New Jersey

“Sandbar Café,” New Jersey’s premier two-acre indoor/outdoor entertainment & nightlife complex located on the beautiful downtown Jersey City waterfront overlooking NYC’s skyline, will host the ultimate indoor fashion extravaganza, showcasing collections from NY & NJ’s emerging fashion designers.
The event will take place on Saturday, May 3, 2008. Doors open at 6:00 pm, with a scheduled Showtime of 7:30 pm sharp. Advance tickets are $20 and $25 at door. The show ends at 10:30 pm & guests are encouraged to remain for an after party at NJ’s famous Sandbar Café.

SPRING FLING ‘08 WILL FEATURE COLLECTIONS FROM DESIGNERS: Prizy Sebastian, iLLWEAR, Glenda Cestona and Juan Vargas.

The show will also feature a full-feature body painting demonstration by “Vargas,” a world-renowned body painter whose works have been featured on Univision, Telemundo, Don Francisco and more. A belly dance show & special performance by the “ShowGirls” (www.xiosworld.com) is also in place for the evening.

The event is produced the legendary Wagner Mateo, better known as “DJ Frikkiao,” CEO of Fiesta Caliente Entertainment (www.fiestacaliente.com). Mateo, some may recall, is the same individual who emerged as winner of the reality show “Concierto Clandestino,” which aired on the Telemundo and Mun2 networks in early 2007.

The show will feature a custom “H form” runway that will showcase professional and upcoming models alike, complimented by top-notch makeup and hairstyling (courtesy of the House of Sheek Makeup) with a live DJ right in the middle.

“This event will bring together Nightlife & Fashion Seekers under one roof,” says Mateo. “It’s a great medium to showcase emerging local designers, models, hairstylists and makeup artists.”

“The events will grow in both their quality and content,” says Frikkiao. “Now on its third year, SF08 is the leading brand among Jersey fashion shows and has opened the eyes of many; a fashion revolution in NJ is in full effect. FiestaCaliente.com is proud to have paved the way with quality productions and talented designers,” he concludes.

FiestaCaliente Entertainment LLC (FiestaCaliente.com) is a NJ-based Nightlife & Special events company. Its main audience is Latinos within the 18-35 demographic. “*

Junot Diaz, whose novel about a Dominican misfit growing up in Jersey won the Pulitzer Prize Monday, heard the news on a visit to his mom’s place in Ridgefield Park.

Diaz was shocked. His immigrant mother burst into tears.

“Even she knows about the Pulitzer,” Diaz, 39, said Monday.”*

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

Thousands of people, mostly Mexican migrants, waited, some for up to 24 hours, last week to receive passports from a temporary mobile Mexican consulate set up at Middlesex Community College center on New Street.

The Consulate on Wheels, which was in the city for five days beginning last Monday, issued about 2,500 passports to Mexican citizens. They had to turn away others who did not have the correct paperwork or were not Mexican citizens.
“*

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

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the birth of one of the nation’s foremost civil rights and labor leaders, Cesar Estrada Chavez. Despite the ongoing efforts of Democrats in the Senate to pass a resolution honoring this prominent Latino civil rights leader, Senate Republicans blocked it last year and have done so again this year.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), co-chair of the Senate Hispanic Task Force, issued the following statement, illustrating the importance of Chavez’s legacy and decrying the Republican objection to the resolution. “*

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

Cozen O’Connor has announced that Rafael Perez has been named office managing partner of the firm’s Newark and Trenton N.J., offices.

“I am extremely pleased with the firm’s decision to appoint Ray as office managing partner of the Newark and Trenton offices,” said Thomas A. Decker, president and CEO of Cozen O’Connor. “He is an excellent attorney and we look forward to the continued success of these offices under his direction.”

A member of the firm’s Newark office, Perez is chair of the firm’s diversity committee and a co-head of the public and project finance group. He has been involved in a wide variety of public finance projects, acting as bond counsel, underwriter’s counsel, trustee’s counsel and borrower’s counsel, and has represented investment banks, corporations organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, for-profit corporations, cities, townships, boroughs, states and their agencies and authorities. He has also represented corporations and financial institutions in transactional and general corporate matters in the United States, Mexico and South America.

Perez is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers. He has served as regional president of the National Hispanic Bar Association from 1989-1990, president of the Hispanic Bar Association in New Jersey from 1994-1995 and as a trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association from 1996-2002. He currently serves as chair of the board of trustees of New Jersey City University in Jersey City, N.J.

A resident of Hunterdon County, N.J., Perez earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University (B.A., 1981) and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D., 1984). He is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.

Founded in 1970, Cozen O’Connor is ranked among the 100 largest law firms in the United States, serving business, insurance and private clients. Cozen O’Connor is a full-service firm with 500 attorneys practicing in 23 offices. The firm has 21 domestic offices located across the United States and international offices in London and Toronto.

Contact: For more information contact Anne Lotz at 215-665-4661 or e-mail at alotz@cozen.com, or Danielle Gibson at 215-793-4666 or e-mail

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

Last November, 14 new female lawmakers were elected—among them Teresa Ruiz, the first Latina to win a seat in New Jersey’s Senate. There are now 34 women in the state’s legislature—roughly 28 percent of its 120 members. Forty-one percent of all women serving in the legislature are women of color.

While the change in New Jersey’s rank represents significant growth, women are not settling. There are still inroads to be made. In a state where Latinos are more than 15 percent of the population, there are only a handful of Hispanics in the legislature.”*

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

A millionaire businessman and former chief operating officer of
Goya Foods Inc., Andrew Unanue, has entered the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.

In a letter sent to Republican Party state chairman Tom Wilson on Easter Sunday, Unanue, 40, of Alpine, confirmed he would enter the race to challenge U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

“Senator Frank Lautenberg has been in Washington a very long time. He supports higher taxes at a time when New Jersey’s citizens already face the highest tax burden in the nation, and he votes for higher spending at a time when we face a record federal deficit and a perilous economic climate. New Jersey deserves a change, and they will not get change from Frank Lautenberg,” Unanue wrote.”*

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

State Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney, Assembly Deputy Speaker John J. Burzichelli and Assembly Deputy Majority Whip Douglas H. Fisher announced Wednesday that the Puerto Rican Action Committee of Southern New Jersey here will receive a Hispanic Child Highway Traffic Safety grant in the amount of $30,000.”*

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

Despite a letter with the Dover mayor’s signature on it accepting an offer to translate parts of the town’s website into Spanish, Mayor James Dodd now says he is still opposed to the idea.

In a statement, Dodd said Tuesday night that he is “refusing to create a bilingual town website,” and that the letter sent to the Rev. Daniel Martinez, who had offered translation service for free, does not express his true sentiments.”*

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

The mayor of Dover has had a change of heart about providing information on the town’s website in Spanish, agreeing to allow a church leader to provide translations.

Mayor James Dodd had originally said that since Dover’s Latino residents live in the United States, they should be required to learn English. Although at least 60 percent of its residents are Latino, Dodd said it’s not up to the town to provide Spanish translations.”*

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

For some, translating a town website into Spanish is a matter of convenience. For others, it’s an issue of warring cultures.

The Morris County town of Dover is one of several in New Jersey with large Hispanic populations whose websites are mostly, if not entirely, in English. Now, some residents are asking the town to translate some regulations into Spanish.”*

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

State Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney has called for a law punishing business owners who knowingly hire and employ illegal immigrants.

Sweeney’s proposal would suspend for 10 days the license of a business owner caught employing illegal immigrants. A second infraction would result in a permanent suspension, Sweeney said Monday.”*

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

A New Jersey Senate leader said he will push legislation to punish businesses who knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney said his decision comes after a federal judge upheld an Arizona law that prohibits businesses from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and yanks the business licenses of those that do.

“Companies that knowingly hire illegals are destroying job opportunities for the working men and women of New Jersey,” said Sweeney, D-Gloucester. “The practice has to be stopped.”"*

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

At-Large Newark City Councilman Luis Quintana this week told PolitickerNJ.com that he intends to go to Texas to campaign for presidential candidate Barack Obama in the lead-up to that state’s Democratic Party primary on March 4th.

“I love this candidate, Barack Obama,” said Quintana, who admitted his own local efforts to stare down the machine makes it easy for him to identify with the first-term Illinois senator’s attempt to buck the system.”*

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

As the U.S. economy enters a period of slower growth and the risk of recession rises, the state’s business owners must prepare for the resulting impact on the bottom line. The natural tendency is to spend less, especially on marketing, when sales begin to decline. Spending less on marketing efforts, precisely when obtaining new customers becomes tougher, only exacerbates a worsening situation. Instead, take the opportunity to invest in reaching a new market that may have been previously overlooked: Hispanics in New Jersey.

Hispanics in our state control more than $33 billion in purchasing power, an increase of 265 percent since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth. Despite the size of the market, only a small percentage of businesses have an established budget for Hispanic marketing efforts. While many Hispanics respond to general market advertising, more than half—including those who are bilingual—will respond more positively to marketing materials in Spanish or culturally attuned to them. Consider the following guidelines when marketing to Hispanics:”*

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

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez doesn’t seem to be gunning for vice president. But he won’t completely rule out the prospect either.

“I am just focused on two things: standing up for the families of New Jersey in the Senate, just as we’re doing with the stimulus package where we got higher rates for the rebates, and secondly making sure Hillary has a big win on Super Tuesday and beyond and becomes the candidate of the party,” he said. “Everything else beyond that is so speculative. I appreciate the flattering comments.””*

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

There are no plans to get Hillary Clinton back in New Jersey for Super Tuesday, but her campaign made the best of their New Jersey resources to start their final push towards the primary.

With the Barack Obama campaign gaining momentum in the state, Clinton’s New Jersey all stars began their statewide bus tour this morning at the Brownstone Diner and Pancake Factor in downtown Jersey City - deep in the territory of Mayor Jerramiah Healy, one of Obama’s chief backers. “*

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

Along French Street, a heavily Hispanic enclave near Rutgers University, the mention of Barack Obama’s name brings blank stares from most people. But Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name evokes broad smiles and unwavering enthusiasm from most Spanish-speaking residents of this central New Jersey city.

“I think she’ll win and she’ll give Hispanics a lot of help,” said Jose Manuel, who was washing the windows of a jewelry store.

Trinidad Galvez, who works in a shop that sells first-communion dresses and other gifts, said the New York senator would defend the rights of immigrants and Hispanics.”*

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

After examining the plight of young women and Latinos in New Jersey, Dr. Gloria Bonilla-Santiago wanted to design a summer internship program that would encourage more minorities and female students to attend graduate school.

“I saw a decline in the number of minority students, particularly Latino students, who were going to graduate school. My work has really been about social justice and really building leadership and capacity building for minority communities in the area of leadership development,” says Bonilla-Santiago, the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of Urban Studies at Rutgers University’s Camden campus. “The vision was to really create a pipeline program for Latino leaders. A lot of our Latino young leaders were not really entering into positions of influence.””*

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

Chalk up another prominent New Jersey politician who thinks Bob Menendez would be a fine vice-presidential pick in the extremely improbable event that Hillary Clinton chooses him as a running mate.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg.”*

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

Discrimination needs to be eliminated within the Latino community before it can be eliminated outside of the community, Moses Santizo, chairman of the Latin Reform Youth Council said Saturday night.

“We have to put a check on the way we look at Latinos, the way we look at ourselves,” he said. “Before blaming other people we need to look at what our vision is.”"*

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

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) attended a Presidential campaign rally in North Bergen Wednesday night, in a Schuetzen Park ballroom that was packed primarily with Hispanic people, trying to maintain her popularity with the ever-growing Latino voting group.

More than 2,000 people jammed into Schuetzen Park to hear Clinton speak, some after having to wait more than an hour outside to get through the security metal detectors at the front door - then wait about 90 minutes after the scheduled 7 p.m. start time to see the former First Lady make her Presidential campaign promises. “*

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

In the windswept parking lot of a supermarket here on Saturday afternoon, most people seemed more eager to head for the grocery aisles or head back to their cars than to talk about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Still, for every person who walked right past the dozen or so campaign volunteers stationed outside the Pathmark on Park Avenue, someone else would stop to grab a Spanish-language leaflet promoting the candidacy of Mr. Obama, the senator from Illinois.”*

*From: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Hillary Clinton was stumping for votes in New Jersey on Wednesday night, courting a largely Hispanic audience.

But the verbal sparring with rival Barack Obama rages on.

While feuding went on, on the campaign trail Sen. Clinton focused on immigration before a crowd of Latino voters in North Bergen. “*

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

City Councilman-at-large Ruben Ramos Jr. - who also was recently sworn in as the 33rd District Assemblyman - has been named to the Assembly’s Appropriations Committee. He also will serve on the Education Committee.

Serving on the two powerful committees is a nice double-whammy for Hoboken, though it sure doesn’t make up for losing state Sen. Bernard Kenny, who retired from office rather than face a challenge for his seat from Union City Mayor Brian Stack.”*

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