Archive for February 26th, 2009
NPT Biz: Ok, so El Paso might not be affordable, but homes still are profitable for those who have one
A post less than a week ago noted a report from the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo that ranked El Paso near the bottom of cities in the U.S. for home affordability. [link]
Well, that may or may not hold, but the Texas Association of REALTORS® has some news it wants to share as well. Follow the jump for their news release.
NPT Juxtapose: Border Security, border perspectives
Two quick items. Want to guess about the overall orientation of each? I’ll start: One is social, cultural and academic. The other one, well, it’s all about the money. One way to figure it out is to look at the scheduled speakers for each event. Here’s a brief blurb from each one. To read the entire news release about each event, follow the jump:
— EL PASO, February 10, 2009– Students from the history honor society Phi Alpha Theta will conduct a teach-in on the violence in the El Paso-Juárez region on Thursday, February 26, at the El Paso Natural Gas Conference Center on the University of Texas at El Paso campus. Starting at 6pm, the two-hour event will include four panelists representing both sides of the border and a question and answer period. Originally organized by UTEP doctoral students in the Department of History, the teach-in seeks to bring together experts on the border violence with the El Paso-Juárez community in a forum for discussion and dialogue. Speakers will provide an explanation and understanding of the current situation, explore how the media has covered the issues, and reveal perspectives of those directly impacted by the violence.
— UTEP Hosts Border Security and Immigration Symposium; Speakers to Discuss Balancing Security and Trade, Collaborations with Universities: Several of the nation’s most prominent leaders in the fields of border security and immigration will discuss how to improve border security while addressing immigration and commercial interests at the inaugural National Center for Border Security and Immigration Symposium at UTEP Thursday, Feb. 26, and Friday, Feb. 27. With the theme of “Educating to Make a Difference in Border Security and Immigration,” the symposium will include panel discussions about alliances between universities and the government to solve complex security issues, balancing security and trade, and how universities are responding to the homeland security challenge.
NPT City: Emma’s fund-raiser
Received through the mail. Any others? Send ’em over.
You are Cordially Invited
Reception & Fundraiser For
Emma Acosta
City Council Representative
District #3
Thursday, February 26th
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Andale’s Restaurant
9201 Gateway W @ Viscount
Want to see the host list? Follow the jump.
NPT Capitol: El Paso to get extra slice of stimulus money
El Paso could receive an extra $75m in stimulus funds, according to plans unveiled by TXDOT yesterday.
El Paso is already in line to receive $21m from the federal government toward transportation projects. But yesterday TXDOT announced it was proposing to send another $75m to the sun city. That money, along with the El Paso MPO’s $21m and TRZ funds would be used to construct 4 direct connectors/flyover ramps at the interchange of I-10 and Loop 375.
“The Texas Transportation Commission is expected to vote on the $1.2 billion staff recommended list during a special meeting on March 5,” said TXDOT in a press release.
NPT Capitol: Shapleigh clarifies “10,000” remark to KVIA
Last night, Senator Shapleigh clarified remarks made at a committee hearing regarding 10,000 people fleeing Juarez into El Paso.
A spokesperson for Shapleigh told NPT that number by no means represented an official count and was an estimate, based on conversation the Senator had had with real estate and business professionals.
Yesterday afternoon, Shapleigh told the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security, “My estimate is 10,000 people have moved from Juarez into El Paso. These are those that have the means to do so, who live and work in that region. There are 140,000 Ameicans that live in Juarez and there are 4,000 that communte form El Paso into Juarez everyday.”
Our news partners at ABC7/KVIA.com followed up on the remark after NPT blogged it yesterday.
El Paso Mayor John Cook told KVIA, “I’m not really sure where the Senator got his information. When we’ve heard these rumors before that there’s been mass exoduses of people fleeing the drug wars in Juarez, we try to find out if there’s any truth to that and I haven’t been able to confirm it.”
You can watch ABC7’s report here
You can watch archived footage of the committee hearing here. Shapleigh begins speaking 121 minutes and 20 seconds into the hearing.
NPT City: The hand of Jaime
Perez
He appears to be running for the District 7 City Council seat while helping new candidates come out, interviewing other candidates to see what they’re made of, running Cobos’ office and all this while operating a gay-friendly Downtown bar called HusH.
NewspaperTree.com Blog 