Chicano rock pioneers Los Lobos marking 40 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — They are seen as the progenitors of Chicano rock ‘n’ roll, the first band that had the boldness, and some might even say the naiveté, to fuse punk rock with Mexican folk tunes.It was a group called Los Lobos that had the unusual idea of putting an accordion, a saxophone and something called a bajo sexto alongside drums and Fender Stratocaster guitars and then blasting a ranchera-flavored...

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School Yoga Class Draws Religious Protest From Christians

T. Lynne Pixley for The New York TimesMiriam Ruiz during a yoga class last week at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif. A few dozen parents are protesting that the program amounts to religious indoctrination. More Photos »ENCINITAS, Calif. — By 9:30 a.m. at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, tiny feet were shifting from downward dog pose to chair pose to warrior pose in surprisingly...

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Connecticut shooting: 20 schoolchildren among the 28 dead

The toll in the Connecticut shooting stands at 28 dead, including 20 children and the gunman, Connecticut State Police said...

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Man Who Inspired Omar on <em>The Wire</em> Dies

The man who inspired one of the greatest and most fascinating characters in modern television has died.Donnie Andrews, the inspiration behind The Wire‘s Omar Little, died after going through emergency surgery in New York on Thursday, his former attorney told The Baltimore Sun. Andrews was 58 years old and although he was once a stickup man who robbed drug dealers, much...

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Singer-songwriter Carole King to receive U.S. Gershwin prize

(Reuters) – American singer-songwriter Carole King will be awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the U.S. national library said on Thursday.The multiple Grammy Award winner co-wrote her first No. 1 hit at age 17 with then-husband Gerry Goffin and was the first female solo artist to sell more than 10 million copies of a single album, with her 1971 release “Tapestry.”The prize...

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Life Expectancy Rises Around World, Study Finds

A sharp decline in deaths from malnutrition and infectious diseases like measles and tuberculosis has caused a shift in global mortality patterns over the past 20 years, according to a report published on Thursday, with far more of the world’s population now living into old age and dying from diseases mostly associated with rich countries, like cancer and heart disease. Tony Karumba/Agence...

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News Analysis: U.S., Walking Out in a Huff, Makes Its Point

Kamran Jebreili/Associated PressThe U.S. delegation, led by Terry Kramer, right, said the pact could encourage censorship and undermine the hands-off approach to Internet oversight. At the global treaty conference on telecommunications here, the United States got most of what it wanted. But then it refused to sign the document and left in a huff. What was...

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Push for minimum wage hike intensifies as worker ranks swell

NEW YORK — Before the recession, Amie Crawford was an interior designer, earning $50,000 a year patterning baths and cabinets...

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SolarCity Market Debut Is All Sunshine

Shares of solar panel installer, sales and leasing company SolarCity (SCTY) had a stellar Nasdaq debut Thursday, climbing from $8 to end the day at $11.79, a 47 percent gain.Investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DBL, and SolarCity chairman and main backer Elon Musk purchased a third of the available 11.4 million shares. SolarCity raised $92 million in the offering, and...

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A Minute With: Director Peter Jackson on shooting “The Hobbit”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After bringing J.R.R. Tolkien‘s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy to life, filmmaker Peter Jackson is back in the world of Middle Earth with the author’s prequel, “The Hobbit.”The three-film series is due to open in U.S. theaters on Friday with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”The Oscar-winning director, 51, told Reuters about the 3D film, including the 48 frames per second...

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