La Plaza is reporting from the NALEO conference in Denver. Even a “bitterly partisan” Congress will not deter Obama’s administration from working to pass comprehensive immigration reform Secretary Napolitano told attendees at the annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Denver, Colorado. “It is a bitterly divided Congress right now, bitterly […]
Cumulative Voting System Could Be Used To Increase Minority Victories
Last week, the voters of Port Chester, New York elected their first Hispanic elected official after a court-ordered revision of its voting system. The small town previously elected its six trustees, two at a time every two years. The elections were at-large voting. Despite the fact that half of the town’s population is Hispanic, […]
GUEST BLOGGER SERIES: Beatriz Terrazas “Where I Come From–A Latino Family’s struggle with Alzheimer’s”
My friend asked the question during a conversation about my mother, who has Alzheimer’s: What about a nursing home? She asked because I was on my way to El Paso to relieve my sister for two weeks. My sister works fulltime but she is in charge of scheduling Mom’s care. She ferries Mom to doctor […]
GUEST BLOGGER SERIES: Melissa Boteach and Sophie Milam “As School Ends, Hunger Begins”
Children Need Access to Subsidized Meals in the Summer, Too Most children jump for joy when the final bell rings on the last day of school. For them, summer means freedom. It means camp, vacation, and popsicles. But summer also means hunger and stagnation for too many American children. Schools begin letting out over the […]
Fueled by Births, Not Immigration, US Hispanic Population Continues to Grow
New numbers released by the Census Bureau late last week show that the percentage of Latinos in the United States increased by 3.1 percent last year. Now comprising just under 16 percent of the total population, Hispanics total 48.4 million people in the US. As the country as a whole continues to become younger and […]
On-going Puerto Rican Student Strike Paralyzes University
Despite receiving little to no attention in the mainland press, thousands of University of Puerto Rico students have shut down all 11 campuses on the island in a protest over increased student fees and tuition. University officials issued a deadline to student leaders earlier this week in an effort to end the six-week old strike […]
Report Finds Latino Students Likely to Attend “Poverty” Schools
According to a new government analysis of US schools entitled, “2010 Condition of Education”, nearly half of all students – 46 percent, who attend “high poverty elementary schools” are Latino; 34 percent of these students are black, and 14 percent are white. This compares to the numbers for “low poverty schools” where 75 percent of […]
Mexican President to Visit U.S.
A little more than a year after they first met, President Obama and Mexican president Felipe Calderón will meet again, this time in Washington, to continue the dialogue on the complex issues facing the two nations. On Wednesday, the two leaders will participate in a joint press confrence in the Rose Garden. Later that evening, […]
Guest Blogger Series:Ben Ray Luján “Clean Energy Jobs — A Win for the Latino Community, A Win for Our Country”
As featured in the Huffington Post: Latinos are the fastest growing demographic of our population in the United States, and–while not always at the top of the news–Latinos care about clean energy legislation. In fact, according to a recently-released poll, Latinos in three important swing states – Colorado, Florida and Nevada – believe climate change […]
Comentarios from Maria Cardona: “Arizona: Pariah state or mainstream?
Maria’s response to a new poll by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The poll shows the public broadly supports provisions of the Arizona law giving police increased powers to stop and detain people who are suspected of being in the country illegally. The results of this poll are not surprising in […]