Could Facebook Save
His Life?

by Leticia Miranda on March 15 2010, 12:00PM

Efrén Paredes Jr. has been serving a life sentence without parole since he was a teenager. Now, he and his community take his case online.

Topics: Criminal Justice

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Fighting for Their Lives

by Leticia Miranda on March 15 2010, 12:00PM

The Supreme Court considers whether it’s cruel and unusual punishment to lock up teenagers for life without parole.

Topics: Criminal Justice

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Puerto Rican Born Residents Required to Get New Birth Certificates

by Leticia Miranda on March 2 2010, 11:47AM

After July 1, all Puerto Rican-born citizens will be required to have a new birth certificate. Why? Because the State Department of Puerto Rico announced there is an identity fraud crisis that compromises national security. Last December, Luis Fortuno, Puerto…

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Study: Katrina Evacuees Didn’t Increase Crime

by Leticia Miranda on February 16 2010, 6:01PM

Just as Katrina evacuees started to leave their home to start new outside of New Orleans, police deparments in neighboring “host” cities — San Antonio, Phoenix and Houston — accused survivors of bringing crime into their communities. However, a recent…

Topics: Katrina

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When They All Just Happen to Be Arab, South Asian and/or Muslim

by Leticia Miranda on December 30 2009, 3:33PM

Brooklyn New York Assemblyman, Dov Hikind, has a solution to Obama and Homeland Security’s search to “find and fix the vulnerabilities” that were exposed during last Friday’s failed airplane bombing. And no, it’s not body scanners, but racial profiling….

Topics: National Security

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What San Francisco Chinatown Tourists Won’t See

by Leticia Miranda on December 29 2009, 12:47PM

Above the usual tourist-trekked main streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown are hundreds of SROs, or single room occupancies, that many Chinese families call home. The Chinese Progressive Association and the Chinatown Development Center have found that about 400 families…

Topics: Housing

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Bayview-Hunter’s Point Communities Fight “Revitalization”

by Leticia Miranda on December 18 2009, 2:32PM

Local Bayview and Hunter’s Point residents are trying to fight off Lennar Corporation, a luxury homebuilding enterprise, from building new posh condos and apartments that would displace hundreds of mostly poor and low-income residents from their long-time homes. Lennar…

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Meet the Natives and the Racists Behind the Show

by Leticia Miranda on December 17 2009, 12:39PM

The Travel Channel has recently premiered a new series called “Meet The Natives: USA” and yes, the actual show is just as messed up as its title suggests in so many ways that one blog can’t say it all….

Topics: Pop Culture

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Fewer Options for Moms on Medicaid

by Leticia Miranda on December 16 2009, 1:58PM

New York City is planning on shutting down a natural birthing center in the lower east side of Manhattan that has served as a bulwark against more expensive high-intervention birthing procedures, reports Lindsay McCormack. But the natural birthing center…

Topics: Health

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Where Pollution Goes Health Problems Follow

by Leticia Miranda on December 11 2009, 4:54PM

This recent story in the Contra Costa Times, aptly titled “In East Bay, Where Pollution Goes, Health Problems Follow,” couldn’t be any more relevant. As the Copenhagen Conference continues, two local Bay Area writers follow the story of 10 year-old…

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La Americana: One Continent. Two Countries. A World Apart.

by Leticia Miranda on December 11 2009, 2:44PM

Maria del Carmen Rojas is an undocumented Bolivian immigrant who was forced to leave her home for New York City after a devastating bus accident left her daughter, Carla, paralyzed from the waist down. Drowning in medical bills and…

Topics: Immigration

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Asian American Women Battle Depression

by Leticia Miranda on December 9 2009, 12:00PM

A new study links mental health to time spent in the U.S.

Topics: Health

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IRS Auctions Off Crow Creek Sioux Land for $2.5 Million

by Leticia Miranda on December 4 2009, 1:28PM

Roughly 550 years later, Native peoples are still fighting to keep their own land because of broken treaties and erroneous information. This week, the IRS auctioned off 7,100 acres of Crow Creek Sioux land in Central South Dakota to…

Topics: Native Issues

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Congressional Black Caucus Protests Obama’s Recovery Plan

by Leticia Miranda on December 3 2009, 2:47PM

It seems Obama’s relief and recovery plan isn’t fooling everyone in Washington. Yesterday, ten Congressional Black Caucus members, led by California Representative Maxine Waters, withheld their votes on a financial reform bill that would add new consumer protections, create…

Topics: Economy

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Oscar Grant Update: Mehserle’s Trial Moved to Los Angeles

by Leticia Miranda on December 2 2009, 7:38PM

An LA Superior court judge will be hearing the case of Johannes Mehserle, who is facing murder charges for shooting and killing Oscar Grant this new year’s eve at a BART station in Oakland, CA. The Oakland Tribune reports: Superior…

Topics: Police

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Palin’s Rogue Fail

by Leticia Miranda on December 2 2009, 2:09PM

I have to admit that I like to find small typos, spacing mistakes or the occasional ink blot in books that I buy. It’s one of those small things in life that I love to savor. Perhaps because it helps…

Topics: Pop Culture

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Lou Dobbs Considers Running for President

by Leticia Miranda on November 24 2009, 4:14PM

Dobbs might be off CNN, but his recent kick in the ol’ culito from our friends at presente.org hasn’t kept him out of politics. FOX News Reports that Lou Dobbs is seriously considering running for president in the 2012 election….

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PG&E Shuts Off Soaring Number of Poor’s Electricity

by Leticia Miranda on November 20 2009, 4:30PM

PG&E has been having a heyday shutting off the energy supply of 75 percent more low-income households since last year. Ok, so maybe it’s a judgment that they’re enjoying it, but after hearing that 91,393 poor and low-income homes…

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Groups Call for Investigation into FBI Shooting of Michigan Imam

by Leticia Miranda on November 18 2009, 3:30PM

As the media swallowed up stories about Fort Hood and obsessed over how it was yet another example of “violent” Islam, the FBI’s recent killing of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah has conveniently stayed at the margins of national debates….

Topics: National Security

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Immigrant Widow to Feds: Oh No, You Get Back Here

by Leticia Miranda on November 13 2009, 5:45PM

This is a great story to end the week. Lin Li Qu, the widow of an undocumented Chinese immigrant, is refusing to let the US government dodge responsibility for the cruel conditions that her husband faced at a Rhode Island…

Topics: Immigration

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