Border arrests down in El Paso area
Las Cruces (AP) - The U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso sector, which includes all of New Mexico and two west Texas counties, has apprehended 25,466 illegal border crossers nine months into the current fiscal year, 58 percent less than this time last fiscal year. If the rate continues at the current pace, the end-of-year total will be about 34,000 - the lowest since at least 2000 and far below the totals of the early 1990s. Miles of heavy-duty fence bracketing have been built since the start of the year. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is pushing to build hundreds of miles of vehicle barriers and fences by the end of 2008 along the U.S.-Mexico border. In the El Paso sector, plans call for the construction of 93 miles of pedestrian fence, including 33 miles in southern New Mexico and 60 miles in West Texas.
'W.' actors arrested in bar fight
Shreveport, La. (AP) - Actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, along with members of a crew filming an Oliver Stone movie, "W.," about President George W. Bush, were arrested during a bar fight Saturday morning, police said. Police Sgt. Willie Lewis said Brolin, Wright and five others were arrested just after 2 a.m. at a club called the Stray Cat bar. Brolin was booked and posted a $334 cash bond to be released. "W." began filming in May in Shreveport. Brolin plays President Bush and Wright plays former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Bishop stands up for gays, lesbians
London (AP) - Gene Robinson, the first openly gay U.S. Episcopal bishop, was barred from a once-a-decade Anglican meeting so he wouldn't become a focus of the global event. Robinson preached Sunday despite a request from the archbishop that he not do so. A protester interrupted the sermon, waving a motorcycle helmet and yelling "Repent!" and "Heretic!" "I'm not storming the pulpit to wrestle the microphone from the archbishop," Robinson said. "My agenda is this: What does the church's treatment of gay and lesbian people say about God? I so want to be a good steward of this opportunity. I want to do God proud," he said.
