Presiding at the 12th formal session of the Lerma-Chapala Basin Council held December 6 in Guadalajara, National Water Commission General Director David Korenfeld, Jalisco Governor Jorge Aristóteles Sandoval Díaz and his counterpart from Guanajuato, outgoing council president Miguel Márquez Márquez, handed over the reins of the entity to Jorge Jiménez Campos (far right).

Molly Johnson, the Canadian songstress known for captivating audiences with her smoky-toned pipes and brilliant renditions of jazz classics, is booked to play lakeside next month as guest vocalist with the Guido Basso Quartet.  The Jazz Greats shows are scheduled for January 11, 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, January 12, 2:30 p.m. at the Auditorio de la Ribera.

Saturday, December 14 will mark the first anniversary of the brutal slaughter of 20 first-graders and six adults gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Folks who have urgent pending business at Chapala City Hall should get on it next week. The municipal government’s regular office hours will be put on stand-by for the Christmas holiday, effective Monday, December 23.

While wrapped in modern-day secular glitter, Christmas festivities in the Lake Chapala area still center on long-held customs that put the nativity story in sharp focus. For village children a big feature of the holiday season is taking part in Las Posadas, the neighborhood processions held from December 16 through Christmas Eve as living representations of the Holy Family’s search for lodging in Bethlehem.

Five officials representing different levels of the Fiscalia General del Estado (State Attorney General’s Office, abbreviated FGE) faced a crowd of about 50 curious Lake Chapala Society members attending the November 29 conference on Jalisco’s justice system.