The League of Iowa
Human & Civil Rights Agencies

Minority babies set to become majority in 2010: Year could be tipping point when non-white newborns outnumber white

Updated March 10, 2010, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Minorities make up nearly half the children born in the U.S., part of a historic trend in which minorities are expected to become the U.S. majority over the next 40 years. I...

Google’s Computing Power Betters Translation Tool

By Miguel Helft, New York Times 

Published: March 8, 2010

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In a meeting at Google in 2004, the discussion turned to an e-mail message the company had received from a fan in South Korea. Sergey Brin, a Google founder, ran the message throu...

Teachers Suspended Over Role Model Choice 

By Jennifer Steinhauer

Published: March 4, 2010 (New York Times)

LOS ANGELES — His name has not been released, so it was not possible Thursday to ascertain what an elementary school teacher here was thinking when he pinned a photo of O. J. Simpson on the shirt of a second-g...

BRAVADO DESIGNS specializes in breast-feeding bras, which feature cups that unfasten singly and stretchable fabrics that accommodate size fluctuations during pregnancy and nursing. But when it comes to marketing, the bra company emphasizes another type of support: emotional. An information section on the Bravado Web site features dozens of suggestions from Heather Kelly, described as a certified lactation consultant, from hand positioning while nursing (“Imagine you’re holding a s...

The board that controls schools in Raleigh voted 5 to 4 on Tuesday to begin moving away from a policy of busing children throughout the district to achieve economic diversity. Under the plan, subject to final approval this month, students would no longer be assigned by socioeconomic background, and “community assignment zones” would restrict busing distances. Wake County’s current plan, adopted in 2000, kept schools racially integrated but grew unpopular with parents.

The Web site Inside Higher Ed reports that the University of Pennsylvania admissions office is expanding the boundaries of its so-called affinity outreach — a Penn engineering student might reach out to a high school senior interested in engineering, a black alumnus might call on a potential applicant who is black — to include applicants who might be gay.

[more]

Balan Nur had worked for Alamo Rent-A-Car for two years, wearing a headscarf as part of her Islamic religious practice during Ramadan. But after 9/11, she was told that Alamo's dress code prohibited head coverings, and she was subsequently fired for refusing to remove it. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought a suit on her behalf, alleging religious discrimination. Result: The court found in favor of Nur and eventually granted her more than $280,000 in damages. "No person should...

News of the ending of refugee resettlement by both the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services and the nonprofit Lutheran Services in Iowa is like a death. It is a death that affects opportunities for refugees who will no longer have Iowa as a destination of hope. It is a death for refugees here, who have experienced hope fulfilled. It is a death for dedicated staff who have felt both fatigue and joy as they worked with refugees to find a home here.

A NATIONAL effort to encourage businesses to employ workers with disabilities is not your father’s hire the handicapped campaign. One difference is that the new ads are paid rather than pro bono, with an estimated budget of $4 million for the first two quarters of 2010. The ads will appear on television, in print, online and outdoors; there is also a sponsorship deal with NPR. The ads are being financed largely by agencies in 30 states that provide employment services as well as health ...

T.J. Utterback started out as a military police officer before a stint as a National Park ranger. The past 25 years, he's worked in the nursing field at Mercy Medical Center - first as a flight nurse and more recently as a house supervisor overseeing night shift operations at the main campus, Mercy Franklin Center and when needed, Mercy West Lakes. He also taps his skills in law enforcement and nursing in his role as a medical examiner investigator for Warren County.