Collateral Damage - From the front lines in Texas: Escalating drug violence tops local stories

From the front lines of the drug war - or just across the Rio Grande in Brownsville, Texas - a review of how the war is affecting this Texas city. The city is named after the fort established there in 1846 to provoke Mexico into the U.S.'s first war on Mexican soil.

Escalating drug violence tops local stories | escalating, tops, full - Top Story - Brownsville Herald: "But no change was felt more than the escalation of violence in the drug war along the U.S.-Mexico border, a war which finally spilled over into Brownsville.

The drug war was already hurting a local economy still trying to recover from the Great Recession. Bridge traffic was down as tourists became more reluctant to cross the border. It was not long before local residents began crossing only when necessary — nor was it long before more Mexican nationals started to take refuge in the Rio Grande Valley to escape the out-of-control violence on their side of the border." Dec. 30, 2010