[News]
Undocumented Immigrant Students Crushed By Failure Of Immigration Reform Bill
Mayra, a 17-year-old who graduated recently from Downtown College Preparatory with top grades, had hopes on going to a four-year university and becoming a lawyer. There is only one problem, which she can't fix. She entered the United States illegally at four years of age, when her parents knew that if they stayed in Mexico they could starve. As an undocumented immigrant, she's ineligible for government financial aid. MORE...

Students Find Jobs For Experience, Income And To Stay Busy
Travis Parker likes helping people. That's a good thing because the 19-year-old from San Jose spends most of his days working with others at the front desk of San Jose's YMCA. He helps people sign up for memberships and directs visitors wherever they need to go within the facility. Parker is just like many teens this summer who have chosen to gain some experience in the working world instead of whiling away time in the California sun. MORE...

Decline of journalism as we know it
Don't deny it: Newspapers are dying, and the state of journalism is in flux. Major newspapers in California are cutting their newsroom staffs. The San Jose Mercury News recently laid off 31 employees from its newsroom, severely cutting its number of staff members. The same goes for the Los Angeles Times, which in April cut 150 jobs; 70 positions were newsroom jobs, according to the International Business Times. MORE...

Hundreds of friends, family attend memorial for journalist
Slowly, they trickled into the First Unitarian Church – some with bowed heads, others with tears. No one said a word as – single file – they made their way inside, where they gazed at photos of well-known, veteran San Jose Mercury News journalist Rich Ramirez. MORE...

Excitement over iPhone worth hype
For 23 hours, 27-year-old Scott Manthey of San Jose waited in line at Oakridge Mall in San Jose. Veronica Bautista, 17, of Sunnyvale stood in line for 22 hours at Westfield Valley Fair mall in Santa Clara. Both of them, along with thousands of others, anxiously anticipated the June 29 release of the iPhone, the newest high-tech gadget from Apple Inc. MORE...

Demand growing for gender-neutral restrooms at workplaces and campuses
For some people, a bathroom can make all the difference. Two years ago, a woman in the women's restroom at City College of San Francisco accused Nadia Cabezas of being a man and slapped her across the face. But Cabezas was not a man – she was a transsexual student, who was born male, but identified as female. MORE...

Pressure Pointe
They weave across the empty dance floor, with him catching her graceful ballet leaps. At 28, Easton Smith embodies the archetype of a male dancer – strong, tall, statuesque. His wife, Haley Henderson-Smith, is also the epitome of a dancer – lean, graceful, elegant. But like other dancers, one wrong move could sideline their careers, jeopardizing their ability to perform and cutting short their dreams of being on stage. MORE...

All-girls schools Castilleja, The Girls' Middle School offer different approaches
Ninety-one years of tradition cannot be ignored — but neither can new, progressive approaches to education. Although Bay Area students might be tempted to classify all-girls schools as one category, the eras when such schools were founded fundamentally affect the schools' philosophies. MORE...

Transgender youth finding it easier to live in their skin
A week after she turned 20, Danielle stood in front of her family to tell her secret. She braced herself, waiting for their negative response as she told them she was transgendered. To her surprise, that response never occurred. "I thought it would be a really big deal," says Danielle, of Santa Rosa, "but my family was just open about it, and they seemed like they were expecting it. When I came out, it seemed like everyone knew before me." MORE...

Hospitals Increase Language Assistance
Y.K. Lo, a 70-year-old San Jose resident who immigrated to the United States from Hong Kong in 1998, visits his homeland at least once a year for a health check-up. Although he can speak enough English to request an interpreter in a U.S. hospital, he says the process is irritating. Lo also could bring his son with him to the hospital to translate, but he chooses not to. MORE...