Total sales of every sort in Bell County rose by 33 percent from 2003 to 2007, according to data made available this week. The total went from $15 billion to $20 billion across that time span, the numbers from Global Insights show.

EL PASO - Josefa Gonzalez Loya has sneaked across the Mexican border at least 128 times in the past eight years. And each time, the Border Patrol has been nice enough to give her a lift home. Gonzalez and a group of other women and children - all Indians from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca - have no interest in staying in the United States. All they want to do is panhandle outside El Paso businesses, using the children as lures.

It´s no secret the population is growing - not only in number, but in girth. What used to be considered an adults-only problems - Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol - are showing up in adolescents.

BELTON - On the opening day of their Class 5A bi-district playoff series, the Belton Tigers suffered through a train wreck and lived to tell about it. After coughing up a four-run lead in what could have been a demoralizing 16-7 loss in the opener, Belton salvaged its season for at least another day with a 2-1 win over Pflugerville in Game 2 on Friday night at Tiger Field.

FAIRFIELD - Troy baseball coach Steve Sebesta was worried how his team would respond to having 10 days off in between games. The Trojans gave him an early answer.

CALDWELL - Too many mistakes have the defending state champion Rogers Eagles one loss away from being swept out of the Class 2A baseball playoffs in the first round. Rogers gave New Waverly all the chances it needed to get back in the game, and the Bulldogs certainly obliged.

BASTROP - At first glance you might think senior first baseman Lacy Hoff was long overdue for her first career home run. In the perspective of Rosebud-Lott softball history, it came right on time.

GRANGER - After guiding Granger to the Class A Division I state semifinals last fall, Stacey Hunt is moving on after six years of leading the Lions. Granger´s athletic director and head football coach since 2002, Hunt has resigned to take the same positions at 3A Wharton beginning Monday.

NEW ORLEANS - Tyson Chandler struggled with the idea that New Orleans could be favored in its second-round NBA playoff series against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, even if the Hornets are the higher seed and have home-court advantage. “I don´t know if many players on this team consider themselves underdogs, but for some reason that´s what we´ve been labeled as,” Chandler said on the eve of tonight´s Game 1 in this best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

McKINNEY - The Temple College softball team began the 2008 season with a five-game winning streak, so they know it can be done. And that may be the only good news after Temple lost to Hill 4-1 in the opening game of the NJCAA Region 5B conference tournament at Craig Ranch on Saturday. The loss means the Lady Leopards (30-28) need to win five consecutive games in order to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament.

The Temple College baseball team needs one win today in its 1 p.m. doubleheader at last-place Vernon to clinch the Leopards´ seventh consecutive berth in the NJCAA Region V Tournament, and TC will seize its conference´s No. 2 seed if it sweeps the Chaparrals. Temple (29-22) enters the final day of Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference play with a 17-13 league record, tied with Cisco for second place. Because coach Craig McMurtry´s Leopards own the head-to-head tie-breaker advantage over Cisco, a TC sweep would secure it the NTJCAC´s No. 2 seed for the Region V Tournament, set for May 11-15 at Lubbock Christian. The winner of the eight-team, double-elimination regional will advance to the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction, Colo.