• Arizona passed one of the most stringent immigration laws in the country, "which would among other things, allow the authorities to demand proof of legal entry into the United States from anyone suspected of being in the country illegally." State Rep. Bill Konopnicki, (R -Yuma) said, "We are going to look like Alabama in the ‘60s." Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who is facing primary challengers from the right, "is widely expected to sign the bill, though her spokesman said she would not comment." - New York Times, April 20, 2010
• Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, was chosen as Hispanic Business Woman of the Year in this month’s issue. In the profile, the top U.S. education official remembers being a stellar high school student and told by her guidance counselor not to go to UCLA because she "wouldn’t be able to make it there." Melendez went on to graduate from UCLA and holds a doctorate from USC.
• Foreign-born Hispanics are more positive and knowledgeable about the 2010 U.S. Census than are native-born Latinos, according to a nationwide survey by the Pew Hispanic Center. Overall, 70 percent of Hispanics say the census is good for their community. However, foreign-born Latinos are more likely than native-born Hispanics to feel this way, 80 percent versus 57 percent. - Pew Hispanic Center, April 1, 2010
• "The Vatican has chosen Archbishop Jose H. Gomez - who was born in Mexico and became an American citizen while serving in Texas as a priest for the conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei - to become the new leader of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the country." - New York Times, April 7, 2010
• "A young Latina girl as the center of a network television show? That just wasn’t a reality and now it is." - America Ferrera, star of "Ugly Betty" on how the show has changed the way networks depict minorities. Time, April 19, 2010
• Services for teacher Jaime Escalante were held April 16 and 17 at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. His work of bettering students’ lives was featured in the film "Stand and Deliver." President Obama noted "Jaime opened the doors of success and higher education for his students and by one and proved that where a person came from did not have to determine how far they could go." Escalante died March 30. - Hispanic Marketing 101, April 1 and 15, 2010
• Mexico’s federal government began disconnecting millions of cell phone lines after a midmonth deadline for users to submit their identities to a national registry. The move was intended to strike a blow to organized crime. By the deadline about 69 percent of the 83.5 million cell phones lines in Mexico had been registered. - Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2010