Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced changes to the detention system today. The department is still talking about alternatives to the growing use of detention centers, now in a bit more detail. DHS  is promising that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will pay closer attention to detainees’ health, circumstances and treatment. Among the steps:

• Having ICE [...]

There’s a long, long history of debate over what to do about day laborers congregating along Brewster’s Main Street. The current mayor says he’d be in favor of designating a specific hiring site somewhere in the village (as Mount Kisco, Ossining, Port Chester and other communities have done), but he opposes the use of taxpayer [...]

Journal News reporters Shawn Cohen and Jonathan Bandler have been chasing the story about the Libyan leader’s search for accommodations in the NYC area — specifically, on Donald Trump’s estate in Bedford. The latest: Bedford is issuing a stop-work order on construction of a Bedouin-style tent at the estate. Officials said they should have had [...]

The Neighbors Link community center in Mount Kisco — home to a hiring center, language classes and many other programs — is once again holding a trio of fall fund-raisers around the theme of cultural connection. On Tuesday night (Sept. 22), the “Latin Links” campaign begins with a showing of the movie “La Americana” at [...]

Rep. Joe “You lie!” Wilson was formally scolded by fellow House members today for his “breach of decorum” during President Obama’s health care speech last week. But while the civility issue continues to get lots of press, the “truthiness” factor gets much less attention.

There are many complicated questions surrounding the health care reform bills, but [...]

Steve Lieberman gathered some community reaction to yesterday’s hate-crime charge in Rockland. The suspect in this BB gun attack, Michael Conklin, was out on bail, facing charges in another hate-crime assault in April. Police said he wore a shirt with KKK and Nazi symbols in the BB attack Monday night.

In today’s Journal News story, one [...]

Reporter Steve Lieberman has this story today from Rockland County:

AIRMONT – An 18-year-old Montebello man wearing a shirt with racist insignias has been charged with a second hate crime since April involving an attack on a Hispanic male, authorities said today. Ramapo police accused Michael Conklin of shooting a 17-year-old Hispanic man three times with [...]

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s report on anti-Latino hate crimes on Long Island — and its assertion that local politicians had fanned the flames — prompted one politician’s son to speak out.

Elie Mystal, the son of a former county legislator of the same name, has an interesting post on Long Island Wins regarding his father’s [...]

A wide-ranging survey asked immigrants about their satisfaction with life in the United States in May. The headline seems to be that despite the recession, immigrants are still happy here, but less extremely happy than they were a few years ago.

Click here for the summary or read through the individual questions from the poll of [...]

On the same day a report comes out on anti-Latino hate crimes in Long Island, Newsday is reporting another bias incident in Patchogue. Hate-crime detectives are looking into a break-in at a Latino church where anti-Hispanic notes were left behind, the paper reports.

The Southern Poverty Law Center’s report is available here. It compiles new and [...]