Best Of The Border (01/13-01/18)
Phoenix Development Would Bridge Rich, Poor
There’s a movement afoot to bring new money into urban areas all over the country, and surprisingly Phoenix is part of that movement. The city has long been famous for its suburban sprawl.
But now plans are moving ahead to link high-rise downtown with a neighboring Latino barrio that wealthy developers have mostly ignored for the better part of 100 years.
Mexico To Texas: The Risk In Illegal Trade Of Prescription Medicine
In borderland Texas, a widespread lack of health insurance goes along with poverty and high rates of diseases.
Cheaper prescription drugs to treat these conditions are available across the border in Mexico. But physicians and law enforcement are tracking a relatively new trend — the smuggling of medicine in bulk from Mexico to U.S. patients who no longer feel safe shopping for them in Mexico.
"There's a trade in legal prescription medication," Pharmacist Jorge Sandoval said in Spanish. "The trade is generated by people (in both countries) who want to buy medicine at a lower price. People are bringing in ice chests to fill with medicines that they sell to friends and relatives.”
Casa Del Jardin Offers Girls A Life After Prostitution
Underage girls who are victims of human trafficking have one place to go in Tijuana where they can start a new life. Zuria (not her real name) now lives at the shelter, La Casa del Jardin. She tells us she escaped after being kidnapped and forced to work as a prostitute.
"During those seven months," she said in Spanish, "I lived under threats, beatings, and offenses."
Roswell Shooting Puts Focus On New Mexico Gun Violence
On Tuesday, two students were flown to Lubbock, Texas, for medical treatment after a seventh-grade student at a Roswell middle school opened fire with a shotgun on a crowd in a gymnasium.
The Fronteras Desk’s Tristan Ahtone gives us a brief history of gun laws and violence in New Mexico.
A university research team in Texas was one of six teams selected by the FAA recently to begin testing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles — otherwise known as drones. The main focus of the testing is to work out safety and communication issues, and huge chunks of Texas have been designated as potential testing sites.
But some parts of the state are not keen on the idea.
