Free Republic

By Emer Mullins The large increase in babies being born to immigrants in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is putting maternity hospitals in that city under strain, The New York Times has reported. Hundreds of babies are being born to Latino immigrant workers, who flocked to the city to work during the reconstruction. “The throng of babies gurgling in the handful of operational maternity wards here has come as a big surprise — and a financial strain — to this historically black and white city, which before the hurricane had only a small Latino community and virtually...

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Warning set to expire Tuesday renewed because of security concerns MATAMOROS — American officials on Friday defended their border-wide security alert amid criticism from politicians and business leaders who say it has hurt tourism and other cross-border commerce. The alert, originally issued in January, was set to expire Tuesday but was renewed based on continued security concerns. "We’ve been told that it’s not fair and it’s not right," said U.S. Consul John Naland of the renewed alert at a Friday morning press conference. "But just yesterday (Thursday) in Reynosa there was a confrontation between federal troops and drug dealers." Although...

REYNOSA — A federal police agent is recovering from a bullet wound following an early morning shootout between unidentified men and federal agents. So far, agents have 10 men and one woman in custody who they believe are connected to the shootout. The agents have not yet identified the gunmen, said Marco Antonio Ramirez, a representative from the Mexican attorney general’s office, the PGR, in a press conference. Around 2 a.m. Thursday, the offices of the Policia Federal Preventiva, or Federal Preventive Police, were attacked with two grenades and a hail of gunfire from two vehicles. Police returned fire and...

NUEVO LAREDO A high-ranking city police administrator and a mechanic who had just stopped by to repair the officers vehicle were riddled with bullets on a quiet neighborhood street in broad daylight Saturday afternoon, becoming this citys No. 44 and 45 homicide victims. José Bernardino de la Cruz, one of seven police supervisors, and mechanic Rubén Tovar Sánchez Limón were outside de la Cruzs home in the Manuel Cavazos Lerma subdivision on the western edge of the city at about 5:50 p.m., according to witnesses. Elva Marissa Torres de León of the state police department said de la Cruz was...

Vancouver, Jan 20 (IANS) High on a cocktail of drugs, sex and money, gang wars of Indo-Canadian groups have claimed two more victims, raising the violence-related death toll in Canada in the community to 82 in the last 15 years.

Teens arrested in fight LOS ANGELES (AP) - Four students were arrested Friday after a lunchtime fight kept a high school in Watts locked down for several hours, causing minors and one student to have an asthma attack, authorities said. One student at Jordan High School was arrested after kicking a police officer in the mouth, and three others were arrested for disobeying orders to disperse, said Ellen Morgan, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District.