---Political notes---
Congressional Black Caucus leader Rep. Elijah Cummings is set to head Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's Maryland campaign. In Maryland, Blacks make up about half the registered Democrats. Of the ten states holding 'Super Tuesday" races are: Maryland, California, Georgia, Minnesota, New York and Ohio. The contests offer 1,151 delegates, more than half of the 2,162 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Sixty-nine of them are from Maryland.

---Ending Racial Profiling---
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement on the introduction of the End Racial Profiling Act of 2004: "I am proud to join Congressman John Conyers, the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, as a cosponsor of the bipartisan End Racial Profiling Act of 2004 to end the shameful practice of racial profiling and to ensure that each of our citizens is treated with dignity and fairness. Numerous recent studies have demonstrated that African Americans and Hispanics are stopped in traffic and searched far in excess of their share of the population. Since September 11th, many Arabs, Muslims, and Asians have been subjected to searches and seizures at airports and other locations based upon religion and national origin, without any credible information linking specific individuals to criminal conduct. Such practices are ineffective, create suspicion, and erode the trust in law enforcement. Racial profiling is fundamentally un-American. While the Bush Administration has issued guidelines on racial profiling, these do not go far enough and are not binding on all levels of law enforcement. We must make racial profiling illegal. The End Racial Profiling Act of 2004 prohibits racial profiling at all levels of law enforcement -- federal, state, and local. It conditions law enforcement grants on adoption of policies that prohibit racial profiling, authorizes grants for best policing practices, and requires the Attorney General to provide periodic reports on profiling practices. This crucial legislation is long overdue. Congress should enact it now."

---Graduation?---
Half or more of Black, Hispanic and Native American youths in the United States are getting left behind before high school graduation in a "hidden crisis" obscured by U.S. Department of Education regulations issued under the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act that "allow schools, districts, and states to all but eliminate graduation rate accountability for minority subgroups," according to a new report from two nonpartisan groups, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard and the Urban Institute. Also issued by the Civil Society Institute's Results for America project and Advocates for Children of New York, the new report notes that the minority high school graduation rate crisis is masked by the widespread circulation of "misleading and inaccurate reporting of dropout and graduation rates." According to the report, while 75 percent of White students graduated from high school in 2001, only 50 percent of all Black students, 51 percent of Native American students, and 53 percent of all Hispanic students got a high school diploma in the same year. The study found that the problem was even worse for Black, Native American, and Hispanic young men at 43 percent, 47 percent, and 48 percent, respectively. The Civil Rights Project at Harvard/Urban Institute report finds: "The national (graduation rate) gap for Blacks is 25 percent; for Hispanics 22 percent; for Native Americans 24 percent. Despite wide ranges within some states, nearly every state shows a large and negative gap between Whites and at least one minority group." According to the data, the 10 worst states overall for Black and Hispanic minority graduation rates are: New York; Wisconsin; Pennsylvania; Michigan; Iowa; Massachusetts; Nebraska; Ohio; Illinois; and Connecticut. The report defines the "graduation rate gap" as the difference between its calculations for graduation rates of Whites and minorities. The new report, "Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth Are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis," exposes inaccurate and misleading official data now in use and suggests sounder statistical methods for accurate calculation of high school graduation rates.

---On the phone---
Scarborough Research, a leader in identifying the shopping, media and lifestyle patterns of consumers in the United States, released a study which found that Hispanics spend more on their monthly household cellular phone service than the national average. According to the study, the average monthly household cellular bill for Hispanics is $67, which is more than 10 percent higher than the national average of $60. Nationally, 64 percent of Hispanics live in a household with a cellular phone subscription. This is virtually equal to the national cell phone penetration rate of 66 percent. Hispanics also report spending more on their monthly household long distance and local telephone service bills. Hispanics are 24 percent more likely than all consumers to have spent $150 or more on their monthly household cellular bill last month. They are 86 percent more likely than all consumers to spend $100 or more on their monthly long distance service and 41 percent more likely to spend $100 or more on their monthly local phone service. The Scarborough study also found local market differences when it comes to household cell phone penetration among Hispanics. Miami and New York lead local Hispanic markets* in cell phone penetration. Seventy-four percent of Hispanics in Miami and 71 percent in New York said they or a member of their household subscribes to cellular service.

---Top honors---
BLACK ENTERPRISE founder Earl G. Graves is among five honorees selected for induction to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Hall of Fame. The CIAA is an athletic conference consisting of twelve historically African American institutions of higher education and is entering its eighty-fifth year of athletic competition. The 2004 class was officially enshrined on February 27, in Raleigh, N.C., as one of the activities of the CIAA Basketball Tournament. Graves ran track in the CIAA as a member of the Morgan State University Bears.

---Howard University to lead international research study---
The Howard University National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Center for Atmospheric Sciences (NCAS) has been granted the use of the NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown to lead an international research team of scientists and students to conduct a Trans-Atlantic Saharan Dust Aerosols and Oceanographic Science Expedition. The comprehensive mission, encompassing both atmospheric and oceanographic research, satellite validation studies, and technique development, begins Feb. 29 in Bridgetown, Barbados and ends in San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 26. The mission is the first to be led by a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and have the majority of scientists from underrepresented racial backgrounds in the sciences (African-American, Puerto Rican and female).

JOB OPPORTUNITY: TUFTS UNIVERSITY--HUMAN RESOURCES ASSISTANT
Plays key role in supporting the efforts of Human Resources staff to recruit and retain a highly qualified diverse staff and to facilitate positive employee relations. Provides a wide array of recruitment and employee relations support, general office support, and front desk coverage: prepares and process offer letter packets; verifies and submits new hire documentation for processing; conducts professional reference checks and education verifications; coordinates orientation scheduling and related materials; assists at Job Fairs; coordinates mail pickup and distribution; generates correspondence; maintains confidential files; maintains calendars; prepares FMLA/Leave letter packets; serves as back-up on front desk coverage, answering and directing calls, and greeting visitors; coordinates workflow of student workers; coordinates and oversees Tufts' Temporary Workers Pool; special projects as assigned. Requires Bachelor's degree and one to three years' office experience, with at least six months' experience in a Human Resources setting or equivalent experience. Proficiency in MS Office Suite required, as are strong written and verbal communication skills. Must possess abilities to multitask, to work collaboratively, and to meet frequent deadlines. Ability to work in a diverse community essential. Please apply online via the Tufts University website at www.tufts.edu

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