Latinas hear it from 'Ugly Betty'

She's best known as TV's "Ugly Betty," but on Saturday, young Latina actress America Ferrara was the picture of poise as she gave a college commencement address here stressing the importance of education.
"I can relate to these graduates," Ferrara, 25, told the Chicago Sun-Times, after speaking at Navy Pier on Saturday to more than 2,500 graduates of Kaplan University, a national online university with offices in Illinois.
"My journey of trying to keep my education a priority in my life -- when I was already on my career path -- has been a juggling act," said Ferrara, who is finishing a bachelor's degree in international studies at the University of Southern California.
"These men and women have had to balance jobs, children and other concerns. I can relate to how hard it is to continue to make education an important part of my life while balancing my career."
The Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actress has been acting since high school and stars as the title character in the hit ABC comedy series. She has also had star turns in such films as "Real Women Have Curves" and "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" movies.
Noting the National Council of La Raza on Saturday kicked off its annual conference here addressing issues facing Latinos in America, Ferrara said education is at the top of that list.
"The No. 1 demographic of high school dropouts are Latino women," she said. "I know there are economic factors for why young Latinos are so undereducated, but it also starts with what we place importance on as a culture.
"We have to empower the next generation to accept education as a way up, and I believe you have to start with the women so they can pass it on to their kids," she said.
Ferrara said she was humbled to suddenly find herself a role model for Latino youth. One of six children raised in Los Angeles by a struggling single mother who with her father emigrated here from Honduras, Ferrara said her message is always that education and hard work are the keys to success.

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Obama Loses Immigration Allies

Three years after President Obama marched alongside Hispanic and immigrant rights activists, they took to the streets Wednesday to march against him, saying he has betrayed them by embracing George W. Bush administration efforts to stem illegal immigration.
Activists marched in Los Angeles and picketed Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's appearance in New York, angered over the administration's recent embrace of an electronic verification system for employers and a program that allows local police to enforce immigration laws.
The protests highlight the tough political spot Mr. Obama faces: He enjoyed strong support from Hispanics in last year's election, but activists say he's now risking their support in the future.
"I see the sense of betrayal creeping up," said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, which organized the protest against Ms. Napolitano.
The coalition said the administration is using the right words on immigrant rights but taking the wrong actions to boost enforcement.
"A lot of people see the actions of Secretary Napolitano going in the opposite direction of the reform President Obama promised," she said.
The protests erupted as a report by the Center for Immigration Studies says stepped-up enforcement since 2007 has helped cut the illegal immigrant population in the United States.
The group advocates the reduction of illegal immigration through strong enforcement measures.

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TCA Press Tour: 'Lopez Tonight' to debut in November on TBS

When "Lopez Tonight" premieres in November, don't expect host George Lopez to sit behind a desk or to read from cue cards. He wants to mingle with his guests on plastic-wrapped furniture. (He was joking about the plastic. We think.)
His Monday-through-Thursday TBS late-night show is going to be a party that won't always begin with his stand-up. Some nights a musical guest will open the show. Other nights, maybe a conversation with an actor will kick it off. What Lopez says he wants more than anything is a spontaneous party atmosphere that thrives on the energy of his guests and audience.
"There have been a lot of supermarkets but until Costco came around and started selling the big mayonnaise, it took it to another level," he said. "This show is gonna be bigger and badder."
Lopez said he is honored to be the first Latino to land a late-night hosting perch, and is hoping that fans of his 2002-2007 ABC sitcom, "The George Lopez Show" (now in syndication), will only be one part of his new audience.
"As the country changes and people become more familiar with comedy and comedians....it's not that old America anymore. It's not your father's America anymore. I only feel added pressure because apparently in some parts of the country, I'll be up against novelas and I can't win that battle."
"The goal is to do a show so great that people who are out there with black boxes will actually want to turn themselves in and get cable," he added.
Addressing a question about the increased competition in the field, with Jay Leno launching a new nightly comedy show on NBC on Sept. 14, Lopez said he welcomes being in the race for viewers. His show will air at 11 p.m.

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Latinos are losing jobs at a higher rate than other ethnic groups

Latino unemployment in California, which has been rising rapidly, reached 15.7% in the quarter ending June 30, exceeding African American joblessness for the first time in the current economic downturn, according to a new analysis.The state's Latino unemployment is projected to hit nearly 18% a year from now, said the report released Monday by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.
Nationally, black unemployment continues to surpass Latino joblessness, and that pattern is not expected to change soon, said Algernon Austin, the study's author. Still, across the country, unemployment among Latinos has increased faster than for other groups.Among 12 states with enough data to compare unemployment by ethnicity, California is the only one where Latino joblessness leads all other groups.

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Eva Longoria, George Lopez To Host ALMA Awards

"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker and comedian George Lopez will host September's ALMA awards, which honor entertainers who promote positive portrayals of Hispanics.Past winners include actor Jesse Garcia for his role as a troubled gay teenager in the award-winning Quincea�era, as well as director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose movie Babel won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for seven Academy Awards.New aspects to this year's American Latino Media Arts award ceremony will include awards for emerging young talent, as well as a sports category, according to the Associated Press. This year's show, which airs Sept. 18 on ABC, also coincides with National Hispanic Heritage Month. Longoria Parker is one of the executive producers of the ALMA awards.

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March Aims At Immigration Clampdown

New Haven activists, angered that East Haven cops are allegedly calling the feds to deport Latinos rounded up at traffic stops, are planning a hundreds-strong cross-border protest.
The activists’ plans mark the latest chapter in an ongoing controversy involving alleged racial profiling and harassment of Latinos by the East Haven police department.
It follows incidents in which cops allegedly rounded up Latinos in traffic stops, asked for their identification, discovered they had no proof of U.S. residency, then called federal authorities to try to have them deported.
On Tuesday night in a third-floor room at the People’s Center on Howe Street, a dozen activists gathered to prepare the march, scheduled for Aug. 15. The plans come in response to police threats of deportation that allegedly played a part in several recent arrests in East Haven.
The march is designed to pressure East Haven mayor April Capone Almon to order the police department not to ask arrestees about their immigration status, as the mayors of New Haven and Hartford have ordered.
Mayor Almon, contacted before the meeting said that she doesn’t have the power to make such an order. She claimed it would violate federal law. A march would be a mistake, given progress that her town is making in integrating its Latino community, the mayor said.

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Behind Shakira’s Hot Electro Groove: The Making of “She Wolf”

On Shakira’s pulsing new single “She Wolf,” the Colombian superstar transforms into a howling, empowered beast — and drops the term “lycanthropy” (a psychiatric condition where a person believes she can transform into an animal). It’s a fierce piece of electro-pop that the singer took a full month to meticulously mix, but she tells Rolling Stone the original idea arrived in a flash of inspiration. ” ‘She Wolf’ came to me very mysteriously,” she says. “I was in the studio in a bad mood that day, then I got inspired and went to a corner and I wrote the lyrics and the melody in 10 minutes. The image of the she wolf just came to my head, and when I least expected it I was howling and panting.”

“She Wolf” is the first single from Shakira’s October album, which she recorded during a series of 12-hour-a-day sessions mostly in the Bahamas with John Hill (known for producing Santigold’s self-titled debut), Pharrell and other collaborators. She jokes she spent so much time locked away without daylight, “that’s probably why I turned into a she wolf.” But the hard work helped transform her sound from the slithery Latin-tinged pop of “Hips Don’t Lie” to something more glitchy, buzzing and fiercely danceable. “It’s very electronic and dance-oriented, club-oriented,” she says of the disc. “It’s designed for people to have fun and enjoy themselves and forget about their troubles and the crisis.” She says she always wanted to do a bass-heavy record without losing “the fusion, which is something I’m always very interested in — bringing in elements from different cultures. So you’re going to find Indian, Africa, Colombian, Middle Eastern influences, but always with the synthesizers as a dominant element.”

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Dr. Jane L. Delgado Discusses Latina Teen Pregnancy on National TV Network

thought this was an interesting take on latina pregnancy. take a look!

Obama appears on comedian George Lopez's talk show

PASADENA, Calif.—George Lopez landed a big name cameo in the pilot presentation of his talk show: President Barack Obama.
In a clip shown during a Tuesday meeting of the Television Critics Association, the comedian jokingly begs for a cabinet spot from the president.
Obama lightly brushes him off, saying: "George, you need to change late night. That's the kind of change I can believe in."
Lopez hopes the president will appear as a full-fledged guest on his upcoming late-night TBS talk show when it premieres in November. The 48-year-old comedian, who stumped for Obama on the campaign trail last year, told reporters Obama is a "close friend" and that he would be "personally offended" if Obama did not appear on "Lopez Tonight" the next time he is in Los Angeles.

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A-Rod, Kate Hudson kiss at Yankee Stadium, put 'friends' rumor to rest

A-Rod went 0-for-4 Saturday - but he made it to first base anyway.
The randy Yankees slugger and stunning actress Kate Hudson put on a very public display of affection for the first time, locking lips during the team's annual family picnic.
Hudson, 33, was also spotted giving Rodriguez a big squeeze as the lovestruck pair canoodled following the Bombers' loss to the Oakland A's.
A-Rod's focus wasn't just on his flaming hot new gal pal. The Yankees star also spent time playing with daughters Ella, 1, and Natasha, 4, who were dressed in their Yankees best.
Notably absent from the family fest was A-Rod's ex-wife, Cynthia Rodriguez, whom he divorced last fall.

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