The team from the Dallas bureau is working on a couple border stories this week. We’ve split up.

Kris Gutierrez and our staff photographer have gone to El Paso with a freelance producer to do live shots on the recent spate of drug violence on the Mexican side of the border. Two hundred people have been killed in Juarez, which is across the border from El Paso, since the beginning of this year. Apparently, Mexican drug gangs are fighting with each other over valuable drug turf as well as sometimes targeting Mexican law enforcement. That has lawmen on this side of the border nervous that the violence could extend to the U.S. The Mexican government recently sent reinforcements to the tune of some 2,500 Mexican soldiers and federal police. And just this morning, we’ve learned that a few Mexican police are compliant in the drug activity. The Mexican army arrested nine Mexican police officers in Juarez over the weekend for allegedly carrying drugs in their patrol cars!

As for me, I’ve just arrived in San Antonio with a freelance photographer. We’re going to make the three hour drive to Del Rio, Texas. Many of you many only know Del Rio as a town in the movie “No Country for Old Men.” It’s a lovely small town near Lake Amistad where if town legend has it correctly, the best bass fishing in the world can be found. We won’t be doing any fishing, but talking to the local sheriff about a recent infusion of state money to battle border crime. More on that later this week.