skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Justice Department Silent on NY Voting Rights Request

play audio
Play

Tuesday, October 21, 2008   

New York, NY - A New York civil rights group says the Department of Justice has failed to act on its request for federal poll monitors during this presidential election. Latino Justice put the federal government on notice last week about concerns Latino votes will be suppressed on Election Day, especially in key swing states where experts have suggested Latinos could cast the decisive vote.

Cesar Perales with Latino Justice says the response from the government has been silence.

"Their job is to protect voters. The fact that they have not put in place any particular program to protect Latino voters is disappointing; it has forced us to set up our own method of monitoring the elections."

Voter suppression is happening, according to Columbia University Political Science professor Lorraine Minnite, who has testified before Congress many times about voter rights. She says ugly racial overtones are involved this election.

"The story about vote suppression, which is actually quite old in the United States, is not well known. We are seeing it, in a kind of vivid Technicolor, in this election."

Latino Justice is concerned that states will use minor differences in the way names appear on different databases, and even home foreclosure notices, as ways to suppress Latino votes.

Perales says his group is setting up a special hotline today that will have 40 Spanish-speaking lawyers on standby to take calls from any voter who has trouble with registration or at the polls. The hotline number is 888-839-8362.

The Department of Justice did not respond to our request for comment on this story.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021