A study by the State Education Agency has found that one-third  (36%) of Washington, DC residents are functionally illiterate, compared with a national rate of 21%. And the headline is the 36%? Click here to read it for yourself.

The Boston Globe is running a  two-part series on how the post 9/11 immigration crackdown impacts Boston’s Irish population and the complexion of Boston in general. Here’s a quote:
“The numbers aren’t large, and no one is saying the old double-standard was ever fair. But for the Irish, the message is loud — and startling.”The deportations were a slap across the face, a wake up call,” says Brian O’Donovan, the host of WGBH radio’s weekly “Celtic Sojourn” program. Culturally, O’Donovan said, the result is an immigrant community that is less confident, more wary, less …

 
You would think that the network news outlets would have learned their lesson 12 years ago. In 1995, beloved, beautiful Tejano music star, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, best known as Selena, was murdered. She was only 23. Initially, there was no network news coverage of her death. Almost immediately, her mostly Latino fans, took to the streets by the tens of thousands to participate in candlelight vigils and all kinds of memorials. One article equates the love fans had for this 23 year old phenomenon, with the love of Elvis or the …