Blog

Veterans Day "Appreciation Event & Rally"

Monday, November 12, 2012 | 8 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Great Hall of Union Station (210 S. Canal)

#53VETS

Fifth Third Bank Chicago announces plans for its annual “Veterans Day of Appreciation” event on Monday, November 12, 2012.  The bank will transform the Great Hall of Union Station (Canal & Jackson, Chicago) into a patriotic celebration for those serving in the military. 

· 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.:  Volunteers will join local veterans in collecting last minute donations for educational scholarships that will benefit the Folds of Honor Foundation.  Street teams will be out in Chicago and other suburban locations collecting donations.  The bank will match all donations received 100 percent, up to $50,000.

· 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.:  Volunteers will assemble 1,000 care packages that will be sent to Illinois troops now serving in Afghanistan.  Several of the items contained in the care packages are from Chicago-based companies.  This effort was inspired by local veteran group Heart of a Marine Foundation.  www.heartofamarine.org The public is invited – and encouraged – to come to the event and visit Appreciation Stations that will be set up where they can write notes of support and appreciation that will go into the soldiers care packages.

· 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.:  Fifth Third Bank will host an “Appreciation Rally,” where local veterans groups will be celebrated and spotlighted.  Special guest Rear Admiral David F. Steindl (Great Lakes Naval Base) will join civic and business leaders speaking at the event.  Highlights of the rally include:

· The bank will present a check for $100,000 from its month-long fundraising campaign to the Folds of Honor Foundation that will fund scholarships of Chicago-area families of wounded or lost soldiers.  www.foldsofhonor.org

· The bank will announce that in partnership with local non-profit, War Dogs Making It Home, it will sponsor a dog named Friday, recently rescued from a local animal shelter, to become trained as a certified service dog for local veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  http://wardogsmakingithome.org/

· Sending off the 1,000 care packages for their journey to Afghanistan.  United States Postal Service (USPS) employees, who are veterans themselves, will be on hand to help.  Volunteers and event guests will form a human chain that will move all the care packages onto waiting USPS trucks.

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What's the secret to getting anyone on your side?

According to Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project," the key to winning friends and making connections is actually quite simple: Help the people around you feel good about themselves.

When you make someone else feel smart, they'll feel good about you, too. In a recent post on LinkedIn, she suggests several ways you can go about this. Here are some of our favorites... READ MORE

With the country still reeling from the aftermath of the housing crisis and the economy in a slow recovery, the federal government’s consumer watchdog group introduced a new set of rules Thursday in an attempt to rebuild a shaky housing market and to protect homeowners from defaulting on loans.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new rules could help Latinos homeowners who have been some of those hardest hit by the housing crisis of the past few years and the goal of the Bureau's new rule is to protect consumers from risky practices that helped cause the crisis., said Moira Vahey, a spokesperson for the CFPB. READ MORE

Young Americans want to start their own businesses, but the weak economy, high student-debt levels, and a complicated legal and regulatory framework—as well as traditional views about who can be an entrepreneur and what constitutes entrepreneurship—are holding them back. More than half of Millennials today express a desire to start a business, but fewer of them are creating new businesses than previous generations did at a similar age.

As a result, our economy will grow at a slower pace and experience lower levels of both productivity and innovation in the future. Moreover, Millennials, who are already suffering some of the worst consequences of the economic downturn, will miss out on the opportunities provided by entrepreneurship, including creating wealth, improving their quality of life, and making important contributions to the economy. READ MORE AT CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS

Telemundo Stations Hired 160 New Employees, Added Consumer Investigative Units and Are Set to Launch New Newscasts Today.

MIRAMAR, FL – (November 3, 2014) – NBCUniversal today announced a series of enhancements at its 17 Telemundo stations as a result of a major investment made by the company to better serve Spanish-language viewers in the markets it serves. The investment supports local news expansions, bolsters newsgathering efforts and ensures that each news team has the resources it needs to compete.

“The Telemundo Station Group is ushering in a new era of Spanish-language local news,” said Manuel Martinez, President, Telemundo Station Group. “The investment made at our local Telemundo stations, including launching new newscasts, arming our journalists with the best newsgathering tools and adding consumer units charged with fighting for our viewers, speaks clearly about our commitment to better serve our country’s flourishing Hispanic community.”

“We want to be at the forefront of delivering Hispanic-Americans all across the United States the local news, weather and information they want,” said Valari Staab, President, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. “The strategic investment made at our local Telemundo stations have helped them achieve new levels of success as they provide the high-quality local news and information that Spanish-language viewers have been asking for and deserve.”

As part of the investment, the Telemundo Station Group is today debuting a new half-hour early evening newscast to provide viewers with an additional 150 minutes each week of local breaking news coverage and up-to-the-minute weather reports in their respective markets. The new local half-hour news programs will launch in 14 markets at 5:30 PM EST / PST and 4:30 PM CST / MST.

Other enhancements at the Telemundo Station Group over the past year-and-a-half include:
 Adding four new local stations to the Telemundo Station Group, including San Antonio (KVDA), Harlingen (KTLM), Boston (WNEU) and Philadelphia (WWSI);
 Hiring 160 new employees across all 17 stations, primarily in the news departments, to support news and programming expansions. The new hires include reporters, producers and photographers;
 Launching more than 35 hours a week of new local newscasts in seven markets, on top of today’s early evening news launches, including:
o Two-and-a-half hours of weekday news at 5 AM, 6 AM and 10 AM at KSTS in the San Francisco Bay Area;
o Two 30-minute newscasts at 4:30 PM and 10 PM on Saturdays and Sundays on KTAZ in Phoenix and in Tucson on KHRR;
o Two 30-minute weekday newscasts at 6 PM and 11 PM on WWSI in Philadelphia;
o Resuming locally-produced news at KBLR in Las Vegas by producing two 30-minute newscasts weekdays at 6 PM and 11 PM;
o Expanding live news coverage at KTLM in Harlingen by producing two half-hour weekday newscasts at 5 PM and 10 PM and airing two half hours of weekend news at 4:30 PM and 10 PM; and
o Resuming locally-produced weekend newscasts in Puerto Rico on WKAQ by producing two half-hour newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 PM and 10 PM.
 Establishing new consumer investigative units at five Telemundo stations charged with fighting for consumers rights. The new units – known as Telemundo Responde – have collectively produced 444 stories and recovered $478,418 for consumers since their launch earlier this year. Telemundo Responde will expand to five additional markets in 2015;
 Debuting new state-of-the art sets at the Telemundo stations in Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas;
 Rolling out new on-screen graphics and visual designs across all stations starting this month;
 Adding news bureaus in Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Miami, each with correspondents gathering news for the local stations. Each bureau is supporting the stations’ efforts to localize major domestic and international developments by providing the latest news and information from all across the United States and Mexico;
 Purchasing new vehicles and cameras to help stations’ live reporting capabilities;
 Integrating a digital web editor at all Telemundo stations, greatly increasing each station’s digital presence; and
 Working more closely with the NBC stations in markets where NBCUniversal owns both a Telemundo and a NBC station, including sharing content and resources in an effort to better serve viewers. These duopoly markets are located in the following communities: Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area and Philadelphia.

The NBCUniversal investment is already yielding positive results for the Telemundo stations, with Telemundo52 / KVEA in Los Angeles ranked number one at 11 PM in the market among adults 18-49, regardless of language, for the month of September 2014. This top ranking was the first time in 27 years that Telemundo52 has led the market in this time period. Additionally, at Telemundo 51 / WSCV, the station’s 11 PM news has been the number one program in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market for the past 19 consecutive months, regardless of language, among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

“Spanish language viewers want and need more news, weather and live local programming. We have a responsibility to provide them with the information they need to help them lead better lives,” said Martinez. “This investment has helped our stations better serve their communities and provide the best quality news and information available – whether on television, online or on the go.”
About Telemundo Station Group

Telemundo Station Group, part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal, is comprised of 17 local television stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Producing and broadcasting more than 7,000 hours of unique and relevant local content each year, including award-winning news, public affairs, and entertainment programming, Telemundo Station Group serves Spanish-speaking viewers in the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Antonio, San Francisco, Phoenix, Harlingen, Fresno, Denver, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Boston, Tucson and Puerto Rico. In addition, Telemundo Station Group offers support to 52 affiliates across the country and manages dedicated local websites and applications, as well as a robust digital out-of-home operation.

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Media Contact:
Melissa C. Castro
C: 954-593-9836
melissa.castro@nbcuni.com

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Claure, the son of a Bolivian diplomat who moved to the U.S. in the 1990s, is now boldly attempting to steer the third largest U.S. wireless company, behind Verizon and AT&T, out of troubled waters.

He says he is honored to be one of the few Latino CEO's of a major public company in the U.S. READ MORE ON FOX NEWS LATINO

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It was the summer before her sophomore year that Diana made a very difficult but brave choice to tell her parents she would not be able to come home as frequently, and she made herself and her classes the priority. Though Diana felt the decision was right, it did come with feelings of guilt. Family was so important to Diana, but she knew she would fail if she continued the path she was on. READ MORE

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It all started with a story my colleague Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez did a few weeks back – about a survey by the Pew Hispanic Center that found three-quarters of Hispanics/Latinos don't identify with either term.

Listener James Rogers, who's background is Brazilian, wrote in to say Hispanic and Latino don't mean the same thing.

“The story presupposed that the categories Hispanic and Latino only include Spanish-speakers," Rogers told reporter Devin Browne at his office in Phoenix, "and there’s a lot of Brazilians who would define themselves as being Latino, as well.”

Brazilians, of course, speak Portuguese. And as Rogers pointed out, there are more Portuguese speakers on the South American continent than Spanish speakers. Plus, there are more than 1 million Brazilians living in the U.S., according to the Brazilian government (the U.S. government says the number is closer to 400,000).

Rogers doesn't consider himself Hispanic, but he does fancy himself a Latino. READ MORE

Hispanic voters are a crucial constituency in the presidential election, but reaching young Hispanics will require new tactics – and some experts say mobile-phone outreach will be key.

There are more than 21 million eligible Hispanic voters – and more than 30 percent of them are 18 to 30 years old. About 50,000 Hispanics reach the voting age of 18 each month.

But Hispanic voters under 30 have the lowest turnout of any group: Only 41 percent of them voted in 2008.

Young voters and Hispanic voters are far more likely to use their phones to go online than older generations are, so campaigns that use mobile technology are most likely to reach young Hispanics, according to Peter Levine, the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

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It’s “particularly effective in overcoming issues of trust and motivation that would otherwise be in the way of voting,” Levine said.

Alex Velasco, a 26-year-old first-generation Mexican-American, said Levine’s assessments were right on.

“It’s really easy to reach me on my phone because I have it with me all the time – when I’m on the train, when I’m walking,” Velasco said. “If you send me something political (on my phone), I would be way more likely to read it because it is so easy.” READ MORE

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Since 1990, the death rate from breast cancer has been declining. The research, funded mostly by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), have improved our understanding of breast cancer and have produced more effective treatments.

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In a movie career spanning more than 20 years, Benicio del Toro has won an Oscar for Traffic, been nominated again for 21 Grams and starred in Che, The Usual Suspects, and The Wolfman.

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''It's a little bit better than when I first started … but, yeah, we're still typecast,'' he says during a visit to Sydney to launch the Oliver Stone crime thriller Savages.

''But there's more Latino film makers giving opportunities to other Latinos [and] also showing that they can tell stories. And there's more Latinos in positions of power that will provide opportunity to Latino actors.''

The charismatic 45-year-old, who visited Bondi Beach and climbed the Harbour Bridge during his short stay, played his share of thugs and drug dealers before his Hollywood breakthrough as a resourceful Mexican cop in Traffic.

In Savages he plays what could easily be seen as another Latino cliche: a ruthless Mexican drug cartel enforcer who chainsaws off the heads of his enemies. READ MORE

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Her first encounter with a camera was at age 17 with local television stations doing commercials and local entertainment news.

After graduating Cristo Rey Jesuit High School she was accepted to complete a Communication Degree at DePaul University. Cristina left the US and expanded her education overseas as well. READ MORE

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?There is no excuse for Mr. Kaiser?s outburst and it should not and cannot be tolerated,? Janet Murguia, President and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, said in a statement sent to Fox News Latino. ?He profoundly disrespected our colleague Felix Sanchez and the Latino community, a community that merits inclusion and fairness, not insults, when it comes to one of the nation?s highest cultural honors."

Sanchez said Kaiser told him to ?go f*** yourself? after he called the foundation's president to discuss the lack of Latino artists being named Kennedy Center honorees. Kaiser then abruptly hung up. READ MORE

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Hispanics are playing an important role in U.S. business success. As of today, they are the second-largest consumer market, and it is estimated that their purchasing power will increase 50 percent by 2015 to $1.5 trillion.

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By Juanita Barajas
Hispanic Professional Network

“Suertuda” (lucky) is definitely a fitting word when used to describe Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo’s luck of late. Her current project “La Reina del Sur” has become an instant hit, making it the highest rated premier telenovela in the history of Telemundo. In the soap opera, Del Castillo portrays the lead character, Teresa Mendoza.

Del Castillo is not new to the acting business. She got her start in front of the cameras as a child and recently crossed over to the English market interpreting characters in “Under the Same Moon” and more recently Showtime’s hit series “Weeds,” to name a few.

This past weekend the actress was in Chicago to mingle with her fans and show her appreciation for the amazing support “La Reina del Sur” has received.

Hispanic Pro had an opportunity to briefly chat with Del Castillo amidst the madness. We learned what she thinks about the success of the telenovela, why she feels sadness for her country and what she really thinks about Mendoza’s whereabouts.

“I have been very lucky, it was marvelous that they wanted me to interpret Mendoza,” the actress said about her feelings toward the project adding that she feels fortunate for the opportunity. When addressing the success of the telenovela, she added that, “It’s a hit because, it has been a hit for I don’t know how many years. Anytime you have a good story, well, there are going to be [those] results." When the beautiful actress learned that she would be interpreting this role, she reread the book an additional three more times. She had initially read it when it was published.

“It was my bible,” she said because she wanted to ensure that she could engage the viewer and really connect them with Mendoza. Del Castillo stressed that this project is not meant to “glamorize” the narcotráfico lifestyle, a misconception that people have about the project.

“Anybody that has read the book or watched the novela can see that it’s the complete opposite. What Teresa Mendoza lives in is a hell.”  This hell on Earth has caused Mexico to become one of the deadliest countries due to the ongoing drug cartel wars.

“It makes me feel super sad. I have the desire to bring my family with me. I miss them and of course I fear for them, but I am also Mexican and I want to go back and do something for my country,” she said about the current situation.

In regards to the woman she brings to life, she had this to say: “Look, I think that we don’t even know if she exist or not. I know it’s based on true events. True events and that is it. Arturo Perez-Reverte [the author of the book] hasn’t even told me. I think we all have our fantasies about Mendoza. Maybe it’s one of you.”

So there you have it folks. Teresa Mendoza, can very well be any of us, but for now you can catch her weekdays on Telemundo at 9 p.m.

Some days, when I read lists like Crain’s New York Business “50 Most Powerful Women in New York” I feel that I must clearly live in a parallel universe. One that doesn’t overlap even a tiny bit with the world these editors inhabit. Given the latest U.S. Census numbers revealing that there are now 50.4 million Hispanics in the country, and that a third of the population is diverse, there seems to be no other explanation for the lack of diversity in lists such as this one.

We all know these lists are idiosyncratic and that oftentimes people disagree on who was featured and who was left out. But the absolute absence of Latinas from a list highlighting the most influential women in New York City can’t be a difference of opinion. I’m not saying there’s bad intention behind this compilation. No. I’m willing to give the editors of Crain’s and their counterparts at Time magazine (known for creating similar lists at a national level) the benefit of the doubt.

I choose to believe it’s not malice on their part but an undiversified newsroom with a homogeneous network. Given that people tend to draw recommendations from their own circles, if you don’t have a diverse network, you will miss out on top influential Latinos, African American, Asians, Native Americans, people with disabilities and GLBTs. And the most worrisome part in the blatant absence of minorities on these lists is the implication that there are no leaders from these groups on par with those listed. Otherwise, they would have made the list, right?

Contrary to what you may conclude from reading the latest Crain’s compilation, there are plenty of influential Latinas in New York City and they are not influencing only Hispanics. These influential Latinas are exemplified by Carolina Herrera, fashion designer and entrepreneur; Daisy Expósito-Ulloa, Chairman and CEO of d expósito and Partners; Jaqueline J. Gonzalez, Executive Director, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences; and Liliana Gil, former top Marketing executive at Johnson & Johnson and co-founder of XL Alliance and Acento Group, recently selected by the World Economic Forum as one of 190 Young Global Leaders across 65 countries. READ MORE