Spanish-Language Program Back on the Airwaves

Scott Olson reports for the Indianapolis Business Journal that a local Hispanic television newscast is back on the air, less than six months after the parent of WISH-TV Channel 8 pulled the plug on him when it couldn’t reach a new agreement with Univision.

Marco Dominguez, a native of Venezuela, returned to the television airwaves on 30 April. Besides co-anchor Veronica Millan, his staff consists of three production people, an administrative assistant and two part-time sales associates.

They tape the half-hour show at 9 a.m. Monday through Friday followed by a 30-minute interview segment featuring a prominent member of the Hispanic community. Each day’s newscast is available to view on demand for the next 72 hours.

Thanks to about a dozen corporate and small business advertisers, in addition to a core group of investors, Olsen notes, Dominguez again is delivering the news in Spanish to the city’s Hispanic population.

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International Education Leaders in Indy

Delegations from six South American countries and Mexico are visiting Indiana as part of the U.S. Department of State International Visitors Leadership Program this month, reports the Indiana Department of Education.

Indiana is one of five stops for the delegates to learn more about K-12 education in the United States. Starting 17 November, they also visited Iowa, Georgia, Utah and Washington, D.C.They'll be in the U.S. through 5 December.

The visitors from Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Venezuela, Peru and Mexico are meeting with DOE officials in Indianapolis to learn more about the state’s role in education policy, curriculum development, testing and accountability and funding of public education.

The International Visitors Leadership Program annually brings to the U.S. approximately 5,000 foreign nationals from all over the world to meet and confer with their professional counterparts. The visitors, who are selected by American Foreign Service Officers overseas, are current or potential leaders in government, politics, the media, education, the arts, business and other fields.

To learn more about Indiana’s international education initiatives, click here.

Yanomamo Warfare and the Struggle for Political Security

Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon (left), known worldwide for his pioneering work in the Amazon rainforest, will speak Friday (13 April) at the University of Indianapolis.

Chagnon was one of the first outsiders ever to spend time with the isolated Yanomamo people of Venezuela and Brazil. His 1968 book Yanomamo: The Fierce People, detailing their hallucinogenic rituals and brutal ax fights, has been a staple of reading lists for generations of anthropology students.

The lecture, “Yanomamo Warfare and the Struggle for Political Security,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in UIndy’s Ransburg Auditorium, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis. Presented through the Blanche E. Penrod Anthropology Lecture Series, the event is free and open to the public.

In the four decades since their way of life was first revealed to the broader world, the Yanomamo increasingly have been threatened by commercial and political interests and the encroachment of modern culture. Chagnon, now retired as a professor emeritus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is at work on a new book. Though his success has brought him both admirers and critics, he remains one of the most recognized names in his field.

For more information: Christopher Schmidt of the Department of Anthropology,317:788-2103.