problems saving datetime

I ran into an issue trying to save a datetime field and I haven't been able to figure out why it's not saving (not failing).

Database set up is Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS w/ Percona Server 5.6 -- I'm using Cake 2.4.1

//table set up

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `news`;

CREATE TABLE `news` (

  `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,

  `user_id` int(11) NOT NULL,

  `title` tinytext NOT NULL,

  `article` text NOT NULL,

  `start` datetime NOT NULL,

  `stop` datetime NOT NULL,

  `created` datetime NOT NULL,

  `modified` datetime NOT NULL,

  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)

) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=23 DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

Before saving I convert user input into a savable format. I tried the conversion in both controller and model beforeSave. 

// conversion 

$xstart = explode('-', $this->request->data['News']['start']);

$start = strtotime($xstart[0].' '.$xstart[1]);

$date = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $start);            

$this->request->data['News']['start'] = $date;

            

$xstop = explode('-', $this->request->data['News']['stop']);            

$stop = strtotime($xstop[0].' '.$xstop[1]);

$expire = date('Y-m-d H:i:s', $stop);            

$this->request->data['News']['stop'] = $expire;

// debug request data

array(  	'News' => array(  		'start' => '2013-10-21 13:13:00',  		'stop' => '2013-10-22 21:00:00',  		'title' => 'Test Article Title',  		'article' => 'Test Article Body',  		'user_id' => '5'  	)  )

The request does not fail but it also does not save to DB.

// To test what's happening bypass conversion and throw together quick data array

$this->request->data = array(                      'News' => array(                          'title' => 'this is a title',                          'article' => 'this is an article',                          'start' =>  '2013-10-22 13:00:00',                          //'stop' => '2013-10-22 13:00:00',                      ));

Data saves fine as long as 'stop' key is not in the array. As soon as I include the key, nothing saves (I changed the column name a few times thinking perhaps there was an issue with the name but it didn't help). 

If I change the array to use converted data, ie. 'start' => $date it will not save. Tried casting $date as string, it didn't help. 

So, using either formatted date from converted data will not save. My test array saves as long as I don't include the 'stop' key or try to include converted data. 

I checked all my error logs but there is nothing there. I was sure I'm overlooking something simple but I just don't see it. 

I'm stumped (or perhaps more frustrated at this point).

Any help is appreciated. 

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