NAVIGATORS PREPARE FOR AVALANCHE OF NEWLY INSURED – Have you ever filled out an application for the public health insurance program, Medicaid? If you have, you will have had to fill out pages and pages with personal and family information. And the paperwork gets more complicated if the applicant doesn’t speak English, lost his or her home, or has difficulty to read or write. To help these applicants, there are social workers who help fill out applications and answer all kinds of questions. These “navigators” of the health system will play a crucial role in the coming months, when the health reform law forces millions more to get health insurance. Our reporter Farida Jhabvala Romero spent a day with the best navigator of the year in California, and she has this story.
POLICE ATTACK RAISES CLAMOR IN BORDER COMMUNITY – Residents of Vista, outside the border city of San Diego, have had a tense relationship with the sheriff’s department for years. Groups of residents accuse sheriff deputies of using violence and abuse of authority systematically against Latinos. Outraged by the recent beating of a Latino youth with Down’s Syndrome, groups of neighbors are launching a campaign of citizen petitions. Manuel Ocaño reports from San Diego.
SMALL FARMERS PROTEST GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CORN IN MEXICO - The Mexican government recently announced an ambitious program to help the almost eight million people who suffer from food poverty in the country, according to official data. Meanwhile, large corporations of genetically-engineered sedes are awaiting permits to plant corn, a staple food in the country. Environmental organizations and farmers protest, saying planting genetically engineered corn in Mexico would not only pose a threat to health and nutrition, but it would also produce more poverty and migration of small farmers. Vladimir Flores has more details.