Compiled by the El Reportero’s staff
One of the critical issues in higher education is the low numbers of Latino students who enroll, persist and graduate. In fact, only one in three Latinos receives either a two- or four-year degree or certificate after eight years. And, while the percentage of Latinos enrolled in higher education immediately after high school grew from 1972-2004, the percentage of White students doing likewise was larger.
These findings and others come from Challenges for Latino Students in Transitioning to Higher Education: Findings and Recommendations, a presentation delivered at the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) annual conference on March 9, 2012. The presentation was given by John W. Young, Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Higher Education Research Group at Educational Testing Service (ETS).
More than one million petitions delivered to Sen. Harry Reid’s office
A leading grassroots campaign to repeal ObamaCare today announced that it was delivering more than a million names of citizens who have signed petitions demanding repeal of the Health Care Act to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Ken Hoagland, chairman of Restore America’s Voice Foundation said that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was, “an assault on the Constitution and on the consent of the governed.”
Hoagland’s group has been airing television ads nationally for more than a year asking citizens to communicate with their legislators about the law. The ads feature Mike Huckabee and more recently, Herman Cain.
“Even if with the best intentions, there are troubling and fundamental Constitutional questions now being argued before the Supreme Court about the reach of our federal government,” he said. “As troubling is the fact that this wide-ranging legislation should not have been enacted without strong support from our citizens who will be forced to live under its many provisions,” Hoagland said.
“This law has profound consequences for our national budget, individual healthcare choices and our struggling economy and does damage to each. Most Americans believe it reaches too far into our personal choices and will raise healthcare costs.”
Many critics believe Obama’s groundbreaking plan is in severe jeopardy due to the fact that five of the justices involved in the hearings were opposed the plan from the beginning.
On the last day of the hearing the justices addressed two key issues.
The justices wanted to know whether the law could stand if the core requisite that most Americans must acquire insurance or face a fine is struck down, they also questioned the legitimacy of the growing state-federal Medicaid healthcare program.
The law, which is the latest attempt in 50 years to provide health insurance to the uninsured and slow down soaring medical costs to an already $2.6 trillion U.S. healthcare system, will be simmering in deliberation for three months and a ruling is expected in late June.
SAFE California Act of 2012
The Secretary of State announced that the SAFE California Act, to replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole, qualified for the November ballot. Voters will have the first opportunity ever to choose between the death penalty and a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. Join top spokespeople from the SAFE campaign for a briefing on the ballot initiative.
California is following a national trend. Connecticut will soon become the fifth state in just five years to replace the death penalty; California would become the eighteenth state in the United States to do so. The sponsor of Connecticut’s bill to replace the death penalty will be on the briefing call.
