.
El Paso connection? The chief legal counsel for Antigua and Barbuda is Mark Mendel, whose firm Mendel Blumenfeld, LLP represented the country in its battle against the United States. Back in November, Antigua and Barbuda won a significant victory that would allow for Carribean-based gaming operations to compete in the lucrative American market. Mendel is quoted extensively in a press release issued by Antigua’s PR firm, Cancan Communications. Mendel also made his case in a letter printed in The Economist on December 2, but put his location as Crosshaven, Ireland rather than El Paso. Who says we’re not good at client development?
Bloomberg News: “U.S. wants betting to stay offline,” January 8, 2005.
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"I should be W. Park Kerr. Sadly, I don't think the job is available. Kerr, the founder of the El Paso Chile Company devotes himself to a bigger question than Bronson's: What should I do with tequila? I suspect he may have more fun than anyone, anywhere."
By Sarah Lindner, Austin 360: “What Should I drink tonight? A Mojave Mojito,” January 12, 2005.
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"Texas is following the national trend. But because the state enjoyed a greater manufacturing boom in the 1990s than the rest of the country, it is also feeling more pain, said Fiona Sigalla, an economist at the Dallas Fed… The state's hardest hit area is El Paso, where two VF Jeanswear factories shut down recently."
By Katherine Yung, The Dallas Morning News: “With Factory jobs waning, Texas workers regroup,” January 13, 2005.
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"It's time for us to treat the DPRK with respect, to understand that they do want to resolve this," (Rep. Curt) Weldon said later Friday. Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat from Texas, added: "It's important that we start out with a premise that when you treat people with respect they respond with respect."
El Paso Congressman Silvestre Reyes accompanied five other lawmakers to Pyongyang to discuss Kim Jong Il’s nuclear program. They also brought medicine to victims of the tsunami in Asia, and briefly stopped in China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.
Associated Press (Seoul): “North Korea ready to resume nuclear talks,” January 15, 2005.
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"The authorities said Mr. Guzmán had waged a war on two fronts, attacking the Gulf Cartel, which controls the eastern border crossings with Texas in the state of Tamaulipas, and the Arellano Félix organization, which controls the western border between Tijuana and El Paso…"
The Ciudad Juarez cartel appeared in news throughout the world this week after 750 Mexican troops seized a maximum-security prison on Friday, in an attempt to regain control, after an alliance formed between the Gulf and Tijuana cartels.
By GINGER THOMPSON and JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr., The New York Times: “Mexico's Drug Cartels Wage Fierce Battle for Their Turf,” January 14, 2005.
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"A meat promotion that blended glitzy entertainment with education spotlighted the quality and affordability of U.S. beef and pork in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s fifth largest city, which is across the border from El Paso, Texas… The promotions — named “No Manches” or “Come On!” — were funded by the National Pork Board and the National Soybean Board.
Mexico is the U.S.’s largest customer for beef and second largest for pork. The comedy events at Soriana grocery stores attracted over 3,000 people.
Farm Week: “Comedy, education employed to promote U.S. meat to Mexicans,” January 5, 2005.
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“Once we drove the 750 miles from Houston to El Paso through the Chihuahua desert. Skeletons of little diners poked through the yellow grit advertising Coca-Cola from yore. These became the inspiration for my new play, Bites, opening this week at the Bush Theatre in London. ..America spoon-feeds us the myth and we swallow it whole.”
By Kay Adshead, The Guardian: “The seamy side of Texas,” January 12, 2005.
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“A study at the University of Texas at El Paso found that people who ate a substantial breakfast consumed an average of 100 fewer calories a day than when they didn't eat breakfast. Though that may not sound like much, over a year it could mean a 10-pound weight loss.”
By Norine Dworkin, Better Homes and Gardens: “12 Breakfasts for Diet Success,” January 9, 2005.
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“Distance from Beaumont to El Paso...742 miles.
Distance from Beaumont to Chicago...770 miles.
El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas.”
By Mike Coggins, Stephenville Empire Tribune: “See if you know some of these old Texas facts,” January 15, 2005.
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