"Elamex, with operations in Mexico and El Paso, Texas, also makes candy and packages nuts."

Precision Tool, Die and Machine Co., a nearly 60-year-old Louisville company with more than 500 employees that serves General Electric Co. and other manufacturers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Meanwhile, its parent company, Elamex SA de CV of Mexico, announced that Precision is for sale.

Ken Berzof, The Courier-Journal (Kentucky): "Precision Tool, Die goes bankrupt," December 20, 2003.

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"Is it just me, or is next week's Gaylord Hotels Bowl the least-anticipated bowl game in the history of the UW football program? This isn't to say that a good number of UW backers won't attend the game, as getting to Nashville, Tenn., is relatively easy compared to finding one's way to, say, El Paso, Texas."

Todd Finkelmeyer, The Capital Times (Wisconsin): "Todd Finkelmeyer: Computers not impressed by Marquette," December 20, 2003.

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"El Paso begins 10 miles west of the turnoff for Hueco Tanks. Like most desert cities, the outskirts show signs of abuse -- mounds of dirt piled high, dust blowing in the wind, yards cluttered with debris -- but the central city is clean and safe. Downtown was like a ghost town after dark. Visitors flock to the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center, but after their meetings or a show, they hop the Border Jumper trolley to eat and drink in Juarez."

Terry Richard, The Oregonian: "Big and beautiful, Chihuahua Desert spans two states, two nations," December 21, 2003.

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"More than a decade has passed since Alma Chavira Farel -- long thought to have been the first victim in the nation's most prolific killing spree of women -- disappeared in Ciudad Juarez, a sprawling city of 1.5 million people across the border from El Paso."

Alfredo Corchado (The Dallas Morning News), The Salt Lake Tribune: "Officials irked by mismanaged murder evidence," December 21, 2003.

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"On Christmas Day 1916 near El Paso, Texas, Mexican snipers fired across the border into the Third Kentucky Infantry camp. No Americans were killed. American commanders restrained enlisted men from pursuing them across the border."

Lew Williams Jr., Juneau Empire (Alaska): "My Turn: Praying for a white Christmas," December 21, 2003.

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"While everybody else wants to use water from the Rio Grande, rancher Kit Bramblett is giving some back. Bramblett is the first person to donate water to the Texas Water Trust, established in 1997 to protect water quality and fish and wildlife habitat in rivers around the state. The Hudspeth County attorney gave up his right to use 1,236 acre-feet of water on his ranch, contributing it instead to the trust managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. An acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, enough to serve one or two families for a year."

The donated water will benefit a stretch of the Rio Grande between El Paso and Big Bend National Park known as "the forgotten river" because not much lives there -- plant, animal or human.

Chris Roberts (Associated Press), Houston Chronicle: "Rancher puts 'drop in the bucket'," December 21, 2003.

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