The Jalisco State Congress this week voted to disband the Instituto Jalisciense de Asistencia Social (IJAS), the government agency that for many decades has been charged with certifying and regulating all asociaciones civiles (ACs or non-profits) in the state.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s new pension plan for senior citizens debuted in Jalisco January 27.  

One of the Jalisco’s grandest religious festivals (rivaling that of the Virgin of Zapopan in fervor but not in size) occurs February 2 — the festival of the Virgen de la Candelaria, celebrated in many places, throughout Jalisco (Acatic, El Arenal, El Cabezon, Encarnacion de Diaz, Guachinango), but no place like San Juan de los Lagos (250 kilometers northeast of Guadalajara) in the Los Altos region of the state.

After weeks of playing her cards close to her chest, the state’s new culture secretary, Giovana Jaspersen, held a surprise press conference with Wednesday to introduce the newly selected artistic director of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco (OFJ), Monterrey-born Jésus Medina Villarreal, who in December guest-directed the OFJ and the Jalisco Ballet in Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker.”

The mayors of Jocotepec and Chapala are on board for a new era of transparency, joining in as affiliates of the Jalisco branch of the Colectivo Ciudadanos por Municipios Transparentes (CIMTRA), a national network of citizen advocacy groups related to government accountability.

Expectations for a rapid end to the acute fuel shortage in Jalisco were dashed Wednesday after Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro came back from a meeting with the nation’s interior minister in Mexico City with disappointing news.