Bill Richardson passed away on September 1st, at the age of 75. He was a statesman, a UN Ambassador,  Secretary of Energy, Governor of New Mexico, presidential candidate, and in January of 2017 he was a gracious guest of NewsTaco’s Deciocho Podcast. I’m reposting the podcast episode because it was a great conversation and because there is always something to learn from the Governor. This is what I wrote as an introduction at the time: “It seemed natural to talk to former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson about the present state of U.S.-Russia relations and the future of that relationship wi ..read more

For the first time, autism is being diagnosed more frequently in Black and Hispanic children than in white kids in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Among all U.S. 8-year-olds, 1 in 36 had autism in 2020, the CDC estimated. That’s up from 1 in 44 two years earlier. But the rate rose faster for children of color than for white kids. The new estimates suggest that about 3% of Black, Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander children have an autism diagnosis, compared with about 2% of white kids.   Read more HERE. The post Autism now more common among Black ..read more

In January, the Office of Management and Budget posted notice of proposed changes to the federal government’s standards for collecting data on race and ethnicity. On the past five censuses, respondents were asked whether they are, or are not, Hispanic or Latino. This is the so-called Hispanic-origin question. The census also asked a separate question about their racial identities, and respondents were able to choose “American Indian or Alaska Native,” “Asian,” “Black or African American,” “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander,” “White,” or “Some Other Race.” Under the new proposal, they w ..read more

Latino millennial and Gen-Z thought leaders are increasingly unlikely to see Jews as the target of systemic discrimination, according to a new survey commissioned by the American Jewish Committee (AJC). The survey’s respondents ranked which minority groups are most likely to suffer discrimination in the United States: 62 percent said African Americans, 12 percent said Hispanics, 8 percent said Muslims, 7 percent said Asian Americans, and 6 percent said Jews. Read more HERE. The post Young Latino leaders unlikely to see Jews as targets of systemic discrimination, says poll appeared first on New ..read more

Latinos are barely part of the conversation in newspapers and online media outlets covering the issue of racial equity and racism, a new study has found. Only about 6% of such news referred to Latinos, who make up nearly 20% of the American population and over 40% of all people of color, according to a report published Wednesday by the Berkeley Media Studies Group and UnidosUS. The study analyzed peak news cycles related to racism and racial equity issues, including wealth, housing and health in the U.S., following the onset of protests and protest anniversaries between May 1 and Sept. 30 in 2 ..read more

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. By Rich Tenorio Iliana Panameño wanted to get a master’s degree in social work, just like her mother. To afford enrollment at the Boston University School of Social Work, she moved back to her parents’ home in Malden, Massachusetts. Panameño took out graduate loans under her own name to avoid burdening her parents financially and risking delaying their retirement — a move that came at a cost. Today, Panameño’s mix of federal and private loan payments hover a ..read more

MIAMI (AP) — More than half of the residents in the slice of Miami that includes Little Havana were born abroad. And when Republican U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar ran for reelection last year, she won by 15 percentage points. The GOP’s dominance of Florida’s 27th congressional district is emblematic of the party’s inroads with Latino voters in recent years in much of the U.S. and especially in Florida. Those gains helped Gov. Ron DeSantis decisively win reelection last year and contributed to the GOP taking back control of the U.S. House. Read more HERE. The post Latino Re ..read more

On Jan. 6, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposal to strengthen the annual standards for fine particulate matter, commonly known as soot, from 12 ug/m3 to between 9 and 10 ug/m3, despite an overwhelming body of evidence showing that stronger limits are necessary to mitigate the decades of harm soot pollution has caused, particularly to the country’s Latino population. Due to its small size, soot can penetrate our lungs and bloodstream, causing devastating health impacts, including premature death, heart disease, cancer and aggravated as ..read more

The red wave never came to pass in 2022 — but there was a noticeable shift among Latino voters in the midterms, who still tilted toward Democrats overall but reached higher levels of Republican support, too. Yet a new analysis from Voto Latino, a political organization focused on Latino turnout, shows how Hispanic voters helped Democrats maintain the Senate majority, how larger Latino turnout was a key ingredient for Democrats in several races with razor-thin margins — and why expanding that base of voters in 2024 is still key for Democrats as they also compete to win a growing cohor ..read more

Carolyn Curiel served as a U.S. ambassador and White House senior speechwriter in the Clinton administration. Latinos will be an integral part of the Academy Awards on Sunday. You likely won’t notice them, though. They’ll be parking celebs’ cars. Or working security, or serving food for the stars. They’ll be at the after parties — cleaning up the mess. Could Hollywood, of all places, be unconcerned by appearances? Apparently, yes. The #OscarsSoWhite campaign, launched eight years ago, helped to secure the beginning of diversity where it counts, among the voting members of th ..read more