Connecticut

The Common Council did not vote Thursday on a controversial proposal to enroll some city police officers in a federal program run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Instead, Democratic Common Council member Paul Rotello made a motion to send the issue to an ad hoc committee for further review.

“It’s apparent we need a full and frank exchange of information,” Rotello said.”*

*From: http://www.newstimes.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The Greater Bridgeport Area Foundation has awarded $10,000 to CancerCare of Connecticut to support an Hispanic Outreach Program in the Bridgeport area. At the same time, CancerCare has initiated a Spanish-language support group at Bridgeport Hospital, one of the only ones of its kind in Connecticut.
“*

*From: http://www.norwalkplus.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Five Spanish-speaking Hispanic immigrants are questioning the legality of a “common language policy” at GC Industries.

The five men, legally here from Guatemala and Mexico, believe the policy is a violation of their civil rights and have filed a thirteen count lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Haven. “*

In the late 1970s, John Phillip Santos, a young, award-winning poet, wrote a letter to Laura Riding Jackson, whose poetry he admired. Riding Jackson had renounced poetry after a successful career in the early to mid-20th century because she believed it was not an effective way to reveal truth. In a series of letters, she encouraged Santos to do the same.

“Laura Riding Jackson was a major influence on that part of my life, and it complicated my relationship to poetry,” Santos said in a telephone interview. “It became more of a private thing. I stopped publishing poetry in the early ’80s.”"*

After a sheet metal plant in Connecticut ordered its employees to speak only English on the job because of safety concerns, five Spanish-speaking workers decided to take the company to court.

The employees, who are legal immigrants, say the rule amounts to discrimination and actually makes the workplace more hazardous.

“I can think of no good reason for them to institute this policy,” said Steven Jacobs, the lawyer for the workers who are suing GC Industries in Deep River, Conn. “It’s offensive to people who speak Spanish and is potentially dangerous. It inhibits them from communicating in their native tongue in situations that could put people at risk.”"*

The fundamental problem preventing Hispanic parents from getting more involved in their child’s education at New Lebanon School, educators and parents say, is this: “No hablo ingles.”

The language problem is being broken down, however, in a new, monthly program offered by the nonprofit agency Family Centers in which Spanish-speaking parents can voice their concerns and receive parenting advice in Spanish from Marcia Velez, a bilingual Latino outreach coordinator”*

But how much does it really cost Danbury Hospital to care for illegal aliens? Opponents of illegal immigration have not been able to cite actual figures until now. Team 8 has obtained a financial statement from Danbury Hospital and it shows that in the first two quarters of last year, they treated a total of 321 aliens at a cost of almost $4-million.

Only three of those patients were covered by insurance and only one paid their $7,722 bill in full. State aid, meaning taxpayers, paid over 71-percent of the tab, or about $2.5 million.”*

Immigration could become a pivotal issue in a Connecticut congressional race in the wake of a Republican challenger’s effective use of the issue in an unexpectedly close special election last month in Massachusetts.

Connecticut state Sen. David Cappiello (R) said he plans on highlighting illegal immigration as a major theme in his campaign against freshman Rep. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.), suggesting the issue has potency even in suburban districts far from the U.S.-Mexico border.
“*

Eliana Rojas believes students learn mathematics better when taught in their native language, and she has federal backing to put her theory into practice.

The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded Rojas a $1.5 million grant “to prepare teachers of English language learners to accelerate their students’ academic achievement.”

The grant focuses on the preparation and professional development of bilingual and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) math teachers, in order to provide appropriate and effective instruction to adolescents who are learning the English language.

“We will be focusing on math literacy in the Hartford and Willimantic schools, in grades six to 10, the school years when, besides coping with physiological changes, Latino adolescents are coping with issues of immigration, assimilating to a new culture, and learning a new language,” says Rojas, a former Hartford math teacher now an assistant professor-in-residence in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Neag School of Education.”*

Spanish-language radio has returned to the airwaves of New Haven after a seven-year absence, thanks to this crusader for community control of the airwaves.

Hipolito Cuevas (pictured above) is the operations manager of a new low-power radio station called Super Max WEPA Radio. It’s at 1700 on the AM dial. Unlike his immediately previous effort to bring news, public affairs and music programming to New Haven’s Latino community, this one is legal. He held a public event Monday celebrating the station’s launch at its 129 Church St. studio.”*

“Willimantic business owners say the town’s growing Hispanic population is leading them to make changes.

The Windham Regional Community Council announced Wednesday that it has established a partnership with the Spanish American Merchants Association (SAMA).

SAMA is credited with helping to revitalize the bilingual business industry in both New Haven and Hartford.”*

“Sgt. Robert Muller (at right in photo) was in the hot seat as police brass met with black and Latino members of the Board of Aldermen for a policing update, which included remarks by Chief Francisco Ortiz that a “new drug” is behind the latest wave of city shootings.

The meeting, with the board’s Black and Hispanic Caucus, took place Tuesday evening at City Hall.”*

“It’s an Hispanic community starving for its own Spanish radio station. Now it has one.

At 41 years of age Hipolito Cuevas is the pioneer behind Super Max WEPA, a community based all-Spanish radio station.

“The first they ask me is it legal,” said Cuevas.

Cuevas is famous in the Hispanic community for fighting the Federal Communications Commission nearly a decade ago.”*

“Benthall is working with day laborer advocates Victor Trejo and Juan Paniagua of the Stamford Partnership’s Latino initiative, to teach Hispanic immigrant workers basic English that they can use on the job and elsewhere.

“I like English, and I want to learn,” said German Flores, a 46-year-old day laborer from El Salvador who was attending his second English class.

“It’s important,” he said through a translator. “I will be able to find work more easily.”"

Here is report PDF from the Connecticut State Data Center

“Illegal immigration is channeling political clout to California and other border states from the Northeast and Midwest, according to a new report that predicts that California’s undocumented population will account for two of its 53 seats in Congress following the 2010 census.

Congressional seats have been migrating south and west for decades, as a result of the Sunbelt’s rapid population growth. But the new report by a University of Connecticut demographer is an early take on how the nation’s growing population of illegal immigrants would amplify that trend when seats in the House of Representatives are next divided up. It could foreshadow a partisan political fight over the results of the 2010 census.

While illegal immigrants can’t vote, the report says their growing numbers are affecting the nation’s political balance because they are counted in the once-a-decade census. That population tally determines how seats in the House of Representatives are split among the states and is also used to distribute more than $180 billion in federal aid each year.”

“A federal civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses Danbury of violating the constitutional rights of laborers last year during a sting targeting illegal immigrants.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 10 men arrested a year ago. It accuses Danbury officials of making illegal immigration arrests and discriminatory law enforcement. The lawsuit contends Danbury has tried to enforce immigration laws without the necessary federal authority. “

“The new head of the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury made her public debut Friday night at a gala in the Ethen Allen Hotel designed to raise funds for the nonprofit agency.

Eva Colon, a Bridgeport resident with a resume of longtime community service in the state, was named earlier this week as the center’s new executive director.

“I’m really excited about being able to start a new chapter in the history of the center,” Colon said.”

“In its second year, the One Coast, One Future program is kicking off its eighth initiative.

The program, funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, brings together regional business groups and municipalities to promote economic growth.

The Business Council of Fairfield County and the Bridgeport Regional Business Council are each managing four initiatives, which range from creating wireless hot spots to improving and expanding higher educational services.”

“The student-run newspaper at Central Connecticut State University is under fire for publishing a cartoon this week that critics call racist and sexist.

The three-frame comic, titled “Polydongs,” features two characters who mention locking a “14-year-old Latino girl” in a closet and urinating on her. It was published in Wednesday’s edition of The Recorder, a weekly newspaper distributed free on campus.

“We are outraged about this cartoon, which only dehumanizes women and especially Latino women,” said Francisco Donis, a psychology professor and president of the university’s Latin American Association.”

Here is another good blogger talking about this story: rachelstavern.com

“State officials are planning a Latino voting summit in an effort to increase turnout among the state’s Hispanic residents.

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission Executive Director Fernando Betancourt said they will host the summit Sept. 22 at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. “

“Race and ethnicity have long been a given in the city’s political scene, and they are widely expected to play a prominent role in the November election. Their impact this time could pose problems for Perez, who will face both a Latino opponent, state Rep. Minnie Gonzalez, and possibly a stronger challenge from Mathews, who garnered 29 percent of Tuesday’s vote.

Mathews, political observers said, could benefit if Barrows and fellow primary challenger Art Feltman opt to withdraw from the race. Both candidates are still weighing their options; their continued presence on the ballot would probably dilute what in Hartford’s political circles is called the “A.B.E. vote” - “Anyone But Eddie” - hurting Mathews’ chances.”

“THOSE acquainted with upscale Mexican cooking are in for a treat at Avenida. This stylish new spot, in the quarters of the former Bleu in Greenwich, features a sophisticated level of Mexican cuisine not to be found elsewhere in Connecticut and rare anywhere in the country (outside of Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill and its clones in Chicago).

Avenida is no taco-enchilada-chimichanga parlor (nor are its prices!). Rather, it provides examples of the more elegant side of Mexican cooking.”

“The Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute at UConn will host an interdisciplinary conference to discuss the intersections of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, class, and sexuality on Oct. 11 and 12.

The conference, “Rethinking the Latin@ Intellectual Ecology” will take place in the Dodd Center and Rome Ballroom.”

“Judge John R. Downey’s nomination to the Appellate Court ran aground Tuesday over his comments about illegal immigrants — and a suspicion by some legislators that he was untruthful in explaining those remarks to them.

It is unclear if Gov. M. Jodi Rell will try to keep the nomination afloat or if key players in her own party will help. The two ranking Republicans on the judiciary committee, Sen. John Kissel and Rep. Arthur ONeill, say Downey has more explaining to do.”

“As a TV in the corner of Hartford’s Piolin restaurant showed CNN en Españols images of Peruvian earthquake destruction, the Velasquez family talked of the relief of learning that their matriarch had survived unhurt.

“My grandmother is in her 90s, and she slept under blankets in the cold last night,” Marina Velasquez said over dinner Thursday at the Peruvian restaurant near Trinity College. “She lives a little south of Lima, and the phone lines were down. We couldnt get through until this morning, so we didnt sleep much. But at least shes OK.”"