Latino voters in Arizona have a chance to play a major role in deciding whether Republican John McCain holds on to his U.S. Senate seat or hands it over to Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick. Latinos make up 25 percent of Arizona’s registered voters. And in a race that polls show is…
Arizona voters will likely get to decide this fall whether to raise the state’s minimum wage and mandate employers to provide paid sick time. The Arizona Healthy Working Families campaign submitted 271,883 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on July 7. If at least 150,642 of the signatures…
Phoenix has moved closer to issuing municipal ID cards that residents, including undocumented immigrants, could use as a form of identification and to access a range of city services. The Phoenix City Council voted 6-3 this past Friday to allow city staff to interview and begin negotiations with SF Global…
A 12-year-old from Phoenix has been selected to compete on La Voz Kids, the Spanish-language version of NBC’s reality singing series, The Voice. Dulce Perez wowed the coaches during the blind auditions, when singers are chosen for teams based solely on vocal talent. Having made it through a pre-audition in…
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirms that there are four cases of chickenpox among the detainee population at the Eloy Detention Center, but immigrant rights advocates say there could be more. “We personally don’t believe that it’s only four,” Francisca Porchas, organizing director of the immigrant-rights group Puente Arizona,…
U.S. Representative Paul Gosar of Prescott is behind a new push to prevent undocumented immigrants from serving in the U.S. military. This week, the three-term Republican congressman introduced an amendment to remove from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) language that would edge toward allowing young undocumented immigrants to enlist in…
A coalition of voting-rights advocates will form a commission to examine everything from how polling locations are chosen to how well citizens are educated on the voting process in Maricopa County. The effort comes in response to the long lines at many polling locations throughout the county during Arizona’s presidential-preference…
Of the 150 largest cities in the nation, the one with the highest median income for Hispanics is…Gilbert, Arizona! That’s according to a recent analysis by WalletHub. The personal-finance website found that when adjusted for cost of living, median income for Hispanics in Gilbert is four times higher than the figure for Hispanics…
It looks and sounds like a city bus. That’s because it used to be one. But now, instead of passengers, the Fresh Express bus is packed with good-quality, low-cost fruit and vegetables. The renovated bus brings fresh produce to mostly low-income neighborhoods where a substantial number of residents have little-to-no…
Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego wants to bring some deported veterans back to the United States, the country they fought for and served. He introduced a bill this week that asks the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary to allow deported veterans who served in the U.S. military to come back,…
Phoenix ranks high on a list of U.S. cities where Latino families spend a larger portion of their household incomes on energy costs than average families, a new report found. The report by the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that in 2011, Latino families in Phoenix spent on…
Ivonne Salazar wants to get a better-paying job so she can help her 18-year-old daughter, who’ll be attending Arizona State University this fall, pay for college expenses. But Salazar’s job opportunities are limited because she is undocumented. She has been living in Arizona without legal status for 23 years. The…
For months now, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have engaged in a back-and-forth battle over immigration. This was again in full display this week, with both campaigns attacking their opponent’s record on the issue. The Sanders team held a conference call with reporters to blast Clinton for opposing a plan…
More than one-quarter of working-age Arizona residents attended college but didn’t finish, a new report states. The percentage of Arizona residents between the ages of 25 and 64 who went to college but didn’t complete their degree is nearly 26 percent. That’s higher than the national average of 21.5 percent,…
Students at Prescott College have agreed enthusiastically to help fund their undocumented peers’ higher educations. The majority of students attending the private school signed a petition in support of paying a $30 student fee to go into the newly created Freedom Education Fund, which will award full-ride scholarships to undocumented…
Arizona must continue allowing undocumented immigrants with work permits and protection from deportation to apply for driver’s licenses, a three-judge U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled. The judges affirmed a permanent injunction blocking former Governor Jan Brewer’s executive order that denied driver’s licenses to undocumented young immigrants who receive…
As a way to recognize the legacy of Cesar Chavez, Glendale has dedicated a street after the civil rights icon. Glendale officials held a ceremony today where they formally renamed a section of 59th Avenue, from Glendale to Orangewood avenues, to Cesar Chavez Boulevard. The ceremony was held a day after…
Jose Miguel Barboza can’t vote because he is undocumented, but that hasn’t stopped him from getting civically engaged. The 23-year-old has dedicated much of his time over the last few years to registering Latinos to vote and convincing them that their vote matters. Lately, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and…
Beginning today, Arizona residents can replace their driver’s licenses or identification cards with the state’s new voluntary travel identification card that complies with the federal REAL ID Act security requirements. The Arizona Department of Transportation says the card will be needed to access such as airports, restricted federal buildings, and…
Leading Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have been competing with each other over who has the toughest stance on immigration. They’ve called for more deportations and aggressive immigration enforcement. But a new survey finds most people in Arizona do not agree with those views. The survey released…
Phoenix City Council members have voted to restore prayer at the beginning of their formal meetings, but the invocation will have to be given exclusively by individuals serving as chaplains for the city’s police and fire departments. The vote comes nearly two months after the City Council decided to have…
With less than a month before the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments over a deportation-relief program for undocumented parents that has been on hold for more than a year, a new study finds Arizona is one of the states with the most U.S. citizens living with family members who’d…
