Minorities

Across the nation, the number of minorities continues to rise and the white population continues to decline, according to U.S. census estimates released Thursday. Minorities now make up about 35% of the population in the United States, an increase of 5% from 2000, reflecting demographic changes seen most powerfully in the Golden State. "More of the country is going to be like California," said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution. Minorities make up 57% of the population in California.

WASHINGTON - Early this year, Leticia Perez and her husband flew here for a whirlwind 48 hours. The couple dined at the Italian Embassy, visited the Lincoln Memorial and joined the crowd on the National Mall watching as President Obama was inaugurated for a second term. Their host was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which hoped to persuade Perez, a Kern County supervisor, to run for a Central Valley congressional seat. But a few weeks later, Perez ignored the entreaties from Washington when a spot in the state Senate unexpectedly opened up. The trip from the state capital to the Senate district, a 2 1/2-hour drive, was far more enticing than the cross-country flight between California and Capitol Hill, especially with a 2-year-old at home.

Republican critics of affirmative action hailed Monday's Supreme Court decision as a mandate for even more sweeping action by Congress and vowed to press home their attack on federal programs of racial preference.

“The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” bandleader Rickey Minor and his wife, Karen, have listed their Hollywood Hills compound at $4.95 million. The gated more than half-quarter acre site contains a main house, a detached guest house, a sports court and an infinity-edged swimming pool. Features include a library/study, a den, six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 7,202 square feet of living space. Grandest pool around? Malibu has it Minor has been the “Tonight Show” bandleader since 2010.

The roller-coaster ride of the real estate market over the last 15 years has soared higher and plunged deeper for minorities nationwide than it has for whites, according to a study of homeownership released Tuesday. The declines in homeownership among African Americans and U.S.-born Latinos in recent years were especially sharp, according to the study by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center in Washington.

Millions of Americans aren't saving enough for retirement, but African American and Latino investors, on average, are further behind than whites and are more likely to be a greater burden to their families because they save too little and invest too conservatively, new research has found. "It's extraordinarily disconcerting," said Mellody Hobson, president of Ariel Investments, which along with benefits firm Hewitt Associates conducted a study of 401(k) participants.

If television's fall schedule is a white world (May 28), the reaction from minorities ought to be, "Whew." One need only scan the comedies on independent stations to see the low-brow stereotypes that all networks love. Unless our sole motive for getting up each day is booty worship, quality precedes equality as an issue. VAL BUTLER Irvine

"Majority rules" is an abstract mathematical goal cherished by those who find truth in numbers, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with justice ("Is the Court Becoming the Politburo?" by Paul Craig Roberts, Column Right, July 12). A poor black candidate running against a wealthy white one has almost no chance of getting elected. Check the demographics of the U.S. Senate for confirmation of this fact. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, arguing against the use of the Voting Rights Act for setting racial and ethnic quotas, fail to understand that the philosophy of majority rule without a financially level playing field has often been used and continues to be used to keep minorities out of the power structure.

I just read the most heinous and misleading attack on the colleges and universities of this nation I have ever seen in Ruben Navarrette's article ("Education's Broken Promise to Minorities," Opinion, Feb. 14). I can understand his frustration on the initial review of your analysis of the disparity in salaries between whites and nonwhites but his frustration is clouding his reasoning. Can he name a better country in offering opportunity to its citizens and immigrants through higher education?

The column expresses several unsupported allegations against the economics achieved by government units contracting certain services with the private sector. These opinions are not surprising from two college professors, who often express liberally slanted views on economics which need to be challenged. One paragraph states, "privatization does not even meet its short-term objectives of efficiency and cost effectiveness." I contend they would be hard-pressed to prove these allegations.

SACRAMENTO - Social network sites such as Facebook would be required to remove personal information about minors when asked to do so by their parents under a measure approved by state senators Thursday. Separately, the lawmakers voted to allow misdemeanor rather than felony charges in cases of simple possession of heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs. The two bills were among several sent to the Assembly for consideration. The Internet measure was approved despite opposition from firms including Google, Facebook, Zynga and Tumblr, which called the proposed rules unnecessary, unworkable and in violation of teenagers' free-speech rights.

Jack Shea, a Hollywood veteran who directed popular sitcoms such as "The Jeffersons" and who, as president of the Directors Guild of America, forcefully argued for minority hiring and local production, has died. He was 84. Shea's death Sunday at a Tarzana care facility was caused by complications from Alzheimer's disease, a family spokesman said. His first TV directing gig came when he was 27, a frightened novice who suddenly was asked to fill in when the director of the game show "Truth or Consequences" called in sick.

COLSTRIP, Mont. - Out in these windy stretches of cottonwood and prairie grass, not far from where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer ran into problems at Little Bighorn, a new battle is unfolding over what future energy development in the West will look like. Here, rancher Wallace McRae and his son, Clint, run cattle on 31,000 acres along Rosebud Creek, land their family has patrolled with horses and tamed with fences for 125 years. They could probably go on undisturbed for 100 years more if the earth under the pastures weren't laced with coal.

When Manny Mota started his coaching career with the Dodgers, Dusty Baker was in left field and Jimmy Carter was in the White House. That was in 1980. The Dodgers have changed managers seven times since then, but Mota always has been the rock on the coaching staff. Until this year, that is. After 33 seasons as a coach - the longest such tenure in club history - the Dodgers quietly moved Mota off the major league coaching staff this season. Mota, 75, now has an expanded role on the Dodgers' Spanish-language television broadcasts.

Suspension from school seldom makes much sense except in matters of campus safety. Let's face it: Most students don't bounce out of bed first thing in the morning celebrating the dawn of yet another school day. So why reward bad behavior with days off? No one should be surprised, then, that suspension has been found to be fairly ineffective as a disciplinary measure. It's certainly unhelpful academically; missing classes and falling behind only raise the likelihood of future truancy and dropping out. What's more, studies show that it disproportionately affects African American and Latino students.

The Angels came out of spring training with what they thought was a pretty stable roster. But as with so many things involving the Angels this season, reality has fallen far short of expectations. So Saturday the Angels made five transactions, finishing a five-day blitz that included them making nine personnel moves - two of which involved outfielder J.B. Shuck , who was optioned to the minors Friday afternoon then recalled the following morning. And that doesn't even include Saturday's signing of former major leaguer Kip Wells to a minor league contract.

Republican leaders on Thursday focused on one of the most pressing challenges the party faces as it strives to retake the White House in 2016 - its deep and persistent unpopularity among crucial voting groups, such as Latinos and single women. Speaker after speaker told members of the Republican National Committee, meeting in Hollywood, that the party and its candidates needed to be part of those communities not just when elections near, that they needed to highlight areas of shared interest and that they must promote minority and women candidates among their ranks.

Expo Line riders should expect minor delays near the 23rd Street station Friday after a vehicle struck a power pole in the area late Thursday, Metro announced on its website and Twitter account . Officials said the vehicle may have sheared the pole's foundation bolts, causing delays and the use of bus shuttle service early Friday morning. At that time, service on the line had been suspended between the Jefferson/USC station and the 7th Street/Metro Center stop. But around 4 a.m., Metro said emergency repairs had been completed and normal service would be restored to all stations with “minor” delays near 23rd Street “due to restricted speed from emergency repairs.” The Expo Line connects the Westside to downtown Los Angeles and several other parts of the county.