News & Features
Boot Camps for Wayward Youths Offer Hope, Help, Hell
ENSENADA, Mexico (AP) — The 130 residents of the converted beach-side motel are mostly teenage and mostly American, but you wouldn’t know it by listening: No shouts, no stereos. Just the rhythmic crash of surf.
Under strict order, the youths at Casa by the Sea go about their day’s routine of quiet exercise, study, chores and, when approved, group discussion. (link to story)
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'Escort Service' or Legalized Abduction?
ENSENADA, Mexico (AP) — For a few hundred dollars, parents pushed to the edge by teens’ defiant and destructive behavior can hire “escorts” to rouse their children in the middle of the night and haul them away--in handcuffs if needed. (link to story)
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Methamphetamine Use Picking Up Speed in West, Officers Say
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For the longest time, Gary Burton’s family looked just about ideal. Burton’s journal charted the daily events of a proud family man: “Suzy’s baseball team won district. . . . Shelly won cheerleader. Those Burton girls are the best. . . . Gave Clint my favorite T-shirt today for his first football jersey.”
Clinton Burton was in middle school when his father brought something new into the family home in the rural southern Oregon town of Eagle Point.
Methamphetamine changed everything. (link to story)
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Engineers see measure of success in performance of WTC design
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — As he watched the World Trade Center burn, Bob Hendershot knew the clock was ticking. In the safety of their San Diego home, his wife stared at the televised images and asked “What’s gonna happen?”
The structural engineer knew that fire would most surely cause the buildings to collapse. At best, the thousands of people inside had three, maybe four hours to get out.
In the end, the twin towers collapsed less than two hours after being rocked by jetliners.
But Hendershot and his colleagues at a meeting in Coronado said Thursday they do not see the Sept. 11 disaster as a building failure. “From the point of view of those who escaped, this was a tremendously successful design,” he said. (link to story)
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Closing time in Panama: 1999 Senior class last graduates of high school
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) - After Balboa High School seniors walk across the bright green grass and out into their futures this weekend, it will be more than just the class of '99 that will be gone. It will be a way of life.
The mix of English and Spanish bouncing off the walls of the crowded corridors will fall silent. There will be no more lunchtime sprints for quick meals of rice and "vieja ropa," a savory Panamanian dish of shredded beef with a name meaning "old clothes." The last of the teens who have enlivened Balboa High since 1916 will pack up with their parents, mostly U.S. military personnel, civilian base workers or employees of the U.S. government's Panama Canal Commission, who are leaving Panama this year. (link to story)
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Para Marcos, la eleccíon interna en el PRI busca proteger a la oligarquía
LA REALIDAD, Chiapas, Mexico (AP) - En voz del subcomandante Marcos, el Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) consideró que la decisión del Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) de seleccionar a su candidato presidencial en elecciones internas, ''es sólo un recurso para proteger a la oligarquía'', por lo cual el grupo insurgente manifestó que no tenía muchas esperanzas de un cambio en el tricolor.
''Quienquiera que sea elegido seguirá oyendo el clamor zapatista de más derechos de los indígenas'', afirmó Marcos en una infrecuente entrevista con un corresponsal extranjero. (link to story)
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Mitch leaves region with years of economic woes
OJOCHAL, Nicaragua (AP) -- Ricardo Santeliz looks over the land where his family's farm once stood. What had been fertile fields of peanuts is now a wasteland of caked mud.
Where the family had grown sorghum, beans, sugar cane and soy, the gnarled roots of huge trees claw up from the earth.
''Now the situation is very critical regarding the question of food,'' the young man said, adding that his family would look to move elsewhere. ''Here there is no hope.''
Santeliz is just one of an uncounted number of Central Americans whose livelihood was destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. The disaster, which killed as many as 10,000, will be felt in the region's economy for years. (link to story)
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Mosoco supporters claiming victory in Panama's election
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- Supporters of Mireya Moscoso, the widow of a popular president, claimed victory Sunday night in elections to determine who will lead Panama when the United States cedes control of the Panama Canal. (link to story)
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In California, avocado growers cheer Super Bowl sales boost
BONSALL, Calif. (AP) - Just off a stretch of interstate called the Avocado Highway, work crews in the U.S. avocado capital are harvesting fist-sized fruits destined to be mashed and mixed by football fans across the country. Super Bowl Sunday has become one of the biggest days for U.S. avocado consumption as the popularity of its zesty dip derivative, guacamole, has spread. (link to story)
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100 years of Seuss
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Near the end of his life, Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel sat down with his wife, Audrey, to speak of the past and of things to come.
" 'I've had a wonderful life,' " Audrey Stone Geisel recalls him saying. "I've done what I had to do. I lived where I wished to live. I had love. I had everything.' ... 'But,' he said, 'now my work will be turned over to you. And you will have to deal with those consequences.'
"And oh-ho," says the 82-year-old heiress of the Seuss world, "has that been true!" (link to story)
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Ultimate soccer mom breaking ground for working mothers
SAN DIEGO (AP) — In the bleachers, America's ultimate soccer mom balances a ball on her knee that is just about the size of her rounded belly and graciously signs autographs, her two young daughters at her side.
Joy Fawcett, the Olympic medalist and Women's World Cup champion, is happy to cheer on her San Diego Spirit teammates, but looks forward to the day she'll rejoin them on the field.
Judging from her last two pregnancies, that will happen soon after she gives birth in early June. "After two weeks I get really antsy," she said.
A week after giving birth to her first child, Fawcett was back in training with the U.S. national team. When she returned to competition, she breast-fed at halftime.
And she's helped open the way for a growing number of professional female athletes to pursue their sports careers with support from leagues that help them take care of their children at the same time. (link to story)
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Chavez may be singing swan song
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Julio Cesar Chavez, one of the few modern fighters to record 100 victories, enters the ring Saturday night for what might be his final bout.
His decision will depend on whether he beats his young rival Miguel Angel Gonzalez for the WBC super lightweight title.
The 35-year-old, six-time world champion is confident his experience will earn him the victory over the 27-year-old Gonzalez. But stealing the spotlight from his boasts is his talk of possible retirement, of a desire to close his 18-year-career on a high note. (link to story)
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Soldiers' families plan Iraq journey; Relatives doubt need for war
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Michael Lopercio is going to Iraq to hear how ordinary Iraqis feel about the war. Anabelle Valencia hopes to see her son and daughter, who are in the Army. Fernando Suarez del Solar wants to touch the earth where his son was killed.
Each will leave their hometowns Saturday, forming a small delegation with other relatives of servicemen to bring a message of friendship for the people of Baghdad. They also bring with them doubts about the United States' involvement in Iraq and the Bush administration's handling of the war. (link to story)
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Loved ones bid farewell to crew of Nimitz battle group as it heads for Arabian sea
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) - Family members said somber good-byes Monday to thousands of sailors aboard the USS Nimitz as the aircraft carrier left on a mission that will bring it within striking distance of Iraq. (link to story)
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Man pleads guilty to starting wildfire
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A lost hunter who set a signal fire that grew into the biggest wildfire in California history pleaded guilty Thursday in a deal with federal prosecutors that could put him behind bars for up to five years. (link to story)
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Cuban Dissident Freed from Detention
HAVANA (AP) - A leading Cuban dissident said Tuesday that he was held in captivity for two days and beaten by police who warned him to halt his protests against alleged human rights violations. (link to story)
Hispanic Affairs
Mexico's real-life 'superheroes' are caped crusaders for justice
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Faster than a bolt of lightning? Doubtful. Able to leap tall buildings? Not a chance.
Mexico’s newest superhero rushes into his headquarters, the office of the Union of Electrical Workers, flustered and breathing heavily under his leather and nylon mask after jogging from his car.
Even Super Luz – Super Light – can have trouble finding a parking space. (link to story)
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Cinco de Mayo translates into a marketing bonanza
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Americans will toss tortillas and down shots of tequila today in honor of Cinco de Mayo, partying with a fervor that leaves many Mexicans scratching their heads in wonderment.
Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday, but a minor one. It marks a May 5, 1862, victory by a small army of Mexican patriots and peasants over stronger French forces, but it's not Mexican Independence Day -- a common misconception among Cinco de Mayo partyers in the United States. (link to story)
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Violence, corruption plague Mexican border city of Tijuana
TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) _ On the border in northwestern Mexico, Tijuana sits between the haves and the have-nots: those in Mexico who have cocaine, marijuana, heroin and speed, and those in the United States who do not but will pay lots for it. (link to story)
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Hispanics loom large in California
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Hispanic voters, 16 percent of California's electorate and three times as likely to favor Democrats over Republicans, are poised to play an important - and perhaps deciding - role in the upcoming recall election. (link to story)
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California storms hit hard in workers' wallets
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Southern California's third rainiest season on record has delivered a huge blow to car washes, landscaping crews, house painters, and construction workers alike, hurting business owners and their paycheck-to-paycheck workers.
Dramatic footage of mansions teetering on hillsides may dominate television coverage of the storms, but for those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder, the rainy season has been a slow-moving disaster.
On a Chula Vista street behind a rock and brick supplier, about two dozen men chatted in Spanish and sipped coffee while hoping to catch a day's work. Many said they normally work construction jobs, but most sites are closed due to the saturated ground. (link to story)
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Community Mourns Loss of Seven of its Members
NYSSA, Ore. (AP) - A sad song on the AM radio station fills Carmen Rodriguez's bakery, the walls lined with shelves of yellow andpink frosted Mexican sweet bread.
"This life," a man sings in Spanish,"is worth nothing." The rich mariachi guitars swell as the man cries,"Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay."
Time has moved slowly in this dusty farming town on the edge of the Snake River since the day Sylvestre Perez and six other family members left for work. For his wife, Alejandra, and the others left behind, it hasn't moved at all. (link to story)
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Los Lobos: Bridging fame and obscurity
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The five members of Los Lobos walk out onto a Los Angeles street for an impromptu photo shoot, causing some drivers to stop and gawk and a few fans in the predominantly Latino neighborhood to admire from a distance. Then the band decides to pose around a fruit cart, but the Mexican immigrant who runs it is skeptical. He’s never heard of them.
This mixture of fame and obscurity is typical for Los Lobos, who despite strong critical acclaim have never fit into the kind of format that attracts radio play and widespread popular appeal. (link to story)
Arts Features & Reviews
Arts Feature: 'I have grown up as a person,' says Juanes
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) It was a few months ago, Juanes recalls, when his oldest daughter, Luna, wondered why people stop him to take his picture, ask for his autograph, or simply call out his name as if they were good friends.
“Papi?” the 4-year-old asked him, “Who are you?”
It’s a question that Latin America’s biggest rock star asked himself in the time that he wrote and recorded his newest album, “La Vida Es Un Ratico,” or “Life Is a Moment.” With the launch last week of his concert tour, Juanes says everything is different from his last tour in 2006 — especially himself. (link to story)
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Arts Feature: Writer Victor Villaseñor says school destroys natural genius
Oceanside, Calif. (AP) - In his talks to students, Victor Villasenor likes to ask, “Who here is a genius?”
If it’s a class of kindergartners, everyone’s hand shoots up, he says. If they’re in second or third grade, a few are bold enough to say yes. But once they’re out of elementary school, he says, there are no more geniuses. (link to story)
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Arts Feature: Women set rhythm in Latin rock
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Anyone concerned that traditional machismo would stifle Latin American women who want to rock need look no further than Colombia's Andrea Echeverri and Mexican songstress Ely Guerra.
Their headliner performances at the recent Latin Alternative Music Conference demonstrate that Latina musicians have broken free of the glamour mold that still shapes the images of many female performers. (link to story)
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Book Review: Kerouac's 'Mexican Girl' brought to life in 'Mañana Means Heaven'
As Jack Kerouac described her, she was "the cutest little Mexican girl" who happened across his path at a bus stop in Bakersfield, Calif., and became "Terry" in his classic novel, "On the Road." In reality, Kerouac scholars knew she was a woman named Bea Franco, but despite many efforts over the fog of years, none could find her. Until now. (link to review)
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Music Review: Rodrigo y Gabriela find magic on new album
Wielding only acoustic guitars, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero conjure a mix of influences to create a sound that might only have been dreamed up by classical guitar great Andres Segovia, if he'd been born listening to Santana and Metallica. (link to review)
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Music Review: Bad Brains weld a wicked pink/dub creation
There should be a warning label on the Bad Brain's new album: "Caution: Contents are Volatile." The first album in five years from this hugely respected punk/dub band is explosive. (link to review)
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Music Review: Spain's The Pinker Tones mix up genres, emerge with fun
If you were to have locked two musically gifted infants into a room filled with electronic instruments and an expansive record collection of pop music from the 1960s through, say, 1982, you might have opened the door years later to find The Pinker Tones. (link to review)
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Music Review: Beck's 'Morning Phase' stirs a haunting beauty
It’s hard to put a finger on Beck. He can steer into many moods, as he has in the two decades since he had a breakthrough with the commercial success of “Mellow Gold.” On “Morning Phase,” his first studio album in six years, Beck takes us to an intimate, gray landscape that is haunting and beautiful. (link to review)
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Music Review: Los Amigos Invisibles keep if freshly fun
Dreamy, funky, sophisticated and groovy. This combination is most uncommon in the world of Latin alternative music - and that’s why the new offering from Venezuelan groovemasters Los Amigos Invisibles is so delicious. It’s rare aural candy. (link to review)
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Music Review: Jarabe de Palo reimagines its history
If there had been a love child born of Steely Dan and Santana during a tryst in Barcelona, a child who ran off with a Gypsy band and grew up strumming guitar in the romantic airs of the Caribbean, that child might sound like Jarabe de Palo. (link to review)
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Music Review: Pop-rockers Maná reignite on 'Cama Incendiada'
It's a given that pop-rock band Mana will sell out shows wherever they go, whether it's the Staples Center (where they set the mark with 11 sell-out concerts) or in their native Mexico. But what hasn't been easy for the band is keeping the energized sound that propelled them to fame with their 1992 breakout album "Donde Jugaran los Ninos?" But after several uneven albums that verged too far into sweetness, Mana has found its edge again with their ninth studio album "Cama Incendiada," or "The Burning Bed." (link to review)
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Music Review: It's hard not to like Jack Johnson
It's hard not to like Jack Johnson. What's not to like? He strikes you as the sort of guy you'd like to hang out with, slap back a couple of beers with, or strike up a bonfire with under the stars. (link to review)
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Music Review: New Spanish-pop album spotlights Jennifer Lopez's limited range
The promotional machine that is Jennifer Lopez makes much of her ability to seemingly do it all. She dances, acts, sings, designs. Her newest production is “Como Ama Una Mujer,” Lopez’s first album sung entirely in Spanish. (link to review)
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Music Review: Prettyman spins gold from heartache
It's not unusual for an artist to find inspiration in heartache. Some of the greatest songs are written from pain. What Tristan Prettyman accomplishes on "Cedar + Gold," however, is unusual because she sings from her broken heart with a voice that is absent of anger. Instead, there is both fragility and strength, retrospection and introspection, and through it all there is love. (link to review)
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Music Review: Ringwald brings genuine sound to jazz debut
In her signature roles, she was the ingenue. And while it might not be fair to compare Molly Ringwald the actress with Molly Ringwald the singer, it is hard to ignore the genuineness seen in her characters that also flavors this collection of jazz standards called "Except Sometimes." (link to review)
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Music Review: Juanes strikes new territory on new album
Much like love itself, Juanes’ new album “Loco de Amor” is deceptive. At first glance, the pop-flavored album seems as upbeat and sweet as a teenage crush. For longtime fans of the Colombian rocker, the sound is unlike the Juanes we know. But on a deeper dive, the album shows itself to be something else. (link to review)
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Music Review: Lila Downs 'La Cantina' pays homage to Mexico
It's been said that one difference between Americans and Mexicans is the way they drink: An American enters a bar to forget, while a Mexican goes to a bar to remember. Lila Downs, the iconoclastic Grammy-winning performer who grew up in the two cultures, pays homage on her new album to the music of Mexico's cantinas - an emotionally varied collection of traditional rhythms that conjure up the memories that pervade the darkened drinking halls of the country. (link to review)
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Music Review: 'Balas y Chocolate' equal parts emotion, style
Fluency in Spanish isn’t necessary to understand Lila Downs’ shape-shifting voice: It transcends language, carrying pure emotion. On her latest album, “Balas y Chocolate” (Bullets and Chocolate), the Grammy-winning Downs expresses outrage and pain over events in Mexico, her birthplace. And she capably blends traditional Latin rhythms with modern elements in an array of popular standards and her own compositions, her themes — treason, loss, death and love — woven throughout the 13 songs. (link to review)
Opinion
Where's the coverage? Why Hurricane Otis's Destruction of Acapulco Should Matter
Editor & Publisher - Nov. 3, 2023
The last message from Beto reached my phone Tuesday morning. It’s a weather forecast image showing a storm system heading toward Acapulco. It was a tropical storm when he sent it, but the forecast predicted that, when it hit land, it would be a category 1 hurricane. Beto grew up in Acapulco. He’s been through storms. A small hurricane? Not a big deal.
The forecast image on my phone screen was followed by a smiling face emoji and one word — “Otis.” (link to column)