Russell Contreras
All Stories

New PBS film probes construction boom on Latino workers
Since the Great Recession, cities like Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Hobbs, New Mexico, have seen construction booms. Homes and skyscrapers have popped up almost overnight thanks to cheap labor Latino...

Ailing Kenosha on edge as Trump visit looms amid tensions
Some residents in Kenosha fear a planned visit by President Donald Trump after unrest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake may stir more emotions and cause more violence and...

Selma Online offers free civil rights lessons amid virus
The interactive website arrives just as schools across the U.S. have closed because of the coronavirus and many students are in need of educational material to learn at home.

Jackson Wink MMA Academy to offer fans “travel workouts”
Jackson Wink MMA Academy, the storied mixed martial arts gym that has trained UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, will beginning offering mixed martial arts fans a chance to...

Mass shootings have Latinos worried about being targets
That shooting and an earlier one in Gilroy, California, killed nearly two dozen Latinos. The violence has some Hispanics looking over their shoulders, avoiding speaking Spanish in public and seeking...

High-tech tools help with 2020 census in remote places
The U.S. Census Bureau is using new high-tech tools to help get an accurate population count next year as its faces challenges tallying people of color who live in remote...

Historic Andy Ruiz boxing win jolts elation among Mexican Americans
The Madison Square Garden crowd booed when giant screens showed the chubby challenger, Andy Ruiz Jr., walking to the ring as a big underdog to the charismatic, handsome heavyweight champion,...

Drone used to aid 3-D remake of Camp Amache, WWII Japanese internment camp in southern Colorado
A University of Denver team is using drone images to create a 3D reconstruction of a World War II-era Japanese internment camp in southern Colorado.

Blackface, other insensitivities ran rampant in ’80s culture
At the time Virginia's future political leaders put on blackface in college for fun, Dan Aykroyd wore it too -- in the hit 1983 comedy "Trading Places."

Ex-University of New Mexico athletic director charged with fraud, laundering
Former University of New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs, who left in 2017 amid questions over spending, was charged Wednesday with fraud, money laundering and other felonies, state prosecutors said.