The Latino vote could be a game changer, according to an article by POLITICO:
“But the shifting political crosscurrents in the immigration debate are making it increasingly difficult to predict how Hispanic voters will behave in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Hispanics have been frustrated by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats’ unfulfilled promises to reform the nation’s immigration system. But they’ve also been alienated by Republicans, who have taken a harsher stand on illegal immigration this year, including Arizona’s new law at the heart of the immigration battle.
“‘It’s translating into a sense of anger and frustration among the Latino community, and one of the strongest motivators for voters is anger,’ said Arturo Vargas, who heads the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in Los Angeles.”
California is considering joining several other states in investigating the possible violation of foreclosure laws by some lenders. According to the Los Angeles Times:
“The investigation, which is expected to be publicly announced Wednesday, is spearheaded by Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller. Under his leadership, coalitions of states have won lending-abuse settlements of $484 million from Household International Inc. and $325 million from Ameriquest Mortgage Co.
“The probe stems from disclosures that some major lenders filed faulty paperwork in the 23 judicial foreclosure states — the states in which foreclosures are handled by the courts.
“In these so-called robo-signing cases, employees signed thousands of legal affidavits assuring judges of facts regarding the defaulted loans — without reading the documents. The banks have described the problems as procedural, saying the foreclosures were justified even if the paperwork was botched.”
It appears that the agriculture industry is recovering at a faster pace than other sectors of the economy, according to The Wall Street Journal:
“Major agricultural commodities continued their extended run-up in price, underscoring how much of America's farm belt is booming even as the overall economy continues to struggle.
“Contracts for the delivery of corn and soybeans into mid-2011 jumped Monday by 5% and 2%, respectively, after rising their daily permissible limits on Friday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture sliced production estimates by small percentages. Cash cotton prices rose 3.3% Monday after a 3.9% gain Friday. They are 86% higher than a year ago.
“For many crops, prices are climbing even as big harvests pile up, a rare combination. Farmland values are up while those for some other kinds of real estate languish. Debt on the farm is manageable. Incomes are rising.
“And trade, of which many Americans are growing wary, is for agriculture a boon. Asia's economic vigor and appetites make the farm sector's reliance on exports—once thought a vulnerability in some quarters—a plus today.
“‘The farm economy is coming out of the recession far faster than the general economy,’ said Don Carson, a senior analyst at Susquehanna Financial Group, New York.”
Education reformers in Colorado will issue a report this week which recommends key changes that have worked in several other states, according to DenverPost.com:
“Today, the nonprofit Colorado Succeeds will release ‘Proving the Possible,’ a study pushing Colorado to adopt specific education reforms that Florida under Gov. Jeb Bush put in place over the past decade — giving grades to schools based on performance, holding back third-graders who can't read and giving bonuses to teachers when students pass Advanced Placement tests.
“‘The idea is our report will say, “Here are what states have done and let's be inspired by that,”’ [Tim] Taylor [President of Colorado Succeeds] said.
“Any reforms being discussed for Colorado would take legislative action, but the idea of looking at what other states are doing is a good one, said Education Commissioner Dwight Jones, who said he had not yet read the report.
“‘Florida is doing a lot of good things and helping a lot of kids, and I believe we can benefit from their experience,’ Jones said
“The Colorado Succeeds report pays close attention to the 2009 fourth-grade reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam — tests taken across the country that provide a national yardstick for education.”