With violins, trumpets and the guitarrón, Las Vegas is training the mariachi educators of tomorrow
LAS VEGAS (AP) — In Las Vegas, where Latinos top a third of the population, mariachi music is a much loved and popular staple. The Nevada city is home to one of the largest mariachi programs in the U.S. through the Clark County School District. Nearly 6,000 middle and high school students take part in learning the popular Mexican folk music. But the school district has increasingly had a tough time finding educators to teach the young. To meet demand, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is offering one of the first mariachi minors in the country. Axel Rodríguez Olivas is set to become the program's first graduate, ready to teach mariachi to new generations of students.
Orphaned kittens meet sharks and stingrays on an aquarium field trip at the Mall of America
Rescue kittens with names like Turkey Leg and Mouth Trap got to explore the aquarium at the Mall of America in Minnesota, watching in awe as fish soared by just out of reach. For six years, these field trips have been organized by the Bitty Kitty Brigade, which finds foster homes for orphaned neonatal kittens. This year, two dozen kittens played — and napped — alongside sharks, stingrays and sea turtles. The aquarium calls it a fun and engaging experience for the young cats. An event director with the rescue organization says the excursions also help the young cats socialize, making adoption easier. The group is currently overseeing around 1,000 kittens this year.
Actor, 'restaurant kid' Ming-Na Wen reflects on the Asian American experience in 70 recipes
Ming-Na Wen's acting breakthrough was in the 1993 film adaptation of Amy Tan’s novel “The Joy Luck Club.” Now, she's breaking into the cookbook market. The book, “Have You Eaten Yet? Family Recipes From a Restaurant Daughter,” is sprinkled with Chinese and Western recipes and first-person anecdotes. The recipes parallel Wen's evolution from immigrant kid helping out at her parents’ restaurant to working actor cooking for her own children. For generations of Asian Americans, Wen became an icon after her appearance in “The Joy Luck Club.” The first big studio feature with an all-Asian cast was applauded for depicting Chinese characters and Chinese food in a non-demeaning way.
Ming-Na Wen's recipe for 'Popo's Wontons' is as good as gold in her family
In her new cookbook, “Have You Eaten Yet?,” actor and self-described restaurant kid Ming-Na Wen says wontons hold a special place in her heart. They bring back memories of making them with her mother. She now makes them with her children. Wen's recipe for “Popo's Wontons” includes ginger, shrimp, greens and ground meat, among other ingredients. The mixture is folded into thin wonton wrappers. Wen says wontons are a symbol for gold, and she tries to shape each one like a Chinese gold ingot. The wontons can be boiled, or frozen for use later.
Rain gardens help handle today's downpours. And they can be beautiful too
Scientists say we should expect more extreme weather events, which can often mean heavy rain and floods. One way to protect your garden and yard is to create a rain garden. Rain gardens are depressed beds planted with thirsty native perennials and shrubs. Situate them in a spot where water from downspouts, driveways, compacted soil and other sources of runoff flow downward toward it. That waters the plants and also filters pollutants as the soil absorbs the runoff. It keeps those pollutants and excess water out of storm drains, watersheds and wetlands. And perhaps out of your basement, too.
Kenyan prisoners play chess for fun behind bars and to help with rehabilitation
MURANG'A, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s Department for Correctional Services has introduced chess across the country’s prisons since 2024, in one of the most prominent institutional carceral chess programs in Africa. Northeast of Nairobi, Maranjau Prison is a model for how the ancient game can be used for rehabilitation and to prepare inmates for reintegrating into society. At Maranjau and other prisons, inmates learn to think strategically, not rush decisions, and take responsibility for their actions, with the game also nurturing impulse-control and problem-solving. While not a panacea, chess has emerged as an example of how novel methods can improve prisoner rehabilitation.
California scientist wins a Nobel Prize, then makes school lunches for his kids
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Dr. Karl Deisseroth spent hours fielding congratulatory calls after learning that he had won a Nobel Prize for medicine for helping to open a new field of brain science called optogenetics. But it wasn’t long before the California scientist asked for a break from all the attention for a more ordinary task: He needed to make school lunches for his children. The kids were asleep early Monday in the family home in Stanford, where their father had been speaking in the middle of the night with journalists and well-wishers. Deisseroth, who is 54, shared this year’s medicine prize with two researchers in Germany.
Vietnamese police arrest 12 suspected of prowling city streets at night, snatching cats for meat
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Police in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City have arrested 12 men suspected of running a ring that stole and resold about 2,700 cats for meat. State media cited investigators who said the network recruited people to ride motorcycles through neighborhoods at night, trapping up to 10 cats a night. Police raided the operation in July, seizing 50 cats, 55 traps and two scales. Thirteen cats were returned to their owners, while the rest were cared for by an animal rights group as authorities sought to find their owners. Eating dog and cat meat is not unique to Vietnam and it's becoming less common as younger Vietnamese tend to regard dogs and cats as companion animals.
Wagging tails fill a Philippine church where priests bless pets for St. Francis feast
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A church in the Philippine capital has celebrated the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi with a special blessing for animals. Every Oct. 4, Catholics honor St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology. Many parishes hold community animal blessings on the first Sunday of October. Parishioners at Manila's Malate Church brought their pets, including dogs, cats, and even a snail, for a blessing. Father Leonito Distor emphasized the connection to St. Francis. Pet owners expressed gratitude for their pets' companionship. The church also offered free pet vaccinations in the parking lot.
