As President Obama and GOP candidate Mitt Romney court Latino voters, CNN takes an In Depth look at what matters most to this diverse group, and how that will influence elections.
Two Army reservists have sued the Defense Department for excluding women from combat jobs.
"It stigmatizes women's service as not as important as male service," said Col. Ellen Haring, a plaintiff in the case."We're excluded from branches that allow career progression to the highest ranks."
Haring spoke to CNN's Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence for The Situation Room.
Editor’s note: CNN.com writer Moni Basu is author of “Chaplain Turner's War,” published by Agate Digital.
By Moni Basu, CNN
Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) – Darren Turner insisted on going to war, even though the Army usually reserves desk jobs at home for new chaplains like him.
Turner was young and green, enthusiastic about taking God to the battlefield. The Army captain had learned that people in pain are often wide-open to inviting God into their lives.
Jesus always ran to crises. Turner was going to do the same.
He’d enrolled in seminary in 2004 at Regent University in Virginia, founded by evangelist Pat Robertson. And early in his spiritual journey, he was inspired by Christian writer John Eldredge, who suggests that American men have abandoned the stuff of heroic dreams, aided by a Christianity that tells them to be "nice guys."
God, says Eldredge, designed men to be daring, even dangerous.
By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) – Barbara Graves, who helped her husband launch Black Enterprise magazine in 1970, died Friday after a three-year battle with gall bladder cancer, the company said.
Graves, 75, died at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Graves was an elementary school teacher before helping her husband, Earl G. Graves Sr., launch the magazine. She "held every major position, including editorial director, circulation director and chief financial officer."
The businesswoman also was co-founder of the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit, which describes itself as "a professional leadership conference designed especially for executive women of color," and is a known as a major networking event.
Editor's note: In the Security Clearance "Case File" series, CNN national security producers profile key members of the intelligence community. As part of the series, Security Clearance is focusing on the roles women play in the U.S. intelligence community.
By Pam Benson, CNN
(CNN) - You don't really expect to simply fall into the spy business, but for Jeanne Tisinger, that's pretty much how it happened.
She was a business major at George Mason University, looking for some experience in her field while continuing her studies. She joined the college's work-study program and, much to her amazement, her first interview was with the Central Intelligence Agency.
"I was surprised they were even hiring co-op students," she says. "Why would they want a college kid to come into their version of campus? I wasn't sure what they were going to do with me. Then there was, of course, a part of me that was. wow, the mystique of the CIA – what better place to start. It was just kind of a bit of a wide-eyed wonder."
That was nearly three decades ago.
"I'm the classic story of sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," Tisinger says.
She's still with the agency, rising through the ranks to become the CIA's first female chief information officer nearly two years ago. Her job is to oversee the CIA's vital information technology systems and coordinate information-sharing.
By Paul Gittings, for CNN
(CNN) - A century after her childhood inspiration Jim Thorpe won two gold medals at the Stockholm Olympics, synchronized swimmer Mary Killman will be competing in her first Games in London this year.
Like the legendary athlete, Killman comes from a part Native American background in Oklahoma, and is a registered member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN).
Thorpe, who grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation, was spoken of in hushed tones by her elders.
"I'm very proud of my background," Killman told CNN. Her tribe are proud of her as well, regularly highlighting her achievements in their publications.
Washington (CNN) - The uproar last week over a proposed campaign ad highlighting President Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, lit up political circles before organizers finally backed off the idea.
And Mitt Romney came under fire from evangelicals before his speech to Liberty University in Virginia earlier this month because some at the traditional Christian school still believe Mormonism is a cult.
Two very different candidates joined by similar, yet hollow, attacks on their faith illustrate the intense mix of identity politics simmering just beneath the surface of the presidential race.
When it comes to faith and race, there are some who want to paint both candidates as outside the mainstream, not members of the traditional American club. They want to paint them as "others."
Both Obama, the nation's first black president, and Romney, a Mormon, have found that their shared status as members of minority groups and political pioneers, in many ways, has also changed the rules of this presidential campaign cycle, said Nancy Wadsworth, co-editor of the anthology "Faith and Race in American Political Life."
By Halimah Abdullah, CNN
Washington (CNN) - When presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney appears before Latino small-business owners in Washington on Wednesday, he'll address a group whose explosive birth rates foreshadow a seismic political shift in GOP strongholds in the Deep South and Southwest.
"The Republicans' problem is their voters are white, aging and dying off," said David Bositis, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, who studies minority political engagement.
"There will come a time when they suffer catastrophic losses with the realization of the population changes."
Over the next several generations, the wave of minority voters - who, according to U.S. Census figures released this week, now represent more than half of the nation's population born in the past year - will become more of a power base in places like Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. That hold will extend across the Southwest all the way to California, experts say.
The coming political revolution could result in a massive changing of the guard on nearly every level of government, potential cultural clashes, and the type of political alliances that are now considered rare.
Editor's note: Overseas, they fight for freedom. In America, they fight for jobs. “Voters In America: Vets Wanted?” is the first part of In America's documentary series on American voters. J.R. Martinez narrates the documentary re-airing May 19th at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on CNN.
The transition back home after serving in the military can be a challenge for veterans and their families. Here is a list of resources:
Department of Veterans Affairs:
The VetSuccess program assists all veterans find work by providing military skills translators, job skills preparation and other assistance.
This service provides six months of career guidance and job search assistance for all post 9/11 veterans.
This program helps all National Guard and Reserve component members find jobs with military-friendly companies.
Hiring Our Heroes helps all veterans and their spouses find employment through hiring fairs and other programs.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America:
This organization represents all veterans of the 21st century Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts though advocacy, awareness and assistance, including job fairs and GI Bill information.
My Next Move helps translate military skills into civilian skills and also provides resume writing help for all veterans.
Transition Assistance Program (TAP):
This program provides transition assistance to all veterans returning to civilian life with help for needs such as disability claims, job searches and counseling.
Veterans Job Bank:
This is a search engine that links all veterans to companies looking to hiring veterans.
VetJobs.Com:
This online service allows all veterans to search for jobs that are posted by companies looking to hire veterans, as well as posting their resume.
This law was designed to provide seamless transitions for service members, expand education and training opportunities for veterans and provide tax credits for employers who hire veterans.
Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program:
This program helps National Guard and Reserve soldiers adjust to post-deployment life by helping with health care, education/training opportunities, financial, legal benefits and more.
By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) - Trayvon Martin had drugs in his system when he was fatally shot earlier this year by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, according to autopsy results released Thursday.
Martin's blood contained THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, according to an autopsy conducted February 27 - the day after the teenager was shot dead.
Toxicology tests found elements of the drug in the teenager's chest blood - 1.5 nanograms per milliliter of one type (THC), as well as 7.3 nanograms of another type (THC-COOH) - according to the medical examiner's report. There was also a presumed positive test of cannabinoids in Martin's urine. It was not immediately clear how significant these amounts were.
He died from a gunshot wounded to chest fired from "intermediate range," according to the medical examiner's report, which was one of several documents on the case released Thursday by the office of special prosecutor Angela Corey.
Editor's note: In between brunch dates, Pallavi Reddy is an associate producer for CNN. Her interests include politics, sports and food. She hopes to one day be as happily married as her parents.
By Pallavi Reddy, CNN
(CNN) - It was like any blind date. I had dressed in my Saturday best and walked to my favorite brunch restaurant in West Los Angeles to meet a guy - let's call him Raj - for the first time.
I recognized him from the pictures I'd seen, and we greeted each other with smiles and a firm handshake. We had e-mailed a few times and spoken on the phone to confirm our plans. He was polite; he didn't sit down in his chair until I did, and he paid the bill. Our conversation was casual to begin with: favorite movies, music, plans for the summer. No one would have guessed this setup was to be the start of an arranged marriage.
Most Westerners may think the concept of arranged marriage is backward or antiquated - and if you watch the old Indian movies, it can come across that way: two people meet once, or not at all, before their wedding day and then are forced to make a marriage work without even being consulted about their partner. In my family, at least, that was rarely the case. My parents met and spoke before their wedding day in India and were asked whether they each saw a future with the other.
It's easy for me to rebel against this tradition my family has maintained and say, "That was then, this is now." But despite having been born and raised in America, where arrangements like this are far from a cultural norm, I understand their perspective. All they want for me is security.
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
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