Texas Monthly editor Patoski in Laredo;
City's quarterly report and La Fe released

Scouting for separate stories on Texas barbecue and native plants, Texas Monthly senior editor Joe Nick Patoski was in Laredo recently. Patoski is the author of a beautiful homage to the wild, raw beauty of West Texas, Texas Mountains. He is also the author of Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire. He and Medicine Man Tony Ramirez spent a day in the brush.
Manitas y manitos. Did I hear right? The Hispanic surnamed weekend anchor said Chew-chew-wa instead of Chihuahua, a street in Laredo. Then she urged us to go to a bullfight if we wanted to "see the bulls go head to head." My cringe-o-meter went on high alert.
The City of Laredo Public Information Office has compiled, completed, and distributed the first edition of the City's quarterly report in full color. The work of PIOs Blasita Lopez and Xochitl Mora, the magazine highlights two city council members, several city departments, the Laredo Entertainment Center, messages from Mayor Flores and City Manager Dovalina, Employee of the Year Amy Martinez, the good deeds of City employees in the community, and a fiscal quarterly report on the state of City finances. Among the pieces of most valuable information in the magazine: contact names, numbers, and e-mail addresses for City departments, department heads, and council members. Paco Barrientos and the PM Design Group designed the publication, Eddie Rios photographed for it, and Adan Reyna of Reyna Graphic Design printed it. A couple of little notes on the side: the Mayor's message was a first person account in the form of a letter; the City Manager's page was a third-person interview; the back cover of an incredible night sky would have made a much better cover for Volume 1, Edition 1 than the eight council members.
Goyo Lopez has just completed the first edition of La Fe, the slick and pretty diocesan magazine that plugs local stories into a larger grid that for the Spring issue includes a feature on St. Bernadette, theology and creeds, Mel Gibson's film project about Jesus, learning and living the beatitudes, recipes from the table of St. Joseph, an interview with Bishop James Tamayo, and a history of the Diocese of Laredo. The magazine will be available by subscription for $15.