you'd be like, oh man, I wish I could get that 18 dollar bottles of kombucha.  We're talking about cultural voyeurism You can get your Bourdain on Just by being in these like crazy Places that you know, obviously you're seeing a lot of things you didn't grow up with snacks products drinks The advertisements are using k-pop c-pop J drama anime characters, you know, just all this stuff where it's like man, where am I? This is like another planet So I think that that can contribute also to the higher profitability per square foot that these ethnic markets are turning That are obviously just like statistically showing up on their balance sheets. Anyway, let's get into the comments section somebody said yes, I do think that Hmart tends to have the best quality better than Vaughn's or Rouse 99 ranch is 50 50 I mean, I think it varies per one, but yeah, traditionally, I would say that Hmart is the most expensive and the most upscale However TNT market, which is in upscale Taiwanese Chinese market is coming from Canada to the American market So, um, yeah, you know, there's a variance I think even 99 ranch owns like three different verticals that are like branded three different ways and Mitsua, obviously the Japanese market has always been very nice and expensive Other people were talking about the seafood counter the seafood counter probably maybe being like It's like fresher and there's higher turnover because Asians eat more seafood than Western people, but it also might be more intimidating I think that I could agree with that I could see that, you know, just the veggies are gonna look different Obviously, like we said the seafood very high turnover because a lot of Asian coastal countries they eat a lot of seafood However, just the nature of grabbing the fish or the lobster out of the tank And then like either killing it or giving it to you live in a bag. Yeah, I could see that culturally Just being really really really different compared to like what you are expecting from a Western market Some people were saying, you know What about once these Asian markets become the thing that they were that like they're putting out a business like once H-mart or 99 ranch become such a multi trillion dollar business They start putting out Asian mom and pops out of business and I do think there's a couple aspects of that I do think that's the flow of capitalism But also like it probably won't you know, it probably won't get to that level if it ever does Honestly for like another 20 30 years, but it'll be interesting to see I don't know if you can become like too big to the point where people don't like you anymore But yeah, I mean it's possible, but I don't know I just think that that probably is gonna be pretty far down the road if we get there and Yeah, long story short guys, you guys can check out the article below. There's a couple good quotes in there Um, basically it was saying like, you know, people just do not want to eat Salisbury steak anymore But you know, I'm not gonna lie people will probably eat in Salisbury steak like In the 40s in the 50s, so I don't know how I don't know when the last time that's been popping was maybe 1980s late 80s, but anyway, um, I just think that America's changing I think with the class mobility that Asian Americans have had It's gonna increase the cultural profile. What's the cultural profile increases? You're folding in different consumption demographics that weren't normally eating Asian products You know, I mean like they think it's cool now like a lot of kids maybe back in a day, you know, you saw all those Forms and symposiums and academia talking about oh man My kids get made fun of for bringing dumplings and chopsticks and soy sauce or whatever whatever the school But now kids probably in 2023 obviously it varies what neighborhood you're in and what socioeconomic class and what kind of crowd Your kid is hanging out with I would say obviously a larger ratio than ever. They want to try it They want to have the Asian items, you know, so at the end of the day, I just think that It's a dope. It's dope. I mean, you know, it's cool to see that these Asian markets ethnic markets even viada I've been there a couple times. They have great Carniceria and they got great beef and they got great guacamole and stuff like that So it's like it's cool to see them finding their place in America And I do think a lot of these trends are gonna be spearheaded in Southern California first As well as select parts of the Northeast Because those are the most like I guess ethnic enclave heavy zones where Bay Area as well where people are kind of like getting into Not just first gen and large numbers But maybe even second and third gen and large numbers as well And I'll be interested to see how these, you know, H marks 99 ranches and different things evolve Are they gonna change the seafood counter to be something that more fits like How will Westerner likes to eat? See a crab. I don't know. Let me know what you guys think in the comment section below Hope you guys had fun on this walking talk episode of the hot pot boys. I had fun making it testing out the Osmo pocket 3 Anyway guys, let me know what you guys think until next time with a hot pot boys. We out. Peace


It's nice to see y'all. My name is Philip Portes. I'm the Texas State Representative for House District 117 and Thank you. I'm here to announce for re-election to no wait That was last night's speech. I'm sorry Gabe I know nonpartisan event. I am Very pleased and very honored to be given the opening remarks today for this wonderful event I know that also that I'm One of the few speakers between you and our San Antonio spurs this evening. We got a big game tonight. I think Everybody's excited as we're on it going Everybody's what's that? Thank You senator goes first go So on behalf of the leadership the emissarios and the proud members of the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce I would like to welcome you the El Propagano Hotel for the 13th annual state of the district banquet This is just one of the wonderful benchmark events of this proud organization that dates back to over 20 years Colonel Jimmy Cassiano Tino Durant a good friend of ours and other West Side leaders all the need To come together and create an organization to fight for the best interests of small businesses of the West Side and Almost 20 years later here. We are in this wonderful evening with all these wonderful people here Let's give a round of applause to the West Side West Chamber of Commerce We have two very honored guests this evening to very dear friends of mine One of them. She's been a mentor of mine for many years even back when I was an aide to then mayor Ed Garza and we also have one of our Dear friends strong advocate for the community My good friend what congressman Joaquin Castro? I believe the congressman is on his way or should be here any minute now, so we'll give him a round of applause And once again as I mentioned before one of my good friends in a mentor of mine We have our state senator and our next lieutenant governor of the great state of Texas senator. Lethisa van de Pute Thank You senator please Stand up So we have such such a great List of guests here, and I know there's many other business leaders here from San Antonio and West and Bear County and I believe that One day I'm going to also give a state of the district Gabe says that we'll be working that out soon So I'm not going to go into any details about how district 117 is doing tonight But I hope to do that in the near future But ultimately the south side and the west side of San Antonio and Bear County are continuing to grow The growth is just exploding if you drive out to those sides of town 1604 and Petranco 1604 in Culebra You'll see that there is so many new businesses So many new developments So many new rooftops from families moving to those sides of town where in the past that hadn't been happening We hadn't had the type of growth and opportunity That we had had and seen in other parts of the city and other parts of the county But that is changing and that is changing because of the leadership of Gabe buddy It's because of the leadership of congressman Castro because of the leadership of senator van de Pute and All of you here in the room that own small businesses that participate in the west San Antonio chamber You are the reason that those sides of towns are developing are being revitalized and are continuing to grow and Ultimately provide a greater quality of life for families and children's living on that side of town So I thank you for your dedication to both the south and the west side of San Antonio I thank you for willing to take that sacrifice and move your businesses and hire your employees from those areas in those neighborhoods We appreciate that and we will continue to do what we have to do We We will continue to do what we have to do as your elected leaders to provide a pro business Growth economy and a pro-business environment for you and your businesses there on the west and south sides of San Antonio so thank you again for allowing me to say the introductory remarks today We do have a wonderful program this evening, and I'm going to go ahead and introduce Everyone's good friend here and the emcee for tonight is tonight's event He's been the president of this wonderful organization for the last two years Leading some great changes for the group. I've known him for many years as a friend He and I worked together as assistants there at City Hall for a few years And he's been doing a lot of great things also in the private sector so once Let's go ahead and give a big round of applause Ladies and gentlemen for our friend the emcee for tonight's event the president of the west chamber mr. Gabe buddy us Well, he read that word for word folks Big round of applause for state representative Philip Cortez He's a part of a fantastic State delegation that we have that's led by our wonderful state senator who we're going to be hearing from a little later Folks like Carlos Uresti Folks like Joe Faria's folks like Roland Gutierrez. There's just some great leadership. That's working Justin Rodriguez Jose Menendez Great leaders that are doing great work there At the state for us in Austin now again on behalf of our emissario star board of directors and our very proud membership Thank you so very much for joining us this evening at the beautiful of Tropicano hotel for the 13th annual state of the district featuring congressman Joaquin Castro Again, my name is Gabe Farias. I'm the president of this wonderful organization I've been the president for the last two years my two-year anniversary is coming up here in just a couple of weeks And I am just so excited that we're able to carry the torch For folks that started this wonderful event from Colonel Jimmy Casiano to Mary Cruz to look at this Galvan Who's here to Crystal Vargas? This has been a benchmark for this organization For the last 13 years and we're just so very proud and I'm so very proud and so very humble to just Have an opportunity to continue with this wonderful tradition. I've been told by the one person Who can pretty much tell me anything she wants to do my wife? No jokes tonight. We ain't we got to get out of here by 8 o'clock So that's that's it no jokes for the evening, but we're excited my wife She just gave kind of an Arsenio Hall the fist bump there Katie. Good job. All right We're excited tonight's a great night not only for our organization, but man How many you guys are anxious to see the spurs when their fifth NBA title? Well this thing wraps up about 10 o'clock, so you should be able to catch at least the fourth quarter. No, I'm joking. It's not We've got a full agenda ahead So I'm gonna go ahead without further delay bring up an individual who is just a wonderful friend a Wonderful partner to the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to deliver the invocation Somebody who I hold in very high regards. Mr. Jane and Slater the president of our Lady the Lake University Thank you for Gabe Farias and his West San Antonio San Antonio Chamber team for gathering us here this evening We are so proud to be citizens of the very heart of San Antonio It's Westside We praise and thank you for gifting your son and our brother Joaquin with so many wonderful gifts and talents We are very grateful that he accepted the call to leadership in our Congress and Has used his many gifts in working for all of us We are blessed in his service Continue to grace him and all of us his constituents with the wisdom to make those decisions Which will bring about that peace among us that that is the essence of the gospel message Help him and all of us Continue to be people who work for justice and write relationships and Provident God Give all of our senators and congresswomen and men the courage and will to pass comprehensive Immigration reform We ask this with trust in your providence. Amen and Ghost burrs go Thank you so very much sister boy.  How digi from kidsville News she's gonna come up here. Come on up. How are you? She's gonna sing the national anthem What's so proud enjoying yourselves? Again, thank you so much for joining us tonight here for the 13th annual the 2014 state of the district featuring Congressman Joaquin Castro now walking around I've been ordered by two board members that I I have to tell a joke right now So who here what by show of hands who wants to hear a joke? Okay, well, that's that's the majority of the room. I'm gonna tell a joke that my daughter Naya Marie Actually, my father did not raise his hand out of all the people here He did not raise his hand. Wow. I'm gonna tell a joke that my daughter came home from school and Told me my wife just looked at me. She said is it a good one? Are you sure? My five-year-old daughter comes home one day and she tells me jokes from time to time And I think at a breakfast or two before I've told you a Naya Marie joke So this is a true Naya Marie joke and I and I may have to paraphrase Just a bit because there's quite a few cameras rolling. It's not that bad of a joke But this is the night crowd and I think I think I can get away with this night She comes up to me. She says dad. I got a joke for you. I said, okay She says how do Latinos cut pizza and I looked at her and I went, okay, how do Latinos cut pizza? She goes with little ceasars. How about that, huh?  This is a fantastic group And you know these types of events we can't put them on we can't hold these things without Outstanding support from our corporate our corporate partners and we're so very fortunate to have a good number of them and it starts with With the folks from Port San Antonio there are underwriting sponsor for tonight's event Bruce Miller Alex Nava, I know that Chris Alderette and Andrew on Guiano from the board are here tonight But a big round of applause for our title sponsor Port San Antonio Also wanted to mention a couple of our new corporate sponsors that we've had this has been a real good year for adding Corporate participation here at the chamber One of our new ones motorola solutions, man They're really absolutely stepping it up for the businesses of the west side of San Antonio Dale Chapman is here Dale a big round of applause for motorola solutions Also another one of our groups that you know every time we ask every time we we have any vent these guys continually step up for us The San Antonio Police Officers Association Jimmy Rodriguez Mike Haley and that outstanding group guys Thank you very much for supporting our organization Also, have you driven down Frio and seen that beautiful new apartment complex that's going up Right there near Guadalupe Street just a wonderful addition of the west side Catamount constructors are here one of our new corporate sponsors. I know Rebecca Mansfield is here Rebecca Where are you at?  That is absolutely what we need And we're thankful that you guys are providing that need also as usual playing a big role in tonight's event As they do for all of our major events CPS energy AT&T Lopez printing an IBC Bank. Thank you guys so very much for supporting our organization And I'm gonna list our table sponsors for tonight And we've got a bunch of them and you guys again you came through for us Broadway Bank You guys are always there for us Brook City base the Center for Healthcare Services Central Electric Jefferson Bank Methodist Healthcare Ministries our Lady of the Lake The San Antonio River Authority via Metropolitan Transit and especially our good friends over at Yellow Cab guys Thank you very much a round of applause for all of our sponsors today a couple of other partners that we that you see here today You see him walking around taking pictures and it's such a valuable part of Our opportunity and the way that we're able to tell the story of what we're doing But Melendez entertainment where's Mario and I know Michelle is here But but Michelle Raina and Mario Melendez from Melendez entertainment taking the pictures you can catch the shots from this event on their website at Melendez entertainment Dot-com also tonight special thanks to now cast San Antonio If you're there sitting there and you know folks are I didn't get a chance to make it just text them Let them know that it's right now Erring our now cast s a dot-com so round of applause for Melendez entertainment and now cast s a Now the fun part I get to acknowledge all of the elected officials In the room and I think because of the game we have more elected officials than we have actual people here But we do have a great support I mean it's fantastic support and before we get to our elected officials I'd like to acknowledge two of our board members one that you're gonna hear from here in just a moment Our board chair a guy that it's just an absolute champion We kind of came in the same time here with the leadership at the West Chamber But our good friend your good friend our board chairman John Leal also You know Broadway Bank has been a wonderful supporter of our organization and we have our incoming chair for 2015 She's our vice chair now incoming chair for 2015 Grace Rodriguez Elliott grace That's the boss in 2015 right there. I'm excited And again, we have some wonderful hard-working elected officials That are here and we're gonna be hearing from this one a little bit later Man to say that I admire this person is an absolute understatement And you're gonna hear this several times you need to start drinking game every time you hear this phrase because you're gonna hear it a Lot until she is our next lieutenant governor for the state of Texas a round of applause for state senator Leticia Vandepie I know we heard from him a little earlier, but a round of applause for a state representative Phil Cortez who's joining us for Folks, he's the best-looking guy in the room your district 118 state representative Joe farias He is a handsome man, isn't he? And you know guys, we are so very fortunate here in San Antonio I spent some time at City Hall and boy. I was around some dynamic city council Some city council members in the past and this city council we have now rivals any from our mayor One through ten these guys are just wonderful and I think we may have made quorum tonight I'm not sure but we have a handful of them in the room tonight Diego Bernal from district one. Where's councilman Bernal that I know he's here All right and She represents the area where I grew up in a district three a part of town that I worked in Councilwoman Rebecca Villagran a round of applause for Rebecca Villagran also representing district four Councilman Ray Saldana another just dynamic young leader here in San Antonio Councilman, can you show off the shirt you got it? You got it? He's got the coolest shirt in town or two coolest shirt in the room. There you go. Look at that That's a youth medium folks right there. He's born a youth medium Man, I don't think I ever wore youth medium. That's the problem Let's see here. Where are we at? Oh my goodness She covers the west side of San Antonio. She has just been a wonderful breath of fresh air for the west side She's been a friend of mine for several years. I know she's here your district five council person Shirley Gonzales Shirley. All right And the guy who came in second for best-looking guy in the room Sorry councilman Ray Lopez man. Hey, where you at Ray? Councilman Lopez. There you go. All right. I don't know. It's close. It's dad stand up. Stand up I don't know. What am I doing talking about good-looking guys? And I know he was on the list I think he may have been here earlier, but a round of applause for another one of our west side leaders Chris Medina the district seven councilman, please He carried this event for 11 years and he did it with a ton of pride Now doing a great job at via former congressman and our friend a big round of applause. He's here Charlie Gonzalez. Where's Charlie? Hey, there you go Sir, you are the man trust me From the San Antonio River Authority. I know we've got a couple of board members here Jerry Gonzalez worst is Jerry here. I know Jerry's one of the recently. Hey Jerry. All right, one of the board members from the San Antonio River Authority Also former councilwoman for district five former executive director for the West San Antonio Chamber and someone Who has been on the front lines fighting the great fight got a ton of respect for this lady. Look at this Galvan Look at this. Thank you very much for coming today and also representing the Alamo Colleges on the board of directors Another just a wonderful friend of the West Chamber. Mr. Joe Alderette Joe. All right. All right now I have the pleasure of introducing our next speaker our leader board chairman John Leal Chairman Leal has been at the forefront of the transition of this organization first assuming the post in June of 2012 Completing the term for the previous board chairman who resigned from that position Then being installed in January of 2013 for his full two-year term He is a tireless advocate for this organization and he has been instrumental throughout through and through his support and support of CPS energy and allowing this chamber to grow and Prosper ladies and gentlemen a big round of applause from CPS energy the chairman of the board of directors for the West Chamber Mr. John Leal So Gabe says keep it quick. He was up here for what 15 minutes Behind schedule I will keep it quick and I'll tell Gabe, you know a great event gave to you and your staff for putting this together Congressman, please. Thank you so much for spending your evening with us and addressing this group and For your leadership your tireless efforts on the west side of San Antonio. Thank you so much in between San Antonio and DC It really means a lot to all of us. I Want to say thank you to a few guests that are here. There are too many to name all at once But I just want to tell each member of council and our elected officials. Thank you so much for joining us today My friends and family at our CPS energy tables. Thank you for joining us.  Thank you for joining us this evening with your lovely wife events like this give us an opportunity to to hear from those that are important to the west side for offering Meaningful engagement with those people that set policy that really affects whether you're a small business owner Your large corporation your university your college your student Again, we just really try to do what's right for the community What I have next is to offer an opportunity to introduce someone who's very similar in that nature someone that we look up to We've known her as a state representative. We know her now as a state senator We'll soon know her as someone who carries statewide office An inspirational leader Some of that I admire someone that Gabe and I have talked about quite a bit since I came to San Antonio 10 years ago a Leader who keeps the hearts and minds of the west side and in San Antonio Close to hers and that's what makes it important here. It's it's really Electing people who are advocates of the community who will watch out for us and take care of us when we need it It's a leader and she's a leader who's true to herself and true to us and it really makes a difference It's my pleasure and privilege to invite future lieutenant governor with this event of you to the stage Thank you very much John. That was a very kind introduction and I am So glad to be in San Antonio Tonight and it's a special night tonight. We start that game series to the drive for five Absolutely that goes first go And so I know that I could probably fulfill my task In a very few short minutes But it's really important for you to know how much Our keynote speaker is so well respected now I can tell you firsthand that It's that great public education that bedrock of What is going to be the template for representative democracy right a great education? But it's more than that You see our congressman Comes from a family that valued hard work and determination from his grandmother Who worked to and sometimes three jobs? living On the west side working on the west side all to give her daughter the opportunity to get an education To have it a little bit better to have better opportunities and She did and our Rosie Was the beneficiary of her mother's hard work and dreams and so it's no wonder that our congressman has that same DNA thread That it is that hard work determination, but the compassion and willingness To give voice to those who sometimes Don't have their voice Their voices don't echo in the power chambers in our state capital and in our US capital Joaquin Castro has been an absolute Wonderful public servant and I know that firsthand Because I had had the opportunity to work with him in 2003 after returning back to San Antonio and Really beginning to be involved in neighborhood politics He knew that when the opportunity came to run for the state legislature that he would be eminently qualified And I got to tell you when he first got there there are people because I mean let's face it you were really young And they thought you know, is this another bright star from San Antonio Very quickly Not only was he known as someone who paid attention to the details But someone who never left his district Someone who could see the big picture of what state government supposed to do and we do everything from agriculture to zoning always first in his mind How does this affect public policy for the next generation What does this do for our students? It's no wonder that he was tapped to be in leadership positions particularly in the higher ed arena And I can tell you how effective he is because as a legislator We have these these pieces of bills these laws and I know that there are Organizations in this room whether it's the river authority the port authority Certainly our first responders and our police officers association in that legislative session You've got a hundred and forty days and political capital is present. I mean it is present and it is precious You only have that many days and if you don't accomplish your job you won't have another chance for another two years and So it's with this sense of urgency and those of us that have these You know these these bills they're like our children and People here you know how important they are got to get this done or not it is not going to happen for jobs at the port It's not going to happen to protect our first responders and their families It's not going to happen with the authorities that you need to plan for drought control for our river authorities It's not going to happen for our college students or are those in public schools, right? So it's precious And I treat all my bills like my babies Okay, I had six babies, but sometimes you know you have more than a hundred bills So I feel like they're my children and I work so hard to get them through the Senate But they have to get through the house We've got a wonderful legislative delegation Those Bear County members they work very hard. They're up early and they're staying late when they need to do the work But as a daughter of an army veteran Who also started his teaching career at Edgewood? I knew that for me the protection for our veterans and our education system Were the two of the things that were the most precious for me And although I lost my dad almost a year ago It still reminds me every day that his service to our country much like The men and women in this room who have had service to our country So when I have bills that deal with veterans and education I needed a strong champion someone who was very well positioned and respected within the legislature to carry them through and I turned to Joaquin Castro One very special bill college credit for heroes We all know how difficult it is for transitioning veterans into the workforce But we know that they've received these wonderful skills in the military, but they don't translate to college credit So think about someone who's trying to come here to St. Phillips and Get a nursing degree and They start teaching that biology and anatomy try to put in IVs They're an army medic and they've been doing it in combat theater with bullets flying Y'all ought to be able to get credit for that and So the vision that Joaquin and I had was to give our veterans and our active-duty military Credit appropriately For those skill sets that they received and were very well trained in the military Translate them so you don't waste taxpayer money. You don't waste the veterans time and they get a foot ahead It was difficult to get that one through That's how you higher ed folks at some point or oh, no, we don't want you know I want to give them credit when I want to give credit Thank goodness our community colleges right away stepped up to the plate But in tough times just like our veterans protected us I trusted Joaquin to carry that over and you got it passed and thank goodness We've had a wonderful success for our veterans in programs like nursing and logistics and so many others That you made possible The other bill that I handed you Was something of a recognition of the Hazelwood Act. Those of you know that we have military members that serve in Texas have 150 hours of college credit and a lot of our veterans Because of their injuries or because time has passed They don't use it But we know it's the whole family that serves and So how do we translate that? difficult to get through Third session I tried to get it through Joaquin took it over in the house and today We have thousands and thousands of children a Veterans who passed on their legacy to attend college Thank you Joaquin for making that happen in the house Amazing amazing so many people will tell you that he's a rising star. I disagree Folks our congressman is Already a shining star. Please welcome up my dear friend our colleague our congressman Joaquin Castro Good evening Y'all ready for the game All right, I shortened my remarks so that everybody could get home and First of all, I want to say thank you to the West Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to be here today This is the second annual event. I know that Charlie did 11 of them Charlie I don't know that I'll make your mark, but I'm glad to do the second one and it's great to see you here Thank you, let these you for that wonderful introduction. I'll tell you something first of all Let these is going to be our next lieutenant governor with everybody's help But if she wasn't running for lieutenant governor, I would tell the president You should make this woman the head of the VA because she has done so much for veterans She would straighten that place out she was so passionate about veterans issues and education issues and and I think the best person working behind the scenes with both Republicans and Democrats to do something that you don't see often done in politics today Which is to get something done for the people that she represents Thank you for all of your work and all the work that you're gonna do on behalf of the people of Texas You know since we last visited I have had a whirlwind of a year Just about every life change you can imagine I have I have gone through since I took office in January of 2013. I of course I got a new job and going to Congress. I got engaged. I got married.  It has been such an incredible year and you know amidst all of the Wonderful personal things my daughter is now almost six months. I got married at 39 years old guys I think I waited long enough, right? You know I used to tell people that there were two ways to tell we on and I apart the quick way Which is that he had a wedding ring and I didn't and the easy way, which is that I'm a lot better looking than he is Now there's only one way to tell us apart, which is I'm still a lot better looking than he is But amidst all of that the wonderful personal things for me I got to be honest with you last year the last year in Congress had been a tough one You know where to start? 2013 was the least productive year in congressional history And I say that obviously without any pride But with a lot of concern as an American citizen and as somebody who represents you in the United States Congress the Congress in 2013 Pass the least number of bills that any Congress has passed since we've been keeping record Somewhere between 67 and 72 bills to give you a sense of scale in the 1940s Harry Truman campaigned against the do-nothing Congress that Congress passed in its term somewhere around 900 bills Last year we passed 600 we passed between 67 and 72. So at last we passed another 900 this year We're gonna be well below that mark And what that means is that we have a lot of work to do for the American people We have a lot of work to do here in San Antonio Y'all have often heard me say that all of us in public service and those of us in the community and in business All of us working together as Americans our highest calling is to build out what I call the infrastructure of opportunity To create a society in America where we continue to build great public schools and universities a strong health care system and An economy that's built around well-paying jobs So that when people put in a hard day's work They can support themselves and their family members and since I've been elected to office I have I have been working every single day to live up to that standard to do everything that I can Working with people other elected officials people in the community people in business to make sure that the people of San Antonio Have every opportunity in front of them and it's very special to be able to do that You know, this is the main the 20th district is the main San Antonio district as Charlie will tell you it has an incredible lineage Maury Maverick was once the congressman for the 20th district He was also the mayor of San Antonio Of course the district was represented for over 30 years by the legendary iconic Henry B. Gonzalez champion of the West Side of San Antonio and Also represented very wonderfully by his son Charlie Gonzalez who continued that legacy And so I came into office I Came into office very cognizant of the fact that I had big shoes to fill and an incredible role to play And it's very special for me because this district runs all the way from the south side of San Antonio Including much of the West Side, you know the majority of the West Side and all the way into Northwest San Antonio It covers everything from Harlandale all the way to Holodas and much of the West Side where I grew up And you know, I was visiting earlier with Frank Bernie as we were saying hello I was saying hello to some folks here and he reminded me that the last one of the last times We were in this room together. I think the last time actually was when my brother We rented this place out for a week so that my brother could practice his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 and How special it was two weeks ago today to hear my brother accept the nomination Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and mentioned in his press conference that he and I grew up on the West Side of San Antonio That was a very proud moment for me There is such incredible potential in our neighborhoods And I know that Gabe Farias and John and everybody else at the Chamber is doing everything that they can to build out that infrastructure of opportunity for the West Side and so as we all work together to do that There are a few things that we have to do in my office The first priority is service Making sure that we are properly serving the people that we represent each congressional district represents more or less 700,000 people so you can imagine it in the last year and a half or so I feel that over 20,000 letters and responded over 20,000 letters Tens of thousands of phone calls some of them very nice and saying good things and a few thousand saying very mean and ugly things You get across the board response as Charlie knows on a wide range of issues But we've also handled a thousand constituent cases and in those cases for example my staff has done a wonderful work We have recovered over one point six million dollars in veterans benefits For example for all of the hard-working men and women who've honorably served our country and deserve their benefits We've gotten about a million and a half dollars for them Hundreds of thousands of dollars in social security benefits for people in our in our district who've also been seeking to claim those and Done, you know just tons of other kinds of cases So I always tell folks that first and foremost our job is to serve the people that we represent So our lines are always open our door is always open both in San Antonio and in Washington So that we can help and however we can and I think it's a testament to my staff that they have been Successful in doing that and I hope that the ones that are here will stand up for a second And I hope that we can recognize all of their wonderful work. I know Kerry and Lauda Adam Roseanne Tony Thank you for all of the work that y'all do You know as we think about San Antonio going forward I have to say how blessed we are that we live in a city where the unemployment rate is significantly below the national average It's at 4.8 percent now That's incredible We also live in a city that had the wisdom many years ago to build out our economy beyond our true traditional anchors Those of you that are my age and more senior to me will remember there was a time in San Antonio Where our economy was anchored mostly in two things in the military Once upon a time we had five military bases and in tourism San Antonio for many years now has been the most visited city in all of Texas The Riverwalk and the Alamo are the two most visited sites in the state of Texas And those were things that we could be proud of but in the 1990s. We received a jolt the BRAC Commission Announced that they would close Kelly Air Force base Y'all remember the shockwave that that sent through our city right on the west side of San Antonio That base had ushered tens of thousands of families over the years San Antonio families into the middle class and so we face what I would consider an identity crisis Not only did we have to figure out how we were how we were going to replace those jobs But how we were going to move our economy so that we wouldn't be reliant just on these two economic bases Economic anchors and over the years and even before that with Mayor C. Snetto's we did incredible things to diversify our economy And today all of the success that you see a lot of that success The the seeds to that were planted years ago So now we have a high-tech sector that's growing with incredible corporate citizens like rack space a biotech industry That's growing a manufacturing industry. That's growing. I had a chance yesterday to visit Toyota Manufacturing Company over on the south side Toyota of course just announced that they're relocating their North American manufacturing headquarters Unfortunately, not to San Antonio, but at least they're coming to Texas to North Texas in Plano And I told the folks at Toyota that I want to do every single thing that I can to make sure that the next time They decide to move a line whether it's the Prius or the Tacoma or some other Vehicle that they decide to build that right here in San Antonio instead of somewhere else That's the kind of work that we have to continue to go after so Building up our economy and continuing it continuing to diversify it The reason that that matters so much is because the better our economy does the more we can attract well-paying jobs The better all of our families will do and it also means that for our young people You won't hear a story that we've heard over and over again throughout the ages in San Antonio What happens is that somebody graduates from UTSA or st. Mary's or lay the lake They graduate with an engineering degree or some other degree and they have this talk with their family Just before they graduate and they tell their parents I really want to stay in San Antonio But I can't find the kind of job that I'm looking for here at home So I'm gonna move off to Houston or Austin or Los Angeles or somewhere else and what happens too often They never come back Their family sees them at Thanksgiving and Christmas Maybe on their birthday and maybe they move back 30 or 40 years later when they're getting ready to retire We need to do a better job of recruiting recruiting employers here so that that story is not told in San Antonio It also means that not only do you have to be able to attract the jobs but to attract the jobs You have to improve your education system and Texas has a long way to go in making that true We have an education system that ranks in the bottom half among American states And that's a challenge because when you're going out and recruiting companies You have to be able to tell them that you have the workforce that they need to succeed So for San Antonio, you know, we said we decided a few years ago now that we would take things into our own hands That we wouldn't wait either for Austin or for Washington to do the right thing and the mayor and the city council passed pre-k for SA and San Antonians made sure that San Antonio now has the most comprehensive pre-k program in all of Texas And that's something that we can all be proud of It's also something that I've built my legislation around You know two of the pieces of legislation that I filed one is to expand pre-k in the United States To offer incentives and grants to replicate the success that we've had in San Antonio So that pre-k is offered to more people throughout the country Also tried to make it easier for students to take on student debt. That was the first bill that I filed You know, there is a lot of student student debt out there And there has been this fear that just as we had a home mortgage crisis that we could also face a student loan crisis Where people are unable to to continue to repay their student loans So we need to make sure that the repayment terms and the loans that they are taking out are as favorable as possible To students so that they can afford to go to college and then also come into their careers Without being saddled with debt that they simply are overwhelmed by so those are a few issues that I'm working on and Also, you know when we think about our city and we think about the challenges we face We have to talk about the issue of health care Texas has is a is home to the highest percentage of people that have absolutely no health care coverage at all 25% of Texans including over 25% of kids have no health care coverage at all And so I was proud to be somebody who was pushing for the expansion of Medicaid You know the hospital association in Texas and some of the chambers of commerce have been good about asking the governor and the legislature To expand Medicaid coverage which would cover over a million Texans and tens of thousands of San Antonians But also somebody who didn't shy away from pushing the Affordable Care Act I know that it's been something that's been contentious There have been folks on both sides of the argument some people who believe that it was misplaced policy some people who simply wish it away, but I'm not one of those people We are an estate that has the highest percentage the highest percentage of people that have no health care coverage Their health care providers are in the emergency room They are the reason that in Texas in our counties Particularly in big counties like Bear County, Travis County, Harris County and others Our taxpayers are saddled with huge bills because we have so many folks who show up at the emergency room Get treated and then when the bill comes they simply can't pay So who pays for that that money doesn't just go away the taxpayers pay that bill the Affordable Care Act last year helped 26,000 new San Antonians get health care coverage so that they're able to pay for their own health care coverage Instead of the taxpayers in San Antonio and in Texas and they're also able to get coverage for themselves and their families And I think that's something that we can all be proud of and I will Close with this because I know that we want to go on to the game There's also a big issue that many of us in Texas and other places have been working on and something that would be very important for our city San Antonio is a city that was built by immigrants Everyone from Mexicans to Germans to Italians to Irish Europeans people from all over the world The fact is there are four or five or six major American and Texas industries That would not exist and would not succeed the way they do But for immigrant labor we know in Silicon Valley for example and in burgeoning tech centers like Austin That 40% of the new high-tech jobs and businesses are created by immigrants who are entrepreneurs So everything from high-tech to low-tech the agriculture industry self reports that 50% of their workers are undocumented immigrants Which probably means that 75% of their workers are undocumented immigrants This is an issue that's important to Texans and I want to say how proud I am of people from all over the political spectrum From Republicans in the Chamber of Commerce Evangelical churches and other Christian churches who have joined with advocates on the left Concerned about the welfare of immigrants who've stepped forward to ask Congress to finally pass Comprehensive immigration reform we should have done it in 2013. I'm hopeful that we will do it in 2014 It's time that as a nation we acknowledge the role that immigrants play in our society We acknowledge the hard work that they do Listen, there are not too many people who are competing to work a construction job when it's a 102 degrees in July in San Antonio There aren't a lot of people who are competing to work in the fields of California picking grapes when it's a hundred degrees out in the sun Those are the facts. I think we all acknowledge that That doesn't mean that people who are against comprehensive reform don't have some strong arguments You know oftentimes in Washington people act like they're a hundred percent right and everybody else is a hundred percent wrong Leticia knows and others who have served on city councils and an elective position know that that's just not true Just because we believe we have the stronger argument doesn't mean that the other side is a hundred percent wrong They have some strong arguments But when all is said and done and we add up the pluses and minuses This is something that we have to do for the country going forward And so I hope that we'll pass it in 2014 But I suspect that if we don't that we'll pass it by 2016 and I want to say that I'll keep working for that I'll keep working for the people of San Antonio for the west side of San Antonio where I was born and raised and Where I'm proud to be. Thank you very much. We'll see all next year and go Spurs go Your congressman ladies and gentlemen Joaquin Castro Congressman on behalf of our organization, there's some beautiful things in the west side. We've got beautiful businesses and Beautiful schools beautiful universities. We thought we've also got some wonderful art and one of our artists Blas Fernandez has prepared this for you on behalf of our organization read is On our board of directors. We'd like to present that that's how you do it when you got game one of the NBA finals that's how you Listen to all the people in the room saying stick to the time Gabe Guys, thank you so very much. You're more than welcome to stick around. We're gonna have a Spurs viewing party We're gonna get that screen lit up. We're gonna dim the lights and we're gonna play game one here Right there on the big screen. So if you want to stick around, we're gonna run the game until half time So you don't have to like have a mad dash to your car Enjoy the evening. We're gonna continue with the spirits Serving over there. But again on behalf of the chamber on behalf of our board of directors, thank you Thank you. Thank you for the support.


All right, so I'm going to present a case on homoptysis and associated vision loss. So this is a 13-year-old African-American girl who has a history of chronic homoptysis and resulting hypoxia and anemia. And upon admission, she was found to have profound vision loss, and therefore, ophthalmology was involved. So her past medical history, she was a very healthy young girl until about July of 2014 when she developed homoptysis while she was playing basketball. Prior to this, she had never been admitted, never been on any medications. She had repeat admissions over the next 20 months at various institutions in Las Vegas, and she was treated with several high-dose steroid pulses followed by oral tapers. And then she also received two doses of cytoxan, and that was in July of this last year, and then that was discontinued. She had a working diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary hemociderosis. So her ophthalmic history, in about September of 2015, she had a very severe episode of homoptysis. And her hemoglobin was reported to be a 2 by her grandmother. However, upon reviewing her records, it looks like her lowest hemoglobin was about a 5.9. She reports that her vision became very blurry after this and that she had associated right eye pain. And then she was seen by ophthalmology in Las Vegas. We have only some of those records. And her vision was reported to be count fingers at one foot in her right eye and 20, 30 in her left eye. There was no APD. And she was referred to retina because she was felt to have some sort of macular irregularity, though her Mac OCT was normal. And we don't have the records from that retina specialist. And then in January of this last year, she was seen again. Her vision had worsened to light perception in the right eye and 20, 50 vision in the left eye. Again, there was not an APD, but she was referred to neuroophthalmology in Las Vegas. And again, we don't have those records. So in February of this year, she completed a six month course of steroids, a very slow taper that started out 80 milligrams twice daily. And then the first week of March, she noticed a decrease in her vision again. She was seen by the general ophthalmologist who noted that she had no light perception in her right eye and 20, 60 vision in her left eye. It was the first time an APD was noted, and she was sent to get some imaging. But then just about a week or two later, she again developed some very, very severe hemoptysis, hypoxia, and increased oxygen needs, and therefore was transferred from the ICU in Las Vegas to the PICU here at Primary Children's. So her initial examination by ophthalmology the day after admission was no light perception in the right eye, 20, 25 vision in the left. She was unable to see any color plates with the right eye, and she had got four out of eight Isha Harrah plates in the left eye. Her right eye constricted to consensual light. Her left eye was sluggish, but constricted to both direct and consensual light, and there was a very large APD. Her extraocular movements were full and her IOP was normal. Her orbit slids and lashes were normal and her conjunctiva and sclera were white and quiet. Her corneas were clear bilaterally. Her anterior chambers were deep and quiet. Her lenses were clear, and her fundoscopic exam showed bilateral pallor of her optic nerves, but her macular vessels and periphery were normal. So her outside workup at this time had included an ESR and a CRP, which were normal, but it was when she was on 80 of prednisone twice daily. Her CMPs have been normal. She's had low hemoglobin for basically 20 months, low MCV, but her iron studies have been normal. Her autoimmune workup thus far, oops. Her autoimmune workup thus far has been really unremarkable. She did have a lung biopsy done. There was some concern, could this be vasculitis? However, it just showed some bronchiolitis and mild lymphoid hyperplasia. However, again, she was on about two months of high-dose steroids when this was done.  This was done in December of last year, so about four months prior to presentation. And in Las Vegas, these were all read as normal. They were over read at primary children's and also read to be completely normal. So our differential diagnosis at this time, we thought most likely this sounded like a posterior ischemic optic neuropathy given that her symptoms were right after she had that severe episode of hemoptysis and very low hemoglobin. However, we also considered optic neuritis considering that there was never an MRI of her orbits done and that it could have been done at a time at which this was quiet. And within that category, we considered MS, NMO, sarcoid, infectious and vasculitis to be most likely. So she had some repeat imaging done. This time it was definitely not normal. You can see that there's some bilateral white matter lesions on both sides and a very large one in the left frontal lobe. And here you can see her right optic nerve is lit up and she has optic neuritis. And you can see that goes basically all the way from the globe and into the chiasm. She also had lesions in her cervical spine and in her thoracic spine. And then on 3, 22, 16, her C. Inca came back positive. And as you may know, that is often positive in granulomatosis, polyangitis, previously known as Wegner's. However, usually both, sorry, usually both the MPO and PR3 are abnormal and usually there'll be some signs of vasculitis. A CT, angio-necbrane and chest was done, all which were completely normal. So it just didn't seem like this was a GPA. So we brought her over to clinic the next day and as you can see, she had bilateral optic nerve pallor and strangely she actually had more cupping on the left eye compared to the right even though it was the right eye that had the poor vision. And yet that was confirmed with the RNFL with the global thinning. There was some remaining neurofiber layer inferiorly and nasally in the right eye. And then her visual field in the left eye showed some temporal defect and she could not, she was no light perceptions so we didn't get one of the right eye. So her medical course, she did develop transverse myelitis the next day after neurophthalmology clinic which started with leg pain and then she developed numbness of her feet and toes and then it ascended and she actually developed paralysis of both her legs. Then she had a lung biopsy done due to her positive C. anka and she was off prednisone for a month at that time so we felt that maybe it would show something new. And right after the biopsy was done she was started on high dose prednisone. So then the next day we got some big answers some important answers. Her NMO came back positive, had been drawn twice and both of them were positive. Her high dose steroids were continued and she started on plasmapheresis. A few days later her wedge biopsies came back and they were consistent with vasculitis and there were no granulomacine so that kind of did not completely rule out but felt like the sarcoid was less likely given that there were no granulomacine. So basically at this point we felt that there were two diagnoses one being neuromyelitis optica and the other being vasculitis. So after she received about four treatments of plasmapheresis her strength started to increase. She became more stable from a pulmonary standpoint and she had some subjective improvement of vision out of her right eye. So on her follow-up neuropathic exam her vision improved from no light perception to hand motion. Her left eye vision did not improve, it was still 2050. She had a 2.4 log APD in the right eye. Her extracurricular movements were full she was still having a little bit of pain with up gaze and her intracurricular pressures were normal. Her anterior chamber did show a few pigmented cells but was otherwise unremarkable and her fundus exam was unchanged. So her treatment plan was basically to get seven treatments of plasmapheresis and then a dose of IVIG. She was started on rituximab and will be on that for a long time and then she will have a very slow taper of her prednisone. She was discharged to UNLV Hospital over this last weekend and she'll be following up with us in about a month and if there were some potentially some insurance issues and some travel issues so she may be following up in Las Vegas. So that's that case. I'll have you hold your questions until we kind of go over the spectrum.


Anti-crude oil theft operations by the Joint Tax Force South-South Code-Named Operation Delta SAFE has led to the demobilization of about 1,423 illegal oil refined inside in the year 2021. Aside this, over 4,929 storage facilities and 536 large wooden boats were also demobilized with many arrests made. Details in this report. The Joint Tax Force Operation Delta SAFE is saddled with the responsibility of protecting oil and gas infrastructure and deterring militancy, sea robbery, crude oil theft and other forms of criminality within its joint operation areas which could have negative impact on economic activities in the Niger Delta. Just like all the years 2021 came with these challenges with spillover effects of maritime crimes along the nation's territorial waters and the Gulf of Guinea from the previous year. But the JTA was able to rise to the challenge bringing a batch reduced incidences of sea piracy and crude oil theft. This decommander operation Delta SAFE Rare Admiral Amino Hasan stated while briefing journalists on the achievements in 2021. Also 30 ships laden with crude oil cargo, 9 badges, 137 trucks and other types of vehicles conveying illegally refined products were arrested. Additionally, about 40 million liters of crude oil and 67 million liters of illegally refined products mostly AGO were recovered from the criminals. In the process of conducting these operations, 567 suspects were arrested in connection with various crimes. Significant achievements were also made in the clearance of camps belonging to militants and sea pirates. 51 such camps were completely destroyed while 153 assorted weapons as well as large number of various caliber of ammunition were recovered from the criminals. While the Nigerian Navy is tackling the piracy issues at the high seas, the joint task force is appropriately handling the back waters. The number of sea robbery and pirates attacks in Nigerian waters as well as the Gulf of Guinea respectively have drastically reduced in 2021, that is the current year. There were 28 reported cases of pirates attacks in the Gulf of Guinea which forms part of Nigeria's waters. While same period, only four attacks were recorded in Nigerian waters. The event which took place at the OPDS headquarters in Yenogwa also witnessed the decoration of three newly promoted officers, their Colonel Olaynkar Are and Colonel Oluremi Olawali who were promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and Navy Captain BM Suley who was elevated to Commodore. Jesse say for plus TV Africa.