News (Noticias) for Connecticut

Super Max WEPA Radio founders have launched the state’s first local Spanish-language television station, WEPA TV, on cable channel 96 in New Haven and 99 in Hartford.”*

El Sol, the weekly Spanish-language newspaper published in Stamford, aims to boost its circulation from 16,000 to 20,000 by late fall.

Its circulation is up from 14,000 last year and El Sol plans to add an online product later this year, according to Alvaro Arteaga, El Sol’s director. “*

The next few weeks will be critical for Centro de la Comunidad as it decides what role it can realistically play in the community.

The region’s leading Hispanic social service agency has fallen on some hard financial times. Last year, the agency received $274,000 in grants, but this year that figure may be much lower.”*

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“The video of the Hartford scene is beyond chilling,” Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell said. “There seems little question that the driver of the car that struck Angel Arce Torres on May 30 knew what happened. Yet the driver sped off, leaving his victim sprawled and motionless in the street. Almost as chilling is the reaction of some passers-by, who did little NOTHING in the moments after the crash to assist Mr. Torres. Incredible

This horrid act of human indecency was captured by a camera on 33 Park Street in Hartford Connecticut and enhanced by the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, which they hope will help lead to an arrest.”*

Daniel Torres dusted off one of his favorite stories Tuesday morning, the one about the $50,000 worth of bananas.

Torres, the chairman of the Connecticut Latino Chamber of Commerce, was in Waterbury to help launch the Greater Waterbury Latino Chamber of Commerce.”*

A Republican on the Common Council said race played a part in the council’s decision not to restore about $25,000 in funding to the Hispanic Center of Greater Danbury.

“I think it was all racially motivated,” Jane Diggs said during Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.

Diggs, who is black, also said members of her party used “secretive” and “underhanded” tactics in its dealings with the Hispanic Center.”*

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury, Conn., has joined the New Sanctuary Movement, a national faith-based campaign seeking to assist families facing deportation while advocating for immigration reform.

“We’ve seen how our current immigration policy has led to many families being torn apart, people unjustly detained and deported,” said Southeast resident Carl Tichler, the congregation’s board president. “We want to publicize the current injustices” and how they affect families, he said.”*

So when Rodriguez heard about Lee y sers, a national program to help Latino parents teach their children how to read, she jumped at the chance to participate in the free six-week workshop at the Bridgeport Public Library.

Rodriguez said she and her husband, Ruben, who came to Connecticut from Uruguay seven years ago, “are conscious of the importance of reading for children.” But they weren’t sure how to engage their son in bilingual learning.

The workshops have showed them ways to make reading fun for Sergio, who has already acquired a love for books, Rodriguez said. The Lee y sers program - Read and You Will Be - was created by Scholastic, in collaboration with the National Council of La Raza and the Verizon Foundation.”*

The Board of Trustees for the Connecticut Community Colleges has selected Dr. Daisy Cocco DeFilippis to serve as the next president of Naugatuck Valley Community College, succeeding Dr. Richard Sanders who retired as the college’s president in September.

Dr. DeFilippis is provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College of the City University of New York, a position she accepted as part of an extended leave granted her by York College of the City University of New York.”*

A Danbury congregation is joining a national movement to offer shelter and help to families whose members could be separated or deported over their immigration status.

However, officials of the Danbury Unitarian Universalist Congregation say they do not yet know whether they will emulate some other churches that let the immigrants live in church-owned properties to shield them from federal agents.”*

Miguel Angel Nieves wants to build bridges in Waterbury.

No, not that kind of bridge. Nieves, 43, president of the new Greater Waterbury Latino Chamber of Commerce, wants to build the kind of bridge that will help connect businesses owned by Latinos with customers and consumers outside of the Hispanic community.

Conversely, the bridge could also serve as a conduit linking investors from outside Latino neighborhoods back to Latino businesses.”*

On Saturday nights, the Latin gospel music pouring from the two-story honey-colored building on Fairfield Avenue awakens this narrow industrial strip in Waterside. On Sunday mornings, Caribbean-flavored gospel music roars, charging the atmosphere.

Inside, churchgoers lift their voices and hands - some jumping, some trembling - as they summon the Holy Spirit in their native languages. The preachers deliver fiery sermons, proclaiming God’s word and offering salvation or redemption.

Every weekend, two churches from two immigrant communities share one building and one faith.”*

The state is failing to promote minority lawyers to the ranks of its 200 Superior Court judges, the legislative Black and Latino Caucus warned on Monday, calling for greater effort in multi-cultural recruiting.

They were particularly critical of judicial nominees over the last three years. Of the 30 candidates submitted to the General Assembly for confirmation by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, only two were African-American or Latino.”*

Amid talk of educational standards and and the Latino achieve- ment gap, 13-year-old Ilyssa Delgado (pictured) cut to the chase: Standardized testing “is not what learning is all about.”

Delgado, a student at Conte West Hills Magnet School, addressed a distinguished panel of educators gathered Tuesday night at the Lawn Club for an event entitled “Latinos Left Behind: Closing the Education Achievement Gap in Connecticut.” The event was sponsored by the Progreso Latino Fund.”*

*From: http://www.newhavenindependent.org
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

If you’re Hispanic in Connecticut, chances are that your lot in life has not improved much in the last five years.So says a socioeconomic study on the minority group released Wednesday.

Hispanics surveyed last fall believed their quality of life, finances, accessibility to health insurance and ability to find affordable housing were in a swift decline.”*

Read the report: Fourth Socio-Economic Study on Status of Latinos PDF

*From: http://www.theday.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Minority residents make up 21.4 percent of Connecticut’s population and 22.5 percent of the enrollment in the state’s higher education system.

But the majority of black and Hispanic students are enrolled at community and technical colleges, while the proportion of black and Hispanic students at the University of Connecticut lags, according to a wide-ranging report on Connecticut higher education released Wednesday.”*

*From: http://www.courant.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

His poetry has been called “the definitive mix of mainland folklórico and Nuyorican soul,” blending influences of Puerto Rican and New York cultures.

He is Puerto Rican poet and sociologist Guillermo Rebollo-Gill, and he will make an appearance today at 4 p.m. at the UConn Co-op, 2075 Hillside Road, on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, where he is an assistant professor of sociology”*

*From: http://www.courant.com/
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

As one of the few Hispanic dentists in Connecticut – indeed, in the country – Dr. Sarita Arteaga relishes her role as president of the Hispanic Dental Association.

“I’m kind of a pioneer,” says Arteaga, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, Biomaterials, and Skeletal Development.

“Our organization is young, established less than 20 years ago, and I feel like I’m helping build the collaborations and partnerships that support our mission to improve oral health for the Hispanic community. I can see how much we are growing, and I feel my opinions and my work will affect how we move forward.””*

*From: http://www.advance.uconn.edu
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

An alleged Puerto Rican militant has pleaded not guilty to robbing a Connecticut armored car depot in 1983.

Avelino Gonzalez Claudio had fought extradition to the U.S. from Puerto Rico, but a federal judge there rejected his bail request. He appeared Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hartford.”*

*From: http://www.wlbt.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Advocates for state Medicaid patients who need interpreters say they worry cuts in Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget proposal could jeopardize access to critical services and information.
more stories like this

Health care case managers, social service providers and some legislators say they will urge Rell and the General Assembly to protect funding for the translation service, which helps Medicaid patients with limited proficiency in English.

Although many are native Spanish speakers, a coalition advocating for the translators says about 22,000 patients statewide who speak a total of 65 languages need the service.”*

*From: http://www.boston.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish