Mayor John Cook

Natural gas distributor El Paso Corp. on Tuesday posted an 87 percent plunge in third-quarter profit, hurt by lower natural gas. The company also announced cost-cutting measures and slashed its dividend, sending shares down in after-hours trading. After paying preferred stock dividends, El Paso reported net income of $58 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with profit of $436 million, or 58 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, including write-downs related to the changing value of commodity contracts, the company reported profit of 23 cents per share, down from 35 cents in 2008. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on ... Read Full Story

Natural gas producer El Paso Corp. on Tuesday slashed its dividend and announced several other measures to save or raise cash. The company said its quarterly dividend will be cut to a penny from 5 cents. The move will save about $112 million a year in cash, it said. The dividend is payable Jan. 4 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 4. El Paso will also take cost-cutting actions aimed at saving $150 million a year, and said it plans to sell between $300 million and $500 million in assets next year. The measures came as the company posted an 89 percent decline ... Read Full Story

Events Pet adoptions will be from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m More here: Your guide to today, tomorrow and beyond (El Paso Times) Read Full Story

A Mexican human rights official is in U.S. customs detention, apparently for his own safety, after he reported 170 instances of Mexican soldiers allegedly torturing, abusing and killing innocent people in Chihuahua. Customs and Border Protection agents took Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson into custody Thursday. A report in Saturday's El Paso Times says his lawyer Carlos Spector believed they wanted him to seek political asylum. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa says Hickerson was taken into custody due to "mandatory detention provisions and will be afforded all rights and procedures allowed" under U.S. laws. Hickerson works for the Chihuahua State Human Rights ... Read Full Story

A body found with its severed arms crossed and placed on its chest in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, was identified by authorities Wednesday as a Texas man kidnapped from his home. Sergio Saucedo, 30, was kidnapped from his Horizon City house outside El Paso last Thursday. His mutilated body was found Tuesday in the Mexican border city across the Rio Grande, said El Paso County Sheriff's spokesman Jesse Tovar. "It's apparent that the spillover has occurred," Tovar said of the drug violence plaguing Juarez and much of Mexico. Saucedo, who has a long criminal record including convictions for drug possession and money laundering, was kidnapped ... Read Full Story