Fronteras: A Changing America

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIO GRANDE — In the rural border areas of Texas, seven so-called ‘informal crossings’ were shut down following Sept. 11. These were border villages and rural economies that thrived on their interdependence. The actual border was invisible. But the shutdown destroyed that connection. Recently, two border villages were reunited briefly for a single day celebration.

For one glorious moment, real world geopolitics was forgotten. Paso Lajitas, Mexico and Lajitas, Texas were again united — not cut off from one another as they’ve been in a post-Sept. 11 world.

SAN DIEGO — San Diego will soon have a youth orchestra linking musicians from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Select musicians from the Centro de Artes Musicales in Tijuana and the San Diego Young Artists Symphony (soon to be the Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra) are coming together to form a binational orchestra.

Limited community college capacity could keep 2.5 million Californians out of the system over the next 10 years. The seat shortage is expected to fall hardest on Latino students, squeezing 840,000 out of the schools.

Since 2007, San Diego Community Colleges have cut more than 2,600 class sections, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Colleges lost 1,600 classes and Palomar College halved its summer offerings.

Mexico Now A Latin American Leader In Tech Services

In the last decade Mexico’s tech industry has flourished, growing three times faster than the global average. Most of that growth is fueled by demand from the United States.

But without certain reforms Mexico’s progress can only go so far.

PHOENIX — An Arizona policy that prevents certain young immigrants from getting state driver's licenses will stay in effect for now. In a Thursday ruling, a federal judge declined to temporarily block the policy, but also suggested one of the legal arguments challenging it is likely to succeed.

The plaintiffs in the suit are young immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, and qualified for an Obama administration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

Under the program, these immigrants were granted work permits.

PHOENIX — As reporters, it's not unusual to find ourselves in places where other members of the public usually aren't: waiting at the scene of a crime to talk to police, inside a press conference with a high-ranking official, or taking notes in a courtroom during a trial.

Earlier this month, I had the strange feeling of being some place fairly ordinary, yet not accessible to the person who very much wanted to be in my place.

I was at a simple restaurant in Mexico City. It was run by a 73-year-old Mexican woman named Benigna Mota.

PHOENIX — In February, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released more than 2,000 immigrants from detention facilities in anticipation of automatic federal budget cuts.

SAN DIEGO — “So directors, in order to get something going, you say ‘quiet on the set,’” Kristine Diekman shouts across the room to the two high school girls poring over a script. Diekman is a professor of video and new media at Cal State San Marcos.

Mics and cameras are in place; mixing bowls and perfectly-measured ingredients neatly laid out. This group is ready to film a high school cooking show.

“Sweet potato pie, scene six take one,” says Jesse Avilez, a ninth grader at Crawford High School, clapping his slate and then walking off the set.

The Mescalero Apache tribe of New Mexico says it is looking to expand it's economy by mining rare earth elements. The elements are highly sought after for their applications in high-tech and green industries.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — West Nile virus cases in the Southwest are up from previous years, according to new 2012 statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control.

First discovered in New York around 1999, the West Nile virus traveled west, carried by birds and mosquitoes, eventually hitting the Southwest.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Lydia Mendoza has been called the first lady of Tejano and Conjunto Music. On Wednesday the U.S. Postal Service unveiled a Forever Stamp in her honor as part of a music icons series.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — States aiming to run their own health insurance exchanges will be in need of federal grants to get those exchanges launched, and are facing a deadline. New Mexico's application is in, but there's still a question of whether or not the exchange will be run by the state, the federal government, or both.

New Mexico's federal grant request totals about $20 million, and will be used for marketing, public relations, and outreach. With much of the state's population living in rural areas, that outreach will be critical to the exchange's survival.

SAN DIEGO — People who regularly cross the United States-Mexico border know waiting for hours on foot can be hot, uncomfortable, even exhausting.

Penelope Quintana, a researcher at San Diego State University, says it's made worse by "not being able to sit down, not having restrooms, not having water available."