So besides a picture of the day, I am going to also give a morning update. This will be a rundown of what I am watching from at home, when we come into work about 7am our time. Of course as Shep says…”breaking news changes everything.”

1. Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, 57, the eldest of seven brothers behind Mexico’s notorious Arellano Felix drug cartel was sentenced Monday to six years in a U.S. prison on cocaine charges from a drug bust that happened 27 years ago. Arellano Felix, a Mexican citizen, was extradited to the U.S. in 2006 after serving a decade-long sentence in Mexico on unrelated weapons charges. The extradition came a month after Arellano Felix’s younger brother, Francisco Javier, was captured by the U.S. Coast Guard aboard a sport-fishing yacht in international waters off La Paz, Mexico, and taken to San Diego to face drug charges.

2. We covered the RCTV shut down in Venezuela and now Marcel Granier, the CEO of RCTV says “The Venezuelan government is increasingly closing the spaces for expression and dissent. It does not tolerate any disagreement and is moving towards replicating Cuba or any fascist country;” said Granier.

Of course I still get e-mails randomly from people claiming that Chavez is actually opening the media up and allowing for dissent in the country. Some of these same e-mails are full of expletives, what can you expect from someone who sees no ills in what Chavez is doing to his own country.