Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Lucha libre wrestler Cholitito leaps onto Mini Matt Classic during their fight at the Lucha VaVOOM show as part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Mayan theatre in Los Angeles.

Joe Klamar / AFP - Getty Images

Performers prepare backstage during the Lucha VaVoom's Cinco de Mayan show at the Mayan Theatre Los Angeles.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Lucha libre wrestler Dr Maldad waits backstage before the Lucha VaVOOM show.

Joe Klamar / AFP - Getty Images

Performers wait backstage during the Lucha Va Voom's Cinco de Mayan show at the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

Lucha libre wrestler Matt Classic arrives for his fight during the Lucha VaVOOM show.

Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

A Lucha libre wrestler leaps into the crowd during the Lucha VaVOOM.

Lucha VaVoom is the mixture of lucha libre (masked Mexican professional wrestling), comedy and striptease. During the annual Cinco de Mayo show, the company adds more “traditional” elements like Folklorico and Aztec dancers, mariachis, tequila, and something called “tamales from outer space.”

Cinco de Mayo, Spanish for the fifth of May, commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla.

-- AFP – Getty Images and Reuters

Editor's note: Images shot on May 5, but made available to NBC News today.

Seth Perlman / AP

Lucy Childers, 6, plays on the rock formations at Ferne Clyffe State Park in Goreville, Ill.

By Tammy Webber, The Associated Press

VIENNA, Ill. — This is the Illinois that many people never see — the sparsely populated southern tip where flat farmland gives way to rolling hills, rocky outcrops, thick forests and cypress swamps.

Blacktopped county roads wend through no-stoplight towns. Locals speak in soft drawls and talk of generations who've lived on the same land or in the same villages. The remote and rugged Shawnee National Forest attracts hikers, campers and horseback riders, and offers a stark contrast to the rest of a state that largely has been plowed, paved or suburbanized.

But many here are beginning to brace for change as the Illinois Legislature considers regulations that could set off a rush among energy companies to drill deep in the southern Illinois bedrock for oil and natural gas. The crews would be using a process known as high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," that has transformed the landscape in places like North Dakota and Pennsylvania.

Read the full story.

Seth Perlman / AP

Majestic rock formations attract outdoor enthusiasts, tourists, climbers and backpackers at Garden of the Gods Wilderness Area near Herod, Ill.

Seth Perlman / AP

Cypress trees, many of which are more than 1,000-years-old and exceed 40 feet in circumference, stand in the Cache River State Natural Area near Belknap, Ill.

Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images

A rabbit runs from a wildfire burning along the Pacific Coast Highway near Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, California, on May 3. Some 4,000 homes were threatened by a growing wildfire northwest of Los Angeles that has forced the closure of California's scenic coastal highway, firefighters said Friday.

Slideshow: California wildfires

Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters

A fire engine is parked on Pacific Coast Highway as the Springs Fire burns in the hills at Point Mugu State Park on May 3.

Launch slideshow

John Newland and Matthew DeLuca of NBC News report:

At least six fires of various sizes flared up as high temperatures, low humidity and brittle brush left the state a veritable tinderbox over the last two days, although conditions were improving by the afternoon.

The so-called Springs Fire, made worse by howling Santa Ana winds and unusually dry vegetation, crept within "seven or eight miles" of Malibu around 2 a.m. local time [5 a.m. ET], Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Bill Nash said.

"We've got hot, dirty, unglamorous firefighting work going on right now, guys with shovels trying to scratch out lines on the ground," Nash said in the early hours of Friday. "We've got those guys on these steep hillsides in the dark with nothing but the light of the fire and a flashlight."

Read more...

John Moore / Getty Images

U.S. Border Patrol agent Sal De Leon stands near a section of the U.S.- Mexico border fence while stopping on patrol on April 10, 2013 in La Joya, Texas. According to the Border Patrol, undocumented immigrant crossings have increased more than 50 percent in Texas' Rio Grande Valley sector in the last year.

John Moore / Getty Images

A U.S. Border Patrol agent detains undocumented immigrants who had crossed from Mexico into the United States on April 11, 2013 in Mission, Texas. In the last month the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector has seen a spike in the number of immigrants crossing the river from Mexico into Texas. With more apprehensions, they have struggled to deal with overcrowding while undocumented immigrants are processed for deportation.

In the small town of San Juan, Texas, a few miles north of the Mexican border, Police Chief Juan Gonzalez toured some of the human stash houses his officers recently uncovered. They had been used to hide immigrants from all over the world who were smuggled across the border into the United States.

Gonzalez says his department has never dealt with as many undocumented immigrants as it encounters now.

"In the past three years we've seen an increase.  And it's not a steady increase, it's a massive increase," he said.  "Too many people are getting through.  We've got too many holes in the border and we don't have enough manpower to make sure we secure the border."

John Moore / Getty Images

U.S. Office of Air and Marine agent Jake Dreher stands over a drug smuggler on the bank of the Rio Grande River at the U.S.- Mexico Border on April 11, 2013 in Mission, Texas. Agents with helicopter support from the U.S. Office of Air and Marine broke up a marijuana smuggling operation from Mexico into Texas.

John Moore / Getty Images

A U.S. Border Patrol canine team works with an U.S. Air and Marine agent to detain an undocumented immigrant after chasing him down near the U.S.- Mexico border on April 11, 2013 near Mission, Texas. A group of 16 immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador said they crossed the Rio Grande River from Mexico into Texas during the morning hours before they were caught.

John Moore / Getty Images

A U.S. Border Patrol agent looks for drug smugglers on the bank of the Rio Grande River at the U.S.- Mexico Border on April 11, 2013 in Mission, Texas.

About 75 miles north of the border, in Falfurrias, Texas, Benny Martinez, the chief deputy of the Brooks County Sheriff's Office, says his area is also deeply affected by a recent rise in illegal immigration. 

“The trending is going up,” he said.  “It hasn’t gone down at all, not here.”

John Moore / Getty Images

Undocumented immigrants from El Salvador sit handcuffed after being detained by the U.S. Border Patrol near the U.S.- Mexico border on April 11, 2013 near Mission, Texas.

John Moore / Getty Images

Suspected drug smugglers flee across the Rio Grande River into Mexico on April 11, 2013 in Mission, Texas. Their marijuana smuggling mission was broken up by U.S. Border Patrol agents with helicopter support from the Office of Air and Marine.

John Moore / Getty Images

A Honduran mother holds her toddler son at the U.S. Border Patrol detainee processing center on April 11, 2013 in McAllen, Texas. They had been caught by the Border Patrol while crossing illegally from Mexico into Texas.

Last year, officials and ranchers there found the bodies of 129 immigrants who died in the harsh terrain, presumably after crossing the border illegally.  Dozens are still unidentified and are buried in a local cemetery.  Some of the metal markers on the graves read, "Unknown Female" and "Unknown Remains."  One says, simply, "Bones."

Martinez does not believe the U.S.-Mexican border is at all secure in South Texas, given the rise in illegal immigration in Brooks County. 

"It's steady and I don't think it's going to go down, it's not going to happen anytime soon," he said.

John Moore / Getty Images

A U.S. Border Patrol Agent inspects a load of marijuana seized from drug smugglers near the U.S.- Mexico border on April 10, 2013 in Hidalgo, Texas.

John Moore / Getty Images

A U.S. Border Patrol agent searches in dense brush for undocumented immigrants who had crossed from Mexico into the United States on April 11, 2013 in Penitas, Texas.

Read the full story: Despite safer border cities, undocumented immigrants flow through rural areas

Slideshow: California wildfires

Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters

Launch slideshow

Firefighters continued to battle the growing Springs Fire as it reached the beaches of Ventura County in California on Friday and pushed its way toward the upscale city of Malibu.

Related links:

• Follow @NBCNewsPictures on Twitter
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• 'Monster' California wildfire reaches ocean, pushes toward Malibu

Gene Blevins / Reuters

A firefighter douses burned recreational vehicles after the Springs Fire burned through in the Camarillo Springs area of Ventura County, California. The wind-driven brush fire erupted beside a freeway northwest of Los Angeles on Thursday, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of hundreds of homes threatened as flames advanced on nearby subdivisions, a Ventura County fire official said.

Nick Ut / AP

Smoke and fire billows over a hill near Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Thursday. Authorities have ordered evacuations of a neighborhood and a university about 50 miles west of Los Angeles where a wildfire is raging close to subdivisions. The blaze on the fringes of Camarillo and Thousand Oaks broke out Thursday morning and was quickly spread by gusty Santa Ana winds. Evacuation orders include California State University, Channel Islands.

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

A resident watches as a wildfire approaches homes on May 2 in Newbury Park, California. Winds have made fighting the blaze, called the Springs Fire, more difficult and authorities have ordered some mandatory evacuations in the area.

Nick Ut / AP

Smoke billows over U.S. 101 near Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Thursday.

Matthew DeLuca of NBC News reports:

Hundreds of firefighters battled a wind-lashed 3,000-acre wildfire in California on Thursday that has already consumed one home and forced evacuations in mostly undeveloped sections of Riverside County.

A second, smaller brush-fueled fire (pictured here) sparked to life Thursday in Ventura County and grew to more than 100 acres, according to a post on the county fire department’s website. The fire was burning completely uncontained, the post said. More than 200 firefighters were called to the blaze, NBC Los Angeles reported, and the Ventura Freeway was shut down as firefighters streamed into the area.

Read more...

Gary Hershorn / Reuters

The final section of the spire that will top off One World Trade Center is raised past iron workers to the top of the building in New York, on May 2. The spire will be permanently attached at a later date.

Construction crews on Thursday hoisted the final segment of spire that will top One World Trade Center and complete a piece of the New York City skyline missing since the 9/11 terror attacks.

A crane guided the final piece into a temporary structure that will house the section until final installation by iron workers at a later date.

Once installed, the spire — weighing more than 700 tons — will crown the Freedom Tower at 1,776 feet, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The building currently tops out at 1,368 feet.

9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels watched the spire piece rise Thursday morning from the memorial's office windows overlooking the World Trade Center site.

"It's a big milestone in the history of the rebirth of the site," Daniels told NBC News. "This renewal of spirit, to see spring here and this beautiful weather, the memorial fountains and the flag on the spire piece going up. It was one of those things that you won't forget."

By chance, the hoisting fell exactly two years after Navy SEALS shot and killed Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the terror attacks that demolished the two World Trade Center towers and killed thousands of Americans.

"To have the One World Trade Center spire happen today — it feels poetic, and it feels like poetic justice," Daniels said.

The event came one day after a 250-pound piece of an airplane wing, believed to be part of a 9/11 jetliner, was removed out of an alley near the World Trade Center where it was found last week and taken into police custody.

When the building is completed, and once it is verified by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, One World Trade Center will be the third-highest building in the world, behind Dubai's Burj Khalifa (2,717 feet) and Mecca's Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel (1,972 feet).

Willis Tower (formerly called Sears Tower) and the Trump International Hotel & Tower, both in Chicago, are currently the two highest buildings in the U.S.

The spire — complete with galvanized steel broadcast rings — will serve as part of the One WTC's transmission facilities for the region's media outlets. Perched at its tip is the spire's stainless steel beacon.

A large group of spectators gathered to watch the needle's ascent on Thursday.

Tourist Moulen Katherine called the spectacle "impressive" and "emotional."

Rick and Cindy Baldwin of Charlotte, N.C., had just arrived in New York City and called the sight "inspiring" and felt "excited to be part of New York City."

"I'm more interested in watching the people, they are as inspiring as the spire — the camaraderie they feel as they watch it  rise... we get to be part of history," Cindy Baldwin said.

Pockets of workers and tourists watched as two building crew members affixed an American flag to the spire.

Just outside the scrum, two building crew members, clad in white hard hats and neon yellow safety vests, called to each other from the sidewalk: "How you doing — all right?"

"Yeah, just trying to get a good picture," said the other as he raised his phone for a photo.

The spire's pieces were scheduled to be raised Monday but were delayed by wind.

Mark Lennihan / AP

Workers attach a harness to the final piece of spire before it is hoisted to the roof of One World Trade Center, on May 2.

Justin Lane / EPA

People watch as the spire is hoisted to the top of One World Trade Center in New York, on May 2. Once the spire is put in place One World Trade Center will be the tallest building in the western hemisphere.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

An ironworker uses a line to steady the final piece of a spire, affixed with a U.S. flag, before it is lifted to the top of One World Trade Center in New York, on May 2.

Justin Lane / EPA

Workers watch as the spire for the top of One World Trade Center is hoisted to the top of the building in New York, on May 2.

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Anthony Aragon (L) and David Westman, both of Denver, Colorado, become one of the first same-sex couples to be issued a Civil Union license at a midnight ceremony in the Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder, at the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building on May 1, 2013 in Denver, Colo.

By Alexandra Tilsley, The Associated Press

The first gay couple granted a civil union in Colorado said their vows before hundreds of people early Wednesday morning at a downtown Denver municipal building, where eager couples and members of the public gathered to celebrate the first legal unions.

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Anna Simon of Denver, Colorado shows off the ticket that allowed her to be first in line to be issued a Civil Union license at the midnight ceremony.

The new law legalizing civil unions took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and both Denver and Boulder began issuing licenses immediately. 

Fran and Anna Simon were the first to receive a civil union certificate. Wearing the white wedding dresses they wore at their commitment ceremony seven years ago and joined by their five-year-old son Jeremy, Fran and Anna received their license from a clerk at 12:02 a.m., following an expectant countdown to midnight led by other couples. Minutes later they were joined in a ceremony officiated by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.  Continue reading...

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

People queue for a chance to be issued a Civil Union license at a midnight ceremony in the Denver Office of the Clerk and Recorder, at the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building on May 1, 2013 in Denver, Colo.

Marc Piscotty / Getty Images

Anna (R) and Fran Simon, both of Denver, Colo., become the first same-sex couple to be issued a Civil Union license at the midnight ceremony.

Rick Wilking / Reuters

Fran (L) and Anna Simon kiss just after midnight after being the first to get a civil union in a ceremony performed by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (R) in Denver May 1, 2013.

Related:
13 key moments in the Supreme Court argument over gay marriage

Supreme Court likely to advance gay marriage but stop short of sweeping ruling

Mike Segar / Reuters

Dancers perform at an open audition to join the world famous Rockettes at New York City's Radio City Music Hall, on April 30.

Women arrived for auditions at Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday to compete for a spot with the Rockettes in New York City. In order to be considered, dancers must be at least 18 years old, measure at a height between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 10 1/2 inches without their heels on. The dancers must also be proficient in numerous dance styles, including jazz, tap and ballet. The women who make it through the extremely tough competition and land a spot with the legendary dance group will perform in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which runs from Nov. 8 to Dec. 30 this year.

--Getty Images

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Women wait outside of Radio City Music Hall before an audition for a spot with the Rockettes on April 30.

Bebeto Matthews / AP

Tracey Munn, 25, right, from Granada Hills, Calif., lies on the floor stretching as she prepares for her eighth audition.

Mike Segar / Reuters

A dancer adjusts her makeup as she waits to audition.

Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images

Dancers warm-up before the start of auditions.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Women prepare for an audition at Radio City Music Hall for a spot with the Rockettes.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Women audition at Radio City Music Hall.

Mike Segar / Reuters

A dancer performs during an open audition.

Amanda Schwab / Starpix via AP

The Rockettes perform on the opening night of the 2012 Radio City Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall in New York, on Nov. 13, 2012.

Eduardo Verdugo / AP

Migrants ride on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Juchitan, southern Mexico, on April 29. Migrants crossing Mexico to get to the U.S. have increasingly become targets of criminal gangs who kidnap them to obtain ransom money.

Eduardo Verdugo / AP

Migrants riding on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border reach out to catch food tossed to them by residents, in Union Hidalgo, southern Mexico, on April 29.

Eduardo Verdugo / AP

Residents toss food to migrants riding on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Union Hidalgo in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, on April 29.

Eduardo Verdugo / AP

Migrants ride on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Union Hidalgo, southern Mexico, on April 29.

Immigration Nation: An in-depth look at immigration in America

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• US Border Patrol "Ranch Liaisons" ride with Arizona ranchers to discuss border issues
• For convicted immigrants, Maricopa County's tent jail may be last stop before deportation
• Deported from the US, Salvadorans return to their home country

Craig Ruttle / AP

Susan Friedenberg of New York takes a rat from Tanner, her border terrier, in lower Manhattan on April 26.

By Jennifer Peltz of The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Bodies tense and noses twitching, the dogs sniff the fertile hunting ground before them: a lower Manhattan alley, grimy, dim and perfect for rats. With a terse command — "Now!" — the chase is on.

Known with a chuckle as the Ryders Alley Trencher-fed Society — parse the acronym — the rodent-hunters have been scouring downtown byways for more than a decade, meeting weekly when weather allows. Read full story

Craig Ruttle / AP

A group of dog owners gather in a lower Manhattan park April 26 before a hunt for rats that takes their various breeds into New York City alleys. Participants say the hunts are less about killing rats than giving dogs the experience of chasing them.

Craig Ruttle / AP

A dog named Paco, owned by Bill Reyna of Wayne, N.J., looks over a dead rat in a lower Manhattan alley on April 26.

Craig Ruttle / AP

A wire-haired dachshund named Vina, owned by Trudy Kawami of New York, carries a rat after catching it in a lower Manhattan alley on April 26.

Craig Ruttle / AP

A number of rats are displayed in a lower Manhattan alley, caught and killed by small hunting dogs, on April 26.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Putin and his pooches frolic in the snow
• Blind sled dog thrives with brother's help
• Puppy refuses to leave his dead mother's side following ethnic violence in Myanmar

Follow @NBCNewsPictures

Charles Dharapak / AP

Audience members comprising of Holocaust survivors, veterans, and family members stand during a moment of silence in a tent sent up across from the museum for the 20th anniversary of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., April 29.

Charles Dharapak / AP

World War II veterans stand as they are recognized for their service at the 20th anniversary of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., April 29.

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Holocaust survivor Romana Strochlitz Primus, center, of New London, Connecticut, whose father Sigmund Strochlitz was the chairman of the museum's Contents Committee, becomes emotional during the 20th anniversary National Tribute at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum April 29, in Washington, D.C. The Museum was hosting a two-day tribute event to honor Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans to mark its 20th anniversary.

Gary Cameron / Reuters

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton applauds 90-year-old WWII veteran and concentration camp liberator Scottie Ooton, left, as Ooton accepts the commendation medal during a ceremony commemorating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., April 29.

Elderly survivors of the Holocaust and the veterans who helped liberate them gathered in Washington, D.C. for what could be their last big reunion at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Former President Bill Clinton and Holocaust activist and writer Elie Wiesel were present, along with 1,000 others to mark the 20th anniversary of the museum's opening. 

Since the museum's opening in 1993, it has had more than 30 million visitors. In addition to providing resources for survivors and educating the public, it partnered with Ancestry.com to begin creating an online archive of the museum's 170 million documents which will be searchable through the World Memory Project.