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1. Population to breach 305.5m by 2009
2. FBI extends discourse with Somalis
3. DHS reveals threat expectation
4. NE city mulls special referendum
5. Church looks overseas for priests

1.
Record expected for U.S. population
By Mary Lou Pickel
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 30, 2008

The nation’s population is projected to reach 305,529,237 on New Year’s Day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That’s nearly a one percent increase from last New Year’s.

In January 2009, one birth is expected to occur every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds.

Immigration is expected to add one person every 36 seconds in January.
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http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/12/30/census.html

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2.
Fearing recruitment, FBI reaches out to US Somalis: report
Agence France Presse, December 29, 2008

Washington, DC (AFP) -- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is expanding contacts with Somali immigrant communities in the United States, especially in Minnesota, out of concern that terrorists may be recruiting young men there, The Washington Times reported Monday.

The newspaper said about young 20 men from the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area had disappeared in recent months and are thought to have joined Islamist rebels who are on the verge of overthrowing the US- and UN-backed government in Somalia.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jug3AagUaMqpyCTUrFF0R...

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3.
US Homeland Security forecasts 5-year threat view
The Associated Press, December 25, 2008

Washington, DC (AP) -- The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.
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Long waits for immigration and more restrictive European refugee and asylum programs will cause more foreigners to try to enter the U.S. illegally. Increasing numbers of Iraqis are expected to migrate to the U.S. in the next five years; and refugees from Somalia and Sudan could increase because of conflicts in those countries, the assessment said.

Because there is a proposed cap of 12,000 refugees from Africa, officials expect more will try to enter the U.S. illegally as well. Officials predict the same scenario for refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Intelligence officials predict the pool of radical Islamists within the U.S. will increase over the next five years due partly to the ease of online recruiting means. Officials foresee "a wave of young, self-identified Muslim 'terrorist wannabes' who aspire to carry out violent acts."

The U.S. has already seen some examples of these homegrown terrorists. Recently five Muslim immigrants were convicted of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in a case the government said demonstrated its post-Sept. 11 determination to stop terrorist attacks in the planning stages.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/25/america/NA-US-Homeland-Threat-...

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4.
Fremont Moves Toward Special Election on Illegal Immigration
Petition drives nears required number of signatures
Nebraskastatepaper.com, December 29, 2008

Fremont, NE -- Fremont is getting closer to conducting a special election to vote on a law targeting illegal immigrants.

A local petition drive to reconsider an ordinance that prohibits residents to house, hire or rent to illegal immigrants is near the 3,000 signatures required by the end of February. That number should meet the benchmark of 20 percent of registered voters living inside Fremont’s city limits.
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http://nebraska.statepaper.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2008/12/29/495988dae1d26

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5.
Importing priests for U.S. Catholics
By Laurie Goodstein
The International Herald Tribune (France), December 28, 2008

Owensboro, KY -- Sixteen of the Reverend Darrell Venters's fellow priests are running themselves ragged here, each serving three parishes simultaneously. One priest admits he stood at an altar once and forgot exactly which church he was in.

So Venters, lean and leathery as the Marlboro man, a cigarette in one hand and a cellphone with a ringtone like a churchbell in the other, spends most of his days recruiting priests from overseas to serve in the small towns, rolling hills and farmland that make up the Roman Catholic diocese of Owensboro.

He sorts through e-mail and letters from foreign priests soliciting jobs in America, many written in formal, stilted English. He is looking, he said, for something that shouts: "This priest is just meant for Kentucky!"

"If we didn't get international priests," he said, "some of our guys would have had five parishes. If one of our guys were to leave, or, God forbid, have a heart attack and die, we didn't have anyone to fill in."

In the last six years, he has brought 12 priests from Africa, Asia and Latin America who are serving in this diocese covering the western third of Kentucky, where a vast majority of residents are white. His experiences offer a close look at the church's drive to import foreign priests to compensate for a dearth of Americans, and the ways in which this trend is reshaping the Roman Catholic experience in America.

One of six diocesan priests now serving in the United States came from abroad, according to "International Priests in America," a large study published in 2006. About 300 international priests arrive to work here each year. Even in American seminaries, about one in three of those studying for the priesthood are foreign-born.

Venters has seen lows. Some foreign priests had to be sent home. One became romantically entangled with a female co-worker. One isolated himself in the rectory. Still another would not learn to drive. A priest from the Philippines left after two weeks because he could not stand the cold. A Peruvian priest was hostile toward Hispanics who were not from Peru.

"From a strictly personnel perspective," Venters said, "the international priests are easier to work with than the local priests. If they mess up, you just say, 'See you.' You withdraw your permission for them to stay."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/28/americas/priest.php