Newsletter
Entries for October, 2011 in Demographics & Dockets
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By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
While millions of Americans and Canadians will be celebrating Halloween today, a growing number will be celebrating "JesusWeen" instead. Held annually on Oct. 31, the unofficial holiday seeks to compete with the historically pagan holiday of Halloween by dedicating one ...
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Mother finds out about son's death via Facebook
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook pride themselves on the ability to transmit information fast. But as one story shows, faster is not always better. Check out this sad story out of Phoenix, as reported by CBS News: A ...
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By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Today’s blog will highlight a national story that hits close to home –changes to the federal student loan program. I know we ran the AP story about this issue in today’s paper and another Advocate reporter blogged about the announcement ...
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Mandatory Photo ID laws prevent elderly people from voting
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Here’s an interesting story out of Tennessee, but it is an issue that is becoming increasingly relevant in a number of states including Texas. Dorothy Cooper, a 96-year-old African-American resident of Chattanooga, Tenn., was prohibited from voting because of the ...
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By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Well, here’s an odd story out of Africa. WARNING: If you are too conservative to discuss “sperm”, then you may want to bypass this blog post today! Three women in Zimbabwe were charged with 17 counts of aggravated indecent assault, ...
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By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
A former University of Houston financial aid worker Najat Elsayed filed the federal discrimination earlier this week against the university over allegations that they were hostile toward pregnant women and Arabs. The lawsuit contends top managers and co-workers berated and ...
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Top 10 Stolen Vehicles---Is your vehicle a target?
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
According to the Houston Chronicle, The Houston Police Department released a rundown of the makes of cars were most often reported stolen in September. Granted I know little about the car jacking business, but I was surprised to see that ...
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By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Hello, It's that time again! It's time for another look-see into my reporter notebook. Here are some stories I'm working on this week: gp_ Tejano Music Summary: This is a profile story on Tejano music, the changes the musical genre ...
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70 Percent of Judges Selected By President Obama Are Minorities Or Women
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
The nation’s federal judiciary is undergoing some changes, courtesy of President Barack Obama. For more than 140 years, there were no females or minorities among the nation’s federal judges. Now, nearly three of every four people Obama has gotten confirmed ...
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By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
A group of UC Berkeley College Republicans sought to make a point about funding higher education for undocumented youth by holding a bake sale. The group’s so-called "Diversity Bake Sale," which took place at the end of September, ignited protests ...
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Civil Rights leader Fred Shutlesworth dies
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Supporters of the Civil Rights Movement are in mourning today as they remember the life of The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the key leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Known for his segregation motto of, "Kill segregation or be ...
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Texas Roadhouse accused of age discrimination; only hires young, hot staff
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
Have you ever had an older person serving as your waiter or greeter at Texas Roadhouse? If not, there may be a reason for it. Texas Roadhouse is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly turning ...
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Should Public Schools Require English-speaking Students to learn a foreign language?
By Gheni_Platenburg in Demographics & Dockets
This is the topic of an upcoming Pro/Con story that I'm working on for this week. Being that it is Hispanic Heritage Month, I'm particularly interested in whether schools should require students learn Spanish? I'm posting this blog partly to ...