Task Force Seeks Ban on Assault Weapons

Washington Post, 11/12/09
A binational task force on U.S.-Mexico border issues will call Friday on the Obama administration and Congress to reinstate an expired ban on assault weapons and for Mexico to overhaul its frontier police and customs agencies to mirror the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The recommendations are among a broad set of security, [...]

John King To Take Over Dobbs’s Slot at CNN

em>Washington Post, 11/12/09
CNN announced Thursday that John King, the Sunday morning host best known for his magic wall, is taking over the 7 p.m. slot left vacant by the abrupt resignation of Lou Dobbs.
The decision, described by network sources, amounts to a doubling down on straight news. King, a former Associated Press writer, is [...]

WRI’s EMBARQ Wins Harvard University Award for Mexico City Bus Project

World Resources Institute, 11/12/09
EMBARQ – the World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport – today receives the 2009 Roy Family Award for Environmental Partnership from Harvard University for its work in establishing Mexico City’s Metrobus, a sustainable transit project in one of the world’s most populated and congested cities.
“We’re honored to receive this award,” said [...]

High Education Spending, Few Results (in Spanish)

/a>Reforma, 11/12/09
Ciudad de México México is one of the countries that invests the most in education, but produces little human capital, said the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco).
While the country invests 2,180 dollars per secondary student, 0.8 percent of students aged 15 score at the level of excellence in international tests.
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In Mexico, Tying the City in Knots Is a Capital Idea

Los Angeles Times, 11/12/09
Reporting from Mexico City – Take world-class traffic congestion. Add protesters, tens of thousands of them, until streets become a thick, impenetrable mass. Let angry horn-blowing begin. Repeat, over and over.
There are times in Mexico’s teeming capital when you can’t get there from here. Usually, it’s a question of too many [...]

National Employment Service to recruit former employees from LyFC (In Spanish)

El Universal, 11/9/09
The National Employment Service, in coordination with the National Commission on Electricity (CFE), will begin a process of selection and training former employees who applied to the Mexico’s labor support unit on Monday.
According to the Department of Labor, the National Employment Service will be in charge of the recruitment and selection of [...]

Soldiers Wary of Often Corrupt Mexican Police

Associated Press, 11/9/09
When soldiers tried to halt a suspicious-looking SUV that was being escorted through Monterrey by a state policeman, the officer radioed for backup. In minutes, police from 40 patrol cars surrounded the troops, drawing their guns and sending the soldiers diving for cover in an hour-long standoff.
Confrontations like that are happening with increasing [...]

Senate Blocks Census Citizenship Question

Associated Press, 11/7/09
Senate Democrats Thursday blocked a GOP attempt to require next year’s census forms to ask people whether they are U.S. citizens.
The proposal by Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter was aimed at excluding non-citizens from the population totals that are used to figure the number of congressional representatives for each state.
Critics said Vitter’s plan [...]

Play Béisbol! America’s Favorite Pastime in Mexico

San Francisco Chronicle, 11/4/09
Nothing can replace fútbol — known here as soccer — as the most popular sport in Mexico, but baseball comes in a strong second. From Tijuana to Tampico, in the large cities and the smallest villages, you find ballparks.
Some are impressive stadiums with manicured grass, many more are just dirt fields [...]

Reporter Kidnapped and Killed in Northern Mexico

Associated Press, 11/4/09
A news reporter who wrote about violent drug crimes has been strangled in the northern Mexican state of Durango, authorities said Tuesday.
El Tiempo de Durango journalist Jose Bladimir Antuna was kidnapped Monday morning, said Ruben Lopez, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office. Authorities found his body that night in a vacant lot [...]