Oye, hablas espanol? Then keep reading. Ford Motors and AOL Latino are launching an online contest that aims to discover the next Hispanic small-business "visionary," called -- appropriately enough -- El Visionario.

With crude oil prices pushing past $60 a barrel, everyone is feeling the pain at the pump. But for small companies that depend heavily on transportation, the effect is more punch than pinch.

The formation here of a new Hispanic & African American Leadership Alliance is a development more and more US cities are likely to see with the rise of Hispanic politicians like Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

A vote in a Washington suburb on whether to use tax money to pay for a gathering site for nearly 150 regular day laborers, mostly undocumented Hispanic immigrants, has generated media attention from as far as San Francisco.

Nothing can get a Republican political strategist in California more hopeful, or a Democratic strategist more defensive, quite like suggesting that the future of the Hispanic vote is up for grabs.

Though the United States long has had a crop of Spanish-language newspapers, only in the past five years have mainstream media organizations realized the potential of catering to the blossoming Hispanic population.

Accelerating Hispanic population gains accounted for more than 80 percent of the Chicago region's growth since 2000, according to new census estimates showing huge increases well outside the area's urban center.

While the U.S. median age continues to rise, from 35.3 years in 2000, the median age of Hispanics remains the lowest of all groups. Demographers predict faster growth among young Hispanics than among other young ethnic groups for the next decade.

Double-digit gains in Hispanic advertising expenditures were made in all media, but television continues to garner the majority of all ad dollars, according to a new HispanTelligence research report.

Changes in the bankruptcy laws affect small businesses at both ends of the spectrum. For growing companies, it gives them more power to recover bad debts. At the same time, it makes bankruptcy a larger liability for entrepreneurs.