• More than half, 52 percent, of the nation’s 16 million Latino children are "second generation," U.S. born to at least one foreign-born parent, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Research Center. More than a third, 37 percent, of the 16 million Hispanic children are "third generation or higher," meaning both their parents were born in the U.S. - Hispanic, October/ November 2009
• Latinos are among the most avid users of mobile broadband, leading non-minorities 53 percent to 33 percent and slightly trailing African-Americans with 58 percent, based on a joint research report by The Hispanic Institute and Mobile Future, a broad-based coalition of the wireless industry. Last year, Hispanics outpaced the general population in accessing and downloading digital media, 42 percent to 35 percent. - Hispanic Marketing 101, November 17, 2009
• Carmen Ortiz was confirmed by the Senate as the U.S. Attorney in the state of Massachusetts. She is the first Puerto Rican and first woman to hold that post. - HispanicLink Online, November 5, 2009
• "Unemployment has hit migrant communities in the United States so hard that a startling new phenomenon has been detected; instead of receiving remittances from relatives in the richest country on earth, some down-and-out Mexican families are scraping together what they can to support their unemployed loved ones in the United States," the New York Times reported in its November 16 edition. "With nearly half its population living in poverty, Mexico is not well placed to prop up struggling citizens abroad. Mexico could lose as many as 735,000 jobs this year and see its economy decline 7.5 percent, government economists predict, making the country one of the worst affected by the global recession."
• Roberto Micheletti, de factor leader of Honduras since the seated president was ousted in June, said he would step down to allow voters to concentrate on the November 29 presidential elections. The nation’s Congress is scheduled to vote December 2 on whether ousted President Manuel Zelaya would be reinstated until a new leader takes office in January. - USA Today, November 20, 2009
• The major cities of Brazil and at least nine states were plunged into a power outage for hours, "prompting security fears and concern from residents about another black eye for a country hosting the 2016 Olympic Games," wrote the Chicago Sun-Times in its November 11 issue. Robberies spiked in the area around the Maracana football stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics will be held.
• There "are lots of fat people" President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said in a televised speech about his country. He advised supporters to exercise and eat healthy to trim waistlines. - Chicago Tribune, November 17, 2009