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Rose made chocolate brownies…and she made a mess! #shorts

When Jeremy Wood and Sandra Pacheco translated victim impact statements from Latin American workers stranded in Auckland, they ended up in tears and felt compelled to help them in any way they could.

Pacheco, who came to New Zealand from Peru 34 years ago, and Wood, whose wife is from Patagonia, Argentina, have been working with about 21 builders from Latin America.

The men are part of a group who claim they paid thousands for working visas to come to New Zealand on the promise of high-paying jobs.

But they allege they arrived to find there was hardly any work and the pay rates were significantly less than what they believed they would receive. Many say they don’t have enough money to survive.

In August, Karen Gibney, the president of the Latin American Community in Tauranga, told NZME about 200 people from Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia had been effected.

The company involved denied there was an issue and told RNZ the men were just disgruntled ex-employees.

Wood and Pacheco both live in New Plymouth, but as they speak Spanish they have been helping to translate the workers’ victim statements.

Pacheco also set up a Givealittle page to raise money for food parcels, student visas, so the worker’s children could go to school, as well as other needs as they arose.

While translating the victim impact statements from Spanish to English “all of us ended up in tears at some point,” Pacheco said.

“I was an immigrant once, and I know what it’s like when you first arrive in the country. It’s really hard.”

Wood said the Latin American men believed the company didn’t provide the jobs they promised. Some of them brought their families with them and they now found themselves without enough money for food.

“Translating these documents was absolutely awful. I couldn’t believe people could be so unkind.”

Wood and Pacheco are organising a high tea with a fashion show in New Plymouth on Saturday, October 7, to raise funds for the stranded workers and their families.

The event will show clothes from Trelise Cooper, Dovetail, Guize, and Collaboration. Tickets are $30 and are available by texting Pacheco on 021 171 1388.

There will also be raffles and a silent auction.

Wood and Pacheco have also been writing up CVs for the men, who have been learning English. Anyone needing a builder can text Wood on 022 573 6789 and he will provide CVs and more information.

“They’re good people. Good team players. None have been in trouble in their home countries. They’re family people. And they want a job.”

Dana White is one of the most strong-willed figures in MMA. He is a no-nonsense promoter who doesn’t mince words and isn’t above verbally lashing out at others, even his own fighters. However, he occasionally shows a softer side than what many in the MMA community expect from the UFC CEO.

He has been at the forefront of Dana White’s Contender Series, a minor promotion designed to act as a funnel for talent into the UFC. White is known for demanding that DWCS fighters show enough grit and urgency to earn UFC contracts.

He is not in the business of giving fighters undeserved opportunities. However, last week’s DWCS round of fights produced one of the most graphic injuries in the young promotion’s history, which was quickly followed by a heartfelt moment between White and the injured fighter.

Angel Pacheco lost his bout to Danny Silva. The loss led to his ear nearly hanging off his face. When White went backstage to console Pacheco, the fighter broke down as he described how hard he had trained for his fight, before expressing a deep desire to win.

This moved White, who responded by not only signing Pacheco, but also awarding him his win money. This, in turn, moved the MMA community, who took to X/Twitter to praise the UFC CEO for his actions, with one fan congratulating Pacheco’s efforts against Silva:

Another fan praised White for having a big heart:

Meanwhile, one fan predicted that some would mislabel this as evidence of Dana White privilege:

More praise was showered on the UFC CEO:

A collage of fan reactions can be seen below:

Is Dana White close friends with any UFC fighters?

While the UFC CEO is known for having feuded with several of his own fighters in the past, he has also formed remarkable friendships with some of his former fighters. Two that come to mind are generational phenomenon Ronda Rousey and Matt Serra, the author of one of the greatest upsets in MMA history.

White, who is a known critic of professional wrestling, set his bias aside to watch Rousey’s in-ring debut at WrestleMania 34 by being in attendance for the event. Meanwhile, he has described Matt Serra as his best friend on several occasions and the two are often spotted filming content together.

Canelo Alvarez vs. Jermall Charlo: Sportskeeda MMA’s round-by-round live results and news updates

CASPER, Wyo. — At the beginning of tonight’s City Council meeting, Mayor Ray Pacheco is set to issue two proclamations highlighting the city’s commitment

MONTREAL — Arajet, a discount airline based in the Dominican Republic, is set to launch flights between that country and Toronto and Montreal this fall, marking the latest entrant to an already crowded field of low-cost carriers.

The announcement — four round trips per week to each of the two cities — comes just two weeks after U.S. budget airline Breeze Airways made a pitch to Quebecers bound for Florida.

Unlike many low-price players, Arajet CEO Victor Pacheco said his strategy will bank on a hub-and-spoke model that connects passengers from far-flung airports via the airline’s hub of Santo Domingo, his home country’s capital.

As proof, well over half of the 10,000-plus Arajet tickets sold to Canadians so far are for other destinations in the Caribbean and Central and South America, to be reached via connecting flights from the Dominican Republic, he said.

“The ULCCs (ultra-low-cost carriers) are mainly point-to-point airlines,” Pacheco said in an interview. “We’re bidding on connections. And if we didn’t have that, it would be very difficult then to compete with Canadian carriers.”

Though no other airlines fly direct between Santo Domingo and Canada, Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines all touch down there regularly. Meanwhile, rapidly expanding discount carriers try to woo Canadians with cheap flights to an array of sun-splashed destinations.

“We have been in an absolutely unprecedented period of boom demand. 2023 is largely eclipsing 2019, which was one of the best years prior to the pandemic,” said aviation consultant Rick Erickson.

Despite the spread of travel fever, “it’s increasingly becoming a crowded market, certainly here in Canada,” he continued. “If this was a Canadian operation, I would say they wouldn’t have a hope in hell.” 

Erickson cited “visiting friends and relatives” as well as vacation properties as big drivers of international air travel.

More than 700,000 tourists from Canada visited the Dominican Republic last year, according the latter’s tourism ministry, following an “open skies” agreement in February between the two countries that allows carriers to operate freely between them.

“I think the pie is growing,” Pacheco said. “Competitors do react to us, they lower prices as well. And that means that now more people have access to travel even with them.”

By the end of next year, Flair Airlines aims to beef up its fleet to 26 planes from 21 now, and Lynx Air to 17 aircraft from its current nine. The latter’s inaugural flight only took off in April 2022, while Flair launched in late 2017, illustrating Canada’s increasingly congested skies of late.

Canada Jetlines also flies to a handful of sun destinations, while Porter Airlines — though not a budget carrier — plans to grow its fleet to 79 by 2025 from 46 currently.

Meanwhile, Utah-based Breeze Airways said the two-year-old company will fly passengers between Orlando and Plattsburgh, N.Y. — about 100 kilometres south of Montreal — three days a week starting at $80 in late November.

Ironically, the door to the travel market opened up when international travel shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Arajet’s CEO said.

“The grounding of the Max combined with the pandemic — I think that there was a moment or a small window of time where there was an opportunity (for low-cost airlines) to be able to access and get deals,” he added, noting how carriers sprouted after airlines, leasing companies and manufacturers sought to dump planes in 2020.

He said the greater availability of the Boeing 737 Max 8 was a key selling point — for Arajet as well as other small airlines such as Flair and Lynx that rely heavily on the 189-seat narrow-body.

The Max 8 was grounded for 20 months after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, including 18 Canadians.

Backed by Boston-based majority investor Bain Capital, the 10-aircraft Arajet will launch direct routes to Santo Domingo from Toronto and Montreal on Oct. 24 and Nov. 7, respectively, with one-way trips starting at $98. A single carry-on bag can cost between $40 and $100, depending on when it’s selected — during booking or at the check-in counter, for example.

Bain’s deep pockets as well as its majority stake in Virgin Australia and minority slice of Icelandair mean Arajet has “the backing in order to purchase aircraft directly from Boeing” — rather than relying solely on leases, as many start-up ULCCs do — Pacheco said.

The company, which has ordered 20 planes from Boeing with an option for 15 more — on top of the 10 currently in its fleet — now flies to 22 destinations in 15 countries.

“We’re bringing Latin America basically at the feet of Canada,” Pacheco said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco speaks to the media after the Chiefs’ Week 4 victory over the New York Jets.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco speaks to the media after the Chiefs’ Week 4 victory over the New York Jets.

Arajet, a discount airline based in the Dominican Republic, is set to launch flights between that country and Toronto and Montreal this fall.

The announcement by the year-old carrier marks the latest entrant to an already crowded field of low-cost airlines, and comes two weeks after U.S. budget carrier Breeze Airways made a pitch to Quebecers bound for Florida.

Unlike many low-price players, Arajet CEO Victor Pacheco said his strategy will bank on a hub-and-spoke model that connects passengers from far-flung airports via the airline’s hub of Santo Domingo, his home country’s capital.

As proof, he said well over half of the 10,000-plus Arajet tickets sold to Canadians so far are for other destinations in the Caribbean and Central and South America, to be reached via connecting flights from the Dominican Republic.

“The ULCCs (ultra-low-cost carriers) are mainly point-to-point airlines,” Pacheco said in an interview. “We’re bidding on connections. And if we didn’t have that, it would be very difficult then to compete with Canadian carriers.”

Though no other airlines fly direct between Santo Domingo and Canada, Air Canada, United Airlines and American Airlines all touch down there regularly. Meanwhile, rapidly expanding discount carriers try to woo Canadians with cheap flights to an array of sunny destinations.

By the end of next year, Flair Airlines aims to beef up its fleet to 26 planes from 21 now, and Lynx Air to 17 aircraft from its current nine. The latter’s inaugural flight only took off in April 2022, while Flair launched in late 2017, illustrating Canada’s increasingly congested skies of late.

Canada Jetlines also flies to a handful of sun destinations, while Porter Airlines — though not a budget carrier — plans to grow its fleet to 79 by 2025 from 46 currently.

“I think the pie is growing,” Pacheco said. “Competitors do react to us, they lower prices as well. And that means that now more people have access to travel even with them.”

Ironically, the door to the travel market opened up when international travel shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CEO said.

“The grounding of the Max combined with the pandemic, I think that there was a moment or a small window of time where there was an opportunity (for low-cost airlines) to be able to access and get deals,” he added, noting how carriers sprouted after airlines, leasing companies and manufacturers sought to dump planes in 2020.

He said the greater availability of the Boeing 737 Max 8 was a key selling point — for Arajet as well as other small airlines such as Flair and Lynx that rely heavily on the 189-seat narrow-body.

The Max 8 was grounded for 20 months after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, including 18 Canadians.

Backed by majority investor Bain Capital, the 10-aircraft Arajet will launch direct routes to Santo Domingo from Toronto and Montreal on Oct. 24 and Nov. 7, respectively, with one-way trips starting at $98.

Bain’s deep pockets as well as its majority stake in Virgin Australia and minority stake in Icelandair mean Arajet has “the backing in order to purchase aircraft directly from Boeing” — rather than relying solely on leases, as many start-up ULCCs do — Pacheco said.

The company, which has ordered 20 planes from Boeing with an option for 15 more — on top of the 10 currently in its fleet — now flies to 22 destinations in 15 countries.

“We’re bringing Latin America basically at the feet of Canada,” Pacheco said.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2023.

Danny Barlow headed to Las Vegas for Dana White’s Contender with the goal of impressing UFC president Dana White to earn a UFC contract.

On the show, that goal was not only achieved, but Barlow looked like he’s going to be a huge matchup problem within the UFC’s welterweight division.

In his fight with Raheam Forest, who like Barlow, trains out of Memphis, Tenn., both men respected one another as they know each other personally, but both men wanted to get after things early on.

Both Barlow and Forest came out swinging and threw every punch and kick with bad intentions. While both threw hard, it was Barlow who landed the fight changing shot.

Forest took a big punch from the longer Barlow and immediately was on weaken legs. As he back away from Barlow, the referee started to step closer getting ready to stop the fight.

For many fighters, when their opponent is hurt, they get wild and start throwing huge shots from all different angles, but Barlow didn’t do any of that. He stayed patience and made sure to land more effective shots.

After a short hook to the body and a few hard shots to the head, the referee had scene enough and waved off the fight making Barlow the winner in a fight that didn’t last two minutes.

Barlow took in the moment inside the octagon and as soon as his name was announcer as the winner, he had a great celebration as he did a backflip inside the octagon.

White was more than impressed with Barlow and he happily gave him a UFC contract while praising his performance.

Following his win, Barlow spoke with MyMMANews to discuss his win, his celebration and how the movie Creed lead to him becoming a fighter.

You can watch his full interview in the video above.

A full list of results from Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 7, Week 8 are listed below:

Danny Barlow defeated Raheam Forest by TKO (punches) – Round 1 (1:19)

Mario Piazzon defeated Alexander Soldatkin by disqualification (illegal knee) – Round 3 (0:20)

Danny Silva defeated Angel Pacheco by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Ernesta Kareckaite defeated Carli Judice by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Vinicius Oliveira defeated Victor Madrigal by TKO (punches) – Round 1 (3:02)

*Bold names received a UFC contract

Few people have had a better year than Pedro Tovar. The 21-year-old singer is the voice behind Eslabón Armado, one of the biggest bands in the booming música Mexicana scene. This year, Eslabón Armado released Desvelado, a follow up to their 2022 emo sierreño opus, Nostalgia, which made history on the charts. 

Desvelado features “Ella Baila Sola,” the track with Guadalajara-raised artist Peso Pluma that also made huge waves: “Ella Baila Sola” was crowned the song of the summer, its first few guitar chords followed by blaring horns reverberating across park barbecues in New York City, clubs across Mexico, and, as I experienced recently, a coffee shop in the Baltic city of Gdansk, Poland.

Música Mexicana, also known as regional Mexican music, is a radio format used to describe ensemble music such as banda, norteña, and grupera that have their roots in Northern Mexico and the American Southwest. These genres have grown exponentially in popularity over the past couple of years. According to Spotify data, música Mexicana streams have jumped 450 percent since 2018. Acts like Eslabón Armado and many of their collaborators, such as Junior H and Grupo Frontera, are pushing the movement forward.

In the past couple months, Tovar and his band-mates, the California natives Brian Tovar, Damian Pacheco, and Ulises González, have performed on Good Morning America, they threw the first pitch at a Dodgers game, received a couple of Latin Grammy nominations, and played the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Just a few days ago, Tovar fulfilled a longtime dream of seeing Mexican pop-star Luis Miguel live. “I low-key cried when he came out,” said Tovar, who once referred to El Sol de México as his “freakin daddy.”

Now, Eslabón Armado is ready to release “La Fresa,” a song that is ostensibly for all the single plebitas. The track, which comes out Friday Oct. 6, is Eslabón’s first collaboration with rising-star Gabito Ballesteros. In anticipation of the single’s release this week, Rolling Stone caught up with Eslabón Armado’s Pedro Tovar to discuss the collaboration with Ballesteros, the magic of Luis Miguel, and the global footprint of Mexican music. 

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Congratulations on the Latin Grammy nominations, the Dodgers pitch, and turning 21 this year. All very big!
Thank you so much. It’s been a year… I’m a little bit tired because yesterday I went to see Luis Miguel. 

That’s huge. Didn’t you mention in an interview that that’s who you really wanted to see him live?
Yeah. I low-key cried when he came out…I cried during two songs.

Tell me a little bit about how this collaboration “La Fresa” with Gabito happened. How did it come about?
We’ve been going on and forth talking to each other on Instagram. We’ve wanted to do a lot with each other, but it hasn’t happened. I want to say we’ve been chatting since the beginning of this year. And we’ve been going back and forth saying, ‘Oh, let’s do [a song].’ And either he’s busy or I’m busy. One day I was in the studio, and I recorded the whole thing. And then he really liked it. He was really into it. So I sent it to him and he put the vocals on it, and we recorded the video. He’s super chill, humble and just the type of friends I like to make.

In an L.A. Times piece, one fan describes your music as capturing a range of emotions in the songs: Happy, drunk, sad and confused, you have it all. Can you describe this new song to us? 
I feel like the song is very much of an independent feeling, especially for a girl who doesn’t need a guy in her life, and doesn’t want to be in a relationship at the moment. When she goes out partying with her friends, if someone wants to do something nice, then maybe they can give her flowers. And I think a lot of people can relate to that.

Did you imagine a specific setting in which someone would hear this song as you’re recording it?  
Probably just out with their friends or by themselves, in the gym or wherever they feel empowered, because it’s an empowering pop song. It’s a girl who’s in control because you’re always hearing a guy in a song, and it’s usually about him and then the girl comes in. I’ve always wanted to do a song like [“La Fresa”] but it never worked out, and I think this one has the vibe.

So are you saying this song is for the girls?
Basically.

You’ve mentioned that sometimes you imagine Morgan Wallen or Zach Ryan or Luke Combs in your songs. As we know, there’s been a lot of cross-genre collaborations in  música Mexicana. How do you see the movement stretching out from its original bounds and incorporating more pan-Latin influences and even Americana?
I think the sound has been changing for the last 20 years, not to say that back then, it was all just banda and norteña. But now we’re putting in traditional instruments to the banda, like the trombone, and we’re just mixing a sound that will catch people’s ears, something that will sound new and fresh. It’s a whole new sound, basically. And I feel like that’s what other artists from other genres are liking, because they have the ear for it, but it’s just new to them.

As a California native, what do you make of all the música Mexicana that’s being made in the U.S.? How does your exposure to both cultures influence your sound? 
My lyrics, the way I write songs, is completely different from all the other people, like Natanael Cano or Junior H. Their style is completely different, like in lyrics, and since they’re from Mexico, they say things that I don’t even know how to say. I kind of have to find my own lingo and go with more of my lyrics and people still like it. So it’s for sure different from being over here… But every time I go on Spotify or Apple, I see our biggest fanbase is in Mexico. Mexico is one of our bigger goals and we want to go soon.

Critics have pointed out that música mexicana isn’t just a moment, but rather it’s a movement that has long been in the making. And Eslabón Armado is one of the artists leading this movement now. Why do you think this genre has gotten so big among such different audiences without sacrificing its core sound?
It’s gotten big because there’s an audience of people ages like 10 to 15, maybe 16, 17, 18 that are consuming the music in a whole different way than back then. I feel like now, like it’s just the younger audience that are loving the music, and it makes them want to start playing music, and it makes them want to start singing, and playing guitar just like how I did when I was 14 or 13. When I listened to Ariel Camacho I was like, I want to do this – I want to pick up a guitar, I want to play. And it’s the same thing. It’s just a cycle that’s going on and on and on. But it’s just growing bigger, and it’s going to continue to be bigger and hopefully they will change the name. Instead of Regional Mexican, I want it to be música mexicana.

Do you think the term “regional Mexican” doesn’t make sense for the genre’s ambitions?
I feel like people listen to this music outside of Mexico – I feel like it’s all over the country, all over the world.  People in South America listen to it. People in Spain listen to it. They listen to this music because they know that it’s good. So I feel like I shouldn’t be “regional” anymore, I think “música Mexicana” is more expansive and I just want to see it grow more.

You’ve accomplished a lot this year, but this year is not over for you. What are you looking forward to the most? What can we expect from you?
We’re doing this album, which we’re trying to release at the end of this year and hopefully it does happen. Kind of like a surprise album that I don’t want a lot of people to know but some people already [who] know are actually fans. I want to drop it unexpectedly and there’s songs in there that are really good. Just release more music, more videos, and keep making people happy. I think those have always been my goals and I think I’m achieving them day by day.

Can you tease out any of the vibes that fans should be expecting?
This album’s way more upbeat. I feel like I’ve always done super sad music, so this album is dance-y in a way, where people in the club could be partying and listening to