The 1.6 billion dollars the U.S. is giving Mexico to fight its drug war is not just for security-related hardware and surveillance equipment.

After not one, but two heartbreaking finishes in the conference championship round of the NFL playoffs, only two teams remain.

Women living in one of Chapala’s most economically challenged neighborhoods are taking advantage of a new maternal health program spearheaded by registered nurse and midwife Sylvia Flores.

The resurgent A-H1N1 virus has claimed its second Jalisco victim of the year. The State Health Department confirmed  that a 30-year-old man died from swine flu in the Guadalajara Civil Hospital on January 16. This follows the death of a 76-year-old man from Guadalajara, as reported last week.

Some 420,000 indigenous families in Mexico are to receive new homes, in a project spearheaded by Sedesol, the federal social development agency.  The homes will be 38 square meters, but have scope for expansion.  Sedesol has budgeted 750 million pesos for the first phase of construction.

The Chapala area’s annual Carnaval festivities kick into action next weekend, running in full-tilt party mode through February 21 – better known in other parts as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.