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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 46
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 Rice University
graphic
Red line shows proposed
canal route.Scientists
express concern over canal
By the Rice University news service
A consortium of environmental scientists has expressed strong concern about the impact of a controversial Central American canal across Nicaragua. The path of the Nicaragua Interoceanic Grand Canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will cut through Lake Cocibolca (also known as Lake Nicaragua), Central America’s main freshwater reservoir and the largest tropical freshwater lake of the Americas. This plan will force the relocation of native populations and impact a fragile ecosystem, including species at risk of extinction, according to Rice University environmental engineer Pedro Alvarez and other members of the consortium. Alvarez is co-corresponding author of an article that includes 21 co-authors from 18 institutions in the United States and Central and South America who gathered at a multidisciplinary international workshop in Managua, Nicaragua, last November to discuss the project. The paper, titled “Scientists Raise Alarms About Fast Tracking of Transoceanic Canal Through Nicaragua,” was published this week by the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology. “The biggest environmental challenge is to build and operate the canal without catastrophic impacts to this sensitive ecosystem,” Alvarez said. “Significant impacts to the lake could result from incidental or accidental spills from 5,100 ships passing through every year, invasive species brought by transoceanic ships, which could threaten the extinction of aquatic plants and fish, such as the cichlids that have been evolving since the lake’s formation, and frequent dredging, impacting aquatic life through alterations in turbidity and hypoxia, triggered by resuspension of nutrients and organic matter that exert a relatively high biochemical oxygen demand.” A private company, the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Group, is building the 172-mile, $50 billion canal in collaboration with the Nicaraguan government, which granted the concession last June. Preparation for the project has begun with the construction of roads to move heavy equipment and supplies into place, with the first ships scheduled to pass through the canal in late 2019. It will be longer, wider and deeper than the 51-mile Panama Canal to the south. Alvarez and his colleagues, including co-correspondent author Jorge Alberto Huete-Pérez, vice-rector and director of the Molecular Biology Center at the University of Central America in Managua, Nicaragua, wrote that dredging required to open a channel in the lake deep and wide enough for ships will disperse enough sediment to lower its oxygen content and kill marine life. They anticipate the project will impact Nicaragua’s lucrative ecotourism and the supply of fresh water for drinking, irrigation and power generation. In a January editorial in Science, Alvarez, Huete-Perez and Axel Meyer, a professor of biology at the University of Konstanz, Germany, wrote, “It is incumbent upon scientists, human rights advocates, nongovernmental organizations and wildlife protection organizations to share knowledge, voice concerns, provide guidance and demand a greater role for science in the design and construction of this massive project.” They called for the international scientific community to help “analyze design plans of the canal and its subprojects for safety, social responsibility and sustainability; make recommendations to protect the region’s water resources and biodiversity; and draft statements urging the Nicaraguan government to halt construction until studies can be performed and evaluated by experts. “In this matter of great urgency and importance, this is an opportunity to exercise scientific leadership, raise awareness and contribute to averting a potential environmental disaster,” they wrote. Nicaragua is among countries considered most vulnerable to climate change, the researchers wrote in their latest paper. They are concerned that changes to the watershed could lead to a shortage of water in the event of drought and catastrophic weather events. The researchers listed their concerns in three broad categories: water and sediments, biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and socio-economic impact. “Each category involves a number of complex considerations, rendering proper analysis a weighty challenge that is compounded by a lack of publicly available information” from the government and the project’s developers and consultants, they wrote. They acknowledged Nicaragua’s hope that the canal, one of the largest engineering projects ever attempted, would create jobs and lift the nation out of extreme poverty. But they said they are concerned the benefits would not match expectations, particularly since the Nicaraguan government has not published a detailed business plan for the canal. “Nicaragua should prepare and publicly vet a detailed economic assessment that includes not only a cost-benefit analysis but also considers externalities associated with national economic development, environmental impacts, social equity, human rights and legal and national security issues,” they wrote. Alvarez is a professor and chairman of Rice’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s science advisory board. Daylight time to begin in States By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The United States goes into daylight savings time Sunday at 2 a.m. The change may have some effect on travel plans and business contacts there. The change means that clocks move ahead one hour and U.S. residents will be waking up an hour earlier than they did this week. They get the hour back Nov. 1 when standard time resumes. 10 persons detained in drug raids By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The Policía de Control de Drogas made nine raids and detained seven men and three woman Thursday. They said the individuals represented a gang that imported cocaine and marijuana. The raids were in Barrio Quinto, Los Lirios and Limoncito in Limón Police said the presumed leader of the group was a 65-year-old man. Teens, 13 and 14, had a firearm By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police got a tip Wednesday that two young teens were in possession of a firearm at a school in the center of Limón. When they arrived, police said they managed to locate a 13 year old who was carrying a 9-mm. pistol in a bag. His associate was 14, police said.
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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and may
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 46 | |
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| Emergency commission expresses its concern about Turrialba
volcano |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The national emergency commission said that scientific indications suggest that the Turrialba volcano is headed to an event of great magnitude. The commission issued the summary after a meeting of its board of directors. It said that although eruptions cannot be predicted that preparations are important at the family and community level. Many neighbors of the volcano already have moved to other areas. Still there are some farmers and their milk cows remaining. Some farmers are commuters who drive there daily to take care of their animals. The commission, formally the Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias, is seeking |
to fix up the
access roads
to the communities around the volcano so that they are ready
for any
needed evacuation. The commission is basing its efforts on a study done of material ejected from the volcano last Oct. 29. The material contained magma that is suggestive of an eventual full-scale eruption. The material shows that magma is moving toward the surface. The mountain is emitting mostly steam and gas now. The acidic gas is causing damage to the vegetation where it lands. The commission's announcement did not mention the efforts by politicians and tourism operators to reopen the national park adjacent to the volcano. But it did stress the continual menace that the volcano represents. The commission said that it is working with local emergency committees to set up simulations to provide training. |
| Vandalism puts elevator for the handicapped out of service |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The elevator at the pedestrian bridge in Quesada Duran lasted less than a month. The elevator when into service in the first half of February. Wednesday some vandal damaged the internal doors. The elevators are installed at pedestrian bridges where there is no room to build access ramps for the disabled. Each of three pedestrian bridges have two elevators. The six elevators cost $1.3 million. The elevators have internal security cameras, but the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad, the road agency, did not say if they captured the vandalism. The damaged elevator is on the bridge over the Circunvalación. |
 Consejo Nacional de Vialidad
photo
The disabled will have to take the stairs.
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| Ms. Chinchilla shares the basement with president of
Venezuela |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The jury still is out on the approval rating of President Luis Guillermo Solís in comparison with other Latin leaders. Vanderbilt University's survey of approval ratings that was published Thursday showed that Costa Rica shared the cellar with Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro. But what the summary did not say was that the Maduro rating was from February 2014 and that the Costa Rican rating stemmed for late April and the first week of May, also 2014. Those dates were deep within the methodology details. A reader pointed out the discrepancy. The approval estimate comes from a time when the president here was Laura Chinchilla and not Solís. On a scale from 0 to 100, Maduro scored an average of 34.3 in presidential job approval, according to the survey. That places Venezuela at the very bottom of its Latin American and Caribbean counterparts. The rating for Costa Rica is 37. Most of the other countries in the region score in the 50s and 60s. |
Ms.
Chinchilla's lack of public support was well known at the time and
clearly shown by the strong voter support for Solís, who was the
candidate of the Partido Acción Ciudadana. Solís seems to be having some image problems now, but that is not reflected by the Vanderbilt study. The university muddied the waters a bit by making extensive mention of Maduro's current problems in Venezuelan, including the fact that he just had arrested opposition figure Antonio Ledezma, mayor of Caracas, on conspiracy charges for an alleged coup plot against the president. Recent reports that 220,000 workers are unemployed as well as a declining economy and lack of governmental transparency have eroded support for Solís in the last few months. In December a Universidad de Costa Rica poll estimated that just 40.2 percent of the public thought he was doing a good or very good job. However, a CID Gallup Latinoamérica report in October said he had a 66 percent approval rating. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 46 | |||||
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| Some U.S. and Korean frogs seem to be resistant to deadly
fungus |
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By the San Francisco State University news
staff
A deadly fungus responsible for the extinction of more than 200 amphibian species worldwide has coexisted harmlessly with animals in Illinois and Korea for more than a century, a pair of studies have found. The fungus has ravaged amphibians in Costa Rica. Amphibians in Illinois have been coexisting with the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis for at least 126 years without adverse effects seen in other parts of the world such as mass-die offs, according to research published in the journal Biological Conservation. In a study published this week in PLOS ONE, researchers were able to date the fungus in Korea back to 1911. The results will help scientists better understand the disease caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, chytridiomycosis, and the conditions under which it can be survived. "Part of understanding a disease is understanding the dynamics of the host and pathogen," said Vance Vredenburg, an associate professor of biology at San Francisco State University and co-author of the studies, who has been researching Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis for more than a decade. "What we have now is a benchmark where the dynamics have been stable for well over 100 years." Before the new study, the earliest confirmed instance of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was in Brazil during the 1890s. The discovery in Illinois also dates back 50 years earlier than previous instances for North America. Chytridiomycosis, or chytrid, has driven more than 200 amphibian species worldwide to extinction and poses the greatest threat to vertebrate biodiversity of any known disease. Vredenburg has tracked the spread of the disease since 2003 in such places as the Sierra Nevada and Andes mountains, including identifying such common carriers as the African clawed frog, the American bullfrog and Pacific chorus frog. Human transportation of these animals is one way to explain how Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and the resulting disease chytridiomycosis is introduced to new populations, sparking mass die-offs. "This fungus has been emerging all over the world and causing major, major problems," Vredenburg said. "Taking |
 San Francisco State University/Brooke Talley
This is an Anaxyrus americanus that was among
those tested.
the information we now have from this research, we can look at the animals in Illinois and Korea, figure out how they are surviving and translate that knowledge to other parts of the world where we see massive declines of amphibian populations." One key difference in the two studies is that, while testing showed that Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was widespread in Illinois dating back to the 1880s, the disease was far less common in Korea during the 1900s than it is today. That, Vredenburg said, indicates that the behavior of the fungus differs depending on location, a key piece of information for biologists to keep in mind when studying its spread. The study also validates the effectiveness of testing for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis in museum specimens, which a graduate student, Tina Cheng, pioneered at San Francisco State. Some of the museum specimens are more than 100 years old, prompting concerns that older DNA may have degraded, leading to false negatives, but Vredenburg and his colleagues found the fungus on some of the oldest samples available. During the two studies, researchers tested more than 1,200 amphibian samples collected between 1888 and 2004. The next step, Vredenburg said, is to pinpoint which attributes allow Illinois-area and Korean amphibians to co-exist with the fungus so that biologists can use that information in their efforts to study this disease in other parts of the globe and prevent further extinctions. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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contents of
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2015 and may
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
news page
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 46 | |||||||
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Attack on ambassador seen as possible link with north By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
South Korean police said today they are investigating possible links between the North Korean government and a man who attacked the U.S. ambassador to Seoul. Authorities also said 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong faces possible attempted murder charges after slashing Ambassador Mark Lippert on the face and wrist with a small knife, leaving him with wounds needing 80 stitches. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency responded to the attack by calling it just punishment, and a valid expression of resistance to ongoing U.S.-South Korea military exercises. Yoon Myeong-seong, chief of police of central Seoul, said the suspect had visited North Korea around seven times between 1999 and 2007. Ambassador Lippert said Thursday he is doing well and in great spirits, and later wrote on Twitter that he and his family were deeply moved by an outpouring of support and that he would soon return to advance U.S.-South Korean relations. Witnesses said the assault happened as Lippert attended a breakfast and a man police later identified as Kim Ki-jong attacked the ambassador with a 25-centimeter knife. South Korean media reported that Kim screamed, "South and North Korea should be reunified." The rival Koreas have been divided for decades along the world's most heavily armed border. The U.S. has stationed 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against North Korea, and some South Koreans see the U.S. presence as a barrier toward a unified Korea. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the slashing was an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Foreign Ministry spokesman Noh Kwang-il said the South Korean government will take steps to ensure diplomatic delegations are safe. "Our government cannot repress shock over a harmful act which occurred this morning against the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, and we express deep regret about what happened," Noh said. "Such harmful acts against the diplomatic delegation will not be accepted by any reasons, and we are taking this especially serious as it was committed against the ambassador to the U.S., which is our most important ally." The U.S. State Department also condemned the attack. White House officials said President Barack Obama called Lippert after the attack, and the State Department said Secretary of State John Kerry also spoke to the ambassador by phone to check on him. Republicans in Congress experience some missteps By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
After weeks of drama, House Republicans have abandoned efforts to tie Homeland Security funding to a provision blocking a presidential executive order on immigration. Analysts and even some Republican lawmakers are questioning what this political defeat is likely to mean for the new Republican majority's ability to govern. Things were not supposed to work out this way. Republicans won big in November’s midterm elections, boosting their majority in the House of Representatives to the largest in decades and winning control of the Senate. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky proclaimed it was now time for Republicans to show Americans that they can govern, ahead of presidential elections in 2016. But two months into the 114th Congress, Republicans hit a low point last Friday. Fifty-two conservative House Republicans staged a revolt against House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, voting against a three-week bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded. Boehner had to turn to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, to supply the votes for a one-week extension to avoid a politically devastating lapse in funding. Just a few days later, in a humiliating defeat, the House approved DHS funding without any measures blocking immigration reform for the rest of this fiscal year, relying on Democratic votes. A passionate group of about 50 House Republicans has often been referred to as the Tea Party faction. Some of that group are now calling themselves the House Freedom Caucus, led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. They staunchly oppose President Barack Obama’s executive action to shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, and other executive orders by the president. At a conservative policy luncheon last month, Rep. Raul Labrador, a Republican of Idaho, called it a constitutional crisis and complained that McConnell was effectively letting Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada run the Senate. Several conservative congressmen faulted McConnell and Boehner for getting them into another budget showdown, alleging that their leaders postpone standing up to the president until the next crisis. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, another Republican, conceded that his party’s strategy linking immigration to Homeland Security funding was doomed from the start since Republicans have always cared deeply about homeland security. Other Republicans criticize this core group of rebels, saying they make it impossible for the new majority to govern. An editorial in The Wall Street Journal referred to the group as The Cliff Marchers, meaning that they are walking over a cliff or being self-destructive. The newspaper said the group was squandering the benefits of being a majority. Moderate Republican Rep. Peter King of New York, also a Republican, criticized the group as self-righteous and delusional. Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma urged his colleagues to fund Homeland Security and let the courts decide on the president’s executive order, which has been temporarily blocked by a U.S. federal court in Texas. Analysts say this rocky start for the Republican majority in Congress does not bode well for future challenges, including funding other government departments and voting later in the year to raise the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid a default on government financial obligations. Budget analyst Stan Collender writes that the Homeland Security funding incident was one of the worst political fiascoes he has seen in Washington in decades. He said the question is whether similar episodes play out through the year or whether Boehner has learned that the demands of the rebel wing of his party cannot ultimately prevail. Asked about the funding drama, Boehner conceded there are some differences on tactics in the Republican Party. But on foreign policy matters, the tables may be turned. This week, Republicans presented a strong show of unity supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opposition to a potential Iran nuclear deal that he argues would not make the world safer. Netanyahu’s controversial speech at Republican invitation to a joint meeting of Congress divided Democrats, with some praising him, but others like Ms. Pelosi saying the speech was condescending and an insult to the intelligence of the United States as one of the nations in ongoing talks with Iran. New York's Cardinal Egan reported to be dead at 82 By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Cardinal Edward Egan, who headed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York from 2000 to 2009, died Thursday after suffering a heart attack at his Manhattan residence. He was 82. He was pronounced dead at the New York University Langone Medical Center, the archdiocese announced. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1932, Egan was ordained a priest in 1957 and consecrated a bishop in 1985. Egan was appointed by Pope John Paul II to the College of Cardinals in 2001. As archbishop of New York, Egan was praised for the role he played as spiritual leader of the city's Catholic community after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center. "Cardinal Egan spread love and knowledge, and brought comfort to countless New Yorkers and others across the country and the world who sought his guidance and counsel - especially in the aftermath of 9/11," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. Egan succeeded Cardinal John O'Connor, a major figure among American Catholics. Before Pope John Paul II named him New York archbishop, Egan served as bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut, from 1988 to 2000. During his tenure there, he came under fire for how he handled allegations of sex abuse by priests under his jurisdiction. Critics say Egan failed to report the allegations to authorities, sought to cover up the claims and allowed offending priests to continue working. In 2002, he apologized in a letter read at Mass, saying he was deeply sorry about mistakes the diocese may have been made. After he retired, Egan retracted the apology, saying he had done nothing wrong. Job layoffs rise slightly, U.S. statistics suggest By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The number of layoffs rose in the United States last week, but the job losses are still low enough to show a healthy job market. Thursday's report from the Labor Department shows the number of Americans applying for unemployment compensation rose 7,000 to a nationwide total of 320,000. Some analysts say an unusual amount of snow and other foul winter weather may have boosted layoffs. Today government experts are set to publish the current unemployment rate. Economists surveyed by the Bloomberg financial news service predict the U.S. jobless rate will decline slightly to hit 5.6 percent. They also predict the data will show the economy had a net gain of about 240,000 jobs in February, a bit less than the prior month. A separate survey of leading economists by Bankrate.com shows they expect the unemployment rate to fall to 5.2 percent over the next year. Family of Michael Brown plans wrongful death suit By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The family of the unarmed black teenager slain last summer by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, plans to file a wrongful death civil lawsuit, their lawyers said Thursday. Daryl Parks, lead attorney for the family of Michael Brown, said the suit naming the City of Ferguson and officer Darren Wilson would be filed soon. The announcement comes the day after the U.S. Justice Department reported it would not bring civil rights charges against Wilson. But the department also said a separate investigation had produced voluminous evidence of a police force operating with extreme racial bias and a municipal court system exploiting blacks as a revenue source for the city. Parks expressed disappointment with the Justice Department’s decision not to pursue charges. But its civil rights report, "if nothing else … clearly lays out why this family had such distrust for law enforcement and this agency," he said at a news conference at a church in north St. Louis County. Parks said that while the federal government had accepted Wilson’s contention that he feared for his life and fired his gun to protect himself, "we do not accept his self-defense" claim. The standard of proof for a federal civil rights violation is higher than that required in a civil case, he noted. Parks was accompanied by Brown’s parents, Lesley McSpadden and Michael Brown Sr., but they kept silent and did not take questions. After Wednesday’s announcement by the Justice Department, several dozen protesters gathered outside police headquarters in Ferguson. At least two were arrested, though police did not give exact numbers or name the charges, the Reuters news agency reported. Arthur Romano, an assistant professor of conflict resolution at George Mason University in Virginia, said the ongoing protests in Ferguson are what kept the case under public scrutiny for months. "People were on the streets in the rain, in the cold, with automatic weapons sometimes pointed at them, tear-gassed on a nightly basis…. People stood up for a very long time," said Romano, who traveled to Ferguson to witness demonstrations in October. "And they're still on the street and still working to try to raise the profile on this issue, understanding that this is more than just accountability for a single individual... that this racialized criminal justice system is inequitable and unconscionable." U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in announcing his department’s findings Wednesday, called for immediate, wholesale and constructive action in Ferguson. The report called for emphasizing public safety, instead of measuring police effectiveness by the number of arrests and citations and the amount of revenue generated. The Justice Department said Ferguson’s Police Department "must fundamentally change the way it conducts stops and searches, issues citations and summonses, and makes arrests." That was among 13 broad measures for improvement, which included improving supervision of officers and increasing civilian input. Ferguson’s municipal court also needed to be overhauled, the Justice Department said, saying it targeted African-Americans as a revenue source through fines and fees. In a statement Wednesday, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, who was criticized in August for his slow reaction to police violence against protesters, called the Justice Department findings deeply disturbing and said the state legislature is considering reforms to municipal courts. "Discrimination has no place in our justice system and no place in a democratic society," Nixon said. Earlier this week, President Barack Obama’s new White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing released an interim report. It includes best practices to "promote effective crime reduction while building public trust," it says. They’re based on four principles: "treating people with dignity and respect, giving individuals voice during encounters, being neutral and transparent in decision making, and conveying trustworthy motives." The president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, representing the largest communities in the United States and Canada, said police departments shouldn’t require a mandate from the Justice Department to practice supportive community policing. "There’s a lot of dialogue going on among chiefs … and we’re talking very candidly about these issues. You’re foolish if you don’t learn lessons from the difficulties that other people have had," said Thomas Manger, police chief for Montgomery County, Maryland, a Washington suburb. Manger said Michael Brown’s death and the ensuing judicial decisions should continue to trigger introspection among his peers. He believes "every police chief needs to really be able to take a critical look at their own departments and to really assess 'What's the level of trust? What’s the level of confidence?'" Once a staunch believer in the grand jury system to investigate officer-involved shootings, Manger now questions whether better alternatives exist. "We think the system is working, but what does the community think?" he said. "If the community has lost faith in the fact that police are held accountable, then we've got to address that." Transparency and constructive action make a difference, Manger added. "It won’t be as big a crisis if you’re at least forthcoming. Hit the issue head on. Talk about what you’re gonna do," he advised. Withholding comment "leads the public to believe that you’re not doing anything or that you’re not gonna do anything." Gathering in Selma to mark 50 years since confrontation By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. President Barack Obama and thousands of people will gather in the small southern U.S. city of Selma, Alabama, Saturday to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic voting rights march that became known as Bloody Sunday. Hundreds of African American demonstrators marched for voting rights in Selma, Alabama, 50 years ago. As they crossed the Edmund Pettus bridge, they were attacked by state police officers. The violent images outraged the nation, drawing national attention to the denial of voting rights for millions of African Americans. “I had to go to the courthouse, stand in line, and vote," said civil rights activist Nims Gay. Fifty years later, Gay returned to the Birmingham courthouse where he and other blacks had questioned white county officials who rejected their constitutional right to vote. “Why do you think you are superior to me? Do you not realize from one blood all nations flow? Or is that something you do not understand? And that would irritate them. But I did not worry about irritating anybody. When you are right, you are right. When you are wrong, you are wrong," said Gay. Following legal challenges blacks were allowed to vote. He says the fight was hard, but worth it. “A voteless people are a hopeless people. The same thing goes today. I do not care if you are black, white, green or gray, if you cannot vote you are messing up," he said. Retired teacher Jeanne Smiley was among the first African Americans allowed to vote in Montgomery, Alabama. “A lot of people around Montgomery and surrounding areas, so many of them were really afraid to go and try to vote. But those of us that were able to vote, tried to vote and we tried to encourage others to go and vote," said Ms. Smiley. “If you had a job just trying to register to vote was enough to get you fired. In addition to that they would even fire some of your relatives," said Alabama State Sen. Hank Sanders. Days after Bloody Sunday Sanders joined civil rights leader Martin Luther King and thousands of others in a march to Alabama’s capital, Montgomery. “The power of the vote seemed so powerful to those who had it . They did not want anybody else to have it and they were doing everything they could, they were using every mechanism at their disposal to stop the vote," he said. "The accomplishments that we made did not occur by themselves," said Civil rights lawyer Fred Gray. Gray, who represented King, won a court ruling that allowed people to march from Selma to Montgomery. "It is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice," said President Lyndon Johnson. Gray says less than five months later President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law. “The voting rights was a key, because it opened the door for so many other things. Because if you get people to vote then you can elect individuals to office and these individuals who were elected to office held the power to appoint hundreds of other people to elected office," said Gray. Hispanics seen filling many jobs next decade By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
From 2020 to 2034, about 14 million new jobs will be created in the United States and 75 percent of them, approximately 11 million, will be filled by Hispanics. In the nearer future, over the next five years, Hispanics are expected to fill 40 percent of all new jobs. A wave of baby boomer, people born between 1946 and 1964, retirements, and a younger faster-growing Hispanic population are driving those numbers, according to a new report from the research group IHS Economics. “People think Hispanics are going to take three of every four jobs but a lot of what’s going on is replacing a lot of retiring baby boomers,” said study author and IHS Global Insight economist James Gillula. “So, in terms of new entrants to the work force, there will be a lot more job opportunities than those 14 million because there are a lot of people that need to be replaced.” Hispanics now account for 16 percent of the U.S. labor force. By 2034, that number will have risen to 23 percent, according to the report. Several major industrialized countries in Europe and Japan face a slowdown in labor force growth in the long term, but immigration could help offset those projected losses in the United States. “I think an important underlying theme of the report is that immigration is important for continued U.S. economic growth,” Gillula said. “Given the dynamics of the aging of the non-Hispanic population, in order to have continuing economic growth at the levels we’ve experienced, we need some level of continuing immigration to add to the labor force growth.” Continuing to attract immigrants doesn’t appear to be a problem. While the debate over the issue continues, the United States remains the destination of choice for 80 percent of all migrants from 10 Latin American countries, according to the report. And they are likely searching for greater economic opportunity and the improved quality of life that these future new jobs could provide. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Friday, March 6, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 46 | |||||||||
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 National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
This
image shows the average sea surface temperature forFebruary 2015 as measured by satellites. The large area of red (warmer than average) can be seen extending through the equatorial Pacific. El
Niño officially here but reported weak
By the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
The long-anticipated El Niño has finally arrived, according to forecasters with the U.S. Climate Prediction Center. In their updated monthly outlook released Thursday, forecasters issued an El Niño advisory to declare the arrival of the ocean-atmospheric phenomenon marked by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean near the equator. The center is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Due to the weak strength of the El Niño, widespread or significant global weather pattern impacts are not anticipated. However, certain impacts often associated with El Niño may appear this spring in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, such as wetter-than-normal conditions along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Costa Rica experiences less rain and those affected by the drought in a number of cantons will be pleased by a report of a weak El Niño. “Based on the persistent observations of above-average sea surface temperatures across the western and central equatorial Pacific Ocean and consistent pattern of sea level pressure, we can now say that El Niño is here,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director, Climate Prediction Center. “Many climate prediction models show this weak El Niño continuing into summer.” Forecasters say it is likely (50 to 60 percent chance) that El Niño conditions will continue through the summer. The last El Niño, in 2009-2010, was a moderate to strong event. Other recent El Niño’s took place from 2002-2003 (moderate), 2004-2005 (weak), 2006-2007 (weak to moderate). The last very strong El Nino was 1997-1998 and was known for providing heavy rainfall in the West, especially California. As for this year, “this El Nino is likely too late and too weak to provide much relief for drought-stricken California,” added Halpert. Scientists will continue to monitor the situation and will issue its next monthly update on April 9. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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2015 and may
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| From Page 7: Currency manipulations affecting trade deals By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Obama administration is working hard to make new trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 Pacific nations. But getting those deals signed by trading partners and approved in Congress will mean resolving many differences, including one over how nations manage their currencies. Protesters from U.S. trade unions and other free-trade skeptics say some nations manipulate the value of their currencies to give their exports an unfair price advantage on world markets, hurting American workers. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Washington must do more to protect American workers. "It's estimated that millions of jobs have gone away" because of trade issues, he said. A cheap currency can be a big advantage for exporting countries, according to Carnegie Mellon University economics professor Lee Branstetter. "It is making their goods artificially cheap and our goods artificially expensive," he said. "It is as if they were subsidizing their exports and applying tariffs to our imports." Branstetter said nations can change the value of their own currencies by printing money and using it to buy U.S. currency and government securities. More demand for U.S. dollars raises their price. Less demand for the other nation's currency makes that currency cheaper. Worried about manufacturing jobs, some members of Congress say new trade deals must stop currency manipulation. But Branstetter said such regulations also could hamper U.S. economic policies, like the Federal Reserve's ultra-low interest rates, which may have had the unintended effect of pushing down the value of the dollar. Some experts say adding currency manipulation provisions to the Trans-Pacific Partnership now, when the deal is nearly complete, could kill the agreement. Undersecretary of State Catherine Novelli said failing to reach a deal could hurt U.S. workers. "If we don’t get the deal done, rules can be put in place that are not going to be fair and the bar can be set very low," she said, "and that can really impede our ability to export things that our workers and our farmers are producing." The currency issue is one of several to be worked out before Washington can sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement with 11 other Pacific nations, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union. A separate agreement, called trade promotion authority, is pending in Congress. Under trade promotion authority, Congress can accept or reject trade agreements, but cannot amend or delay them. While issues remain, the head of the Senate committee that deals with trade issues, Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, said new, trade-friendly Republican majorities in both houses of Congress make it more likely that the deals will eventually win approval. |
