Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund: Calling All Latina Entrepreneurs

Washington, DC--(HISPANIC PR WIRE)--July 11, 2007--LATINA Style Magazine, the premier magazine addressing the needs of Latina professionals in the United States, is pleased to announce the availability of $5,000 cash awards for Latina entrepreneurs.

Since its establishment in 2002, the Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund has been the most respected and coveted business award program for Latina business owners in the United States.

The Fund was created to recognize the accomplishments of Anna Maria Arias, the late founder and editor of LATINA Style Magazine. Her drive and mission to empower Hispanic women is one of the true legacies in the Hispanic community.

The Fund celebrates this spirit of entrepreneurship that was Anna Maria’s vision and that today serves to fuel the phenomenal growth of the Latina business sector.

We look forward to receiving hundreds of applications this year.

The award recipients will be showcased during a gala awards dinner at this year’s LATINA Style Annual Symposium taking place in Washington, DC on September 6th, 2007, at the Washington Hilton in our nation’s capital. For more information or to apply for the Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund visit http://www.latinastyle.com or call 1-800-651-8083.

Also see Anna Maria Arias: Remembering A Latina Trailblazer.

A Tool for Shopping for Better Public Schools

Given the high concentration of Latino children attending low quality public schools, it's clear that we must do a better job around in order to get a better bargain for our school tax dollars.

One terrific tool to all Americans at no cost is the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center's New District Graduation Rate Map Tool.

Produced in collaboration with the Redlands, Calif.-based ESRI, this Web-based application allows users to easily map out graduation rates by zooming in on any of the nation's individual school districts.

Users may then download a special report for the district, with detailed information on graduation rates that includes an analysis of where students are lost from the high school pipeline.

The reports also compare district results with state and national figures.

What you'll notice is that schools vary tremendously in their ability to graduate students. Oftentimes, schools with similar demographics in nearby neighborhoods or schools districts achieve dramatically different results.

So when you shop for a new home, make sure you also shop for the better schools. Even if you don't use the local public schools, the better the local schools, the better your real estate investment.

GOP Opposition Grows Against Iraq War

A GOP rebellion widened this week as more of the party's senators voiced dissent from President George W. Bush's strategy.

Republican unity on Iraq has shattered in recent weeks, amid mounting pessimism about the ability of US forces to bring stability to the country engulfed in a sectarian civil war. Weakening Republican support for the war has left GWB increasingly isolated as Democrats prepare for a new round of votes aimed at forcing a US withdrawal.

The following are the 11 GOP senators that have thus far publicly broken with the administration and are now calling for a new Iraq strategy:

- Gordon Smith of Oregon
- Olympia Snow of Maine
- Chuck Hagel of Nebraska
- Lamar Alexander of Tennessee
- Judd Greg of New Hampshire
- John Warner of Virginia
- Norman Coleman of Minnesota
- Richard Lugar of Indiana
- George Voinovich of Ohio
- Susan Collins of Maine
- Pete Domenici of New Mexico

Additionally, look for these GOP senators up for reelection in '08 to soon begin voicing concerns about the Iraq War policy, too:

- Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina
- John Sununu of New Hampshire

GOP senators with 2010 races which may begin having a change of heart on the present course in Iraq include:

- Mel Martinez of Florida
- Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
- Kit Bond of Missouri

U.S.-born Latinos may have poorer health than immigrants

U.S.-born Hispanics may have poorer health than immigrants (Reuters - 7.11.07)

WASHINGTON - Hispanics born and raised in the United States may be in poorer health than new immigrants -- with higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.

Poor eating habits, smoking and a lack of exercise are all likely to blame, the team at the University of Southern California, the University of California Los Angeles and the University of Pennsylvania said.

This may reinforce the idea that the healthiest people emigrate.

The researchers looked at surveys of more than 4,200 whites, blacks and Hispanics aged 40 or older interviewed by federal researchers from 1999 to 2002.

"Many studies report that Hispanics in the United States have better or similar health to that of non-Hispanic whites despite Hispanics having lower incomes and less education," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the American Journal of Public Health.

They found this was indeed the case -- for immigrants. But Mexicans-Americans born in the United States were less healthy than whites of the same socioeconomic background.

"One possible explanation is that people who immigrate are healthy to begin with and they may also have come here with better health habits," said Eileen Crimmins, a professor of gerontology at USC who led the study.

"The generation born here has adopted American traits such as smoking and eating at fast food restaurants that were not as accessible in more traditional parts of Mexico."

The researchers also found that immigrants born in Mexico were taller and had better childhood nutrition than those who stay in their country of origin. This may reinforce the idea that the healthiest people emigrate, they report in a study to be published in the journal Social Biology.

Latinos Dominate AL's Victorious Starting Line-up (because they have Batos in their blood)

The story that gets the widest play regarding the American League victory over the National League will be Ichiro Suzuki's improbable first ever inside the stadium homerun.

It was pure Ichiro.

However, another story which may be more important to America and America's favorite pastime is that 8 of the 9 starting players for the victorious American League are players of color, 6 of the 9 are Latinos--and 6 of 9 are immigrants.

Here are the AL Latino starters and their countries of origin:

David Ortiz - Dominican Republic
Alex Rodriguez - USA (via DR parentage)
Vladimir Guerrero - Dominican Republic
Magglio Ordonez - Venezuela
Ivan Rodriguez - Puerto Rico
Placido Polanco - Dominican Republic

Now Gary Sheffield believes that Latino players have overtaken U.S. born African American players on major league rosters because they're easily controlled by management. Of course, that's silly stuff. Major league owners are driven to win so it's imperative that they go out and find the best players regardless of race or ethnicity.

Latino players are dominating because currently there are simply more quality Latino players available to major league baseball.

But that still doesn't answer the question of why there are so many quality Latino players to begin with?

Of course, there are all sorts of guesses--and they're all just guesses, including that desperately poor Latino players have no other escape from poverty but baseball, or that Latino boys don't have access to other sports. But deep poverty exists in many lands including many Latin nations not known for producing stellar baseball talent. Additionally, the idea that only baseball is an option is untrue. Many Latin nations encourage soccer, basketball, diving, etc., and top players in those sports can become rich international stars.

It's really only a handful of Caribbean basin nations that produce the bulk of the star foreign players in the MLB. Of this year's crop of Latino MLB All Stars, all but a few U.S. born Latino players hail from just 3 countries: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela. (And there would no doubt be a number of Cuban players if more of Cuba's talented players could sign with MLB teams.)

Why those countries?

Could it be that those countries produce so many great baseball players because baseball is literally in the DNA of their cultures?

That is, we now know that baseball was not invented by Abner Doubleday near Cooperstown, NY. It's roots are older and deeper than anything that was played in the U.S. of the mid 1800s.

There's also the belief that baseball's origins are in the English cricket which hails from the maids game of stoolball. My only question is why is baseball, therefore, not more like cricket?

Intriguingly, there's undeniable evidence that an early form of baseball was played in the Caribbean by the Taíno. Incredibly, the game was called Batos (or bateball) in which a ball was hit with a bate or bat on a field called a batey.

Could it be that the idea for bateball arrived in the U.S. via the merchant traffic between the Greater Antilles and the harbors of North America?

Also See:

The Origin of Ball Games

Cuban Baseball:Before 'El Duque' Was A Yanqui...

The History of Baseball in Cuba

California's Booming Latinos: 52% by 2042

"The sky is the limit for Latino children today. They're going to have a world of opportunities handed to them as the baby boomers, who are largely white, retire. We haven't felt in the past that we needed them that much. But we're going to feel it."

So says Dowell Myers, a University of Southern California professor and author of Immigrants and Boomers, to the latest report by California's Department of Finance projecting that Latinos will become the state's majority ethnic group by 2042.

The report released Monday by predicts that 52 percent of all Californians will be Latino by 2050, when whites will make up just 26 percent of the population.

See California boomin' (Sacramento Bee - 7.10.07)

New York farmers confront feds on migrants

Farmers confront feds on migrants: Dairymen, growers learn that warrants aren't required for raids (by Diana Louise Carter, Rochester D&C - 7.10.07)

Farmers learned in Livingston County Monday that law enforcement officials can come onto their farms without a warrant in their efforts to catch illegal immigrants.

About 60 farmers and farm agency representatives met at York Town Hall to hear from federal officials about how immigration laws affect them. Many local farmers depend on foreign laborers to milk their cows, prune their vines, and perhaps most significantly, harvest their fruits and vegetables.

Livingston County Sheriff John M. York organized the meeting after recent immigration arrests in Livingston County upset local farmers.

Dale P. Stein, a Le Roy, Genesee County, dairy farmer, said he learned more about warrants from the meeting.

"We were all (thinking) they had to have a search warrant," he said of fellow farmers.

Federal immigration officials said they sometimes arrive with an arrest warrant for a specific laborer, but if they have probable cause to believe laws are being broken, they can raid a farm without a warrant.

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Musical Aims To Put Cruz's Name Back In Lights

Musical Aims To Put Cruz's Name Back In Lights (by Leila Cobo, Reuters - 7.8.07)

Latin-themed musicals are a rare commodity in the theater business.

But an upcoming production based on the life of Cuban music queen Celia Cruz has potential to reach Latin and mainstream audiences in a major way.

The biggest draw of "Celia: A Musical Journey," set to open September 12 off-Broadway at New World Stages, is the artist's name.

Cruz, who died in July 2003 at 77, was one of the most universally beloved figures in Latin music. Since her death, she has been remembered with a handful of biographies, TV specials, greatest-hits albums and her very own traveling Smithsonian exhibit.

A musical would undoubtedly draw Cruz fans, but it could also grow from there.

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Al Gore at Live Earth

'Rock star' Al Gore takes center stage at Live Earth concert (AFP -7.4.07)

Al Gore's image as a rock-star eco-warrior gets another high-voltage jolt of celebrity endorsement Saturday when the music world gathers to raise awareness for global warming at Live Earth.

But despite a growing clamour for the beaten 2000 presidential election candidate to enter next year's race for the White House, the chances of Gore running for office again remain remote, analysts say.

Breathlessly described by admirers as "the coolest ex-US vice-president ever", Gore has consistently stated he has no interest in launching a 2008 election bid, while stopping short of unequivocally ruling himself out.

"I haven't ruled it out, but I don't think it's likely to happen," Gore said in a recent interview with Time Magazine.

Yet Gore's prominent involvement in events like Live Earth -- which will see over 150 stars perform in eight concerts around the world to urge governments to set climate change targets -- will inevitably breathe new life into calls for a 2008 White House bid.

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Fed Up With War, Some Won't Pay Taxes

Fed Up With War, Some Won't Pay Taxes (by John Cristoffersen, AP -7.4.07)

NEW HAVEN, CT - When the United States invaded Iraq more than four years ago, war opponent David Gross asked his bosses for a radical pay cut, enough so he wouldn't have to pay taxes to support the war.

"I was having a hard time looking at myself in the mirror," Gross said. "I knew the bombs falling were in part paid with my tax dollars. I had to actually do something concrete to remove my complicity."

The San Francisco technical writer was making close to $100,000 a year. He didn't know exactly how big of a pay cut he would need to fall below the federal tax threshold, but later figured out he would have to make less than minimum wage.

In any event, his employer turned him down and he quit. Gross, 38, now works on a contract basis, and last year he refused to pay self-employment taxes.

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