L&J Cafe is in this article.
Best free chips ever? The old Griggs restaurant, where they served warm chips...delicious...

Each camera is one dot. Zoomed out, dots are small and translucent, so where cameras cluster the overlaps stack into brighter, more solid areas — density you can read at a glance. Zoom in and dots grow into individual cameras.

Funny how they ditched plans to use these warehouses at about the same time that the Feds announced that La Tuna was closing.

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"A website is allowing drivers to see if Flock surveillance cameras have searched for their vehicle.

HaveIBeenFlocked allows users to type their license plate number into a search bar to run through a series of “audit logs” within the Flock system, according to the website. 

The data from the cameras is made available through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Those sourcesare made publicly available.

The results do not show if a vehicle passed by any of the Flock cameras, or what the devices may have returned, but rather what searches of a license plate were performed by agencies that use Flock cameras." -- Brandy Beard

• The enforcement surge cost 668,000 jobs. Across the cities with the sharpest rise in ICE arrests, employment fell 0.73% below what they would have seen absent the surge, and 1.48% in the 51 cities observed at least six months out.
• Job losses far exceeded the number of people arrested. Across 86 surge cities, ICE made roughly 52,000 excess arrests, yet each excess arrest, as a proxy for the broader enforcement shock, is associated with 13 jobs lost overall. Of the 668,000 jobs lost, an estimated 51,000-297,000 would have been held by American-born workers.
• Losses concentrated in immigrant-intensive sectors but spread well beyond them. The deepest direct hits fell on construction and on accommodation and food services, but industries with very few immigrant workers—such as arts and entertainment—also contracted sharply.

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The Texas Pulse/Texas A&M Bush School poll, released Friday, shows 47 percent of likely Texas voters plan to support Talarico, while 43 percent chose Paxton. In the group’s June survey, the two candidates were tied at 46 percent.

I-10 Widening West Project

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14 (As Needed)

Daily, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• I-10 east and westbound between Los Mochis and Mesa alternate lane closures
• North and South Desert between Los Mochis and Mesa alternate lane closures
• Entrance ramp, exit ramp, and U-turn, east and westbound between Los Mochis alternate lane closures

Crews will be working on construction punch list items.

I-10 Widening West 2 Project

Saturday, August 8

3 a.m. – 3 p.m.

• I-10 eastbound between Anthony and Los Mochis full closure

Detour: Traffic will exit at Anthony, proceed onto South Desert through the Anthony and Vinton intersections, and enter at I-10 eastbound after Los Mochis.

Crews will be placing beams.

Monday, August 10 and Tuesday, August 11

Nightly, 9 p.m. – 6 a.m.

• I-10 eastbound between Anthony and Los Mochis full closure

Detour: Traffic will exit at Anthony, proceed onto South Desert through the Anthony and Vinton intersections, and enter I-10 eastbound after Los Mochis.

Crews will be placing beams.

Monday, August 10 - Saturday, August 15 (As Needed)

Daily, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Nightly, 9 p.m. – 6 a.m.

• I-10 east and westbound between Anthony and Mesa alternate lane closures (No Detour Needed)
• North and South Desert between Anthony and Mesa alternate lane closures (No Detour Needed)

Crews will be conducting dirt work and miscellaneous removals.

Monday, August 10 - Saturday, August 15 (As Needed)

9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• I-10 east and westbound Bypass lanes between Mesa and Redd full closure

Detour: Traffic will continue along South Desert, through the Thorn intersection, and enter I-10 before Mesa. Traffic will continue along North Desert, through Thorn intersection, and enter I-10 before Redd.

Crews will be completing construction of ornamental fences and landscaping at Thorn.

• I-10 westbound exit Ramp 05 at Los Mochis full closure

Detour: Traffic to proceed on North Desert through the Vinton intersection.

Crews will be working on landscaping.

Continuous Closures Until Further Notice 24/7

• Full U-turn underpass at Bridge C between Anthony and Vinton closed

Detour: Traffic on North Desert will need to proceed to Anthony, TX and utilize U-turn Bridge. Traffic on South Desert will need to proceed to Vinton, TX and utilize U-turn Bridge

Crews will be conducting Bridge Demolition and Bridge Construction on U-turns under I-10 at Bridge

• South Desert between Valley Chile and Vinton Steel left lane closed

Detour: Traffic will be kept in one lane, with access to entrance ramp at Valley Chile, then continue in one lane of traffic until past Bridge D at Vinton Steel

Crews will be working on Walls 13 and 14.

• South Desert between Transmountain and Isela Rubalcava left lane closed

Crews will be working on lane reconfiguration for South Desert at Tractor Supply.

• North and South Desert at the Los Mochis intersection left lane closed

Crews will be working on Los Mochis intersection.

• Campus Park intersection at South Desert closed

Crews will be conducting paving operations.

Monday, March 9 - End of August 2026 (Approx. 5 months)

• I-10 westbound exit ramp to Transmountain closed
• Secondary temporary exit ramp to Transmountain open

Crews will be working on various constructions.

Artcraft Project

Sunday, August 9 - Thursday, August 13

Sunday, August 16 - Thursday, August 20

9 p.m. – 6 a.m. (Nightly)

• I-10 east and westbound between Loop 375 (Transmountain) and Artcraft full closure

Crews will be placing steel girders and welding operations.

Monday, August 10 Continuous Closure (4 – 6 week closure)

9 p.m. – 6 a.m. (Nightly)

• Intersection of Berringer through Artcraft access closure

Detour: Artcraft westbound traffic must exit at Doniphan and turn right, then proceed on Doniphan and turn right on East Borderland, then continue and turn right on Berringer.

Crews will be working on a water main bore.

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14

9 a.m. - 4 p.m. (As Needed)

• SH-178 (Artcraft) east and westbound between New Mexico State Line and Doniphan alternate lane closures

Crews will be working on ITS/Illumination and MSE wall installation.

• North Desert between Helen of Troy and Cheddars Restaurant alternate lane closures
• South Desert between Charlie Clark Nissan and Blue Sky alternate lane closures

Crews will be forming bent caps.

• I-10 west and eastbound between Redd and Transmountain alternate lane closures

Crews will be working on median columns steel and erecting formwork.

Continuous Closures Until Further Notice 24/7

• Santiago at Artcraft intersection closed

Crews will be working on a water main, storm drain, and paving.

Borderland Expressway Phase 2 Project

Tuesday, August 11 and Thursday, August 13

Daily, 6 a.m. – 6 p.m.

• Stan Roberts east and westbound between McCombs and Martin Luther King full closure

Access to EPEC Newman Power Plant will be available via Martin Luther King and Stan Roberts intersection.

Detour: Traffic will be detoured using McCombs, US-54, and Martin Luther King.

Crews will be installing bridge beams.

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14

Daily, 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.

• US-54 east and westbound between Mesquite Hills and McCombs alternate lane closures
• Mesquite Hills reduced to one lane between US-54 and Red Man.
• Flaggers will be on-site directing traffic as needed for haul trucks crossing Mesquite Hills
• Flaggers will be on-site directing traffic as needed for haul trucks crossing at McCombs and Stan Roberts intersection.

Crews will be transporting earth embankment into the project

Bridge Replacement at Alps Dr., Hollings St., and Concepcion St. Project

Continuous Closure Until Further Notice 24/7

• Alps between Marie Tobin and Raymond Telles closed
• Hollings between Raymond Telles and Hondo Pass closed

Detour: Please follow and proceed with detours in the area.

Crews will be working on culvert and bridge rehabilitation.

ITS on Bridge of the Americas and Zaragoza Port of Entry Project

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14

9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound between Zaragoza and Padres right lane and shoulder closed
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) westbound between Padres and Zaragoza entrance ramp closed
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) westbound between Padres and Zaragoza right lane and shoulder closed
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound between Midway and Columbia Apartments right lane and shoulder closed
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound between Fonseca and Midway right lane and shoulder closed
• US-54 southbound between Cambridge and Altura shoulder and right lane closed

Crews will be working on signs and infrastructure.

Safety Improvements -Median and Sidewalks at SH-20, BU-54A, IH-10 and McCombs

Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14

7 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• Alameda (SH-20) westbound between Morning Glory Rd and Connington St. right lane closed
• Alameda (SH-20) westbound between Morning Glory Rd and Denten Rd. right lane closed

Crews will be working on prepping, blading, forming, and placing rebar for concrete placement.

Improve Traffic Signals – Loop 478 at Yandell and Montana at Trowbridge

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14

7:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

• Montana between Chelsea Street and McAffee Place all directions right lane closed
• Trowbridge between Paisano and Forest Way all directions right lane closed

Crews will be performing demolition and layout of new corners for the ADA ramps and the adjustments for the new traffic signals and PED poles.

Loop 375 Rehabilitation Project

Sunday, August 9 - Thursday, August 13

8 p.m. - 6 a.m. (Nightly)

• Loop 375 (Border Highway) westbound between Fonseca and Oregon full closure
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound between Schuster and Fonseca full closure
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound entrance ramp from Paisano full closure
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound entrance ramp from US-54 full closure

Saturday, August 15

6 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound between Schuster and Fonseca full closure
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound entrance ramp from Paisano full closure
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) eastbound entrance ramp from US-54 full closure
• Loop 375 (Border Highway) west and eastbound between Fonseca and Oregon alternate lane closures

Crews will be working on milling, paving, and installing guardrail.

Districtwide Striping Project

Sunday, August 9 – Thursday, August 13

9 p.m. – 6 a.m. (Night)

• I-10 east and westbound between Horizon and Paisano mobile operations

Crews will be removing and installing pavement markings.

BU-54A Safety Improvements

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14

Daily, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

• BU-54A (Dyer) north and southbound between Ashley and Mesquite Flor right lane and shoulder alternate lanes closed
• Mesquite Hills between Jim Webb and Dyer right lane closed

Crews will be working on concrete work.

Guardrail Repair

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Monday, August 10

• North Desert turnaround to South Desert at Vinton complete closure

Tuesday, August 11

• Spur 601 westbound entrance ramp to US-54 North complete closure

Wednesday, August 12

• Loop 375 westbound between US-54 and Main Gap picnic area left lane closed

Thursday, August 13

• North Desert between Artcraft and Trade Center left lane closed

Friday, August 14

• North Desert at Trade Center left lane closed

Crews will be repairing guardrails.

Maintenance

Monday, August 10 – Friday, August 14

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• Loop 375 (Transmountain) westbound between Tom Mays Park entrance and Paseo Del Norte right lane closed

Crews will be working on the shoulder.

• Spur 601 east and westbound between Chaffee and US-54 alternate lane closures
• Spur 601 east and westbound at Chaffee entrance and exit ramps closed
• Cotton north and southbound between San Antonio and Delta alternate lane closure

Crews will be working on crack sealing.

• Sunland Park westbound between Mesa Hills and I-10 right lane closed

Crews will be milling and paving.

• Gateway North between Yandell and Montana right lane closed

Crews will be working on concrete.

• Executive exit ramp to Loop 375 (Border West Highway) westbound closed

Crews and Signal Shop removing signs.

Sunday, August 16

4 a.m. – 5 p.m.

• Ramp K between US-54 South and I-10 West closed
• Entrance ramp between Trowbridge and US-54 South closed
• I-10 West between US-54 and Piedras three right lanes closed

Crews will be working on bridge.

Horizon/Darrington Reconstruction Project

Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14

Daily, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

• Horizon Boulevard east and westbound alternating lane closures between Horizon Crossing Street and Rodman Street.
• Darrington Road north and southbound alternating lane closures between Kingston Road and Nunda Drive

Crews will be conducting electrical, concrete, sign, and landscaping work.

Continuous closure until September 2026

• Darrington Road southbound full closure from Homestead Drive to Roslyn Drive
• Darrington Road and Roslyn/Alderwood Manor Drive intersection full closure

Crews will be installing water, sewer, and storm drain lines.

Safety Lighting Project

Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14

Daily, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

• Gateway East and West alternating lane and ramp closures from Raynolds Street to Paisano Drive
• Titanic Avenue east- and westbound right shoulder closures between Howard Street and Pandora Street
• Copia Street north-and southbound alternating lane closure between Wyoming Avenue and Hueco Avenue
• Dyer Street north-and southbound alternating lane closure between Van Buren Avenue and Kemp Avenue
• I-10 east and westbound alternating lane closures between Acala Road and Finley Road

Crews will be doing shoulder work.

Sergeant Major Bridge Reconstruction Project

Monday, August 10 - Friday, August 14

Nightly, 12 a.m. – 3 p.m.

• Purple Heart Highway (Loop 375) north- and southbound right lanes between Sergeant Major Exit and Entrance Ramps.

Crews will be placing Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (CRCP).

PROJECTS WITH CONTINUOUS CLOSURES

I-10 Hudspeth Safety Rest Area

Continuous closure until December 2026

• I-10 east- and westbound shoulder closure between Fort Hancock and McNary

Crews will be working on utility installation.

Montana Widening Project

Continuous closure until December 2026

• Montana Avenue eastbound frontage road reduced to one lane from Saul Kleinfield to Tierra Este Road
• Montana Avenue and Joe Battle Boulevard intersection, northbound and southbound of Joe Battle through lanes closed.
• Montana Avenue westbound frontage road reduced to two lanes from Tierra Este Road to Joe Battle Boulevard

Crews will be working on building underpass.

Purple Heart 375 Widening Project

Continuous closure until further notice

• Purple Heart Highway north- and southbound shoulder closures from Montana Avenue to Spur 601

Crews will widen main lanes and construct north- and southbound frontage roads.

RM 652 Full Widening Project

Continuous closure until further notice

• RM 652 westbound lanes reduced to one lane two-way traffic from FM 3541 to Kimble Draw Bridge

Closure is necessary for the reconstruction of the roadway.

RM 652 Full Depth Rehabilitation Project

Continuous closure until further notice

• RM 652 east and westbound alternating lane closure 8.36 miles east of FM 3541 to Reeves County Line

Continuous two-way traffic, one-lane work zone requiring traffic to be alternating onto one lane and controlled by Temporary Traffic Signals with a 13-foot lane width restriction.

Closure is necessary for the construction of new roadway consisting of full depth rehabilitation

Please follow the detour signs in place on all projects. All work is dependent upon weather conditions.

How Much AI Is Too Much AI? 

Tim Holt

Recently, I submitted an editorial to El Paso Matters that I thought was worth posting. It was about how the federal government had, through a series of enforcement actions, begun to systematically take away consumer choices for better products simply because they came from China. A decent topic for consideration I thought. 

After being first accepted for publication, the editorial was eventually rejected, after it was run through an “AI checker.” Its decision? My commentary was “100% AI Written.” (Ironically, AI checkers use AI to check for AI.) Of course it wasn’t. Helped perhaps? Yes. 100% written? No. When I checked it myself, using a different AI tool than the one the editor was using, it came back as somewhere in the 45% probability range. Maybe. Even so, the idea was mine, the main points were mine, the references to the exact laws and regulations were mine, even pointing out how these laws affected everyday El Pasoans was mine. Where I made the mistake was asking AI to polish the final product for publication, shorten for brevity, and reword for clarity.   

This got me thinking about what amount of AI should be acceptable  for a written piece and what should not be? As a photographer, I can say that the photographic community has been struggling through that same question for years now. AI is actually built into most new cameras as well as your smartphones. AI tools like facial recognition, auto-focus, HDR stacking, sharpening, noise reduction, and many more are simply blended into your final product behind your back. Does that make your image an “AI image?” Photoshop allows AI to assist with correcting contrast, or exposure or even cropping. 

At what point does a photo become an AI image? If one was to take things literally, then the answer would be it is an AI image the second you press the shutter, unless you are using an old school camera with film. Smartphone cameras have been using machine learning and computational photography, pretty much since their inception.  

The same is true of writing. Modern consumer and newsroom word processors have AI tools embedded into the software as a matter of course. One cannot avoid them. Tools such as  spelling correction, grammar checking, contextual spelling, predictive text, autocomplete, punctuation suggestions, word-choice suggestions and many more, are all part of the AI universe in just a simple consumer word processor. If someone writes something and uses those tools to polish it, is it not human-created but AI-polished?

Which brings us to the press.

Modern newsrooms use AI for everything from finding images to writing captions for pictures. In fact, AI routinely is used for automated public-safety stories, press releases, AI transcription, transcript summarization, automated news alerts, sorting news tips, headline generation and story summarization, as well as detecting AI.  As far back as 2019, Forbes reported using an AI tool called “Bertie” and Bloomberg an internal AI tool named “Cyborg,” to auto-generate articles from financial earnings reports. Amber alerts? Auto-generated. Sports scores and statistics? Computer generated and AI assisted. Grandma’s obituary? Probably AI generated by the Funeral Home but posted because, well, they are essentially paid advertising.  

News outlets also do not seem to have any issue with taking “Partner” or “Sponsor” advertisements that are disguised as news stories that suspiciously sound like they were AI-generated. I recently took two of these “Partner” articles, found on the El Paso Matters Website, and asked ChatGPT to estimate the probability that each was AI generated.  “Family medicine residents at Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso Transmountain create a model for physician wellness” was found it to be between 60-80% likelihood. “Building flood resilience in El Paso: Inside El Paso Water’s stormwater improvements” was estimated to be between 80-90%.

Does that prove that AI wrote the articles? No, it does not. And that is the point. No AI detector can say who or what wrote an article simply by examining the finished work. However, it can, it seems, determine what is, and what is not published on El Paso Matters.

One AI source said my article was probably 100% AI generated.  Another looked at “Partner Articles” on El Paso Matters and estimated  a 70-90% likelihood that AI was involved in the writing process. So why are we allowing computers to determine what is and what is not human-generated? Shouldn’t humans be making that decision? If I used an AI tool to clarify my point, does that make the article “AI?” And even if it were, is that a bad thing if the reader benefits?

Clearly, news outlets do not shy away from using AI for mundane tasks and content, or accepting AI if someone is paying them to take it. So what is the beef with taking in a commentary that was originally created by a human and then reformatted using AI tools?

There is an old thought experiment called the Ship of Theseus that goes something like this:  If a wooden ship has its boards replaced one at a time due to age or damage, until all of the wooden planks are eventually replaced, is it still the original ship or is it a new ship?

If someone like myself came up with an idea for a commentary, mapped out its outline, wrote a draft and then, because the tools were available, had AI replace a sentence here, rewrite a paragraph there, correct spelling and tenses, smooth transitions, and eventually nearly every original sentence has been touched but the original idea and argument had not changed in the slightest, at what point does it stop being the author’s writing and when does it become AI? At what point does the photo become an AI work and not the photographer’s original?

When does Theseus’ old ship become a new ship? 

Model of The Argo, from Jason and the Argonauts. Credit: dimitrisvetsikas1969, Pixababy.

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Please DM me if you might be interested in reading my first novella ever.

Elevator Pitch:
Across seven billion worlds, nothing influences entertainment more than a review from Sik’l Ma-ankreth, GalaxaVision’s legendary critic. So when he discovers Earth’s forgotten television series Ancient Aliens, he proclaims it the greatest comedy ever produced. Overnight, the galaxy becomes obsessed. Conventions explode. Religions adapt. Politicians panic. Entire civilizations begin quoting Earth conspiracy theories for laughs. But when an overlooked academic challenges the assumption that the humans were joking at all, Sik’l is forced to confront an uncomfortable possibility: the greatest comedy in the universe may actually have been a documentary—to the people who made it.

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Senate Bill 10, signed by Governor Abbott in June 2025, took effect on September 1st of that year. It requires every Texas public elementary and secondary school to display a copy of the Ten Commandments in every classroom when one is donated.

Schools aren’t required to buy the posters, but when a privately donated poster meets the law’s specifications, the school must put it up.

That distinction has allowed supporters to argue that the law does not require taxpayers to purchase religious materials.

But taxpayers still fund the classrooms, the wall space, the school staff and the government authority used to display them. The posters may be privately donated. The platform is not.

Now is a good time to check your Voter Registration status.

Do so here

Artcraft Project

Sunday, August 2 – Thursday, August 6

9 p.m. – 6 a.m. (Nightly)

• I-10 east and westbound between Loop 375 (Transmountain) and Artcraft full closure

Crews will be placing steel girders.

Upcoming Closures

Sunday, August 9 – Thursday, August 13

9 p.m. – 6 a.m. (Nightly)

• Directional I-10 east and westbound between Loop 375 (Transmountain) and Artcraft full closure

Crews will be placing deck panels on turnaround bridges

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Save the Dates! "A Forest of Singing Tree Murals, The Whole World is Invited to Make a Painting Together". People of all ages can paint, as well as draw images on cut-out birds, leaves and stars, which will be added to the mural. The painting is the 158th in a series of collaborative artworks that have been inspired by the vision of an 8-year-old girl in 1999 who asked, “What if the whole world made a painting together?

"Living With Those Who Came Before Us" is a community showcase that aims to highlight themes of culture, identity, ancestry and family. By recognizing the people, places and histories that have shaped each artist and how their art reflects their heritage. Which will showcase alongside of "A Forest of Singing Tree Murals"

Opening Reception is August 8 from 1pm - 4pm. Light refreshments will be served

Gallery Talk and Community Art-Making on August 16 from 2pm - 4pm

Closing Ceremony on August 30 from 1pm - 4pm

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