News (Noticias) Tagged ‘MECha’

Ry Cooder has been exhuming and reappraising overlooked areas of the musical culture of America (and beyond, as the Buena Vista Social Club can vouch) for so long now that he has become part of the story himself. More than four decades since he emerged as an electric blues guitarist so highly rated that he turned down an offer to join the Rolling Stones, Cooder continues to ferret out unfamiliar and neglected stories.

I, Flathead is the third part of a loose Southern California trilogy that kicked off with the acclaimed Chavez Ravine in 2005, an elegy for a destroyed Latino community in the heart of Los Angeles. Its follow-up, My Name is Buddy, told the history of US labour as seen by a folk-singing cat (how else?). I, Flathead, though, is an unashamed tribute to Californian strange. A set of linked songs supposedly performed by one Kash Buk, a jobbing musician and salt flats racer (a “flathead” is an early V-8 engine), it explicitly evokes an era of “popular mechanics” magazines, sci-fi comics and demobbed servicemen in search of a thrill, the time and place that threw up the Church of Scientology, the Hell’s Angels and Disneyland. The modern world, in fact. “*

The Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF), the nation’s largest organization in support of Latino higher education, has selected Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of AT&T Mobility, as an honorary inductee into its 2008 Alumni Hall of Fame. De la Vega will receive the Triunfador Award at the HSF Alumni Hall of Fame gala on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008, at the Pierre Hotel in New York City.

Each year, HSF selects five accomplished Latinos to induct into its prestigious Alumni Hall of Fame. Four of the exceptional individuals are HSF alumni, who each received HSF scholarships to support their higher education aspirations. A fifth individual, while not a former HSF Scholar, is presented with the honorary Triunfador Award for realizing the ultimate professional achievement and “raising the bar.”

“We are proud to honor Mr. de la Vega because he personifies the mission and values of HSF,” said Frank D. Alvarez, HSF President & CEO. “He is an inspiration to aspiring Latinos everywhere. His success story is testimony to the impact of higher education and the tremendous difference it makes in a life.”

Alvarez said de la Vega serves as a positive role model for Latino students, which is a trademark of previous HSF Alumni Hall of Fame honorees. “Annually, the inspiring stories of HSF’s inductees put a face on and demonstrate the power of higher education,” he said.

A native of Cuba, de la Vega came to the United States alone at the age of 10, while his parents were forced to stay behind because of complications with their immigration documentation. Leaving behind everything but his suitcase and the clothes on his back, de la Vega lived with family friends in Miami for four years before reuniting with his parents and sister.

In spite of these challenges, de la Vega’s family instilled in him an appreciation for education, and he went on to earn a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Florida Atlantic University and an MBA from Northern Illinois University. In addition to his degrees, de la Vega completed the Executive Program at the University of Virginia.

De la Vega’s commitment to community service is reflected by his active participation in many youth-oriented organizations. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Board for Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide and sits on the Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors. He also serves as Chairman of the JA Hispanic Initiative, a program that encourages Hispanic students to remain in school and prepare for success in the business world.

“I am honored to be a part of HSF and the valuable work it does in developing the next generation of Latino leaders,” de la Vega said. “I have always believed in helping young people recognize their own potential and become all they can be. And HSF is among the most successful organizations in our country at doing this.”

De la Vega has had a distinguished career in telecommunications. In 1974, he started with BellSouth (then Southern Bell) as a Management Assistant. He worked his way up to directing all of BellSouth’s Telecommunications Network Operations for Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. He has also worked internationally, serving as President — BellSouth Latin America, with overall responsibility for BellSouth’s Central and South American operations in 11 countries.

In 2004, de la Vega joined Cingular Wireless as Chief Operating Officer and successfully guided the company through a landmark merger with AT&T Wireless to create the nation’s largest wireless phone company.

In late 2007, shortly after the new AT&T acquired BellSouth and took full ownership of Cingular, de la Vega was appointed President and CEO of AT&T Mobility, ensuring the successful rebranding of the company and the launch of the revolutionary iPhone, as well as a continuum of other innovative devices and services.

De la Vega is the first honoree to be selected for the 2008 recognition. The four alumni recipients will be announced in July.”*

More than a hundred demonstrators marched more than three miles from Valley High School to the UNLV Alumni Amphitheater May 23, in support of the DREAM Act – proposed legislation to grant undocumented students a path to citizenship through higher education or military service.

The demonstration, organized by UNLV’s MEChA chapter – a national Chicano student organization, along with the United Coalition for Immigrant Rights, included community supporters, UNLV students and high schoolers around the city.”*

The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), a leading U.S. music rights licensing organization, has added a Spanish language section to its website, www.harryfox.com/espanol. HFA en Espanol has answers to frequently asked questions regarding HFA and music licensing, along with a direct email, esp@harryfox.com, which goes directly to the company’s Latin Licensing agents.

“HFA is aware of the significant demand for Spanish language recordings in the U.S., and we have a dedicated team of licensing agents for the Latin market who are fluent in Spanish and are ready to assist labels and publishers with their mechanical licensing needs,” said Gary Churgin, President & CEO, HFA. “We will continue to develop our specific Spanish language service as needed to best serve this market.”

According to RIAA reports, almost 7% of CDs shipped in the U.S. in 2007 were in the Latin music genre, defined as having 51% of material in Spanish. Mechanical licenses are required under U.S. Copyright Law if one wants to duplicate and distribute a recording of a song that is owned by someone else. U.S. mechanical licenses are also required for recordings made abroad and imported into the country. Through proper licensing, the publisher, and ultimately, the songwriter, are compensated for the use of their work.

About HFA
Established in 1927 by the National Music Publishers’ Association, HFA represents over 35,000 music publishers for their licensing needs in the United States, issuing licenses and collecting and distributing the associated royalties. In addition to being the premier mechanical licensing agent in the U.S., which includes CDs, ringtones, digital downloads, interactive streams, limited downloads and more, HFA is dedicated to finding new ways for its affiliates publishers to recognize value for their catalogs, including lyrics and tablature. Further, HFA provides collection and monitoring services to its publisher clients for music distributed and sold in over 95 territories around the world. For more information about HFA, or to become an affiliate publisher or a licensee, see www.harryfox.com. “*

Cal State’s Latino students are scheduled to celebrate academic success June 8 at the university’s annual Chicano Commencement at the campus’ Doré Theatre. The event was organized by the campus chapter of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán, or MEChA.

MEChA’s mission is to help Hispanics succeed in higher education despite the silly attempts of the state of Arizona to brand the organization separatist and ban it from college and high school campuses. The group was born in the late 1960s, so if it really advocates violent revolt — as some of its hyperventilating critics suggest — it’s been biding its time for quite a while.

The Chicano Commencement is bilingual, has been held for more than 25 years, and 30 to 50 students typically participate, according to Professor Thomas Martinez, chairman of the university’s department of public policy and administration.”*

“This is going to be a different type of occupation,” say the people of Tierra y Libertad (Land and Freedom), a land occupation on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The name of their group gives an idea of what they intend. The occupation began on March 29th this year when 40 families entered a small parcel of land in La Matanza and began setting up a community. Since then the occupation has grown to over 135 families and has continued to organize and resist eviction in the face of intimidation and violence.

Land occupations are not unusual in the poorest suburbs surrounding Buenos Aires (the neighbouring land was occupied 3 years ago), but what sets this apart is the vision for another kind of community. All decisions are taken by popular assembly and political parties and the associated mechanisms of party politics have been consciously excluded. In place of this is a plan that includes two community centres, one for meetings and activities and another one for two common brick and bread ovens.”*

My co-paddler and I were in one of eight kayaks moving through a narrow mangrove lagoon outside the fishing village of La Parguera in southern Puerto Rico. Our destination was the famous bioluminescent bay, a natural phenomenon created by tiny organisms that glow as a protective mechanism - the better for predators to see other game.

It was so dark on this evening, we kayakers could hardly see our hands holding the oars. A scuffling in the dense bushes startled us. We heard a snort (a wild pig?) and brushed up against something hanging from a tree (a python?). A fish jumped in the water (a piranha?). And then a big crash as we butted up against a fellow kayaker - who was not amused as we laughed uncontrollably from relief, fear and from exhaustion. “*

Under conventional economic logic, Mr. León is uncompetitive. His yields are just a fraction of what mechanized agriculture churns out from the vast expanses of the Great Plains.

But to him, that is beside the point.

The Mixteca highlands here in the state of Oaxaca are burdened with some of the most barren earth in Mexico, the work of more than five centuries of erosion that began even before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, their goats and their cattle. The scuffed hillsides look as though some ancient giant had hacked at them, opening gashes in the white and yellow rock.

Over the past two decades, Mr. León and other farmers have worked to reforest and reclaim this parched land, hoping to find a way for people to stay and work their farms instead of leaving for jobs in cities and in the United States.”*

A group of student activists plan to protest outside a local restaurant Thursday to draw attention to the treatment of tomato pickers, then march on the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to denounce recent federal immigration enforcement actions in the county.

Two- to three-dozen members of the UC Riverside chapter of MEChA plan to gather around 5 p.m. outside a Burger King at 2167 University Ave., where they will call for a boycott of the restaurant chain and Chipotle Mexican Grill over the wages paid to tomato pickers, said UCR MEChA spokesman Omar Aguiar.”*

Cal State San Marcos held guest speaker Fernando Suarez del Solar who was invited by the National Latino Research Center, MEChA, and the Women’s Studies Club. The issue was the local impact of war on Latino youth. Various students crowded Academic Hall to listen to Fernando speak about his experiences with the armed forces, how recruitment affects Latino’s throughout the San Diego area and the tragic loss of his son as a Marine.

The movement that Fernando started is known as the Guerrero Azteca Peace Project (Aztec Warrior), it is comprised of ten members and Fernando does not look to recruit members but rather distribute the message that brings awareness to how the Army and other branches recruit the Hispanic and African American communities in a substantial amount as opposed to schools which are primarily white. Fernando has been traveling for the past five years, preaching peace and spreading the message to young students who belong to minority groups. His message is simple: recruiters are deliberately going to low income high schools trying to recruit kids which may not be thinking of attending college while making false promises.”*

Cries echoed throughout C Street today as local activists and students involved with MEChA joined together to rally for better working conditions for Blue Diamond Growers employees.

The rally was part of the second day of events held in conjunction with the 15th annual national MEChA conference, hosted by the Sacramento State chapter of MEChA this year. “*

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

He could have been one heck of an auto mechanic. But the prevailing forces of the civil-rights movement, a raging war overseas and a leap of faith in education rewrote the destiny of Armando Vazquez-Ramos.

Beginning in March and extending throughout the year, countless events will celebrate the 40th anniversary of what Vazquez-Ramos and many others of his generation hail as the birth of the Chicano Movement. They connect it with the March 1968 walkouts involving hundreds of East Los Angeles high-school students.

Led by a passionate young teacher named Sal Castro, Mexican-American kids defied their instructors and, in many instances, their parents to protest institutional racism and inequitable education conditions on their campuses. Their actions lighted a fire that engulfed young brown teens throughout the whole Southwest.”*

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

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) announced today that it has named Eduardo Castro-Wright, 53, president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, USA, and Lulu C. Wang, 63, chief executive officer of Tupelo Capital Management, to its board of directors effective March 3, 2008. With the addition of Castro-Wright and Wang, MetLife’s board will have 16 members.

“I am delighted that Eduardo and Lulu will be joining MetLife’s board,” said C. Robert Henrikson, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of MetLife, Inc. “Eduardo’s extensive experience resulting from his leadership roles at several well known brands in the U.S., as well as in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions, will undoubtedly benefit MetLife as we continue to grow our businesses outside of the U.S. Similarly, Lulu’s broad knowledge of financial services and capital management, as well as her involvement in a number of international business ventures, will make her a great addition to the board.”

Castro-Wright joined Wal-Mart in 2001 and worked in Mexico through 2005, first as president and later as chief executive officer of Wal-Mart de Mexico. He then joined Wal-Mart in the U.S. as chief operating officer of the Wal-Mart Stores division in early 2005 and was promoted to his current role later that year.

Previously, Castro-Wright served in two leadership roles at Honeywell International, Inc. Most recently, he was the president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Transportation & Power Systems. Prior to that, he was president and chief executive officer of Honeywell Asia/Pacific. Castro-Wright also held several leadership positions at Nabsico, including president of Nabsico Asia/Pacific, as well as president and chief executive officer of the company’s business in Venezuela, and then in Mexico. Castro-Wright is a member of the board of directors for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and Students in Free Enterprise. He received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University.

Wang founded New York-based investment management firm Tupelo Capital Management in 1997 and has been engaged in professional money management since 1972. Prior to founding Tupelo, Wang had been a director and executive vice president of Jennison Associates Capital Corporation. In this role, she managed assets for pension, endowment and mutual funds. Before joining Jennison in 1988, Wang oversaw equities management at Equitable Capital Management as senior vice president and managing director.

Wang serves on the boards of the Asia Society, Columbia Business School, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rockefeller University, WNYC Public Radio and the Committee of 100. Wang also serves as a trustee emerita of Wellesley College and as a consulting director of the New York Community Trust. Wang received her bachelor of arts degree from Wellesley College and a masters in business administration from Columbia Business School. She is a chartered financial analyst.

MetLife, Inc. is a leading provider of insurance and financial services with operations throughout the United States and the Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Through its domestic and international subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife, Inc. reaches more than 70 million customers around the world and MetLife is the largest life insurer in the United States (based on life insurance in-force). The MetLife companies offer life insurance, annuities, auto and home insurance, retail banking and other financial services to individuals, as well as group insurance, reinsurance and retirement & savings products and services to corporations and other institutions. For more information, please visit www.metlife.com.”*

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

If you doubt that the derelict shantytowns of Tijuana could work as a template for redevelopment in a quaint, upscale town in the Hudson River Valley, you’re probably underestimating Teddy Cruz.

Mr. Cruz, an architect and professor at the University of California, San Diego, has spent the better part of a decade strolling through Mexico’s bustling border towns in search of inspiration. Where others saw poverty and decay, he saw the seeds of a vibrant social and architectural model, one that could be harnessed to invigorate numbingly uniform suburban communities just across the border.

“Developers in Tijuana would build entire neighborhoods of generic 400-square-foot houses — miniature versions of suburban America,” Mr. Cruz said in an interview. “What I noticed is how quickly these developments were retrofitted by the tenants.” Informal businesses like mechanics’ shops and taco stands would quickly sprout up on the front lawns and between the houses, transforming them into highly layered spaces.”*

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

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that the gene ENPP1 is linked to preterm birth and low birth weight among Hispanic women.

Errol Norwitz, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale, will present preliminary results from this research at the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine Annual Meeting on February 2 in Dallas, Texas.

One out of eight babies in the United States is born prematurely—delivery prior to 37 weeks gestation. These babies don’t fare as well as their full-term counterparts, especially if they are born prior to 28 weeks gestation. In many cases, it is still unclear why preterm births occur, but Norwitz said that both the genetic make-up of the mother and the genetic make-up of the baby play a role.

Norwitz and his collaborators sought to understand the mechanisms responsible for the onset of labor at term and how these mechanisms are either overwhelmed or short-circuited, leading to preterm birth. Some women, especially African-American women, are genetically pre-disposed to preterm births, even after taking into account socioeconomic status, demographics, underlying medical conditions and multiple pregnancies. Norwitz said that multiple genes or a single particular genetic variant—single nucleotide polymorphism—may be involved.

In his study, Norwitz and colleagues tried to tease out some of the genetic factors that are important for preterm birth. They isolated DNA in blood samples from a largely Hispanic population of mothers with a history of preterm birth and compared them to the DNA of women who had only had full-term pregnancies. They then screened the DNA for 128 different genetic variations in 77 candidate genes. While these genetic variants have been known to cause clinical disorders, no one had ever investigated them in the context of preterm birth before.

Four polymorphisms were associated with premature birth, but—to the team’s surprise—a variant of the ENPP1 gene was the one most closely linked. ENPP1 has been associated with insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and a risk of developing type-2 diabetes. In certain people, it is associated with hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure. In the context of prematurity, say the researchers, it is possible that the variant form of ENPP1 is associated with deranged energy metabolism.

“In our original study, 85 percent of the population was Hispanic,” said Norwitz. “It appears that there are genetic variations unique to each ethnic population. We are now in the process of validating our findings in African-American, Caucasian and Native-American populations.”

Other authors on the study included Victoria Snegovskikh, Charles Lockwood, Edward Kuczynski, Louis Muglia, Daniel Robert Tilden, Beth Ann Kozel, Edmund Funai, Mert Ozan Bahtiyar, Guoyang Luo, Stephen Thung and Thomas Morgan.

A discussion on this topic is available on Yale University iTunes U, “Health and Medicine” section.”*

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

Responding to a near doubling of cotton sock imports from Honduras in 2007, the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has notified Honduras it is planning to invoke a safeguard mechanism that could result in new tariffs for the remainder of this year. The US Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USAITA) immediately attacked the action, saying it is a “serious mistake” that undermines all of the US free trade agreements (FTAs). “*

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

The president of the MEChA club at Palomar College has been deported to Mexico, immigration officials said yesterday.

Paola Oropeza, 22, was arrested Jan. 8 by a fugitive operations team with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the department in San Diego.

Oropeza had been ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge, but she failed to comply with that order, Mack said. At the time of her arrest, Oropeza was in the country illegally and was taken to Tijuana, Mack said”*

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

Auto Mujeres al Volante, the number one automotive authority for US Hispanic women, has selected the 2008 Chevy Malibu “Car of the Year for Woman”.

The top ten FAMA Autos are: Chevy Malibu, Lexus LS 600, Jeep Liberty, Toyota Tundra Sport, Honda Accord, Mercedes Benz SLK 350, Chevrolet Corvette, Mazda MX 5, Cadillac CTS, BMW 3 – Series. A special Humanitarian Award will be presented to OnStar for saving lives.

“The FAMA Autos awards are becoming a staple in the automotive industry and we are pleased to award the 2008 Chevy Malibu for stepping up to the plate with this impressive vehicle,” said Ileana Muñiz, editor-in-chief of FAMA Autos. “Our audience depends on us to honor the new models that best demonstrate overall superiority, significance and value, and the 2008 Chevy Malibu stood out in each of those categories for its outstanding engineering, impressive capability, price and safety, the number one concern of all woman especially mothers.”

When selecting the award FAMA-Autos considered what today’s US Hispanic women are looking for in a car. The number one requirement is safety, followed by looks, interior room, and of course the mechanics of the automobile.

The award, to be presented during the 2008 Detroit International Auto Show, The Malibu, made by GM won from a field of 5 significant vehicles such as the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Honda Accord, Hyundai Azera. The Award is chosen by the editors of FAMA Magazine and the readers of www.fama.us, this year 12,600 votes have been casted.

The Malibu, with a base price of $19,995, is a sign of GM’s transformation to building world-class automobiles.

Last year’s winner was the Saturn Aura. “*

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

Estranged Cuban couples sometimes remain under the same roof for years or even lifetimes, learning that while divorce on the island is easy, housing is not. The phenomenon is a testament not only to the communist-run island’s severe housing shortage, but also to Cubans’ ability to stay friendly — or at least civil — under the most awkward of circumstances.

“In a developed country, you get divorced and someone goes to a hotel and then to a new house,” said Llera, a 60-year-old mechanic. “Here we had to keep living like a couple.”"*

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

Early in his life, nobody singled out composer-musician Marcos Loya for greatness. Some of his teachers at Bell Gardens High School doubted he would even stay out of jail.

“By the third grade I was tracked to be a criminal or an auto mechanic,” Loya said. “They didn’t even bother to see what I had to offer or what the issue was with my reading problem.” (Loya had dyslexia, which went undiagnosed for years.)

“In high school, one of my teachers asked everybody what kind of career they wanted,” Loya recalled. “When I said I wanted to be a musician, he told me, ‘That is never going to happen.’ “”*

The leading U.S. Latin Social Entertainment Network, as ranked by Forrester Research in its latest study of Hispanic Social Networking, launched VOYPlaza.com, a comprehensive digital service for the new generation of Latinos and those discovering Latin culture. VOYPlaza.com offers consumers a wide variety of content and social applications: the first Latin-themed virtual reality world, news, blogging, music, video and powerful tools to communicate and enable a community.

“VOYPlaza.com serves Latinos’ deep desire to connect with both our culture and each other. Based upon the feedback of our audience, we’ve created innovative services to further deepen this connection among Latinos and our friends through the best tools, relevant content and organic Latin design that VOY Plaza embodies,” said Fernando Espuelas, Chairman and CEO of VOY.

“VOY Plaza is the preferred1 Latin social network for both English and Spanish dominant Latinos in the U.S. We will innovate relentlessly in order to best serve our community of sophisticated and demanding consumers,” added Espuelas.

Some of the key features of VOYPlaza.com are:

VOY Plaza Virtual – VOY consumers enter into a fully 3D version of the VOY Plaza experience. At VOY Plaza Virtual consumers create a personalized avatar, find a whole range of virtual environments in which to socialize, chat with friends, listen to music, dance, watch video and participate in special programmed events. Gartner Research projected in May of this year that by 2011 80% of “active” internet users will regularly use non-gaming worlds2. The launch of VOY Plaza Virtual dovetails with the Latin Grammy Awards, taking place tomorrow. In partnership with vSide, VOY will bring exclusive interviews and red-carpet access of the Grammys beginning from 6pm-7:30pm PDT this Thursday.

VOY Scout ™ – For a generation that wants to be informed and connected with the rest of the world, a powerful personalized blog and news portal, updated in real-time and providing over 3 million blog and news articles a day in English, Spanish and Portuguese. VOY Scout gives VOY Plaza users the ability to Scout for information - search, view, share and vote on news and blog content, from a broad-range of interest categories, and millions of individual information sources.

Music – The largest network of 40 originally-programmed, free Latin radio stations on the Internet, featuring crystal clear Latin music of all genres and for all tastes. Users create, broadcast and syndicate their own customized stations, rank music, send songs to their friends and listen to stations created by other VOY Plaza community members.

Games – Games have been embraced by Latinos as another of the key mechanisms for community building – VOY Plaza Games is a place to connect with other Latino gamers and with hundreds of games of all genres, from action, adventure, strategy, arcade and more.

Video – Large, diverse library of relevant content across variety of high-interest genres – music, sports, cooking, travel, films, TV, celebrities, and urban-Latino culture. Video channels are also available throughout VOY Plaza Virtual. VOY Plaza media players can be embedded into users’ blogs either as single clips or full channels. VOY Plaza is also syndicated across Verizon’s VCAST network, Vuze and Joost.

eLabel – The digital revolution has made it possible for musicians to make music without the help of traditional record companies. VOY eLabel is a world stage where new talent can catapult themselves directly to the forefront of exposure – reaching VOY Plaza’s users to get known, develop a fan base that can sample the music through free downloads, and eventually buy it.

VOY Plaza is globally available and has an audience from over 150 countries. People access VOY Plaza services through a wide variety of means – from voyplaza.com on the Internet, to Verizon’s VCAST Mobile TV service, to IPTV services such as Joost and Vuze.

About VOY Plaza

VOY® Plaza. is a leading social entertainment network focused on today’s new generation of Latinos and those discovering Latin culture. VOY Plaza connects with its global audience through a broad range of traditional and emerging platforms, including the Internet, broadband and wireless. For more information, visit http://voyplaza.com.

“Albert Armendariz who as National President of LULAC helped change the landscape for Latinos in Texas and nationwide died Thursday in a Brownsville, Texas, hospital following surgery two weeks earlier.

Mr. Armendariz is best remembered in 1954, while serving as president of LULAC, Armendariz helped argue Hernandez vs. the State of Texas, a landmark case that established Latinos as a distinct class entitled to protection under the 14th Amendment.

He also served in the Army during World War II and that helped instill in him a new sense of value and public service. He came back to become a prominent civil rights attorney.

In El Paso in the late 1950s and early ’60s, Armendariz served on the El Paso Civil Service Commission and is credited with helping to open the city’s police and fire departments to Mexican Americans.

Representing MALDEF in the 1970s, Armendariz argued Alvarado vs. El Paso Independent School District, a landmark case that resulted in a federal court order requiring desegregation in El Paso schools.

Armendariz was born Aug. 11, 1919, in El Paso, one of seven children. Before World War II, he worked as a shoe salesman and an auto mechanic.

In addition to his eldest son, Armendariz is survived by his second wife, Mari; sons Edward of Greer, S.C., John David of El Paso and Larry of Nashville; and daughters Maria Leticia Robert of McAllen, Texas, and Mary Lou Contreras of El Paso.

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.”*

“Puerto Rican artist Ricky Martin is about to secure his spot in Hollywood history. On Oct. 16, the singer will get his star on the California movie town’s Walk of Fame. “It still hasn’t hit me. I can’t believe it; it seems like a defense mechanism,” the performer gushed through a press release.”

“Military personnel have moved out of the buildings where thousands of people were tortured under a dictatorship, and the site will be turned into a memorial museum, authorities said Monday.

A Defense Ministry spokesman, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to give information by name, confirmed the last remaining personnel had left the Navy Mechanics’ School by a Sunday deadline.”