After promising to cut fat from city spending, the City Council of Santa Clara, California, approved $13,500 from city emergency funds to send two groups of high-school cheerleaders to compete in a national tournament in Florida. The council at first rejected the motion, but after a performance by the groups, they changed their minds. As one newspaper account put it, the sight of 50 girls in cheerleading outfits "was too much for the council to refuse."

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