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Nayomie Mendoza has become accustomed to how Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the U.S.: the platters of tacos, the pitchers of margaritas and the jubilant sounds of mariachi bands.

She is among a number of Mexican American business owners who’ve become more vocal about also honoring Mexican history and the significance of the holiday, as a way to combat anti-immigrant sentiments amid heightened immigration enforcement efforts that have targeted Latino communities.

Mendoza, owner of Cuernavaca’s Grill in Los Angeles, said she prefers a celebration that reflects “everything that as a community we’re enduring today.” So, Mendoza will host Cinco de Mayo festivities at her restaurant that, along with traditional mariachi and Mexican cuisine, will include a nod to Mexican perseverance over the French in the Battle of Puebla over 160 years ago.

“Just looking at how much they did with very little resources,” she said. “It just showed resilience. So, on Cinco de Mayo we always make it a testament of our resilience.”

Restaurants owners aren’t the first Latino community leaders to reclaim Cinco de Mayo in the U.S. — moving away from a flattening of Mexican culture toward highlighting history and community. This year, the celebrations are noticeably embracing traditional Mexican culture and focused on preservation, said Sehila Mota Casper, director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation.

“These are just incredible moments of educating and knowledge sharing,” Mota Casper said. “The more we educate, the more knowledge we share, the better a community and people we become.”
Restaurants emphasize authenticity over tequila shots

Hispanic-owned firms accounted for 8.4% of 5.9 million U.S. employers in 2024, according to the Census Bureau’s annual survey of businesses. They also were approximately 18% of all restaurant businesses in the United States last month, according to the National Restaurant Association, which uses census data.

U.S. revelers hoping to crowd restaurants and toss back shots of tequila may find more wholesome and intentionally planned offerings, said Raul Luis, who owns the Birrieria Chalio Mexican Restaurant, with locations in Los Angeles and Fort Worth, Texas. On Cinco de Mayo, he wants his customers to eat and drink the types of “guisados” — traditional Mexican braises or stews served as taco filling — that one would eat when invited into a Mexican family’s home.

Well-made, traditional cooking will keep customers coming back, even if they aren’t Hispanic, Luis said.

“It’s the ultimate opportunity for restaurants to take advantage of that moment and bring them in and entice them to authentic Mexican food,” Luis said.

What Cinco de Mayo celebrates

Cinco de Mayo marks the anniversary of the 1862 victory by Mexican troops over invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla. The triumph over much larger French troops who were better-equipped was an enormous emotional boost for Mexican soldiers led by Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza.

In Mexico, historical reenactments are held annually in the central city of Puebla to commemorate the victory. Participants dress as Mexican and French troops and as Zacapoaxtlas — the Indigenous and farmer contingent that helped Mexican troops win.

In the U.S., May 5 is seen as a day to celebrate Mexican American culture, stretching back to the 1800s in California. Festivities typically include parades, street food, block parties, mariachi competitions and baile.

Folklórico, or folkloric ballet, features whirling dancers in bright, ruffled dresses and their hair tied with shiny ribbons.

The day often is mistaken for Mexican Independence Day, which is on Sept. 16.

Latino activists and scholars say that disconnect in the U.S. is bolstered by the hazy history of Cinco de Mayo and marketing that plays on stereotypes that include fake, droopy mustaches and gigantic, colorful sombreros.

A testament to Mexican resilience

Since returning to the White House in 2025, President Donald Trump has continued to label Mexican immigrants as criminals and gang members, and Latino communities have been a target of his hard-line immigration tactics. Memes shared from official White House social media accounts perpetuate negative stereotypes about Latinos, while a federally led English-only initiative and ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs all seem to target communities of color.

All together, it’s generated a great deal of fear in Latino communities.

Mendoza, the Los Angeles restaurant owner, said it’s also been a hard time for the restaurant industry because of rising costs. But in spite of it all, Cuernavaca’s Grill will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

As part of the restaurant’s Cinco de Mayo festivities, she’ll invite customers to contribute to a food and toy drive meant to support those who are struggling in the current climate.

“This is a testament of our resilience,” Mendoza said. “It’s a testament of our hard work. It is pride to our community and everything that we’ve accomplished.”

TRINITY COUNTY, Texas (KETK)— The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office has opened an investigation after gallon barrels of chemicals and paint were illegally dumped into a local creek.

According to the sheriff’s office, 55-gallon barrels containing chemicals, paint and unknown substances were dumped from a white rental truck into a creek near the Port Adventure subdivision, less than half a mile from Lake Livingston.

“Dumping chemicals into our waterways can harm wildlife, contaminate drinking water, and create long-term environmental damage that affects this county for years to come,” Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace said.

A cleanup effort to remove the chemicals from the water has begun and crews from Lone Star Hazmat are currently on the scene. The sheriff’s office is asking anyone who witnessed the products being dumped to contact authorities at 936-642-1424 so they can build a strong case against potential suspects.

“If we allow this kind of behavior, we are inviting more of it,” Wallace said. “A dirty environment attracts more crime, more dumping, and more people who have no respect for this county.”

SAN AUGUSTINE, Texas (KETK)– An East Texas man was sentenced to 99 years in prison on Thursday after committing murder with a crossbow in 2022.

Lorenza White was arrested in December 2022 after deputies from the San Augustine County Sheriff’s Office received a call regarding an unresponsive and bloodied man lying in the front yard of a house on FM 711.

Once on the scene, deputies found the victim dead from injuries he sustained after being shot by a crossbow in the back. White was later arrested in Lufkin after he was seen driving in the victim’s truck, which had been reported stolen.

After being placed under arrest, White admitted to officials that he had shot the victim with a crossbow and then stole his truck. White was later charged with murder, aggravated robbery and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

On Thursday, White was sentenced to 99 years in prison after being found guilty by a jury of murder.

EL PASO (AP) – A group of civil rights organizations on Monday filed a new lawsuit seeking to stop parts of the law that would let Texas police arrest people suspected of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The law can go into effect next week after a federal appeals court lifted a lower court ruling that had kept it paused for years.

Senate Bill 4, as the law is known, created a state-level crime for entering the country without authorization and created pathways for state authorities to remove such people from the country if convicted.

Courts have long held that immigration enforcement is the sole responsibility of the federal government, but with the state law, Texas Republicans sought to challenge that precedent.

The Texas Civil Rights Project, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, and ACLU argue in Monday’s lawsuit the law is unconstitutional because immigration law is exclusively the federal government’s domain and should preempt the state law.

They are trying to stop four provisions of SB 4: the creation of a crime for re-entering the country without authorization, even if a person has since obtained legal status; granting state magistrates authority to order a person’s deportation; the creation of a crime for failing to comply with a magistrate’s order; and requiring that magistrates continue a prosecution even if a person has a pending immigration case such as an asylum claim.

“Our fight against SB 4 isn’t over until justice wins,” Kate Gibson Kumar, of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in a statement. “SB 4 is not only unconstitutional, but a vile law that uses our Texas resources to harm communities across our state.”

Attorney General Ken Paxton ’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest effort to stop the 2023 law, passed by the Legislature in response to record border crossings that GOP state leaders argued amounted to an invasion.

The Biden administration was among the plaintiffs to initially challenge the law in 2024, but the Trump administration last year terminated the Department of Justice’s participation in the lawsuit amid his immigration crackdown.

That lawsuit continued until two weeks ago, when a federal appeals court lifted an injunction that had stopped the law when it ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue.

The law can go into effect May 15 unless it’s halted by another court.

HOUSTON COUNTY (KETK) – The Houston County Sheriff’s Office recently recovered several items that had been stolen from homes near State Highway 7, including pieces of jewelry and sports memorabilia. According to our news partner KETK, on April 7, sheriff’s office deputies were sent out to a home on State Highway 7 west to investigate a reported robbery. Several items were reportedly missing from this first home.

Then, on April 25, a deputy responded to another home on State Highway 7 west where several purses, credit cards and debit cards were stolen. Hours after that robbery, one of the debit cards was reportedly used at an ATM in Crockett.

The sheriff’s office got bank video from the ATM and identified a suspect in the robberies as the person trying to use the stolen debit card. The sheriff’s office added that information from several citizens was essential in identifying the suspect.

On Wednesday, April 29, deputies headed to a residence in the area near the burgled homes. Once at the residence, deputies located the suspect and found probable cause to arrest them and charge them for burglary of a habitation, burglary of a vehicle and credit card abuse.

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — Authorities in Oklahoma were looking for suspects Monday in a weekend shooting at an unsanctioned lakeside party packed with young adults that left at least 23 people injured, some critically, according to police and hospital officials.

It wasn’t clear how many of those injured had suffered gunshot wounds, according to a statement released by police Monday. No arrests had been made.

The shooting broke out Sunday night during a party near a campground at Arcadia Lake, a popular swimming and boating spot in Edmond, just outside Oklahoma City, said Edmond police spokesperson Emily Ward.

At least 18 people were treated at hospitals in the Oklahoma City area. One healthcare system said the victims it treated ranged in age from 16 to 30. It said three people were in critical condition and four were listed as serious.

Jason Hearne told ABC News that he was nearby when the shooting started and saw people who had been shot in the legs and one young woman with a head wound who was still breathing.

“These kids came out to have a, probably a good time, and for this to break out, I know that wasn’t what they expected, and it’s just tragic,” he said.

Police in Edmond said Monday that the party was not a permitted or reserved gathering and had been advertised across social media, drawing a large crowd of mostly young adults from across the Oklahoma City area.

“There is no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the public,” police said in a statement.

Some of those injured were transported from the scene while others sought treatment on their own, police said.

Integris Health said it treated 13 people at its hospitals in Edmond and Oklahoma City. Seven remained in Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, including three in critical condition.

OU Health said it received five people at its trauma center but provided no other details.

While police did not provide more details about the party, a flyer circulated on social media after the shooting suggested that an event called Sunday Funday was scheduled at a pavilion near the lake until midnight.

It advertised food, drinks, music and “good vibes, good people.”

Arcadia Lake sits just north of Oklahoma City and is dotted with picnic pavilions, campgrounds, a fishing pier, and swimming beaches.

It was built in the 1980s for outdoor recreation and flood control and also provides water to the city of Edmond, a suburb with about with about 100,000 residents.

Forty years ago, Edmond was the site of one of the deadliest workplace shootings in U.S. history. On Aug. 20, 1986, postal worker Patrick Sherrill shot 20 co-workers, killing 14 of them. He then killed himself.

Over the weekend, another shooting at a party in the Texas Panhandle left two people teenagers dead and 10 others wounded. Police in Amarillo said two people opened fire at an apartment complex early Saturday.

SULPHUR SPRINGS – Authorities in Sulphur Springs are working to identify human remains found Saturday morning.

The Sulphur Springs Police Department said officers were dispatched to Mark Street, across from the Hopkins Veterinary Clinic, at around 8:55 a.m. , where they discovered human remains near a residence. Criminal investigators and the Texas Rangers searched the surrounding area and found additional remains.

The skeletal remains have since been transported to the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas, where they will attempt to identify the remains and the cause of death. The investigation remains ongoing, the Sulphur Springs Police Department said.

AUSTIN — A Richardson resident claimed a Lotto Texas jackpot prize worth an estimated $41 million for the drawing held on April 20. The cash value option was selected at the time of purchase and the winner received $22,574,163.57 before taxes. The winning Quick Pick ticket matched all six of the numbers drawn (21-28-33-34-43-44). The ticket was purchased at 7-Eleven Convenience Store on Interstate Highway 30, in Mesquite.

“We haven’t missed a Lotto Texas drawing in 30 years,” said the claimant, who elected to remain anonymous.

After the claimant’s spouse checked the ticket several times to confirm the jackpot win, the spouse woke the claimant late at night with the exciting news. The spouse went straight to sleep, but the claimant told the Texas Lottery, “I stayed up all night thinking about it!”

When asked what they may do with the winnings, the winner shared that they look forward to using the prize to help their children and grandchildren, along with making time to travel, adding, “There’s a whole world out there I need to see!”

ARLINGTON (AP) – Just months into the pandemic, Matthew Haines, like landlords across the country, learned he was barred from evicting tenants who didn’t pay their rent under a federal eviction moratorium that lasted almost a year — costing him and his investors over $1 million.

Now, the 57-year-old Texan is hoping to get some relief.

Haines is among more than 1,500 property owners who filed a federal lawsuit arguing the moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention violated the Fifth Amendment by unlawfully denying them compensation. Plaintiffs range from those who lost thousands of dollars to one who lost over $14.5 million.

After initially losing in the Court of Federal Claims in 2022, the plaintiffs won on appeal and are now in settlement discussions with the Justice Department. Landlords are hoping to recoup as much as $1.5 billion — a fraction of what the industry lost.

“It’s important for us to stand up when a group like the CDC unilaterally, functionally, decides that they have a right to oversee our business,” said Haines, who owns three rental communities with 240 units in Arlington and Irving, Texas.

“What I hope that we will accomplish and, to some extent, we already have, is vindication for ourselves,” he said. “But what’s more important to me is that hopefully my investors will recover some of that money that they should have had coming in over the last six years.”

The federal eviction moratorium lasted from September 2020 through July 2021, and was among the pandemic’s most divisive policies. It ended after the Supreme Court ruled the CDC lacked authority to impose the ban without congressional authorization.

The Justice Department, responding to Associated Press questions about the landlords’ case, said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Landlords say moratorium was bad for business

Moratoriums were also imposed in 43 states and scores of cities, which lasted longer than the federal ban because states and cities have broader regulatory powers than federal agencies like the CDC.

Landlords say the bans devastated their businesses. Unable to collect rent, many were forced to take on debt, lay off staff, delay repairs and, in some cases, sell their property. They say the impact lingers, with longer delays for evictions, tighter screening for riskier tenants and growing numbers of owners getting out of the rental business altogether.

Tenant advocates counter that eviction bans were a lifesaver. They credit them with keeping millions of tenants housed during the pandemic and slowing the spread of the coronavirus. They also argue landlords were already paid — in the form of tens of billions of dollars in rental assistance.

From the moment the pandemic hit, Haines said he knew he was in trouble: Many tenants lost their jobs, so he didn’t require new leases and tried to be flexible with those who couldn’t pay.

But when the moratorium took hold, it was the biggest threat he’d faced in 30 years in real estate.

“It was terrifying,” Haines said. “We knew almost immediately that we were going to a massive deficit in cash flow that we probably weren’t going to be able to cover.”

A survey by the National Rental Home Council, a trade association, published weeks after the federal moratorium ended, found that half of small landlords had tenants who missed rent and a third sold or planned to sell properties. The moratorium and backlog of eviction cases cost owners $57 billion, according to the lawsuit, with more than 10 million delinquent renters in just the ban’s first four months.

“Public health measures like this, they may be well intentioned,” said Creighton Magid, a lawyer for the plaintiffs. “But when the government imposes this type of moratorium, the financial burden should be borne by the government, not individual property owners.”

Liz Leone, who has 52 apartments in Las Vegas and is part of the lawsuit, said the moratorium almost forced her out of business. She lost over $250,000, she said, and borrowed $60,000 from the federal Small Business Administration “just to keep my nose above water.” She’s still paying it off.

“I was definitely questioning whether I would survive,” said Leone, who’s been in the business for 35 years. “You delay all the expenses you can, but we still had to pay our property taxes. We still have to pay our utilities. … So that’s what you did: I borrowed.”

Moratorium prevented homelessness

Housing advocates maintain the policy kept families housed, noting a significant spike in evictions after the moratorium ended.

Eviction bans “were a powerful intervention to keep people in their homes,” said Kathryn Leifheit, assistant professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and lead author of a study published in April in the medical journal JAMA Network Open that found homelessness rose 11% in a typical state in 2022, and would have increased 20% without state eviction moratoriums.

That was the case for Dulcee Barnes. The 28-year-old and her two roommates lost their restaurant jobs in Miami during the pandemic. Two months behind on rent, they would have been evicted if not for the moratorium.

“It gave us breathing room. It took away the fear of having to possibly pack up within 24 hours and live in somebody’s car or couch surfing,” she said.

Landlords already got paid

Eric Dunn, director of litigation at the National Housing Law Project, a tenants’ rights nonprofit, disputed that landlords suffered significant losses, saying they were able to collect rent and sell their properties during the moratorium.

They also benefited from $46.5 billion in federal emergency rental assistance, which the Eviction Lab at Princeton University found in April was largely targeted to areas where landlords filed the most evictions before the pandemic.

Landlords said rental assistance never fully compensated them for their losses, contending programs were often mired in red tape and poorly run. States were slow to spend the money, struggled to set up programs and, in the case of Arkansas and Nebraska, didn’t accept all federal funding.

Landlords also complained some tenants took advantage of the moratorium to live rent free. “They were doing things like buying cars,” Leone said. “They didn’t have to pay rent, and here I was driving a car that was 18 years old.”

Lingering effects of moratorium

Despite the moratorium ending five years ago, landlords say fallout from the policy remains. They are taking fewer risks and being more cautious about renting to tenants with checkered rental histories.

Rick Jones, vice chairman of Management Services Corporation, which owns 4,000 apartment units in Virginia and is party to the lawsuit, said that’s partly due to increasing fraud. Applicants fake employment records and payroll checks, he said, adding: “There are companies that just advertise really creating a whole new identity for you.”

“Most property owners and managers realize that it’s more important to keep that unit vacant than to put a bad resident in. That’s probably what the eviction moratorium reinforced,” said Jones, whose company lost more than $230,000 in unpaid rent during the pandemic.

“When you have somebody that’s bad and you can’t get them out, you’re helpless.”

Haines said he’s increased tenant screenings and turns away some low-income applicants he might have accepted before the pandemic. That’s partly because evicting a tenant takes months longer than before the pandemic, he said.

“It’s done more harm,” he said, to low-income people “that we might have considered leasing an apartment to that now we simply can’t take the risk.”