As areas Latino population grows, courts struggle with language barrier - Alabama (I think I have now seen dozens of this sort of story from across the country)

“Padilla-Madden said the state probably has fewer than 20 lawyers who speak Spanish fluently, and certainly no more than 50. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 4.2 percent of Alabama residents — some 170,000 people — speak a language other than English at home, mostly Spanish. But many experts believe official counts vastly understate the true number of Latinos in the state.

A Spanish-language radio station recently began broadcasting in Birmingham, joining ones in other cities like Alabaster and Bessemer.”

Stumble it! | |