Hana Baba's blog

Last week, the University of California at Berkeley was instructed by the California Department of Public Health to significantly scale back its “Bring your Genes to Cal” program.

Photo courtesy of the Center for Responsible Lending

The Center for Responsible Lending–a non-profit research and public policy group–released a study, this week, focused on the racial makeup of foreclosures in California. It found that Latinos have experienced notably higher foreclosure rates than non-Hispanic borrowers in the state.

The East Bay city of Fremont is home to the largest Afghan population in the US in what is called the “Little Kabul” neighborhood in Central Fremont. The city was made famous by Khaled Husseini’s award-winning novel and later film, “The Kite Runner,” which was partly filmed there.

Suicide.org

The Golden Gate Bridge’s suicide barrier came one step closer to becoming a reality this Wednesday.

Vuvuzelas, traditional South African stadium horns

Before the 2008 Oscar-winning blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire came out, Indians were pretty much already seen as an intrinsic part of American society. The Indian community had made huge strides in the US. Indian immigrants had a strong presence in major professions--medicine, education, engineering, IT, and management. Locally, Silicon Valley boasts a large population of Indian IT professionals, and most area hospitals and clinics have at least one Indian name amongst the healthcare staff.

Lecture theatre- WIPRO, Bangalore

A fact that can be forgotten these days, amidst the mess of education funding in California and the country, is that American higher education has long been the envy of much of the world. In many countries, having a degree from a US college makes the difference between being hired or not.

Emirates Palace Hotel Abu Dhabi

With the massive teacher lay-offs throughout the state, thousands of pink-slipped teachers are wondering what the next step will be.

Recently, Crosscurrents interviewed Kafi Payne of California Teacher Corps, about their program to retrain laid-off teachers to be special education teachers.

That’s one idea.

As a child growing up in Texas, I was always met with the question: “where are you from?” When I would answer with “Sudan,” which is where my parents came to the US from, the follow-up question each time was almost guaranteed to be, “Oh, where is that?” So, many of my Sudanese friends just took the short route, and would answer the first question with “Africa,” and that would be the end of that. After all, everyone knows where and what Africa is.

Some East Bay school districts just can't seem to catch a break- like Hayward Unified.

About three weeks ago, the California Department of Education issued a list of the state's 188 "Persistently Low-Achieving Schools". All three of Hayward's high schools made that dreaded list, and are now deciding on how to revamp themselves academically, or risk closure.