This Week in Las Noticias

Building a Nation of Polyglots, Starting With the Very Young - Martha Abbott, director of education at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, said that while there is no reliable data on the trend, her organization keeps learning of more school systems that think paying for elementary school language teachers is money well invested. New York Times, online.

Initiative Aims to Recognize Contributions of Hispanics - Hispanic members of the State Board of Education will announce an initiative today on the UTB-TSC campus to require Texas' public school curriculum to properly acknowledge the contributions Hispanics, women and native Americans.  The problem is well documented, said Julio Noboa, an assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College who helped organize the event, and whose book, "Leaving Latinos out of History: Teaching U.S. History in Texas" documents the extent to which Hispanics have been ignored. Hispanic Business, online.

Creator of McDonald’s burrito recognized - The woman who helped add the breakfast burrito to the McDonald's menu has been named female entrepreneur of the year by the Cámara de Empresarios Latinos de Houston. Nelly Quijano, who owns several McDonald's franchises in Houston, received the award from the organization that caters to Spanish-speaking and immigrant entrepreneurs at a Hotel Zaza gala on Friday. "We were shocked when people asked for hot sauce," Quijano recalled. "We didn't understand why we didn't have a product here that appealed to Hispanics, especially Mexicans." Houston Chronicle, online

Racial differences seen in Alzheimer's survival - Latinos lived approximately 40 percent longer than whites after diagnosis with the disease, and blacks lived about 15 percent longer than whites, the researchers reported in the journal Neurology. Reuters, online.

MTV Tr3s Plans Mobile Social Network - MTV Networks will develop and launch the mobile social network Con3xion (Connection) around its Latino youth-focused channel MTV Tr3s, the network said today. The digital social network launches in mid-December. Adweek, online.

Hollywood part of immigration debate - More important, actresses like Longoria and L.A. native America Ferrera broke down barriers to reach mainstream popularity with roles that underscore rather than underplay their backgrounds. For her part, Longoria hopes that positive media representations of Latinos will have a trickle-down effect on society at large. "It so important to recognize the positive contributions from Latinos in the media," she says. "It's by showing all that we're doing and showing how big of a role we play in American culture that we can change public perceptions and in turn public policies and values." Variety, online.

Spanish alone won't win Latino votes - Latino voters are as diverse as the rest of the country, with each subgroup having its own priorities and concerns. Spanish is just the vehicle, like English, to deliver the message. But the message needs substance. USA Today, online.

Pasquel was a force for integration - Mexican businessman Jorge Pasquel was an innovator and an earlier version of George Steinbrenner. In the 1930s and '40s, he handed out huge contracts and brought top Negro League and Major League players to play in the Mexican League. MLB, online.