 Edición Semanaria de Noticiero Latino |
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January 2006
January 7th | Listen to the program
SENSENBRENNER LAW - The so-called “Sensenbrenner Law” has caused outrage not only among pro immigrant groups, political leaders and columnists all over the country, but it has also unsettled a sector that has traditionally been apart from the immigration controversy. The initiative, approved by the U.S. House of Representatives several weeks ago, not only seeks the building of an enormous border fence, but also turns undocumented immigrants and those that hire them into criminals. As Marco Vinicio Gonzalez reports, employers groups and trade organizations across the country have decided to join the campaign against the measure in the U.S. Senate.
PAPEL PICADO MASTER - Herminia Albarran is a Mexican artist living in San Francisco, California, where she mainly is engaged in the Mexican cutting paper art known as papel picado or papel colado, as she prefers to call it. For her practice of this ancient tradition, in 2005 Hermina was awarded the highest honor for popular culture in the U.S. Raul Silvia shares this singular story.
January 13th | Listen to the program
SUPREME COURT NOMINATION - This week, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito faced a heated audience before the U.S. Senate. Senate Democrats have questioned Alito on details of his affiliation to a controversial group of influential conservatives. Patricia Guadalupe has been present at the hearings and files the report.
MEXICAN VOTE ABROAD - Hours before the end of the registration period for Mexican nationals abroad to vote by mail in their country’s July presidential elections, Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute has received less that 15,000 ballot petitions. Some Mexican migrants took advantage of their year-end vacations to process their voting credential. Our correspondent in Mexico City, Citlali Saenz, shares their story.
"YO SOY JOAQUIN" - Agustin Lira, singer and co-founder of El Teatro Campesino in 1965 in Delano, keeps the Chicano movimiento songs and theater tradition alive in the San Joaquin valley. Lira, Patricia Wells and members of Teatro de La Tierra are working on a dramatization of Rodolfo Corky Gonzales' epic poem "Yo Soy Joaquin". Gonzales, a precursor of the 1960’s Chicano movement passed away last April. Sara Shakir profiles Agustin Lira’s dramatized version of “ Yo soy Joaquin.”
January 20th | Listen to the program
BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP - The initiative that aims to deny citizenship rights to children of undocumented immigrants, proposed by the Republican right in Congress, made headlines again this week. The controversial proposal was discussed during confirmation hearings for U. S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. This report offers Judge Alito’s point of view on the issue and reactions to his statements.
INNOVATIVE EFFORT AGAINST OBESITY - In California’s Central Valley, an effort trying to put a halt to the obesity epidemic is putting the residents in charge of the campaign. Local government leaders, universities and philanthropic institutions are teaming up to turn these poor cities in the country into models of healthy urban planning, filled with green parks for exercising and local stores loaded with plenty of fruits and vegetables. As Sara Shakir reports, local citizen councils will be directing the project.
MEXICAN RAILROADS MAY COMEBACK - In Mexico, the proposal by presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, to install long distance rapid transit train service, has brought up an almost forgotten issue. In recent years, Mexico’s railroad system was reduced and privatized. This, after the railroad system came to be a vital industry for the country’s economic development. Our correspondent Kent Paterson traveled to the old complex of Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico (National Railways of Mexico) in Aguascalientes, and files the report narrated by Maria Eraña.
January 27th | Listen to the program
EVO MORALES TAKES OFFICE - The indigenous leader and ex-coca grower Evo Morales took office as president of Bolivia, this week. Morales is making history as the first indigenous president of his country, and has already taken steps to establish close ties with Venezuela and Cuba. This has cause trepidation on the part of the White House, but some say that the Bush administration’s foreign policy is not focused in Latin American issues. Patricia Guadalupe share details from Washington, DC.
DUSTIER RURAL AREAS - Environmentalists in the nation have their vigilant eyes on new regulations proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The activists say that the new regulations endanger the health of residents in rural areas. As Alma Martinez reports, the proposal is also raising concerns among California’s local authorities in charge of protecting air quality.
THE RUN FOR THE MEXICAN PRESIDENCY STARTS - After the initial kick off of the electoral campaigns, the main three hopefuls to the Mexican presidency run out to the streets with their political message, each imprinting their own particular emphasis. Andrés Manuel López Obrador started in the nation’s poorest county. National Action Party (PAN)’s Felipe Calderón began in one of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) ‘s strongholds in Mexico City, and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), launched his campaign in one of his party’s turfs in the state of Mexico. However, as Citlali Saenz reports, while the left leaning López Obrador still commanding the polls, his two main opponents have received a poor response from the population, including boos and heckles.