California and the Nation Raise Alarm on Coronavirus – California has reported the nation’s first case of the coronavirus not linked to foreign travel, which the state government is calling “the first example of community transmission.” More than eight thousand people in California who recently traveled to Asia are being monitored. Meanwhile, San Francisco and Orange Counties have moved to declare a state of emergency to adopt urgent preventive measures. President Trump appointed Vice President Pence to the commission responsible for the coronavirus response, while dismissing warnings by scientists from the disease control agency who claim that an outbreak appears inevitable in the United States.
Latino Voters Choose Winner in Nevada and Aim for Super Tuesday – Latino voters turned out in force in Nevada’s Democratic caucuses and proved decisive in Bernie Sanders’ wide margin of victory, according to observers who conclude that if this trend continues, Latinos could decide the 2020 election. Latinos favored Sanders with more than 50 percent of the vote, three times more than the runner-up, Joe Biden, who won less than 20 percent. Just a few days ahead of Super Tuesday, Sanders and Elizabeth Warren also lead the polls in California, the top prize in the battle for delegates. With California, Texas, Colorado, Virginia and Massachusetts up for grabs this Super Tuesday, all eyes are on the influx of Latino voters at the polls.
Musicians Keep Alive Old Traditions of “Delivering Newlyweds” in the Rio Grande del Norte Region – For centuries in the region of Rio Arriba in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, folk musicians have been very highly esteemed by local families and communities. In the absence of priests, the troubadours often officiate families’ most important religious ceremonies with their verses, delivering angels for baptisms, brides and grooms for weddings and the dead at funerals. During the ceremonies, these poets recount details of the history of each family and community in verse. In the following report–part of the series, “Raíces: Songs and Stories of Río Arriba”–veteran musicians and historians share the traditional music and anecdotes of these deliveries or “Entriegas.” Rubén Tapia prepared this report.
