You may be surprised to learn where thousands of immigrant children are 1 year after border surge

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By Jonathan A. Capriel– SHFWire.com

WASHINGTON — The number of unaccompanied child immigrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border has dropped dramatically since last year’s humanitarian crisis levels. But senators were still arguing what caused the surge Tuesday during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing. Meanwhile, many of those unaccompanied minors still do not know if they will be deported or allowed to stay in the United States. A year later, tens of thousands are still navigating a maze of government agencies in hopes of receiving asylum. About 22,000 children still await their day in immigration court, Juan Osuna, director of Executive Office of Immigration Review for the Department of Justice, said.

UTEP professor leads health collaboration exercise at White House

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WASHINGTON — University of Texas at El Paso professor of Communication, Dr. Arvind Singhal, a practitioner of Liberating Structures processes designed an interactive, inclusive, two-day working meeting on the topic, Partners in Health: Aligning Clinical Systems, Faith and Community Assets. April 15-16, at the White House. Some 60 leaders of hospitals and clinical care systems, faith networks, and community organizations gathered in the nation’s Executive Office to create actionable plans to increase access to health care and preventive services, promote community health and wellness, by aligning their missions, visions, and assets. Unlike traditional approaches to designing meetings that mostly comprise of stand-up-and-deliver presentations and/or expert panels, Liberating Structures represent an alternative and complementary approach that includes and unleashes everyone, building trust and generative relationships—with emergent processes, surprising outcomes, and meaningful connections. Organized by the White House Office of Faith based and Neighborhood Partnerships, its U.S. Department of Health and Human Services counterpart, and Stakeholder Health, a Learning Collaborative of Health Systems, the two-day meeting guided the deliberations in a narrative sequence that included:

Impromptu Networking set the stage for discussions, focusing on the challenges faced in collaboration and alignment of clinical systems, faith, and community assets.

Special Report: The fragile ‘Miracle of Juarez’

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The story has been told many times — how the infamous murder rate in Ciudad Juárez plummeted and its twin police forces were cleaned up.  Officials declared victory. But it’s a fragile peace.  The elements of a resurgence of violence are still lurking — including the lure of Juárez’s multi-million-dollar drug trade. View image | gettyimages.com

 Special Report Ciudad Juarez was coordinated and edited by Ana Arana of Fundación MEPI in Mexico City. The reporters included Carlos Huerta, Herika Martínez and Beatriz Corral from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and Javier Huerta. The English-language editor was FIU journalism professor Neil Risnerand the Spanish-language editor was Maria Dolores Albiac.

Borderzine Presents: El Paso’s Creative Economy

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El Paso is unlike any other city in the nation with its unique cultural dynamic. The city’s arts and events bring thousands of visitors every year and more than $2 million in direct spending. In this TV-style news magazine, journalism students at the University of Texas at El Paso take a closer look at some of El Paso’s artists and how economic efforts are affecting the creative community. The show aired live on Google Hangouts on Air on May 29, 2015. The program was made possible by support from the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies, the UTEP Department of Communication and Borderzine.com

See the complete special report and featured stories here.

Tom Lea Institute proud to preserve artist’s legacy

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The Tom Lea Institute serves to maintain and promote the works of one of El Paso’s most famous artists. The institute, which began in 2009 houses countless Tom Lea sketches,
paintings, books and artifacts. Borderzine broadcast reporter Jaquan White takes us behind the scenes at the institute.

Viva! El Paso

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Pronto podrán volver a disfrutar de un show que mezcla historia de El Paso con

música y baile después de haberse ausentado. Reporteras Idali Cruz nos

tiene los detalles.

El Paso museums explore ways to engage community

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El Paso’s arts district continues to grow, with a variety of attractions and experiences for all. However, the city’s museums still face challenges in building on community involvement. Borderzine reporters Yazmin Garcia and Tanya Carbajal produced this story.

El Paso’s story told on Digital Wall

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Digie, El Paso’s Digital Wall has been collecting and showcasing thousands of images of the city’s past and present since it opened three months ago. Borderzine reporters Jose Soto and Viviana Duran produced this story.

Museum therapy helping soldiers deal with PTSD

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A recent grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts is helping the El Paso Museum of Art support a unique art therapy program for soldiers with PTSD. Fort Bliss veterans that are being treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are encouraged to explore the museum’s wide variety of artwork with the guidance of the museum’s staff and local artists. Borderzine broadcast reporters Jason Green and Jaquan White produced this story.

Oportunidades de ecoturismo en El Paso

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Una escuela junto con una organization local, planean traer el ecoturismo a El Paso. Borderplex Alliance cuyo proposito es el desarrollo de la region y la Escuela de Arquitectura Texas Tech, se unieron con el fin de resaltar la belleza natural que existe en El Paso. Periodistas Boarderzine Priscilla Rios y Idali Cruz presentan esta historia.

Highway design adds artistic touches to the view

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Energy-generating wind turbines are among many of the new artistic elements popping up along the I-10 freeway in El Paso. Borderzine broadcast reporters Alejandro Gonzalez and Ellisia Shafer produced this video on the roadside transformations.

Street art reinforcing community in public spaces

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If you’ve been seeing more street art in El Paso, it might be the work of Dave “Grave” Herrera who uses aerosol art to reflect community pride. Borderzine broadcast reporters Alejandro Gonzalez and Ellisia Shafer produced this video after interviewing Herrera, who talks about how public art serves to connect us.

Wise Latina summit empowers local Latinas through multiple events this weekend; Conference kicks off with dire salary stats for El Paso Hispanic women

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A weekend long series of women-focused writing workshops, art events, films and prominent local and national Latina speakers, kicks into gear today and tomorrow in the Downtown Art District and El Paso Museum of Art. Organized by the national non profit group Wise Latina International, the two-day summit kicked off earlier this week with an eye-popping study that found El Paso area Latinas earn between 44 to 47 cent on the dollar or 30 cents less than what white women earn nationally and 10 cents less than Latinas earn nationally. The study was done in conjunction with the group MerKadoTeknia Research and Consulting with participation by faculty from UTEP and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. The study also notes that the female poverty rate in Texas is higher than it is for the entire state of Texas and that 71 percent of jobs in El Paso pay less than $36,000 per year, “which cannot sustain a single mom with one child,” according to a press release. Wise Latina Founder and President Liz Chavez said the purpose of the study and summit, which focuses this year on the theme of “strength, power and influence in media,” is to “educate, raise awareness and empower our women.” The organization, she said, seeks to “promote and encourage economic, educational, health and socio/political emplowerment for the betterment of Latinas, women, family and community by utilizing and developing leaders while encouraging professional and personal development.”

In addition to events geared toward young Latinas, the summit includes writing workshops by local Latina authors Josefina Lopez, Maria M. Maloney and Denise Chavez.

The story of Wise Latina

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Wise Latina International was established in 2010 and is a non-profit organization serving the international border area of the City of El Paso, the State of Texas, New Mexico and our international neighbors of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. It has a 15-member board of local and national Latinas.  Here is a slide show about the founding, mission and makeup of the organization.

UTEP researchers developing water filter to help colonias

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Maricela Reyna and her family pay property tax on their home, located in an

El Paso County colonia. Yet they lack access to municipal water and gas services. Instead,

they hire a tanker truck to deliver water each week, and buy propane for cooking. City trash trucks do not run down the unpaved road outside Reyna’s home, either. Instead, she shells out $80 a month for a private hauler to take the family’s waste.

El Paso group moves to save mountains

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EL PASO — Although the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition can’t move mountains, they’re hoping a petition can move the boundaries that protect them. The coalition’s “We the People” petition aims to preserve the undeveloped land owned by the city of El Paso to the west and the east of Franklin Mountains State Park—making the land part of the park. The petition, said Jim Tolbert, member of the Franklin Mountain Coalition, garnered more than 6,000 signatures. He plans to present it to the Public Service Board next week. “Privately owned land is not part of the petition,” Tolbert said.

UTEP music students capture classic Motown jam in video

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Students  in UT El Paso’s Commercial Music Ensemble class capture their version of  the Motown hit “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” in video. The group is directed by Chris Reyman and Brian Downen, assistant professors with the UTEP Department of Music. The ensemble of music majors performed at several events this semester, including the grand opening for Centennial Plaza and the honors convocation reception.

El Paso businesswoman’s trade talk trip turns to tourism after D.C. snowstorm

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By Jose Soto, SHFWire.com

WASHINGTON – An El Paso businesswoman traveled to the capital hoping to make new business deals. Instead,  she found herself in the midst of heavy snowfall that shut the government and most everything else. Michele Beckley arrived in Washington on March 5 expecting to attend an event at the White House hosted by Business Forward to discuss U.S. international trade. Mother nature had other plans. Beckley found out just after her plane landed that the event had been postponed to March 18.

Happy once-in-lifetime Pi Day 3.14.15

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Pi Day 2015 is being called the event of the century. Pi Day is Saturday, March 14. Get it? The date – 3.14.15 – corresponds to the first five digits of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is an irrational number that continues with no repeating patterns into infinity. 
On Saturday morning – 3.14.15 at 9:26:53 – we’ll see the first 10 digits of pi line up.

Oriental Magpie Robin on Barbed Wire

Wildlife trafficking now considered a threat to national security

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By Alicia Alvarez , SHFWire.com

WASHINGTON – Networks that illegally traffic in wildlife have grown, and authorities now regard the international trade as more of a national security issue than an environmental issue. Wildlife trafficking is thought to be the third-most valuable illicit business worldwide, with an estimated worth of $8 billion to $10 billion annually. According to theDepartment of State, people in the United States purchase nearly 20 percent of all legal and illegal wildlife products on the market. Birds are the most numerous contraband animals, along with millions of turtles, crocodiles, snakes and other reptiles. These trends in international environmental crime were discussed Monday at the Henry L. Stimson Center.

Diversity champion Dori Maynard remembered as ‘amazing force for good’ in journalism

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By Mallary Jean Tenore, ivoh.org

The journalism world is mourning the loss of Dori J. Maynard, who passed away from lung cancer on Tuesday. She was 56. Maynard was president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which her father co-founded. During her time as president, the institute offered diversity training to journalists around the country and launched programs aimed at empowering community members to tell personal narratives. “You can hardly put into words how important the work Dori and the Maynard Institute did to train young people of color for careers in journalism and how the institute trained the media to write fair stories about communities of color,” Bob Butler, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a comment on the institute’s website.

U.S. Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, at a recent visit to the University of Texas at El Paso. (David A. Reyes/Borderzine.com)

Borderzine remembers U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine

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Editor’s note: U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine died Feb. 14 in Fresno, Calif. at age 87. In 2013, the poet known for giving “a voice to the voiceless” spoke at UT El Paso and spent time visiting classes and talking with students and faculty. Here is Borderzine’s story of that visit, originally published March 29, 2013.

Website to track border deaths by law enforcement officers wins startup grant

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Washington, D.C. – A Spanish-language website and database to document incidents of undocumented immigrants killed by law enforcement on the southern border of the U.S. is among four media startups to receive a $12,000 grant from J-Lab. EncuentrosMortales.org is the idea of D. Brian Burghart, editor and publisher of the Reno News & Review, who created FatalEncounters.org, a crowd-sourced database attempting to track police use of deadly force in the United States. EncuentrosMortales.org will collect public records and media reports of undocumented people killed during interactions with law enforcement officers. “I’m very excited to be able to move forward with EncuentrosMortales.org. Law-enforcement-involved homicides along the U.S. border is an important and underreported issue, and I hope we can bring together technology, languages and volunteers to get a much better idea of our government’s activities,” he said.

State of the Net conference clicks on gender gap

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By Joe Mussatto, SHFWire.com
WASHINGTON – There were discussions of new technology and conversations about cyber security, but a new and unexpected element was apparent at Tuesday’s annual State of the Net conference – a number of women in high-ranking tech positions. The chair of the Federal Trade Commission led off the Internet policy conference followed by a U.S. assistant attorney general. The country’s chief technology officer then took the stage before a member of the House spoke. Finally, one of two women on the  five-memberFederal Communications Commission had a turn. All five are key players in the technology sector – all five are women.

Disney adds Latina princess to junior TV lineup

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Disney plans to introduce Princess Elena of Avalor, “a confident and compassionate teenager in an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore,” for a new animated TV series to launch in 2016.  The Hispanic character will first appear in an episode of Disney Junior’s hit series “Sofia the First” before spinning off into the new series “Elena of Avalor.” The role of 16-year-old Princess Elena will be voiced by Aimee Carrero (ABC Family’s “Young & Hungry”), announced Nancy Kanter, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Disney Junior Worldwide in a press release Thursday, Jan. 29. “What excites us most is the chance to use distinctive animation and visual design to tell wonderful stories influenced by culture and traditions that are familiar to the worldwide population of Hispanic and Latino families and reflect the interests and aspirations of all children as told through a classic fairy tale,” Kanter said.

Yo también soy Latina – Una mirada personal a lo que significa ser latina en la sociedad actual

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Por Bianca Betancourt, Borderzine.com

Angélica Ruiz estaba en la escuela secundaria cuando fue al salón de belleza de su barrio y con mucha decisión le entregó a su estilista una imagen impresa de cómo ella quería verse una vez que saliera del salón. La imagen en cuestión era de la cantante Ashlee Simpson, a quien Ruiz admiraba por su cabello negro, cortado en capas mostrando un flequillo. En lugar de dejar el salón con el look de la estrella de rock, Ruiz se fue con una lección aprendida. “Cariño, tu cabello no se va a ver así”, le dijo la estilista. Ella le explicó que debido a sus raíces naturales, con su cabello rizado y voluminoso producto de su herencia mexicana, negra e italiana, nunca iba a  parecerse al estilo de Simpson.

Latinos join March for Life but also face other issues

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By Jose Soto, SHFwire.com
WASHINGTON – Priscilla Trastaway and Jair Vergara, both 20, from Paterson, N.J., are a young couple who have decided that chastity is the best way to prevent difficult situations, including a possible abortion. “We decided that we were going to be pro-life,” Trastaway said. “It’s a difficult decision to make as a young couple, but we did.” Vergara said that being pro-life is like a ratio of one to a hundred. “There is a lot of opposition,” Vergara said. “Especially with being the age we are.

Mexodus

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This project, tracking the flight of families and businesses from violence in Juarez, won the 2012 Online News Association Award in Non-English Projects, in small/medium category