Best of the Border (7/1-7/5)
'These Are The Worst Of Times For Firefighters'
It’s been a tremendously painful week for families, friends and community members in Prescott, Arizona. A wildfire overcame and killed 19 hotshot firefighters when unpredictable wind gusts picked up Sunday, June 30.
Don Devendorf, division chief for the Prescott Fire Department, gave a stirring speech at a memorial for the fallen. "We look at each other and we cry. And we recognize that it could have been any one of us. A lot of us started in the hotshot division," he said.
Future Uncertain For Devastated Arizona Town
The Yarnell Hill Fire managed to destroy 19 lives and at least 129 homes in just a few days.
The people who evacuated from the devastated town of Yarnell will begin to trickle back into their town over the next few days.
“World, don’t forget us. If you can’t do anything materially, pray for us. I don’t care how you do it," resident Arlon Rice said.
New Mexico Farmworkers May Be Victims Of Illegal Pay Practices
The worst drought in decades and mounting costs have driven New Mexico's agriculture industry to search for ways to stay profitable. But some say employers may be saving money by engaging in unethical and illegal pay practices and taking advantage of undocumented workers.
A report by the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty found that 55 percent of workers in the dairy industry work more than eight hours a day, and almost half of those laborers put in a six-day week or more.
Attorneys with the Center say workers are significantly underpaid and not entitled to any overtime.
New Mexico Workers' Comp Laws May Exploit Dairy Workers
In New Mexico, dairies aren’t paying workers' compensation because state law exempts agricultural workers from getting it. But the industry has a fatality rate about eight times the national average for all industries, and the rates of non-fatal injuries are also high.
It’s estimated that just less than 90 percent of dairy workers in the country are a mix of documented and undocumented, non-English speaking laborers. Advocates say New Mexico workers' comp practices in the dairy industry exploit a politically powerless workforce.
