The Washington bureau will be covering:
-Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; holds a First Solar news conference on legislation to encourage the installation of 10 million solar systems on the rooftops of homes and businesses over the next decade.
-Healthcare for America Now is holding a protest
-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. holds his weekly pen and pad only news briefing.
-Rep. David Wu, D-Ore.; Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J.; and Clothilde Le Coz of Reporters Without Borders hold a news conference to announce a new bipartisan effort to promote global Internet freedom.
-The Congressional Healthcare Caucus holds a policy forum on “Tackling Inefficiencies and Fraud in the Healthcare System.”
-U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk delivers an address on “The Trade Policy Agenda: American Jobs, Global Leadership,” at a National Press Club Newsmaker Luncheon.

By Sofia Sanchez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

As President Barack Obama meets tonight with U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) over comprehensive Immigration reform, advocates for the issue called on the President and Congress to stop the deportation of Illegal immigrants until a bill is passed.

Representatives of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement are disappointed with the Obama administration over the number of deportations from the U.S. since he took office.

There have been 387,790 deportations of illegal immigrants under Obama averaging out to 1,000 per day, this number is significantly larger to President Bush’s average of 650 deportations per day during his second term.

“Many of us celebrated the historic election of Barack Obama, and believed that this election would bring justice to immigrants and their families,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “We believed when he promised to fix our broken immigration system. He said he would do this in his first year in office, yet in his first year the Obama Administration has deported 387,000 people.”

The administration is in danger of losing the Latino vote, said Nitza Segui Albino with the National Alliance of Latin Americans and Caribbean Communities. “The Democrats think they have us… they don’t, if you do the right thing you have us, if you don’t do the right thing you don’t have us,” she said.

Pramila Jatapal is the executive director of One America. “We are out of time and out of patience and we are ready to push forward all of the power we have collected in the states across our country to make sure that we really are going to get this change we were promised,” she said.

Some 40 people have been killed as a a result of the precarious Iraq elections held this week. At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon repeatedly stated that UN electoral monitors have things under control and will be able to ensure transparency for a draft outcome due out this Thursday. This is the first parliamentary election held in over 5 years.

“The peaceful conduct of these elections is of paramount importance and should contribute to national reconciliation in Iraq. A strong voter mandate will be a powerful message in support of stability and prosperity for all Iraqis and will build on the political progress that has already been achieved,” he said in a statement issued on the eve of the elections on March 7.

Several rockets, grenades and bombs went off in Baghdad on election day and the death toll throughout the country is steadily rising. The Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, condemned the attackers. And Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr urged Iraqis to stay away from violent attacks and to use their voting rights: “Even if a choice in the shadow of an occupation is not legitimate, I urge Iraqis to participate in order to prepare the ground for a termination of the occupation,” he said.

Some 19 million Iraqis were eligible to cast their vote for a new parliament from a choice of 6,200 candidates from many political parties. There are 325 seats open. Over 2000 candidates are women.

The Iraqi government hopes to have a newly elected national assembly to move ahead with what UN Representative to Iraq,  Ad Melkert, told reporters this afternoon via videoconference a “satisfying” election outcome. Melkert said some 60 percent of eligible voters have submitted their ballots.

“Of course, there are still certain issues and they are systematic in nature. But the voter education that took place took place on a relatively massive scale. We have called on all candidates and parties to unite in accepting results and to set the example for a cultural democracy. We call on those newly elected to move towards forming a majority coalition.”

The Iraqi electoral information network has over 18,000 observers all over the country to monitor polling stations. Working in partnership with the United Nations, the network claimed this week that some observers were denied access to polls by security forces.

By Antonia Aguilar
University of New Mexico /Talk Radio News Service

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that more full body scanners and increased law enforcement are to be expected in the coming months to improve international and domestic aviation security. Napolitano spoke Monday before the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. during an annual legislative conference.

“What we’re about is finding gaps, filling them [and] minimizing risk,” she said. “We are rolling the technology out.”

The December 25, 2009 al-Quaeda attempt to sabotage Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit and other security breaches raised concerns over international and domestic airport security measures and standards. In the attempt, Nigerian Umar Farou Abdulmutallab tried to ignite plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

Last week, Napolitano met with the CEOs of the member airlines of the Air Transport Association of America and the International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines and more than 90 percent of the world’s air traffic. “”Government and the private sector must work collaboratively to develop and implement enhanced international security measures and standards,” she said.

On March 4, DHS Under Secretary Caryn Wagner testified before the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security on the President’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request for the Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis.

“DHS reactivated the DTTF [DHS Threat Task Force] on December 25, 2009, after the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253,” she said. “We intend to institutionalize this enterprise task force to focus the efforts of the whole Department in unison on mitigating terrorism threats to the homeland. Per the Secretary’s direction, the DTTF has been playing a direct role in identifying and analyzing homeland security threats, informing DHS leadership decision-making, and ensuring that intelligence supports component operations in the field. These efforts have directly contributed to more effective use of watch lists and have supported Department programs for passenger travel analysis and airport screening procedures.”

On International Women’s Day, Mrs. Maha Abu-Dayyeh Shamas, Head of the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) talks about daily life in Palestine for women.

WCLAC was established by a small group of women in Jerusalem in 1991 as a Palestinian, independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization. Its foundation came in a context of the emergence of professional and political Palestinian women’s organizations, which had proliferated in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as a result of the increasing involvement of women’s groups in the national struggle. The women address needs in the context of occupation and militarized oppression of the community, realizing the connections between militarized patriarchy and an increase in women’s oppression in private and public spheres.

By Benny Martinez
University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Amid fears of attacks, Iraqis rushed the polls this weekend to choose their future leaders in the country’s second ever parliamentary election.

Despite some acts of violence on the part of al-Qaeda and other extremist groups that left 38 dead, the U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad said the election “went very, very well.”

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in the country, said that most of the casualties resulted from one single attack in Baghdad that brought down an apartment building.

“In the rest of Iraq, it was extremely peaceful,” he said. “I was very impressed with the coordination and work done by the Iraqi security forces.”

President Barack Obama also commended the Iraqi people for the strong turnout at nearly 50,000 voting booths. The President said that nearly 19 million Iraqis exercised their right to vote “with enthusiasm and optimism.”

“[The election] makes it clear that the future of Iraq belongs to the people of Iraq,” Obama said.

Ballots are being counted but it will most likely be months until results from the historic election are finalized.

The Washington Bureau will be covering the following:

-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano makes remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

-The Center for Community Change holds a news conference to express discontent with the escalation of deportations by the Obama administration.

-Health Care for America Now (HCAN) holds a briefing on the urgent need for health insurance reform.

By Antonia Aguilar – University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

The Obama administration should have attempted to spur job creation prior to pursuing health care reform, according to Massachusetts’ former Republican Governor Mitt Romney, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the last election cycle.

“Given the priorities that we faced at the time of his inauguration, I probably wouldn’t have suggested spending all that time… devoted to discussions on health care,” said Romney during an appearance before the National Press Club. “The first [priority] had to be to get the economy back on track and create jobs.”

Romney charged that current proposals intended to stimulate job creation have thus far served more as deterrents to investors within the private sector.

“I think this has been the most anti-investment, anti-entrepreneur, anti-employment, anti-job agenda since the days of Jimmy Carter,” said Romney. “It has prolonged the recession and made it more difficult for us to recover.”

Romney proposed deficit reduction, energy independence and education investments as remedies for the nation’s economic woes.

The former governor is widely considered a presidential contender for 2012.

By Chingyu Wang
Talk Radio News Service

On Friday, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius outlined details of a $10 million grant for non-profit organizations to prevent and control obesity and tobacco use.

In a conference call with reporters, Sebelius presented data showing that in 2007 and 2008, two-thirds of Americans ages 20-74 were either overweight or obese, and that smoking and second-hand smoke remain the number one causes of preventable death in the U.S.

“More than eight million Americans suffer from smoking-related chronic illnesses,” Sebelius added.

Sebelius said the Recovery Act funded the Prevention and Wellness Initiative to the tune of $650 million one year ago, adding that HHS has currently developed a new initiative — Community Putting Prevention to Work — which focuses on reducing chronic decease and promoting wellness.

The new grant comes on the heels of the launch of First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Let’s Move’ campaign, aimed at preventing childhood obesity.

By Laurel Brishel Prichard University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Legislation to hold “high value detainees” for a indefinite amount of time was introduced Thursday by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.).

“This legislation seeks to ensure that the mistakes made during the apprehension of the Christmas Day bomber, such as reading him his Miranda warning, will never happen again and put Americans’ security at risk,” said McCain, referencing the attempted bombing aboard a commercial aircraft by a young Nigerian man last December.

The introduction of the bill has sparked controversy among numerous human rights organizations, with many claiming that the legislation undermines the constitution.

“Our criminal justice system has proved repeatedly that it is capable of obtaining reliable intelligence from terrorism suspects, while that has not always been the case when we throw detainees into secret detentions and discard all the rules,” said Christopher Anders, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Senior Legislative Counsel. “The Constitution is not optional despite the efforts of these senators to render it so.”

If enacted, the bill would ask the president to create a interagency task force to examine the suspect and decide within 48 hours if they are ‘unprivileged.’ If the suspect is found to be ‘unprivileged,’ they would be held regardless of whether or not criminal charges are filed.

The task force would meet with the Secretary of Defense, Attorney General and the directors of the FBI and CIA to make final determinations as to the detainees’ status.

“Under these circumstances, actionable intelligence must be our highest priority and criminal prosecution must be secondary,” according to a statement released by McCain.