Traffickers thwarted
at border sell crack, heroin, meth to locals
USA Today Jul 23, 08 7:28 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Drug addiction is skyrocketing in Mexico, which used to be simply a transit point for illegal drugs rather than a major consumer market, reports USA Today . As increased border security foils smugglers along the American border, the drugs end up being sold to Mexicans. Crack cocaine use has risen sharply, and heroin and crystal meth are becoming a problem for the first time.
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Winds top 75 mph; Texas braces for landfall
Daily News (Galveston Co., Texas) Jul 22, 08 5:06 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Tropical Storm Dolly got a promotion this afternoon, becoming the second named hurricane of the season, the Galveston County Daily News reports. The new hurricane is moving northwest over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico at 10mph and is expected to make landfall sometime tomorrow. If current models prevail, the storm will collide with the Texas-Mexico border, Reuters reports.
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Tropical storm gunning for upgrade to hurricane, but small one
Reuters Jul 22, 08 6:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Tropical Storm Dolly is en route to hurricane status, and hurricane conditions are expected by the end of today on the southern Texas coast near the Mexican border, Reuters reports. With winds currently around 50mph, Dolly is crossing the Gulf of Mexico from where it emerged over the Yucatan peninsula.
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Mexico-grown peppers in Texas plant contain bacteria behind case
Associated Press Jul 21, 08 4:17 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Federal inspectors are urging people to avoid eating fresh jalapeños after discovering the same salmonella strain responsible for a nationwide food-poisoning epidemic in a Mexican-grown pepper in a Texas plant. Though the FDA says the finding is a “very important break in the case,” the Mexican jalapeños are not necessarily the source of the salmonella, as the pepper may not have been contaminated on the farm, the AP reports.
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Salmonella warning is lifted, though investigation continues
Associated Press Jul 17, 08 3:20 PM CDT
(AP)
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The US government has declared it's OK to eat tomatoes again, lifting its salmonella warning amid signs that the outbreak, while not over, may finally be slowing. Officials reiterated earlier warnings that the people most at risk of salmonella should avoid hot peppers, particularly jalapenos and serranos. The Food and Drug Administration is sending inspectors to Mexico to investigate a packing house that receives peppers from a number of farms.
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Crew says it was forced to pilot makeshift vessel
Associated Press Jul 17, 08 9:00 AM CDT
(AP)
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Mexico's navy seized a homemade submarine carrying a drug shipment off the Pacific coast yesterday and arrested its four-man crew. The 30-foot makeshift vessel was detected heading north about 200 miles off the southern state of Oaxaca, and intercepted when it surfaced. The crew offered no resistance, and say drug lords forced them to make the journey.
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Murder posts up as drug war accelerates
BBC Jul 13, 08 10:01 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Mexican authorities are investigating a slew of online ads offering the services of a professional killer. The ads may be fake, but police are taking no chances. A recent outbreak of hitmen amidst a raging drug war has contributed to the more than 1,400 murders in Mexico this year, including some 400 police officers and public officials.
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Could cause heavy rain, but not expected
to hit land
Associated Press Jul 2, 08 1:27 PM CDT
(AP)
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Tropical Storm Douglas formed off Mexico's Pacific coast today, but forecasters say it is not expected to hit land. The storm, located about 245 miles southwest of Manzanillo, will bring rough weather to the southern Baja California Peninsula and could dump heavy rains between Lazaro Cardenas and Puerto Vallarta.
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Sounds from pre-Columbian ceremonies brought back to life
Associated Press Jul 1, 08 6:45 AM CDT
(Newser)
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A Mexican engineer has worked for decades to bring the sounds of the Aztecs back to life, reports the AP. Roberto Velazquez has created replicas of the instruments found at many archaeological sites—including the eerie "Whistles of Death" discovered with a skeleton in an ancient temple—and experimented to re-create noises that may have been heard at ceremonies thousands of years ago.
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Military responsible for deaths of 13 unarmed citizens
Time Jun 29, 08 9:42 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Mexicans increasingly accuse state troops of beating and murdering innocents on their mission to curb violent drug cartels, Time reports. Since the state assigned 25,000 soldiers to fight drug-runners 2 years ago, troops have killed at least 13 unarmed people—while traffickers have added 1,800 more to the tally. "These soldiers are idiots," a witness to a shooting said. "What protection do they give us?"
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Officials were involved in drug fight
CNN Jun 27, 08 4:15 AM CDT
(Newser)
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In a brazen display of Mexican drug cartel violence, two federal agents were shot dead in broad daylight as they dined in a Mexico City restaurant yesterday, CNN reports. The shooter then sped off in a black car. One victim was the nation's second-highest-ranking federal police officer and was in charge of programs to combat drug trafficking and smuggling.
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50% surge in sales south of border
New York Times Jun 25, 08 3:46 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Soaring gas prices have Californians and Texans racing for the border and braving drug cartel violence to save some $20 per tank filling up in Mexico. American pumps have passed the $4 mark, but Mexican gas is still just $2.66 a gallon thanks to subsidies intended for poor Mexicans. Americans are buying it up instead, triggering a 50% surge in sales—and Mexican gas shortages, reports the New York Times.
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Decades of local disasters slowly undermined their cities
USA Today Jun 23, 08 6:59 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Some experts want to drain Mayan history of its high drama—the sudden collapse, and desperate migration—to tell a longer, slower story, USA Today reports. Classic history claims that Mayan cities imploded quickly around 900 AD, and their people trekked north to colonize in the Yucatan—but experts now say that Mayans had already lived there for 1,000 years.
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Justices also reject environmentalists' challenge to US-Mexico border fence
Los Angeles Times Jun 23, 08 1:06 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The Supreme Court today agreed to hear the US Navy's objection to a court order that ships may not use sonar within 12 miles of the California coast because high-frequency signals are harming whales and other marine life, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Bush administration argues that the judge exceeded her authority in putting environmental concerns before national security.
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