Profile of Nobel Prize Winner Carol Greider, a Johns Hopkins Molecular Biologist - washingtonpost.com

Profile of Nobel Prize Winner Carol Greider, a Johns Hopkins Molecular Biologist - washingtonpost.com: Partway through an interview, Carol Greider's cellphone emits the special ring she has set to indicate the caller is one of her two children. Greider, a molecular biologist at Johns Hopkins who this year became one of only 10 women to win the Nobel Prize in medicine, is at her phone in a split second. The caller is her 9-year-old daughter, Gwendolyn, who has gotten out of school.

'How was Spirit Day?' Greider asks. They chat -- a babysitter is at home -- then she rings off. Nearby is a pile of handmade cards from Gwendolyn's fourth-grade class, the members of which have different ideas about for what, exactly, Greider has won the prize.

Twenty-five years ago, as an exceptionally gifted graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, Greider, now 48, visited her lab to check an experiment, and discovered evidence of an enzyme called telomerase. The enzyme helps maintain telomeres, the caplike structures that protect the ends of chromosomes. The discovery was a breakthrough -- telomerase is implicated in cancer and genetic disease -- the import of which would become clearer over time, as possible therapies emerged.

Girl in tuxedo denied a place in school yearbook - USATODAY.com

Girl in tuxedo denied a place in school yearbook - USATODAY.com: JACKSON, Miss. — Veronica Rodriguez describes her daughter, 17-year-old Ceara Sturgis, as 'a perfect child': a straight-A student, a goalie on the soccer team, a trumpet player in the band and active in Students Against Destructive Decisions.

Sturgis also is gay and feels more comfortable in boys' clothes, her mother says. So Rodriguez supported her daughter's decision to wear a tuxedo, rather than the drape customary for girls, when she had her senior portrait made in July. Now she is battling officials at Wesson Attendance Center in the Copiah County (Miss.) School District. Rodriguez said she received a letter from the school in August stating that only boys could wear tuxedos and have since refused to include the photo in the school yearbook.

The conflict is one of several this year involving how school districts handle cross-dressing students.

'The yearbook is not for the parents or the teachers. It's for the students,' Rodriguez said. 'She's not a troublemaker. She is gay.'

Migrants Going North Now Risk Kidnappings - NYTimes.com

Migrants Going North Now Risk Kidnappings - NYTimes.com: TECATE, Mexico — For 37 days, the Salvadoran immigrant was held captive in a crowded room near the border with scores of people, all of them Central Americans who had been kidnapped while heading north, hoping to cross into the United States. He finally got out in August, he said, after the Mexican Army raided the house in the middle of the night to free them.

“The army said: ‘Don’t run. We’re here to help you,’ ” recalled the migrant, a 30-year-old father of three who insisted that his name not be printed for fear of either being kidnapped again or deported. “I kept running.”

Getting to “el norte” has never been a cakewalk. Along with long treks through desert terrain, death-defying river crossings and perilous rides clinging onto trains, there have always been con men and crooked police officers preying on migrants along the way.

But Mexican human rights groups that monitor migration say the threats foreigners face as they cross Mexico for the United States have grown significantly in recent months. Organized crime groups have begun taking aim at migrants as major sources of illicit revenue, even as the financial crisis in the United States has reduced the number of people willing to risk the journey.

Kidnapping people for ransom is a pervasive problem in this country, although victims have typically been prosperous people with bank accounts that can be emptied at the nearest A.T.M., or those with relatives willing to hand over significant sums to save them.

Blake Gopnik - Art: Blake Gopnik Reviews Man Ray Exhibit at Phillips - washingtonpost.com

Blake Gopnik - Art: Blake Gopnik Reviews Man Ray Exhibit at Phillips - washingtonpost.com: How's this for peculiar: An art world that, almost overnight, turns its back on hundreds of years of its own culture and heads instead to the art of a remote continent. That art world doesn't only borrow bits and pieces of the foreign style; it actually takes over the strangers' objects as its own new art forms. To cap off the weirdness, it turns out the borrowers aren't even sure they like the culture of the borrowees.

That is the strange situation on view in 'Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens,' a fascinating new exhibition at the Phillips Collection. You don't have to care about African art or modernist photography to want to delve into their unlikely intersection.

The Phillips show presents about 50 images by such pioneers of 'straight' modernist photography as Alfred Stieglitz, Walker Evans and Charles Sheeler. It also includes about the same number by Man Ray, one of photography's more radical figures. Born in Brooklyn in 1890 as Emmanuel Radnitsky, he moved to Paris in 1921 and made his (new) name as one of the first surrealist photographers, adding a dose of strangeness to the photos seen in both museums and the fashion world.

All-male college cracks down on cross-dressing - CNN.com

All-male college cracks down on cross-dressing - CNN.com: ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- An all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned the wearing of women's clothes, makeup, high heels and purses as part of a new crackdown on what the institution calls inappropriate attire.

No dress-wearing is part of a larger dress code launched this week that Morehouse College is calling its "Appropriate Attire Policy."

The policy also bans wearing hats in buildings, pajamas in public, do-rags, sagging pants, sunglasses in class and walking barefoot on campus.

However, it is the ban on cross-dressing that has brought national attention to the small historically African-American college.

The dress-wearing ban is aimed at a small part of the private college's 2,700-member student body, said Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services.

"We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men," he said.

Before the school released the policy, Bynum said, he met with Morehouse Safe Space, the campus' gay organization.

"We talked about it and then they took a vote," he said. "Of the 27 people in the room, only three were against it."

There has been a positive response along with some criticism throughout the campus, he said.

Newlywed won't tolerate 'overt racism' by Louisiana official - CNN.com

Newlywed won't tolerate 'overt racism' by Louisiana official - CNN.com: HAMMOND, Louisiana (CNN) -- The woman who was denied a marriage license by a Louisiana justice of the peace because he refused to marry interracial couples said the official should lose his job.

Beth McKay said she never could have expected what she heard from Tangipahoa Parish's 8th Ward Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell when she called his office a week ago to officiate her marriage to her African-American fiance, Terence.

McKay spoke with Bardwell's wife to make arrangements for the ceremony.

"At the end of the conversation, she said that she had to ask me a question. She asked if this was an interracial marriage." When McKay replied yes, she was told, "Well, we don't do interracial weddings or marriages."

McKay said she was beyond shock. "We are used to the closet racism, but we're not going to tolerate that overt racism from an elected official."

Hampton University Roiled by a Non-Black Homecoming Queen - washingtonpost.com

Hampton University Roiled by a Non-Black Homecoming Queen - washingtonpost.com: HAMPTON, Va. -- Nikole Churchill, a tall, thin woman with long, dark hair, was named homecoming queen at historically black Hampton University last week. The next day, she appeared with her court at the football game against Howard University, another historically black school.

All this would be unremarkable except that Churchill is the first homecoming queen at Hampton who is not black. That apparently did not sit well with a handful of people at the game, who heckled the senior nursing major.

This bit of unpleasantness, along with similar comments online, might have passed unnoticed except for what Churchill did next. She posted a public letter to President Obama on a Web site asking him to visit the campus and help with her predicament.

In N.Va. Heists, Only the Finest Jewelry Nabbed; Lesser Karats Are Left Behind - washingtonpost.com

In N.Va. Heists, Only the Finest Jewelry Nabbed; Lesser Karats Are Left Behind - washingtonpost.com: Burglars with a keen appreciation for gold have targeted Indian and South Asian homes in a months-long series of daytime break-ins in Northern Virginia.

The burglars are discerning. They have taken 22-karat pieces but left behind sterling silver and well-crafted costume jewelry. They have sifted through floor-length gowns lovingly stored in closets and plucked every custom-made sari threaded with gold and worth thousands, disdaining saris worth only hundreds.

Officers in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, and the homeowners themselves, have yet to figure out how the burglars so successfully identify houses with large gold caches. Before they became victims, many of the families were strangers, and they and police have eliminated many of the obvious links: churches, temples, schools or even grocery stores where they could have been tracked.

Pneumonia, Susceptibility of Young Among Traits of Swine Flu - washingtonpost.com

Pneumonia, Susceptibility of Young Among Traits of Swine Flu - washingtonpost.com: As swine flu continues to spread around the globe, a clearer and in some ways more unnerving picture of the most serious cases has started to emerge, indicating that the virus could pose a greater threat to some young, otherwise vibrant people.

The virus can cause life-threatening viral pneumonia much more commonly than the typical flu, prompting the World Health Organization on Friday to warn hospitals to prepare for a possible wave of very sick patients and to urge doctors to treat suspected cases quickly with antiviral drugs.

Experts stress that most people who get the H1N1 virus either never get sick or recover easily. But some young adults, possibly especially women, are falling seriously ill at an unexpectedly rapid pace and are showing up in intensive care units and dying in unusually high numbers, they say.

Advocacy Groups Assail Immigration Enforcement Program - washingtonpost.com

Advocacy Groups Assail Immigration Enforcement Program - washingtonpost.com: Immigrant advocacy groups on Friday assailed a Department of Homeland Security decision to continue deputizing state and local law enforcement agents to catch illegal immigrants, saying the department's new rules aimed at curbing racial profiling by police were inadequate.

Critics focused their fire at the continuing participation of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose Phoenix-based agency has produced the largest number of arrests under the federal program and who is under investigation by the Justice Department for alleged civil rights violations. DHS terminated Maricopa deputies' authority to investigate federal immigration violators in the community, but allowed them to continue checking for illegal immigrants already in jail.

Spelman College Announces $150 Million Capital Campaign

Spelman College Announces $150 Million Capital Campaign: Spelman College has set the most ambitious fundraising goal in the 128-year existence of the historically Black women's institution: $150 million by 2015.

President Beverly Daniel Tatum says the school's capital campaign announced this week would help educate 5,000 women, many of them first-generation college students, over the next decade.

“The economy is not as robust as we wish it were, but there are still individuals ready and willing to invest in human capital,” Tatum said. “Now more than ever, our nation needs the talent of the kind of women we have at Spelman.

Predominantly Black Sorority Empowered to Expand International Aid Work

Predominantly Black Sorority Empowered to Expand International Aid Work: Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority, the nation’s oldest Greek-letter organization for African-American women, has been granted special consultative status by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), a designation that will help the sorority further its international aid work under the U.N. banner.

“Obviously we’re quite delighted,” said AKA spokeswoman Melody McDowell. “It’s something that we’ve worked hard for and certainly are deserving of because of our international reach.”

Indian-Americans hail Obama for celebrating Diwali in White House- Hindustan Times

Indian-Americans hail Obama for celebrating Diwali in White House- Hindustan Times: Barack Obama, who became the first US President to celebrate Diwali in the White House, has won praise from the Indian-American community which said that his gesture demonstrated his commitment towards diversity and inclusiveness.

'It is indeed a historic occasion. All the credit should be given to Obama for officially bringing Diwali to the White
House,' said Shambhu Banik, an eminent Indian-American leader based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Though it was the Bush Administration which started the practice of celebrating Diwali, the event always took place in
the Indian Treaty Room in a building annexed to the White House.

Meet the Garcias

Seventy percent of the students at Cindy Garcia's Los Angeles school do not graduate on time. Will Cindy (pictured above) make it? In North Carolina, Bill and Betty Garcia are worried their sons are not getting the Latino experience they had. Lorena Garcia in Miami is striving to succeed as a businesswoman. In our Latino in America special report, we invite you to meet the Garcias and see how Latinos are changing America -- and how America is changing them

Unlocking the Learning Potential

Unlocking the Learning Potential: 'I like you but I can't pass you.'

I've said something along that line to a number of students over the years and it's been especially tough for me to say to students I am fond of.

One of the things that I've had to deal with over the past five years has been separating my personal feelings for a student from my desire to enforce sanctions fairly and equally. I pride myself on the fact that I treat my best students the same way as I do the not-so-good ones, particularly when it comes to grading.

I find it funny that, despite being a proud left-of-center thinker and a progressive social advocate, I ascribe to a more conservative teaching approach. I seem to be channeling my inner John McWhorter or Bill Cosby every time I'm in the classroom, which puts me at odds with the 'systems of oppression' research I do.

Scholar’s Documentary Leads to S.C. Pardon for Tom Joyner’s Great-Uncles

Scholar’s Documentary Leads to S.C. Pardon for Tom Joyner’s Great-Uncles: Two great-uncles of syndicated radio host Tom Joyner, sent to the electric chair for the 1913 murder of a Confederate Army veteran, were unanimously pardoned Wednesday by South Carolina.

Officials believe the men are the first in the state to be posthumously pardoned in a capital murder case.

Black landowners Thomas and Meeks Griffin were executed 94 years ago after a jury convicted them of killing 73-year-old John Lewis, a wealthy White veteran living in Blackstock, a Chester County town 40 miles north of Columbia. Two other Black men were also put to death for the crime.

'This won't bring them back, but this will bring closure. I hope now that they rest in peace,' Joyner said. 'This is a good day.'

Bay Area Digital News Project Promises Diverse Coverage

Bay Area Digital News Project Promises Diverse Coverage: The changing media landscape is testing the relevancy and innovation of news operations all over the country. It’s no surprise then that new partnerships among media organizations are turning to Web sites as outlets for local news.

In San Francisco, private and public entities are coming together to create the Bay Area News Project, a nonprofit local news Web site for the San Francisco bay metropolitan area. But unlike other enterprises, the collaboration between the KQED public broadcasting organization, the University of California Berkeley, and a wealthy benefactor, they have expressed a commitment to ensuring diversity in news coverage.

“I’ve never been anywhere more diverse,” said Scott Walton, a spokesperson for KQED-San Francisco. “We know the Bay area is diverse and within a few years it will be a minority majority region.”

Stalled Pursuit of Higher Learning

Stalled Pursuit of Higher Learning: As a founder of the University Leadership Initiative, an advocacy group for undocumented students in Texas, Julieta Garibay sorts through the numerous e-mails her organization receives daily.

Before the economic downturn, most of the e-mails were from students in the state. Now, because Texas is a rare exception in allowing undocumented college students to receive state financial aid, Garibay fields requests from undocumented students across the country inquiring whether they too would be eligible for aid in Texas.

She has to tell them they are not.

More Teachers Turning to Sign Language to Manage Classrooms - washingtonpost.com

More Teachers Turning to Sign Language to Manage Classrooms - washingtonpost.com: Teachers come to the classroom with noble goals: closing the achievement gap, illuminating young minds. But first they must confront a more pressing problem: how to manage children's urgent requests, in the middle of the most carefully planned lessons, for permission to sharpen pencils, get drinks of water or visit the bathroom.

One solution, a growing number of teachers are finding, is learning to speak without sound.

'The very first year I taught, I realized how much time I was wasting in my classroom for my students to be constantly raising their hands,' said Fran Nadel, 25, a second-grade teacher at Woodburn School for the Fine and Communicative Arts in Falls Church. 'I realized if they could do this without talking, I could send them somewhere with a flick of my finger.'

Interracial couple denied marriage license in La. - Yahoo! News

Interracial couple denied marriage license in La. - Yahoo! News: NEW ORLEANS – A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

'I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way,' Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. 'I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else.'

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

Classroom Strategies for Teaching Across Race | Scholastic.com

Classroom Strategies for Teaching Across Race | Scholastic.com: Tuesday afternoon, fifth grader Jacob disrupts groupwork with his goofing around. On Thursday, it’s his deskmate, Miles, who has the class’s attention with similar antics. What’s the outcome? Jacob gets a reprimand, and Miles receives a detention. What’s the difference? Miles is African-American.

The latest government data, analyzed recently by Howard Witt in an article in the Chicago Tribune, shows that black students are getting a raw deal in American schools when it comes to discipline. In the average New Jersey public school, reports Witt, African-American students are almost 60 times as likely as white students to be expelled. Nationally, they are three times more likely than non-black students to be suspended or expelled for the same offenses. The problem has gotten worse, not better: In 1972, black students were suspended at just twice the rate of other students. And today’s numbers can’t be explained away by differences in class or income, since middle-class and wealthy black students are being punished more often—and more severely—than their non-black peers.

Lost in space race: Female pilots - USATODAY.com

Lost in space race: Female pilots - USATODAY.com: Women had the 'right stuff,' too, back in the '60s. But the data on their performance tests were buried in the Mad Men era, and it was two decades before there was an American female astronaut.

A report in the current Advances in Physiology Education reveals that the 'Mercury 13' members of the private Woman in Space Program of the early 1960s did about as well as, or better than, male candidates identically tested.

'Some of these women were told they were as good as men. The data show it was true,' says lead author Kathy Ryan of the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

But the 13 women who passed the astronaut tests at Lovelace saw their chance at 'one giant step for womankind' canceled in 1961. 'I quit my job teaching flight instruction, and … there I was, unemployed,' says Gene Nora Jessen, 72, of Boise.

Nation's Pupils Find Few Black Men To Call Mister

Nation's Pupils Find Few Black Men To Call Mister: Lenny Macklin made it to 10th grade before having a teacher who looked like him -- an African-American male. Gregory Georges graduated from high school without ever being taught by a Black man.

Only about 2 percent of teachers nationwide are African-American men. But experts say that needs to change if educators expect to reduce minority achievement gaps and dropout rates.

Macklin, now an 18-year-old college student, said he understands the circle that keeps many of his peers out of the classroom professionally.

“A lot of males, they don't like being in school because they can't relate to their teacher,” said Macklin, of Pittsburgh. “So why would you want to work there?”

Family, Education Struggles Motivate Immigration Reform Activism

Family, Education Struggles Motivate Immigration Reform Activism: It’s not a question of why immigration reform needs to happen for Alma Huerta, a freshman at Georgetown University—it’s a matter of when. The 18-year-old has lived through having no papers to waiting to take a citizenship test to undergo a uniquely American transmutation—from Mexican to Mexican-American.

“You live here and study here, this becomes your country,” said Huerta, who is studying international politics and foreign policy. “You are product of your heritage but in the end there is a reason why you left, you want to be a part of this country.”

But for many—approximately 12 million—joining the union isn’t an option until legislators in Washington decide their fate. Hundreds of activists and demonstrators assembled near the Capitol Tuesday, hoping to revive the debate and unveil Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s (D-Ill.) new comprehensive reform bill.

150 Years Later, John Brown's Failed Slave Revolt Marches On - washingtonpost.com

150 Years Later, John Brown's Failed Slave Revolt Marches On He had a safe house, weapons and a mole planted among his unsuspecting victims.

He had wealthy backers, a juicy military target outside Washington and fanatical followers ready to die for their cause.

He was a religious zealot who hated what he saw as an evil and corrupt system. And 150 years ago this week, in what is now the quaint tourist town of Harper's Ferry, W.Va., he fueled the smoldering fires of Civil War, helped doom slavery in America and prepared the way for the civil rights movement and beyond.

He was John Brown, a 59-year-old abolitionist patriarch who sired 20 children, directed his share of the blood-letting in "Bleeding Kansas," and now hoped to start a slave insurrection that would spread from the mountains of Virginia to the plantations of the deep South

A darker side of Columbus emerges in US classrooms - washingtonpost.com

A darker side of Columbus emerges in US classrooms - washingtonpost.com: Columbus' stature in U.S. classrooms has declined somewhat through the years, and many districts will not observe his namesake holiday on Monday. Although lessons vary, many teachers are trying to present a more balanced perspective of what happened after Columbus reached the Caribbean and the suffering of indigenous populations.

'The whole terminology has changed,' said James Kracht, executive associate dean for academic affairs in the Texas A&M College of Education and Human Development. 'You don't hear people using the world 'discovery' anymore like they used to. 'Columbus discovers America.' Because how could he discover America if there were already people living here?'

In Texas, students start learning in the fifth grade about the 'Columbian Exchange' - which consisted not only of gold, crops and goods shipped back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, but diseases carried by settlers that decimated native populations.

In McDonald, Pa., 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, fourth-grade students at Fort Cherry Elementary put Columbus on trial this year - charging him with misrepresenting the Spanish crown and thievery. They found him guilty and sentenced him to life in prison.

'In their own verbiage, he was a bad guy,' teacher Laurie Crawford said.

Buffalo Soldiers Seek to Preserve History - washingtonpost.com

Buffalo Soldiers Seek to Preserve History - washingtonpost.com: Dozens of Buffalo Soldiers, African American World War II veterans who served when the military was still segregated, gathered for the annual reunion of the 92nd Army Division at the Hilton Hotel in Silver Spring. As time thins their ranks, some fear their legacy may be forgotten.

Students Trace University of Maryland's Slavery Ties - washingtonpost.com

Students Trace University of Maryland's Slavery Ties - washingtonpost.com: When the University of Maryland elaborately celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2006, there were only fleeting mentions of its early ties to slavery. The next year, black faculty members urged President C.D. Mote Jr. to follow the lead of Maryland lawmakers and issue an apology for the university's historic use of slave labor.

Mote refused to do so, but he asked a group of students to research the topic. As they presented him with a final report Friday, the students recommended the university 'issue a statement of regret,' honor African Americans who assisted with its creation by naming them founders, add classes focused on slavery, continue research and ensure that the university is not benefiting from current international 'coercive labor practices.'

Movie Review - Good Hair - Untangling A Knotty (But Big) Business : NPR

Movie Review - Good Hair - Untangling A Knotty (But Big) Business : NPR: The documentary Good Hair takes its inspiration and its title from a question comedian Chris Rock fielded one day from his 6-year-old daughter: 'How come I don't have good hair?' she wondered, a query the comedian says set him to pondering the social expectations that had put that notion into her head. Grabbing a film crew, he went in search of answers — at a hair-shaving temple, a hair-styling convention and a range of hair-raising spots in between.

He begins his quest at the Bronner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta, where some 120,000 hair professionals show up at semiannual showcases to learn about the latest twists in straighteners, wigs, sprays and gels. Also, to watch a competitive styling contest — a sort of Follicular Follies, with everything from underwater haircutting to marching bands. All because the black hair business is big business.

African-Americans represent 12 percent of the population, a Bronner brother tells him, but buy 80 percent of the hair products, a striking statistic made more striking by the fact that many of those products are downright painful to use.

Tough sheriff's immigration duties face limits after complaints - CNN.com

Tough sheriff's immigration duties face limits after complaints - CNN.com: (CNN) -- Federal authorities are moving to rein in the man dubbed 'America's Toughest Sheriff' after complaints that immigration raids by his deputies amounted to unconstitutional roundups of Latinos.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff's department have had an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security since 2007 that allows his department to enforce federal immigration laws. But Arpaio says the federal agency is moving to revise the agreement to limit that power to checking the immigration status of inmates already in his Phoenix jail.

Arpaio has cultivated his image as "America's Toughest Sheriff," a nickname earned by his treatment of Maricopa County inmates. Many of his prisoners are housed in tents and forced to wear pink underwear, and he once boasted of feeding them on less than a dollar a day.

Now he faces a Justice Department investigation into allegations of civil rights abuses, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona is suing the sheriff over immigration raids conducted by his department. The class-action lawsuit alleges that Arpaio has abused the power delegated to him under his agreement with Homeland Security, known as the 287(g) program.

Lunch debts piling up for school districts - USATODAY.com

Lunch debts piling up for school districts - USATODAY.com: More children are getting into school lunch lines without being able to pay, creating a financial burden for school districts.

Some schools are toughening their policies — limiting students to two or three unpaid meals, creating payment plans and using collection agencies.

It's a growing problem that reflects families' economic struggles nationally, says Dora Rivas, president of the School Nutrition Association.

'When we're talking to parents, we're hearing that they lost their jobs, their cars have broken down,' says Sheila Mason of Des Moines Public Schools.

About 4,500 students in Des Moines owed $133,000 for unpaid meals at the start of the year, most of it from previous years. That's more than twice the amount a year earlier.

If a student can't pay, school officials say they contact parents and urge them to apply for federally subsidized free and reduced-price lunch programs. About 19 million students received free and reduced-price lunches in May, according to the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service.

UMass-Amherst Journalism Professor Teaches Students To Be Culturally Sensitive

UMass-Amherst Journalism Professor Teaches Students To Be Culturally Sensitive: A cursory glance at the courses in Nick McBride's teaching load at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst would suggest his priorities and goals mirror journalism educators everywhere.

Like his colleagues, McBride wants his students to hone their writing skills. He wants them striving for accuracy. And he wants them to be fair and to consider all the sides to any story they report, edit or photograph.

But, unlike many of his counterparts, McBride, an associate professor of journalism, routinely pushes students to consider issues of race and ethnicity and to examine historically marginalized populations in their class assignments. Courses developed and taught by McBride titled “Covering Race” and “Community Journalism” reveal his passion — and insistence — that his students, most of them White, learn how to cover disadvantaged people in their reporting and how to interact with them on a daily basis.

Ben Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl Dies - Post Mortem - Obituaries from The Washington Post

Ben Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl Dies - Post Mortem - Obituaries from The Washington Post: Ben Ali, the founder of Ben's Chili Bowl, a landmark D.C. eatery that has fed presidents, celebrities and the common folks of the city, died last night of congestive heart failure at his home in Washington. He was 82.

A fixture of U Street since 1958, the cramped restaurant has outlasted the changing fortunes of its neighborhood and supplied hungry Washingtonians with heaping bowls of chili, hot dogs and its trademark chili-topped half-smokes. Photos of visiting celebrities -- including Denzel Washington, Danny Glover and Bill Cosby -- lined the walls, and in January the restaurant received its best publicity boost ever when president-elect Obama dropped by for a half-smoke (a smoked sausage).

Near a sign that warned, "Who eats free at Ben's: Bill Cosby. No one else," Obama paid for his $12 tab with a $20 bill, leaving the change as a tip.Mr. Ali, a Trinidadian immigrant who had studied at Howard University, opened the eatery with his wife, Virginia, and ran the popular but eccentric carryout restaurant with two of his three sons. The place was known as a gathering spot for Washingtonians of all classes and races, who were united by their love of chili and the restaurant's excellent jukebox and quirky customs. It was open as long as 22 hours a day and survived several urban renewal efforts on a street once known as Washington's "Black Broadway" but later hit by severe blight before a recent renaissance.

Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide is Muslim, report says - CNN.com

Nearly 1 in 4 people worldwide is Muslim, report says - CNN.com: Nearly one in four people worldwide is Muslim -- and they are not necessarily where you might think, according to an extensive new study that aims to map the global Muslim population.

India, a majority-Hindu country, has more Muslims than any country except for Indonesia and Pakistan, and more than twice as many as Egypt.

China has more Muslims than Syria.

Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon.

And Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya put together.

Nearly two out of three of the world's Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia.

The Middle East and north Africa, which together are home to about one in five of the world's Muslims, trail a very distant second.

There are about 1.57 billion Muslims in the world, according to the report, "Mapping the Global Muslim Population," by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. That represents about 23 percent of the total global population of 6.8 billion.

Minority Groups Raise Voices on Reform - washingtonpost.com

Minority Groups Raise Voices on Reform - washingtonpost.com: In the debate over revamping the health-care system, there are the doctors and nurses, the insurance companies and industry lobbyists, and the patients with preexisting conditions, among others. With so many interest groups, the conversation is loud and getting louder.

Missing from the noise so far: the voices of minorities, who are disproportionately represented among the poor and uninsured and could benefit the most from reform, and who are more likely than others to have chronic illnesses such as diabetes. They are symbols of the failures of the current system.

Starting this week, however, with a new campaign and new ads, their voices will become a larger part of the debate.

Leaders of black and Latino advocacy groups say that because so many of their members favor health-care reform, they are becoming more forceful as the final drafts near, even though they are reluctant to make race and ethnicity a central issue.

In First Lady’s Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery - NYTimes.com

In First Lady’s Roots, a Complex Path From Slavery - NYTimes.com: WASHINGTON — In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.

In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time.

In the annals of American slavery, this painful story would be utterly unremarkable, save for one reason: This union, consummated some two years before the Civil War, represents the origins of a family line that would extend from rural Georgia, to Birmingham, Ala., to Chicago and, finally, to the White House.

Melvinia Shields, the enslaved and illiterate young girl, and the unknown white man who impregnated her are the great-great-great-grandparents of Michelle Obama, the first lady.

Obama awards national science, technology medals | Nation & World Updates | Wichita Eagle

Obama awards national science, technology medals | Nation & World Updates | Wichita Eagle: WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama linked scientific discovery to helping the struggling economy Wednesday as he honored those who invented batteries for implanted defibrillators, mapped the human genetic code and made global positioning systems possible.

Awarding the National Medal of Science and the Medal of Technology and Innovation, Obama said the United States must continue to invest in 'the next generation of discoveries and the next generation of discoverers.' Repeating his pledge to put thousands more students in college classrooms, he committed to spending 3 percent of the gross domestic product to educate future scientists and researchers.

'Because throughout our history, amid tumult and war and against tough odds, this nation has always looked toward the future and then led the way,' he said.

Obama hosts a night of stargazing

WASHINGTON (CNN) — One hundred and forty lucky middle school aged students are headed to the South Lawn at the White House this evening for a night of star gazing with President Obama – but this time, the proceedings have nothing to do with Hollywood royalty.

Tonight's festivities will target a very specific age group, one that typically succumbs to peer pressure and tends to move away from science and technology. According to former astronaut Dr. Sally Ride, who was on the South Lawn for a preview and will be there this evening, 'this reminds them that science is cool, and tonight's event might let them hold onto that interest' going into high school and college.

The students from local middle schools in Washington, DC and Virginia who are coming to the White House tonight will be met by the 'Inflatable Dome,' a virtual universe that displays a realistic virtual show of the galaxies, as well as roughly twenty telescopes scattered about the lawn and pointed toward the heavens.

Cabinet officials, Chicagoans discuss ways to end teen violence - CNN.com

Cabinet officials, Chicagoans discuss ways to end teen violence - CNN.com: CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan met Wednesday with a group of teens who were schoolmates of a Chicago youth brutally beaten to death last month.

"I can't tell you how impressed I am. We had a great conversation," Duncan said at a news conference. "These are kids that are overcoming odds that folks in this room have a hard time even comprehending."

He and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also met with Chicago's mayor and community leaders to discuss possible remedies for violent crimes involving young people.

The Cabinet members' visit, ordered by President Obama, was prompted by the beating death of Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old honors student. Authorities said Derrion was caught, unwittingly, in the middle of a street fight between two factions of students from Christian Fenger Academy High School on September 24.

The beating was videotaped with a cell phone.

His death was not an isolated incident: More than 30 youths died violently in Chicago last school year.

S.F. State University Hosts Conference To Celebrate, Further Explore Ethnic Studies

S.F. State University Hosts Conference To Celebrate, Further Explore Ethnic Studies: At a time when some pundits and critics contend that ethnic studies are no longer needed, the dean of the only U.S. college devoted to the discipline calls the struggle to survive a collective one.

“The current attack on ethnic studies is really one on the public trust in general,” says Dr. Kenneth Monteiro, dean of San Francisco State University's College of Ethnic Studies. “This attack is against public support for accessible health, education, a variety of causes. We in ethnic studies aren't isolated anymore.”

Monteiro's observations coincide with an academic conference kicking off today at SFSU called “Race, Resistance and Relevance.” The four-day event commemorates the 40th anniversary of the founding of the discipline and the founding of SFSU's ethnic studies college, which now boasts 50 full-time faculty teaching 6,000 students annually.

With Olympics Comes Lessons on Race in Brazil

With Olympics Comes Lessons on Race in Brazil: To Dr. Vania Penha-Lopes, the selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the first in South America, is a teachable moment.

“I feel great that the International Olympic Committee recognized that the continent of America has a South,” said Penha-Lopes, a sociology professor at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, N.J., who was born and raised in Brazil.

“In terms of the United States, it will educate more people that there is a huge country south of the equator. Maybe [Americans] will learn we speak Portuguese and not Spanish.”

However, she’s concerned that the millions spent to host the major sporting events will not benefit all Brazilians.

Wheaton College Was Underground Railroad Stop

Wheaton College Was Underground Railroad Stop: WHEATON, Ill. — An entry buried in a 120-year-old manuscript has confirmed what local historians long have believed: Wheaton College was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Officials said they knew the college was founded and led by abolitionists. But it was difficult to substantiate the claim that the school, called Illinois Institute at the time, was directly involved with the network of stops and routes that aided escaping slaves.

“We never had the hard evidence that strict historians want to see,” said David Malone, the college's head of archives and special collections.

That changed earlier this year when Wheaton College history professor David Maas was doing research for a book.

Oral histories project turns attention to Latinos - CNN.com

Oral histories project turns attention to Latinos - CNN.com: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- You can learn a lot from people by listening to their stories.

That has been the driving idea behind StoryCorps. Since 2003 the nonprofit project has been collecting oral histories from everyday Americans across the United States.

One copy of the recorded history goes to the participant and one copy to the American Folklife Ceter at the Library of Congress. To date, StoryCorps has recorded more than 27,000 stories, many of which have been broadcast on public radio stations.

The project is now turning its attention to the stories of Latinos -- on Thursday, StoryCorps launched "Historias" ("Stories" in Spanish) as its latest effort.

Historias, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, aims at collecting the stories of Latinos in the United States, including the territory of Puerto Rico. StoryCorps staffers will be traveling across the country in two mobile radio studios, Airstream trailers with a small soundproof room in the back. Inside each studio there is a table with two microphones and two sets of headphones. Participants sit and share their stories.

Latinos in Suffolk County face racial intolerance, report says - CNN.com

Latinos in Suffolk County face racial intolerance, report says - CNN.com: NEW YORK (CNN) -- Latino immigrants living in Suffolk County, New York, have been living in an environment of intolerance and attacks against them, a report released Wednesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center said.

The atmosphere of intolerance is stoked in part by anti-immigrant groups, an indifferent police department, and county leaders themselves, according to the report.

The law center, which researches and keeps tabs on hate groups, became interested in the Long Island county after the November 8, 2008, murder of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant in Patchogue, New York. Prosecutors allege that the killers were a group of teenagers who targeted Latinos as part of a sport they called 'beaner-hopping.'

Undocumented patients wary of offers to return to home countries - CNN.com

Undocumented patients wary of offers to return to home countries - CNN.com: (CNN) -- Going back to Mexico is not an option, said the 43-year-old man, kneeling next to his wife's wheelchair.

His wife, 45, lost her eyesight to diabetes. She also has high blood pressure. And her kidneys are failing.

For years, he has taken her to a dialysis clinic attached to a public hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The facility that gave her free care plans to close Saturday.

They are illegal immigrants with no health insurance and, they say they have nowhere to go for his wife's vast medical needs. The closing clinic offered to help return them to Mexico.

The Atlanta clinic is the latest known case of a medical institution that's offering to send illegal immigrants who can't afford treatment back to their native countries -- a practice that critics liken to patient dumping

Commentary: Mexican-Americans have deep U.S. ties - CNN.com

Commentary: Mexican-Americans have deep U.S. ties - CNN.com: (CNN) -- Just about any celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 - October 15) will highlight the diversity among Hispanics.

They come from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world, have settled in various areas of the United States, have distinctive customs and come in all shapes and colors.

But an often overlooked difference among Hispanics relates to how many generations back they trace their roots in U.S. history.

Hispanics are not just immigrants or the U.S.-born children of immigrants. They are also Americans with deep family histories in the United States. This is especially true of the Mexican-origin population, the largest Hispanic subgroup and one that has been continually replenished by immigrant newcomers for a century.

Hispanic and Latin Baby Names Becoming Less Popular - TIME

Hispanic and Latin Baby Names Becoming Less Popular - TIME: In May, the Pew Hispanic Center released a study of first-, second- and third-generation Hispanics in the U.S. — a look at how the Latin-American population has grown and assimilated over the past three decades. As recently as 1980, just 9% of U.S. kids under 18 were Hispanic, compared with 22% today. Only about a tenth of that population are first-generation Latin Americans — meaning they were born outside the U.S. More than half (52%) are second generation — born in the U.S. to at least one foreign-born parent; and 37% were born in America to American-born parents. By 2025, the study estimates that close to 30% of all American kids will have some Latino ancestry.

What happens, of course, when an immigrant group heads toward assimilation, is that each successive generation gets more educated (82% of first-generation Latin-American kids ages 15 to 17 attend school, compared with 97% of second-generation kids — hardly perfect but moving toward parity) and more proficient in the national language (by the third generation, 95% of Latino kids ages 15 to 17 speak English exclusively or very well). Another thing that happens is that parents start moving away from baby names like Guillermo and closer to names like William. "When [immigrant or later-generation] parents name their children, they are combining their own attachments and affinities with their hopes and aspirations for their children," says Guillermina Jasso, a sociology professor at New York University and a second-generation Hispanic American.

Minorities, mostly Hispanics, flock to suburban schools - USATODAY.com

Minorities, mostly Hispanics, flock to suburban schools - USATODAY.com: Minority enrollment in suburban school districts has exploded since the early 1990s, and Hispanic students account for most of that growth, a report released Tuesday finds.

But the data show that while districts outside urban and rural areas have seen remarkable gains in black, Hispanic and Asian students from 1993 to 2007, schools within some of those districts have grown more segregated.

'In spite of the rapid demographic changes at the level of the school district, when you actually look at the schools kids attend, there still might be issues of racial and ethnic balance,' says Richard Fry, a senior research associate for the Pew Hispanic Center and author of the report.

The findings come as enrollment in suburban schools has increased by 3.4 million during the past decade and a half. Meanwhile, the number of white suburban students slipped by 1%, reflecting a shift in the once largely white enclaves that defined suburban schools.

Once accounting for nearly three-quarters of enrollment, white students now make up 59% of suburban districts. At the same time, non-white enrollment rose by 13 percentage points, up from 28% in the 1993-94 academic year.

Hispanic students aspire to higher education but face barriers - USATODAY.com

Hispanic students aspire to higher education but face barriers - USATODAY.com: WASHINGTON — Nearly nine in 10 Hispanics say it's 'necessary' to get a college education to get ahead in life — more than any other ethnic or racial group in the USA. But Hispanic students' plans to get an actual diploma fall well below those of other groups, a survey finds: Fewer than half of Hispanic 18- to 25-year-olds say they plan to get a bachelor's degree, well below the 60% of all young people who say the same.

The findings, reported in a survey released today by the Pew Hispanic Center, suggest several reasons for the divide between aspirations and reality, including language barriers, parents' abilities to play an active role in education and students' desires to help support their families.

Administration Launches $650M Program to Boost Education - washingtonpost.com

Administration Launches $650M Program to Boost Education - washingtonpost.com: The Obama administration on Tuesday announced goals for a $650 million grant competition for school systems and nonprofit organizations with ideas for narrowing achievement gaps, reducing high school dropout rates and improving teacher and principal effectiveness.

The competition dovetails with a $4.35 billion grant program for states that the administration calls 'Race to the Top.' The combined $5 billion in seed money for fixing or improving schools amounts to one of the largest federal investments to date in educational entrepreneurship.

Funding comes from the economic stimulus law, which gives the Education Department unusually wide latitude to pick grant winners.

In the $650 million venture, three types of grants would be awarded next year to school systems and nonprofit partners: up to $5 million for developing promising ideas; up to $30 million for reforms that already have a good track record; and up to $50 million for proven innovations that could help hundreds of thousands of students regionally or nationally. Applicants would be required to obtain public or private matching funds.

Out-of-School Activities Play Role in Helping Close Achievement Gap, Experts Say

Out-of-School Activities Play Role in Helping Close Achievement Gap, Experts Say: WASHINGTON— Public policies that help communities provide the spaces and activities for after-school play, exploration, and social interaction should help close racial, ethnic and economic achievement gaps, according to experts at an Educational Testing Service (ETS) conference Monday.

Researchers and educators said in the current system, children are showing deficiencies in both cognitive skills like literacy and noncognitive ones, such as goal-setting, that bolster academic success. As enriching playtime and after-school programs are reduced, they have called for reform not only inside the classroom but outside as well.

Dr. Edmund W. Gordon, a leading researcher of supplemental, or complementary, education, said during the opening session of the ETS 12th Addressing Achievement Gaps Symposium that improving student achievement includes reaping the benefits of nonschool activities that stimulate learning beyond the brick and mortar.

“We cannot depend so heavily on schools,” Gordon said, adding that education reform should be viewed as a public health issue that challenges the public to respond to growing education needs at every level of society.

Mass. Legislation Could Authorize Study of Slavery’s Economic Legacy

Mass. Legislation Could Authorize Study of Slavery’s Economic Legacy: BOSTON — Massachusetts, which boasts a history of abolitionism, is considering legislation to determine how much the state and local institutions profited from the African slave trade.

A bill before the legislature would require some of Massachusetts oldest banking, financial and insurance companies to look deep into their history — and the histories of subsidiaries and predecessor companies — to uncover links to the slave trade, as a condition of doing business with the state.

It also would authorize the secretary of state to produce a book documenting to what extent the state, since the times of the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, benefited from slavery, whether through taxes or economic growth.

Federal Eye - Eye Opener: Latinos in the Federal Government

Federal Eye - Eye Opener: Latinos in the Federal Government: "Latino Americans may be the nation's fastest-growing minority group, but they're also the most underrepresented among civilian federal employees,' yours truly writes in Tuesday's Federal Diary column. 'As of last September, Hispanics accounted for about 8 percent of the total civilian federal workforce, according to the Office of Personnel Management. That's well below the 13.2 percent of Hispanics in the national civilian labor force, according to Labor Department statistics.'

More: 'Of the 25 largest government agencies, 17 saw modest increases in Hispanic hires in fiscal year 2008 over fiscal 2007, with most being made at the lower- and mid-level general schedule levels. At higher levels of government, Hispanics accounted for 3.6 percent of the Senior Executive Service during fiscal year 2008, according to OPM figures.

'The overall Latino hiring disparity is equivalent to more than 100,000 jobs or roughly $5.5 billion in salaries, according to Gilbert Sandate, chairman of the Coalition for Fairness for Hispanics in Government. His group has met with White House and OPM officials to discuss the issue.

When Perception Becomes Reality

When Perception Becomes Reality: The perception of barriers prevents Mexican-American students from achieving their ultimate educational goals, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Missouri.

“The data tells us this group is at risk of not fulfi lling their dreams,” said co-author Dr. Lisa Flores, associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri’s College of Education. “Mexican-American students have high aspirations in terms of educational goals. But what they actually achieve, and expect to achieve, is lower than what they aspire to.”

Flores surveyed 186 Mexican-American high school students with an average age of 16.14 years in a Texas-Mexico border town. Flores says she believes her study is the first to fi nd a direct link between perception and results. Perceived barriers include lack of support among family and community to continue education, family responsibilities and fi nances.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 57 percent of Mexican-American students graduate from high school. Only 11 percent receive college degrees.

Sotomayor Ushers In New Era for Latinas in Legal Profession

Sotomayor Ushers In New Era for Latinas in Legal Profession: In the months and years to come, the decisions Justice Sonia Sotomayor helps render as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court will play a role in shaping our society.

However, before even issuing her first opinion, the significance of Sotomayor’s appointment to the court was celebrated across the country. Her place on the bench marks a national milestone, but it especially resonates with young Hispanic women studying law and the “wise Latina” professors helping to prepare the next generation.

Today marks the beginning of a new term for the Supreme Court. For many female Hispanic lawyers and aspiring lawyers, it represents a new era regarding their place in the legal profession.

Asian-Americans Hope To Build Pipelines to College Presidencies

Asian-Americans Hope To Build Pipelines to College Presidencies: Dr. Ding-Jo Currie has long been aware that she is one of only a handful of Asian American college presidents in the U.S. today. What she did not know until recently, however, is how few mid- and senior-level Asian administrators are groomed into becoming presidents.

That fact, along with myriad hiring trend data, social stereotypes, and first-person experiences were among the topics shared at a historic roundtable meeting convened by the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., last week.

In 2006, Asians made up 0.9 percent of all college presidents nationally, according to ACE. Meanwhile, 5.8 percent of presidents that year were Black and 4.6 percent were Hispanic. Among more than 283,000 tenured faculty the previous year, 4.5 percent were Black and 3.1 percent were Hispanic. However, the fact that more than 6 percent were of Asian descent suggests that a viable pool of university presidents is available.

Shooting by Police Ignites Racial Tensions in Illinois Town - washingtonpost.com

Shooting by Police Ignites Racial Tensions in Illinois Town - washingtonpost.com: ROCKFORD, Ill., Oct. 3 -- National civil rights leaders and local parishioners packed a church here Saturday, praying for peace and demanding justice in the Aug. 24 fatal shooting of an unarmed African American man by two white officers in the church's basement, in front of a dozen children.

The shooting has ignited long-simmering racial tensions in this struggling northern Illinois town, 80 miles from Chicago.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has made multiple visits to Rockford since the incident, and hundreds of black and white residents have marched for racial unity and reforms in the police department.

On Saturday, Benjamin Todd Jealous, NAACP president and chief executive, demanded greater accountability for police, saying, 'We are all human, and police officers need to treat us as human.'

Award-Winning Argentine Singer Mercedes Sosa Dies at 74 - washingtonpost.com

Award-Winning Argentine Singer Mercedes Sosa Dies at 74 - washingtonpost.com: Mercedes Sosa, an Argentine singer who emerged as a electrifying voice of conscience throughout Latin America for songs that championed social justice in the face of government repression, died today at a medical clinic in Buenos Aires. She was 74 and had liver, kidney and heart ailments.

With a rich contralto voice, Ms. Sosa was foremost a compelling singer whose career spanned five decades. She performed with entertainers as varied as rock star Sting, the Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes and folk singer Joan Baez, who said she was so moved by Ms. Sosa's 'tremendous charisma' and emotive firepower that she once dropped to her knees and kissed Ms. Sosa's feet.

Ms. Sosa's towering artistry, which led to several Latin Grammy Awards, belied her physical dimensions. Short, round, dark-skinned and often dressed in peasant clothing, Ms. Sosa was affectionately nicknamed 'La Negra' (the Black One) as an homage to her indigenous ancestry.

Latinos Kick Off Campaign to Counter Census Fears - washingtonpost.com

Latinos Kick Off Campaign to Counter Census Fears - washingtonpost.com: The census can be a hard sell in some Hispanic communities.

Fears that the information illegal immigrants give to the census could lead to their deportation is partly responsible for Latinos being undercounted in the 2000 Census by an estimated 3 percent.

This year, a prominent Latino evangelical preacher with a radio show in 11 markets is encouraging undocumented immigrants to boycott the census to protest the lack of immigration reform. And a Mexican-American political organization has called for all Hispanics to boycott it.

Against that backdrop, a coalition of prominent Latinos kicked off a nationwide campaign Thursday urging people to fill out the 2010 census forms.

The 47 million Hispanics living in the U.S. comprise the nation's largest minority group. As part of an unprecedented outreach to Hispanics, the Census Bureau for the first time will send bilingual forms to largely Hispanic areas. A host of Latino organizations are telling people that the census will help get more federal funds for their communities, potentially more Latinos in elective office and also more say in immigration laws.

2009 Examples of Excelencia Compendium | EdExcelencia.org

2009 Examples of Excelencia Compendium | EdExcelencia.org: By 2025, 22 percent of the U.S. college-age population will be Latino, a level already exceeded in four states: California, Florida, New York, and Texas. However, today, only seven percent of Latinos ages 18 to 24 have an associate's degree or higher compared to 9 percent of African Americans, 16 percent of white, and 25 percent of Asians of the same age cohort. Given the importance of college degree completion for U.S. society and economic competitiveness, meeting the country's future human capital and workforce needs make it imperative to improve outcomes for Latino students. As public attention is focused on achievement gaps in education, educators and policymakers search for what they can do to improve education outcomes for Latino students. Finding the right solutions can be difficult.

A Mediating Force

A Mediating Force: Home to a county with changing demographics, the College of Southern Maryland steps in to facilitate discussions surrounding race and class.

For a suburban area of Washington, D.C., Southern Maryland has remained unusually “Southern.” Its rolling tobacco fi elds, former slave quarters and lonesome two-lane roads through piney woods seem more reminiscent of the Deep South than the nation’s capital. So, too, have its attitudes on race.

That became evident on Dec. 6, 2004, when five men set fi res to 27 homes under construction, destroying 12 of them. All were in a Charles County subdivision favored by upscale African-Americans moving to the area from other parts of metropolitan Washington for its peace and affordable homes.

Stunned, county leaders bristled over the county’s negative reputation in the national media. The situation worsened later when some White high school students scrawled graffiti such as “KKK” on the doors and sign of a predominantly Black Baptist church to protest the influx of minority families. The Black population grew 25 percent from 2000 to 2003.