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  • Illegal immigrants down, but not in Illinois
    Sep 2, 2010 — Chicago Tribune
    Illinois illegal immigrant population was stable rather than to say it actually increased. Nationwide, the total number of illegal immigrants has declined by about 1 million since 2007, to 11.1 million in 2009, representing about 4 percent of the U.S. population. While Illinois has long been attractive to illegal immigrants, the population has fluctuated over the last two decades. Unlike many states that have experienced a clear peak and decline, Illinois grew from 200,000 to...
  • Though Condemned, German Author Opens Debate
    Sep 2, 2010 — New York Times
    Sarrazin also spoke of a Jewish gene, a reference to recent studies showing Jews share many genes inherited from the ancestral population that lived in the Middle East long ago. Sarrazin from the board, and Chancellor Merkel applauded the decision.Mr. Sarrazin and condemned his theories of innate inferiority in immigrants. “He is a Social Democrat.
  • Why Labor Day Is Best for Buying a Car
    Sep 2, 2010 — New York Times
    Flores said he didn’t believe deals would be any better over all than last year. Flores recommended trying to buy a car at the end of a month, in general. That’s traditionally when dealers are trying to hit certain volume targets to receive manufacturer incentives, he said.
  • Australian Leader Wins Support From Greens
    Sep 1, 2010 — New York Times
    The Greens twice rejected Labor’s cap-and-trade energy bill in the Senate last year, saying the plan gave too many concessions to polluters and set insufficient targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The once-obscure environmental party also has been critical of Labor’s opposition to homosexual marriage and its policy of putting asylum seekers in detention centers while their cases are reviewed. Gillard remains prime minister while the talks continue.
  • Hurricane worries Labor Day travelers
    Sep 1, 2010 — CNN
    Rip currents and dangerous surf will threaten beach- goers all along the East Coast. Not the type of Labor Day weekend activity most travelers imagined when they booked their relaxing vacation. CNN's Marnie Hunter contributed to this report.
  • Number of Illegal Immigrants in U.S. Fell, Study Says
    Sep 1, 2010 — New York Times
    The number of Mexicans living in the United States without immigration status did not change significantly from 2007 to 2009. Orrenius said.The illegal immigrant population, after growing rapidly for years, has fallen to 2005 levels, according to the Pew report. In 2000, there were 8.4 million illegal immigrants in the country.
  • Sharp drop in illegal border crossings is reported
    Sep 1, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    But those states are also reporting similar declines in their illegal migrant populations, according to the report.The Pew study is based on census and government labor statistics through March 2009. Herrera, who is undocumented, sends money to his wife and 8-year-old daughter in Mexico every week, but he has also struggled to make ends meet.
  • Wonkbook: More jobs bills; Wall Street turns on Obama; the calorie information cometh
    Aug 31, 2010 — Washington Post
    Andrew Ross Sorkin tells you why finance turned on Obama. And did you know that health-care reform included a little-noticed provision that will force every eatery with more than 20 locations to post calorie information on their menus? Individuals who work under the table are unlikely to report their jobs, especially if they are undocumented immigrants.
  • High rate of C-section births may have something to do with impatience::
    Aug 30, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    Jun Zhang.The study showed, not surprisingly, that the major reason for undergoing a cesarean was due to the woman having a prior C-section.
  • The administration's cognitive dissonance on immigration
    Aug 30, 2010 — Washington Post
    Jan Brewer is indignant that the State Department submitted a report to the United Nations Council on Human Rights with a paragraph on her state's new immigration law. Actually, the administration deserves credit for stepped up enforcement. The federal government opposes SB 1070 not because of a concern about human rights, but because the Arizona law unconstitutionally preempts the federal mandate to set immigration laws.
  • Plan to release illegal immigrants on path to residency comes amid ICE push to deport criminals
    Aug 27, 2010 — Washington Post
    It comes amid a push by ICE to focus on illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, rather than seek to deport all illegal immigrants. Agents feel "their work is not valued.
  • Why immigration could help America
    Aug 27, 2010 — Washington Post
    Immigrant families tend to have more children than the native population, and the Latino birth rate is higher than that of other ethnic groups. Restrictionists often use such figures to argue that immigrants are a drain on public resources, and the right-wing crusade against "anchor babies" evoked a fear of overpopulation via excessive immigrant fecundity.
  • Should businesses be forced to use E-Verify?
    Aug 26, 2010 — Washington Post
    On the flip side, 7 percent of U.S. citizens and legal immigrant workers were wrongly determined to be ineligible to work. Chuck Schumer, who supports a stronger, mandatory workverification system but believes it hasn't proved to be up to the task. The sweeping imposition of E-Verify in Arizona, by contrast, has had decidedly mixed results, in part because smaller businesses have simply declined to participate.
  • A record backlog in immigration courts
    Aug 24, 2010 — Washington Post
    And the number of immigration cases will continue piling up in the absence of a comprehensive immigration overhaul and a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants. Political gridlock has kept Congress from even debating such a bill, according to the Democratic leadership. Obama's Justice Department has also failed to fill an eyebrow-raising number of judicial vacancies in immigration courts.
  • Hub settles '94 labor dispute with police
    Aug 24, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    After first filing an unfair labor practice suit in 1994, the union initially won the case in 1996 when a hearing officer ruled on its behalf.
  • $1.5 billion farm-aid proposal assailed as relief for Sen. Blanche Lincoln
    Aug 22, 2010 — Washington Post
    Alec MacGillisThe Obama administration is seeking $1.5 billion in disaster relief for farmers, a move that could boost the reelection prospects of Sen. They note that it would require farmers to demonstrate only a 5 percent crop loss, far less than the usual 30 percent trigger, and hardly bigger than the variations many farms normally experience. That's part of what we are trying to figure out right now.
  • A family together again
    Aug 22, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    He unfolded a letter saying "I love you'' in English from Lynda, his wife. Orphans and others were rushed out of Haiti, but Harry could not persuade US officials to rush his daughter's case. Lynda takes her daughter to English class, makes them supper, thinks about school for Abby. Someday Harry will tell Abby the story of her trip to America.
  • After Close Australia Vote, Parties Seek Coalition
    Aug 22, 2010 — New York Times
    Abbott also began courting the crucial bloc on Sunday. Bandt, who won a formerly safe Labor seat in Melbourne, has said that he would prefer to support Ms. Gillard, as the standing prime minister, would have the first shot at trying to form a minority government.
  • Australians Apparently Fail to Deliver a Clear Winner in National Elections
    Aug 22, 2010 — New York Times
    Rudd’s approval ratings had been declining for some weeks, and many Labor officials were convinced that the election could not be won with him as party leader.But Ms. Gillard’s campaign has been marred by internal party bickering and a lingering sense of resentment among some voters — particularly in Mr. Rudd’s home state of Queensland — over the former leader’s abrupt removal.Mr.
  • Op-Ed Contributors: For Social Security, a Birthday Makeover
    Aug 22, 2010 — New York Times
    By MONIQUE MORRISSEY, ESTELLE JAMES, TED DEUTCH, ROBERT C. POZEN, BRUCE BARTLETT and ROGER LOWENSTEINSocial Security, now celebrating its 75th birthday, is receiving mixed diagnoses. According to the Social Security Administration, 43 percent of men and 48 percent of women on Social Security in 2008 began drawing benefits at age 62. Actually, Social Security is not that bad off.
  • Australia Votes on Whether First Female Leader Survives
    Aug 21, 2010 — New York Times
    Labor won 83 seats at the last election in 2007.''What we know from the opinion polls is this, that there is a real risk that Mr. Abbott beat his predecessor by a single vote last December in a party ballot that hinged on the Liberals' policy to tax major polluters for every ton of carbon gas they emit.
  • Close Result Seen in Australian Vote
    Aug 21, 2010 — New York Times
    Labor won 83 seats at the last election in 2007.Issues vary across the large and diverse country, but asylum seekers, health care and climate change are hot topics nationwide. Another issue brought to the forefront Saturday was the presence of the Australian military in Afghanistan, where two soldiers were killed the day before.
  • Inside the Knockoff-Tennis-Shoe Factory
    Aug 21, 2010 — New York Times
    By NICHOLAS SCHMIDLEA shopkeeper in Italy placed an order with a Chinese sneaker factory in Putian for 3,000 pairs of white Nike Tiempo indoor soccer shoes. Shoes were even chucked over a factory wall, according to a worker at one of Nike’s Putian factories. Is each fake Nike or Adidas tennis shoe a lost sale?
  • Australian election bout enters final throes
    Aug 20, 2010 — CNN
    The polls seem ever tighter, as Labor Party incumbent Prime Minister Julia Gillard and opposition challenger Tony Abbott embark on a marathon final push, darting from marginal seat to heavily orchestrated press event. But Abbott is promising to scrap it altogether. Both were born outside of Australia; Gillard in Wales, Abbott in London, England.
  • Research Desk investigates: How has the role of capital and labor in determining output changed?
    Aug 20, 2010 — Washington Post
    Then it reversed to 30% labor, 70% capital. Capital refers to resources a company holds in money, investments, infrastructure, material goods and so forth. Labor refers to how many employees it has and how much they work.
  • Australian Voters Looking Beyond the Economy
    Aug 19, 2010 — New York Times
    Gillard holds a tenuous 3-point lead over her rival, Tony Abbott, the leader of the center-right Liberal Party, according to polls. Abbott has argued that the stimulus was wasteful and unnecessary, blowing a hole valued at 57 billion Australian dollars, or $51 billion, in the country’s budget surplus. Gillard. “It makes me angry the way she pushed out Rudd.
  • Birthright hearings would be d & #233;j & #224; vu
    Aug 19, 2010 — Politico
    Lamar Smith (R-Texas) arguing in favor of a change or Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the current Judiciary Committee chairman, was there, along with fellow Democratic Reps. Anthony Beilenson, a Democrat who represented parts of Southern California from 1977 to 1997, defied members of his party.
  • Wonkbook: GM announces IPO; FinReg covers banker pay; small biz losing jobs; the tax cuts and you
    Aug 19, 2010 — Washington Post
    Small companies employ roughly 29% of all workers. The numbers represent a reversal of the situation a year earlier, when small businesses made up a larger share of jobs added than of jobs lost. Having access to insured credit, banks’ shareholders find it irresistible to borrow excessively.
  • In Mott's Strike, More Than Paychecks at Stake
    Aug 18, 2010 — New York Times
    For unions across the country, the stakes are high because if the Mott’s workers lose this showdown, it could prompt other profitable companies to push for major labor concessions. The Mott’s workers voted 250 to 5 to strike, walking out on May 23. One recent ad said, “Mott’s pays more.
  • 14th Amendment key to U.S. experiment?
    Aug 17, 2010 — CNN
    In fact, the United States and Canada stand apart from other major immigrant-receiving societies in the breadth of birthright rules. Not all children born in the U.S. remain, and perhaps those Senate Republicans envision deporting all unauthorized immigrants and their children. More important, changing the birthright rule would have little to no effect on illegal immigration.
  • 14th Amendment: A U.S. experiment
    Aug 17, 2010 — CNN
    The United Kingdom amended its laws in 1981 to provide that only children born to citizens, or permanent residents born in the U.K., are citizens at birth. Not all children born in the U.S. remain, and perhaps those Senate Republicans envision deporting all unauthorized immigrants and their children. More important, changing the birthright rule would have little to no effect on illegal immigration.
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