The News

Victory in New Mexico, and Other News

New Mexico Abolishes Death Penalty
After visiting a state penitentiary yesterday, Gov. Bill Richardson decided to pass legislation that replaces the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Human Rights Watch and other groups have praised the decision as a step in the right direction to abolish the death penalty in the US entirely. AP

Berkeley Allowed to Consider Neighborhood in Enrollment
The California Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Berkeley Unified School District does not violate racial preferences laws in considering the make-up of students’ neighborhoods in determining where they will go to school. SF Chron

Language Barriers Affect Deportations of Indigenous Migrants
Many indigenous migrants are facing the costs of ICE’s lack of Mixtec translators. Because ICE doesn’t have enough translators, indigenous migrants are not able to make fully-informed decisions when faced with the possibility of deportation and are sometimes deported before they even know it. AP

Cincinnati Initiates Racial Disparity Study in Contracting
City Councilmember Roxanne Qualls is pushing for a racial disparity study in contracting as a preliminary step toward increasing the number of city contracts with businesses owned by people of color and women. Cincinnati Business Courier

No Smooth Ride on TV Networks’ Road to Diversity
Last December, an NAACP report showed that the number of actors of color in regular or recurring roles on three out of four major networks had fallen in the last years. This year, mainstream television doesn’t seem to be doing any better.

Posted at 2:54 PM, Mar 19, 2009 in News | Permalink | View Comments