America’s communities suffer an epidemic of substance and drug abuse. This problem is particularly acute in our Hispanic communities. Separation of our first generation youth from grandparents and extended family undermines positive role models. The fragmentation of families is compounded with the challenges many first generation families have as they adapt to our country. Our Hispanic families must deal with enormous, conflicting cultural expectations and the attendant, unavoidable disappointments. While the challenge is particularly acute in some major urban areas and along the border, the problem is national in scope.

In the face of this crisis, the White House representatives have not embraced a more active intervention and education strategy. Instead, it has cut its commitments funding those programs. The National Association of Hispanic Publications has worked hard to restore funding to help us educate, intervene and reach our Hispanic communities with information to recognize the

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signs and prevent drug abuse; however, a fundamental problem remains: there is no dialogue between our Hispanic media and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Funding does not address accountability in how communities are targeted and how media partners are selected. Community based and locally owned Hispanic media are being ignored. Most importantly, the campaign allocates less than 1% of the funds for drug abuse prevention campaign to reach the 14% of the country that are Hispanic residents and tax payers. Our National Association of Hispanic Publications and this newspaper call on the White House to open that dialogue and engage in a new, cooperative effort with media to reach our residents. Our invitation has been delivered. We are willing.

The writer is the Executive Director & CEO of the National Association of Hispanic Publications

Por qué Plutón no es un planeta

Por: Frederic Garlan

Plutón perdió el jueves 24 de agosto su estatus de noveno y más distante planeta del Sistema Solar, que pasa así a tener tan sólo ocho planetas, según decidió la asamblea general de la Unión Astronómica Internacional (UAI).

Con la decisión tomada por los participantes en la asamblea trienal de la UAI, que tuvo lugar en Praga, los planetas del Sistema Solar pasan a ser sólo ocho: Mercurio, Venus, Tierra, Marte, Júpiter, Saturno, Urano y Neptuno.

Miles de astrónomos de todo el mundo votaron a mano alzada para rechazar una enmienda propuesta por el ejecutivo de la UAI para establecer dos categorías de planetas, los "clásicos", es decir, ocho, y los "enanos", que se espera descubrir por decenas en los próximos años.

Plutón estaba considerado como un "planeta enano", al igual que Ceres y el misterioso UB313 descubierto hace tres años.
Al votar contra la enmienda, los astrónomos decidieron que esos "planetas enanos" son demasiado pequeños para ser considerados auténticos planetas, señaló Richard Binzer, uno de los promotores del texto.