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Actress In Racist Campaign Ad Reportedly Identified

2012-02-10T23:19:37Z

The young woman who starred in a much-maligned Senate campaign ad targeting Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and released by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) has reportedly been identified as Lisa Chan, a 21-year-old California native.

The blog Angry Asian Man, which first reported the details, reports that Chan is a part-time actress and model -- a beauty pageant contestant and winner, in fact -- UC Berkeley graduate, founder of a non-profit for under-served youth, and now star of the most controversial ad so far of the 2012 election cycle.

The ad, which aired in Michigan on Super Bowl Sunday and was removed from circulation later in the week, shows a woman, reportedly played by Chan, bicycling through a landscape of rice paddies dressed in khakis and a yellow shirt -- apparently the reason for an unfortunate typo that labeled her as "yellowgirl" in an html code.

As she approaches the camera, the actress thanks "Michigan Senator Debbie Spend-it-Now" for supposedly spending too much money, in turn helping the Chinese economy.

"Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good," she says in broken and stereotypically accented English.

Chan hasn't commented on her reported role in the ad, but she has apparently been affected by the backlash. From the Angry Asian Man blog:

From what I understand, she's now proactively trying to address and undo her role in the racist messaging of Hoekstra's campaign, and has partnered with a community organization to release a statement with her version of the story.

The original ad is below:

LA Weekend Calendar: Getting More Than One Kind Of Action This Weekend

2012-02-10T21:31:00Z

FRIDAY
Pizza Pizza!
What: A special meal cooked with love at home is possibly the best date a person (especially a woman) can ask for. And pizza is one of the most versatile dishes out there. So if you know how to make dough, have countless different meals (and dates) at your fingertips. Grilled shrimp and roasted eggplant pizza with bell pepper puree, anyone? At this cooking class with Master Chef Eric, you'll get creative with the endless cheese, sauce and toppings possibilities. Eat up!
When: Friday, Feb. 10, 7-9:30pm, $85 per person
Where: 2366 Pelham Ave., LA, CA

Shhh, It's A "Secret" Menu
What: An edible exhibit? Oooh yeah. Pacific Standard Time's Art As An Appetizer is a "collision between art and food that nourishes the mind, body and spirit." What does that mean? It means that restaurants Playa and Rivera are offering a "secret menu" from now until March 31. It is a three-course menu that costs $37 and is the delicious genius of chef John Sedlar, artist Ron Cooper and mixologist Julian Cox. If you're not convinced, just look at these pictures, and you will be salivating... in an artistic kind of way.
When: Friday, Feb. 10, see Playa and Rivera websites for hours.
Where: Playa, 7360 Beverly Blvd., LA, CA & Rivera, 1050 South Flower St., LA, CA

We Heart Bikes
What: Everyone loves CicLAvia, the event that shuts down 10 miles of LA so bikers and walkers can take over the streets. So come share some V-Day love for the event as this holiday party and benefit. Highlights include speed dating so you can find a Valentine, and an auction that will include a prize date with "bodacious biker babes." There will be drinks, food, a photo booth and music by DJ Survive, Alanna Lin and Fascinoma. All the ingredients for a "love"ly time! Hat tip to blogger and friend, Bruce Chan, for this one.
When: Friday, Feb. 10, 7-10pm, Free
Where: Atwater Crossing, 3245 Casitas Avenue, LA, CA

SATURDAY
Indulgence
What: Don't know what to get your Valentine this year? You can't go wrong with great food and quality time together on the nice side of town. Six Taste is offering an "Indulgence" food tour through Beverly Hills. Treats on Saturday's menu include spaghetti, wine, truffle popcorn, lamb ribs, calamari, agnolotti, penne oxtail, spicy Maya hot cholocate, tequenos, cheese tasting and chocolate truffles. Click here for Sunday's menu and a list of all of the stops. Treat your sweet!
When: Saturday, Feb. 11 & Feb. 12, 10am or 2pm both days, $125/person, 21+, pre-registration required
Where: Beverly Canon Gardens, Montage Beverly Hills, 225 North Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, CA

Get Your Craft On
What: This kind of weaving is not for your grandma, unless she's experimental. The Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) is using the special exhibit NOW on display as a reason to craft this Saturday and gain inspiration from a pro. Maximo Gonzalez's exhibit, "Playful," consists of "installations, mural and weavings made from global currencies, videos, symbolic objects and performance." CAFAM's Holly Jerger's "Craftlab" workshop will teach the basics of weaving while experimenting with a range of unusual materials, just like Gonzalez. "Over and under" gets rejuvenated.
When: Saturday, Feb. 11, 1:30-3:30pm, $5 (includes museum admission)
Where: CAFAM, 5814 Wilshire Boulevard, LA, CA

Music, Redefined
What: When we see very different genres being claimed on a band's Myspace page ("Metal/Classical/Samba"), we think "Yeah right." But Kid Infinity really is an amalgam of punk, electro, hip hop, pop... and more (see video below). When KI's playing, the crowd is dancing and shouting the lyrics (you'll catch right on) and the rapper is on the ground, in the mix with his fans. As if their music wasn't original enough, this band has pioneered 3D visuals in live performances (picture everyone dancing with the funny glasses). This Saturday, KI will do its thang at The Handbag Factory, a new downtown live venue that triples as a recording studio and art gallery. In addition to KI, the speakers will blast equally edgy acts including MC Draperies, Telle Eyed Specs, VCR Monster, Peg Leg Love and DJ Ham On Everything.
When: Saturday, Feb. 11, 9pm-2am, $7 after 11pm, 18+
Where: (the) Handbag Factory, 1336 S. Grand Ave, LA, CA

SUNDAY
Snow For A Cause!
What: If you're like us, you'll take any excuse to get out of town. What if your excuse was a good cause? Bingo. Join Stoked Mentoring nonprofit, which introduces outdoor sports to at-risk youth, for a day on the slopes. They need volunteers for the day to teach kids how to snowboard. And you'll be treated well with provided equipment and lunch. Exercise + volunteering + vacation in one. Check out iVolunteer's website for more information.
When: Sunday, Feb. 12, 6:45am for bus pick-up, Free
Where: Meet at Stoked Los Angeles Headquarters, 1930 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 509, LA, CA

A Love Story
What: Going to the movies is a timeless date option. But let's face it: Star Wars isn't very romantic. Which is why the Arclight is showing the following classic romance movies in 35mm: "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), "The African Queen" (1951), "Sabrina" (1954) and "Dirty Dancing" (1987). Completing the evening: champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries available in the theater cafe. Now that's romantic!
When: Sunday, Feb. 12 & Tuesday, Feb. 14, See websites below for times and prices.
Where: Hollywood Arclight, Pasadena Arclight and Sherman Oaks Arclight

Good News For State's Juvenile Offenders

2012-02-10T21:28:59Z

This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch.

By Michael Montgomery

County governments have invested nearly a half-billion dollars over the past 15 years to modernize juvenile lockups and now have the capacity to absorb offenders currently housed in the state's youth prisons, if those facilities are closed, a new study contends.

The report [PDF] by the San Francisco-based Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice offers fresh data in support of Gov. Jerry Brown's renewed push to shutter the state's three remaining youth prisons as part of a historic realignment of California's criminal justice system.

A total of $455,779,103 was allocated to renovate county facilities, according to the report, with 96 percent going to new maximum-security juvenile halls in 41 jurisdictions.

"These state-of-the-art buildings stand in stark contrast to the dilapidated and archaic 19th-century relics that DJF (Division of Juvenile Facilities) utilizes to house its remaining wards," reads the report. "The review demonstrates that local secure county-based facilities currently surpass existing state youth correctional facilities in architectural design and structural integrity."

Counties that allocated the most money for construction of juvenile facilities as of November 2007 include:

San Mateo:21,105,000
Fresno:24,120,000
San Bernardino:27,187,727
Alameda:33,113,670
San Diego:39,198,000
Ventura:40,500,000
Los Angeles:49,465,625

As a measure of progress, the study highlights facilities in Alameda and San Francisco counties that are "easily adaptable for long-term commitments as all necessary programming space exists on-site."

Alameda County's juvenile justice center includes 24-hour secure housing, full educational services, on-site community-based programming and a specialized mental health treatment unit, according to the report.

Under a plan [PDF] released in January as part of Brown's budget blueprint, the Division of Juvenile Justice would stop accepting new admissions by 2013 and the entire system would shut down in 2014. The Brown administration pledged to hand counties $10 million and allow up to a year to manage the transition.

But there is opposition to the plan. Some youth advocates, judges and district attorneys contend that many counties do not have the resources to manage youths convicted of violent crimes like murder and rape and might be forced to send such offenders to state lockups. What's more, as a result of a 2004 court settlement, California already has spent millions of dollars upgrading its youth prisons and invested heavily in special programming.

Still, some counties have managed to stop sending high-risk offenders to the state by housing them away from the general population and developing specialized programming.

The report contends that even county facilities with no long-term programming in place "serve as a significantly improved living environment for youth who would otherwise face custodial time in the extremely isolated and dilapidated state facilities."

The state's youth prison population has dropped to fewer than 1,100 from more than 10,000 in the mid-1990s. While classified as juveniles, 59 percent of the offenders housed in state youth prisons are between 19 and 25, according to state figures. Annual costs at state institutions have topped $200,000 per ward.

Michael Montgomery is an investigative reporter for California Watch, a project of the non-profit Center for Investigative Reporting. Find more California Watch stories here.

Meet Miramonte's New Princpal

2012-02-10T20:53:45Z

Perhaps the most important member of Miramonte Elementary's brand-new staff is the new principal, 66-year-old Dolores Palacio. Her immediate goal is to calm the nerves of parents -- some who are keeping their kids home -- after two teachers were arrested on sex abuse allegations.

Palacio was a teacher from 1974-1986 and a principal of two schools from 1988-2004, NBC reports. Although she retired in 2004, she has helped train principals since then and also reached out to help Martin Sandoval, Miramonte's principal when the teacher sex abuse allegations arose.

She said of the new staff of teachers at Miramonte, "These teachers were [previously] laid off because of the budget crisis in the past... not because of their experience. All of them were investigated and reviewed and their personnel folders were examined. They are all qualified and experienced," the Los Angeles Times reports.

In addition to new teachers, Palacio added that students will have bilingual social workers available throughout the year, ABC reports. She confirmed, "We are totally transparent. We are totally open. I welcome [parents] to the school anytime. This morning I invited them to stay in the classrooms as long as they felt comfortable."

Mary J. Blige's Packed LA Show

2012-02-10T20:33:31Z

LOS ANGELES -- Mary J. Blige brought out plenty of emotion as she performed in front of a packed house to support one of her favorite charities.

Blige sang several of her most famous songs, including "No More Drama" and "Family Affair" at the Avalon nightclub on Thursday night to support the (RED) campaign that raises money to fight AIDS and HIV. She has supported the charity for years.

The singer gave a few emotional speeches where she talked about the importance of giving back.

"All those people we are rocking for are going to be just fine," Blige said before performing her hit single "Just Fine."

After her set, musician Skrillex acted as DJ, playing in a VIP area at the Belvedere-sponsored pre-Grammy event that also included singer Kelis, actress Malin Akerman and Oscar winner Forest Whitaker.

The Grammys will be held Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

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Online:

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8 California School Workers On Leave During Student Abuse Probe

2012-02-10T19:32:47Z

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Eight school district employees were placed on leave during an investigation of their handling of allegations that a special education teacher kicked and slapped students.

Alexia Bogdis, the special education teacher, is facing nine misdemeanor battery and child cruelty charges.

She is accused of slapping and kicking the stomach of one 4-year-old student, and twisting the wrist, kicking the chair and withholding food and drink from another student between December and January. Neither child was seriously injured.

The Redwood City School District is looking into whether the employees who handled the allegations followed procedure.

The employees' names and their positions were not disclosed. Calls to the district by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

"Our internal investigation raised questions for which we need answers in order to ensure the safety of our students, which is our top priority at all times," Superintendent Jan Christensen said Thursday in a prepared statement. "We need more information to determine exactly what happened."

The district said an aide reported the suspected abuse to a deputy superintendent on Feb. 1 and was instructed to call authorities.

Bogdis, 43, was placed on administrative leave that day and turned herself into police on Feb. 4. She is free on $15,000 bail. She did not immediately return a phone message left by the AP seeking comment.

Bogdis is scheduled to appear in San Mateo County Superior Court on March 1 for arraignment.

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So Much For Holding Polluters Responsible In California

2012-02-10T19:19:31Z

This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch.

By Corey G. Johnson

Under pressure from construction, architect and other industry groups, state legislators killed a bill that would have closed a loophole used by businesses to evade pollution lawsuits.

Sponsored by Assemblyman Warren Furutani, D-Long Beach, AB 1207 arose out of a lawsuit in Carson, where residents discovered in 2009 that for nearly five decades, their families have been exposed to dangerous levels of cancer-causing toxins emanating from their properties. There is no state law that explicitly puts time limits on pollution cases, which often are discovered decades after the toxic dumping occurs.

However, Shell Oil Co. and a local developer were able to initially get the resident lawsuit thrown out by claiming the state's 10-year time limit on "construction defect" claims had expired.

Key supporters of the Carson residents told Furutani that new legislation was needed, as other companies were using the state's construction defects time limits to escape legal responsibility for pollution-related damages.

But construction industry lobbyists argued that Furutani's bill made architects, builders and developers needlessly vulnerable to lawsuits.

The American Institute of Architects' California Council, Associated Builders and Contractors of California and 40 other groups sent a letter to Mike Feuer, D-West Hollywood, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, warning that California's weak economy was threatened by Furutani's legislation and could force business owners into "possible bankruptcy."

This bill would remove this outside limitation and thereby expand the statute of limitations on personal or real property lawsuits when there was an allegation of exposure to a hazardous material, even if it was in relation to remediation activities. In so doing, AB 1207 unnecessarily exposes a large number of industries to increased unjustified liability that may even lead to possible bankruptcy.
At a time when our economy is struggling to recover and when the state needs jobs, such an unjustified increased liability on businesses and governments is ill-advised. For these reasons we urge your "no" vote.

Three years ago, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control unearthed evidence of Carson's pollution while investigating another case. Subsequent investigations by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board have found alarming levels of cancer-causing benzene and explosive methane gas throughout the Carson neighborhood.

Shell Oil, which owned and used the land for drilling and dumping waste, sold the property in the 1960s but didn't remove the toxins before the sale. The water quality board has issued an advisory urging residents to avoid physical contact with the soil in their yards and has ordered Shell Oil to clean up the properties.

In 2009, hundreds of Carson residents filed multiple lawsuits against Shell Oil and a local developer, alleging the companies never told property owners that their homes rested atop an abandoned oil farm and chemical dumpsite. The lawsuits also accused Shell of failing to clean up the contaminated soil.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Highberger, an appointee of former Gov. Pete Wilson, initially rejected the residents' claims, citing the state's 10-year limit on construction defect lawsuits. He has since rescinded that ruling and the case is still ongoing.

Furutani said his bill would prevent future legal misinterpretations over pollution claims, according to a legislative analysis.

AB 1207 intends to correct a flaw in current law that could be – and currently is being – interpreted to allow corporate polluters to walk away from dangerous pollution as long as it is concealed for ten years. If the pollution is not discovered, as is often the case, for ten, twenty, thirty years or longer, the polluter gets away with it and leaves others to deal with the health and environmental ramifications.

Clearly the Legislature never intended the Statue of Repose or any other limitations be afforded to polluters or other illegal dischargers and it needs to be corrected to prevent further abuse of the system. The unscrupulous use of the Statute of Repose by polluters to protect themselves from liability undermines most environmental laws in the State of California and puts homeowners at financial and health risk.
The bill officially died last week in Feuer's committee. Feuer didn't respond to requests for comment. Furutani said he was disappointed but not deterred.

"Although this legislation would not have directly helped the residents of the Carson Carousel Tract, it would have prevented this from happening to homeowners in the future," Furutani said. "We are conducting further research for viable legislation that would ensure that polluters are held responsible to clean up toxic pollution they create, no matter how many years pass before it is discovered.”

Corey G. Johnson is an investigative reporter for California Watch, a project of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting. Find more California Watch stories here.

PHOTOS: LA's Best Local Lingerie Stores

2012-02-10T18:51:00Z

Whether you're shopping for yourself or for that special sweetheart, you need not trek to the mall for leather and lace this Valentine's season. Why would you, when we are blessed with so many unique and classically-LA lingerie stores in practically every neighborhood around town?

There's a little something for every woman, whether she's the sex-bot, the romance queen, the lover of all things French or the striped-shirt-and-jeans Sunday bruncher. Herewith are our top picks for the best local lingerie shops you won't want to miss.

Peruse the slideshow below and get lost in all of the beauty LA has to offer:

The President's Deportation Policy In Question

2012-02-10T18:30:12Z

This article comes to us courtesy of California Watch

By Andrew Becker

In an unusual twist, a federal appellate court this week pressed the Obama administration on whether the government will follow its own highly publicized policy of using discretion when reviewing deportation cases.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling Monday involving five immigration cases, ordered the government to decide by March 19 if it intends to follow two memos released last year by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a critical dissent, Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain wrote that the court overreached its boundaries and the constitutional separation of powers with its "audacious ruling."

"The majority ... needlessly catapults this court into the realm of decisionmaking from which it is constitutionally walled off," O'Scannlain wrote.

Rather than citing law, Judges William C. Canby and Raymond C. Fisher referred in their order to ICE Director John Morton's memos from June and November of last year.

The directives outlined the factors to weigh in deciding whether to pursue deportation, such as immigration history, U.S. family ties, military service, criminal history and length of time in the country, among other criteria.

The five cases involve seven immigrants previously ordered deported but who appealed those decisions. None appears to have a criminal conviction, and all but one have U.S. citizen children, according to the order.

In immigration courts, attorneys for ICE, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, argue for deportation before Justice Department immigration judges. In federal district and circuit courts, Justice Department attorneys typically handle immigration cases.

An ICE memo wouldn't typically apply to the Justice Department, said Kevin Johnson, dean of the UC Davis School of Law. He said the judges may might asking an astute but basic question: "Is the right hand talking to the left?

"I've never seen anything quite like it before, although I can understand why they are doing it," Johnson said. "They could be wondering, 'Do we need to decide these cases they're not going to deport anyway?' If not, they can save everyone some work."

Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said in an e-mail that the department is studying the opinions. He had no comment on the cases.

But U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that with its ruling, the court has veered into the executive branch's sole domain.

"The Ninth Circuit should decide cases under our nation's laws, not under the Obama administration's policies that ignore the law and intent of Congress," Smith said in a statement.

The memos are just two in a string of internal directives issued by the Obama administration that have received public attention. With Congress unwilling to take up the debate on legislative reform of the nation's immigration laws, the Obama administration has explored various administrative remedies, such as revamped immigration lockups that are less punitive, other detention reforms and prosecutorial discretion. Conservatives have argued that the administration has attempted "backdoor amnesty."

Last month, ICE completed two pilot programs that reviewed deportation cases in Denver and Baltimore. Meanwhile, the rate of deportations has dropped to a record low, and the long-standing backlog of removal cases before the immigration courts, while still growing, has slowed, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group based at Syracuse University.

This week, ICE also announced that it had appointed a public advocate to engage with the public, including immigrants facing deportation and advocacy groups.

"We want the public to know that they have a representative at this agency whose sole duty is to ensure their voice is heard and their interests are recognized," ICE's Morton said in a statement.

The new position raised eyebrows among some law enforcement agents.

"A public advocate? For lawbreakers?" said Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council, the agents' union. "What's next, asking the DEA to give a public advocate to drug dealers and arguing that they're just unlicensed pharmacists?"

Andrew Becker is an investigative reporter for California Watch, a project of the non-profit Center for Investigative reporting. Find more California Watch stories here.

Woman Kidnaps Mentally Challenged Teen, Taunts Mom With Texts: Cops

2012-02-10T18:29:15Z

HESPERIA, Calif. -- A missing, mentally challenged teenager was rescued and a woman was charged with false imprisonment after she befriended the girl and taunted her mother with text messages giving phony information on the girl's whereabouts, investigators said.

Mayra Gonzalez, 24, was taken into custody late Wednesday after a cellphone carrier zeroed in on the suspect's Hesperia home, San Bernardino County sheriff's Sgt. Lon Jacobs said.

Gonzalez was booked for investigation of felony false imprisonment and released on $50,000 bail.

Gonzalez is suspected of befriending the 18-year-old victim, who has the mental capacity of a 6-year-old, at a liquor store on Wednesday, authorities said. The girl was unharmed.

A voicemail message left at the Gonzalez home on Friday wasn't immediately returned.

When the teenager didn't come home Wednesday, her mother contacted authorities, but deputies were unable to find her.

The mother then began receiving text messages from an unknown number giving locations where the teen could be found. Family members went to the locations but didn't find her.

After Gonzalez denied knowing anything about the missing teenager, deputies obtained a search warrant. During the search, Gonzalez told the teenager to run out the rear of the house, authorities said.

The teen was found a short distance away and returned to her family.

Investigators said they don't have a motive for the incident.

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Cobras And Matadors To Close Feb 13

2012-02-10T18:13:55Z

Cobras and Matadors -- one of LA's most popular Tapas spots -- is closing it's doors, LA Weekly reports.

Cobras and Matadors' restauranteur Steven Arroyo posted to his Instragram, "Cobras & Matadors will close in 144 hrs. Naturally the eve of Valentines because she is such a lover."

The original Beverly Blvd. location was the last remaining of the chain's locations. Cobras and Matadors in Los Feliz was replaced by Umami Burger in 2009.

To many fans it is the end of an era, but Arroyo isn't slowing down anytime soon. Potato Chips (located next door to C&M) is still on a sandwich making role, Malo is serving up a storm and Escuela Taqueria is making customers go loco for his tacos. Steven Arroyo is planning to "open up an entirely new restaurant in [C&M's] spot," reports Your Next Bite.

Cobras and Matadors will close for good on February 13, 2012.

New Rankings Finds D.C. Is A Great Place For Single Men

2012-02-10T17:54:40Z

Valentine's Day should come easy for men in the nation's capital looking for love. There are plenty of eligible women around.

Men's Health looked at 100 American cities to see which had the most single women and which had the least.

Washington, D.C. took top slot, earning an A+ for its bevy of eligible women.

Miami scored a C, falling in the middle, between Tucson, Ariz., and Sioux Falls, S.D. Las Vegas, surprisingly, got an F and came in dead last, ranking just below Cleveland, Wichita, Kan., and Toledo, Ohio.

The magazine's methodology is a little opaque -- the survey purports to take into account "the ratio of single women to single men, the percentage of college-educated women, the percentage of gainfully employed single women (all from the Census), and the number who work out (Experian Simmons)" -- but there's no explanation about how those numbers were processed.

Here's a sampling of where some major U.S. cities fell on the list, including New York, Chicago, Denver, Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit and San Francisco.

RELATED VIDEO: NBC's guide to dating in Washington, D.C.

WATCH: One Of Our Oldest Angelenos, A 105-Year-Old Man

2012-02-10T17:48:01Z

When you think LA, you don't think old. But this man is as LA as anyone on the red carpet, and KPCC's just released video gives us a glimpse into his character.

Simon Redditt, known as "Papa Si," was born on August 25, 1906. He prefers scotch over bourbon, has turned down marriage proposals at an old age, and says about heaven, "I think when you're dead, you're done."

Perhaps best of all is hearing this centenarian sing the blues. Here's to you, Papa Si.

Bettina Inclan May Have Toughest Job In GOP Circus

2012-02-10T17:32:56Z

Bettina Inclan may have the toughest job in the Republican circus.

She's the Republican National Committee's new director of Hispanic outreach.

Right now, that's like being the guy with the shovel who follows along behind the elephants, only worse. She has to clean up whatever lands on the campaign trail and repackage it into something pretty. And she has to make sure that any stink left by Republican candidates doesn't stick to the party.

Inclan, of course, offers a more upbeat description. "My job with the RNC is more political ground game, making sure the general message of the Republican Party, about economic prosperity, about lower taxes, about what we believe is the American dream," gets out to Hispanics, she told The Huffington Post.

Inclan has held difficult jobs before. She served as executive director of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly as Latino support for the party began its current slide from its 2004 high. She was press secretary for Steven Poizner during his unsuccessful run for California governor. And she worked as deputy director of communications for the victorious campaign of Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who attracted strong Latino support despite the fact that he advocated a strict Arizona-style immigration law for the Sunshine State.

The RNC hired Inclan last month after the party's presidential candidates started hurling immigration attacks during debates and campaign stops, and the party heard the stampede of alienated Latinos rushing for the door. In announcing her appointment, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus acknowledged how crucial Hispanics are to the party's future.

"I'm really proud of the fact that we're going to announce the expansion of the RNC's Hispanic Outreach Effort today," he said. "We all know it's the fastest growing demographic in America, and Latinos play a vital role in all of our communities. The Republican Party believes that it's crucial to involve Latinos at every level because diverse voices will lead to a stronger and obviously more vibrant party."

Inclan directs a multipronged battle strategy. She attended the Hispanic Leadership Network conference last month and has been doing interviews on television and radio in English and Spanish, holding call-in press conferences with reporters across the country, and promoting the "Obama failed" theme in her own tweets and those of the newly launched @RNCLatinos. The party put out a YouTube video in Spanish titled "Unkept Promises: Nevada Edition" and has been actively posting updates on its new tumblr blog aimed at Hispanics.

Its Latino-directed web page, however, is grossly outdated. The newest posting is a video of Inclan talking about the yet-to-come Florida primary. And Inclan has been notably silent on her own blog since announcing her appointment in mid-January.

LATINOS SLIPPING AWAY

Inclan's is a brand-new position at the GOP, created nearly two years after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush founded the conservative Hispanic Leadership Network out of concern that the party was letting Latinos slip away.

He had reason to worry. After the presidential election of 2004 set an all-time record, when his brother George W. Bush captured 40 percent of the Latino vote (some say 44 percent), support for the GOP dropped to a mere 31 percent for Sen. John McCain in 2008.

It may be tough to do better any time soon. A recent Pew Hispanic Research Center survey found that 67 percent of Hispanic registered voters identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party; just 20 percent said the same about the Republican Party.

The Feb. 4 Nevada caucus may have provided another indicator of the GOP's woes. Participation by Latinos declined from 8 percent of Republican voters in 2008 to 5 percent this past Saturday.

"We know that Nevada has the fastest-growing Latino electorate of any state," said Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions. "And despite the fact that Latinos are getting bigger and bigger in Nevada, they are becoming a smaller and smaller part of the Republican Party."

The challenge for Republicans is that Hispanics are listening and bristling at what they hear -- in particular, the Republican candidates' harsh or contradictory stances on immigration.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have rejected any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the country. Newt Gingrich called for a more humane approach that would offer legal status to longtime residents, but also praised South Carolina's crackdown on undocumented immigration.

Mitt Romney vowed to veto the DREAM Act, until he reached Florida in the last week of January. Then he said he would support granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants' children who serve in the military.

But Adam Luna, political director of America's Voice, argued in a HuffPost blog that Romney's apparent change of heart came too late. Luna wrote, "Mitt Romney has already seared his image as an anti-immigrant candidate into the minds of Latino voters. Romney's vow to veto the DREAM Act and his continued calls for self-deportation of undocumented immigrants are reverberating in the Latino community -- and will continue through November."

Romney also rankled powerful Latino and immigration reform groups across the country by embracing an endorsement from Kris Kobach, architect of the Arizona and Alabama crackdown laws. And after fighting back against accusations that he's "anti-immigrant," Romney this week named former California Gov. Pete Wilson, whose legacy is practically synonymous with anti-immigrant sentiment, as his honorary campaign chair in the Golden State.

In 1994, Wilson advocated for California's Proposition 187, which would have cut off public services for undocumented immigrants, including barring their children from public schools. The courts struck down the law. Latino voters did the same to Wilson in the very next election.

"I just don't understand the strategy of repeating the mistakes of Proposition 187 and Pete Wilson," Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, told the San Francisco Chronicle. He said the GOP is actually "pushing Latinos away."

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

GOP strategists and spokespeople across the country have sought to counter the inflammatory immigration issue by focusing on jobs.

"The economy and jobs is the number one issue in poll after poll after poll," Jennifer Korn, who ran George W. Bush's successful Hispanic outreach in 2004, told HuffPost. "So when you're going into the voting booth, I think the majority of people will be voting with their pocketbook because they want to see this end."

Inclan, too, has repeatedly attempted to steer the conversation away from immigration.

"Immigration has to be addressed," she told HuffPost in late January. "But if we're talking about what's going to move people at the polls, I think it's really going to be the economy."

There's some powerful basis for their thinking. In a Pew Hispanic Research Center survey released at the end of December, 50 percent of Latinos listed jobs as their number one concern, followed closely by education and health care.

But the issue may not have enough pull to bring Hispanics into the Republican fold. Recent economic data show an improved employment outlook in general, with Latinos accounting for an overwhelming proportion of the gains. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 60 percent of the 2.3 million jobs added in 2011 went to Hispanics.

Which means the anti-immigration rhetoric could come back to haunt the eventual Republican nominee, said Angelo Falcon, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy.

"The big question is going to be how much of this stuff is going to stick to that person," Falcon said. "Because if it continues the way it's going now, it's definitely going to be a negative in terms of the Latino vote."

First Black Female Licensed Architect Dies At 85. Tour The Buildings She Helped Create

2012-02-10T17:14:32Z

Norma Merrick Sklarek, the first African-American woman in the country to become a licensed architect, died Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Sklarek, who was born in Harlem, New York to Trinidadian parents and earned her Bachelor of Architecture from Barnard College at Columbia University, was a pioneer in the architecture world, helping produce landmarks such as Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport and the American Embassy in Tokyo.

After becoming the first African-American woman to pass the New York state exam in 1954, Sklarek went on to break many other barriers throughout her career, becoming the first black woman to earn a license in California, in 1962, and being elected a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, the highest designation bestowed by the professional group, in 1966, according to the Times.

Sklarek's rise to the top at prominent design firms, including Gruen and Associates in Los Angeles, Welton Becket Associates in Santa Monica and the Jerde Partnership in Venice, wasn't easy. According to the Los Angeles Times:

After graduating, she applied for jobs but was turned down 19 times. "They weren't hiring women or African Americans, and I didn't know which it was [working against me,]" she told the Palisadian-Post in 2004.
She finally found a position with the city's engineering department. On her first try, she passed the four-day state licensing exam and, in 1955, was hired at Skidmore, Owings, Merrill, a leading architectural and engineering firm.

In a 1985 interview with California Architect magazine, Sklarek described herself as "the highly visible employee," when detailing discrimination she experienced at a firm dominated by white men. When it came to design projects, however, Sklarek was forced into the background. But her contribution to high-profile projects remained significant.

As Gruen's director, Sklarek was responsible for hiring and overseeing the staff as well coordinating the technical aspects of major projects, including the California Mart, Pacific Design Center, Fox Hills Mall, San Bernardino City Hall, Leo Baeck Temple and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

In her honor, Howard University offers the Norma Merrick Sklarek Architectural Scholarship Award. Norma Merrick Sklarek is an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, according to the blog Harlem World.

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