by Alex Galbraith

A nationwide wave of layoffs in public schools is expected in coming weeks, placing 150,000 to 300,000 education jobs in jeopardy, with Hispanic teachers and students more likely than others to feel the sting.

With midterm elections threatening Democratic control in both the House and Senate, legislative relief action stalled May 27. So far, a bailout bill to aid school districts that are most affected has received only mild support from the White House.

The bill, sponsored by long-time education advocate Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), will extend federal funding for school personnel whose salaries were subsidized by stimulus funding passed Feb. 13. 2009. It will expire at the end of this school year.

Federal money accounts for 10.5 percent of the $1.1 trillion spent on elementary and secondary education this year. U.S. Department of Education spokesperson Sandra Abrevaya says that while no formal deadline has been set for an additional stimulus package, she expects one to pass in June. “We need to act with a real sense of urgency,” she told Hispanic Link News Service, adding that if schools don’t find ways to keep teachers in the classroom, the results can be devastating.

Arts, afterschool care, physical education summer school and other activities which are considered beneficial to Hispanics are included among programs likely to be cut from underfunded schools.

Hispanic activists cite the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest district whose enrollment of 617,000 is 75 percent Hispanic, as an example of what can happen to a system in crisis.

Over the last few years, massive LAUSD budget cuts have caused a sharp increase in pink slips. Latino education advocates maintain that the layoffs are not adequately balanced between district schools in the richer and poorer communities.

LAUSD spokeswoman Lydia Ramos explains that inner-city schools, with greater percentages of Hispanics and blacks in their administrative and classroom ranks and a higher concentration of young teachers, experience higher personnel turnover rates.

California law states that all personnel layoffs must be based on senior-ity. Long-standing “last hired, fi rst fi red” contract provisions protect veteran teachers from dismissal. This creates a buffer from layoffs for schools in suburban neighborhoods with lower turnover while leaving inner-city schools, predominantly attended by Hispanic and Afri-can-American students, targeted.

In more affluent West Los Angeles, most schools have lost 10 percent or fewer of their credentialed teachers. Meanwhile, half of the credentialed teach-ers at urban Markham Middle School, which is 71 percent Hispanic, have been laid off. Only 64 percent of Markham’s re-maining teachers are fully credentialed, a figure 31 percent lower than the state average. “It’s un-fortunate what’s happen-ing to these schools, but until the law is changed, this is how it has to be done,” Ramos says.

If the projected 26,000 California teachers are laid off, the Hispanic teacher will become an increas-ingly rare individual.

“The ‘last hired, first fired’ category is where we see the bulk of people of color,” says David Hernández, a community outreach specialist with the California Teachers’ Association, adding that the lack of Hispanic role models in teaching posi-tions is harmful for the development of Hispanic youths.

One education official characterized the situa-tion as “grim and getting grimmer.” SB 995, a bill to allow schools to retain non-veteran teachers based on performance, has been proposed in the California Senate. It is supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger. Hispanic Link.

by Jorge Mujica MuriasNorthern Mexico

Yes, there will be amnesty and all outstanding immigration cases will be given a fair and immediate resolution. Or that we hope, because there was already was a case and that means there might be another 12 million.

The case is Barack Obama’s aunt, a woman with an almost unutterable name for us, Zeituni Polly Onyango, who came to this country in the year 2000. Two years later she requested political asylum (for fear of violence among the tribes in Kenya, since she is a member of a minority tribe,) which was refused and she was ordered to leave the country. Not strange, because the judge of the case, some Leonard I. Shapiro,has about the worst record in the country in asylum cases. Between 2004 and 2009, Shapiro rejected a 67 percent of the cases he saw, a percentage higher than the national (57 percent) and greater than Boston (61 percent), where he works.

Thus, Onyango became a fugitive from justice (or the Immigration authorities,which is not the same because they are not very just,), and became another Elvira Arellano. But the long arm of… not the law, but newspapers, cached up with her, living in Boston, a few days before the 2008 elections in a subsidized apartment. Obama declared again that he wanted a full immigration reform, and deportations were suspended during the elections so nobody could deport “by mistake,” the aunt of the guy who could be the next President of the country.

Onyango escaped again. She moved to Cleveland and hired a lawyer. Striking news is that her case was reopened, despite being a fugitive and all, and in six months she won arguing on this occasion that in case to return to Kenya because, being as she is, the aunt of the President of the United States, things could go wrong for her. Good argument,but common, because of the lack of popularity of USA in many places.

Onyango will be provided with a work permit, Social Security number, driver’s license, and she can apply for full permanent residency in a year and for citizenship in five more years

PA ‘ your aunt and the MIA

What I say is that if you can do it for one, you can do it for 12 million. As the popular chant in the immigration marches goes, “We Want Amnesty for Your Aunty and Mine.

For example, we want amnesty for the courageous young immigrants without papers and without fear, whom this week created a ruckus at John McCain’s office in Tucson, Ariyan-zona, sitting on the floor and stating that they were not leaving until McCain “declares its support for the DREAM Act.” Lizabeth Matthew and Mohammad Abdollahi were not only arrested, but put on deportation process.

As arguments to release them and give them work permits, social security,driver’s license and the chance to apply for permanent residence and then citizenship, would be that all that was already given Obama’s aunt. No more, no less. If needed, it can be also argued that Mohammad is gay, and in Iran, where being gay is illegal and punishable with the death penalty,there’s more reason to fear. In Mohammad’s case, is not that “things could go wrong for him” but absolute certainty they will, as Iranian laws state. At the very least, legally, Mohammad would receive “at least 100 lashes”.

The laws are clear, both here and in Iran. And the one here grant asylum for proven “fear of persecution in their native land based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a social group.”

In Lizbeth’s case, and any Mexican for that matter,in our “native land” we can be fearful for many reasons,and if someone does not believed, just go ask the recently kidnapped “Jefe Diego,” Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, former Senator and former presidential candidate. Nobody knows if he was kidnapped by the Narco, the drug dealers, or by the governing PAN, or the radical right-wing group el Yunque, or the PRI. It could even be worse for people who “suddenly become famous,” as it also argued Onyango’s lawyer. These young guys are already famous.

Of course the ultra-right fascist who govern in Arizona and have offices in Washington are already crying heaven, but as they like to say, “the law is the law” and must be respected.

The problem here is that one alone cannot open an immigration case. You have to be arrested to initiate your case. But the solution is simple: Let’s all go to Arizona and sit down in the offices of John McCain and be arrested!

www.mexicodelnorte@Yahoo.com.MX

President Barack Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Secretary Janet Napolitano

Department of Homeland Security U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528

Dear President Obama and Secretary Napolitano:

We write on behalf of the organizations signing this letter, to respectfully request that all enforcement activities and operations engaged in by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and impacting non-citizens be completely and immediately suspended for the rest of the year in order to encourage a more inclusive count of this country’s population during Census 2010. We are concerned that a climate of fear and distrust within immigrant communities due to immiforcement actions will deter immigrant households from returning the Census surveys and from cooperating in further Census outreach efforts.

Immigrant-based communities are among several known to be significantly undercounted by the Census; in New York City, heavily-immigrant areas have had less than a 40 percent census response rate, compared to the of 65 percent. Numerous officials have themselves expressed grave concerns about the challenges faced in convincing immigrants to participate due to persistent enforcement activity by the same government now seeking their information. Immigrants have raised doubts about the confidentiality of the Census. While officials have repeatedly stated that the information obtained will not be shared with other departments, immigrants well recall similar assurances about the Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service; today, the data obtained from these agencies has provided the fuel for many of this Administration’s enforcement operations.

Because of these challenges and the severe, long-term consequences of an undercount, we urge you to follow precedent and suspend enforcement activities.

For the 2000 Census, former Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner recalls that “we definitely went further than what I’m hearing from this administration thus far”. The decision then was to make clear that “while her agency would continue to do serious criminal enforcement, other routine operations and enforcement activities would be suspended. During the 1990 Census, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, then working for the Border Patrol, recalls “when the orders came down to suspend some enforcement efforts.” In preparation for this year’s Census, the Census Bureau leadership, in 2007, had urged that immigration enforcement raids be suspended.

Under this Administration,the Census Bureau has reversed its position and stated last October that they have declined to ask the DHS to suspend raids during the 2010 Census.

We would like to makeclear that our current request is not limited to raids and sweeps, whether in the interior or border communities. As you know, enforcement activities have reached an unprecedented breadth and depth, resulting in higher numbers of detentions and deportations than even the past Administration, and utilizing strategies that are less visible than raids but well known and feared in immigrant communities throughout the country. Therefore, our request includes suspension of:

• E-verify employment verification program and audits;
• 287g agreements;
• Detentions of individuals,including long-time lawful permanent residents,on civil immigration charges;
• ICE programs — such as Secure Communities and the Criminal Alien Program;
• Operation Streamline;
• Absconder arrest programs;
• Operation Return to Sender;
• Operation Community Shield;
• National Fugitive Operations Program;
• Issuance of Social Security no-match letters;
• Operation Cross Check;
• Operation Predator;
• Workplace, home and business raids.

Given the immediacy of the Census 2010 process, we reiterate our request for an immediate suspension of these operations to encourage maximum participation of immigrant community members, widely acknowledged among the Census’ “hard-to-count” population targets.

We look forward to your response and public statements on this matter.

Sincerely,

Signed by more than 600 community organizations.

by the University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—When people are under chronic stress, they tend to smoke, drink, use drugs, and overeat to help cope with stress. These behaviors trigger a biological cascade that helps prevent depression, but they also contribute to a host of physical problems that eventually contribute to early death.

That is the claim of University of Michigan social scientist James S. Jackson and colleagues in an article published in the May 2010 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The theory helps explain a long-time epidemiological puzzle: why Blacks have worse physical health than whites but better psychiatric health.

“People engage in bad habits for functional reasons, not because of weak character or ignorance,” says Jackson, director of the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

“Over the life course, coping strategies that are effective in ‘preserving’ the mental health of Blacks may work in concert with social, economic, and environmental inequalities to produce physical health disparities in middle age and later life.”

In an analysis of survey data, obtained from the same people at two points in time, Jackson and colleagues find evidence for their theory. The relationship between stressful life events and depression varies by the level of unhealthy behaviors. But the direction of that relationship is strikingly different for Blacks and whites.

Controlling for the extent of stressful life events a person has experienced, unhealthy behaviors seemed to protect against depression in Blacks but lead to higher levels of depression in whites.

“Many Black Americans live in chronically precarious and difficult environments,” says Jackson. “These environments produce stressful living conditions, and often the most easily accessible options for addressing stress are various unhealthy behaviors. These behaviors may alleviate stress through the same mechanisms that are believed to contribute to some mental disorders the hypothalamic-pitu-itary-adrenalcortical (HPA) axis and related biological systems.”

Since negative health behaviors such as smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, and overeating (especially comfort foods) also have direct and debilitating effects on physical health, these behaviors – along with the difficult living conditions that give rise to them – contribute to the disparities in mortality and physical health problems

­­by news services

Hyatt Regency workers march during a three-day strike. (photo by Marvin Ramírez)

Four hundred hotel workers at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco walked off the job Tuesday morning to protest Hyatt’s ‘moves to squeeze workers even harder despite significantly improving hospitality revenues and rising share values, according to Union Local 2. Workers will return to work on Friday morning.

The Hyatt Regency strike comes after nearly ten months of negotiations and demonstrations to secure a new contract for 9,000 San Francisco hotel workers and their families. “We think that’s long enough,” said Cynthia Reed, a telephone operator at Hyatt Regency. “Hyatt’s growing and making more money every day, and we’re not going stand by and let that come at the expense of workers and their families. If they move forward, we should too.

”This is the second strike at a San Francisco Hyatt in recent months. Workers at the Grand Hyatt on Union Square walked out November 5, 2009 – the same day Hyatt became a publicly-traded company, earning its owners nearly $1 billion. It also comes amid mounting unrest for Hyatt throughout North America. On May 26, 400 workers at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago walked off the job protesting workload increases.

­­Report by UNESCO

PARIS, June 2 – The International Coordinating Council of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme has added 13 new sites and five extensions in 15 different countries to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR), which now numbers 564 sites in 109 countries.

The decision to include the new sites was taken during the 22nd session of the International Coordination Council, which took place from 31 May to 4 June at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Reserves were inscribed in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe for the first time this year. Sweden and the United Kingdom for their part decided to withdraw two sites from the World Network of Biosphere Reserves – Lake Torne and Taynish respectively – because

they do not meet the criteria set out in the Seville Strategy of 1995.

Biosphere Reserves are areas designated under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme to serve as places to test different approaches to integrated management of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity. Biosphere Reserves are thus sites for experimenting with and learning about sustainable development.

Among a long list of countries declared reserved are:

Naha-Metzabok, southeast Mexico, covers the northern part of the Lacandona forest, the biggest tropical forest in the country. An integral part of the Mayan Forest biological corridor, it has regional importance for conservation. The diversity of the population of more than 6,500 indigenous people including the most ancient Maya-Lacandon as well as Tzeltales and Choles communities, adds high cultural value to the site. Agricultural and other activities practiced by indigenous communities in the buffer and transition zones contribute to sustainable development and natural resources conservation of the region.

Los Volcanes, Mexico, is characterized bya volcanic landscape of significant aesthetic and touristic value. The site includes Popocatépetl, one of the most impressive active volcanoes on the planet, and a variety of endemic, particularly adapted species, such as the volcano rabbit. The area provides important environmental services as a water catchment for Mexico City, which has the highest population density in the country. Projects for reforestation, soil rehabilitation and groundwater infiltration are being developed to protect water supply, involving many different sectors of the population.

Maria’s Island, Mexico, is a reservoir of endemic species that developed over eight million years of insularity. It contains a rich diversity of ecosystems including a dry tropical forest, mangroves, swamps and coral reefs. A federal penitentiary is established there. The National Institute of Ecology, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and the Secretariat of Public Security have introduced sustainable management projects, such as reforestation and agriculture, to rehabilitate the prisoners inhabiting the island.

Ometepe Island, Nicaragua, is an island biosphere reserve in the biggest freshwater reservoir in the country, Cocibolca Lake or Lake Nicaragua. The site’s name in the local Nahuatl language is “island of two hills”, referring to its two volcanoes. The surrounding lake serves as an important source of freshwater, as well as habitat for exceptional species, e.g. freshwater sawfish, Nicaraguan freshwater shark and many others. The island is home to some 30,000 people and its rich pre-Columbian vestiges (petroglyphs, statues, ceramics) demonstrate its long history of human settlements. Current activities include community-based ecotourism.

Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha, Peru, is part of the country’s Amazonian high forest region. Although classified as a conservation hotspot, the region is under intense pressure from human activities such as deforestation, causing loss of biological diversity. To address these issues, the biosphere reserve has developed participatory management processes involving regional authorities, NGOs and the local population. The presence of indigenous cultures, such as the Yánesha and Asháninka, helps preserve ancestral knowledge in managing natural resources. Sustainable development initiatives include progressive adoption of agro-forestry and promotion of eco-tourism and artisanal crafts.

The MAB-ICC also approved extensions to five already established Biosphere Reserves:

Araucarias Biosphere Reserve, Chile, originally designated in 1983, has been extended to 12 times its original size•Cordillera Volcanica Central Biosphere Reserve, Costa Rica, originally designated in 1988, has been extended to five times its original size.