Sonia Sotomayor

By Rob Reynolds in Americas on May 31st, 2009

By nominating Sonia Sotomayor to fill a pending vacancy on the US Supreme Court,  Barack Obama has laid a clever trap for the opposition Republican party. And they are falling right into it.

No matter how much presidents protest that they are merely seeking the best possible jurist for the job, all Supreme Court nominations are inherently political. Back in the days when white males were effectively the only group with the power of the vote, nominees were chosen made along regional lines, with Presidents trying to please or placate New Englanders, Southerners,   Westerners etc. With the advent of a more open political culture, the Supreme Court slowly became somewhat more divers– first with Jewish members, then African Americans and women. Now Obama has nominated the first Hispanic, a woman of Puerto Rican heritage, to the high court.

By John Terrett in Americas, Business on May 26th, 2009

I’m just sitting here in my sunny 4th floor office looking over a Times Square that is void of vehicles.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s experiment kicked in on Monday and will last ’til the end of the year.

I must say the whole thing seems very pleasing to the eye and ear. Goodness knows what drivers and cabbies are thinking at this moment. I wonder if there will be any effect on the economy of New York City?

So, New York is changing and America too.

If you want further proof look no further than the country’s first African American President announcing the country’s first hispanic potential Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor. It’s amazing to witness this on the monitor in our newsroom.

I mention this because the candidate grew up dirt poor in New York. Her mother devoted her life to Sotomayor and her brother working three jobs just to get by. Now look at the reward for all that sacrifice.

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