Navigation

Home > News & Analysis > News Links

In The News

NC: Youth Vote Played Key Role in Election
11/14/08
America's New Immigrant Capitals
11/13/08
The Economy
America's New Immigrant Capitals
Brian Wingfield and Jewel Edwards 10.24.08, 12:00 PM ETWashington, D.C. -

Forget Miami, Los Angeles and New York--America's newest immigrant capitals are the country's recent boom towns.

Top of the list: Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., with a 122% increase in its foreign-born population from 2000 to 2007, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of U.S. Census Bureau information. Also ranking high are the metro areas of Nashville, Tenn., (74% increase), Indianapolis (71%), Orlando, Fla., (64%) and Raleigh, N.C. (62%).

Iowa Meatpacker Is Fined Nearly $10 Million
11/13/08
October 30, 2008

Meatpacker Is Fined Nearly $10 Million

New York Times
By JULIA PRESTON

State labor authorities levied nearly $10 million in fines Wednesday for wage violations at an Iowa meatpacking plant where nearly 400 illegal immigrant workers were arrested in a raid in May.

The fines against Agriprocessors Inc., one of the country’s largest kosher meatpackers, were the largest wage violations penalties ever levied in Iowa, state officials said.

About $9.6 million of the fines were for illegal paycheck deductions the company made for protective jackets and other uniforms that packinghouse workers were required to wear. Iowa inspectors found 96,436 deductions for uniforms from the paychecks of 2,001 workers, and brought fines of $100 per incident.

The workers’ wages had been reduced by $192,597, Iowa officials said.

“You cannot legally deduct for clothing required by the company,” said Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s labor department.

Phil English loses seat; Murtha, Kanjorski hang on
11/13/08

In northeastern Pennsylvania, Kanjorski, a 12-term congressman, squeaked out a win against Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, a Republican mayor who became nationally prominent for his stand against illegal immigrants.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Kanjorski had 52 percent, and Barletta had 48 percent.

"We worked hard. We came up a little short in the end, but we ran a good campaign, a clean campaign, a campaign we can be proud of," Barletta said in his concession speech.

Barletta also lost to Kanjorski in 2002. He told reporters that it was too early to say whether he would mount a third challenge, but added that in a different year, the outcome might have been different. He said a strong showing for presidential winner Barack Obama contributed to Kanjorski's win.

Barletta pushed through a law in his community of 30,000 that sought to deny business permits to companies that employ illegal immigrants and fine landlords who rent to them. A federal judge struck down the ordinance as unconstitutional but his efforts were emulated in other towns around the country.

Economic Crises Will Take Precedence Over Near-Term Immigration Overhaul
11/13/08

Economic Crises Will Take Precedence Over Near-Term Immigration Overhaul

Wall Street Journal

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

By JOEL MILLMAN and JUNE KRONHOLZ

The next administration's preoccupation with economic crises will likely prevent immigration advocates from capitalizing on steep losses suffered by their foes in last week's election, delaying any attempt to ease entry for people in the U.S. illegally.

Of the 13 House Republicans who lost their seats on Nov. 4, nine were members of the Immigration Reform Caucus, which has opposed a path to citizenship for the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. A 10th member, Virginia's Virgil Goode, is trailing in a race still too close to call.

CO: 44,000 Voters Purged in the State
11/12/08
Tokaji: Reforming Registration
11/11/08
Elmendorf: Two Models for Building Public Confidence in the Electoral Process
11/11/08
Youth Turnout Rate Rises to at Least 52%
11/10/08
End the "Voter Fraud" Debate
11/10/08
Voter Registration Process is Under Scrutiny
11/10/08
Glitches, machine breakdowns hamper voting in five states
11/04/08
Rendering Justice, with One Eye on Re-election
10/28/08
HI: Hawaii ending universal child health care
10/24/08
OH: Governor Signs Executive Order to Ensure State Clothing Purchases Not Tied to Sweatshop Manufacturing
10/24/08
33 states collect $60 million from Pfizer over "deceptive and misleading promotion by drug maker
10/24/08
IN: Judge allows early voting to go on
10/24/08
Texas may face polling place mishaps
10/22/08

Texans could face major disruptions at polling places on Election Day because of voting machine breakdowns or massive turnouts that overwhelm local authorities.

So says a report by three nonpartisan voter advocacy groups that cited Texas and nine other states as having inadequate contingency plans for using emergency paper ballots.

Virgina, Pennsylvania, Ohio Not Prepared for Record Voter Turnout
10/22/08

Several battleground states are not prepared to meet the challenge of administering the general election on November 4th, where turnout will be unprecedented, According to a report conducted by Advancement Project, a national leading voter protection organization.

To assess, and help ensure, the nation’s readiness for the November general election, Advancement Project obtained public records and other public information on the allocation, at the precinct level, of voting machines (or, in the case of jurisdictions that use optical scan machines, voting privacy booths) and poll workers in the following states: Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Restore trust in voter rolls
10/22/08
Since the "hanging chad" debacle of 2000, states have worked hard to restore trust in Election Day by updating voting machines. Slowly, but surely, they're making progress. But now, charges of "fraud" and "suppression" in voter registration are kicking up a cloud of controversy — and again endangering voter confidence.

From the Dispatch

More From the Dispatch

Eye On The Right

More Eye on the Right

PSN Op-Eds

More PSN Op-Eds