Today is Cinco de Mayo, an event that commemorates a Mexican victory over the French in 1862. A ragtag 4,500-strong militia under the command of Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza defeated a larger, well-equipped French expeditionary force at the original Battle of Puebla on March 5, 1862. Cinco de Mayo celebrations started "by Latinos living in California during the Civil War around issues of freedom and democracy," according to David E. Hayes-Bautista, the director of the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. Mexico's victory came at a time when "'it looked as if freedom and democracy was just about going to be a thing of the past in the North American land mass" because of the Union's struggles in the Civil War and the French invasion of Mexico, Hayes-Bautista said.
CBS 13 NewsWhat's got everyone talking is the odd-looking tower that rises 140 feet above the 101 Freeway, directly across from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The futuristic metallic edifice, with a wraparound spiral Dr. Seuss would love, is not part of a theme park. It is the signature adornment on a new arts-oriented public high school that will cost roughly $230 million. That's far more than the going rate for a more conventional school, but district officials argue that they already owned the site of the former L.A. Unified headquarters. Sure, but aren't these tough times for public schools? Aren't school districts facing huge cuts? Aren't many aging schools in disrepair?
LA TimesSince the pastor and his family moved from Charlotte to Prague three years ago to start a church, the falling value of the U.S. dollar has brought home a sobering reality: The money they raised to support themselves and their work overseas does not go nearly as far as it once did. The dollar's decline has stung most expatriates who are paid in U.S. funds, but missionaries serving internationally are particularly at risk. Many depend on money raised years before they left, when exchange rates were more favorable. As a result, the Davises and fellow missionaries are facing tough financial questions: Should they move to a smaller house farther from those they're trying to reach? Where can they save on groceries? Can they raise enough money to stay?
Trading Markets NewsThe current divorce rates weigh heavily on Dr. Gramm as well, prompting him, he said, to tell his students why he was leaving. “I want them to know that God does not desert you when life suddenly gets real on you,” Dr. Gramm said. “And I want them to know that you can be a responsible, reasonable and decent person and not be able to work out a marriage with another responsible, reasonable and decent person.”
NY TimesPro-family advocates are urging people to act quickly in asking their local CBS affiliates to preempt the May 4 broadcast of two back-to-back episodes of "Dexter," a graphically violent show that portrays a serial killer as its hero. The show has aired on the premium cable network Showtime for two seasons and was placed on broadcast television this year during the Hollywood writers' strike when CBS was short on material. "Dexter introduces audiences to the depths of depravity and indifference as it chronicles the main character's troubled quest for vigilante justice by celebrating graphic, premeditated murder," Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, said.
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