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GUEST: Enrique Morones, President and Founder of Border Angels

The Bush administration is seeking to propose an increase that would nearly double the cost of applying for U.S. citizenship while significantly raising fees for other immigration services. The director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez, is expected to announce the proposal for immigration fee increases by today. If the Bush Administration’s proposals were to be implemented, the current cost of applying for U.S. citizenship would rise from $330 to nearly $600. Other services would see an average increase of 66%. As immigration policies continue to make citizenship more difficult to attain, immigration activists are preparing to launch a cross border caravan with the aims of pressuring Congress to pass humane and comprehensive immigration reform. Starting …

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GUEST: James Elmendorf, Senior Policy Analyst, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, LAANE

Los Angeles City Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will hold a press conference later on this morning to make a major announcement on a living wage ordinance for LAX area hotel workers. The Los Angeles City Council was to decide by today whether or not to place a measure that would overturn a living wage ordinance for LAX area hotel workers on a special election ballot in May. The ordinance in question requires that hotels near the Los Angeles International Airport pay workers a minimum of $9.39 an hour or $10.64 with health benefits. Hotel owners have sought to overturn the living wage ordinance, most recently through a coalition named, “Save LA Jobs,” through …

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GUEST: Dr. Joni Hersch, Professor of Law and Economics, Vanderbilt University

We will start today by examing one of the tenants that supports the the American myth of “meritocracy.” According to Thomas Shapiro of Brandeis university, the wealth gap in the US is not just a story of merit and achievement, it’s also a story of the historical legacy of race in the United States. In the case of the immigrant American, this legacy is futher complicated by status of immigration, educational level and according to a new Vanderbilt study, “Skin Tone.” Professor Joni Hersch, a law and economics professor at Vanderbilt University, looked at a government survey of 2,084 legal immigrants to the United States from around the world and found that those with …

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… on Mae West’s Play, “The Drag”.

Produced by Radio Rootz.

Radio Rootz works in public schools to train teens in media literacy and radio production. Rootz Youth analyze and critique the media, and learn how to create news that reflects their voices, issues, and communities. For more information, visit www.radiorootz.org

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GUEST: Dr. Sonia Nimr is a historian; she teaches at Birzeit University in Palestine, and has been active in Palestinan’s politics for over 40 years, co-author with Elizabeth Laird of “A Little Piece of Ground”

Armed men loyal to Hamas and Fatah battled each other across the Gaza Strip early yesterday, attacking security compounds, knocking out an electrical transformer and kidnapping several local commanders in some of the most extensive factional fighting in recent weeks. Two people were killed and large parts of Gaza City were plunged into darkness. The in-fighting between Hamas and Fatah, which has claimed dozens of lives, started over a month ago, arising from serious differences between the two parties. Just this morning, however, a ceasefire has been announced between the two …

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GUEST: Karin Pally, Women in Black

The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra has been performing at the Disney Hall in Downtown LA. But it’s not just attracting music lovers. The Los Angeles affiliate of the International Women in Black organization has been protesting the LA Philharmonic, calling on it to take a stand against occupation. Women in Black had earlier petitioned the L.A. Philharmonic to cancel the concert. The LA Philharmonic Association President, Deborah Borda responded by writing back: “We will never support the silencing of artists from any culture as a means of political action. Whenever this unfortunate course of action has been pursued by governments and political entities, it is always to the detriment of society at large, and certainly the artists.” But Women in Black …

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GUEST: Becky Dennison, Co-Director of the Los Angeles Community Action Network

Last week, a special census was conducted by paid homeless workers and volunteers to determine the number of homeless persons in Los Angeles County. Though many homeless advocates note that determining the exact numbers of a homeless population is difficult due to their temporary circumstances, the county census is essential to preserving $60 million in federal funds to combat homelessness. A 2005 census which measured the homeless population of Los Angeles County at 90,000 led many to call the city of Los Angeles the homeless capital of the United States. Meanwhile, since the implementation of LA’s “Safer Cities,” initiative in August 2006, the LAPD has made nearly five-thousand arrests at Downtown’s Skid Row. …

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… on the first Jazz record.

Produced by Radio Rootz.

Radio Rootz works in public schools to train teens in media literacy and radio production. Rootz Youth analyze and critique the media, and learn how to create news that reflects their voices, issues, and communities. For more information, visit www.radiorootz.org

“Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as the result of a series of historical choices made by men and women, as facts of society made by human beings, and not as natural or god-given, therefore unchangeable, permanent, irreversible.” – Edward Said.

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GUESTS: Besty Leondar Wright, co-author of The Color of Wealth, Rev. Stephen Copley, Let Justice Roll

Two weeks ago, Democrats in the House voted to raise the minimum wage. However, Republicans in the Senate are now trying to kill the legislation in all but killing the hope for a minimum wage increase this year. Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, writer of one of the wage increase bills, characterized the moves as “absolutely unconscionable,” particularly since in the same period Congress has voted themselves seven pay raises worth $28,000. Furthermore, Congress has passed at least $36 billion worth of tax cuts for small business, but it hasn’t voted to raise
the minimum wage since 1996 – the longest such spell on record. As a result of …