Morning NewsTaco
Thursday May 24, 2012
Mayor Bloomberg: Immigration May Be Only Solution For Crumbling Cities (NPR): For the most part, we don’t hear novel arguments in favor or against the controversial issue of immigration. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been one of the few to take a different view. Last year, he advocated opening the door to new immigrants if they all moved to Detroit.
Marco Rubio: “Don’t fall in the trap of looking to our politics.” (Miami Herald): Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told a Hispanic business group in Washington that their presence in the audience on Wednesday afternoon had much to do with the people who came before them. And he decried what he called the “divisive politics” of pitting people against each other.
Obama, Romney campaigns target young Hispanics with cellphones (Fort Worth Star Telegram/Medill News Service): Young voters and Hispanic voters are far more likely to use their phones to go online than older generations are, so campaigns that use mobile technology are most likely to reach young Hispanics, according to Peter Levine, the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Analysis: Romney’s ‘magic number’ to dodge Latino doom (Los Angeles Times): There is no precise “magic Latino number” that Romney must hit to guarantee victory in key states, for a variety of reasons. But as the Florida polls suggest, the closer he gets to 40, the better his chances.
Romney Calls Education ‘Civil Rights Issue of Our Era’ and Urges Shift (The New York Times): Lamenting that millions of American children receive “a third world education,” Mitt Romney on Wednesday called for poor and disabled students to be able to use federal funds to attend any public, private or online school they choose.
Romney details education plan (Associated Press/Washington Post): Speaking at the Latino Coalition’s Annual Economic Summit in Washington, Presidential candidate Mitt Romney outlined his education plan.
Romney Proposes Return to Bush Education Policy (The Nation): On Wednesday morning Mitt Romney rolled out his heretofore non-existent education agenda in a speech at the Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC. Speaking to the Latino Coalition’s Annual Economic Summit, Romney pledged, “I will pursue bold policy changes that will restore the promise of our nation’s education system.” He also released a list of education policy advisers and a white paper detailing his proposals. Romney offers a return to the George W. Bush era on education policy. His education committee is stacked with veterans of the Bush administration and Bush’s first education secretary, Rod Paige, will serve as special adviser.
Romney, Dipping Into Education, Pushes School Choice (The New York Times): Lamenting that millions of American children receive “a third world education,” Mitt Romneyon Wednesday called for poor and disabled students to be able to use federal funds to attend any public, private or online school they choose.
Romney castigates teachers unions (Philadelphia Inquirer): Targeting an issue popular with women, a key voter group, Mitt Romney assailed President Obama’s leadership on education Wednesday and blamed teachers unions for problems facing American schools.
Romney’s Best Bet: Embrace the Dream Act (The New York Times): The Hispanic voting in presidential elections has traditionally been more bipartisan than most people realize. Upward of 30 percent of Hispanics voted for Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush (1988) and George W. Bush, with Reagan and George W. Bush winning more than 40 percent in their re-election bids. But since Republican candidates decided to make illegal immigration a wedge issue in recent elections, Hispanics have been fleeing the G.O.P. This year doesn’t bode well either.
Romney appeals to Hispanics (MSNBC): Mitt Romney trying to close the gap with Hispanic voters, speaking today at the Latino Coalition Economic Summit. NBC’s Peter Alexander and Voto Latino’s Maria Teresa Kumar discuss the latest NBC news/Wall Street Journal poll that shows Obama leading Romney by 34 percent among Latino voters.
Latinos Will Favor Obama by Default (The New York Times): Latinos’ symbolic role may be even more important than their ability to have a direct impact on electoral outcomes in 2012. Over the past few electoral cycles, both political parties have made an effort to reach out to Latino voters. Yet, as Arlene Dávila, a professor of anthropology at New York University, argues, much of that outreach on the Republican side was designed to make non-Latino voters see the party as more moderate.
Conservative Hispanic group to launch next week in Las Vegas (Las Vegas Sun): A new group designed to cut into the Democratic domination of the burgeoning Hispanic vote in Nevada will launch next week in Las Vegas. powered by national conservative groups and designed to have an impact in November.
Old Feud Dogs Richard Carmona Senate Bid in Arizona (Fox News Latino): If anyone could pull off an upset in Arizona and give Democrats the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Jon Kyl, it might be former Bush Administration Surgeon General Richard Carmona. His biography is a rags-to-riches tale: a Hispanic who grew up in New York City, a Vietnam War medic with two Purple Hearts, a deputy sheriff as well as a doctor. Democrats, including President Barack Obama, courted Carmona to run on their side.
June Primary Could be Turning Point for Utah Democrats (Utah Policy.com): Two Salt Lake County Democratic legislative primary races this June may be pivot points in local party politics. Bluntly put, will the Hispanic influence in the party – and to a lesser extent, gender politics – rule the day?
Don’t mess with voting rights (Los Angeles Times): A federal appeals court in Washington has upheld a key part of the Voting Rights Act, one that requires states and localities with a history of discrimination against minorities to “pre-clear” changes in their election procedures with the Department of Justice or a federal court.
Minorities are not looking for ‘payback’ (CNN): These aren’t threats. These are facts. And they’re presented not to pressure people to do “what the coming majority wants right now” as much as to highlight the value of doing the right thing by making our institutions more inclusive.
Should political campaigns reach Hispanics in English or Spanish? (The Miami Herald): Spanish or English – Espanol o Ingles? To reach young Hispanic voters, most politicians and organizations have taken a bilingual approach, to varying degrees. But most young Hispanics lead English-dominant lives, raising the question of whether the Spanish-language campaign communication still is necessary.
Controversial immigration-enforcement program goes live in Colorado (Denver Post): The controversial federal immigration-enforcement program called Secure Communities went live across Colorado this week — in a cobbled-together fashion and under a cloud of controversy over the potential for entangling domestic-violence victims in deportations.
How Bad Are Our Immigration Policies Hurting Innovation? (The Atlantic): Last Tuesday, yet another bill was introduced in Congress to expand current limits on the number of highly skilled foreign workers allowed into the United States each year. The bill, by Sen. John Cornyn, the senior Republican on a panel that oversees immigration issues, is sure to be one of many that promises to look at the issue of how U.S. policy impacts the ebb and flow of high-tech jobs in the nation.
Company accused of favoring immigrants over U.S. citizens (USA Today): A New Jersey company that hires staff for the information technology industry is fighting charges that it fired a receptionist who complained the company favored hiring immigrants over American workers.
Black and Latino Freshmen Enrollment Falls at CUNY Post-Recession: Report (WNYC): The number of black and Latino students enrolling as first-year freshman at CUNY’s four-year colleges declined post-recession, according to a new report. The study, done by Community Service Society using CUNY data, found that blacks made up just ten percent of freshman enrollees at Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter and Queens colleges in 2010, down from 17 percent in 2001. The Latino population also saw a slight decline, after making gains in the earlier part of the decade.
