DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 11, 2026--
Limited-edition America250 Coca-Cola cans and bottles are now available courtesy of Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (AC-CCSWB). The Dallas-based bottler makes, markets and distributes Coca-Cola products in Texas and parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas. CCSWB’s flagship Northpoint production facility in Houston, Texas is one of the few Coca-Cola bottling facilities in the nation selected to produce this unique commemorative packaging. Consumers can find commemorative packaging wherever Coca-Cola products are sold.
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At the heart of the celebration is a special collection of limited-edition America250 packaging, including custom bottles and Coca-Cola’s first-ever America250 collectible mini cans. Each mini-can showcases a design inspired by one of the 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, featuring recognizable local symbols. Created with collecting and sharing in mind, the America250 packaging also offers consumers opportunities to engage with interactive experiences.
“For more than a century, Coca-Cola has been woven into the fabric of our culture here in Texas and across our great nation,” said Susanne Brady-Lusk, president of AC-CCSWB. “As the local Coca-Cola bottler, we are proud to participate in this special moment for our country as we help bring celebrations to life across our territory.”
Coca-Cola's A250 commemorative designs are available in various packaging options across brands including Coca-Cola, smartwater, Gold Peak Tea and many more. As a Signature Partner of America250, The Coca-Cola Company is helping bring people together to mark this historic milestone, continuing its legacy of being part of moments that unite communities across generations. In addition to the commemorative packaging, AC-CCSWB will support America250 through community engagement initiatives and local activations such as the Star-Spangled Mural competition, a program unveiling new Coca-Cola themed murals that capture the history and culture of each designated town. The mural unveiling ceremonies will begin in June and continue across its territory throughout 2026. For more information or inquiries related to some of AC-CCSWB’s America250 celebration activities, visit http://www.TexasMonthly.com/Coca-Cola-Mural-Trail.
About Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages
Dallas-based Arca Continental Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages (AC-CCSWB) is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the United States. AC-CCSWB produces, markets and distributes Coca-Cola brands throughout Texas and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. The company employs more than 9,000 associates who operate 7 production plants and 37 distribution facilities, serving more than 31 million consumers. Headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico, Arca Continental is one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the world with an outstanding history spanning 100 years. Within its Coca-Cola franchise, Arca Continental serves more than 130 million consumers in Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and the Southwestern U.S. Arca Continental also produces and markets snacks under the brand names Wise in the U.S., Bokados in Mexico and Inalecsa in Ecuador. For more information, visit www.cocacolaswb.com and www.arcacontal.com.
Commemorative Coca-Cola packaging marks the road to America's 250th anniversary
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is waging a last-minute legal fight to execute a man with nitrogen gas on Thursday night, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside a judge's finding that the method violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Jeffery Lee, 49, is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday. However, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled that nitrogen executions are unconstitutional and blocked the state from using the method to put Lee to death. The state filed an appeal Thursday asking the Supreme Court to set aside the ruling and allow the execution.
“If that ruling stands, it would be unprecedented in American history. Not only does it portend the first-ever permanent ban on a legislatively enacted method, but it would expand the concept of cruelty well beyond the bounds of the Eighth Amendment,” lawyers with the Alabama attorney general's office wrote. The Supreme Court has never ruled that a state's execution method violates the Constitution.
The case has put a spotlight on the nitrogen execution method and the sharp disagreements over its use.
The execution method involves strapping a respirator to the person’s face and replacing breathable air with pure nitrogen gas, causing death from a lack of oxygen. Nitrogen has been used in eight executions in the United States — seven in Alabama and one in Louisiana. Lee was scheduled to be the ninth person put the death by nitrogen.
U.S. District Judge Emily Marks ruled Tuesday, after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional, that Lee had shown by a “preponderance of the evidence that the protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.” The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision Wednesday night, rejected Alabama's request to stay the ruling. The court earlier said the three minutes that it could take for an inmate to lose awareness is an “intolerable” time frame, “given the suffering that would likely take place under Alabama’s nitrogen hypoxia protocol.”
During the previous Alabama nitrogen executions, the inmates shook, pulled at the restraints and exhibited labored breathing. During the state’s last execution by nitrogen gas, 30 minutes elapsed between Anthony Boyd exhibiting signs of being impacted by the gas and state officials closing the curtain to the viewing room to signal the execution was complete.
The state has maintained that the method is constitutional and causes no more suffering than other execution methods.
Lee’s attorneys said Alabama is attempting to move forward with an execution method that courts have found unconstitutional. His supporters have urged Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to commute his sentence to life imprisonment, which is the sentence that jurors at his trial had recommended.
“Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall wants to execute Jeffery Lee under a death sentence the jury rejected using a nitrogen gas method that two federal courts have ruled unconstitutional. This execution is simply too flawed to move forward,” Lee’s lawyers said in a Wednesday statement.
“We remain hopeful that Governor Ivey will intervene,” they added.
A jury convicted Lee of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.
A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.
Marks did not block the state from using its other authorized execution methods, lethal injection and the electric chair. However, it is unclear if the state could swiftly change the method.
Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
This undated photo from the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Jeffery Lee, who was sentenced to death for killing two people during a 1998 robbery at a pawn shop. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)
Abraham Bonowitz, of the group Death Penalty Action, leads a demonstration outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)
