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| In
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DESIGN:
Latin Flair
Spanish-language talk show host Cristina Saralegui will see the Kohl
Corp. launch her line of home furnishings this month. Saralegui, a
30-year veteran journalist best known as host and producer of Univision’s
The Cristina Show, developed Casa Cristina, a collection of home furnishings
that features designs with Hispanic and Mediterranean accents. More
than 200 stores throughout the U.S., as well as the Kohls.com website,
will showcase the line this month. Beginning spring 2007, the line,
including bedding, bath and table linens, decorative pillows, rugs
and decorations, will be available at all Kohl’s stores. |
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SPORTS:
Balsero Baseball
Gustavo “Gus” Dominguez, a California-based sports agent
was charged in federal court in Miami with financing and organizing
a scheme to smuggle Cuban baseball players into the U.S. Dominguez,
of Total Sports International, allegedly hired four men to help him
get 19 Cubans off the island on August 22, 2004, including three children
and several current U.S. minor-league baseball players. Dominguez’s
Beverly Hills company represents about 50 baseball players. This is
the first time a sports agent has been charged with such a crime. |
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MUSIC
Grammy Whammy
Colombian artist Shakira and Puerto Rico’s Calle 13 dominated
the seventh annual Latin Grammy Awards in New York. Shakira took five
Latin Grammys, while the reggaeton duo Calle 13 took three. Shakira’s
album Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 snared album of the year, best female pop
vocal album, and best engineered album, while her single La Tortura
won record of the year and song of the year. For their self-titled
CD Calle 13—Rene Perez and Eduardo Cabra—won best urban
music album, best new artist, and best short from music video for
their single Atrevete Te, Te! And Ricky Martin was honored as the
Latin Grammy’s person of the year for his campaign against child
prostitution |
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PUBLISHING:
Power of the Pen
Paul de la Garza, who rose from poverty in south Texas to become a
nationally recognized columnist and foreign correspondent, and beat
Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003, died of a heart attack in Tampa,
Florida. He was 44. The son of a shrimper, de la Garza went on to
write for the Chicago Tribune, the St. Petersburg Times of Florida
and The Associated Press, and infused his stories with a feeling for
the common man. De la Garza worked for more than 20 years in a variety
of newspaper positions, most recently at the St. Petersburg Times.
De la Garza is survived by his wife Georgia, his children, Monica
and Carlos, his mother, Jesusa, and three sibilings. |
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TRADE:
Wider Route for Canal
Panamanians voted overwhelmingly for a $5.25 billion project to expand
the Panama Canal. The plan is to widen the canal, from two lanes to
three, double its capacity, and allow the biggest ships to make it
through. Presently, the Canal, which opened in 1914, cannot accommodate
the passage of super-sized tankers and other container vessels, while
the 14,000 ships that do use the canal annually, and represent 200
million tons of cargo and 5 percent of the world’s trade, often
encounter traffic jams as they prepare to make the 10-hour trip across
it. Supporters of the expansion, including Panama President Martín
Torrijos, say the plan will bring jobs to the nation, in which 40
percent of the population is living in poverty and 10 percent unemployed. |
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BUZZWORDS:
“There is widespread agreement we need a stronger
overall Hispanic strategy. This will require that we resolve the
future direction for Hoy [the Los Angeles daily Spanish-language
newspaper published by Tribune Company] ... as well as better defining
our strategy in The Times for reaching the English speaking Hispanic
audience.”
New Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller in a memo to his staff.
LA Observed news blog
“Not one of these associates by the way has
ever asked for any access to either of my political brothers, not
one White House tour, not one autographed photo, and not one Lincoln
bedroom overnight stay.”
President George W. Bush’s brother, Neil Bush, on prospective
international clients of Ignite! Learning, the educational product
firm he runs, and which his parents partly own, has been criticized
because its present clients use money from the President’s
No Child Left Behind education law to buy its products.
Associated Press, Houston
“We find it in the public interest to protect
residents’ access to homes, education, jobs and businesses.”
From U.S. District Judge James Munley’s ruling temporarily
blocking the city of Hazelton, Pennsylvania, from enforcing ordinances
targeting the undocumented, made hours before the measures—against
landlords and businesses that rent or hire the undocumented—were
to go into effect.
Associated Press, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“Many Latino parents are working a lot, so their ability to
get involved is limited. There’s the language barrier. In
many Latin American countries there’s a tendency to defer
to authorities in school, an assumption that educators know what
they’re doing.’’
Dr. Pedro A. Noguera, director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban
Education at New York University, on the
difficulties many Hispanic parents face in helping their children
at home so they can achieve good results in school.
The New York Times
“Chicago has one of the largest Hispanic communities
in our country and many have shown interest in the Bears.”
Bears President and Chief Executive Ted Phillips on broadcasting
a Chicago Bears football game in Spanish on CBS’ WCKG-FM 105.9,
an English-language station.
Chicago Tribune
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Education:
Freedom to Learn
Seventy-seven Spanish-speaking bicultural students were each awarded
$2,000 scholarships by the United Health Foundation and PacifiCare
Foundation to pursue educational opportunities for careers in healthcare.
The scholarships were offered on behalf of the Latino Health Scholars
Program for Hispanics who had demonstrated acceptance and enrollment
in approved healthcare programs at universities, community colleges
and accredited technical
colleges. Seventy-five U.S. students as well as young scholars from
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic were awarded the scholarships.
Since the Latino Health Scholars Program was launched in 2003, more
than $550,000 in scholarships has been awarded to students. |
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LEADERSHIP:
Co-chairman of the Board
A year after his failed bid to become New York City mayor, Fernando
Ferrer has accepted a role as co-chairman of consulting and lobbying
firm Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations. He will also be co-chairman
of the company’s Hispanic division, as well as the company’s
international advisory board. Ferrer served as city councilman, Bronx
borough president and president of the Drum Major Institute, a public
policy group, before becoming the Democratic nominee for mayor in
2005. According to reports, Ferrer will provide senior counsel to
clients and help direct staff, but will not lobby elected officials. |
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