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The headline will surprise very few, but it is now official: More than half the babies born in the U.S. last year were not white but either Latino, Black, Asian or from some other minority. The new report from the U.S. Census Bureau tell us more about how far and how fast our country is changing.

Immigrant advocates criticized the U.S. Census Bureau Monday for rebuffing a city petition to adjust the 2010 population count.

New census data looking at median income identifies some of the richest and poorest neighborhoods in the New York City area. The numbers and location might not be all too surprising, but what might is how close some of these neighborhoods on either end of the income scale are to one another.

Update: Links to the US Census Bureau statics are not include in links.

In our first installment examining how the decennial redistricting process affects—and is affected by—ethnic and racial communities of interest, we took a look at Queens’ growing Asian community who are calling for more opportunities to be part of the political process. We made our own plurality Asian Congressional district, which brought up the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and the role it’s played in New York City politics.

Few communities have benefited more from the VRA than the black community. While Harlem has been cast as the symbolic center for black politics in New York City, the real epicenter of black political power is Brooklyn. It has been, and remains, the borough with the largest African American, Caribbean and continental African population.

But as with the rest of the city, Brooklyn’s black population is in a state of flux. A number of external and internal forces have reduced the relative and absolute population of people of African descent, and the trend lines going forward indicate a city that will continue to be less black. The waning size of the black population—sooner or later—will have a corresponding effect on black political power in the city.

One of the main issues being discussed during redistricting is providing communities of interest--often meaning, in short hand, racial and ethnic groups--with political boundaries that give these under-served groups greater influence over who represents them.

Last week a coalition of social justice groups released draft maps for the state legislature seats here in the city. Asian and Latino-majority districts were carved out for both the Assembly and State Senate, while existing African American districts were kept intact. Today Common Cause, who has been pushing this issue, has an op-ed in El Diario on the need for more majority Latino districts.

"Where the lines are drawn have the power to influence whether a particular neighborhood or community will be able to elect the representative of their choice," Susan Lerner, the group's executive director, wrote in the English version. "Communities that are divided among several districts – as neighborhoods with large numbers of Latinos have been in current and previous district maps - find it harder to gather the voting strength to make a difference at the polls."

At the Congressional level there have been pushes to create both a Latino--predominately Dominican--Congressional district in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx. There has also been speculation that a 40 percent Asian district could be created in Queens.

We decided to see if that was possible. John Keefe, our map wizard at WNYC, dug through census data to carve out what would be a 40.3 percent Asian district.

A few things. First, race can't be the only thing used to create a political map, per Federal rules. This was the specific thing we were looking to do, and did our best to keep the district as condensed as possible. Still, as you can see, it's not the most visually pleasing map. Other groups working on maps they plan to submit to LATFOR, the legislative group drawing the lines, say it's possible to create a 40 percent Asian district that is more tightly constructed.

But what the map does illustrate is that it's possible to create such a district. More importantly, the Asian community in Queens is currently having their political potency spread over four different Congressional districts.

Steve Choi, executive director of MinKwon--an Asian American community group located in Flushing, Queens--took a look at the map. His group is creating their own, and he was particularly concerned about the push into Jackson Heights and Elmhurst area because of the Latino population there that would itself be diluted if only the Asian population was considered. He said they're working to create a unity map with other organizations to help preserve political strength across the various ethnic and racial communities.

Still, the exercise helped prove Choi and other activists' point. "The basic concept is that you can have a [Congressional] district that is 40 percent Asian American in Queens," he said.

The long-time exclusion of Asians in the political process has driven Choi and others to use this opportunity to push for better districts. "I don't think it's a stretch to say we have historically been disenfranchised just as many other minority communities in the state have been," he said.

While LATFOR hasn't been, in Choi's mind, particularly embracing of the push to create more Asian districts--he said the committee has said it is focusing on "the current political realities"--he feels the time is right for political lines to be drawn with his community in mind.

"It's realistic, it's possible, and its necessary to draw these districts in a way that's going to include our influence," he said, noting that he and other groups are keeping all options on the table--including litigation--to make that happen.

Next up: we'll be looking at the 11th Congressional District in Brooklyn and what it will need to take to keep the Federally protected African American population in the district at the levels it what was in 2000, despite major demographic shifts over the last decade.

Rachel Black, a policy analyst in the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation, looks at the new Census Bureau report showing a record number of Americans living below the poverty line.

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More New Yorkers live below the poverty line than did last year, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The number of same-sex couples who call New Jersey home increased significantly over the last 10 years, according to the latest census figures.

The Bloomberg administration formally challenged the Census Bureau's population count for the city, five months after claiming an undercount had occurred.

New York's Hispanic community became significantly more diverse over the last decade. Unlike many other parts of America, there is no one ethnic group that dominates the Hispanic category here. Yet when you take a look at Hispanic representation in the city's political landscape, it would seem that Puerto Ricans have the job of speaking for all.

Same-sex marriage will soon be legal in New York — but more same-sex couples in New York City are already declaring their partnership with the Census Bureau.

New York City recorded a 27 percent increase in the number of same-sex couples over the last ten years, according to the latest data from the 2010 Census.

The 2010 Census showed that the African American population dropped in New York City by two percent. WNYC reporter Arun Venugopal discusses the migration of blacks from New York City to Southern locales.

UPDATE: Check out the New Little Map Below! We've taken our data set and mapped it.

Each Thursday in June, the Brian Lehrer Show and Andrew Beveridge of Social Explorer will discuss New York’s diverse communities - areas of ethnic concentration you may not know about or are changing quickly. ...

The number of mixed race kids has risen by 50% in past 10 years. Interracial relationships are also on the rise. Terry Zealand and Faye Zealand, co-founders of the AIDS Resource Foundation for Children, discuss their interracial relationship and how things have changed since they got together in the 60's. 

Listeners: Did you grow up as a mixed race child? Are you a parent of a mixed race child? Any surprises about being mixed race? Source of pride? Identity confusion? Tell us about your experience!

The Justice Department just approved New York's right to count prisoners in their home districts, rather than in their county of incarceration. How will that change the state legislative map in a year when redistricting reform already has blood boiling in Albany?

The Asian population in the five boroughs spiked 32 percent in the last decade, and New Yorkers of South Asian descent had a lot to do with it. Numbers from the Census Bureau show that Indian American numbers alone skyrocketed 77 percent in Manhattan to reach 25,857, and in the city over all there are now 192,209 people who identify as Asian Indian. In the next few weeks we'll have numbers on the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Nepali and Indo-Caribbean communities which have also been steadily rising. All of which raises an interesting question.

City officials are still scratching their heads to figure out why the 2010 Census only counted 8.175 million residents in New York — about a quarter million people below the city's own estimates — as they prepare a formal challenge in the next two months.

With Republicans now controlling most state legislatures, the GOP has the luxury of steering the process. That likely means packing newly-distributed black voters into strategically drawn borders, siphoning them from swing districts that would become more solidly Republican as a result.

Obviously, there are big implications for the next decade of elections. In post-census years, it's good to be the king.

The Alabama State Senate yesterday passed legislation to crack down on illegal legislation. The measure, which is similar in tone to Arizona's controversial SB 1070, already passed the House once. It now returns to the House for final approval before heading to the governor's desk for signature.

The national immigration discussion is also well underway. Republican hopefuls for the 2012 presidential nomination have been laying out their opinions on the issue, and President Obama signaled his readiness to renew conversation this week by convening religious, political and business leaders to the White House to talk about federal-level immigration reform.