When the Department of Education learned that a Bronx school was contaminated with a toxic chemical and decided to move its students to a school two miles away, parents were surprised and angry, EDLP reports. According to The Riverdale Press, P.S. 51, the Bronx New School, was not tested for contaminants because of a loophole in the law. Read EDLP's story here and The Riverdale Press here.  more>

Residents at 235 West 146^th Street apartments say that their apartments are filled with rats, cockroaches and bedbugs, and ceilings and floors are crumbling. Residents have turned to community organizations and city officials to make building owners accountable for repairs. For original click here more>

View of a section of Brooklyn where rampant sale of fake documents has been reported. HUMBERTO ARELLANO / EDLP

In Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a growing market for fraudulent documents has emerged. Vendors do not stake out territory on sidewalks, but instead sell fake green cards and Social Security cards in places like bakeries and restaurants.

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Members of the Uruguayan community in Queens gathered with elected officials and activists on July 27 to denounce police conduct that took place on Sunday, July 24, when New York Police Department (NYPD) officers allegedly assaulted a group of people in Jackson Heights who were celebrating the Uruguayan soccer team's record 15^th Copa America victory.

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Affected by unemployment, street vendors are stacked along the St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan. (Photo: Zaira Cortés/EDLP)

Some estimates place the number of street vendors in upper Manhattan in the thousands, 95 percent of them being Latino and many commuting from as far away as Connecticut. Mostly, the vendors are there to support their families, leading some to reject the stiff penalties proposed to curb unlicensed street vending.

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Owners of Mexican restaurants in East Harlem are meeting with local leaders over concerns of police brutality after repeated reports of undue harassment and violence from local officers. more>

Entrepreneur Hector Delgado, owner of Delgado Travel.

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Luis Cabrera, an inmate at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, has lunch with his young daughter Janessa. more>

While the Spanish-speaking populations for Nassau and Suffolk counties have increased in recent years, a lack of Spanish-speaking police officers has created problems for Latino crime victims seeking police assistance. more>

The Ecuadorian consulate general, Jorge López Amaya, promises a delegation of Ecuadorian workers and small business owners from the Willets Point Defense Committee (WPDC) that he will send Mayor Bloomberg a letter urging him to help the workers of the neighborhood, something that hasn't happened yet. more>

Festival organizer Mohammad Rashid promoting next weekend's Interfaith Harmony and World Peace Fair & Festival to be held at PS 145 in Jackson Heights. more>

With more than 12 bodegas attacked in a wave of armed robberies that began in January, two organizations are now trying to determine how to protect clerks. But they have distinct ideas about how to resolve the problems of the city's 18,000 bodegas. more>

With little funding and disagreements among the managers, the Colombian Civic Center (CCC) is having a hard time organizing the Colombian Independence Day festival scheduled for July 24. The festival has taken place for the last 25 years in Flushing Meadows Park. more>

The fight to legalize gay marriage was on the minds of many attendees at this year's Gay Pride Parade in Queens. more>

Freeport, Long Island, became the second New York municipality to close its account with JP Morgan Chase Bank in response to the lack of relief given to local African American and Hispanic families in danger of foreclosure. "Chase has a responsibility to serve our community and it's about time they set things right," said Mayor Andrew Hardwick. more>

Ahead of this year's Puerto Rican Day parade, locals are reacting harshly to the "Emborícuate" slogan used by parade sponsor Coors Light. Coors has used the term for the past three years and claims it means to "become a Puerto Rican," though some have drawn negative comparisons to the word "emborrachate," which means to "get drunk." more>

The mayor's attack on parents' low level or lack of education didn't go unnoticed. "It's an insult to our communities, and to the majority of parents with children in public schools," said Ken Cohen, the regional director of the NAACP.  more>

Among piles of rusted tin, puddles of oil, mud, and potholes filled with stagnant water, José Martín earns a living as a mechanic at a small auto body shop on 37th Street in Willets Point, located in the area surrounding the CitiField baseball stadium, home of the Mets. The neighborhood is home to 250 repair shops that provide jobs to 1,700 workers, 90 percent of them Latino. more>

For Miguel Reinoso, a 53-year-old Hispanic man who attended the demonstration, saving daycare centers isn't a political issue. Reinoso is raising his three grandchildren, ages 4, 6, and 9, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He is afraid that if he can't secure a spot for the youngest one, Essence, that he will lose his job at a bodega, and then his apartment. more>

QueensLatino and the non-profit New America Media joined forces to follow the stories of three immigrant families that lost their homes during the foreclosure crisis. more>

Secure Communities uses a Homeland Security database to run checks on fingerprints of anyone arrested for a crime or charges of misconduct. Immigrant communities, the most affected, have not been informed about this controversial measure. more>

Although Mayor Michael Bloomberg recognizes that the federal immigration system is dysfunctional, he is not aware that New York City's own policies contribute to the deportations of many immigrants. It's about time the mayor disentangles city agencies from the worst parts of the overall immigration system. more>

Mexican business owners in El Barrio and the East Harlem Business Capital Corporation (EHBCC) are in the process of creating an association of Mexican business owners, which will include street vendors.   more>

While reporters spend all their time telling us about Egypt, politicians in the United States are taking advantage of the fact that nobody is paying attention to other issues; the politicians are up to their old tricks in the Congress and state senates. more>

Each year, around 5,000 children and teens lose their lives to a firearm. Every one of those needless deaths is a tragedy that, after the shots ring out, becomes buried in the silence of daily life. more>

According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of very seven Hispanic female teens in New York City attempts suicide before reaching adulthood. more>

"A major change has occurred over the past decade. We Mexicans create jobs but we are also consumers," explained Navarro, 43, who recently opened the first Mexican-owned supermarket in the area. more>