Latino Forum: INDIANA PLANS TO PUBLISH DRIVER'S MANUAL, FORMS IN SPANISH
Saying Indiana has for too long ignored the needs of the state's Spanish-speaking drivers, Gov. Frank O'Bannon announced that officials are preparing a driver's manual and forms in Spanish.The Bureau of Motor Vehicles also has hired a Spanish-speaking driver's examiner in Lafayette and plans to add another in Lake County. "The engine that drives this state and benefits families are jobs, living-wage jobs,"...
Latino Forum: Latino Officers Criticize Williams' Management
With Police Chief Willie L. Williams and his lawyers privately ratcheting up the pressure on the city's Police Commission, the organization that represents Latino officers on Friday delivered a letter criticizing Williams' management of the Los Angeles Police Department and accusing him of overlooking qualified Latinos for promotion.Although the letter does not directly oppose Williams' reappointment, it accuses the chief of failing to promote qualified...
Latino Forum: Forum swells to meet demand
GREENSBORO -- As North Carolina's Latino population was surging in the mid-1990s, a few dozen immigrant advocates met in a cabin in Chapel Hill as part of the first Latino Forum. Few of them imagined then that it would become an annual event, much less one that would be attended by hundreds of people. "It has been like watching a baby growing up," said Lizette Cruz-Watko, who helped organize the 1996 event and who was one of more than 600...
HISPANICS IN N.C. BEGINNING TO DRAW POLITICAL POWER,
SENATE CANDIDATES COURT VOTES AT LATINO FORUM, A SIGN OF RISING INFLUENCE
Six years ago, Mexican native Yasmin Wurts Mertivier sat on the dirt at a campsite in Moncure with other Hispanic leaders in North Carolina to talk about issues important to their community.Yesterday, she provided live translation for non-English speakers attending the seventh annual Latino Forum where four U.S. Senate candidates courted their votes, debated immigration and education policy and - sometimes rather haltingly - tried out Spanish phrases. "My Spanish is bad but my...
Latino Forum: Forum motivates Hispanic leaders
MEBANE -- For Nolo Martinez, the census prediction that the Hispanic community will be the largest minority in the country by 2010 would be a heady realization. The forecast underscores the importance of cultivating an interest in public service among the state's estimated 350,000 Hispanics, he said Saturday at the fourth annual Latino Forum, a weekend conclave of more than 200 of the state's Hispanic grass-roots leaders, service providers and government officials. The...