Envy Apartment

Just a couple of miles from the Mexican border, where approximately 200, 000 immigrants illegally cross every year, 14-year-old Guatemalan Byron Raxcaco came face-to-face with reality of life on this nearly 2,000 mile border. A local drug lord demanded that Raxcaco and his chaperone pay $800 for safe passage across the border, where criminal gangs ferry humans and drugs across daily, and where police presence is almost non-existent, he said in an interview with AL.com. Poor and desperate to reach the U.S., Raxcaco was detained in a hotel in the Mexican region of Senora for a day until his aunt in Semmes, Alabama, gathered the money for the drug lord. After paying up, Raxcaco was released and free to start a new life in the United States.  He approached a border patrol post , told them he was an unaccompanied minor and asked for political asylum. In the four years since crossing the border, he has moved in with his aunt, enrolled in school, learned English, and got himself a girlfri...

The Latest on efforts to remove Confederate monuments and the nationwide fallout from a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (all times local): 9:45 p.m. A white nationalist wanted for crimes police say were committed on the campus of the University of Virginia a day before a deadly rally says he will turn himself in to authorities. University of Virginia police say Christopher Cantwell of Keene, New Hampshire, is wanted on three felony charges: two counts of the illegal use of tear gas or other gases and one count of malicious bodily injury with a "caustic substance," explosive or fire. Contacted by The Associated Press, Cantwell acknowledged he had pepper-sprayed a counter demonstrator during a protest but insisted he was defending himself, saying he did it "because my only other option was knocking out his teeth." Cantwell also said Tuesday evening that he had been trying for days to find out about whether he had outstanding warrants. Now th...

The Latest on efforts to remove Confederate monuments and the nationwide fallout from a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (all times local): A white nationalist wanted for crimes police say were committed on the campus of the University of Virginia a day before a deadly rally says he will turn himself in to authorities. University of Virginia police say Christopher Cantwell of Keene, New Hampshire, is wanted on three felony charges: two counts of the illegal use of tear gas or other gases and one count of malicious bodily injury with a "caustic substance," explosive or fire. Contacted by The Associated Press, Cantwell acknowledged he had pepper-sprayed a counter demonstrator during a protest but insisted he was defending himself, saying he did it "because my only other option was knocking out his teeth." Cantwell also said Tuesday evening that he had been trying for days to find out about whether he had outstanding warrants. Now that the pol...

Juan Parras gives one hell of a tour of Houston’s east side. He’s charming and funny. Wearing a beret, he strikes an old-world look, like he might lead you to a cafe on a plaza. He doesn’t charge a fee for his services. After all, you’re on a “toxic tour,” and Parras is on a mission. Parras grew up in 1950s West Texas . He remembers segregated schools, the restaurants that wouldn’t serve him, the unpaved roads, and the people who lived closest to the local refinery . Those experiences led him to a career as a social justice advocate . The resident of Houston’s heavily industrial east side has worked in a city housing department , for a union, for a law clinic, and on a campaign that stopped a PVC factory from being built in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” For the last decade, he has served as executive director of Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (better known as t.e.j.a.s.). Part of his work is leading tours past the heaping piles of scrap metal along Houston’s Buffalo Ba...

CLOSE Kristine De Jesus , a staff psychologist and coordinator of the Alcohol and Other Drug Program at MSU, speaks about the services the school offers to students dealing with alcohol and drug abuse. Mollie Shauger/NorthJersey.com Montclair State University " /> The Montclair State University Red Hawk statue on the school's campus. (Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com file) For students recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, the typical college campus can seem like a minefield of temptation, with frat parties, tailgating and late night rounds of beer pong. To help recovering students cope , Montclair State University has set aside a floor in one of its dormitories for those committed to sobriety. Officials hope it will give recovering students a refuge on campus, as well as a way for them to develop a small community of classmates who can provide each other support. The initiative at Montclair State  is part of a growing trend nationally , with about 50   coll...

Paying tribute to the late filmmaker, whose work in Pittsburgh changed cinema. by Rick Sebak August 23, 2017 photo: shutterstock A lthough he made some gruesome and horrifying movies, there was nothing very frightening about George Romero himself. When I first met him in 1990, on the Edgewood set of “The Dark Half,” I found him to be a warm and friendly man with an easy smile; he didn’t seem wicked or warped in any way. (Although one of the zombies from his first feature, “Night of the Living Dead,” might’ve regarded him as a pretty big meal , at 6’5’’ and pretty meaty at the time.) Although it was still a secret, he and I both knew that he had been selected as Pittsburgh Magazine’s Pittsburgher Of The Year for 1991; I was there to gather some footage of him and his crew at work for WQED. He appeared on the front porch of the Maple Avenue house they were using just to say hello to our small crew.  We weren’t supposed to bother him with an interview that day, but I th...