Seeing a chance to sell Vidalia onions to one of the last Communist bastions on the planet, Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia this week softened his opposition to U.S. trade with Cuba following a visit to the island nation.

The Justice Department is expanding its internal inquiry to look into new allegations that senior department officials improperly filled career jobs based on applicants' Republican or conservative credentials.

Gilbert R. Vasquez has been elected to the board of directors of Entravision Communications Corp., a diverse Spanish-language media company.

Hispanic auto dealers, suppliers and national leaders of major Latino business organizations plans to meet with senior representatives of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai and BMW this month at the first National Latino Automotive Conference.

The name Tech Coast Angels might be reminiscent of a certain motorcycle gang. But these angels aren't raising Cain at rock concerts. They are a 270-member-strong group of early stage "angel" investors at the ready with their checkbook for good investments.

When Jeff Hawkins speaks, people in the tech business take heed. After all, Hawkins, founder of Palm, has invented three breakthrough gizmos--GRiDPad, one of the first tablet computers; PalmPilot, the first hit personal digital assistant; and the Treo smartphone.

When Nicole Testani got something in the mail earlier this year from AAA that advertised a portable navigation device for $599, she started thinking about the technology.

By using large flat-screen displays, cameras placed behind the displays and high-quality lighting and sound, several firms, including high-tech stalwarts Cisco Systems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., are betting they can create video-based meetings in which it is possible to interact with people, no matter how far away, as if they were in the same room.

Advertisers' efforts to reach Hispanic consumers are becoming more targeted, and language is a major factor. Advertisers spent more than $3.3 billion to market products to U.S. Hispanics in 2005, a 6.8 percent increase from 2004.

More than 20 percent of Cubans are 65 or older, while a scant 4 percent of Mexicans are in that age bracket. On the other hand, 37 percent of Mexicans and 31 percent of Puerto Ricans are younger than 18.

Welcome to the 25th Anniversary edition of the Hispanic Business 500®, the premier listing of the top Hispanic-owned companies in the United States. Although it contains but 73 companies out of the HISPANIC BUSINESS 500®, the wholesale sector rules the roost for the top Hispanic-owned companies in the nation.