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It’s shaping up to be a really competitive awards season with films like Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln and Life of Pi already garnering serious Oscar buzz in the acting categories, as well as those behind-the-scenes.

And since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences opened voting for Academy Award nominations to its members last week, we’ve decided to shine a spotlight on this award season’s 15 Latino Oscar hopefuls. Without further ado, here are the Latinos who have a shot at getting a golden guy next year! READ MORE

Maria Alejandra Salazar will graduate in August with a bachelor’s degree in education and social policy from Northwestern University. Though she needs to take one more class, she was thrilled to participate in the school’s graduation ceremony in Evanston last week.

Salazar, who turns 22 in a few weeks, is a graduate of Niles North High School in Skokie, where she got used to being the only Latina student in a classroom. At least at Northwestern, where Latinos are about 7.5 percent of the undergraduate student body, she typically had a couple of fellow Latinos as classmates.

But those numbers still are low, and that tells a story. Salazar was one of the relatively few and proud Latinos graduating from a four-year American university this year, a big problem full of implications for Illinois and the rest of the country.

As you might know, Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, and 37 percent of the nation’s 44 million Latinos are under age 20. By 2020, Latinos will make up 22 percent of the nation’s college-age population.

Latinos and other minorities will replace the retiring baby boomers and drive the future economy. And the job for today’s school officials, politicians, business and community leaders is to make sure those Latinos are up to the challenge.

On Monday, the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center, based in New York City, released a study showing — and this should surprise nobody — that a great majority of young Latino and African-American men fail to go to college or earn a degree, and a large number end up unemployed or incarcerated.

Nationally, the study found, only 16 percent of Latino men and 28 percent of African-American men ages 25 to 35 have at least an associate’s degree, compared with 70 percent of Asian American and 44 percent of white men. Perhaps more distressing, 47 percent of Latinos ages 15 to 24 who have high school diplomas are unemployed. And the percentage of Latinos men who are incarcerated is 5 percent.

College Board President Gaston Caperton called the report’s bleak findings “a tragedy for America,” which is absolutely true.

Education has been the key to prosperity and competitiveness in our country, and it will continue to be as the population becomes more diverse. READ MORE

The number of Hispanic organ donors in the United States has increased thanks to educational campaigns in Spanish, but this effort is still not sufficient given the need.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, 110,667 patients in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are waiting for a transplant.

Getting an organ is almost a miracle, according to Martina Castañeda, who three years ago received a kidney transplant.

"They told me about (Atlanta's) Emory Hospital and said it had a gift from God for me, I was on a three-month waiting list. It was a blessing," she tells Efe.

In Georgia at least 3,000 patients are waiting for an organ donation, says Carlos Castro, coordinator of the LifeLink organization's link for Hispanic donors.

Researchers are using graphic novels to convey health information to Latinos.

"In 2006, for every 60 people who said they wanted to be donors in Georgia, four were Latinos, which increased in 2010 to eight (out of every 60)," Castro says, adding that the main reason for such a low percentage of Latino donors was the lack of information and religiously based misconceptions.

Castro says that many Hispanics wonder if organ donors can rise again for the Last Judgment since their bodies are incomplete, to which the coordinator answers that, as the Catholic Church tells us, resurrection is spiritual and not physical.

Castañeda says she also heard that some people think that if they sign up as donors and have an accident, they'll no doubt be killed to have their organs extracted.

But the lack of donors isn't the only reason why many patients die waiting for an organ - the high cost of transplants is another obstacle to staying alive.

A heart transplant, for example, can cost as much as $287,000 depending on the hospital. And a kidney transplant can cost $51,000. READ MORE

The future of the American labor movement may lie just off the Las Vegas Strip, inside a squat building huddled in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino.

That's the home of the Culinary Workers Local 226, a fast-growing union of hotel and casino employees that has thrived despite being in a right-to-work state and a region devastated by the real estate crash.
More than 90 percent of Culinary's 60,000 predominantly immigrant workers opt to be dues-paying members, even though Nevada law says they cannot be forced to pay unions for their services.

As a result, housekeepers in most Strip hotels start at $16 an hour with free health care and a pension. Culinary's track record gives a dispirited labor movement some hope even as it hemorrhages workers and reels from the approval of a right-to-work law last week in union-strong Michigan.

"National unions need to look at what some of the folks out here have done," said Billy Vassiliadis, former chair of the Nevada Democratic Party. In a right-to-work state that for years was relatively conservative, "they had to be smart. They had to be nimble."

As a result, he said, "labor here is a big pillar in the political debate." But that's less true on a national scale. American labor has been on a downward trajectory for decades: Unions represented 30 percent of the workforce when the federal government first began tracking membership in the early 1980s. Now they represent less than 12 percent. READ MORE

It’s becoming difficult to keep track of how many media companies have made the same announcement lately: We’re launching a website/television network/social media campaign for a Latino audience, but in English.

Just in the last year-plus we’ve seen the launch of English-language digital ventures like Fox News Latino and HuffPost Latino Voices. A partnership between the latter and AOL has been involved in launching Spanish-English hyperlocal Patch Latino sites.

This week brought reports that Univision and Disney were working together to produce a 24-hour news channel for Latinos in English. It also brought the launch of Voxxi, a English-language website for “acculturated Latinos” headed by an editor from Spain’s EFE news agency. It’s one of a host of English-language sites, some more professional than others, that have launched in the past couple of years with the goal of reaching, well, acculturated Latinos.

There are other ventures in the works, most with an emphasis on digital content. What gives, and why now? Giovanni Rodriguez is a social-technology and marketing expert with Deloitte Consulting who studies and writes about the Latino media market. In a short piece last week for Forbes, he wrote about how media companies are “beginning to gain a finer grasp of the Latino population,” including their language and engagement preferences. Here, he provides details. READ MORE

The president of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said Friday that he is proud to advocate on behalf of business owners who happen to be of Hispanic decent. But he reminded a Pasco audience they must never forget that first and foremost they are American businesses.

"Every tax bill we pay, every person we employ and every product we manufacture ... goes to support this American economy," Javier Palomarez said.

Palomarez was the featured speaker at the annual Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Shining Lights Gala and Leadership Awards, held at TRAC. He also is CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber, which is the leading advocate for nearly 3 million Hispanic-owned businesses and about 200 local Hispanic chambers throughout the country.

Palomarez, who is based in Washington, D.C., said he travels around the country meeting the owners of Hispanic businesses, which are the fastest growing segment of American enterprise. Today, one in every six people living in America is of Hispanic decent, he added.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy," and Latinos are becoming entrepreneurs three to one to the general American market, he said. They are taking risks, starting new ventures, providing jobs and creating a strong economic tax base.

Palomarez acknowledged that the nation continues to face unprecedented economic challenges. That's why the U.S. Hispanic Chamber needs to continue engaging corporate partners and chambers to work together and provide training for the benefit of communities like the Tri-Cities.

"We have to fight to make sure that America continues to be the greatest country in the world. Part of the reason we are is we have a strong and vibrant work force, a willing work force that will not be outdone by any other nation," he said. "If you support American small business then you support Hispanic small business, and here in Washington state I believe you are."

Palomarez thanked the Tri-Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for the privilege of speaking to a group he said is supporting the American way of life.

"We get to go all over the country ... and the community that I've witnessed here, the warmth and decency and just the good American values with everybody that I've met, are wonderful," he said. READ MORE

The self-described American patriot leaps into the ring amid blaring music and loud boos from an overwhelmingly Latino audience, who hold aloft signs in Spanish supporting his masked Mexican opponents.

"My name is RJ Brewer and I'm from Phoenix, Arizona," the wrestler proclaims, in a video of a recent match provided by the promoter. Taunts inside the arena get louder.

The wrestler proceeds to rail against Mexican beer and to demand that people speak English. Then he points to the message painted on the backside of his red trunks: "SB1070" — a reference to Arizona's controversial immigration law. The crowd, some wearing masks of their favorite Mexican wrestlers, shrieks even louder.

When his masked opponent in a red cape appears, the crowd erupts into cheers.

Lucha libre — or "free wrestling" in Spanish — is a brand of Mexican wrestling that dates to the 1930s. The sport came north to the United States along with Mexican immigrants, and over the years it has spawned clubs in U.S. cities with large Latino communities.

As promoters target growing Mexican immigrant and Mexican-American markets, they and their wrestlers' fictional personas have begun to adopt a more overtly political storyline revolving around immigration. It's akin to what U.S. wrestling promoters did in the 1980s and 1990s, when they took on race and the Cold War, but with one key twist — now the American is the bad guy.

"It's something that we've been building in our TV shows and we've gotten a lot of positive reaction to it," said Steve Ship, CEO of Lucha Libre USA, which this week is launching a "Masked Warriors" tour. "So we are bringing it right to our audience."

Arizona's immigration law requires all immigrants in the state to obtain or carry immigration registration papers and requires police, while enforcing other laws, to question people's immigration status if there is a reasonable suspicion they're in the country illegally. The law is being challenged by the federal government and has sparked protests by Latino advocates around the country. READ MORE

Businesses take notice; Hispanics are taking their growing $1 trillion buying power online.

According to Boostability, an online marketing company based in American Fork, Utah, there are more than 30 million Hispanics actively online, and businesses across the country are now catering to this growing online segment. The Internet has rapidly become an integral part of daily life. Hispanics are using the Internet to shop for large retail items, find local businesses and to look up entertainment information such as movies, concerts and places to eat. Today, social media sites like Facebook and YouTube are the second and fourth most popular websites among Hispanics according to Captura Group.

A powerful study by OTX, a global consumer research firm, found noteworthy facts about Hispanic Internet use. They found that 78 percent of Hispanics use the Internet as a primary source of information with 84 percent of Hispanics using search engines to find that information. They also found that 54 percent of these searches led to purchases online while 43 percent led to in-store purchases.

The data showed that the Hispanic market is more receptive to online advertising than non-Hispanics. Small businesses need to move beyond their perceived language barrier and commit to reaching this growing online market. READ MORE

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign announced its first Spanish commercial on the same day that it proudly touted the endorsement by Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State and the brains behind all of the anti immigrant state laws that are so odious to most Latinos.

It does seem like a contradiction: one action is meant to attract and respect Latino voters, the other one is certain to bring condemnation from many if not most of them. However, for political experts, including a Republican consultant, there seems to be a logical explanation: Romney strategists may be considering a path to victory that does not require him to pursue a significant percentage of the Latino vote, not even what George W.Bush earned in 2000 or 2004, which was over 30% or closer to 40%, depending who you ask.

"Romney's strategy has its risks, but the reality is that he will not be seeking the Latino vote in the same way George W. Bush did" said David Johnson, a Republican consultant and CEO of Strategic Vision in Atlanta, who was a consultant to the Bob Dole campaign in 1996.

According to Johnson, the reason is that Romney will have enough trouble proving to the conservative Republican base that he is "one of them", and in such a position, he can not afford the messaging and the effort to try to broaden the base. That is left for candidates considered strong conservatives like Ronald Reagan, who attracted conservative democrats to his coalition or to George W. Bush, who at the time he ran was a favorite of the Republican base and therefore could work on expanding the reach to get a larger share of the Latino vote than the typical presidential candidate had gotten in the 1990´s.

Romney will have to try to appeal to moderates though, and he will move to do that in the general election, Johnson said.

"I believe he´ll keep a very hard line on immigration in order not scare the conservative base," said Johnson. "But he will seek moderates by emphasizing that he favors legal immigration, which does not mean much because it is something that everyone favors. And that makes him look moderate."
The Republican potential nominee´s road to victory then, will most likely not include the states of Colorado, New Mexico or Nevada. Not even Arizona, which this year is considered in play and a possible win for the Democrats. These are states that by their demographic and according to all polls favor Obama. Romney will seek to talke states in the "rust belt" of the country like Michigan and Ohio, where many white blue collar voters supported the Democrat in 2008 amid a severe economic crisis. READ MORE

As the principal of Nobel Elementary School in Chicago, Manuel Adrianzen had no trouble recruiting 16 girls in sixth to eighth grades to attend a recent Saturday workshop aimed at inspiring math- and science-loving Latinas.

But, to Adrianzen, getting their male classmates fired up about math and science remains a far more formidable challenge.

"The young ladies are more easily engaged in their math and science classes," said Adrianzen, a former math teacher who visited Elmhurst College last month with an all-female entourage participating in a Dare to Dream program exploring STEM, or the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

"Especially with math, the young men can easily get their interest turned off in the classroom, which ends up preventing them from going to college and having careers in these fields," Adrianzen said.

For Chicago-area educators such as Adrianzen, empowering Latino boys and girls to enroll in and excel in math and science classes is important to combating relatively high absenteeism and dropout rates, low college enrollment rates and disproportionately low numbers of minorities working in STEM careers.

For Gerard Kovach, teaching at Chicago's Salazar Bilingual Center — a prekindergarten-through-eighth-grade school where roughly 80 percent of the students are categorized as ELL, or English language learners — demands a vibrant, hands-on math and science curriculum, not rote learning intended to prepare students for standardized tests.

Kovach, a winner this year of the prestigious Golden Apple teaching award, warns that the nationwide emphasis on test scores as a measurement of student aptitude is punitive for students, particularly those who are learning English and attending schools in low-income communities.

"The amount of time spent in many classrooms these days preparing for standardized tests is demoralizing to kids and demoralizing to teachers," said Kovach, who recently participated in a U.S. Department of Education forum called High Quality STEM Education for English Learners: Best Practices and Challenges.

Instead of spending precious classroom time drilling for standardized tests, Kovach said, ELL students at Salazar are engaged in inquiry-based, creative projects that allow them to use their native language while polishing their English skills.

One recent lesson had second- and third-graders constructing a roller coaster. Another had members of the science club heading outdoors to the school's garden the day before Thanksgiving for an impromptu lesson in composting. READ MORE

The Warriors Running Group was started by Joseph N Sobus to bring people of different backgrounds who shared a common passion for running. The Warriors is a free running group that promotes healthy living, supports various charities and local businesses. This is the first running group to represent the Latino community and the Pilsen community in the 2011 Chicago Marathon.

There has been many inspiring moments for this season ranging from seeing our members on the Marathon’s billboards to having everyone in the group reaching their goals. Collectively, we have raised thousands of dollars for charities like Children’s Memorial, Back on Your Feet, Special Olympics and Susan Komen foundation. The thing that we are most proud of this season we have created a group with no hidden agendas other than to help others to reach their goals.

Next season, we will be breaking our group into two different teams: one that will be focusing on the Chicago Marathon and the other that will training for the Men’s Health Urbanathon.

We would like to thank our sponsors but most of all Second Federal Saving Bank for creating our team uniform. The Warriors would like to invite everyone to cheer us on at the finish line and join us next season.

Learn more about the Warriors Running Group and join them for a run! Click here to visit the facebook group.

Watch Warriors Running Group Bank of America Marathon video: