Jorge Mancillas

One of organized labor's leading candidates in the crowded race for the Eastside City Council seat apparently has failed to qualify for the ballot, the city clerk's office confirmed Tuesday. Late in the day, however, Jorge Mancillas' campaign workers were poring over nominating forms in hopes of discovering enough overlooked valid signatures to merit an appeal.

Jorge Mancillas, considered one of the leading labor candidates for the Eastside City Council seat, bowed out of the race this week, while candidate Yolanda Gonzales decided to stay in the race as a write-in candidate. Mancillas, the Southern California political director of the Service Employees International Union, and Gonzales were both found to have an insufficient number of voters' signatures on their nominating petitions, according to the city clerk's office.

It's the sort of celebrity Prof. Jorge Mancillas never imagined. He has camped without eating for eight days straight, pledged to starve to death right there on a grassy knoll at UCLA where, until a week ago, he was teaching. At night, the assistant professor of biology and six students, also on hunger strike, huddle in small tents ill-designed to ward off discomfort and chills.

One of organized labor's leading candidates in the crowded race for the Eastside City Council seat apparently has failed to qualify for the ballot, the city clerk's office confirmed Tuesday. Late in the day, however, Jorge Mancillas' campaign workers were poring over nominating forms in hopes of discovering enough overlooked valid signatures to merit an appeal.

Jorge Mancillas, considered one of the leading labor candidates for the Eastside City Council seat, bowed out of the race this week, while candidate Yolanda Gonzales decided to stay in the race as a write-in candidate. Mancillas, the Southern California political director of the Service Employees International Union, and Gonzales were both found to have an insufficient number of voters' signatures on their nominating petitions, according to the city clerk's office.

Hunger strikers at UCLA entered the second week of a protest over the status of Chicano studies Tuesday as a group of their parents unsuccessfully pleaded with campus officials to meet the demonstrators' demands. Parents told Chancellor Charles E. Young in an emotional 90-minute meeting that they were worried about their children's health.

Without much public fanfare, the Bush Administration is launching an ambitious $19-million program to revitalize areas of our city hit hard by the civil disturbances. With an allocation of $500 million, the 20-city Weed and Seed program is the centerpiece of the Administration's response to America's urban ills. The seed component consists of funding for social programs in enterprise zones, to be preceded by a "weeding out" of undesirable elements through a tough law-enforcement effort.

Several activists who have been pushing for the creation of a Chicano studies department at UCLA began a hunger strike on campus Tuesday. Six students and one professor, who began their protest fast near the administration building, vowed to stay until they extract a promise to create the department. "This is not a symbolic act, this is not a political statement.

To help students better understand their role in a multicultural society, Mission College's Office of Student Services will host its second annual lecture series, "Unity in Diversity." Invited speakers will discuss multiculturalism in politics, law, media, education and business and its impact on mainstream society during the yearlong lecture series.

How multicultural education can bring together Los Angeles' diverse population will be discussed in a lecture by Jorge Mancillas at Mission College on Thursday. Mancillas, a former UCLA assistant professor of biology who now works as a district representative for state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), organized last year's hunger strike in support of UCLA's Chicano studies program.

Hunger strikers at UCLA entered the second week of a protest over the status of Chicano studies Tuesday as a group of their parents unsuccessfully pleaded with campus officials to meet the demonstrators' demands. Parents told Chancellor Charles E. Young in an emotional 90-minute meeting that they were worried about their children's health.

It's the sort of celebrity Prof. Jorge Mancillas never imagined. He has camped without eating for eight days straight, pledged to starve to death right there on a grassy knoll at UCLA where, until a week ago, he was teaching. At night, the assistant professor of biology and six students, also on hunger strike, huddle in small tents ill-designed to ward off discomfort and chills.

Without much public fanfare, the Bush Administration is launching an ambitious $19-million program to revitalize areas of our city hit hard by the civil disturbances. With an allocation of $500 million, the 20-city Weed and Seed program is the centerpiece of the Administration's response to America's urban ills. The seed component consists of funding for social programs in enterprise zones, to be preceded by a "weeding out" of undesirable elements through a tough law-enforcement effort.

Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti will discuss hate crimes Tuesday during a lecture at Mission College. Garcetti will be the final speaker in Mission's "Unity in Diversity" fall lecture series. Previous speakers were Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) and former UCLA biology professor and political activist Jorge Mancillas.

The quality of news coverage of Los Angeles' ethnic communities since the 1992 riots will be debated as part of a workshop Saturday designed to teach community-based organizations how to reach the news media. The event, on the third anniversary of the start of the riots, launches the second year of workshops offered by the Unity Media Access Project, a group funded by a Ford Foundation grant. Richard Fruto, president of the local chapter of the Asian American Journalists Assn.