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Alley Theatre Announces the Cast & Creative Team of Torera

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Alley Theatre Announces the Cast & Creative Team of Torera

Monet Hurst-Mendoza’s poignant story makes its world premiere after development in 2022 Alley All New Festival

The Tony Award®-winning Alley Theatre announces the cast and creative team of the world premiere of Torera by Monet Hurst-Mendoza and directed by Tatiana Pandiani runs May 12 – June 4, 2023, in the Neuhaus Theatre. The play was developed in the 2022 Alley All New Festival.

Bullfighting in Yucatán, Mexico is a world nearly exclusive to men—yet for Elena Ramírez, it is her life’s ambition. With the help of her best friend, a matador’s son, Elena begins secretly training to compete with the greatest. But when she discovers her seemingly inherent talent can beat even the most accomplished toreros, this young woman must choose between accepting society’s limits or breaking boundaries. A world premiere play written by a stunning new voice in the American theatre, Torera tells a poignant story about becoming your truest self by proudly stepping into the ring.

“I am so excited about our world premiere production of Torera by Monet-Hurst Mendoza,” shares Artistic Director Rob Melrose. “I got to know the play quite well last season through its workshop in our Alley All New Festival. The play and its exploration of the world of bullfighting and a young woman’s desire to have her opportunity in the ring is so exhilarating and moving. I went over the designs for the production, and they are gorgeous. The costumes are sumptuous, and the set puts Alley audiences right in the bullfighting ring. I can’t wait for Alley audiences to see it.”

“I am delighted to become part of the Houston theatre scene this spring and spend the next few weeks playing at The Alley!” shares playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza. “Torera is a sharp yet tender coming-of-age story—examining identity, class, gender, and societal expectations through the beautiful complexity of one Mexican household. The show is about breaking barriers, chasing your wildest dreams, the prices we pay, and the roads not taken. I hope it will inspire and entertain, as well as encourage audiences to engage with (and maybe even challenge) any pre-conceived notions they may have about the art of bullfighting.”

The cast of Torera includes Jesse Castellanos as Tanok Cárdenas, Jacqueline Guillén as Elena Maria Ramírez, Eliud Garcia Kauffman as Don Rafael Cárdenas, and Maria Elena Ramirez as Pastora Ramírez. Rounding out the cast includes ensemble members José José Arrieta Cuesta and Carolína Ornelas.

The creative team of Torera includes Scenic Designer Marcelo Martínez García, Costume Designer Rodrigo Muñoz, Lighting Designer Yuki Nakase Link, Sound Designer Yezminne Zepeda, Projection Designer Victoria Beauray Sagady, Stage Manager Emily Bohannan, and Assistant Stage Manager Laura Gutierrez.

PRESS NIGHT: Wednesday, May 17 at 7:30pm. Invitations will be sent later.  

SPONSORS: Alley Theatre is supported by the 2022-23 Season sponsors United Airlines, the official airline of Alley Theatre, and Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites Downtown Houston, the official hotel of Alley Theatre.

SPANISH TRANSLATION PERFORMANCES: Torera will have simultaneous Spanish translation on May 19, May 27 matinee, and June 3. Alley Theatre continues to welcome Spanish-speaking audience to enjoy the production of Torera. Translated performances are funded by the Bank of America ACTivate Awards, a Theatre Forward grants program, which seeks to foster and accelerate theatres’ efforts to become more equitable, diverse, and inclusive of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals and groups.

TICKETS: Tickets to Torera are now on sale and start at $51. Discounted tickets are available for military, seniors, and any student or educator, regardless of age, with a valid student ID for designated performances. The first five performances are preview performances, and these performances allow audiences to be a part of the development process of shows.  Tickets can be ordered online (alleytheatre.org) or by phone (713.220.5700).

CONNECT WITH US: @alleytheatre, #AlleyTorera

Mariachi Mariposas

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Mariachi Mariposas

Mariachi Festival

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Mariachi Festival

Abr 13 – Abr 19, 2023 | Weather

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Abr 13 – Abr 19, 2023 | Weather

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¡Que Onda! Magazine Houston – edición 1261

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¡Que Onda! Magazine Houston – edición 1261

Gracias por SEGUIRNOS, este artículo contiene la edición 1261 de la revista digital de HOUSTON de ¡Que Onda! Magazine.

Del 13 de abril al 19 de abril del 2023

 

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg Reveals 21% Reduction of Case Backlog

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Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg Reveals 21% Reduction of Case Backlog

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced today that recent initiatives by her office have helped lead to a 21% reduction in the criminal case backlog from the COVID-related highs of recent years. As of April 10 – the 100th day of 2023 – the backlog has been cut to 114,242 cases, a reduction of nearly 31,000 from 2021. And the figure continues to fall.

The numbers show the office’s aggressive focus on reducing the case backlog has paid off. Ogg credited her staff for that success and specifically pointed out two recent initiatives that spurred major backlog reductions – the creation of a Homicide Division within the office and the implementation of a “triage” program.

Ogg created the Homicide Division in 2022, assigning 12 veteran prosecutors to a unit dedicated to trying languishing homicide cases. The team has aggressively pushed some of the most violent offenders’ cases to plea or trial. Some had been pending for more than four years, worsened by the pandemic and closure of the Criminal Justice Center following Hurricane Harvey.

In addition, Ogg and her senior leadership secured the funding to create an overtime program in which prosecutors meet after hours and on weekends to review more than 30,000 nonviolent, mostly victimless misdemeanor and state jail felony cases. Those cases are then considered for solutions other than incarceration.

“This backlog reduction is a welcome reward for our unending focus and hard work on resolving these cases,” Ogg said. “Most importantly, these successes lead to more victims getting resolution of their cases – and getting that resolution more quickly. And that’s the best reward of all.”

US inflation falls to lowest level since May 2021

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US inflation falls to lowest level since May 2021

Prices are moving in a more palatable direction for US consumers.

Annual inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, dropped in March for the ninth consecutive month. And for the first time since September 2020, grocery prices fell on a monthly basis.

Prices rose 5% for the 12 months ended in March, down from 6% in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Annual CPI plunged to its lowest rate since May 2021, helped by year-over-year comparisons to a period when food and energy prices spiked amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Still, CPI showed some cooling on a monthly basis. The index, which measures price changes over time for a basket of goods, ticked up 0.1% from February, as compared to a previous 0.4% increase.

Shelter costs, which tend to reflect lagging data, were the largest contributor of the monthly gain, offsetting sharp declines across energy categories, according to the BLS.

The food at home index dropped 0.3% for the month, helped by lower prices for eggs (which fell nearly 11%) and fruits and vegetables (which declined 1.3%). The broader food category was unchanged (0%) for the first time since November 2020.

Economists were expecting an annual increase of 5.2% and a monthly gain of 0.2%, according to Refinitiv.

“It’s a good print, but it’s not the end of the game, it’s not the end of the story,” Erik Lundh, principal economist at the Conference Board, told CNN. “There’s more to come — hopefully, knock on wood — and we’re heading in the right direction.”

The final estimate for GDP shows the US economy grew at 2.6% last quarter

Stripping out the often-volatile components of food and energy, core CPI grew 0.4% for the month, resulting in a 5.6% annual growth rate. In February, core CPI accelerated 0.5% month on month and 5.5% year over year.

“On the surface, price pressures are lessening. But when the box is opened, [core inflation] accelerated to the highest rate since May 2021,” economist Sung Won Sohn, president of SS Economics and Loyola Marymount University professor, said in a statement. “This is well over the 2% target set by the central bank.”

He added: “More hikes in the interest rate are coming.”

CPI is one of the major inflation gauges that’s being watched like a hawk by the Federal Reserve, which is in the throes of a yearlong campaign to battle inflation through monetary tightening and stark interest rate hikes.

Base effects in play

The 1 percentage point drop in headline CPI is the largest downward swing seen in more than eight years; however, that feat was accomplished largely due to last year’s inflation spike.

“Inflation really started to take off last spring and through June,” Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, told CNN. “And so things are going to feel a lot better here in the next few months because of those base effects.”

Because month-to-month changes can be volatile, even in spite of seasonal adjustments, year-over-year comparisons typically can help smooth out some of that jumpiness.

But times have been anything but typical for the past three years. So, for the months ahead, moving averages become all the more critical to observe, Lundh said.

While the picture is more clear for the trajectory of headline CPI, it’s a little more opaque for core and “supercore” activity (core services, excluding housing), Zandi said.

The base effects are much less pronounced for core CPI, because the spring and summer inflation spike was driven by food, energy and goods prices.

“Core inflation is remaining more persistent,” he said. “I expect improvement really toward the middle and second half of the year when the cost of housing services really begins to slow.”

US home prices fell in January for the seventh-straight month

Shelter costs, as measured in the CPI, tend to lag more than other categories as the BLS collects rent data every six months and most rents don’t change too frequently. Private-sector data shows that apartment rents have fallen in recent months, suggesting an eventual cooldown in shelter prices will show up in the CPI.

Stripping out housing, however, still leaves a “supercore” inflation measurement that has remained stubbornly high.

“Supercore correlates with wages; thus, the Fed would be looking at some relief in this metric as a sign of slower wage gains,” Gary Pzegeo, head of fixed income at CIBC Private Wealth US, said in a statement. “Today’s report shows the supercore decelerated in March, but it remains a sticky component of inflation, running around +4% annualized on a three- and six-month basis.”

“This is too fast and a sign that the labor market remains offsides,” he added.

More Fed rate hikes still on the horizon

The March CPI trajectory doesn’t take another rate hike off the table, Lundh said.

“There was some encouraging news in the inflation data today, but I don’t think it’s sufficient to cause the Fed to pause,” he said. “So we’re expecting to see a [quarter-point] hike in the May meeting and even potentially another hike following that.”

The Fed’s fight grew more complex in March with the collapse of two regional US banks, which then caused turmoil in the financial industry. The Fed, the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in to shore up depositors and prevent future bank runs.

What the banking crisis means for your job

However, there are expectations that the turmoil could mean future credit tightening, which in turn could dampen demand and even help the Fed in its inflation-fighting goals. However, it could also create more uncertainty about a future recession.

“The CPI is backwards looking and the Fed still has to consider how much of a credit crunch to factor into the economy,” said Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management, in a statement.

While inflation has moderated since reaching a decades-high level last summer, the pace has been slower than anticipated as a strong labor labor market and resilient consumer spending has continued to fuel economic growth.

Russia’s Wagner’s claim it captured more than 80 percent of Bakhmut ‘untrue’

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Russia’s Wagner’s claim it captured more than 80 percent of Bakhmut ‘untrue’

Ukrainian service members from 28th mechanised brigade remain in their trenches after incoming fire at the frontline, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine in the region of Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 5, 2023. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYUkraine’s military rejected as untrue a Russian claim to have captured more than 80 percent of the city of Bakhmut and said on Wednesday that Kyiv’s forces controlled “considerably more” than 20 percent of it in the east.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, the spokesperson for the eastern military command, made the comment to Reuters a day after the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said that his forces were advancing in their bid to seize Bakhmut after months of fighting.

“I was just in touch with the commander of one of the brigades holding the defense of the city. And I can confidently say that Ukrainian defensive forces control a considerably larger percent of Bakhmut’s territory,” he said.

Ukrainian forces have hung on for months in Bakhmut, a small city in eastern Donetsk region, where the fiercest fighting of Moscow’s full-scale February 2022 invasion has killed thousands of soldiers and been dubbed the “meat-grinder.”

Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Tuesday his forces controlled most of Bakhmut including the whole administrative center, factories, warehouses and municipality buildings.

“Prigozhin needs to show at least some kind of victory in the city, which they have been trying to capture for nine months in a row and that’s why he’s making such statements,” said Cherevatyi.

Source: english.alarabiya.net

Gov. Greg Abbott announces he will push to pardon Daniel Perry after murder conviction

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Gov. Greg Abbott announces he will push to pardon Daniel Perry after murder conviction

Less than 24 hours after a jury in Austin found Daniel Perry guilty of shooting to death a protester, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on social media Saturday that he would pardon the convicted killer as soon as a request “hits my desk.”

The unprecedented effort, which Abbott announced to his 1 million followers on Twitter, came as Abbott faced growing calls from national conservative figures such as Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted in the shooting deaths of two Wisconsin protesters in 2020, to act to urgently undo the conviction.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand your ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or progressive district attorney,” Abbott said in a statement. “I will work as swiftly as Texas law allows regarding the pardon of Sgt. Perry.”

Abbott’s office did not return calls from the American-Statesman on Saturday seeking additional comment. The two-week trial, which included dozens of witnesses and much forensic evidence, was not broadcast. Abbott attended no portion of the trial.

Perry, an Army sergeant, was working as an Uber driver in Austin on the night of July 25, 2020, when he ran a red light at the intersection of Fourth Street and Congress Avenue and drove into a Black Lives Matter march before stopping.

Garrett Foster, carrying an AK-47 rifle, was among a group of protesters who approached his car. Perry told police that Foster threatened him by raising the barrel of his rifle at him, so he shot him five times with a .357 revolver through the window of his car before driving away.

Perry’s defense team argued that he acted in self-defense, but prosecutors contended that Perry instigated what happened. They highlighted a series of social media posts and Facebook messages in which Perry made statements that they said indicated his state of mind, such as he might “kill a few people on my way to work. They are rioting outside my apartment complex.”

A friend responded, “Can you legally do so?” Perry replied, “If they attack me or try to pull me out of my car then yes.”

A jury Friday unanimously convicted Perry.

State District Judge Clifford Brown is set to sentence him to prison in the coming days. He faces up to life in prison.

David Wahlberg, a former Travis County criminal court judge, said he cannot think of another example in the state’s history when a governor sought a pardon before a verdict was formally appealed.

“I think it’s outrageously presumptuous for someone to make a judgment about the verdict of 12 unanimous jurors without actually hearing the evidence in person,” Wahlberg said.

Doug O’Connell, who represents Perry, told the Statesman in a statement Saturday: “Right now we are completely focused on preparing for Daniel’s sentencing hearing. I visited Daniel in jail this morning. As you might expect he is devastated. He spoke to me about his fears that he will never get to hug his mother again. He’s also crushed that his conviction will end his Army service. He loves being a soldier.”

Travis County District Attorney José Garza had no immediate comment.

The jury deliberated 17 hours over two days before reaching the verdict Friday afternoon after an eight-day trial with dozens of witnesses. Perry didn’t testify during the trial.

Foster’s brother, Ryan Foster, said Saturday that he didn’t think Perry should be pardoned. “This was clearly premeditated,” Ryan Foster told the Statesman. “He (Perry) thought a lot about it and planned on doing it. … He wanted to kill a protester and saw somebody exercising their Second Amendment right.”

After the judge read the verdict to the packed courtroom Friday, Perry, 35, buried his head into one of his lawyer’s chests and erupted into loud sobs. The jury also found Perry not guilty of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection to driving in front of another protester.

Perry’s conviction was instantly condemned by gun-rights advocates Friday night.

“(Gov. Abbott) this is an unfair conviction. Please step in and free Daniel Perry,” Rittenhouse wrote on Twitter. “He was justified in defending his own life when an AK-47 was pointed at him and he doesn’t deserve to be in jail.”

Fox’s Carlson decried the conviction in a two-minute segment on his show, referring to the Austin protesters as a “mob of rioters” who surrounded Perry’s car and began pounding on it. He said Perry fired when Foster raised his rifle.

“This is a legal atrocity,” Carlson said. “There is no right of self-defense in Texas.”

He invited Abbott on his show Monday to discuss whether he would consider a pardon for Perry.

Jennifer Laurin, a University of Texas law professor, addressed the portion of Abbott’s statement on Texas’ self-defense laws. She said that a jury is instructed to reject the defense when the person asserting it provoked the response, as prosecutors say Perry did when he drove his car into a crowd of protesters.

“Painting the conviction as rogue nullification is uniformed or deceptive,” Laurin tweeted.

Abbott lacks authority under state law to issue a pardon without first getting a recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members he appoints. In his statement, Abbott said he already asked the board to review the verdict to determine if Perry should be granted a pardon.

“I have made that request and instructed the board to expedite its review,” Abbott said. “I look forward to approving the board’s pardon recommendation as soon as it hits my desk.”

Abbott typically announces pardons every year in December around Christmas.

A pardon would release Perry from his sentence and restore his right to vote and serve on a jury.Defense lawyer Rick Cofer, who was not involved in the trial, expressed astonishment over Abbott’s announcement.

“It’s what happens in Uganda or El Salvador,” said Cofer, a former prosecutor. “Total abrogation of the rule of law. And what’s even worse is that Abbott knows better. He was a smart Texas Supreme Court Justice. He knows this is legally wrong. Profoundly wrong. Pure politics.”

Source: statesman

District attorney prosecuting Trump sues Republican Jim Jordan

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District attorney prosecuting Trump sues Republican Jim Jordan

DA Alvin Bragg accuses the House Judiciary Committee chair of a ‘transparent campaign to intimidate and attack’ him.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting former President Donald Trump in a case related to hush-money payments made to an adult-film actress, has sued a Republican legislator probing his investigation.

In the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Bragg accused Representative Jim Jordan, the chair of House Judiciary Committee, of a “transparent campaign to intimidate and attack” him after the New York district attorney indicted Trump on 34 felony charges of falsifying business documents.

The lawsuit — the latest salvo in a back-and-forth between the Democratic prosecutor and Republican legislators — asked a judge to invalidate subpoenas that Jordan has issued or plans to submit as part of a probe into Bragg’s handling of the case.

In the lawsuit, Bragg said he’s taking legal action “in response to an unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress on an ongoing New York State criminal prosecution and investigation of former President Donald J Trump”.

“Congress lacks any valid legislative purpose to engage in a free-ranging campaign of harassment in retaliation for the District Attorney’s investigation and prosecution of Mr Trump under the laws of New York,” the lawsuit said.

It added that Congress lacks constitutional authority “to oversee, let alone disrupt, ongoing state law criminal matters”.

The move came as Jordan, who was a close Trump ally during the former president’s time in office, has issued a flurry of letters and subpoenas to individuals involved in the case against Trump, who is the first president in US history to be criminally charged.

One subpoena seeks testimony from former prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who previously oversaw the Trump investigation. Pomerantz publicly detailed how he sparred with Bragg over the direction of the probe before leaving the office last year.

House Republicans had previously sent a letter to Bragg demanding he testify about what they called a “politically motivated prosecutorial decision”.

In response, Bragg accused Republicans of an “unlawful incursion” into his jurisdiction. His office has dismissed claims that its prosecution of Trump is politically motivated, calling such claims “unfounded”.

Trump and his allies, including Jordan, have continued to push the narrative that Bragg is a political operative who receives funding from liberal superdonor George Soros, a claim Soros has denied.

Jordan responded to Bragg’s lawsuit in a tweet on Tuesday.

“First, they indict a president for no crime,” he wrote. “Then they sue to block congressional oversight when we ask questions about the federal funds they say they used to do it.”

Last week, Trump appeared in court for the first time, where he was arraigned on charges related to a hush-money payment made to the adult-film performer Stormy Daniels through his lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.

Daniels has said she had an affair with Trump before he was president.

While typically a misdemeanour under New York state law, falsifying business records rises to a felony if it is done with “intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof”.

In a news conference following the arraignment, Bragg said Trump violated both state and federal election laws, and also mischaracterised the payments to Cohen as being for “tax purposes”.

A statement of facts released alongside the indictment accused Trump of conducting “a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit [Trump’s] electoral prospects”.

Prosecutors will have to prove Trump falsified the records in service to a secondary crime but will not need to prosecute that secondary crime.

Bragg is represented in Tuesday’s lawsuit against Jordan by Theodore Boutrous, a well-known First Amendment lawyer who has also represented Trump’s estranged niece, Mary Trump, in legal clashes with her famous uncle.

The case has been assigned to US District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee who previously served as a federal bankruptcy court judge.

The lawsuit came after the House Judiciary Committee on Monday announced plans hold a hearing in Manhattan on crime in New York City and what it has called Bragg’s “pro-crime, anti-victim” policies.

Bragg’s office, in response, pointed to statistics showing that violent crime in Manhattan has dropped since he took over the post in January 2022.

In a statement, Bragg called the hearing “a political stunt” and said that, if Jordan “truly cared about public safety”, he would focus on crime in cities in his home state of Ohio “instead of using taxpayer dollars to travel hundreds of miles out of his way”.

Source: aljazeera

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