Fox News Latino

The nation’s record-low teen birth rate stems from robust declines in nearly every state, but most dramatically in several Mountain States and among Hispanics, according to a new government report.

All states but West Virginia and North Dakota showed significant drops over five years. But the Mountain States of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah saw rates fall by 30 percent or more.

In 22 states, teen Hispanic birth rates plunged at least 40 percent, which was described as “just amazing,” by the report’s lead author, Brady Hamilton of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What’s driving the declines? No one can say for sure. Experts believe the explanation is complicated and probably varies a bit from state to state. The national figure has been falling since 1991, aside from a brief interruption in 2006 and 2007.

The CDC report released Thursday is based on birth certificates for 2007 through 2011. Last year, the CDC announced the overall improvement in teen births: a record low of 31 births per 1,000 teens ages 15 to 19. That compares to 42 births per 1,000 five years earlier.

The new report focuses on state figures in 2011: Lowest rates are in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont, each with rates under 17 per 1,000.

Highest rates overall continue to be in the South, led by Arkansas and Mississippi, each with rates of about 50 per 1,000. In Arkansas, the majority of teen births are to white moms. In Mississippi, the majority are black.

White teens continue to have the lowest birth rate nationally — about 22 births per 1,000. Black teens saw a larger improvement, but their rate was still more than twice the white rate, at 47 per 1,000.

Overall, the Hispanic rate plummeted from 75 to 49 per 1,000, now virtually a tie with the black rate.

The teen drop in the last five years coincided with an overall decline in births, which experts attribute to a weak economy that dampened enthusiasm for having children.

Hispanic women have been part of that trend, possibly due to the economy and to illegal immigration crackdowns in some states that reduce the number of young Hispanic females entering the country from Mexico and other nations, said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health.

That means new immigrants are having less impact on birth statistics, and second- and third-generation families are having more influence.

As time goes on, Hispanics — like other immigrant groups before them — tend to adopt American customs and practices.

“There is more attention on education, career, and the future,” said Dr. Janet Realini, head of Healthy Futures of Texas, a San Antonio-based organization focused on preventing teen and unplanned pregnancies.

Hispanic rates, though, continue to be much higher than those for blacks and whites in most of the states with the largest Hispanic populations, including California, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Georgia.

Texas has the highest number of teen births in the nation, with nearly 43,000 in 2011. Nearly two-thirds were to Hispanic moms.

The overall improvement, though, is something to celebrate, said Bill Albert, chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

“Geography, politics, or policy alone simply cannot explain the widespread declines,” Albert said in an email. “Credit goes to teens themselves who are clearly making better decisions about sex, contraception, and their future.”

By: Adrian Carrasquillo

Tuesday evening the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the sweeping immigration reform bill, setting it up for an eventual vote from the full Senate. But with a Democratic majority in the Senate, many are looking to the next minefield for the legislation: The House floor.

“It’s anybody’s guess to what’s going to happen in terms of sequence,” says Ricardo Ramirez, professor of political science at Notre Dame University. “House Republicans will have their own bill, the question is, is there enough interest in the Senate bill?”

Ramirez says the Senate bill going through the House will be a tall order. He says many Republicans will have to embrace the strategy of someone like former vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, whose district isn’t impacted by immigration but who could face opposition if he were to represent Republicans again in a future primary election. Despite this, Ryan has come out in support of immigration reform.

There is also the issue of whether the Senate bill has any chance in the House at all after Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), who is among the eight immigration negotiators in the chamber, called the legislation “dead on arrival.”

Stanford University professor and Latino Decisions principal Gary Segura says the Senate bill still has life.

“It’s not the case that its dead on arrival,” he says. “A bipartisan House framework has been negotiated. The truth is both bills will be very similar,” he added, admitting that there will be fights and conference committees created to solve disputes between both bodies.

Segura says the House will be looking to define the path to citizenship and the accelerated Dreamer timetable, low-skilled guest worker policies, high-skilled worker rules, as well as e-verify employer enforcement and border security. All of these aspects are part of the Senate legislation he says, and the details will be haggled over.

Segura says the true obstacle to immigration reform in the House would have been the Hastert rule, which says no piece of legislation will be brought to the floor that does not command a majority of the majority.

“Boehner has abandoned it and under the current House majority the path to citizenship would not command the majority of Republican votes,” he says. “He’s violated it on a number of different occasions, so the sanctity of that position is nowhere near what it once was.”

An issue dividing the House was brought up by Democratic leadership on Monday, who expressed concern about language in a proposal meant to ensure that the government doesn’t pay for the health care of the 11 million undocumented immigrants on the path to citizenship.

“Folks in the Senate will soften on some of the language,” Notre Dame’s Ramirez says. “They may be OK with a waiting period regarding health care, but on the whole they will not be OK with ‘unless you are a full legal resident you won’t get health care.’ It would weaken some aspects of Obamacare and once you start excluding some people, it leaves open the possibility of excluding others.”

Segura says the motivations for a pivot on health care concerns are clear.

“It’s about allowing the immigration issue to get tied up in the Obamacare obsession on the GOP side of the aisle,” he says, adding that Democrats will likely lose on undocumented immigrants getting health care subsidies.

Both agree that passing comprehensive immigration reform through the house will require some cajoling by Republicans in favor of the legislation of GOP members who are on the fence. “It will be about to what extent Republicans lean on other Republicans, and Senators influence House members,” Ramirez says.

“You don’t have to move many, you just have to move enough that Boehner can bring the bill to the floor without facing revolution,” Segura adds.

By: Victor Garcia

Tejano music legend Lydia Mendoza is being recognized,  immortalized and given the respect many feels she deserves for her contributions to the American musical scene.

The United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating “The Lark Of The Border,” her nickname, whose minimalist Tejano sound was compared to a Spanish-language version of the blues.

“The Postal Service is proud to introduce its new Music Icons stamp series with the issuance of this Forever Stamp honoring the first lady of Tejano music, Lydia Mendoza,” said Marie Therese Dominguez, Vice-President of Government Relations and Public Policy for the postal service.

“Mendoza was a true American pioneer, whose unique voice and style of singing, paved the way for a whole new generation of Latino performers,” Dominguez added. “Her impact on music guarantees her place in American music history, and today her legacy continues on 30 million postage stamps.”

The Music Icons Series isn’t some obscure list.  Some of the other icons to be released as part of this stamp series include renowned crooners such as Johnny Cash and Ray Charles.

Mendoza performed the Spanish-language music of the Texas-Mexico borderlands, singing to and about the poor and working-class people on both sides of the Rio Grande.

Mendoza was soulful and usually accompanied only by her 12-string guitar.

She recorded more than a thousand songs in a career that lasted seven decades.

Her first hit was “Mal Hombre” in 1934 and her career included many major highlights such as singing at Jimmy Carter’s inaugural celebration in 1977, receiving a National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and being awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President Clinton in 1999.

Mendoza retired in 1988 after suffering a stroke. She died in San Antonio in 2007 at 91.

Mendoza’s stamp features the singer at her peak, wearing a traditional Mexican-styled dress and holding her guitar with the Texas flag superimposed in color over her.

Mendoza isn’t the only Latino musician to be immortalized by the U.S. Postal Service.

Ritchie Valens was put on a stamp in 1993 and in 2011 the postal service released a Latin Music Legends series, which featured Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Carmen Miranda, Carlos Gardel and Selena.

By: Adrian Carrasquillo

Whether it’s political elections or consumer products, everyone wants to speak to U.S. Hispanics.But when it comes to the auto industry, Japanese auto makers are the ones standing above their Detroit counterparts, according to data from the auto market research firm Polk.

Toyota is number one with 18 percent of the Hispanic auto market, followed  by Honda and Nissan before Chevrolet and Ford join the mix. Marc Bland, head of diversity and inclusion at Polk, says the Japanese companies all have something in common.

“It’s a dedicated and consistent focus on the Hispanic market,” he says. “What they all have in common is respect. Respect for the consumer and going out of their way to support Latino activities in the communities they live, work and play in.”

Luis Rosero, a spokesman for Toyota, says their success is due to understanding Hispanic car buying preferences.

“Buying a car is great fanfare in a Hispanic family,” he says, adding that the company has been number one with Latinos since 2004. “It’s a great thing to walk into Toyota or Lexus and see people who speak Spanish. Aside from buying a house or sending a kid to college, it’s one of the biggest investments a family can make.”

Bland says he saw this in action at Toyota dealerships in Los Angeles. “They gave you the option if you would prefer Spanish or English, so the first thing there is you have a choice,” he says. “That is respecting Hispanic consumers and culture.”

With the recession in the rearview mirror, Bland says car sales have been up. While Latinos made up 11 percent of the 11.1 million personal car sales in 2012, they outshined other groups when it comes to growth in 2012 compared to 2011.

From 2011 to 2012 car sales increased 14 percent, but car buying from Latinos grew an impressive 23 percent. In terms of luxury cars, Hispanics also outperformed other groups. While the luxury market was up 16 percent, Hispanic buying rose 25 percent.

“This ends the false stereotype that Hispanics don’t have money to buy luxury goods,” Bland says.

By: David Bauder

Ryan Seacrest will produce a new music series for the Spanish-speaking Telemundo network that will feature two established artists competing against each other for the audience’s vote.

The format for “Superstar Showdown” has been successful in other countries. Emilio Romano, president of Telemundo Media, said he’s hoping the “American Idol” host will use his connections and leverage to attract talent. The network hasn’t publicly set a start date for the series.

Telemundo announced several of its programming plans for next season on Sunday. The network usually gets less than half of the audience of the dominant Univision. Telemundo had its highest ratings ever during the first three months of 2013.

“We’ve been the underdog for so many years and we’ve been given the mission to fight and fight hard,” Romano said.

Telemundo will air five new telenovelas next season. The prime-time soap operas, stuffed with melodrama and romance, are generally the programming backbone for Spanish-speaking networks. One new series, “Camelia la Tejana,” is based on a popular song and features a young woman trying to escape from one of Mexico’s most powerful drug lords.

Romano said he hopes Telemundo can distinguish itself from its competition by creating telenovelas specifically with the U.S. market in mind, instead of remaking series that originated in other countries. He hopes they will speak more to an American audience concerned about immigration issues and nostalgic for the countries they left behind.

One example he gave was last year’s remake of the movie “Maid in Manhattan.”

Telemundo also announced the creation of a Los Angeles-based production studio, Fluency, that will produce content for Latinos in the U.S in both Spanish and English.

Telemundo is expanding its sports coverage. The weekly show, “Titulares y Mas,” will begin airing all weeknights at 11:35 p.m. The network will also start a daytime game show that pits youngsters against adults.

By Fox News Latino

The growth of the Latino population is not just isolated to the continental United States. Stats show a growing number are flocking to Hawaii’s island paradise.

While the state’s overall population has increased by just 12 percent since 2010, the Latino population has surged by 38 percent.

Making up nearly 10 percent of Hawaii’s residents, Latinos are fully embracing the “Aloha state” and adding their own mix to the unique culture already present on the island.

Unlike Latinos in other states who tend to congregate into specific areas and neighborhoods, in Hawaii there is a lack of ethnic segregation.

As one Latina told Hawaii Business, “When I first came here, I was asking people for the whereabouts of the Latino neighborhood,” said Grissel Benitez-Hodge, the dean of students at Chaminade University.

“But nobody was able to tell me, because it doesn’t exist.”

While some may see this as a negative, it pays homage to the camaraderie of the residents of Hawaii as a whole.

“It’s an indication of how well communities integrate in Hawaii and that’s a good thing,” added Benitez-Hodge.

Aside from the distinct culture differences, Latinos in Hawaii are also more educated than those in other states.

“Forty-nine percent of us have a college or some kind of a professional degree, compared to 16 percent for the whole of the U.S.,” Mari Roma Villa, who was in charge of collecting data about Hispanics in Hawaii for the 2010 Census, told Hawaii Business.

While Villa herself is of Mexican descent, she says living in Hawaii has helped her learn how to be a Latina.

“People in Hawaii are really proud of their ancestry. I learned much about my own culture because of living in such a diverse place,” Villa said.

Those with Puerto Rican roots make up the largest demographic of the state’s Latinos, followed by those of Mexican ancestry.

“It’s unique how people from different Latino nations get together here in Hawaii,” adds Villa. “The environment is really pan-Hispanic.”

As this population continues to flourish in numbers, the hope is this will in turn mean more Latino-owned businesses as well as politicians.

According to the most recent estimates by the Census Bureau from 2007, only 3.6 percent of Hawaii’s businesses are owned by Latinos.

 “I believe that as more Latinos move to Hawaii, we will become more active,” Joaquin Diaz, safety director at Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., said to Hawaii Business.

By: Federica Longo

Ringling College of Art and Design had  Marc Anthony as more than just their commencement speaker, but also a graduate himself. He not only gave the commencement address, but also received Ringling’s highest honor, an honorary doctorate of arts degree. According to the Bradenton Herald, Ringling President Dr. Larry R. Thompson said Anthony was chosen for the degree because he “symbolizes what it means to be a whole person, one who, at the heart of it all, offers compassion, human kindness, shares a global perspective and gives back to others.”

“I’m a fellow artist, a fellow dreamer, someone who learned their vocation by dedicating his life to it,” Anthony told the crowd. “I taught myself everything there was to know about it. My appetite for it and desire to accomplish my goals were insatiable and still is. I’m someone who never quit, someone who is living the fruits of his dedication and focus. Daily. I worked hard, but I was also lucky,” said the 44-year-old singer and father of five.

Anthony then went on to talk about his thoughts on life, inspiring the students with every single word. He mentioned that you have to do what you have to do and work hard. He mentioned giving yourself completely to what you do and do what you love. Marc Anthony finally went on to finish off his speech by talking about one of his heroes.

“One of my musical heroes lived a tragic life,” Anthony said. “His name was Ismael Rivera. The Sonero Mayor they called him, one of the greatest improvisational singers, with a unique rhythmic style. He sang words and drum syllables together. In one of his improvisations he tossed in something that sticks in my mind. He sang, ‘Pa’lante, pa’lante, como un elefante.’ Pa’lante means forward. Forward. You have to always move forward… Ringling College, Class of ’13. Pa’lante, pa’lante. Muchas gracias.”

Latino Voices

Disney’s going Latino — and they want to go it alone.

The entertainment giant filed trademark applications on May 1 for the phrase “Dia de los Muertos,” the subject of an upcoming animated film by Pixar studios, Mexican news site Animal Político reports.

Disney’s 10 trademark applications wouldn’t give it domain over all commercial use of the Mexican celebration’s name, but they’re pretty expansive. Get ready for Día de los Muertos eggs! Or, for those who like mixing their holidays, Día de los Muertos Christmas tree ornaments! (Check out the complete list of uses below.)

The applications are available on the website of the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office.

El Día de los Muertos, or “The Day of the Dead,” is a traditional holiday to commemorate deceased loved ones that fuses indigenous and Spanish roots. The holiday is celebrated primarily in Mexico and Central America, as well as in many communities in the United States.

The possibility of Disney staking a commercial claim to the Latin American holiday caused a fury on social media, with comments like the following appearing on Twitter:

@aida_lu
aida luna

Día de Muertos is a Mexican tradition, it is part of our culture!!! It s NOT a product. It CANNOT be a trademark! @Disney @DisneyPixar

May 7, 2013 7:00 pm via Twitter for iPad Reply Retweet Favorite

The Huffington Post contacted Kevin Daley, the Disney attorney who filed the trademark applications, but he declined to speak publicly about the issue and forwarded our request for comment to the company’s public relations department.

It’s not the first time Disney has ruffled feathers with a trademark application that some viewed as insensitive.

Disney attempted to trademark use of the term “SEAL Team 6” for a wide range of products in the days after the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The company withdrew the application “out of deference to the NAVY,” a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal in May of 2011.

Here’s a list of purposes Disney for which wants to trademark Día de los Muertos:

1. Education and entertainment services
2. Fruit Preserves
3. Fruit-based snack foods
4. Eggs
5. Jams
6. Jellies
7. Potato Chips
8. Nuts
9. Dairy products
10. Meat
11. Poultry
12. Fruits
13. Vegetables
14. Prepared or packaged meals consisting primarily of meat, fish, poultry or vegetables
15. Toys
16. Games
17. Playthings
18. Hand-held units for playing electronic games for use with or without an external display screen or monitor
19. Christmas stockings
20. Christmas tree ornaments and decorations
21. Snow globes
22. Gymnastic and sporting articles (except clothing)
23. Clothing
24. Footwear
25. Headwear
26. Bags
27. Backpacks
28. Calling card cases
29. Coin purses
30. Fanny packs
31. Key cases
32. Key chains
33. Luggage
34. Luggage tags
35. Purses
36. Umbrellas
37. Wallets
38. Paper and paper articles
39. Cardboard and cardboard articles
40. Printed matter
41. Publications
42. Books
43. Clocks
44. Jewelry
45. Jewelry boxes
46. Jewelry cases
47. Key rings of precious metal
48. Coins
49. Watches
50. Watch bands
51. Apparatus for recording, transmission or reproduction of sound or images
52. Audio books
53. Audio recordings
54. Audio and visual recordings
55. Video game software
56. Computer programs and software
57. Consumer electronics and accessories therefor
58. Eyeglasses and sunglasses and accessories therefor
59. Binoculars
60. Decorative magnets
61. Graduated rulers
62. Cosmetics; dentifrices
63. Non-medicated toiletries
64. Fragrances
65. Perfumes
66. Confectionery and chewing gum
67. Breakfast cereals and preparations made from cereals
68. Cereal bars
69. Bread
70. Muffins
71. Muffin bars
72. Pastry
73. Waffles
74. Pancakes
75. Cookies
76. Crackers
77. Biscuits
78. Popcorn
79. Corn chips
80. Pretzels
81. Puddings
82. Coffee
83. Tea
84. Cocoa
85. Sugar
86. Rice
87. Flour
88. Ices
89. Ice
90. Honey
91. Condiments
92. Sauces
93. Spices
94. Pizza
95. Pasta and noodles
96. Macaroni and cheese
97. Frozen meals consisting primarily of pasta or rice
98. Staple foods

From Steptoe & Johnson LLP, 

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