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By Andrew O’Reilly, Fox News Latino

The sheriff’s department of a California county is under fire after several officers were involved in an altercation that led to the death of a local Latino man.

Allegations of brutality and cover-ups have been leveled against the Kern County Sheriff’s Department following a dispute between deputies and 33-year old David Sal Silva.

A grainy cellphone video recorded by a neighbor shows what is allegedly Kern County officers beating Silva with batons for what the department said was resisting arrest.

Click HERE 0r on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by rustejunk]

By Elson Trinidad, KCET

Take a look at the future of Los Angeles, and what will you see? Less smog? A subway that reaches the sea? Flying cars? A professional football team at long last?

All of the above are still uncertain things. But what is certain will be our demographics: Los Angeles County’s population will be predominately Latino and Asian. With the Latino population in California projected to surpass the white population sometime in 2014, and Asians now eclipsing Latinos as the largest immigrating group overall into the United States, our region will likewise follow suit.

What should we make out of all of this? Will there be racial tensions? Will there be socio-political power struggles?

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo courtesy Elson Trinidad/KCET]

By Giovanni Rodriguez, Forbes

What’s most striking about the emerging Silicon Valley Latino community is how it challenges one of the most prevalent cultural stereotypes:  that Latinos have little to do with one of the principle engines of the 21-century economy.  While disparities in education (STEM) and employment exist, the conventional wisdom obscures the reality that Latinos are emerging as a force in technology.  And it’s not just leadership in general management and marketing, but technology itself.

The way to look at this opportunity is the way folks in Silicon Valley look at startups.  Although Latinos have been organizing for quite some time in Silicon Valley, it’s safe to say that the community is at an early stage of formation.

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo by Steve Jurvetson]

By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times

The two candidates vying to be mayor of Los Angeles courted Latino voters Saturday, promising to do more to help those who are seeking citizenship and to make greater efforts to clean up and enhance Latino neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights and Pacoima.

By Victor Payan

San Diego-born playwright Richard Montoya has been on a prolific hot streak for the past several years. His expert mix of weight and whimsy have made him a favorite of local audiences, and his latest play, Federal Jazz Project, is yet another winner.  A collaboration with local jazz master Gilbert Castellanos, Federal Jazz Project delivers a verbal and musical tour de force that digs into the dark underbelly of World War II-era San Diego and provides a fascinating history tour of America’s Finest City.

Fans of local lore and lovers of great jazz should rush out to see Federal Jazz Project before it concludes its World Premiere run at the San Diego Repertory Theatre this Sunday at 2pm.

Federal Jazz Project shines on many levels and features some brilliant writing by Montoya.  Stellar live music by a Castellanos-led jazz quintet and strong performances by a capable cast round out the story of Kidd (Joe Hernandez-Kolski), an idealistic impresario, whose hopes of launching the careers of two singing and dancing sisters named San Diego and Tijuana, played Lorraine Castellanos and Claudia Gomez, are thwarted by the guardians of San Diego’s military-industrial complex.

The projection design is well-done, and the set is well-utilized. The transition between Tijuana’s tap dancing success and her arrest is a bit rough, but is consistent with the historical realities of the era.

Federal Jazz Project plays to Montoya’s strengths, incorporating audience participation, skewering of the fourth wall and peppering in surreal interludes, such as when a buoyant Lawrence Welk, played by Mark Pinter, introduces guest servicemen musicians to play for the audience.  Somewhere in your enjoyment of the musical talent of the soldiers, you realize that they are modern corollaries to the World War II veteran musicians portrayed in the play, and that war is as much a part of the San Diego experience as surf, sand and sunshine.

The tone of the play starts out light enough to woo the audience and slowly darkens, leading up to a powerful ending that features a brilliantly-written anti-war tirade delivered with righteous fury by Kidd’s Marine grandson (also played by Hernandez-Kolski).

Montoya teases the audience with gags about San Diego’s various communities throughout the play, and he certainly knows how to keep the laughs coming.  His writing is at its strongest, however, when he is riffing to the audience about subjects such as the trenchcoated Rafas, played by members of the Cabrones Motorcycle Club, again blurring the line between actor and actuality.

The play’s title hearkens back to New Deal programs, specifically the Federal Theatre Project, and it is apt that the project was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Whether in collaboration with his partners in the comedy troupe Culture Clash or as a solo playwright, Montoya has delivered a string of dazzling, daunting and mature works that dig deep into America and deftly dismantle its mythmaking apparatus.

It’s a rare gift to make audience members laugh while you are peeling the layers off of their city’s past.  Montoya succeeds because he is both the ringleader and ringmaster of a carefully orchestrated circus of punchlines and pathos.  And the rest is history.

Federal Jazz Project’s final three performances are Friday and Saturday at 8pm; and Sunday, May 5 at 2pm at the San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, in downtown San Diego.  For more information or to purchase tickets, call 619-544-1000 or visit www.sdrep.org.

 Victor Payan is an award-winning writer and cultural critic.  His website is www.victorpayan.com.

[Photo by Daren Scott]

By Julia Preston, New York Times

A federal judge in California has ordered immigration courts in three states to provide legal representation for immigrants with mental disabilities who are in detention and facing deportation, if they cannot represent themselves. The decision is the first time a court has required the government to provide legal assistance for any group of people before the nation’s immigration courts.

Click on the picture to read the full story.

[Photo By Lel4nd]

By Shaya Tayefe Mohaje, Associated Press/Huffington Post Latino Voices

LOS ANGELES — About 20,000 students in California who need to learn English aren’t getting adequate language instruction, according to a lawsuit against the state and education workers filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Under state and federal law, schools are required to teach non-English speakers the language, but by its own records, the state isn’t offering English instruction to nearly 20,000 students. The suit alleges that lack of instruction has meant some children had to be held back a grade or live with low proficiency scores because of a language barrier.

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[Photo by Editor B]

By Brent E. Beltrán, San Diego Free Press

Since I live across the street from Chicano Park I sometimes take its beauty for granted. I see it every day as I exit my apartment complex’s parking structure. I see it when I do laundry. When I walk to Las Cuatro Milpas for my tortilla fix. Whenever I return home from wherever I’ve been. I live within its shadows and those that helped create the space.

It’s an ubiquitous presence in my Barrio Logan life. It’s always there. Standing proudly in the background of my existence. Because of that sometimes it all blends together. But not this coming Saturday, April 20. The annual Chicano Park Day Celebration is when Chicano Park is at the forefront of people’s minds. It’s a time to remember and celebrate the occupation of land and a community fighting for its dignity. It’s a time when the park shines from within the shadows of the San Diego Coronado Bridge.

I know what Chicano Park means to me. But I often wonder what does it means to others?

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[Photo by kellinahandbasket]

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

I’ve heard the grumbling from some of my Californiano friends. So you know this headline caught my attention.

It was highlighted as a link I found while doing a dive for NewsTaco stories. Funny thing is that the actual story, on NPR, had a different headline:

After One Of L.A.’s First Latino Mayors, Who Will Follow?

Anyway, it’s a good piece, or rather a transcript of a good radio piece by Kirk Siegler.  He talks to Villaraigosa and other LA nobles like Frank Gilliam, the dean of the UCLA school of public affairs, and Arturo Vargas, who heads NALEO.

The best quote, though, comes from Emanuel Pleitez, who ran for Mayor. Things should be easier for Latinos in LA politics now that Villaraigosa has been Mayor, he said, “but I could say that he could’ve done more.”

Click HERE or on the picture to read the full story.

Have you read an article you’d like to suggest for the NewsTaco community? Let us know at:tips@newstaco.com

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

A good, quick read by Curtis Tate of the McClatchy Newspapers. He looks at the GOP “Latino problem” through the California lens.

Going back to years of hard-line immigration politics at a time when the Latino population was growing (doubling in the state) the GOP lost it’s footing and has yet to recover. The national GOP is on a similar trend, and given the recent rhetorical blunders – Don young’s wetback comment – it’s not getting better.

The solution? According to former California Republican Chairman Ron Nehring, the GOP should embrace immigrants and pro-immigration policies.

You can read the full story HERE, or click on the picture.

[Photo by Brian Wilkins]

Have you read an article you’d like to suggest for the NewsTaco community? Let us know at:tips@newstaco.com

By Sandra Lilley, NBCLatino

When it comes to gay marriage and Latino public opinion, the last few years have seen dramatic changes, according to Ingrid Duran. She and her partner, Catherine Pino, are one of  the nation’s most visible – and powerful – gay Latina couples.

“When the Congressional Hispanic Caucus put out their 9 principles for immigration reform and marriage equality was number two on the list – that’s a big deal,” says Duran, who co-founded a lobbying and consulting group with Pino called D&P Creative Strategies.  ”When you see that 62 percent of Latino Catholics support allowing gay couples to marry, it’s a huge shift,” Duran states, referring to polling they conducted as part of their Familia es Familia campaign, a gay rights public service campaign.

As the Supreme Court heard arguments today for and against California’s Proposition 8 - the state’s ban on same-sex marriage – the reality is that Latino public opinion – as well as the position of many Latino leaders – is increasingly supportive of gay marriage.

“When one group is denied the dignity and the right to marry, it diminishes us all,” said National Council of La Raza’s (NCLR) president and CEO Janet Murguía, standing in front of the Supreme Court today.

“What the Supreme Court will hear this week is what lower courts have already affirmed – no American should be denied equal protection under the Constitution,” stated California Democratic Congressman and Democratic Caucus chairman Xavier Becerra.

Last year the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and Pew Hispanic  found that for the first time since conducting its National Survey of Latinos, more Hispanics favored allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally (52 percent) than oppose it (34 percent). An ABC News election exit poll found 59 percent of Hispanic voters said they support same-sex marriage.  A recent Latino Decisions poll found 64 percent of Hispanic voters said comprehensive immigration reform should include the same rights for gay couples as heterosexual couples.

Reflecting this support, Murguía added today in the Supreme Court steps that “our policies should not separate families due to their immigration status, sexual orientation or anything else,” she stated. NCLR notes that in nearly one-half of the binational LGBT couples facing separation, one of the partners is Latino.

In discussing the possible Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage, Latina constitutional scholar Enid Trucios-Haynes says shifting public opinion does have an impact on the nation’s highest Court.

“In 1896, for example, equality under the Constitution allowed segregation, but in 1954, the Court found equality under the constitution could not permit segregation,” explains Trucios-Haynes, a professor of law at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.

In the event the Supreme Court upholds California’s gay marriage ban as well as the Defense of Marriage Act, Trucios-Haynes says laws in support of gay marriage will most probably start being enacted state by state, as public opinion increasingly supports this.  ”It will take longer, but it might be faster than many of us think it would be,” she remarks.

“This is about families, and if we value families, this is about the 40 thousand children (in California) whose parents are living in a committed relationship and who should be able to get married,” says Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who said today on MSNBC he has supported gay marriage since 1994.

Inside the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked defenders of California’s same-sex marriage ban what is the harm done by allowing same-sex couples to marry. NBC News’ Pete Williams says that most members of the Court, including its more liberal Justices, seemed to hint they might not issue a sweeping ruling on same-sex marriage but might limit it to California.

In the meantime, Ingrid Duran hopes the Supreme Court affirms the legal basis for gay marriage in the U.S.

“It’s great that public opinion is changing, but that still doesn’t impact mine and Catherine’s ability to get married in our state of Virginia; right now it is illegal for us to get married and adopt a child,” she says. Duran says it has been difficult – and costly – to set up things like health care proxies so that if something happens to one of them, the other partner is allowed rights which come effortlessly to a married couple.

“The laws really have to change,” says Duran.

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Sandra Lilley loves being an active part of our “national conversation”, on everything from politics, education and the economy to the latest books and people in the news. Sandra started out in Telemundo-NY as a general assignment reporter and later News Director. She was also a Dayside Managing Editor at MSNBC and a Planning Editor for the NBC Domestic Desk. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Sandra studied history at Brown University, and currently lives in New Jersey with her family. Sandra hopes our site inspires and informs Latinos as they work toward their family’s “American Dream.”

[Photo by stevendamron]

By The Bakersfield Californian

Labor leader and human rights activist Dolores Huerta was inducted into the California Hall of Fame during a ceremony Wednesday night at The California Museum in Sacramento, according to a press release.

She is part of the seventh class of inductees to join the Hall of Fame since the program began in 2006.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by Freedom To Marry]

By EFE/Fox News Latino 

Outgoing Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in an interview with KTTV-TV that among his plans for the future is to run for governor of California, although he did not specify when that might occur.

The 60-year-old Democrat, who will end his tenure as mayor on June 30 after two consecutive terms, the maximum allowed by law, reiterated that his first move after leaving office will be joining a think tank.

Click on picture to read full story.

[Photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District]

By Nadine Natour, NBCLatino

This is the second installment of Latinas empowering other Latinas to succeed in honor of Women’s History Month. 

For ten high school girls enrolled in the photography program Las Fotos Project, the summer of 2012 was a lesson in disguise.

Rather then a host of drowsy days spent on the sidewalks of Los Angeles, they traipsed through the San Gabriel Mountains and snapped photos of rocky cliffs and lazy rivers, lilies in full bloom and vistas of the California landscape.

The group then used the same film to capture scenes in their community, edited the double exposure photographs and wrote poems to accompany the art. Finally, the girls published a bookfeaturing the photographs and presented it at a public exhibition which they personally marketed.

Founded by freelance photographer Eric Ibarra, Las Fotos Project helps its young Latina members build their photography skills and their confidence.“The program is such a unique setup,” says the 28-year-old Ibarra, who launched the club three years ago after he noticed a lack of extracurricular opportunities in the area for young girls. “They learn all these life skills almost without realizing it.”

Ibarra partners with Los Angeles organizations to find Latinas aged 11-17 who could most benefit from the experience. The girls, who often come from low-income or middle-income communities, then enroll in ten-week classes where they’re quickly taught the basics and given a personal point-and-shoot camera.

Las Fotos mentors help the students brainstorm possible field projects, with the freedom to choose any theme or landscape near the Boyle Heights headquarters. Every project ends with a community exhibit, photo book or mini-documentary.

Lizbeth Rojas, now a student at Loyola Marymount University,  joined the group at 17 and suggested the San Gabriel trip for their summer project. She says it gave her a different perspective on her East Los Angeles neighborhood.

“We feel like we have to live in a place where it has to be busy but being in the mountains is different,” says Rojas, who ultimately led the trip. “I was able to notice things. It gave me another view of the world.”Another member of the group, Ana Cortes, created a photograph of a craggy mountain scape over the facade of the East Los Angeles Municipal Courts. She captioned the photo: “We owe nature justice!”

“I took a picture of the courts because I’ve always been into law and law enforcement,” says Ana, now a freshman studying criminal justice at California State University, Los Angeles.

Cortes joined the group at 17, never having handled a film camera. She says the group made her feel more confident and stood in marked contrast to her experience at her high school.

“At school, everyone’s judging everyone ,” says Cortes. But the project, she says, was “totally different. I was shy at first but it was fun and you just felt welcome.”

The various field projects offer the students a chance to explore their community but, more often, they wind up exploring their inner selves. For one assignment, the girls were told to take photos of the most inspiring person in their life. They then fashioned the photo series into a revealing video documentary.

Las Fotos Project maintains a roster of around sixteen girls at a time, in several California locations as well as a project in Guatemala. According to Ibarra, the girls can remain in the program once they pass the 17-year-old age limit, but many go on to attend college or find work elsewhere.

Though she has aged out of the program, Ana Cortes says she still retains a love of photography. She said she plans to take photos and create a scrapbook of her family, friends and memorable events.

“It was my own idea, something to keep all the nice memories I’ve had,” says Cortes. “I’ll do it just for fun, just for me.”

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

[Photo by ric Ibarra/Las Fotos Project]