Free Republic

MCALLEN - The FBI has stepped in to investigate an attack on a Border Patrol agent. The agent has serious - but not life-threatening - injuries. We're told there may be some permanent damage to the agent's face. He's now recovering at a San Antonio hospital. CHANNEL 5 NEWS learned the attack happened while the agent was on narcotics patrol along the river last night. He was in an area near the city of Hidalgo when he came across a group of suspected smugglers. Border Patrol officials say the men hurled objects at the agent and then swam into Mexico....

A longtime rancher was killed on his Douglas-area property over the weekend, and neighbors worried that his homicide was connected to increasing border-related crime in the area. The Cochise County Sheriff's Office offered little information into the late-Saturday shooting death of 58-year-old Robert Krentz, whose family began the Krentz Ranch more than 100 years ago. Krentz's body was found on his land, which is about 35 miles northeast of Douglas, just before midnight Saturday, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office. The Sheriff's Office, aided by the U.S. Border Patrol, had no suspects Sunday and continued to follow...