AND THE INGLEWOOD TRIBUNE, CARSON BULLETIN, WILMINGTON BEACON, THE CALIFORNIAN, THE WEEKENDER & EL MONTE BULLETIN WEDNESDAY, APRIL 11, 2018
AN AMERICAN PRINT MEDIA PUBLICATION
Bright Minds, Dreams and Determination Bring Success
Governor Brown Hedges on Sending Troops To Border By Don Thompson Sandra, left, and her sister Isaura, right (with arms up), celebrating.
Surrounded by the concrete sprawl of South El Monte, and staring daily at the rows of large trash bins in the alleyways behind her apartment building, 17-year-old Sandra Amezcua Rocha could only see green. As in trees, parks and a sustainable, clean environment.
“
The kids here don’t know anything about the outside, just the cement,” Sandra laments. “I want to be able to come back and show them that there is more than just the gray of the suburbs. To have access to renewable energy at little to no cost … to be around trees and not trash.” Sandra is one of 30 High School students selected as 2018’s Edison Scholars each the recipient of $40,000 undergraduate college scholarships to continue their education in a STEM (science, technology, engineering or math) field. “Coming home and seeing my family exhausted, I knew the only way out is to get an education,” said Sandra, a senior at South El Monte High School, who would find refuge in the school’s library to finish her homework and projects. “You said you wanted to help bring renewable energy to disadvantaged communities and we believe in that too,” said Pedro Pizarro, Edison International president and CEO, as he made the presentation amid ‘go Sandra!’ cheers. “We are very proud of you and what you want to do for our community. And we are so happy that we can help
make your dream of college come true.” The dreams of other local high school students are likewise being recognized.
Learning that engineers designed apparatuses made to enrich the lives of others and better society was truly inspiring. Avey Songco, Lynwood HS Lynwood High School graduating senior Abieiden “Abi” Lopez is passionate about fighting climate change and promoting a switch
Photo by Elisa Ferrari for Southern California Edison
to renewable energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. She plans to pursue a degree in electrical engineering as she enters Stanford this coming Fall semester. Abi has already gleaned college experiences serving as a team leader at UCLA’s tech-camp as well as participating in MIT’s Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science program. Her Lynwood High classmate, Lesly Leon is passionate about medicine and is choosing chemistry as her path forward in developing cures, particularly where environmental and biological factors are an issue and cause. She looks to serve a range of underrepresented communities, introducing them to the power of science, and its ability to change the prognosis of cancer detection from despair to hope. Lesly is deciding whether to begin that journey at either Stanford or Brown. Best friends and classmates at Carson’s California Academy of Mathematics and Science,
Avey Songco and Shavonna Jackson have also been named Edison Scholars. Avey, who will attend Georgia Tech this fall, intends to pursue a career in mechanical engineering with the intent to design advanced prosthetics enhancing the lives of people missing limbs. She is driven by her own experience, strapped in a discomforting brace as a teen, to correct scoliosis. It was her Doctor who first showed Avey pictures of children in prosthetics. “Learning that engineers designed apparatuses made to enrich the lives of others and better society was truly inspiring.” Shavonna, who has witnessed her dad’s daily injections for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, plans to major in biomedical engineering at either Harvard or Yale. Last summer, Shavonna completed a biomedical internship that focused on endocrinology and beta n Scholars, see page 2
Sessions Orders ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy for Border Crossers
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
SAN DIEGO—Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a “zero tolerance” policy aimed at people entering the United States illegally for the first time on the Mexican border. His directive last Friday tells federal prosecutors in border states to put more emphasis on charging people with illegal entry, which has historically been treated as a misdemeanor offense for those with few or no previous encounters with border authorities. Smugglers and repeat offenders are usually charged with more serious crimes. Sessions tells prosecutors to ask for additional resources if needed to prosecute cases. As a model, he points to a Border Patrol effort launched in 2005 that typically resulted in a conviction and short time in jail. Last week, Sessions established quotas for immigration judges to reduce court backlogs.
SACRAMENTO—California Gov. Jerry Brown has been silent on President Donald Trump's call for National Guard troops to help protect the southern border with Mexico.
T
HAT contrasts with the Democratic governor's quick response when Trump's administration recently sued over the deep blue state's immigration policy days before the president journeyed to San Diego to view his border wall prototypes earlier this year. That was just the latest jousting in the escalating feud
Trump’s plan is pretty vague. Professor Jack Pitney between the Trump administration and California, which has resisted the president at almost every turn on issues from marijuana policy to climate change. Here are some of the questions and answers on relations between the Trump administration and California:
WHAT DOES TRUMP WANT FROM CALIFORNIA? The president wants to send 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help federal authorities combat illegal immigration and drug trafficking. It isn't clear how many he would seek from California. They would provide support but not go on patrols or make arrests. Republican governors in the other border states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas backed the deployment. Even Iowa's Republican governor offered to send National Guard troops from the Midwest. Democratic governors in Oregon and Montana have said they wouldn't send troops. The California Guard already has 55 employees helping fight drug trafficking, surveillance in the San Diego Harbor, repairing fences, roads and culverts, and analyzing criminal activity in cooperation with state and federal law enforcement agencies. HOW HAS BROWN RESPONDED? Brown has personally spoken with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other federal officials, but he hasn't publicly commented or made a decision. His office has instead referred questions to a spokesman for the California National Guard, which has said it needs more details. That's in contrast to Brown's sharp response last month when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions sued to block three California laws to protect immigrants who are in the country illegally, which Brown called “a political stunt.” The National Guard says it can't respond until it has more information, including who would pay for the deployment, how long it would last, and what it is expected to accomplish. Brown's decision might depend on the mission: n Border, see page 2