CONTENT WRITING | ORIGINAL REPORTING
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Despite her loss, Jessica Cisneros’ close race with incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar proves there’s an appetite for her progressive platform, even in a Texas border district. Cisneros accepted no PAC or lobbyist money throughout her campaign — a stark contrast with “Trump’s Fave Democrat.”
El Salvador’s perpetual and ongoing violence has troubling roots of U.S. involvement, stretching back to the Reagan administration. The implementation of protected status followed El Salvador’s brutal civil war in the 1980s — a war largely funded by American dollars. Behind Egypt and Israel, El Salvador received more aid from the U.S. in the 1980s than any other country.
A bill currently making its way through New Mexico’s legislature would have a significant impact on both the state’s undocumented population and economy as a whole. The bill, which has passed both the Senate Public Affairs and Judiciary committees, would allow individuals without documents or who are otherwise unauthorized to work in the U.S. to obtain professional licenses and certifications.
In November, Midori Nishida attempted to fly from Hong Kong to Saipan (a U.S. territory) where she’d grown up and visited regularly since. She was shocked when airline staff told her she would be required to take a pregnancy test before boarding.
California has provided health benefits to undocumented minors under 18 since 2016. Now Medi-Cal will extend to young, low-income adults until they turn 26. Officials secured $98 million to expand the coverage for the estimated 138,000 undocumented adults who are now eligible for full-scope benefits under Medi-Cal.
While homelessness rates throughout Europe have climbed, Finland’s progressive approach to housing has prompted rates to drop. It’s the only country in the EU where homelessness has fallen, and other countries are taking note.
In 2017, luxury rental properties made up 79% of all apartment construction in the U.S., according to a real estate report compiled by Yardi Matrix. That trend worsened into 2018, which also saw the national rental average reach an all-time high of $1,408 a month.
Women have been involved in firefighting for over 200 years, but gender disparities in the profession still linger. Meet Colorado’s first all-women wildland fire crew 🔥
The Department of Justice announced to the Vera Institute of Justice it will halt funding to the Legal Orientation Program at the end of the month. The program funds legal orientations for individuals in detention centers facing deportation or removal proceedings. It serves more than 50,000 individuals in 38 detention centers annually, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Aurora.
An individual detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement must be afforded the opportunity to prove citizenship in an Article III court, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said last week.
Two sets of measures concerning state legislative and congressional redistricting in Colorado are currently before the Secretary of State and the state Supreme Court, each vying for victory in the form of inclusion on the 2018 state ballot. And though both initiatives aim to change the state’s redistricting process, the proponents of the measures have fundamental differences on the best way to approach reform.
A forthcoming report on eviction by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy compiled Denver County court data from 2014 to 2016. The sample looks at every eviction case led by the Denver Housing Authority and from seven private property management companies. The report found that in 100 percent of those cases, a property manager or housing authority had representation, whereas tenants of the housing authority had representation roughly 3 percent of the time.
“I wanted to stand up for people who are in a position that makes it difficult to stand up for themselves.” The July 2013 suit, filed against the Fantasy Gentlemen’s Club in Grand Junction for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Colorado Minimum Wage Act, resulted in a settlement award of $500,000 for 12 individuals earlier this year. The case is one of four nominated for the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association’s “Case of the Year.
In 2014, the Pew Research Center estimated that there were roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., 51 percent of whom are women. Most hail from Mexico and Latin America. One in six Latina women survive rape, attempted rape and sexual assault, while rates of domestic violence are even higher.
Earlier this month, the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance released data from the sexual misconduct survey conducted late last year. The survey found that 28 percent of undergraduate women have experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact during their time at CU. These experiences ranged from unwanted touching to rape, and 15 percent of all respondents reported some form of sexual assault on and off campus during their time at the university.
This summer, the House of Representatives introduced the Safe Campus Act as proposed legislation regarding the handling and reporting of sexual assault on college campuses. If passed, it would enact a mandatory stipulation requiring assault and rape victims to report to police before the university is able to take action. Another section of the bill allows universities to set their own standard of proof regarding rape and assault cases.
“It made me feel completely powerless.”
“But their staring made me feel vulnerable and exposed. And I hated every second of it.”
“No one intervened, even though they could clearly see him doing these things, and the discomfort and shock he caused me was obvious. I was truly horrified.”
These are excerpts from some of the stories that have been shared in a new online community, Hollaback! Korea. Hollaback! began 10 years ago when Thao Nguyen experienced sexual harassment in New York City on a subway; a man stared at her and began to masturbate. Nguyen snapped a photo and took it to the police, where she received no assistance. After posting the picture on Flickr, the image went viral and hit the front page of the New York Post, sparking dialogue about street harassment. Thus, Hollaback! was born.
Anna, like many employees of the Center, has experienced the difficulties of living in Korea as a migrant woman. “In this center, I can help legally my Uzbek friends and other migrant women who have difficulties with family,” she explained in English. “I’m not a migrant woman, I’m not Korean, I’m not Uzbek, I’m just a woman and I can work. We can work with migrant women and Korean people together. If, for example, I work in another office like a bank or police station … and there are only Korean people and it’s just me, it’s difficult to work with them because it’s only me. But here, I can see the same people like me. I may feel alone if I’m only one person, only one foreigner.”