AFTER THE PRIMARIES: PUBLIC EDUCATION. Línea Abierta goes on the road again to Washington, a state where Latinos are fast growing as the second largest population group. In this live forum broadcast from downtown Mt. Vernon in collaboration with community-station KSVR 91.7 FM, local leaders join the national election dialogue to comment on the state of education for Latinos in Washington. Latino students are having a harder time getting into college, hindered by tuition fee increases and lack of financial aid. Our guests look into the issue and examine the state of programs for at-risk students, literacy programs for low-income families, bilingual education, migrant Head Start, and the debate on the DREAM Act. This edition, part of the series “Hacia el Voto 2008,” also looks into efforts to ensure bilingual voter access to the polls and overcome the under representation of Latinos.

MEXICO EDITION. One week after a health emergency was declared in Mexico City as a response to the flu epidemic, local neighbors report a growing sense of uncertainty. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon says the infection outbreak has been contained while he announces the suspension of activities for a week in public offices. Voz Publica's Martha Elena Ramirez hosts this edition from Mexico City.

Guest:

Dr. Felipe Nobelo, epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, www.cdc.gov;

Catalina Torres, paramedic, Mexico's Red Cross, Mexico City.

SOTOMAYOR TORPEDOED. President Obama named Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. The nomination of the first Latina justice has generated an intense vocal reaction from conservative groups and commentators who, calling her liberal and “reverse racist”, are rooting to derail Sotomayor’s confirmation.

Guests:

María Cardona
Co-funder, Hispanics for a Fair Judiciary, Democratic Strategist, Washington, D.C.

Maria Blanco
Professor/Executive Director, Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity & Diversity
UC Berkeley School of Law, Berkeley, CA

Emergency Help to Haiti - The devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti this week has been described as a humanitarian catastrophe. Representatives of non-profits in the United States and the Dominican Republic, neighboring Haiti, comment on the island's state of the emergency and current efforts to help survivors.
Also, Cesar Chavez: erased from textbooks? -- A proposal by the Texas Board of Education intends to remove from text books the stories of Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Thurgood Marshall and other Latino and African American historical leaders. A coalition of national and Texas organizations are pressuring the education agency to preserve the place of these leaders of color in the history books.