AI technology that would have seemed like magic to students a generation ago is now in use in classrooms every day in El Paso. But whether students benefit from using artificial intelligence for schoolwork remains an open question.

On this episode of the El Paso Matters Podcast, education reporter Claudia Lorena Silva discusses her reporting on how students are using artificial intelligence in El Paso schools, the different approaches to AI across districts and what the upsides and risks are of widespread AI use in education. You can read Claudia's reporting at elpasomatters.org.

In early 2019, a trail camera captured a beaver sitting at the Rio Bosque wetlands park at dawn. It wasn't the first time the park's managers had seen signs of a beaver at the park -- a kind of sanctuary for wildlife in El Paso's urban landscape -- but it's the first time a beaver made the park it's home and began developing beaver dams and changing the park's landscape. El Paso Matters reporter Priscilla Totiyapungprasert joins the podcast to share her experience reporting on El Paso's celebrity beaver. You can read Priscilla's reporting at elpasomatters.org.

As Meta Platforms continues to construct a $10 billion data center in El Paso, the region's investor-owned utility El Paso Electric is advancing its own plan to develop an onsite power plant for Meta's data center. El Paso Matters reporter Diego Mendoza-Moyers and editor Pablo Villa talk about El Paso Electric's plan to deliver electricity to Meta's facility, potential impacts to El Pasoans' utility bills and broader concerns that have fueled public backlash to the project. You can read Diego's coverage of data center issues in El Paso at elpasomatters.org.