Morning NewsTaco
Thursday May 31, 2012
Majority of African Americans and Latinos support marriage equality (The Hill): Despite the absence of media coverage on Latinos and marriage equality, numerous surveys tell us that Latinos are by and large supportive of laws that extend the rights and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples.
Reliably red Texas may become a blue state within two decades (PRI): Texas might not be such a Republican slam-dunk forever. The state’s demographics are changing quickly. Texas is now 37 percent Latino, and demographers say the state could be majority Latino in less than 20 years. And those Texas Latinos have been overwhelmingly voting Democrat.
Police Mistake Bat for Gun; Shoot Latino Teen in Back (Fox News Latino): Miami-Dade police shot a teenage boy four times in the back on Monday morning, leaving him in critical condition and bringing up more questions over gun violence in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting earlier this year. Officers opened fire on 16-year-old Sebastian Gregory after he allegedly reached for a baseball bat in his belt when an officer told him to “show his hands.”
Texas Latinos poised for no House gains despite population boom, new districts (Washington Post): while Hispanics accounted for 65 percent of the state’s population growth between 2000 and 2010, Texas is poised to add no Latino lawmakers to its congressional delegation, after primary elections this week dealt a blow to those hopes.
Riordan aims at GOP’s Latino problem (Politico): On Memorial Day, Riordan launched a radio ad campaign under the auspices of Republicans Rebuilding California, a new political action committee he funded. The PAC will neither support specific candidates nor work with the party but is asking Latinos to consider “the Republican values: jobs, education and safety.”
Charlie Rangel’s Toughest Battle: Trying to Win a Majority Latino District (The Daily Beast): After 42 years of representing a mostly African-American district anchored by Harlem, Rangel is now campaigning in an expanded district that is 55 percent Latino—and where one third of the voters are entirely new to the veteran lawmaker.
Holder: Minority rights under threat from voter ID laws (The Raw Story): Holder told a Washington conference on Wednesday that there is a “growing need to protect the voting rights of every eligible citizen” amid a flurry of legislation and executive orders in US states ostensibly to prevent election fraud with measures such as requiring proof of identity in order to vote.
Students Press for Action on Immigration (The New York Times): Young illegal immigrants, saying President Obama has done little to diminish the threat of deportations they face despite repeated promises, have started a campaign to press him to use executive powers to allow them to remain legally in the country.
With expanded digital access, wasting time is the new divide (The New York Times): As access to devices has spread, children in poorer families are spending considerably more time than children from more well-off families using their television and gadgets to watch shows and videos, play games and connect on social networking sites, studies show.
