Morning NewsTaco

Thursday August 9, 2012

 Census Bureau Releases Results From 2010 Census Race and Hispanic Origin Alternative Questionnaire Research (EIN News):  The U.S. Census Bureau released research today from its 2010 Census Race and Hispanic Origin Alternative Questionnaire Experiment, which provides a comparison of different census questionnaire design strategies for collecting census data on race and Hispanic origin.

Census director: One ‘mainstream culture’ doesn’t make much sense (CNN):  My personal experiences as a Census Bureau director have taught me that talking about a “mainstream” culture doesn’t make much sense. It’s hard to go from Manhattan to, you know, Lincoln, Nebraska, without saying, “Gee, I’m in two very different places.”

Census seeks changes in how it measures race (Associated Press/The Seattle Times):  To keep pace with rapidly changing notions of race, the Census Bureau wants to make broad changes to its surveys that would treat “Hispanic” as a distinct category regardless of race, end use of the term “Negro” and offer new ways to identify Middle Easterners.

Latinos prefer Hispanic as a race category, says Census study (NBC Latino):  Latinos are changing the way the U.S. Census is identifying race in America. In an alternative questionnaire experiment done by the Census, many Latinos chose to identify themselves as “Hispanic” under a combined race/ethnicity category. This is significant, explained Census officials in a press conference today, because in traditional forms, many Hispanic households would not answer the “black” or “white” racial category, either leaving it blank or answering “some other race.”

Anaheim City Council rejects voting districts proposal (Los Angeles Times):  The Anaheim City Council on Wednesday night voted down a historic ballot proposal that would have created voting districts to help increase Latino representation in a community that has been riven by two recent fatal police shootings.

Obama Looks to Women, Latino Voters to Catch Romney in Colorado (Bloomberg):  President Barack Obama, running behind in the latest poll in Colorado, is trying to energize two key constituencies in the swing state, women and Hispanics, as Mitt Romney blames Obama for the U.S.’s slow economic recovery.

D.C. Latino PAC drives up donations for Hispanic candidates (Voxxi):  Franklin Garcia is a Dominican American who is becoming the go-to-person on fundraising for Latino candidates in the nation’s Capitol. The chair of the D.C. Latino Caucus told VOXXI that Hispanic candidates running in local D.C. races are not well represented — financially. Despite this, the city is known as one of the fountains for financing elections in other states.

Democratic candidates pitch DREAM Act for platform (Associated Press/Seattle Times):  In an appeal to Latino voters, three Senate candidates in the Southwest are calling on delegates to the Democratic National Convention to make support of a bill to help young illegal immigrants gain citizenship a part of the party platform.

Opinion: Latinas need to hear from Ann Romney (NBC Latino):  First Lady Michelle Obama has kicked her Latina outreach and mobilization efforts into high gear.  However, the potential first lady to be, Ann Romney has been absent from any high-profile, or even low-profile, outreach to Latinas.  In fact, Latina magazine’s political columnist, Viviana Hurtado, called Mrs. Romney out on this in an open letter.

GOP Convention Names More Latinos To Starring Roles (Fox News Latino):  Just two days after the Republican National Committee announced that New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez will be a featured speaker at the 2012 convention, it released a statement Wednesday saying that U.S. Senate nominee Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican and Tea Party favorite, and Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño, will also have prominent speaking roles at the event.

Antonio Villaraigosa: Sarah Palin More Qualified Than Marco Rubio (Huffington Post):  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of the most prominent Latino elected officials in the country, said Wednesday that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is even less qualified to be vice president than Sarah Palin.

Hispanic voters may be an emerging political force in North Carolina (Greensboro News-Record):  Hispanic voters will have a greater influence on North Carolina politics as their participation in state elections increases. That’s one conclusion you can draw from this report released today byDemocracy North Carolina.

New report suggests Latino vote undercounted in N.C. (News Observer):  A new report estimates that North Carolina’s Latino vote is undercounted by roughly 25,000, with another 100,000 unregistered. The report issued Wednesday by Democracy North Carolina and a group of Latino advocacy organizations analyzes electoral and census data to provide a picture of the growing voting bloc.

Obama Looks to Women, Latino Voters to Catch Romney in Colorado (Bloomberg):  President Barack Obama, running behind in the latest poll in Colorado, is trying to energize two key constituencies in the swing state, women and Hispanics, as Mitt Romney blames Obama for the U.S.’s slow economic recovery.

Air pollution takes heaviest toll on black, Latino communities (SF Public Press):  Monday night’s  large crude-oil fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, which produced a towering column of acrid black smoke and aroused widespread panic in the area, served as a dramatic backdrop to new research showing that minorities and low-income people believe they bear the brunt of health problems related to air pollution.

States cool even more on immigration bills (Government Security News Magazine):  The number of state legislatures enacting immigration bills declined by 20 percent in the first half of 2012 from a year ago, according to a new report.

Here’s The Real Reason News Corp Wants An Hispanic Channel (Business Insider):  News Corp., the parent company of Fox, recently announced the launch of MundoFOX, a new Spanish language channel. One potential reason for the move: Hispanics hardly watch mainstream broadcast TV.

Undocumented Immigrant Can be Lawyer, Florida Bar Says (Fox News Latino):  The Florida Board of Bar Examiners says that an undocumented immigrant born in Mexico appears to qualify for a law license, but it still wants an advisory opinion from the state Supreme Court before making a final decision.