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States where Hispanics have settled in large numbers saw some of the highest percent changes in population growth and gained congressional seats, according to the first set of Census 2010 results, released Tuesday.

Many states in the South and West that have been magnets for Latinos saw double-digit percentage growths. The growth in those areas far outpaced the nation’s, which saw a population increase of 9.7 percent over the 2000 Census count of 281 million residents.

The new national population is 308.7 million.

This first release of Census results did not include data on race or ethnicity -- reports with those details will be released early next year. But many demographic experts have been expecting the 2010 Census to show that some of the largest growth in population would occur in states that are home to Hispanics, who have a higher birthrate than most other groups and include millions of immigrants.

Nevada, where Latinos were a significant factor in the re-election of Sen. Harry Reid, a Democrat, saw a 35 percent population increase, the highest of any state. Nevada gained one congressional seat. READ MORE

After deserting a Spanish naval ship in the Pacific Northwest, Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a 20-year-old Spanish sailor, arrived in Honolulu in 1794. Marin was the first documented Hispanic to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands.

Marin’s arrival occurred about the same time that King Kamehameha was consolidating all of the Islands into one kingdom while he was living on Oahu. The king maintained a body of advisers who acted as a council of state to aid in his struggle for supremacy.

Don Francisco de Paula Marin, who was from an agricultural part of southern Spain, was known for his extensive knowledge of the medicinal uses of plants and herbs. According to a Hawaiian history book by Richard Wiesnewski, “The Rise and Fall of the Hawaiian Kingdom,” Marin planted the first pineapple in the kingdom of Hawaii on Jan. 2, 1813.

Marin soon became a trusted advisor and confident of the king, acting as his business advisor, bookkeeper, interpreter (he spoke fluent Hawaiian). He also served as the king’s physician and was at his bedside during his death in 1819.

As a result of his service to the king and the alii, Marin was given land on Ford Island to collect plants and provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the crews of foreign ships that arriving at Honolulu Harbor.

Today, Marin is best remembered for his green thumb. He introduced apples, apricots, asparagus, avocados, cabbage, carrots, Chile peppers, eggplant, lemons, limes, macadamia, nectarines, nuts, olives, onion, oranges, parsley, peas, peaches, pears, potatoes, rice, tea and tobacco into the Hawaian Kingdom. READ MORE

"For a long time Latinos were a fact of life in the American Southwest, and that was it," said John Weeks, a professor of geography and director of the International Population Center at San Diego State University.

"But over the last 20 years, there has been just a mushrooming of migrants into places like Charlotte (North Carolina), originally brought there to do construction."

Latinos are leading the transformation of the United States, where ethnic and racial minorities are expected to become the majority by mid-century, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections.

There are more than 45 million Hispanics in the United States, double the number 20 years ago, according to the American Community Survey released this month ahead of the 2010 Decennial Census data being released on Tuesday. The survey drew on five-year estimates from 2005 to 2009.

While long a presence in the states bordering Mexico such as Arizona, Latinos are increasingly moving to the U.S. interior to work in states like Georgia and North Carolina, where the number of Hispanics as a proportion of the population has grown by nearly 50 percent since 2000.

A sign of that growth is in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, which includes the city of Charlotte -- one in five children now born there are to Hispanic mothers.

"This city is no longer thought of as being a 'Southern town,'" said Rocio Gonzalez, of the Latin American Chamber of Commerce in Charlotte, speaking of the city's transformation.

While it was hard to find a place to sway to a salsa beat when she moved there in 1999, Gonzalez, who is originally from Colombia, says it now has clubs open even on week nights.

'MORE DIVERSE FUTURE'

The Census Bureau projects that the U.S. Hispanic population will nearly triple to more than 130 million by 2050, when nearly one in three U.S. residents will be Latino.

The rapid growth in part is a result of increased economic immigration from Mexico and Latin America, which has helped swell the U.S. foreign-born Hispanic population to 37 million, from 31 million a decade ago. READ MORE

Latinos represent more than 30 percent of Arizona’s population and bring more than $31 billion to the state’s economy, according to a recent study by Arizona’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, reports Maritza Lizeth Félix for Prensa Hispana. The report, “Datos: Focus on Arizona’s Hispanic Market 2010,” finds that Latina women have become an economic engine in the state. The study does not include the economic impact of undocumented immigrants.

In Numbers
$31.3 billion – the buying power of Latinos in Arizona
$47.9 billion – the amount Latinos are expected to spend in 2013
$951 billion – Latino buying power in the U.S., not including Puerto Ricans, whose buying power is estimated at $50 billion
63% of Arizona’s Latino population lives in Maricopa County
42% of the residents of Phoenix are Latino
1 in 4 children born in the U.S. in 2008 was of Hispanic descent READ MORE

The last 10 years have been of considerable importance to the economy. From boom to bust and back again, the nation's wealth has expanded and contracted in unforeseeable ways. Throughout these tough economic times are stories of significant hope. Mary Kay Inc. is one of them and is proud to announce that over the last 10 years, it has increased its Latina independent sales force by 39 percent.

The increase in the Latina Mary Kay independent sales force is significant when compared to the overall economic trends, regardless of the ethnic grouping, over the last 10 years. Budget cuts and workforce downsizing occurring across the board in almost every industry over the last decade, can make starting a Mary Kay direct sales business appealing to many women.

Given the opportunity, Latina women can have financial freedom and excel to the highest levels of leadership. They are role models for others to reach their full potential as leaders. Yvette Franco, Vice President of U.S. Marketing for Mary Kay Inc. explains: "The Mary Kay business opportunity is a business model that resonates with working women who need flexible hours, a clearly defined business plan and an open-ended opportunity to achieve personal growth and financial success, for themselves and their families. A Mary Kay business is the ideal choice for every woman with an entrepreneurial soul."

Mary Kay credits this growth to values that Latinas share with the skin care and cosmetics leader. When Mary Kay Ash founded her business in 1963, she stressed to the independent sales force – made up of only 9 women at that time – the importance of faith, family and career. "Historically, Latinas follow Mary Kay's principles, balancing their work lives and caring for their family, children or parents, while still finding time to earn extra income." Franco added.

Mary Kay has been a stable career choice for thousands of Hispanic women, many of whom have found great success in the process and continue to pass it on. READ MORE

More than Eight in Ten Hispanic Adults Use a Cell Phone

Hispanics More Likely than other Cellular Users to Text Message

Hispanic Smartphone Growth Rate Outpaces that of Total Population

Consumer and media research firm Scarborough Research issued an analysis which finds that cellular usage is increasing at a faster rate among Hispanics than it is among the total population. The analysis is derived from the company's Hispanic Multi-Market Study, which compiles information on lifestyles, technology adoption, demographics and media usage among adults age 18+ in 34 of the largest Hispanic markets in the U.S. Scarborough finds that the percentage of Hispanic adults who use a cellular phone grew 26 percent since 2005, versus 18 percent for all adults. Currently, cellular usage among Hispanics is on par with that of the general population as 82 percent of Hispanic adults use a cellular phone, versus 84 percent of total adults.

Hispanics are more likely than other cellular users to text message. Sixty-four percent of Hispanics who use a wireless phone text message, versus 56 percent of all cellular users. This group is also more likely than other cellular users to use their wireless device to:

* Download music: 22 percent of Hispanic cellular users download or listen to music via their wireless device, versus 15 percent of all wireless users.
* Play games: 19 percent of Hispanic cellular users play games on their wireless device, versus 15 percent of all wireless users.
* Access social networking: 12 percent of Hispanic cellular users social network via their wireless device, versus 10 percent of all wireless users.


Additionally, the Hispanic smartphone growth rate is outpacing that of the total population. Nineteen percent of Hispanic adults currently live in a household that owns one or more smartphones – such as Blackberries or iPhones –versus five percent in 2005. Twenty-three percent of the general population currently owns these devices in their household, growing from nine percent in 2007. READ MORE

Minority internet users are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as are white internet users.

This is the first-ever survey reading from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project that exclusively examines Twitter users. In previous surveys, the Pew Internet Project had asked internet users whether they "used Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others?"

Here is a little background on our reasoning for focusing just on Twitter in this more recent survey. The message service Twitter launched on July 15, 2006 now claims tens of millions of users worldwide. It is one of the most popular online activities among tech enthusiasts and has become a widely used tool among analysts to study the conversations and interests of users, buzz about news, products or services, and announcements by commercial, non-profit, and government organizations. For instance, it is an important component of the analytical work by our colleagues at the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in its New Media Index, which assesses the most prominent topics discussed in social media every week.

Since August 2008, the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has been asking a question in occasional national telephone surveys about services like Twitter. In the 10-year lifespan of the Pew Internet Project, we have not usually asked about single, company-specific online applications or activities because our mission
is to look generally at online activities, rather than at specific brands. For instance, when we looked at teens and gaming, we focused on genres of computer and online games, rather than usage of particular games. READ MORE

Oh the Drama of it all. During the middle of the night a startled couple awakes to a phone call, the mother answers and it’s from the local hospital informing her that her son, Alberto, has been involved in a horrible accident. She breathes heavily, asks a furry of questions, her husband and her dash to the hospital (cue dramatic music). Husband goes into an angry monologue, family is reunited, and son is ok.

Sound like a telenovela? That’s because it is. The Texas Department of Transportation launched a series of mini telenovelas this month in an effort to educate the Hispanic Community about the consequences of drinking and driving.

The three telenovelas follow the members of a Hispanic family as they experience drinking and driving situations and they aired as thirty second and two minute spots on Univision, Estrella, and Telefutura during the evening news for two weeks in late November.

One of the telenovelas involves the aforementioned parents rushing to the hospital where their son, Alberto, is in bandages from a drunk driving accident. His parents think it was someone elses fault but to their dismay—(Dramatic Pause)—Alberto was the one drinking and driving.

While the recipe for good old fashioned telenovelas can draw some laughs, their influence and popularity amongst the Latino community is no joke and neither is the disturbing trend between latinos and Drunk Driving. READ MORE