  We report the discovery of a variable blue straggler in the core of the
globular cluster M5, based on a 12-hour long series of images obtained with the
Planetary Camera aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition, we present the
light curves of 28 previously unknown or poorly studied large-amplitude
variable stars (all but one are RR Lyrae) in the cluster core. A (V, U-I)
color-magnitude diagram shows 24 blue stragglers within 2 core radii of the
cluster center. The blue straggler population is significantly more centrally
concentrated than the horizontal branch and red giant stars.
