Amid scandal, Wal-Mart works to clean up its image - KansasCity.com

A van covered by a mural sits parked outside a Walt-Mart Super Center in Mexico City, Saturday, April 21, 2012. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. hushed up a vast bribery campaign that top executives of its Mexican subsidiary carried out to build stores across Mexico, according to a published report by the New York Times. Wal-Mart is Mexico's largest private employer.

Back when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was just a blip on the retail landscape, a vendor said he couldn’t even get Wal-Mart executives to accept a free cup of coffee.
So intent was the company to project pure business ethics.
But as the Arkansas-based chain ballooned from its 1962 founding by Sam Walton to become the world’s largest retailer and private-sector employer, perceptions of its business ethics changed in the court of public opinion.

Big size and big profits made it an especially big target. Accusation after accusation piled up: scores of lawsuits for violating wage and hour laws, charges that it was fouling the environment, and the potent attack that it was driving other U.S. businesses out of business.
Wal-Mart fought back. It countered the labor lawsuits and environmentalists. It mounted ad campaigns touting its delivery of low-priced merchandise to the masses.
To polish its ethical image, in the middle of the last decade it created a war room to respond to complaints. It pointed out its generous philanthropy and efforts to become more environmentally friendly and increase the promotion of women.

The past problems, executives said, represented a Wal-Mart of the past.
Last week, though, all those efforts suffered a huge blow. The New York Times published allegations that a crop of Wal-Mart executives bribed Mexican officials to pave the way for store sites. And then, The Times report said, beginning in 2005 top-level company executives covered up their knowledge of the payoffs.

Wal-Mart didn’t tell the U.S. Justice Department about the matter, reportedly involving $24 million in payouts, until last year — after it learned of the newspaper’s probe.
Current CEO Mike Duke headed the company’s international division in 2005, when Wal-Mart began its internal investigation. If the government pursues the case, legal authorities said Duke could face charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
A Wal-Mart corporate spokesman said last week that the case was being thoroughly investigated, steps were being taken to assure adherence to the law, and that, if true, the payments were “not a reflection of who we are or what we stand for.”
But, once again, critics had another bullet to aim at Wal-Mart, questioning how often its relentless pursuit of growth and profits tests ethical standards.

“What is the cost of their low prices? That’s what I ask myself every day,” said Mary Pat Tifft, a Walmart Supercenter employee who’s worked for the company for 24 years.
Tifft, who works in Wisconsin, said she decided to speak out as a member of OURWalmart, a group of employees and supporters who formed the Organization United for Respect at Walmart. She saw the Mexico allegations as a springboard to spotlight low pay and other employee issues.
Wal-Mart’s public relations team didn’t respond to The Kansas City Star’s request to clarify how the company sees its own public image.

Communication consultants agree that the bruise from the Mexico allegations might have been lighter if Wal-Mart had been upfront about a business practice gone awry.
“There is no way this one is going to go (away) quietly,” said James Haggerty, a lawyer, communications consultant and author of “In the Court of Public Opinion.”
In a blog post titled “In the Wal-Mart C-suite, it’s the PR battle that matters,” Haggerty wrote:
“Better to have gotten the story out on the right terms, in the right context, acknowledging mistakes and providing a complete description of the steps being taken to ensure it can never happen again.”
Others wonder whether public relations firestorms and employees’ grievances matter to the more than 200 million customers a week who pour into the company’s retail properties around the world.
Do the new allegations, added to long-standing complaints about sex discrimination, mandatory off-the-clock overtime and pricing demands that put vendors and competing retailers out of business really matter to those who make the cash registers ring?

“There are some people, like me, who would say Wal-Mart bit into an ethical jalapeño in Mexico,” said Al Norman, a company critic in Massachusetts who got energized 20 years ago to fight a proposed store in his community. “There are others who would say ethics aren’t on their shopping list. Their sense of ethics, of community, may be no bigger than their shopping cart.”
Norman is hardly an impartial judge. He’s already authored “The Case Against Wal-Mart.” His new book, “Occupy Walmart,” will be published this week. But he concedes Wal-Mart’s lure.
“I think there are a lot of different images of Wal-Mart,” Norman said. “A lot of people who shop at a Walmart couldn’t care less if they’re bribing Mexican officials to build their stores. And you can talk about Chinese sweatshops, but if you’re standing in a Walmart, you’re seeing folks whose most important thing is buying cheap, and they don’t care how it got to the shelf.”

And, don’t discount this: For investors, Wal-Mart stock has been a consistent winner.
Over the last five years, Wal-Mart shares outperformed the S&P 500 by 30 percent. From 2007 to 2011, Wal-Mart revenues rose 18 percent, profits jumped 27 percent, and earnings per share leaped 42 percent.

Free-enterprise darling
On its way to becoming the global retail leader — its most recent annual sales were three times the combined sales of Target, Sears, Kmart, J.C. Penney and Best Buy — Wal-Mart won accolades as the kind of Horatio Alger story that America loves.
From a small storefront in Rogers, Ark., to incorporation in 1969, to trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972, Wal-Mart became a free-enterprise darling. The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, says Wal-Mart succeeds because it sells what people want at prices they want to pay.
Admirers especially tout the company’s fervor in fending off unions that would raise employee costs. And Sam Walton himself was on record fighting laws that would increase the minimum wage.
The company is famous for its never-ending drive to keep operating costs low, all the better to deliver low prices to customers.
As Wal-Mart grew in the 1970s and 1980s, most anti-Wal-Mart sentiment came from those who saw its heft overpowering small town retailers. Those who couldn’t compete on price or merchandise array shut their doors, and Main Streets withered.
The furor prompted academicians to study whether Wal-Mart was an economic savior and job creator or a killer of small towns.

But, as often is the case, opinions remained divided because the evidence wasn’t clear. A 2008 study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis compared 40 small counties in its district that had Wal-Mart operation come to town between 1986 and 2003 with 49 similar-sized counties that had no Wal-Mart presence.

“One could call the results mostly a wash,” the report concluded. “Wal-Mart’s presence (or lack thereof) has little or no predictive power regarding the economic success or failure of a county.” Or on the poverty and employment status of residents.
Growth dominated Wal-Mart’s agenda in the 1990s. Led by CEO David Glass from 1988 until his retirement in 2000, the company during his tenure introduced its Supercenter and other concepts and opened its international division.

(Later in 2000, Glass paid $96 million to become the sole owner of the Kansas City Royals.)
How notable was Wal-Mart’s growth? It bumped Woolworth in 1997 as a component of the Dow Jones industrial average.

By about 2004, a year before Wal-Mart executives allegedly put an internal report about the payments in Mexico on the back burner, public sentiment against Wal-Mart had heightened.
Business and general-interest publications began running articles with such headlines as “People problems on every aisle.”

Charles Fishman, a reporter for Fast Company magazine, earned widespread attention for an expose on “The Wal-Mart you don’t know,” focusing on the low-cost pressure it put on vendors.
“To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas,” Fishman wrote.

Wal-Mart’s economic clout, he said, caused most business partners to keep mum or say only nice things about the company.
Mid-decade, a documentary called “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” got a lot of air time. It began with then-CEO Lee Scott sharing company highlights but mostly gave voice to critics of the company’s rapacious expansion, its environmental impact and its treatment of workers.
The film, in part, led Wal-Mart in late 2005 to create its public relations war room, the Action Alley.
Clearly, executives in the Bentonville, Ark., headquarters understood that Wal-Mart’s immensity made it a big target — for everything from Harvard Business School studies to not-in-my-backyard rallies to some of the nation’s biggest labor lawsuits.

About the same time, after 13 years advertising the same slogan, “Always low prices. Always,” Wal-Mart aimed its message a bit differently: “Save Money. Live Better.” Along with upgrading some store fixtures and merchandise, the new slogan aimed to emphasize more than just cost savings.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart workers began rebelling.

A sex discrimination case filed by Wal-Mart women charged that they were paid less than men in comparable jobs and denied management promotions despite their greater numbers in the stores.
What could have been the largest class-action discrimination lawsuit in U.S. history slogged through the courts until the U.S. Supreme Court last year rejected the suit because the plaintiffs failed to prove that Wal-Mart had a nationwide policy that led to gender discrimination.
Wal-Mart’s lead lawyer fought the class action by arguing that allowing it to proceed would deprive the company of its right to contest the claims of each woman individually.

The case returned to a California district court, and separate lawsuits continue to be pursued.
Around the country, according to a count by Bloomberg News, Wal-Mart has been involved in more than 3,000 federal court lawsuits since 2009. More than 1 in 10 involved workers’ complaints of discrimination, bias or wage violations, such as being required to work off the clock.
Brad Seligman with the Impact Fund, a nonprofit organization of public-interest litigators, served as co-lead counsel for the women plaintiffs in the class action case.

When he read about Wal-Mart’s corporate response to the Mexico allegations, Seligman said, “I thought this latest mess — a great embarrassment to them — indicates the internal knee-jerk reaction at Wal-Mart often isn’t to address the problem but paper it over.

“What’s more important is that Wal-Mart has been trying to put out the message for years that ‘We’re not the old Wal-Mart. This is the new Wal-Mart.’ But it’s not. It’s the same old Wal-Mart.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/28/3582293/wal-mart-is-working-to-clean-up.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/28/3582293/wal-mart-is-working-to-clean-up.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/28/3582293/wal-mart-is-working-to-clean-up.html#storylink=cpy

Ariz. migrant case could lead to sweeping changes - KansasCity.com

The United States could see an official about-face in the coming months in how it confronts illegal immigration.
Supreme Court justices, weighing arguments over Arizona's tough immigration law, seemed to find little problem Wednesday with provisions that require police to check the legal status of people they stop for other reasons.
Over the last several years, states frustrated with the country's porous borders have rejected the long-held notion that Washington is responsible for confronting illegal immigration. They passed laws to enable local police to address the problem.
If the court upholds those parts of Arizona's law, the ruling would codify that type of local enforcement and open the door to such tactics in states with similar laws, such as Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah.
"I think you'll see more involvement by local police in immigration enforcement, an involvement that hadn't previously been seen," said Kevin Johnson, law school dean at the University of California-Davis and an immigration law expert.
A federal judge put parts of the Arizona law on hold shortly before they were to take effect in July 2010. Other states followed with similar legislation and - combined with other state immigration laws and an ailing economy - played a part in tens of thousands of illegal immigrants moving elsewhere.
"If you want to turn around this invasion, then (you should) do attrition through enforcement," said former state Sen. Russell Pearce, architect of the 2010 law and the driving force behind other Arizona immigration laws.
Arizona has argued it pays a disproportionate price for illegal immigration because of its 370-mile border with Mexico and its role as the busiest illegal entry point into the country.
The Obama administration said the law conflicts with a more nuanced federal immigration policy that seeks to balance national security, law enforcement, foreign policy, human rights and the rights of law-abiding citizens and immigrants.
During arguments over the law, liberal and conservative justices reacted skeptically to the administration's argument that the state exceeded its authority when it made the records check, and another provision allowing suspected illegal immigrants to be arrested without a warrant.
Civil rights groups say Arizona's and the other states' measures encourage racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping.
Immigrant rights advocates, who believed the courts would reject attempts by states to grab more law enforcement power, were not expecting the justices' response. They said a Supreme Court validation of the law would frighten immigrants further and cause Latinos who are in the country legally to be asked about their status.
"The crisis here in Arizona would only multiply," said Carlos Garcia, organizer of an immigration march that drew several hundred people in downtown Phoenix on Wednesday. Authorities said at least nine people were arrested for blocking a street and refusing to move.
"It would mean that anyone, as they are leaving their home - whether they are going to work, to church, wherever they are going - could be asked for their documents," he said.
The court's comments surprised state officials and had, thus far, lost all major court battles over the law.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, whose office has helped defend the law, predicted the court will uphold the law because many of its provisions mirror existing federal laws. He said a year from now the state will see even less illegal immigration.
"You won't see anything that noticeable as far as law enforcement goes," Horne said. "But you will see less people sneaking across the border."
It was unclear what the court would do with other aspects of the law that have been put on hold by lower federal courts. The other blocked provisions make it a state crime for immigrants not to have immigration registration papers and for illegal immigrants to seek work or hold a job.
Peter Spiro, a Tempe University law professor who specializes in immigration law, predicted the court would uphold the police check of immigration status in Arizona's law, but said he wouldn't be surprised if the court threw out a provision making it a crime to be without immigration documents.
Such a ruling would let police question people about their immigration status if they have good reason to do so, but police would have to call federal authorities to see if they would want to pick up anyone found to be in the country illegally. If federal agents decline, officers would have to release the person, unless they were suspected of committing crimes, Spiro said.
If that happened, the law would be mostly symbolic, but would still carry some significance for immigrants, Spiro said. "It would make it clear that Arizona is unfriendly to undocumented aliens," Spiro said.
A decision in the case is expected in late June.

El Salvadoreño offers a taste of El Salvador in JoCo - KansasCity.com

El Salvadoreño offers a taste of El Salvador in

El Salvadoreño does not have a liquor license. Still, the blenders behind the bar get a workout.

The café’s drink menu includes plenty of “liquados,” served in both slushy and milkshake styles. Horchata and fresh-squeezed limeade are popular, as is the tamarindo, an iced drink that tastes roughly like a cross between apple cider and iced tea.

 

If you’ve never tried coleslaw for breakfast, you don’t know what you’re missing.
“I like curtido on my eggs,” the young waitress at El Salvadoreño says as she places an apothecary jar on the table. After opening the wire clasp, diners use a pair of tongs to fish out a helping of shredded cabbage and carrot spiked with the occasional wheel of jalapeño, all pickled in distilled white vinegar.
At first I’m not sure if she is offering the curtido as a sort of lagniappe, a little extra “thank you” for sticking around when the café chairs were still upside down on tables at 9 a.m. It didn’t take me long to figure out curtido may come as an occasional side with eggs, but it is obligatory when eating pupusas.
At lunch and dinner, El Salvadoran families and a group of laborers dressed in paint-flecked denim and sweatshirts hunched over plates of the heavy, griddled cakes made from corn masa. The curtido may be chased with a few squirts of a ketchup-style condiment that adds a bit of tomato-y flavor without any discernible trace of heat or sugar.
“It’s like how you can’t eat a cheeseburger without lettuce or tomato,” says café co-owner Benjamin Sol. “You can’t eat pupusas without that fresh crunch of curtido.”
Is curtido traditional breakfast fare?
Sol says not everyone eats eggs that way, but he does.
“It’s almost like adding salsa so your eggs are ranchero style,” he says.
El Salvadoreño joins Elsa’s, a new Ethiopian restaurant just a block down the street, as welcome additions to the downtown Overland Park dining scene.
The casual El Salvadoreño features garage doors and an interior that is clean and modern, with the sort of patio feel that is common to tropical locales. A mural of “Savior of the World,” one of San Salvador’s most famous landmarks, rises up one wall and reminds me of “Christ the Redeemer” standing watch over Rio de Janeiro.
A folk-art painted canvas hangs over the bar and a few wooden spoons on the wall. A stuffed parrot mutely greets customers at the door. The male servers often wear the national team’s soccer jersey.
Sol was born in Kansas City and grew up in Parkville. He met his El Salvadoran wife, Blanca, while both were working at Argosy Casino.
“I fell in love and got engulfed in the culture,” he says.
Benjamin’s day job: sous chef at the Embassy Suites. Blanca works as a server at the new Hollywood Casino but is in charge of the execution of her family’s recipes at the cafe. Her brother, Jonathan, manages the day-to-day operations.
Like pupusas, the El Salvadoran-style breakfast can be ordered any time of day. The hearty repast includes eggs cooked to order, slightly sweet fried plantains, a dark refried bean dish garnished with crema and some homemade tortillas.
If Kansas Citians are already familiar with El Salvadoran cuisine, it is likely because they have been to a pupuseria. From there, the family hopes to introduce diners to a wide and varied menu that includes everything from the unintimidating pinchos (shish kebabs) to the slightly more adventurous whole fried tilapia. (Each item on the menu is illustrated with a photo.)
For a crash course, try the sampler platter, which includes a bean, cheese and chicharao (chunks of deep-fried pork) pupusa, a chicken tamale, fried yucca (similar to a potato), a beef pastel (basically a meat turnover or empanada) and an enchilada, which resembles the thickness of a pupusa, with the filling served on top. All for $10.99.
Or load up on pupusas, which sell for just $2.50 a piece.
Add a heaping helping of curtido and it’s doubtful you’ll have room for the canoa, a sort of Latin banana split filled with a fluffy cinnamon leche that has the consistency of marshmallow fluff, or the flan, a rich, eggy rendition with plenty of caramel punch.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/22/3442974/restaurant-review-el-salvadoreno.html#storylink=cpy

Marc Anthony, Marco Antonio Solis, Chayanne tour - KansasCity.com

MIAMI -- Marc Anthony, Marco Antonio Solis and Chayanne are going on tour together.

Anthony was on hand Monday in Miami for the announcement. The three amigos kick of their tour in the city on Aug. 3. The tour is called,"Gigant3S," a play on the Spanish word "giant." The tour has 14 dates and will end in Las Vegas. Cardenas Marketing Network is producing it.
Despite their differing styles, Anthony said the musicians will weave together one show rather than presenting three mini concerts.

Anthony is best known in the U.S. market not just for his popular salsa music but also for his ex, Jennifer Lopez. Their hit reality music show "Q'Viva! The Chosen" on Univision was picked up for English audiences by Fox. It features competing artists from across Latin America.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/23/3571626/marc-anthony-marco-antonio-solis.html#storylink=cpy

KCMO student surprised with $99,400 scholarship

Mitzi Terese Infante was surprised to learn she was the receipt of a $99,400 scholarship to the College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday morning at her high school, Christo Rey Kansas City. She was only one of three high school seniors in the country to receive the Marie Curie Scholar award for students who study science or math. Infante is planning on being a doctor. (April 17, 2012 Video by DAVID EULITT | The Kansas City Star)

See Video Here

Paulina Rubio will marry for the third time

Mexico, 16 Apr - Paulina Rubio While going through a difficult divorce after five years of marriage to Nicholas "Colate" Nágera Vallejo, the Mexican singer and actress said she still believes in love, even, would get marriage.

"I will die believing in love because the only thing you get when you die," said Paulina Rubio in an interview with Notimex.

Asked whether express remarry after overcoming this experience, he replied: "I'm going to remarry, yes sir."

"The strongest is over. My family gives me strength, I am very attached to it and so I face life with hope and faith to keep going, even death stops me. "

Separation from Spanish businessman, said, "has given me the wisdom to understand the obstacles that life and they are sending me to become a better person."

Without going into details, he admitted that in that line, crossed by a difficult situation because his son Andrea Nicholas is involved.

"These are difficult times mainly because there is a child of 16 months, but not separate myself from him and no one will separate me from my child, nothing else matters to me," he said.

His firstborn "has not suffered the absence of his father because there has been this absence", but declined to comment further on the relationship with "Colate", who according to reports, called for an investigation of the property of the singer and bank accounts, checks and testament.

"I'm in a new cycle of my life. I have the fortune of having my son Nicholas and Andrea is the engine that gives me strength to keep going, he never leaves me for anything, which is beautiful, "he said.

The exTimbiriche revealed that little is likely to inherit their taste for music and singing, because when you see on stage is very excited.

"It'll take much to my concerts because they are usually at night and he goes to bed at eight, but when it has been present reacts impressive.

"When you run out screaming noise and wants more, but I told you that the tests are only for him to sing to their ears. She loves music, perhaps too early to think about it, but is keen, "he said.

On April 27 Paulina Rubio will give a concert at the Arena Mexico City. Notimex forward the concept of the show is linked to the Mayan prophecies about the end of the world.

"I think refer to 2012 or beginning of the end to the beginning. It's something that will lead us to become better, more spiritual, awakening that other self we have. Based on this, my "show" consists of three acts:

"I start with the red chakra, the most savage, which has to do with sexuality. It is an act full of apocalyptic chaos, then there is something more dance and I've been to the public, through my success to something more spiritual, love and peace ", she said.

"Pao" as his followers call him, chose to express and share with your audience these emotional states because it rules your life now, "with that food inside me."

Today, many artists rely on the duets in concerts featuring "The Golden Girl" did not rule, but also declined to elaborate on details preferring to be a surprise for his fans.

"Many of my fans have gone to twenty concerts that I have so far in Mexico, since he left 'Brava!' (Your disk). What you can expect many changes now are music, rhythms, new arrangements of my songs, choreography and costumes. "

The singer of "I like you much" and "Mine" said that is very interested in interacting with the audience, "because I like to get carried away by them, will be a great night not to forget," said the artist that includes three costume changes.

Paulina Rubio will perform at the Billboard Awards, the 26th of April, and the next day will offer a "show" at the Arena Monterrey. Currently, promotes "I'll go," the second single of "Brava!" Which he composed by the singer Espinoza Paz. Located within the Top 15 nationally.

The English video for "Boys will be Boys" filmed it in London a few weeks ago

Obama seeks CEOs' help in Latin America - KansasCity.com

By JIM KUHNHENN

Associated Press

By JIM KUHNHENN

Updated: 2012-04-14T17:51:42Z

 

CARTAGENA, Colombia -- Declaring that a new environment for cooperation exists in the Americas, President Barack Obama sought to convince U.S. business Saturday that he's serious about expanding trade in Latin America while persuading the region to look northward once again.
Obama dismissed some of the tensions in the region as remnants of the past. He said the discussions and press accounts sometimes make him feel like he is in a "time warp" of "gun boat diplomacy and yanquis and the Cold War and this and that" dating to a time before he was born.
"That's not the world we live in today," he said. "My hope is that we all recognize this enormous opportunity we've got."
But playing the persuader is not an easy task. The U.S. faces trade competition from China, resistance from labor at home, a set of difficult regional issues that could dilute any focus on trade, and now the distraction of Secret Service agents in Cartagena relieved of duty on allegations of misconduct.
The business session was the first ever associated with a Summit of the Americas and it included executives from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., PepsiCo, Yahoo and Caterpillar. Obama was joined on the stage at the forum by host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
He complimented the government of Colombia and Brazil for their remarkable economic growth, saying that they served as models for success in the region.
"When we look at how we're going to integrate further and take advantage of increased opportunity in the future its very important for us to not ignore how important it is to have a clean, transparent, open government that is working on behalf of its people," he said.
While U.S. exports in dollar amounts have increased in the Americas, its share of the market has declined over the past decade. China, in particular, is surpassing the U.S as a trading partner with Brazil, Chile, and Peru.
In the United States, labor is restive over a trade deal with Colombia that is awaiting final certification. The Colombian government has worked to meet the requirements of a labor rights agreement that was a condition of passage in Congress last year. The question in Cartagena was whether Obama, over the objections of U.S. union leaders, would certify that Colombia successfully has met the terms.
Obama commended the trade deal with Colombia as a "win-win" for both countries, but was silent on its final implementation.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, who was among the attendees, said in an interview Saturday that even if Obama did not take that step while in Cartagena, he would not consider that a setback and predicted final certification probably would come within weeks. He said Obama may not make a major announcement so as not to irritate allies who oppose the deal.
Trade could be eclipsed by other issues: the discussion over Cuba's exclusion from the summit; a call from Latin American countries to consider legalizing drugs to ease the violence associated with narcotrafficking; even Argentina's claims to the British-controlled Falkland Islands.
Adding an embarrassing wrinkle to the visit was Friday's acknowledgement by the Secret Service that agents facing allegations of misconduct for deeds before the president's arrival had been sent home.
On the drug front, Obama flatly declared at the conference that legalizing drugs was not the solution to the drug cartels and the violence that has confronted the region. He said he was open to holding the debate but said strong economies, the rule of law and reduced demand for drugs would better contain the flow of drugs.
Among those pushing Obama to engage further in trade with Latin America is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Donohue told business leaders in Colombia that the U.S. is focusing too much on the Asia-Pacific region at the expense of Latin America. He called for more countries from the Americas to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes Chile and Peru.
"When people think about trans-Pacific they're all thinking about Asia," Donohue said in the interview. "The reason I raised that is to put focus on the bigger question: 'Where are we going to put our assets? Where are we going to put our energy?'"
Donohue is pressing for a trade deal with Brazil, South America's largest economy and one with growing global influence. But he acknowledged that there is no appetite in the United States to initiate such a step before the November elections.
Obama, in answers to questions submitted by Latin American journalists before leaving for Cartagena, said the U.S. exports three times more to Latin America than to China. He said 60 percent of Latin America's exports to the United States are manufactured goods, whereas 87 percent of Latin America's exports to China were commodities.
"We believe that economic partnerships can't just be about nations extracting another's resources," he said.
The U.S. relationship with Argentina is increasingly contentious. U.S. companies complain that Argentina is erecting sizable barriers to U.S. exports. The Obama administration has bristled at the behavior and some in Washington wonder whether Argentina will remain in the Group of 20 large and emerging world economies.
Those issues could likely come up when Obama meets with Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez, on the sidelines of the summit.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/13/3552972/in-colombia-obama-seeks-to-keep.html#storylink=cpy

Life-threatening' storms feared for Midwest

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Tornado sirens sounded across Oklahoma City early Saturday as the nation's midsection braced for what forecasters cautioned could be a day of "life-threatening" storms, with the most dangerous weather expected to develop in the afternoon.

At least three possible tornadoes were reported west and north of the city, though no injuries were immediately reported, said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management official Michelann Ooten. The National Weather Service, which is working to confirm the tornadoes, said the storms damaged some homes.
The most dangerous weather, however, is expected to develop later in the day. Officials are warning that a large area spanning from Minnesota to Texas could be at risk.
"This could go into certainly to overnight situations, which is always of immense concerns to us," Ooten said.
The worst conditions were projected for late Saturday afternoon between Oklahoma City and Salina, Kan., but other areas also could see severe storms with baseball-sized hail and winds of up to 70 mph, forecasters said. The warning issued Friday covers parts of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
One of the suspected tornadoes early Saturday hit near the small town of Piedmont, taking a similar path as a tornado last May that killed several people, Mayor Valerie Thomerson said.
"Because of last year, we've had a lot of new people put storm centers into place," the mayor said, adding that no major damage had been reported. "We're all very anxious about this afternoon."
The city of Norman, home to the University of Oklahoma campus, got a preview of the potential destruction when a twister whizzed by the nation's tornado forecasting headquarters but caused little damage Friday. Norman Regional Hospital and an affiliate treated 19 people for mainly "bumps and bruises," and one patient remained hospitalized in fair condition late Friday, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Wells said.
The Storm Prediction Center, which is part of the National Weather Service, gave the sobering warning that the outbreak could be a "high-end, life-threatening event."
Director Russ Schneider said it was just the second time in U.S. history that the center issued a high-risk warning more than 24 hours in advance. The first was in April 2006, when nearly 100 tornadoes tore across the southeastern U.S., killing a dozen people and damaging more than 1,000 homes in Tennessee.
It's possible to issue earlier warnings because improvements in storm modeling and technology are letting forecasters predict storms earlier and with greater confidence, said Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. In the past, people often have had only minutes of warning when a siren went off.
"We're quite sure (Saturday) will be a very busy and dangerous day in terms of large tornadoes in parts of the central and southern plains," Vaccaro said. "The ingredients are coming together."
The strongly worded message came after the National Weather Service announced last month that it would start using terms like "mass devastation," ''unsurvivable" and "catastrophic" in warnings in an effort to get more people to take heed. It said it would test the new warnings in Kansas and Missouri before deciding whether to expand them to other parts of the country.
Friday's warning, despite the dire language, was not part of that effort but just the most accurate way to describe what was expected, a weather service spokeswoman said.
In Norman, the Red Cross reported about 100 people at a shelter it had established at a recreation center, and most were planning to spend the night. Red Cross officials were planning to conduct damage assessments Saturday once the storms had cleared.
Video from television helicopters showed several buildings damaged in the city of about 100,000 about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. The Oklahoman newspaper reported that among the businesses damaged was a custom cake shop, which lost a roof, windows and thousands of dollars' worth of wedding and birthday cakes.

Emergency management officials in Kansas and Oklahoma warned residents to stay updated on weather developments and create a plan for where they and their families would go if a tornado developed.

"We know it's a Saturday and that people are going to be out and about, so stay weather aware," Cain said. "Have your cellphone on you, keep it charged and make sure you're checking the weather throughout the day so you don't get caught off guard."

___

Associated Press broadcast reporter Ed Donahue in Washington contributed to this report.

Selena Quintanilla regresó a las listas de Billboard después de 17 años de su partida!

Desbancó dos veces a Ednita Nazario en diferentes listas
¡Selena Quintanilla regresó a las listas de Billboard después de 17 años de su partida!
EFE reportó que ‘La Reina del Tex-Mex’ conquistó el primer lugar del chart Latin Albums con su material Enamorada de Ti, en el cual participan grandes cantantes y hacen duetos con ella gracias a algunos arreglos tecnológicos.

Entra a su foro musical y opina, ¿te gustaron los duetos?
La fallecida cantante logró desbancar del primer sitio a la baladista puertorriqueña Ednita Nazario, quien dominaba el top con su disco Desnuda. Después siguen Los Inquietos del Norte con La Gritera y en la cuarta posición el bachatero Romeo Santos y su Fórmula: Vol. 1
.
Prince Royce bajo del tercer puesto al quinto con su álbum homónimo.
En otra de las listas, la de Latin Pop Albums la intérprete de Carcacha repite la hazaña y debuta en primer lugar con su material y de nueva cuenta derrota a Nazario. En tercer lugar quedan los chicos de Maná y su Drama y Luz.

Les sigue el guatemalteco Ricardo Arjona con su disco Independiente y en quinto sitio Camila y su material Dejarte de Amar.
¿Qué te pareció Enamorada de Ti?

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio proposes a Republican DREAM Act - KansasCity.com

A few weeks ago, Daniela Pelaez visited Washington. A valedictorian at North Miami Senior High, the 18-year-old had just learned she no longer faced deportation, thanks in part to congressional intervention in her immigration case.
She visited the nation’s capital the same week a Fox News Latino poll found Hispanic voters favor President Barack Obama six-to-one over any of the Republican presidential hopefuls. Suddenly, there was new life in the DREAM Act, an immigration bill that offers a path toward citizenship for young people like Daniela who came to the U.S. illegally with their parents.
Enter Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has cautioned his party on its stance on immigration, even as he’s considered one of the few Republicans who, with the No. 2 spot on the presidential ticket, could help draw Hispanics to the GOP.
Rubio now is floating a Republican version of the DREAM Act. It’s still just a concept, but with the backing of the leading Hispanic Republican, it’s seen as a way for the GOP to appeal to Latino voters turned off by the party’s harsh rhetoric on immigration. Democrats have already panned it, and a New York Times editorial called it “the DREAM Act without the dream.”
Rubio’s proposal allows young people who came to the United States with their parents to have access to a non-immigrant visa that allows them to study, and after their studies are complete, allows them to work legally in the United States. Eventually, Rubio said, they gain the same status of other non-immigrant visa-holders and are eligible to apply for residency. Three to five years after they obtain a green card, they’re eligible for citizenship.
“It’s a non-immigrant visa, so it doesn’t put them on a path in and of itself to residency and then citizenship,” he said. “But it does legalize their status, it wipes out any of these immigration penalties that they might be facing, and it allows them to go on with their lives with some level of certainty.”
We asked Rubio to discuss his idea. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
One of the criticisms out there seems to be that there’s sort of a category of second-class citizenship you’re creating here.
“There’s nothing second class about it. Right now they’re second class because they don’t have access to any legalization format. Their status quo is a second-class process. They’re illegally in this country and can’t move forward with their lives.
“They do not have a special pathway to citizenship —- they would have to do it the regular way, just like anybody else would. But they’re not prohibited from accessing the citizenship process. And the good news for them is that they get to wait in line while living in the U.S. legally. They don’t have to leave the country to do it.”
So they could go to school or into the military?
“Or start working when they graduate from school while they’re waiting in line for their green card. And it may take awhile. But that’s not a function of this bill, that’s a function of this broken immigration system, which I’ve long said needs to be modernized.”
How much of a role did meeting Daniela Pelaez and her sister have in shaping your thinking?
“Daniela’s case is a good example. It’s her and it’s also her sister, and they have very different stories. While she’s valedictorian of her high school, her sister is 26 and she’s not in school. So the DREAM Act may not help her sister. We want to be able to accommodate both dynamics, and to do that you’ve got to draft it in a way that gives them both the opportunity.
“As far as meeting her, I think it was an excellent catalyst for what we’re facing here. When you present her case to people, everyone would say ’yeah, that doesn’t make sense.’ So I think her case has been the perfect catalyst for renewing this debate.
“The biggest obstacle we’re going to face in this debate is not going to be the policy, I think it’s going to be the politics. I think it’s largely going to be the people primarily on the left who are terrified of losing the immigration issue — or at least a part of the immigration issue — as a political weapon. They had planned to run this election cycle beating up on Republicans for not caring about these kids. And now the prospect that there’s actually a reasonable proposal out there for solving this problem just frightens them because they don’t want to lose this as a political weapon.”
Who are you working with on this? Any Democrats?
“Although I know there are Democrats working on it, I’ve really largely wanted to get our own ducks in a row internally, because I need to understand this bill from A to Z and not have any unanswered questions before I go out and work on it. I know that I have other Senate Republican colleagues who are working on their own language as well. I’ve had great conversations in the past with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who I think is generally interested in dealing with this issue. I know he’s got his own bill and his own version of it, but we’ve had brief discussions about it.
“We’ve talked to advocates, we’ve talked to a lot of people who are living it. We’ve talked to people on both sides of the immigration debate in getting their input, because my intention is not to offer a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. We’re always open on ideas to improve it, or make it better.
“We’re deeply committed to hopefully addressing this issue in a bipartisan fashion. I think there are so many issues that Republicans and Democrats are still going to be able to fight over if that’s what they want to do. But I think the notion of helping out these kids in these circumstances is something that really should unite us on a bipartisan basis.”
For you personally, as the son of parents who immigrated here, do feel that you more than some other folks in the Senate have a moral obligation to do something about immigration and the stalemate?
“I think all of us represent the issues of our nation. I don’t know if a have a larger moral obligation. They way I would characterize it is I have more real life experience. All of us bring the cumulative experience of our life to where we are, including the political process. You don’t just elect a person, you elect all they’ve seen and experienced in their lives, and how that impacts their decision making.
“So I think any senator from Florida, representing this state, having the kind of issues we have here, would be impacted by the human reality of the situation these kids are living. How can you live where I live, in West Miami, , in the middle of a majority-minority Hispanic community, and not know people that have been impacted by the current state of immigration policy in America? So certainly that has an impact on who I am and where I come from.”.
This is only a drop in the bucket. There’s an estimated 10 to 12 million undocumented people in the country. What do you do about that?
“One thing at a time here. I guess that’s the big challenge. After we take care of the kids issue, I think the next step is going to have to be an improvement in our enforcement mechanism. And at the same time, modernization of our legal immigration system. Guest worker program, etc.
“The pushback you’re going to get is that the wait in line takes a long time. That’s not a function of this bill. That’s a function of a legal immigration process that’s broken. It’s backlogged for a lot of different reasons, one of them is that we don’t have a guest worker program. There’s a lot of people who don’t want to work here permanently. They just want to work here four months, five months out of the year and then go back home. With the kind of advances we have in technology today, there’s no reason we can’t make that process more efficient.”
Do you feel that this has become so partisan and such a part of the election year politics that it’s impossible to get anything done this year?
“When we weren’t talking about a plan, people were criticizing me for not having one. And now that we have a plan, people are criticizing that we’re doing it in an election year. I don’t think you can go to someone like Daniela and say, ‘hey we understand your plight, but you’re going to have to wait until after this election.’
“My hope, maybe it’s naive, is that we can look and say ‘when it comes to this specific group of kids who are so sympathetic, let’s put aside our partisan politics and deal with this issue.’ At least when it comes to these kids, let’s try to get this thing worked out as soon as possible."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/09/3544159/florida-sen-marco-rubio-proposes.html#storylink=cpy

Zimmerman charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin shooting

George Zimmerman, the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., has been charged with second-degree murder in the 17-year-old's death. Zimmerman is being held without bail.

"Just moments ago that we spoke with Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, the sweet parents of Trayvon," Angela Corey, the special prosecutor investigating the case, said at a news conference in Jacksonville. "They now know charges have been filed, and that George Zimmerman is in custody."

"We did not come to this decision lightly," she said, declining to discuss specifics of the investigation. "We're law enforcement. We enforce the law."

Zimmerman turned himself in and is in police custody in Florida, Corey said, but would not disclose where he is being held.

According to CNN, Zimmerman had left the state of Florida, but returned when he learned he would be charged. Zimmerman will now be transferred to the Seminole County Jail, Corey said.

The announcement comes a day after Zimmerman's attorneys said that they were dropping the case because their client had stopped communicating with them. (On Sunday, Zimmerman launched a website seeking donations for his legal and living expenses.) According to Corey, Zimmerman had retained new legal counsel "within the last hour."

Zimmerman shot and killed Martin on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., a gated community outside of Orlando. He told police he was attacked by Martin and was acting in self-defense.

Earlier this week, Corey announced the case would not go to a grand jury.

"There's been an overwhelming amount of publicity," Corey said, expressing concern about damage to a potential jury pool. "It's regrettable that so many facts got released and misconstrued."

"Forty-five days ago, Trayvon Martin was murdered," Rev. Al Sharpton said at a separate press conference in Washington, flanked by Martin's parents. "No arrest was made. The chief of police announced after his review of the evidence there would be no arrest. His parents refused to leave it there."

"Tonight," Sharpton continued. "Maybe America can come together and say only the facts should matter, when dealing with a loss of life.

"This is not a night for celebration," he added. "This is a night that shouldn't have happened in the first place."

"It's about justice, justice, justice," Ben Crump, the Martin family's attorney, said. "If we just stand our ground, we can make a difference."

Martin's parents spoke briefly at the press conference.

"We simply wanted an arrest, and we got it," Fulton said. "Thank you Lord. Thank you Jesus ... A heart has no color. It's not white, it's not black--it's red. And I just want to thank you from my heart to your heart."

"We will continue to walk by faith," Tracy Martin said. "And we will march and march and march until the right thing is done."

Tool or hero -- what role will Rubio play?

The GOP is launching its secret weapon.

The one with an ethnic persona and an assumed comfort level with a coveted demographic, along with boyish good looks and tea party credentials for added charm.

Good luck, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. You will need it.

Talk is turning to November, to Mitt Romney's future. It's the math, the math.

Sorry, Newt and Rick, but he's the nominee. And already the talk is turning to who will be his copilot. Those conversations always include Marco Rubio as a possibility, although Rubio himself is quick to demur to any such suggestion.

In nearly the same breath that Rubio endorsed Romney for the nomination, the Cuban-American senator confirmed that he is drafting a GOP-friendly version of the long exiled DREAM Act.

Ay, caramba! Who do you think Republicans are trying to court with that maneuver?

The 21 million Latinos eligible to vote?

DREAM stands for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors. The federal DREAM Act has had several iterations over the years, and there have been state bills as well. The main objective has been to allow immigrant children, most of whom have grown up in the United States believing themselves to be American, the opportunity to go to college or enter the military as a means to legal status.

No word yet on exactly what Rubio's version would propose. He has discussed a version of the DREAM Act that would allow legalization, but not a path to citizenship.

That's a recipe for permanent limbo for these immigrant kids. And it's not likely to fly with Democrats. According to The Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid spoke to Hispanic business leaders recently, warning them not to be fooled by shallow outreach efforts by Republicans, specifically mentioning the possibility of a weakened DREAM Act.

"While you're here in town, don't take the bait that will be given to you by my Republican friends," Reid reportedly said.

Used to be, back before the GOP threw common sense to the wind and adopted a harsh view on anything tinged by immigration, many Republicans backed the DREAM Act. They realized that these children didn't uproot themselves from native lands and enter the U.S. without legal paperwork. Their parents made those choices. Why punish the children when they are eager to be college-educated, tax-paying additions to the U.S. economy?

That's no longer a rhetorical question. The answer is: because the tea party says you should.

So Rubio, in his first task to prove what he can do for the GOP, is going to set this ship upright? Good luck, senator. You will need it.

There's not a lot of reason to trust Rubio on this issue. He denounced an earlier version of the federal DREAM Act as an "amnesty." Changing his tune now will look like flip-flopping. And that might just entrench Latino voters' mistrust of the GOP.

Some Hispanics want to tell more about background - KansasCity.com

WASHINGTON -- A majority of Hispanics prefer to identify themselves according to their families' countries of origin, rather than by the government's suggested terms "Hispanic" or "Latino," Pew Hispanic Center reported Wednesday.
The description preferred by 51 percent of Hispanics is Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban or other culture they are tied to through family or ancestry. About a quarter surveyed said they identify as Latino or Hispanic first and a fifth said they tend to say American, according to Pew's survey. About 50 million people in the U.S. are Hispanic.
Although Latinos have long maintained they are not a monolithic group, the complexity of Hispanic identity has drawn renewed interest amid the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager, by George Zimmerman, whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, of Peruvian ancestry.
Police and early media reports described Zimmerman as white, but his father has defended his son against allegations of racial profiling by describing him as a "Spanish-speaking minority."
Whites, blacks and Asian Americans are all considered a racial group. Hispanics are an ethnic group, which means although they share a common language, culture and heritage, they do not share a common race. They can be black, white, Asian, American Indian, or descended from original peoples of a place colonized by Spain and a few others.
Some 18 million Latinos checked "some other race" when they were asked to pick a race on census forms and were told Hispanic is not a race. But so many Latinos identified themselves as white, the overall number of white people in the U.S. increased.
In Pew's survey, more than a third said they were white, and half said they were "some other race" or volunteered Hispanic or Latino.
The term Hispanic was first officially used by the federal government in the 1970 Census.
Ilan Stavans, an Amherst College professor of Latino culture, said the findings suggest a journey back in time is happening among the population. Identifying by country of origin or lineage tended to be the preferred description in the 1950s as well, said Stavans, author of "What Is la Hispanidad?" Identifying as Latino or Hispanic arose within the community and among non-Hispanics with the civil rights movement and took hold in the early '80s, giving strength to the idea that Latinos were "a sum, more than parts," he said.
"It seems to me that the whole identity of George Zimmerman is really an expression how modern individual American identity has all these many facets. If I were to say where he belongs, I'd say he belongs right at the center of where America is today," said Stavans, who was born in Mexico to a Jewish, Eastern European family.
The Pew Hispanic Center survey is based on interviews by cell phone and landline of 1,220 Latinos adults from across the country during the period of Nov. 9 through Dec. 7, 2011. The error rate is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/04/3536138/some-hispanics-identify-by-familys.html#storylink=cpy

Overland Park police plan DUI saturation patrol - KansasCity.com

Overland Park police will conduct a special saturation patrol on Friday night looking for drunken drivers.
The DUI saturation patrol will begin at 11 p.m. Friday and end at 3 a.m. Saturday.
During a patrol, a special team of officers drives through the city looking for drunken drivers and other violators.
The department uses the patrols to help reduce the number of alcohol-related auto accidents and to discourage drunken driving in the city.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/05/3537345/overland-park-police-plan-dui.html#storylink=cpy

Latino votes in 2012

Where Latino Votes Will Matter in 2012
 
SEATTLE & SANTA FE, NM (By Matt Barreto, Latino Decisions) April 1, 2011 — With the recent release of the national Census data pundits have been quick to point out the obvious: the Latino population is growing!
 
As if data points from the annual Current Population Survey, and now American Community Survey did not already tell us this on a yearly basis, the official 2010 decennial census now confirms that more than 50 million Latinos are part of America and politicians should take note.
 
However, the lingering question on journalists minds is whether or not this population growth will transfer into immediate political power?
 
With 33 U.S. Senate contests and a Presidential election across 50 states in 2012, the Latino voter is positioned to have a bigger impact than ever on the political landscape of America. However, even as the citizen eligible population is increasing rapidly, Latinos continue to face a registration gap vis-a-vis Whites and African Americans.
 
Despite massive voter registration drives in 2008 and 2010, only about 60% of Latino citizen adults are registered to vote, compared to 70% of Blacks, and 74% of Whites. Thus, while the Latino population is growing dramatically (43% growth since 2000, compared to 1% growth in the White population), it's influence in 2012 could be even greater than expected if voter registration drives take shape.

Using data from the 1996 - 2008 Current Population Survey, Voting and Registration supplement, and 2010 Census data where available, we have projected the Latino eligible voter population, by state for November 2012.
 
Given the trends in growth rates over the previous decade, and new data from 2010, we project linear estimates for each state in 2012. By the 2012 election, Latinos will account for over 10% of the citizen adult population - potential voters - in 11 states.
 
In another 13 states, Latino account for 5-10% of the citizen adult population. All told, that's 24 states where Latinos have the capacity to influence electoral outcomes, given a competitive statewide election. In the table below, we outline the potential states where Latinos votes might matter in elections for U.S. Senate and President in 2012.
 
For each state, we list the percentage of the total citizen adult eligible population that is Latino, as well as an estimate of how many eligible Latinos are not yet registered to vote. States are sorted by where Latinos are likely to have the most influence in 2012.

In 2012, Latino voters have the best chance to influence outcomes in 10 states for either Senate, President, or both. Four of the top five states will be "Latino influence states" on everyone's map - New Mexico, Florida, Nevada, Colorado all have large and growing Latino electorates in otherwise politically competitive states.
 
In addition to close presidential contests, New Mexico, Florida and Nevada will likely see very competitive Senate elections. Another state we include, Arizona, has a large Latino population, and depending on who the nominees are for U.S. Senate, could have a fairly competitive election with Latino voters proving decisive. In 2010, Latinos registered voters in Arizona demonstrated the highest turnout rate of Latinos in any state.

The next batch of states that Latinos may influence are ones that historically are not obvious Latino states, but significant population growth over the last decade has left a substantial Latino eligible voter population.
 
In Connecticut, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Massachusetts, Latinos account for over 5% of potential voters, and each state is expected have a competitive U.S. Senate or Presidential contest in 2012. For example, in Georgia, the Latino population grew by 96% since 2000 while the White population grew by 6%; a state McCain won by just 5% (52-47) in 2008. In Wisconsin Latinos grew by 74% compared to 1% growth for Whites, and could be one of the most fiercely contested states in 2012.

Beyond these 10 states, there are others where Latinos will matter if elections are close, as expected in Nebraska, Virginia, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio. While the Latino population is a smaller percentage, the number of Latino citizen adults is growing rapidly, and with voter registration drives targeting potential Latino voters, we could very well be talking about the next "Latino upset" ala Reid vs. Angle in one of these five states. In Missouri the Latino population grew by 79% - 20 times faster than the White population (which grew by 4%), in a state that McCain won by just 4,000 total votes in 2008. One of the biggest keys to Latino influence in 2012 will not just be the population growth which has already occurred, but rather, voter registration drives that still need to occur.

Over 8 million more to be registered
 
Overall, we estimate 21.5 million Latino citizen adults will be eligible to vote in November 2012, up from 19.5 million in 2008. If registration rates remain constant, that will leave over 8 million Latino eligible voters who are not registered in 2012. With significant voter registration drives the Latino vote can go from influential to essential. In addition to the current Latino share of the citizen adult population in each state in the table above, we've also listed the estimated number of Latinos eligible to vote who are not registered, given growth rates. For example, while Latinos are growing in influence in Arizona, there are over 400,000 Latinos eligible to vote who are not yet registered. In Florida it's even more - over 600,000 Latinos could be added to the voter rolls. Newly naturalized citizens and young Latinos turning 18 are adding literally a half-million of new potential voters each year.

Over the past decade, and well before, Latino civic and political organizations have led the charge in registering voters, as political parties rarely ventured into el barrio for campaign outreach. Groups such as NALEO, NCLR, Southwest Voter have invested millions of dollars and millions of hours into Latino voter registration and civic education drives. Today, many new and influential groups have emerged and done considerable work in Latino voter registration and mobilization including Mi Familia Vota, Democracia USA, The Hispanic Institute, and Voto Latino among many other groups. However, these non-partisan groups operate mostly on soft money contributions and an extensive volunteer network.
 
A significant investment in Latino voter registration is badly overdue by both major political parties. In Texas, for example, there are an estimated 2.1 million Latino eligible voters who are not yet registered, who could be crucial to either party's desire to wIin and hold statewide office in Texas in coming years. In California there are another 2 million eligible Latinos to be registered. There are 300,000 unregistered Latinos who could be voters in Illinois where a U.S. Senate election was decided by less than 60,000 votes in 2010.

As pundits look towards 2012, Latino voters are positioned to cast crucial votes in many states. Beyond looking at just the likely 4/4 voters, or perhaps the pool of registered voters, campaigns and candidates would be wise to look at the growing pool of Latino eligible voters and invest now in bringing more Latinos into the political system - an investment that will pay off for decades to come.

Matt A. Barreto, Ph.D., Associate Professor Political Science at University of Washington, and co-founder of Latino Decisions can be reached at: Matt.Barreto@LatinoDecisions.com