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I was supposed to write about Latinx mental health awareness this week, but then the cheet’ hit the fan.
On Sunday, The Times published a story written by business reporter Sam Dean with the provocative headline “The man who didn’t invent Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” It asserted that Richard Montañez, a former Frito-Lay executive who worked his way from being a janitor to the C-suite through sheer ganas and Mexican American ingenuity, didn’t actually invent the iconic snack.
Dean used “interviews with more than a dozen former Frito-Lay employees, the archival record and Frito-Lay itself” to support the story. He also reached out to Montañez on multiple occasions to get him on the record but never got a response. The Times stands by Dean’s reporting.
WORTH showing off has a story.
Consider Mike Molina’s powder blue 1972 E-100 Econoline Ford van, which he inherited after his father and then his mother died during the early months of the pandemic. Parked on Van Nuys Boulevard, the in-process remodel looks a bit out of sorts, not quite as polished as the other lowriders and vintage cars drifting by. But it emotes a certain character, in the way a well-loved car often does.
“It’s a rare find, because it’s a shorty box, no windows.” Molina says of his father’s van. “So in his memory, I’m keeping it. It runs perfect.”
The lowrider is back: The glorious return of cruising to the streets of L.A. Daniel Hernandez, Allen J. Schaben, Myung Chun
Lowrider life: Cruising is back on the streets of L.A.
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WORTH showing off has a story.
Consider Mike Molina s powder blue 1972 E-100 Econoline Ford van, which he inherited after his father and then his mother died during the early months of the pandemic. Parked on Van Nuys Boulevard, the in-process remodel looks a bit out of sorts, not quite as polished as the other lowriders and vintage cars drifting by. But it emotes a certain character, in the way a well-loved car often does.