Friday, July 19, 2024
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A play to reflect on: Where do we sit on the bus?

by Magdy Zara

 

A marvelous play written by playwright Brian Quijada, premiered on the West Coast on May 4, inviting us to reflect on the racial differences that still generate inequality, in one of the most multiracial countries that exists.

The play takes place during a third grade class, in which a teacher talks about the civil rights movement and the story of the fighter Rosa Parks, at which time a Latina girl raises her hand to ask: “Where do we sit in the bus?” Her teacher doesn’t know what to answer to this question.

Brian Quijada is an Emmy-nominated playwright, actor, and composer whose original work has been developed and produced across the country.

The stage piece is perfectly performed by Satya Chávez, a dynamic actress, singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and intersectional feminist, and infused with Latin rhythms, hip-hop, and live loops.

This solo exploration follows that girl into adulthood as she navigates growing up in an immigrant family, her identity as a first-generation American, and what the world would be like for her children. Where do we sit on the bus? is a high-octane theatrical experience that examines what it means to be Latino in the United States.

Where do we sit on the bus? It premiered on May 4 and will be on display until the 28th of this month, at 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley.

To purchase tickets, contact the telephone numbers 415.388.5200 Fax: 415.388.0768.

 

Small Business Week Celebrates Latino Startups

From May 8 to 12 of this year, the XIX Annual San Francisco Small Business Week will be taking place, which is carried out with the purpose of celebrating the strong and vibrant community of small businesses that make life in San Francisco. Programming will focus on meaningful information and resources for small business owners at every point in their business journey, including activities related to Latino entrepreneurship.

The inauguration will be a special event, to be held on May 8th and will take place in The Green Room, the theme will be “Equal Change”. The evening will feature a small business market highlighting a diverse array of 10 local entrepreneurs, a musical performance by violinist Rose Crelli, a performance by EyeZen’s OUT of Site: Sylvester, The Mighty Real, elevating the hidden history of the company itself. international disco diva from San Francisco, gender non-conforming personality Sylvester, and a bar set up with signature cocktails. The evening will also feature delicious food from local restaurants Local Kitchen, Social 303 Smokehouse, Buena Vida Cantina and Bambú Asia.

San Francisco Small Business Week is organized by the SF Chamber of Commerce and will have a varied theme, including a space to celebrate Latino entrepreneurs and a Fireside Chat: Intersection of Latino and Women-Owned Businesses ; in addition to a presentation on how to start selling in the Amazon store; Wells Fargo will present a state of the San Francisco economy; there will be a discussion with economist Jackie Benson on selecting a retirement plan for her small business; an introduction to online advertising in 2023 will be given in just three steps and many more activities.

The opening of this long-awaited event will be on Monday, May 8 at 5 p.m. in The Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center 401 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102, tickets will be $20 for members of the San Francisco Chamber and $40 for non-members.

For more information, please contact Somiah Handy at shandy@sfchamber.com.

 

SF School of Flamenco presents “Traveling through a World without Time

After three years away from the stage, the flamenco company from San Francisco returns with joy to show its work Transitar por un Mundo sin Tiempo, which is part of the 57th season presented at home.

The San Francisco flamenco school was founded in 1966, which is why it is considered the oldest in the Bay Area, and currently presents an explosive experience of more than an hour of music and dance; directed by the bailaora Carlota Zertuche, who fuses flamenco with live electronic music, the trumpet, the violin and the electric guitar.

On this occasion, all the musical compositions were written expressly for this show.

As the artist explained, this show was inspired by a trip she made to Jordan in 2021, during a time of many restrictions due to Covid. She says that “visiting the Wadi Rum desert, in particular, was one of the most incredible experiences of my life: a peaceful energy surrounded me like an inexplicable force. I felt the sensation—with the light, the endless red sand, the clear stars in the night sky—that time had ceased to exist, that everything was perfect, that anything could happen. Flamenco for me also has that inexplicable energy, and I would like the audience to feel those same emotions, even if it is during the hour and 15 minutes of the show”.

Regarding the rest of the artists that will be on stage, it was learned that the world-renowned Spanish guitarist, Juani De La Isla, will lead the musical journey. De La Isla is a highly respected flamenco guitarist from the island of San Fernando, near the port city of Cádiz, in Andalusia, in southwestern Spain. Renowned Spanish musician Diego Amador (Jr.) will bring his vocal and piano style to the ensemble. Adrián Santana, a bailaor from Malaga, will join Zertuche on stage. This will be Santana’s debut with the company and his first performance in San Francisco.

Elegance, strength and passion are the words that identify this production, which will be presented this Saturday, May 13, at 8 p.m., at the Herbst Theater, located at 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco.

Ticket prices range from $25 to $55.

For more information, visit www.teatroflamenco.org

 

The well-known Venezuelan comedian Nacho Redondo in SF

Nacho Redondo, Venezuelan comedian included the city of San Francisco in his world tour.

Redondo, is a Venezuelan comedian and writer known for his stand-up career as a black humor comedian.

In Spanish and with a very particular style, Nacho Redondo is on an international tour that includes countries in Europe and Latin America, and now he is here to grace the stages of the United States with his 2023 tour, Huevo de Dragon.

Nacho is known for his outstanding stand-up comedy and his popular podcast, “Escuela de Nada.” He has been a guest on Tom Segura en Español, opened for Russell Peters and collaborated with other notable comedians to accompany his successful singles. Nacho has had 2 previous tours at all the major comedy clubs in the US and has written a new hour to share with his fans!

His presentation in San Francisco will be on May 16 at 8 p.m. at Cobb’s Comedy Club 915 Columbus Avenue San Francisco, CA 94133.

For more information for tickets through the telephone number 415.928.4320 or the page: https://www.cobbscomedy.com/EventDetail?tmeventid=G5vYZ9JRCHfht&offerid=0

Biden admin orders Catholic hospital to snuff out sanctuary candle or lose all federal funding

by Matt Lamb

 

‘In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma.’

TULSA, Oklahoma (LifeSiteNews) — President Joe Biden’s administration wants to snuff out the light of the faith – literally.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demanded that Saint Francis Health System in Oklahoma extinguish two candles – a small sanctuary candle that has burned since 1960 and another that has burned without problem for 15 years at another Saint Francis hospital.

If they don’t, the system will lose accreditation and all federal funding, jeopardizing healthcare for thousands of low-income, disabled, and elderly citizens.  Yet, no other inspector in the healthcare system’s history has ever identified the small candle as a safety issue.

The Catholic hospital system is fighting back with the help of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an accomplished First Amendment litigation group.

“In requiring Saint Francis to extinguish its flame, you are trying to extinguish not just a candle, but the First Amendment rights of Saint Francis Health System, as well as vital healthcare for the elderly, poor, and disabled in Oklahoma,” a May 3 legal letter from the group, written by Senior Counsel Lori Windham, stated.

Windham noted that the administration’s actions violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) by requiring the hospital to hide its faith without a compelling government interest. The religious liberty group reminded the administration of professed Catholic President Joe Biden that Catholic Canon Law requires that a candle be lit wherever there is the Blessed Sacrament.

Becket noted:

The Code of Canon Law requires that wherever the Blessed Sacrament is kept, a special lamp must shine continuously. The living flame is so important to worship that the Fifth Chapter of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal expressly mandates that “a special lamp, fueled by oil or wax, should shine prominently to indicate the presence of Christ and honor it.” Saint Francis believes that the laws governing the liturgy and chapel suitability have been divinely instituted by Jesus Christ Himself and that derogating from
these laws is an affront to God.

“There has not been a day in Saint Francis history where the living flame has been extinguished,” the group wrote. “And Saint Francis’s religious identity and mission are intimately united with the living flame of the sanctuary candle.”

The letter further noted that the candle is securely kept in the chapel and there are ample sprinklers around to cope with the unlikely possibility of the flame escaping. A fire marshal has already approved the flame in annual inspections and CMS’s own guidelines clearly allow for flames for religious purposes and primarily prohibit them in proximity to medical equipment.

Furthermore, the surveyor with the federal government incorrectly called the enclosed candle an “open flame.” When challenged, the bureaucrat changed his tune and said that lighter briefly used to light the candle is an “open flame” and violates federal safety standards.

Harry Belafonte: Singer and civil rights activist dies aged 96

Actor, singer, and activist Harry Belafonte passed away earlier this month at the age of 96. Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr in 1927 in Harlem, New York, he was the son of Jamaican immigrants of Scottish, Dutch-Jewish, and African descent

 

Shared from/By Mark Savage

BBC Music correspondent

 

Harry Belafonte, the singer and actor who smashed racial barriers in the US, has died at home in Manhattan, aged 96.

One of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, he scored hits with Island In The Sun, Mary’s Boy Child and the UK number one Day-O (The Banana Boat Song). But his greatest achievements were as a campaigner for black civil rights in the US. He died of congestive heart failure, said his spokesman Ken Sunshine.

His wife Pamela was by his side.

Harry Belafonte obituary: An icon of music, film and civil rights

Oprah Winfrey was among the first to pay tribute, remembering Belafonte as “a trailblazer and a hero to us all”.

“Thank you for your music, your artistry, your activism, your fight for civil rights and justice,” she continued. “Your being here on Earth has blessed us all.”

“We just have to thank God that we had Harry Belafonte for 96 years,” said singer-songwriter John Legend, who counted Belafonte as a friend and mentor.

“He used his platform in almost a subversive way, because he would sneak messages in there, revolutionary messages, when people thought he was just singing about good times.”

“He gave so much, lived through so much [and] helped us grow so much as a nation and as a world.”

Multi-million seller

Often dubbed the King of Calypso, Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York, in 1927, the son of poor Caribbean immigrants.

A high school drop-out, he joined the Navy during the Second World War, working as a munitions loader at a base in New Jersey.

After the war, he pursued his dream of becoming an actor, studying drama at Erwin Piscator’s famed Dramatic Workshop alongside the likes of Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau and Tony Curtis.

He paid for the classes by singing at New York clubs, where he was backed by groups that included Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.

That led to a recording contract and, in a search for material, Belafonte began to study the folk song archives at the US Library of Congress, alighting on the Calypso music his parents had grown up with.

It proved to be a wise move. The handsome young star sparked a fad for the genre with songs like Jamaica Farewell and Day-O (a song about Caribbean dock workers), both of which featured on his third album, Calypso.

Released in 1956, it topped the Billboard charts and was said to be the first album by a solo artist to sell more than a million copies in the US.

Belafonte was married three times. He and his first wife Marguerite Byrd had two children, including actress-model Shari Belafonte. He also had two children with second wife Julia Robinson, a former dancer.

Companies give ‘fair chance hiring’ a shot

Close-up Of Person Hand Filling Criminal Background Check Application Form

by Kathryn Carley

 

Employers are increasingly using what’s known as “fair-chance hiring” to help the nearly 1 in 3 U.S. adults with criminal records gain access to living wage jobs.

Advocates for formerly incarcerated people said they are a motivated and skilled pool of workers who can add to the diversity and growth of a business while also helping alleviate a nationwide labor shortage.

Ken Oliver, executive director of the Checkr Foundation, said at least 37 states have implemented policies to remove arrest record history questions from job applications and delay background checks until later in the hiring process.

“So, really looking to hire the best person for the job,” Oliver explained. “And removing the barrier of the record rather than looking at the record as the deciding factor for a candidate.”

Oliver argued it is good for business and society. Prior to the pandemic, the estimated cost of employment losses among workers with criminal records was $65 billion per year in lost gross domestic product.

Formerly incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of more than 27% percent. Oliver noted a bill under consideration in California would help improve the rate by banning most private employers from seeking a background check into a job candidate’s conviction history.

“So if a company posts a job on Indeed or LinkedIn, they now have to say these charges would preclude someone from applying for this particular job,” Oliver emphasized. “They couldn’t do it later after the fact.”

Oliver observed companies are looking for new talent during the current labor shortage, and improving their diversity and inclusion hiring practices. He added employers are learning to “unpack” a candidate’s story, and hire them not because of their record but because they are the best candidate for the job.

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CA parent, youth helpline wins grant to continue for 2 more years

 

by Suzanne Potter

 

Just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month in May – the California Department of Social Services has provided a new grant to continue the California Parent & Youth Helpline for another two years, with an option for a third.

When kids, parents or caregivers call the helpline, they can speak with a trained counselor and sign up for a free evidence-based weekly support group.

Worried woman calling on phone sitting at home

Dr. Lisa Pion-Berlin is president and CEO of Parents Anonymous, which launched the helpline in 2020.

“On a weekly basis, we get people who feel suicidal, calling us,” said Pion-Berlin. “People who’ve been hurt in a serious crime, children who are afraid to talk to their parents about bullying or drugs at school.”

The helpline number is 855-427-2736. The website is at www.caparentyouthhelpline.org.

The helpline has translation services for 240 languages including American Sign Language.

Pion-Berlin said the helpline operates from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, but will stay open until 10 p.m. starting July 1.

“This is going to provide an opportunity for more parents to call after their children go to bed or they come back from work, as well as teens who are staying up late and reaching out for help,” said Pion-Berlin. “The helpline is staffed by caring, trained counselors to provide emotional support and linkages to other services appropriate.”

California is home to 9.3 million children.

According to the California Health Care Foundation, one in 14 children has some kind of emotional problem that limits his or her ability to function in school or at home, or to engage in day-to-day activities.

Lawsuit filed to strike down California’s ‘unconstitutional’ assisted suicide law

The case states that assisted suicide laws are situated within a long history of American state laws and practices which directly harm and discriminate against people with disabilities on the grounds that those peoples’ lives are not as worthy of protecting as others

 

by Alex Schadeberg

 

(Euthanasia Prevention Coalition) –– This is my first analysis of the court case that was launched on April 25, 2023 to have the California assisted suicide law declared unlawful and unconstitutional. Future articles will further explain the case. Euthanasia Prevention Coalition –USA supports this initiative.

A number of groups – The United Spinal Association, Not Dead Yet, Institute for Patients’ Rights, Communities Actively Living Independent and Free, Lonnie VanHook, and Ingrid Tischer – have launched a lawsuit in California to strike down the California assisted suicide law.

READ: California judge dismisses case seeking to expand state’s assisted suicide law

The suit has the goal of the case going to the United States Supreme Court to strike down assisted laws throughout the US.

“Physician-assisted suicide is not only a revival of old eugenic ideologies, it also violates federal disability rights laws and federal constitutional provisions which protect persons with disabilities from discrimination, exclusion, and life-threatening governmental laws and policies,” opens the suit.

The plaintiffs’ case claims that California’s assisted suicide act is a discriminatory scheme, creating a two-tiered medical system in which suicidal people receive radically different treatment responses from their physicians and protections from the state, depending on whether the person has what the physician deems to be a “terminal disease” — which, by definition, is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The plaintiffs are either organizations with members who have disabilities, or individual persons with disabilities, as well as comprised of organizations that advocate for persons with disabilities.

READ: Attorney breaks COVID establishment’s ‘immunity defense’ in Remdesivir wrongful death case

The case states that assisted suicide laws are situated within a long history of American state laws and practices which directly harm and discriminate against people with disabilities on the grounds that those peoples’ lives are not as worthy of protecting as others.

It also states that California’s assisted suicide law steers vulnerable people to their deaths instead of providing care and supportive services.

Plaintiff United Spinal’s members with spinal cord injuries noted that at times they experience depression and suicidal thoughts as they must adjust to living with their disability after injury. Most people with life-threatening conditions who say that they want to die are actually asking for assistance in living — that is, for help in dealing with the symptoms and practical necessities common to living with a terminal disability.

The symptoms often include depression, anxiety about the future, grief, inadequate care options, dependence, lack of control, fear about physical suffering, and spiritual despair.

People with terminal disabilities are discriminated against, argues the suit, by depriving them of protections afforded other persons under California law. This is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”).

The State’s suicide prevention programs are designed to ensure that a person’s expression of suicidal ideation is sufficient in itself to trigger mental health care, irrespective of whether they want treatment. However, assisted suicide deprives Plaintiffs and their members access to these life-preserving interventions because of their disabilities, the case argues.

The case further states that the assisted suicide law violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by failing to include sufficient safeguards to ensure that a judgment-impaired or unduly influenced person does not receive and/or ingest lethal physician-assisted suicide drugs, without adequate due process in waiving their fundamental right to live.

The Act’s failure to require exhaustive, or at least some, evidence of an informed rejection of less restrictive alternatives to assisted suicide –– including suicide prevention services, palliative care, hospice care, and other personal support services currently provided by the State –– also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The case is asking the court to declare the California assisted suicide act as unlawful and unconstitutional.

Reprinted with permission from Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Treat symptoms of colds and flu with fernleaf biscuitroot

It is a medicinal herb used by Native Americans during the 1918 influenza epidemic

by Zoey Sky

 

03/07/2023 – If you’re trying to avoid the adverse effects of over-the-counter medication for the common cold and the flu, consider using fernleaf biscuitroot (Lomatium dissectum)

This natural anti-viral herb can be used to help treat symptoms of colds and flu caused by viral infections. It is often administered in tincture form and is a powerful microbial.

Fernleaf biscuitroot (Lomatium dissectum), a natural antiviral

Fernleaf biscuitroot is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial used to address the symptoms of viral infections. It is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family.

The herb is also known by the common name fernleaf biscuitroot.

The plant is native to much of western North America and it grows in different habitats. The perennial herb can reach up to 1.4 meters tall and it grows from a thick taproot.

Fernleaf biscuitroot is a medicinal plant commonly used in Native American cultures. The potent antiviral plant was used by Native Americans during the 1918 influenza epidemic. According to a report from the University of California, the herb “may prove to be a strong modern-day cold and flu remedy.”

In an article about fernleaf biscuitroot, experts reported that the Native Americans called the medicinal root of this plant “the Dortza” or “heap powerful medicine.”

The natural medicine is extracted from the hard root and turned into a tincture.

The Washoe Indians collected fernleaf biscuitroot in the months of September and October, which was when the richest supply of oils was concentrated in the large underground root. According to data, the aromatic root contains at least five or six gums, oils and oleoresins.

After collecting the plant’s root, slice longitudinally to expose the volatile oils to the oxidizing (polymerization) effects of the air. This then converts the oils to a stabilized resin.

Here are some of the culinary uses of fernleaf biscuitroot:

– The root can be dried and ground into a powder. This powder is then mixed with cereal flour or added as a flavoring to soups or other dishes.

– The roots can be boiled to make a refreshing and nutritious drink.

– Young fernleaf biscuitroot seed sprouts can be consumed raw.

– Fernleaf biscuitroot is often eaten raw, baked, roasted and dried and turned into flour.

How does fernleaf biscuitroot work?

The plant’s antiviral action is derived from the volatile oils in the root. These oils can help clear respiratory issues that are present in viral infections because of inflammation like cough, sore throat and a stuffy and runny nose.

Fernleaf biscuitroot was used to address the secondary infections caused by many strains of influenza.

To use fernleaf biscuitroot as an antiviral treatment for cold or flu symptoms, take one-fourth teaspoon of the tincture every three to four hours for five days in one cup of hot water. Make sure you keep track of your usage on a dosing chart.

If you can’t grow fernleaf biscuitroot in your home garden or forage for it, you can also buy tinctures to treat cold or flu symptoms if you are sick.

Government agency to offer digital option for sending remittances

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

 

A new alliance between government agency Finance for Well-being (Finabien) and the banking app Broxel will make it easier for Mexicans in the United States to send remittances to relatives at home, including the ability to send money directly via cell phone.

The program will be run by the government agency Finance for Well-being (Finabien) – formerly Telecomm. It will allow Mexicans in the U.S. to open dollar accounts using only Mexican identification papers, such as a national identity card or driving license.

Migrant workers will then be able to get a Finabien Mexico card, allowing them to instantly transfer remittances to their families in Mexico via their cell phones.

“With this card, a digital bank account is opened for them in the United States,” explained Finabien director Rocío Mejía Flores, at President López Obrador’s Monday morning press conference.

“This is a great advance for many of our compatriots there, who suffer a lot of banking marginalization, as they don’t have sufficient [identity] documents.”

Users will also be able to open an account in Mexican pesos on the same card, making it easier for them to pay for services in Mexico.

The cards will initially be available at Mexican consulates in the U.S. and will later be made available for home order via an online application. Families in Mexico will be able to get the cards at any of the 1,700 Finabien branches across the country.

The commission for the service will be US $3.99 for a transfer of up to US $2,500, Mejía said, compared to an average of US $14 with other services.

Remittances accounted for US $58.5 billion in foreign exchange for the Mexican economy in 2022 alone. Finabien is already active in this market, capturing US $2.3 billion last year through its collaboration with the government’s Banco del Bienestar (Bank of Well-being), which announced in March that it would exit the remittance market.

However, the new program will differ from the Banco del Bienestar because it is entirely digital, allowing people to access money even in remote rural communities with no bank branches.

With reports from Reforma and El Financiero

 

photo: Since October 2022 to date, 92% of U.S. border authorities’ fentanyl seizures have occurred at official border crossings. (@CBP/Twitter)

 

DEA: 2 Mexican cartels pose ‘greatest criminal threat’ ever faced by the US

The Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) pose “the greatest criminal threat the United States has ever faced,” but the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is “laser-focused” on defeating them, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said Thursday.

Milgram, a former attorney general in New Jersey who has led the DEA since 2021, appeared before a subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives’ Committee on Appropriations on Thursday.

In a written statement to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, the DEA chief said that her agency’s “top operational priority is to relentlessly pursue and defeat the two Mexican drug cartels … that are primarily responsible for driving the drug poisoning epidemic in the United States.”

During her address to lawmakers, she asserted that the United States is going through the “most devastating drug crisis in our nation’s history,” highlighting that fentanyl is killing close to 200 Americans per day.

“Just two milligrams, the equivalent of a few grains of salt, can kill a person. It is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. More than cancer, more than COVID, more than terrorism, more than heart disease,” Milgram said.

“… The drug cartels responsible for bringing fentanyl into this country are ruthless and extremely violent criminal organizations,” she said.

Milgram said that the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG “rely on a global supply chain to manufacture and traffic fentanyl” and “on a global illicit finance network to pocket billions of dollars from those drug sales.”

“At DEA, we have undertaken a transformation to meet this moment. We have transformed our vision. We are now laser-focused on fentanyl, the drug that is killing the most Americans. We are laser-focused on the two cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco, that are responsible for the vast majority of fentanyl that is flooding our communities,” she said.

In her written statement, Milgram noted that the DEA has “launched two cross-agency counterthreat teams to execute a network-focused operational strategy to defeat the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels.”

“The two teams are mapping, analyzing, and targeting the cartels’ entire criminal networks. The teams are composed of special agents, intelligence analysts, targeters, program analysts, data scientists, and digital specialists. This network-focused strategy is critical to defeating the Sinaloa and Jalisco Cartels,” she wrote.

The “new strategy” is working, Milgram said, noting that the DEA on April 14 charged 28 members and associates of the Sinaloa Cartel, including three sons of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who are collectively known as “Los Chapitos.”

The DEA administrator told lawmakers that El Chapo’s sons, Ovidio, Iván and Alfredo, “became the new leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel” after their father’s arrest and made the “global drug trafficking empire … more ruthless, more violent [and] more deadly, and used it to spread a new poison — fentanyl.”

“Let me be clear: the Chapitos pioneered the manufacture and trafficking of the deadly fentanyl that is flooding our country today and is responsible for countless American deaths,” she said.

“… They know that they are poisoning and killing Americans, and they don’t care because they are making billions of dollars,” Milgram said.

She noted that eight of the 28 members of the Sinaloa Cartel network who were recently indicted in the United States — including Ovidio Guzmán — are in custody, and she stressed that the DEA is requesting the extradition of the seven who are detained outside the U.S.

“Twenty remain at large in China and Mexico, and we are requesting their arrest,” Milgram said.

With regard to the CJNG, led by the notoriously elusive Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the DEA administrator said in her written statement that the organization has “illicit drug distribution hubs in Los Angeles, Seattle, Charlotte, Chicago, and Atlanta.”

“Internationally, the Jalisco Cartel has a presence and influence through associates, facilitators, and brokers on every continent except Antarctica,” Milgram wrote, adding that the CJNG smuggles narcotics, including fentanyl, into the United States “by accessing various trafficking corridors along the southwest border that include Tijuana, Mexicali, Ciudad Juárez, Matamoros, and Nuevo Laredo.”

She said that the DEA’s “requested and anticipated funding” of US $3.7 billion in fiscal year 2024 would provide the agency “with the resources needed to build upon the work we have accomplished to defeat the cartels and emerging drug threats.”

During the subcommittee hearing, Republican Representative Jake Ellzey asked Milgram whether she would support a U.S. military deployment against Mexican cartels, as some of his congressional colleagues have proposed.

“Any authority that Congress gives us we will use to the fullest extent,” she responded.

“… And that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re trying to use every authority, every piece of information, every dollar to save American lives.”

Ellzey also asked Milgram whether Mexico is cooperating with the DEA’s mission to combat cartels and the fentanyl they traffic.

“Or are they hindering? Or are they so corrupt? What I’d like to know is, are they a failed narco-state?” the Texan lawmaker said.

“We all have to do more. We are working to do more and we want the Mexicans to work with us and we want them to do more,” Milgram said.

Questioned whether there are “players” in the Mexican government that the DEA doesn’t want to deal with because it knows they are corrupt, she responded:

“We follow the evidence wherever it goes. … We did an investigation, and an arrest and extradition of JOH, Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, and … we’ve also charged … Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela. And so DEA does not back down from doing that kind of work, and we will continue to follow the facts and evidence wherever it takes us.”

“As part of the Chapitos indictment,” Milgram added, “we talk about the corruption, we talk about the corruption that fuels narcotics trafficking in Mexico and globally — and so again, wherever the evidence and the facts take us, we will go.”

Former Mexican security minister Genaro García Luna was convicted in the United States earlier this year on charges he colluded with the Sinaloa Cartel to traffic narcotics, a verdict President López Obrador has used to support his claim that Mexico was a narco-state during the 2006–12 presidency of Felipe Calderón.

Milgram’s appearance before lawmakers came two weeks after Mexico and the United States committed at a bilateral security meeting in Washington to “continue joint work to dismantle the fentanyl supply chain and the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel on both sides of the border.”

In late March at the the U.S.-Mexico Synthetic Drug Conference in Mexico City, officials from both countries emphasized the importance of cooperating to combat the illicit fentanyl trade.

López Obrador and other federal officials have recently highlighted the Mexican government’s efforts to combat the trafficking of fentanyl as they sought to refute claims from some Republican Party lawmakers in the U.S. that Mexico is doing little to stop the drug flowing across the northern border. López Obrador even wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping in an attempt to enlist his help in the fight against fentanyl, and earlier this month created a commission to combat arms and synthetic drug trafficking into the country.

In addition, the lower house of Congress this week approved an anti-fentanyl law that stipulates harsh punishments including lengthy jail sentences for anyone found using precursor chemicals to make synthetic drugs.

Mexico and the United States agree that fentanyl precursors are shipped to Mexico from Asia and in particular China, but a spokesperson for the Chinese government declared April 6 that “there is no such thing as illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico.”

Biden administration approves sending 1,500 US troops to Mexico border as Title 42 deadline looms: sources  

photo: Border Patrol agents encounter over 1,000 migrants in El Paso, Texas, March 29, 2023. (Customs and Border Protection)

 

When Title 42 ends May 11, tens of thousands of migrants expected to illegally cross the southern border into US

 

by El Reportero‘s wire services and Fox News

 

The Biden administration has approved sending 1,500 active duty U.S. troops to the southern border in the coming days amid concerns that tens of thousands of migrants will surge into the country once Title 42 is lifted, sources tell Fox News.

The U.S. soldiers will come from a variety of active duty Army units and will serve for 90 days in mostly administrative and transport roles to free up law enforcement and Border Patrol, according to two senior U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.

The 90-day deployment is not inconsistent with support to the border going back to the George W. Bush administration, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. The Pentagon said the Department of Homeland Security requested the troops, which will arrive as early as May 10.

Officials said the troop deployment would be similar to deployments to the border ordered by former President Donald Trump. The troops would be armed for self-defense but would not assist with law enforcement.

“For 90 days, these 1,500 military personnel will fill critical capability gaps, such as ground-based detection and monitoring, data entry, and warehouse support, until CBP can address these needs through contracted support,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement. “Military personnel will not directly participate in law enforcement activities. This deployment to the border is consistent with other forms of military support to DHS over many years.”

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has previously warned migrants that illegal entry into the U.S. “will result in removal.” The Biden administration is encouraging migrants to use the CBP One app to schedule appointments at points of entry where their asylum claims can be processed.

The reality of the government’s response to the migrant crisis doesn’t reflect the Biden administration’s official position. While many are returned currently due to the Title 42 order – which allows for the rapid removal of migrants at the border due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – not all who enter illegally have been returned via the order.

CBP statistics show that only about 46 percent of migrant encounters at the border resulted in a Title 42 expulsion. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified to Senate lawmakers last month that of the nearly 1.3 million migrants in FY 2022 who were processed via Title 8, only about 360,000 were deported.

The White House said Tuesday that troops to the border “would not be necessary if Congress would act.”

“As you know, on the first day of walking into the White House of his administration, the president put forth a comprehensive immigration legislation and so that we could have resources and so that we could be able to help the men and women of Border Patrol to do their jobs,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “And so if Congress would act and again, do their jobs and meet us halfway and do this in a bipartisan way, we would not have to do this.”

Those who aren’t deported are placed into immigration removal proceedings and released into the U.S. pending their hearings – which can take years. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data shows deportations have plummeted under President Biden.

In preparation for the end of Title 42, the Biden administration has developed a new asylum rule that will bar migrants from being eligible to claim asylum if they have crossed into the U.S. illegally, have not scheduled an appointment via the CBP One app, and have not claimed asylum in a country through which they previously passed.

While Mayorkas has stressed that the “presumption of ineligibility” will be rebuttable and there are exemptions made for some people, it has enraged some Democrats and immigration activists who claim it is similar to the Trump-era transit ban and that it encroaches on the right of anyone from anywhere in the world to claim asylum at the U.S. border.

Sending troops to the border is likely to anger the left and draw more comparisons of Biden to Trump.

The expected migrant surge has prompted the administration to work more closely with Mexican authorities and NGO partners and look for alternative removal authorities under Title 8.

Last month, Fox News Digital reported that the administration is preparing to hold “credible fear” screenings – the first step in claiming asylum – for migrants in CBP facilities. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the agency is working with legal service providers “to provide access to legal services for individuals who receive credible fear interviews in CBP custody.”

Thousands of Californians are missing out on federal student aid. Here’s why

photo: Barry Austin Photography | DigitalVision | Getty Images

 

by Adam Echelman

CalMatters

 

Many college students rely on federal student aid to cover expenses, but increasingly complicated laws and poor communication have made those dollars harder to come by for some adult students.

Thousands of adult Californians without a high school diploma want to take college classes. Unfortunately, those classes aren’t free, and the lack of a high school diploma cuts off access to most financial aid.

The good news is, there’s a fix. The bad news is most students don’t know about the fix, and most college officials don’t understand the laws surrounding it.

Federal law has a special clause that allows students lacking a high school diploma to access financial aid money they would otherwise miss. Known as the Ability to Benefit, the provision opens up federal financial aid to adults without high school degrees who enroll in GED and college classes simultaneously.

California community colleges also stand to benefit financially from the law because it could allow schools to boost enrollment and the number of students on federal aid, both of which are tied to the state’s new college funding formula.

More than 4 million Californians lack a high school degree and roughly 340,000 of those adults were taking some form of adult education in 2021, according to the California Community College Chancellor’s office.

At least that many adults could be eligible for this federal aid, but in 2016, just shy of 58,000 students in California actually received federal grants or loans associated with it. The numbers have dropped every year since, and in 2021, just more than 30,000 California students participated, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That means as many as 90% of eligible adult students weren’t taking advantage of this aid.

The decline is the result of a complicated balancing act. On the one hand, the federal government has noted a history of poor oversight and “abuse” of Ability to Benefit, especially by for-profit colleges. On the other hand, more regulation has left community colleges feeling confused and uninformed.

Still, Bradley Custer, a senior policy analyst for higher education at the Center for American Progress, said use of the aid has room to grow.

“There’s no compelling reason why we couldn’t at least get back to 2016 and prior enrollment,” he said.

Locked out of loans and grants

In California, community college tuition is free for qualifying low-income students who apply, but even for those who get the fee waiver, it’s just a fraction of the many costs related to attending college. Textbooks, transportation, and food add an average of roughly $12,000 a year.

That’s why the federal government offers flexible aid for college students — and through Ability to Benefit, adults without high school degrees can access that money, too. A federal Pell grant, for instance, currently provides as much as $6,895 a year for qualifying students, money that can be spent on things like childcare or rent.

Joe Villa, 67, needs that money. He has six children from two marriages, no high school diploma, and a criminal record that makes even a simple job interview challenging. But he won’t give up.

While serving a 10-year sentence at High Desert State Prison in Susanville, Villa attempted to get his GED, but the program closed before he could finish.

Then in 2019, Villa was standing beside a prison employee when another inmate charged at the two of them. Villa intervened, saving the employee’s life. Gov. Gavin Newsom commuted Villa’s sentence, and he was released in April 2020 — just weeks after the state locked down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There was no employment because of COVID, and I’m thinking, perhaps this is the best time to re-educate myself and get my degree,” he said. Through Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, Villa promptly enrolled in both a GED program and a number of college classes. CalMatters found Villa through a Saddleback administrator reference.

He tried to apply for federal student aid, but didn’t get far since he doesn’t have a high school diploma and didn’t know about the Ability to Benefit provision.

Qualifying for the Ability to Benefit exception is not easy. A student must first enroll in a program to obtain their high school degree or equivalent and take six credits of college courses. Alternatively, they can pass a special exam.

Finally, students who want the federal dollars must receive certain kinds of counseling support and can only take a certain set of courses, as interpreted by their college.

Villa checks nearly every box. He is currently enrolled in both a GED class and has already taken more than six credits worth of courses at Saddleback in the hope of getting his associates degree and then transferring to four-year university to study cinematography.

But as of 2020, Saddleback College no longer offers students aid through Ability to Benefit.

Fixing a ‘scam,’ facing consequences 

It’s a trend, said Judy Mortrude, senior technical advisor at the National College Transition Network of World Education, Inc., a Boston-based nonprofit that helps community colleges.

In 1991, Congress put Ability to Benefit into the law and slowly added regulations that explained how students could qualify, like through an exam or by taking six credits. In 2012, Congress cut the funding, only to restore it fully in 2016. Then Congress required that colleges offer counseling and career training to these students and that they restrict them to a certain set of classes and majors that align with the local economy.

Whereas the original rule had only been about the student’s eligibility, the 2016 regulations asked colleges to perform certain services, and colleges didn’t know how to interpret it, Mortrude said.

“The chain of communication is poor,” said Naomi Castro, a senior director with the Career Ladders Projects, a nonprofit research group founded by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. She said that many financial aid directors at community colleges didn’t even know that Congress restarted the program in 2016.

Saddleback allowed students who enrolled prior to 2012 to get aid at any point, since they qualified through the old law, but the college never implemented the 2016 regulations, meaning students such as Villa have yet to benefit.

The challenge, said Karima Feldhus, an academic administrator at Saddleback, is that the college lacks “an eligible list of careers” according to the 2016 regulations. As to why the college waited years to adopt the regulations , she said she didn’t know and referred CalMatters to the director of the financial aid office and the dean of enrollment. Neither person responded to requests for comment.

Nor did San Jose City College implement Ability to Benefit when it restarted in 2016, according to Takeo Kubo, the financial aid director.

San Jose City College spokesperson Daniel Garza said the 2016 law required “significant curriculum development efforts,” which he noted can be “quite an undertaking” at any school. He said he was not aware of what efforts the college made to consider making the necessary curriculum changes when the new regulations came out.

Some community colleges, including the four Sacramento-area ones in the Los Rios Community College District, did adapt to the new regulations. Those colleges currently have 42 students who receive aid through Ability to Benefit out of a total of 780 students in the system without a high school diploma.

While community colleges have increasingly shied away from Ability to Benefit over the years, for-profit colleges have leaned in.

Nationally, participation at public and private nonprofit colleges has dropped by more than half since 2016 while usage at private for-profit schools has risen, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education. The department did not respond to requests for recent statewide data.

For-profit and nonprofit use different processes, too. The department data shows public and private nonprofit colleges generally have students qualify for Ability to Benefit by taking six credits worth of classes. At for-profit colleges, nearly every student qualifies for it through an exam.

“It’s sort of a scam how they are getting bucket loads of people to hit a cut score on an exam who somehow couldn’t pass the GED test,” said Mortrude.

The department created many of the new regulations to clamp down on such “predatory behavior,” she said.

A third way

While students generally qualify for Ability to Benefit through the two national pathways, federal law also allows states to develop their own processes.

In 2019, Mortrude, Castro, and other college leaders sent a proposal to the Community College Chancellor’s Office on how California could set its own such process. Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Washington and Wisconsin have already done it.

In Wisconsin, for example, adult students at some technical colleges can qualify for aid by participating in an orientation and by working with a tutor or academic counselor, among other criteria.

The individual community colleges are responsible for implementing the Ability to Benefit provision for students, said Paul Feist, a vice chancellor for the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, in a statement.

He said the office will explore creating a “state defined process” akin to what other states have done. The office did not provide a timeline for a new state process.

This month, a committee of Saddleback administrators came together to figure out the federal regulations with the goal of offering the Ability to Benefit aid this fall.

If they succeed, Villa has a list of expenses he hopes his aid can cover. First, he’s late on child support payments. He wants a new apartment and after putting on some weight during the COVID pandemic, he needs new clothes that fit.

Adam Echelman covers California’s community colleges in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education.

Tito Puente Jr. in concert in Oakland

by Magdy Zara

 

Prince Tito Puente Jr., heir to the talent and charisma of Tito Puente (El Rey del Timbal) R.I.P., will perform in concert in the city of San Francisco and will give a masterful exhibition of his best hits, as well as those of his father’s.

Puente Jr. has recorded several albums in Spanish, one of which has been dedicated to his father, to publicize his origins in Latin music.

Yoshi’s, Oakland, is the place where you can enjoy El Príncipe Tito Puente Jr, next Thursday, April 27, starting at 7:30 p.m.; tickets start at $29.

 

Enjoy live music with Danilo and the Universal Orchestra

Roger “Danilo” Páiz, is an integral artist known as an exceptional musician, composer, producer, percussionist and singer, he makes his own compositions, standing out for his romantic and thoughtful lyrics, he will be performing live with the Universal Orchestra.

The show Danilo and the Universal Orchestra will be next April 29, starting at 6 p.m., at the Del Cielo Brewing Co, at 701 Escobar St., Suite A Martínez, CA.

 

Photo contest to celebrate Earth Day

The City Council of the City of Palo Alto in the state of California, organized a photography contest to celebrate Earth Day this year 2023.

This contest seeks to know what actions citizens take to protect the environment.

To participate, submit photos inspired by the focus areas of the climate and sustainability action plan, climate action, energy, electric vehicles, mobility, water, climate adaptation and sea level rise, natural environment or zero waste.

The grand prize winner will receive a private tour of Green Waste with five of his friends and family to see exclusively where the waste goes in Palo Alto. The finalist will also receive a prize. In addition, winners will be selected for each category. All winners will be featured on social media and the City of Palo Alto website.

For the sending of photographs, they will only be accepted through Open Town Hall. Limit five entries per individual, photos must be taken within Palo Alto, contest open to Palo Alto residents only, filters and editing must be kept to a minimum.

Participants have until April 30 to submit their photos.

 

San Francisco Public Library celebrates Children’s Day

With an activity called “Children, Books and Literacy“, the San Francisco Public Library returns to the celebration of Children’s Day and Book Day, an event that they have been carrying out for 24 years.

For this occasion you can laugh with Big Top Bubbles, be inspired by the dance moves of Danza Azteca Xitlalli-Xolotl, listen to the sounds of DJ Pakípayá and La Familia Peña-Govea and take home free books and activities provided by the Library and our community partners.

On Saturday April 30 from 12 p.m. The whole family will be able to enjoy a different afternoon of laughter and joy, at Parque Niños Unidos, 3090 23rd St. and Folsom.

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