Name	Hilda Solis
Office	25th United States Secretary of Labor
President	Barack Obama
Deputy	Seth Harris
Term start	February 24, 2009
Predecessor	Elaine Chao
State2	California
District2	32nd
Term start2	January 3, 2003
Term end2	February 24, 2009
Predecessor2	Diane Watson
Successor2	Judy Chu
State3	California
District3	31st
Term start3	January 3, 2001
Term end3	January 3, 2003
Predecessor3	Matthew Martínez
Successor3	Xavier Becerra
State senate4	California
District4	24th
Term start4	December 5, 1994
Term end4	January 3, 2001
Predecessor4	Arthur Torres
Successor4	Gloria Romero
State assembly5	California
District5	57th
Term start5	December 7, 1992
Term end5	December 5, 1994
Predecessor5	Dave Elder
Successor5	Martin Gallegos
Birth date	October 20, 1957
Birth place	Los Angeles, California, United States
Party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Sam Sayyad
Alma mater	California State Polytechnic University, PomonaUniversity of Southern California
Profession	Government analyst
Religion	Roman Catholicism }}

Hilda Lucia Solis (; born October 20, 1957) is the 25th United States Secretary of Labor, serving in the Obama administration. She is a member of the Democratic Party and served in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2009, representing the 31st and 32nd congressional districts of California that include East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley.

Solis was raised in La Puente, California by immigrant parents from Nicaragua and Mexico. She gained degrees from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) and the University of Southern California (USC) and worked for two federal agencies in Washington, D.C. Returning to her native state, she was elected to the Rio Hondo Community College Board of Trustees in 1985, the California State Assembly in 1992, and the California State Senate in 1994. She was the first Hispanic woman to serve in the State Senate, and was reelected there in 1998. She became known for her work toward environmental justice and was the first female recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000.

Solis defeated a long-time Democratic incumbent as part of getting elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, where she focused mainly on labor causes and environmental work. She was reelected easily to four subsequent terms. In December 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Solis as the next United States Secretary of Labor. She took office after being confirmed by the United States Senate in February 2009, becoming the first Hispanic woman to serve in the U.S. Cabinet.

Early life and education

Solis was born in Los Angeles, California as the daughter of immigrant parents who had met in citizenship class and married in 1953: Juana Sequeira (b. 1926, from Nicaragua) and Raul Solis (from Mexico). Her father was a Teamsters shop steward in Mexico and after coming to the U.S. worked at the Quemetco battery recycling plant in the City of Industry in the San Gabriel Valley. There he again organized for the Teamsters, to gain better health care benefits for workers, but also contracted lead poisoning. Her mother worked for over 20 years on the assembly line of Mattel once her children were all of school age, belonged to the United Rubber Workers, and was outspoken about working conditions. She stressed the importance of education and was a devout Roman Catholic.

Hilda Solis is the third oldest of seven siblings (four sisters, two brothers) and grew up in a tract home in La Puente, California. She had to help raise her youngest siblings, and later said of her childhood: "It wasn't what you would call the all-American life for a young girl growing up. We had to mature very quickly." She graduated from La Puente High School, where she saw a lack of support for those wishing to continue their education, including a guidance counselor who told her mother that “Your daughter is not college material. Maybe she should follow the career of her older sister and become a secretary.” However, another counselor did encourage her to attend college, and even went to her house to help her fill out an application. She took her younger sisters to the library to get them to follow her lead.

She was the first of her family to go to college, being accepted into the Educational Opportunity Program at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (a program that assists low-income, first-generation college students) and paying for it with the help of government grants and part-time jobs. She graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. She then earned a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of Southern California in 1981.

Early career

Solis served near the end of the Carter administration in the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs, where she was editor-in-chief of a newsletter during a 1980–1981 Washington semester internship as part of her master's program. At the start of the Reagan administration in 1981, she became a management analyst at the civil rights division of the Office of Management and Budget, but her dislike for Ronald Reagan's policies motivated her to leave later that year.

In Washington, she met Sam H. Sayyad, whom she subsequently married. He owns an automobile repair center in Irwindale, California. The couple lives in a modest house in El Monte, California, not far from where she grew up.

Returning to California, Solis became Director of the California Student Opportunity and Access Program in 1982, to help disadvantaged youth gain necessary preparation for college. In particular, she worked with the Whittier Union High School District. Friends urged her to try for elective office, and so in 1985, she ran for the Board of Trustees of the Rio Hondo Community College District. She campaigned hard and overtook an incumbent and one other better established candidate to become the top placer. She was reelected in 1989. During her time on the board, she worked towards improved vocational job training at the college and sought to increase the number of tenured faculty positions held by minorities and women. She joined several California chambers of commerce, women's organizations, and Latino organizations. She gained added political visibility in 1991 when she was named a commissioner to the Los Angeles County Commission on Insurance by Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, a political mentor. Solis also served as chief of staff for State Senator Art Torres.

California State Legislature

Solis had the opportunity to run for the California State Assembly when, after California's 1991 redistricting, the incumbent Dave Elder in Solis's 57th State Assembly district was shifted into another district, while her new representative retired. In the June 1992 Democratic primary to fill the open seat, Solis's opponents had the endorsement of powerful State Assemblyman Richard Polanco and the former incumbent. Solis had the support of Molina and U.S. Representative Barbara Boxer, in an effort that focused on door-to-door campaigning and featured Solis's mother making burritos for campaign volunteers. Solis came out on top of a three-way Democratic race, receiving 49 percent of the vote and besting her nearest competitor, future Assemblyman Ed Chavez, who received 31 percent. In the general election, Solis garnered 61 percent of the vote against Republican Gary Woods' 34 percent, and gained election to the Assembly. She was one of seven Latinos who won election to the Assembly in the wake of the redistricting and became collectively known as ''Los Siete''. Solis was among the most liberal of this ideologically-diverse group.

In her one term in the State Assembly, Solis was prominent in the debate on illegal immigration to the United States, backing a bill to allow immigrants in the U.S. illegally to attend California colleges as long as they were residing in the state. She backed labor and opposed the tobacco industry in supporting a bill that banned smoking in all workplaces. She served on committees dealing with education, labor, and environmental issues, including a new committee that dealt with groundwater contamination and landfill leakage. She was not known as a strong orator.

The Democratic incumbent in Solis's 24th State Senate district, Art Torres, gave up his office when he received the 1994 Democratic nomination for the statewide office of California Insurance Commissioner. Solis ran for the seat, won the Democratic primary with 63 percent of the vote against two opponents, and then won the 1994 general election with 63 percent of the vote against Republican Dave Boyer's 33 percent. She became the first Hispanic woman to ever serve in the State Senate and the first woman ever to represent the San Gabriel Valley; she was also the Senate's youngest member at that time. She was reelected in 1998 with 74 percent of the vote.

In the State Senate, Solis authored 17 bills to prevent domestic violence and championed labor, education, and health care issues. She described herself as "a big believer that government, if done right, can do a lot to improve the quality of people's lives." In 1995, she sponsored a bill to raise the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75; it was strongly opposed by business organizations and the restaurant industry. When Governor Pete Wilson vetoed it, she organized a successful drive to make the issue into a ballot initiative the next year, using $50,000 of her own campaign funds and rallying union support. The initiative's passing garnered her a statewide reputation and other states followed with similar initiatives. She chaired the labor committee and established herself as loyal to labor interests, but made a point of establishing relationships with Republicans on the committee. Solis held high-profile hearings on labor law enforcement following a summer 1995 sweatshop raid in El Monte that discovered over 70 Thai workers existing in slave-like conditions. She called garment manufacturers to explain themselves and pushed for tougher enforcement of anti-sweatshop laws. Republican State Senator Ray Haynes later said that Solis was "a committed liberal in the pockets of labor," but Republican State Senate Leader Rob Hurtt said of her, "We obviously didn't see eye to eye. But she was respectful. I'll give her credit; she was a very hard worker and she knew her stuff."

Solis was an environmental activist in the State Senate, due to concerns that stemmed from a childhood spent within smelling distance of the Puente Hills Landfill and making frequent visits to the San Gabriel Mountains. In 1997, she worked to pass environmental justice legislation with a law to protect low-income and minority communities from newly located landfills, pollution sources, and other environmental hazards in neighborhoods that already had such sites. She got the bill, SB 1113, approved over the strong opposition of various business interests, water contractors, and some state government agencies, but Wilson vetoed it. She returned in 1999 with a weakened measure, which was signed by Governor Gray Davis. Calling for "the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws," it represented the first legislation of its kind in the nation and is considered a landmark.

Solis faced controversy with her 1999 legislation, SB 63, that lowered the carpool restrictions on the El Monte Busway from three or more occupants to two or more. When this took effect in January 2000, it quickly resulted in greatly increased volume on the busway and protests from bus riders and prior carpoolers. Solis at first defended the change, but it continued to have a detrimental effect on the busway and did not improve flow in the regular traffic lanes. By May, she was co-sponsoring legislation to rescind the change and restore the higher occupancy requirement, which passed and took effect in July 2000.

Due to her work in overcoming obstacles for environmental justice, in 2000 Solis was given the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and was praised as "a politician who hasn't shied away from challenging the old boy network both within and without the Latino community." She was the first woman to win the award, and gained appearances in ''George'' and ''People'' magazines and on the ''Today'' show. Art Torres, who had become California Democratic Party chair, said of Solis, "She's going to be a national star."

U.S. House of Representatives

Term limits would have prevented Solis from seeking reelection to the State Senate. After months of deliberation, she decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000 against 18-year incumbent Matthew G. Martínez in the 31st congressional district, which consisted largely of working class Hispanics and Asians. This action was criticized by Hispanics and others, and only two members of Congress, Barbara Boxer and Loretta Sanchez, supported her. Martínez was more conservative than many of his constituents, as he had supported the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), opposed gun control, and supported bans on specific abortion procedures. He was also criticized for lacking effort and neglecting his district. Solis was able to obtain the support of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (which called her a "warrior for working families"), Emily's List, Handgun Control Incorporation, the Sierra Club and the California League of Conservation Voters. With their help, Solis outspent Martínez by a 4-to-1 margin and had hundreds of volunteers working for her.

She defeated the incumbent Martínez in the March 2000 Democratic primary by a 69 percent to 31 percent margin. On primary night, Martínez called Solis "obnoxious" and accused her of untruthful advertising. He subsequently switched to the Republican Party, and urged Latinos to vote against her, to no great effect. Without a Republican opponent in the general election, Solis beat three little-known challengers from third parties and won 79 percent of the vote.

Upon arriving in the House of Representatives, Solis was named freshman class whip, making her responsible for collecting votes from first-term Democrats. ''National Journal'' magazine named her one of its Ten Freshmen to Watch, and said that her election "is a sign of things to come in California and a generational changing of the guard in the Hispanic Caucus." Solis commissioned for her new office a painting of the United States Capitol with the San Gabriel Mountains behind it, so that she would not forget her roots. Her Washington apartment was tiny.

As congresswoman, Solis was most known for her work on environmental issues as a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on Natural Resources, and the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. She made the promotion of green-collar jobs a priority and sponsored the Southern California portion of the California Wild Heritage Act, which would create or enlarge many wilderness areas.

Solis was not a member of the Education and Labor Committee, but championed the Employee Free Choice Act and was the only member of Congress on the board of American Rights at Work, a pro-union organization that strongly supports the act, for whom she served as treasurer starting in 2004. On trade she voted against both the Dominican Republic–Central America trade agreement and the U.S.-Peru trade agreement, and also expressed opposition to a purposed bilateral U.S.-Colombia trade agreement, citing concerns about human rights violations. Solis opposed legislation that would soften job safety requirements. She received 100 percent ratings from several pro-labor groups for the years 2005 through 2007, and was a major recipient of union political donations. United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta is one of Solis's role models.

During her tenure in the House Solis was an advocate of comprehensive immigration reform. She was one of the leading opponents of H.R. 4437 a House bill sponsored by Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and voted against it.

Solis supported legislation aimed at reducing the number of teen pregnancies within Latina and African American communities and sponsored a bill, that became law in 2003, that granted U.S. citizenship to immigrants after one year of military service instead of the previous three years.

Solis is Roman Catholic and pro-choice. Along with 47 other Catholic members of Congress, she sent a letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington D.C. in order to dissuade him from refusing them the sacraments because of their pro-choice legislative voting. Solis signed a "Statement of Principles," stating her commitment to her faith as well as her disagreement with the Roman Catholic Church on some issues. They stated that on those issues, such as abortion rights, they decided to follow their conscience instead of the Church teachings.

Solis was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and rated a lifetime "liberal quotient" of 99 percent from Americans for Democratic Action, and a lifetime 2 percent rating from the American Conservative Union. From 2006 to 2008 she wrote blog entries for The Huffington Post. Solis believed in the importance of mentoring, and as a House member continued relationships she had established with up-and-coming political figures in her district, including California State Assemblywoman Judy Chu and Monterey Park Mayor Sharon Martinez.

After the 2000 census and subsequent redistricting, Solis's area became part of California's 32nd congressional district. She was reelected for additional terms in 2002, 2004, and 2006 by very large margins, twice with no Republican in opposition. She ran unopposed in 2008. Solis chaired the Health and the Environment Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during the 110th Congress. However, during 2006 and 2007, Solis was part of a falling out between several female representatives and Joe Baca, leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, arguing there was a "lack of respect afforded to women members of the Hispanic Caucus," which Baca denied. She had previously broken ties with the caucus' political action committee over its campaign contributions to Baca's sons. Baca responded that Solis "was a kiss-up" to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a remark for which he later apologized. Solis was indeed considered a close ally of Pelosi, which helped her get a seat on the Energy and Commerce Committee. She considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice-Chairman for the 110th Congress, but deferred to incumbent John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair, which Larson had been running for. Solis's aggressive fundraising for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee gained her a vice chair position on the Democratic Steering & Policy Committee. At the time of her selection to Obama's cabinet, she had been elected 2nd vice chair of the Hispanic Caucus and was considered a potential candidate for a leadership position in the House.

Solis was a strong supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential bid; when that fell short, Barack Obama aggressively sought her support, as part of strengthening his appeal to Hispanic voters. She supported Clinton's effort to establish a U.S. Public Service Academy and was a co-sponsor of a House bill to create one. Solis did not become wealthy from her political career; by 2008, she and her husband's main assets consisted of retirement funds and his auto shop, valued at under $100,000.

U.S. Secretary of Labor

On December 18, 2008, sources close to the Obama transition team identified Solis as the President-elect's choice for U.S. Secretary of Labor, the last cabinet position yet to be filled. The selection earned praise from the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations, but was not well received by business groups and the anti-union group Center for Union Facts. The official announcement was made by Obama on December 19. Solis's successor was chosen in a special election in California's 32nd congressional district; she declined to endorse a candidate in the primary (from which her past mentee Judy Chu emerged on top and eventually won the general election).

Solis's confirmation hearings were held on January 9, 2009, before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Committee chair Ted Kennedy repeatedly praised her, while, despite examination by Republican members, Solis declined to discuss specific policy issues, including the Employee Free Choice Act. Several days later, Senate Republicans said they might try to put a procedural hold on her nomination because of her unwillingness to answer questions in detail in the hearings. By January 23, a secret hold was placed on the nomination by an anonymous Republican. A series of written questions and responses between Republican members and Solis followed, during which she was more forthcoming. Republican Mike Enzi pressed her on whether her unpaid high-level positions at American Rights at Work constituted prohibited lobbying activity; Solis denied violation of rules of conduct and stated she had not helped lobbying. Solis did acknowledge that she had failed to report those positions on her annual House financial disclosure forms at the time, which a White House spokesperson argued was an unintentional oversight. On February 2, Obama appointed veteran Labor Department official Edward C. Hugler as Acting Secretary. The prolonged process was considered by some Republican aides to be a preview of future battles on labor issues between the Obama administration and Republicans in Congress.

A vote on Solis's committee confirmation was set on February 5, but postponed after news that Solis's husband Sam Sayyad had just paid $6,400 in outstanding state and local tax liens dating back to 1993 for his auto repair business. Sayyad had filed a separate tax return from Solis, and intended to contest the lien as they were for business taxes he believed to have already paid. A White House spokesperson stated Solis should not be penalized for any mistakes that her husband may have made. The revelations came in the wake of several other Obama nominations troubled or derailed due to tax issues. Committee Republicans subsequently indicated they would not blame Solis, but were still concerned about her ties to American Rights at Work. On February 11, 2009, the committee approved her nomination by voice vote with two votes opposed. After still further delays, Republicans agreed not to subject her nomination to a filibuster and on February 24, 2009, Solis was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 80–17. She resigned from the House and was sworn into her new position that evening. (A ceremonial swearing in featuring Vice President Joe Biden was later held on March 13.)

Solis became the first Hispanic woman to serve as a regular U.S. cabinet secretary and the first cabinet secretary with Central American descent. She also became the first Hispanic Secretary of Labor. Solis felt that under the George W. Bush administration, the department had become unimportant and lacking in power, and that its actions reflected a pro-business agenda. Accordingly, she hoped to reinvigorate it.

In her first days as secretary, Solis affirmed an extension to unemployment benefits specified by the 2009 Obama stimulus package, and joined Vice President Biden's Middle Class Task Force. In her first major speech as secretary, Solis pleased community forum attendees at Miami's Greater Bethel AME Church by vowing more aggressive enforcement of workplace protection laws, saying "You can rest assured that there is a new sheriff in town." In late March 2009, Solis vowed to add 250 investigators to the department's Wage and Hour Division after a Government Accountability Office report showed the division's enforcement of wage laws was quite inadequate; the staffing up was completed by the end of the year. In late May 2009, Solis suspended immigrant guest worker regulations related to H-2A visas adopted in the final days of the Bush administration; the move earned plaudits from the United Farm Workers. In October 2009, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration levied the largest fine in its history on BP plc for failing to fix safety problems following the 2005 Texas City Refinery disaster. Business groups such as the National Federation of Independent Business complained that Solis was forging a less cooperative relationship, one that departed from the Bush administration's "compliance assistance" approach; the Labor Department said that compliance assistance was still an important part of the new strategy.

For 2010, Solis's agenda was to enact some ninety new rules and regulations intended to grant more power to unions and to workers. Whether Solis would try to revive Clinton administration ergonomics rules that had been discarded in the early days of the Bush administration, and that business groups continued to oppose, was unclear. In the wake of the April 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, the worst in the U.S. in forty years, Solis announced that the Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration would conduct an internal review of its enforcement of the Massey Energy mine prior to the accident. She also requested that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health provide an independent analysis of that review. Later that month, Solis and the department hosted the first-ever meeting of the G-20 labor ministers; they discussed how to accelerate job creation in their respective countries. Solis also faced disgruntlement from a local of the American Federation of Government Employees representing her own employees, who were unhappy that a longstanding flextime program reduced under the George W. Bush administration had not been restored. The department said the program was modern and fair and that it was part of ongoing contract negotiations with the local. The year also saw the department trying to crack down on firms that illegally use summer internships for free labor, by clarifying what may constitute an unpaid academic internship; the move brought resistance from universities.

In February 2011, as protests continued over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's proposal to limit that state's public employee unions' collective bargaining rights, and similar proposals were made in other states, Solis spoke out strongly and emotionally against such moves, saying "[those governors] aren't just asking workers to tighten their belts, they're demanding they give up their uniquely American rights as workers."

References

External links

Biography at the United States Department of Labor

Fighting for Workers This 2010 Labor Day by Hilda Solis

|- |- |- |- {{U.S. Secretary box | before= Elaine Chao | years= 2009–present | president= Barack Obama | department= Secretary of Labor}} |- }} |- }}

Category:1957 births Category:American environmentalists Category:American people of Nicaraguan descent Category:American politicians of Mexican descent Category:California State Polytechnic University, Pomona alumni Category:California State Senators Category:Female members of the United States House of Representatives Category:Hispanic and Latino American people in the United States Congress Category:Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Category:Living people Category:Members of the California State Assembly Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from California Category:Obama Administration cabinet members Category:People from Los Angeles County, California Category:United States Secretaries of Labor Category:University of Southern California alumni Category:Women members of the Cabinet of the United States Category:Women state legislators in California

cs:Hilda Solisová de:Hilda Solis es:Hilda Solis fa:هیلدا سولیس fr:Hilda Solis id:Hilda Solis it:Hilda Solis la:Hilda Solis no:Hilda Solis pl:Hilda Solis ru:Солис, Хильда simple:Hilda Solis sv:Hilda Solis uk:Гільда Соліс zh:希尔达·索利斯

Hilda may refer to:

People

Hilda of Whitby (c. 614-680), English saint

Princess Hilda of Nassau (1864–1952)

Hilda Bernard (born 1920), Veteran Argentine stage, screen and television actress

Hilda Bernstein (1915–2006), author, artist, and activist against apartheid and for women's rights

Hilda Borgström (1871–1954), Swedish actress

Hilda Braid (1929–2007), English actress

Hilda Ellis Davidson (1914–2006), English antiquarian and academic

H. D. (1886–1961), born Hilda Doolittle, American poet, novelist and memoirist

Hilda Fenemore (1914–2004), English supporting actress

Hilda Gaxiola (born 1972), Mexican beach volleyball player

Hilda Geiringer (1893–1973), Austrian mathematician and professor

Hilda Goldblatt Gorenstein (Hilgos) (1905–1998), American oil painter and watercolorist

Hilda Hewlett (1864–1943), first British aviatrix to earn a pilot's licence, and aviation entrepreneur

Hilda Hilst (1930–2004), Brazilian poet, playwright and novelist

Hilda Kibet (born 1981), Dutch long distance runner

Hilda Lund (1840–1911), Swedish ballerina

Hilda Petrini (1838–1895), Swedish clock maker

Hilda Molina (born 1942), former chief neurosurgeon of Cuba and dissident

Hilda Runciman, Viscountess Runciman of Doxford (1869–1956), British politician

Hilda Sjölin (1835–1915), Swedish photographer

Hilda Solis (born 1957), United States Secretary of Labor in the Obama administration

Hilda Terry (1914–2006), American cartoonist, creator of the comic strip ''Teena''

Fictional characters

Hilda Ogden, from the British soap opera ''Coronation Street''

Hilda Spellman, a main character in ''Sabrina, the Teenage Witch''

Hilda Suarez, from the American television series ''Ugly Betty''

"Hot Ice" Hilda, a key supporting character in the anime ''Outlaw Star''

Places

Hilda, Missouri, an unincorporated community

Hilda, South Carolina, a town

Hilda, Texas

Hilda, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet

153 Hilda, a large asteroid

Hilda family, a group of asteroids

Storms

Hurricane Hilda, in the 1964 Atlantic season

Tropical Storm Hilda (disambiguation), various storms in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans

Other uses

SS ''Hilda'', a steamship

HILDA (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey), a panel dataset

Hilda, name used by the South African Defence Force for the Tiger Cat variant of the Sea Cat missile system

See also

St. Hilda's (disambiguation)

''Broom-Hilda'', U.S. newspaper comic strip created by Russell Myers

de:Hilda es:Hilda fr:Hilda it:Hilda la:Hilda (praenomen) nl:Hilda ja:ヒルダ pt:Hilda vo:Hilda

name	Satcha Pretto
birth date	April 05, 1980
birth place	La Paz, Honduras
birth name	Satcha Pretto Padilla
occupation	journalist, co-anchor, triathlete, marathonist
notable role	}}

Satcha Pretto (born April 5, 1980) is an Emmy award-winning Journalist and news co-anchor of the Univision Network's popular morning show Despierta America.

General information

Satcha was born in La Paz, Honduras, the daughter of Honduran Liz Padilla and Panamanian Rolando Pretto. She lived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras from the age of three until she was 18 years old. Her father died from a heart attack in 1996.

Education

Pretto studied in bilingual schools in Honduras: Mayan Elementary School and Macris High School in Tegucigalpa. Satcha's excellent academic record earned her a scholarship in 1998 to attend Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. In 2001, she graduated with a B.A. in Communications.

She speaks English and Spanish fluently.

Career

While still in high school in Honduras, at the age of 17, Satcha had the opportunity via the National Broadcasters Association of Honduras to get a job at a radio station. She was hired by ''Radio Suprema Stereo'' 99.5 in Tegucigalpa where, prior to hitting the airwaves, she received intense training during three months. Her radio debut as the host of a three-hour long live show came in August 1997. Pretto broadcasted the show (in her school uniform) for one year.

She started her professional career as a television journalist in Midland-Odessa, Texas as a reporter and anchor of the late night newscast of KTLE-Telemundo. She was also able to work as a reporter for KWES-TV channel 9, a NBC affiliate and Telemundo KTLE's sister station. Pretto worked in West Texas from January 2002 to September 2003.

In October of that same year, Pretto moved to Dallas, Texas where she was hired to co-anchor KUVN channel 23's (an Univision affiliate) 5:00 p.m. newscast, ''Cinco en Punto'' (''Five o'Clock'') and report for the late night newscast, ''Edición Nocturna'' (''Nightly Edition''). While at KUVN, Pretto collaborated with the CNN Cable Network as a reporter for ''Anderson Cooper 360'' and the now defunct ''Paula Zahn Now''. Pretto's most memorable interview in Dallas was with famous Chilean writer Isabel Allende on March, 2006.

On July 13, 2006, Univision Communications Inc. announced the naming of Satcha Pretto as the new co-host of the highly-rated daily newsmagazine ''Primer Impacto- Fin de Semana'' (''First Impact - Weekend Edition''), on Saturday and Sunday - 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. ET/PT (4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. CT). . Just six months after joining the Univision Network, Pretto hosted the network's broadcast of the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, and did so again in January 2008. In May 2007, Pretto covered a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil and was subsequently chosen to be part of a select group of 70 journalists who traveled with His Holiness during his visit to the United States in 2008. In doing so, Pretto made history by becoming the first female journalist from a Spanish-language media outlet in the U.S. to travel on board the Pope's plane.

On July 18, 2011 Pretto joined [Univision]]'s Despierta America.

Recognitions

Between April 19–21, 2001 Pretto, as a senior majoring in communications at Angelo State University, received a recognition from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association meeting in Wichita Falls, in the live competitions. She won first place in TV announcing . In June 2001, she was selected by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as one of only 12 students from the U.S. and Puerto Rico to be part of ''El Noticiero.'' Pretto anchored the student produced show in English and did one story in Spanish. That same organization chose her in 2005 to serve as mentor during its annual convention.

She has also received several recognitions for her professional work in broadcast journalism, including an Emmy as part of the KMEX channel 34 team that garnished the prestigious award in the "Live Special Events Programming" category for the 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade broadcast. Pretto also received an Emmy nomination for best investigative report and an award from Texas Associated Press Broadcasters. In May 2008, one of her investigative reports was among the finalists for the Livingston Awards for journalists under 35. In addition, ''Vanidades'' magazine recognized her with its "Tribute to Hispanic Women" award in the journalism category in 2006. The magazine "People en Espanol" chose Pretto as one of the 10 best dressed celebrities in 2009 and included her on the exclusive list of its "50 most beautiful" in 2010.

Satcha is deeply committed to the empowerment of young students and is active in several charity projects. She was named "Smile Ambassador" for the nonprofit organization ''Operation Smile,'' a group dedicated to repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable healthcare systems for children and families. She is also a runner and a triathlete and participates in races that help raise funds for charity.

Category:Honduran television journalists Category:American television journalists Category:Living people Category:1980 births Category:Honduran Roman Catholics

name	Dolores Huerta
birth date	April 10, 1930
birth place	Dawson, New Mexico
occupation	Labor leader and activist }}

Dolores Clara Fernandez Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is a noted American labor leader and civil rights activist who, along with César Chávez, co-founded the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta has received numerous awards for her community service and advocacy for workers', immigrants', and womens' rights, including the Eugene V. Debs Foundation Outstanding American Award and the United States Presidential Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights. As a role model to many in the Latin community, Huerta is the subject of many corridos (ballads) and murals.

Early life

Born on April 10, 1930, in the mining town of Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta was the daughter of Juan Fernandez—a miner, field/farm worker, union activist and state assemblyman—and Alicia Chavez. Huerta was the couple's second child and only daughter; the couple divorced when Huerta was three years old. Chavez raised Huerta and her two brothers, in the central California farm worker community of Stockton, California. Huerta's mother was known for her kindness and compassion towards others and was active in community affairs, numerous civic organizations, and the church. She encouraged the cultural diversity that was a natural part of Dolores' upbringing in Stockton. Chavez was a businesswoman who owned a restaurant and a 70-room hotel where she welcomed low-wage workers and farm worker families for affordable prices and sometimes even for free.

Huerta's community activism began when she was a student in Stockton High School. Huerta was active in numerous school clubs, and was a majorette and a dedicated member of the Girl Scouts until the age of 18. Huerta attended college at the University of the Pacific's Stockton College (later to become San Joaquin Delta Community College) where she obtained a provisional teaching credential. After teaching grammar school, Dolores left her job and began her lifelong crusade to correct economic injustice:

I couldn't stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farm workers than by trying to teach their hungry children.

Career as an activist

In 1955, Huerta co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization, (CSO) and in 1960 co-founded the Agricultural Workers Association which set up voter registration drives and pressed local governments for barrio improvements. In 1962, she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with César Chávez, which would later become the Unit's Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. In 1966, she negotiated a contract between the UFWOC and Schenley Wine Company, marking the first time that farm workers were able to effectively bargain with an agricultural enterprise. Through her work with the CSO Dolores met Cesar Chavez the Executive Director of the CSO. The two soon both realize the need to organize farm workers. In 1962, after the CSO turned down Cesar's request, as their president, to organize farm workers, Cesar and Dolores resigned from the CSO. With Cesar Chavez she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association which would later become the Unit's Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. Dolores' organizing skills were essential to the growth of this budding organization.

In 1965, Huerta directed the UFW's national boycott during the Delano grape strike, taking the plight of the farm workers to the consumers. The boycott resulted in the entire California table grape industry signing a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the United Farm Workers in 1970.

In addition to organizing she has been highly politically active, lobbying in favor of (and against) numerous California and federal laws. The laws that she supported included the following:

1960 bill to permit people to take the California driver's examination in Spanish

1962 legislation repealing the Bracero Program

1963 legislation to extend Aid to Families with Dependent Children to California farmworkers

The 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act

As an advocate for farmworkers' rights, Huerta has been arrested twenty-two times for participating in non-violent civil disobedience activities and strikes.{web.mit.edu/21f.714/www/hispanos/huerta}} She remains active in progressive causes, and serves on the boards of People for the American Way, Consumer Federation of California, and Feminist Majority Foundation.

On June 5, 1968, Huerta stood beside Robert F. Kennedy on a speaker's platform at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles as he delivered a victory statement to his political supporters shortly after winning the California Democratic presidential primary election. Only moments after the candidate finished his speech, Huerta was a safe distance behind Kennedy as he and five other people were wounded by gunfire inside the hotel's kitchen pantry. Only 15 min before the shooting, Huerta had walked through that pantry alongside the US Senator from New York while Kennedy was on his way to deliver his victory speech. Kennedy died from his gunshot wounds on June 6.

In September 1988, in front of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in Union Square, Huerta was severely beaten by San Francisco Police officers during a peaceful and lawful protest of the policies/platform of then-candidate for president George H.W. Bush. The baton-beating caused significant internal injuries to her torso, resulting in several broken ribs and necessitating the removal of her spleen in emergency surgery. The beating was caught on videotape and broadcast widely on local television news, including the clear ramming of the butt end of a baton into Huerta's torso by one of the helmeted officers. Later, Huerta won a large judgment against the SFPD and the City of San Francisco, the proceeds of which were used for the benefit of farm workers. The assault is credited with starting yet another movement to change SFPD crowd control policies and the manner in which officer discipline is handled.

Following a lengthy recovery she took a leave of absence from the union to focus on women’s rights. She traversed the country for two years on behalf of the Feminist Majority’s ''Feminization of Power: 50/50 by the year 2000 Campaign'' encouraging Latina’s to run for office. The campaign resulted in a significant increase in the number of women representatives at the local, state and federal levels. She also served as National Chair of the 21st Century Party founded in 1992 on the principles that women make up 52% of the party’s candidates and that officers must reflect the ethnic diversity of the nation.

Huerta is president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which she founded in 2002. The Dolores Huerta Foundation is a 501(c)(3) "community benefit organization that organizes at the grassroots level, engaging and developing natural leaders. DHF creates leadership opportunities for community organizing, leadership development, civic engagement, and policy advocacy in the following priority areas: health & environment, education & youth development, and economic development." At 81, Dolores Huerta continues to work tirelessly developing leaders and advocating for the working poor, women and children.

Honors

In 1997, Huerta was named one of the three most important women of the year by Ms. magazine.

Huerta was an inaugural recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights from President Bill Clinton in 1998. That same year, Ladies' Home Journal recognized her as one of the 100 Most Important Women of the 20th Century, along with such women leaders as Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, Rosa Parks, and Indira Gandhi.

In 2002, Huerta was awarded the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.

On September 30, 2005, she became an honorary sister of Kappa Delta Chi sorority (Alpha Alpha chapter - Wichita State University).

In May 2006, in recognition of her numerous achievements, Huerta received an honorary degree from Princeton University. She was lauded in the ceremony: "Through her insatiable hunger of justice —''La Causa''— and her tireless advocacy, she has devoted her life to creative, compassionate, and committed citizenship".

Huerta was co-recipient (along with Virgilio Elizondo) of the 2007 Community of Christ International Peace Award .

On May 18, 2007, she announced her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, and at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Huerta formally placed Clinton's name into nomination.

In December 2008, Huerta was recognized by United Neighborhood Centers of America with its highest individual honor, the Jane Addams Distinguished Leadership Award at its National Policy Summit in Washington, DC.

On June 12, 2009, Huerta was awarded the UCLA Medal, UCLA's highest honor, during the UCLA College of Letters and Science commencement ceremony.

She is one of the subjects of Sylvia Morales' 2009 film, A CRUSHING LOVE, the sequel to 1979's CHICANA.

In October 2010, Huerta was awarded an honorary degree by Mills College, who lauded her as "a lifetime champion of social justice whose courageous leadership garnered unprecedented national support from farmworkers, women, and underserved communities in a landmark quest for human and civil rights."

In 2012, Heurta was named to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Dolores Huerta is an Honorary Chair of Democratic Socialists of America and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Equality California.

Four elementary schools in California; one school in Fort Worth, Texas; and a high school in Pueblo, Colorado, are named after Dolores Huerta. One of the student centers at Pitzer College, in Claremont, California, is named the Huerta Learning Circle Room in the labor leader's honor.

Personal life

Dolores' married in college to Ralph Head, during their marriage they had two daughters, Celeste and Lori. After divorcing Head, Huerta married Ventura Huerta with whom she had five children. But their marriage ended over disagreements over many issues including her community involvements. Later Huerta had a long term romantic relationship with Richard Chavez, the brother of Cesar Chavez.[19] Huerta and Chavez never married, but the couple had four children during their relationship.[19] Richard Chavez died on July 27, 2011.[19] Huerta has been married and divorced twice, and has eleven children.

References

Further reading

Amsler, T.R. (2007 Summer). 'Si, Se Puede': Hayward teachers gain concessions and a valuable ally. Rethinking Schools, 21(4), 11.

Felner, J. (Jan/Feb 1998). Dolores Huerta. Ms, 8(4), 48-49.

Huerta, D. (Spring 2007). One more child left behind . Ms, 17(2), 79.

Perez, F (1996). Dolores Huerta. Austin, TX: Raintree.

Rose, M. (2004). Dolores Huerta: The United Farm Workers Union. In Arnesen, E (Ed.). Human tradition in American labor history. (pp. 211–229). Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc.

Rosenburg, R. (Editor & Director). (1996). Women of hope [Videocassette]. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities.

Schiff, K.G. (2005). Lighting the way: Nine women who changed modern America. New York, NY: Hyperion.

Telles, R & Tejada-Flores, R. (Directors). (1997). Fight in the fields [videocassette]. San Francisco, CA: Paradigm Productions.

Vogel, N. (2005, Sept. 7). Legislature OKs gay marriage; Assembly action sends the bill to the governor, who has signaled that he will veto the measure. Los Angeles Times, p. A1.

External links

Dolores Huerta Foundation

Dolores Huerta Celebrates 80th Birthday with Call for "Weaving Movements Together" - video report by ''Democracy Now!''

Biography at Las Culturas

Category:American labor leaders Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:American feminists Category:Members of the Democratic Socialists of America Category:Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights Category:Labor relations in California Category:Agriculture and forestry trade unions Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:Hispanic and Latino American women in activism

ca:Dolores Huerta de:Dolores Huerta es:Dolores Huerta eu:Dolores Huerta

name	Bill Press
birth place	Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
occupation	Talk radio host, political commentator, author, former politician and TV journalist
website	billpressshow.com }}

William "Bill" Press (born 1940) is a US talk radio host, political commentator and author. He was chair of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996.

Career

Press has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Niagara University and Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg. He started his broadcasting career in Los Angeles for TV stations KABC-TV and KCOP-TV. He has worked as a political commentator for CNN and MSNBC. He is best known for co-hosting CNN's ''Spin Room'' opposite Tucker Carlson, and ''Crossfire'' and MSNBC's ''Buchanan and Press''.

Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at ''The Huffington Post''. Press also contributes blogs to the online version of Washington, D.C.'s nonpartisan newspaper, ''The Hill''. In January 2012, Press filled in for Keith Olbermann on Current TV's coverage of the Florida GOP primary elections.

In politics

Press was the chair of the California Democratic Party from 1993 to 1996. He has previously served in different appointed positions such as a chief of staff to Republican California State Senator Peter Behr from 1971 to 1973, and as director of the California Office of Planning and Research under Democratic Governor Jerry Brown from 1975 to 1979.

Radio talk show

Since September 2005, Press has been hosting a daily liberal talk radio program which is broadcast on terrestrial radio affiliates in the United States live from 6-9 AM ET. Originally syndicated by Jones Radio, the radio show is now syndicated by Dial Global. It is also heard on satellite radio, is streamed live from the show's website, and can be downloaded with a podcast subscription. On March 5, 2012, his radio show was announced to be simulcast on Current TV alongside ''The Stephanie Miller Show'' as part of morning programming

Religion

Press was steeped in Catholicism from an early age. He was an altar boy and took vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. He describes his young self as a "soldier in God's army" (CNN Politics, March 28, 2002). Press attended (the Catholic) Niagara University and earned a theology degree from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland.

In the 2010 list published by ''Talkers'' magazine, Press was listed amongst the 250 most important talk radio hosts in the United States, but not in the top 100.

Works

''Eyewitness : A California Perspective'', 1988. ISBN 0-939061-01-5

''Spin This: All the Ways We Don't Tell the Truth'', with a foreword by Bill Maher, 2002. ISBN 0-7434-4267-9

''Bush Must Go!- The Top Ten Reasons Why George Bush Doesn't Deserve a Second Term'', 2004. ISBN 0-525-94840-6

''How The Republicans Stole Christmas: The Republican Party's Declared Monopoly on Religion and What Democrats Can Do to Take it Back'', 2005. ISBN 0-385-51605-3

''How The Republicans Stole Christmas: Why the Religious Right is Wrong about Faith & Politics and What We Can Do to Make it Right'', Doubleday, 2005. ISBN 978-0385-51605-1

''Trainwreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon)'', Wiley, 2008. ISBN 978-0470-18240-6

References

External links

Official website for ''The Bill Press Show''

:*Personal website (direct link to bio page)

Press's blog at ''Huffington Post''

Bill Press's Pundits Blog entries for ''The Hill''

''Booknotes'' interview with Press on ''Spin This! All The Ways We Don’t Tell the Truth'', January 6, 2002.

Category:1940 births Category:Living people Category:American bloggers Category:American columnists Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American talk radio hosts Category:California Democratic Party chairs Category:Commentators Category:People from Marin County, California Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware Category:Niagara University alumni Category:University of Fribourg alumni

de:Bill Press