John Burnett has served as NPR's Southwest correspondent based in Austin, Texas, since 1986. His reports are heard regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazines Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition He currently covers the Southwest border, primarily focusing on trade, the drug war, natural resources, and immigration.
Recent Stories
The Senate is conducting hearings into the recent shootings at Fort Hood — a tragedy that took place just miles from the site of a deadly 1991 attack. That episode, in which a gunman killed 23 people at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, reshaped how police, medical and psychological personnel respond to such tragedies.
Vast new natural gas fields have opened up thanks to an advanced drilling technique. While natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than coal or petroleum, extracting it is still hard, dirty work. Some people who live near the massive Barnett Shale gas deposit in north Texas, have complaints. Health and environmental concerns are prompting state regulators to take a closer look.
Did Texas execute an innocent man? That question, and the controversy surrounding it, continues to swirl around Gov. Rick Perry. Critics say the governor has tried to squelch an investigation into the case. Now the issue has moved to the forefront of Perry's effort to win re-election.
Texas has more than 73,000 sworn peace officers — roughly one for every 330 people, serving everything from local water districts to schools to the State Board of Dental Examiners. But the proliferation of these police forces raises serious questions of resource allocation and jurisdiction.
The news of Mexico's bloody cartel war is reflected in a controversial folk-music genre called narcocorridos, or drug ballads. They're like journalism put to song — telling stories of drug lords, arrests, shootouts, daring operations and betrayals. But, like the cartel war itself, writing corridos about drug traffickers can be risky business.
On the Texas-Mexico border, Los Zetas are mythic — their crimes chronicled in the media and memorialized in song. Considered the most dangerous drug cartel in Mexico, the Zetas have earned a reputation as super-gangsters adept at paramilitary-style ambushes and bold jailbreaks.
Twenty-six states are experiencing high H1N1 virus activity — most in the lower half of the nation, according to the CDC. In Austin, Texas, hundreds are seeking treatment; most of them are young and resilient enough to get through it. One medical center recently erected three field tents on its parking lot to deal exclusively with swine flu.
Medellin, Colombia, was once a drug battleground; today, it is a colonial jewel with sidewalk cafes and open-air bars. Mexico's border city of Juarez has taken Medellin's place as the ground zero in the war against drug cartels. The former mayor of Medellin will be in Juarez to talk of his city's transformation. Juarez residents, traumatized by the highest homicide rate of any major city in the hemisphere, are desperate for answers.
With the price of raw milk at historic lows, dairy farms are going under across the United States. As the crisis deepens, many blame two dairy giants that they say are trying to monopolize the industry, to the detriment of independent farmers and consumers.
Less than 2 percent of America's farms account for half of the country's agricultural sales. The antitrust division of President Obama's Justice Department says that scrutinizing agriculture monopolies is a top priority — a shift that gives hope to independent farmers.
Whole Foods has taken pains to distance the corporation from founder and CEO John P. Mackey, but it may be too late. His article slamming Obama's health care plans has caused an uproar and led some to boycott the store.
The Rio Grande is far more than a border between the United States and Mexico, and it's more than a barrier to illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. To one man who lives in the borderlands, the river is a kayaker's paradise.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has asked the United States to do more to curb the flow of weapons smuggled into Mexico. But the U.S. has the most permissive gun laws in the developed world, making it difficult for federal agents to battle arms trafficking.
At a shelter in Reynosa, Mexico, a group of men reflect on their recent deportations. Many were sent back to Mexico after committing crimes in the United States. On top of that, the distressed economy is squeezing illegal workers out of their low-wage jobs.
Only a few universities in the world have facilities devoted to studying human bodies as they decompose. Texas State University's Forensic Anthropology Research Facility is the newest. Students there learn to recover and study human bones.
