Vida En El Valle Blogs: The Latin voice of the central valley.

There she was. Laura Zúñiga Huizar, the former preschool teacher who was crowned Miss Hispanoamerican two months ago in Bolivia. To the beauty queen’s left were four men suspected of being gang members. To her right, three other men arrested by Jalisco (México) state police at a military checkpoint in Zapopan, Jalisco, just outside Guadalajara. [...]

When I read a glowing review of the movie “Marley and Me” in this morning’s Fresno Bee, I had to respond. The review, titled, “Marley grabs your heart with a fetching story of love,” said the movie was saved by its human stars, Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. I must disagree – even two beautiful [...]

When I introduce myself as a reporter for Vida, people tend to cock their heads to the side, study me closely, and ask, “Are you Latina?” (My answer: No, but I sometimes wish I were.) People then often ask me a follow-up question: “Do you speak Spanish?” (My answer: Si, mas o menos.) But the [...]

Say what you want to about the Oakland Raiders (The Detroit Lions of the West Coast, Commitment to Excellence … Not!!!, Unteam of the Decade, etc.), but there is no way you can badmouth their performance on a cold and drizzling Sunday in their final home game. The 27-16 win over a fairly good Houston [...]

Oscar De La Hoya is over the hill, no doubt about it. But, before you start to hurl insults at me, Im speaking the truth. So are Mexican soccer star Cuauhtémoc Blanco, screen sirens Salma Hayek, Eva Mendes and Paz Vega, along with entertainers Mario López, Ricky Martin and Fher. Heck, even Shakira and Paulina [...]

Last Thursday, for one of my first assignments, I drove to Hanford to observe as residents from Kettleman City, a majority Latino community, protested against two landfill projects that have been proposed for their area. (The story ran in this week’s edition.) On my way to Hanford, though, I experienced the Valley’s infamous fog for [...]