MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25.

PROGRAM # 6905 12:00 PM PT 

COVERED CALIFORNIA. The Affordable Care Act aims to provide health insurance to millions of uninsured people in 2014. California became the first state to create the health benefit exchange, named Covered California. The program is now giving a sneak preview of its benefits. It’s designed to allow people to purchase competitive health plans using federal tax subsidies and credits. This edition takes a look at California’s health exchange plan, as well as the new health care options available and the changes to private health insurance and Medicaid service.

Guests: Dr. Pablo Rodríguez, Director, Women’s Care, Pawtucket, RI, www.women-care.com; Lizelda López, Spokesperson, Covered California, Sacramento, CA, www.coveredca.com.

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26.

PROGRAM # 6906  12:00 PM PT

CITIZENSHIP FOR ALL? As the immigration reform debate heats up, this program provides analysis on news developments, including an update on an opinion survey among key congress members conducted by Radio Bilingüe. It also brings news about a caravan across the country by members of a wide coalition of organizations who are pushing for a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. 

Guests: Petra Falcón, Executive Director, Promise Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, http://promiseaz.org/ ; Georgina Sánchez, Participant in Bus Tour in Arizona, Phoenix, AZ; Samuel Orozco, News Director, Radio Bilingüe, Oakland, CA, www.radiobilingue.org

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27.

PROGRAM # 6907  12:00 PM PT 

VOTING RIGHTS ACT CHALLENGED. The Supreme Court hears a case today challenging the Voting Rights Act. The county of Shelby in Alabama contends that the law is no longer needed now that an African-American man has been twice-elected president. The Voting Rights Act requires certain states and counties, that have a history of enacting policies to limit minority voters, to run all changes to election law by the U.S. Department of Justice. Is this law really outdated? This simulcast with the three-station network La Jefa in Birmingham, Alabama, also looks into legislative efforts in Florida to prevent long lines to cast ballots on Election Day.

Guests: Sigfredo "Freddy" Rubio, Attorney, Member of the Board of Directors, ACLU of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, www.aclualabama.org; Gerardo Guzmán, Guest Commentator and Radio Host, La Jefa Radio, Birmingham, AL, www.aquimandalajefa.com; Max Sevillia, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, NALEO Educational Fund, Washington, DC, www.naleo.org.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28.

PROGRAM # 6908  12:00 PM PT    

INDEPENDENCE FIGHTER. Lifetime advocate for Puerto Rico’s independence, Rafael Cancel Miranda was imprisoned for 25 years after a nationalist commando attack on the U.S. Congress on March 1st of 1954. This edition offers an exclusive interview with Cancel Miranda, now in his 80’s, as this legendary figure recollects the events fifty nine years ago and his years in maximum security prison, and reflects on his life of nationalist struggle.

Guest: Rafael Cancel Miranda, Political Activist, Former Political Prisoner, and Member, Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Mayaguez, PR.

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FRIDAY, MARCH 1.

PROGRAM # 6909  12:00 PM PT

MEXICO EDITION. Mexican teachers' union leader Elba Esther Gordillo was arrested, and the Mexican government has searched three of her properties in Mexico City and called for her foreign bank accounts to be frozen. At the moment she is accused of taking 2,720 million pesos from the National Education Workers Union (SNTE). Gordillo became the General Secretary of the union in 1989 and is now the President-for-Life.

Guests:  Manuel Bartlett Díaz, Senator for the Labor Party, Senate of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico; Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico (pretaped audio); Elba Esther Gordillo Morales, Life Presidnet of SNTE (pretaped audio); citizens' vox populi.

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Funds for Línea Abierta are provided in part by The National Endowment for the Arts, The California Endowment, the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, The Ford Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.