A new study by the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute points to a shortage of Latino nurses in a market that offers notable opportunities due to the lack of ethnic diversity. The report, "Latina and Latino Nurses: Why are there so few?," points to the current and projected shortage of professional nurses as "a growing concern threatening the integrity of the health care system," in the words of Maria Teresa V. Taningco, who co-authored the document with Rainbow Vogt.

Hillary Rodham Clinton began the campaign in pearls, assembling a team of fundraisers that included luminaries from New York's financial services industry. She's ending it in pickup trucks, Dairy Queens and fire stations, taking a 2-by-4 to "Wall Street money brokers" and vowing to break up oil-rich OPEC.

Today, the Department of the Treasury announced that in its first official week of sending out stimulus payments, approximately $7.1 billion was distributed to about 7.7 million Americans. The payments were originally scheduled to be sent out starting May 2, but the department was able to get a jump on the gun. Received yours yet? Then you're utilizing direct deposit. If you're not slated for electronic payments . . . well, as they say, patience is a virtue.

For more than two decades, the annual Hispanic Business 500 directory has served as a barometer of the U.S. Hispanic economy. A purchase of the 2007 directory provides the top 500 Hispanic-owned companies list in Excel format including: CEO names; company addresses and telephone numbers; e-mail addresses for 375 companies and Web addresses for 430 companies; and company revenue and employees numbers for 2005 and 2006.

Entrepreneurship--the willingness to take a risk and start one's own business--has always been the driving force of the U.S. economy. Research indicates that among American minority groups, Hispanics are the most likely to start their own businesses. The most recent government data show Hispanics own the largest number of firms.

In the financial world, green can beget green--in all sorts of ways. In the past, "going green" meant protecting the planet, but today, it increasingly also means the potential profits reaped from environmental investments. "Green investing" focuses on a range of environmental and social concerns. Also called Socially Responsible Investing, or SRI, by analysts, its assets have blown through the roof in the past few years.

There is a shadow looming over the world of Hispanic nonprofits, threatening many with insolvency. Hundreds of charitable organizations confront the disturbing fact that a mere 1.2 percent of the donations from national foundations go to Hispanic nonprofits. One organization, however, that has bucked this trend is the highly successful San Francisco-based Hispanics in Philanthropy, or HIP. Aggressive, savvy, and international in scope, HIP is filling a small but critically important niche.

Not long ago, hybrid cars were little more than novelties. But those days are long gone. Today's hybrids can be sleek, stylish, and fast. With the price of gasoline soaring toward $4 per gallon in the United States, they are increasingly attractive economically. In fact, these gas-savers may claim 80 percent of the market by 2020.