Covering the week’s most noteworthy news stories impacting the lives of the Filipino-American community in the State of California.
Despite facing opposition, the newly-elected California governor reaffirms his executive order, signaling a shift in the American perspective on capital punishment WHEN California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on the state’s death penalty last week, it caused a stir, to put it lightly. National outlets picked up the news, op-eds were written about the…
By Ana B. Ibarra and Harriet Blair Rowan | Kaiser Health News SACRAMENTO — “Vivan los inmigrantes!” echoed through the halls of the state Capitol on Wednesday as immigrants and activists gathered to push for legislation that would extend full Medicaid coverage to adults in the country illegally. Sons and daughters clutched photos of their…
Executive order suspends death penalty as long as he’s governor On Wednesday, March 13, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that put a temporary moratorium on the state’s death penalty which ordered the reprieve of 737 inmates on death row. Newsom reasoned his controversial decision by claiming that the death penalty disproportionately affects…
by Anna Gorman Jennifer Millar keeps trash bags and hand sanitizer near her tent, and she regularly pours water mixed with hydrogen peroxide on the sidewalk nearby. Keeping herself and the patch of concrete she calls home clean is a top priority. But this homeless encampment off a Hollywood freeway ramp is often littered with…
Last year more than 1.4 million Californians claimed $346 million on their taxes from California’s Earned Income Tax Credit (Cal EITC). CalEITC4Me is the statewide outreach campaign to promote the use of this proven anti-poverty measure. This year, with the program’s expansion to young adults age 18 to 24 and those age 65 and older,…
by Anna Maria Barry-Jester Imagine identifying a toxin so potent it could rewire a child’s brain and erode his immune system. A substance that, in high doses, tripled the risk of heart disease and lung cancer and reduced life expectancy by 20 years. And then realizing that tens of millions of American children had been…
Alongside representatives from the California Charter School Association, California Teachers Association, California School Employees Association, California Federation of Teachers and SEIU California, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 126 on Tuesday, March 5, a historic legislation requiring all schools that receive taxpayer funding to follow the same standards for accountability and transparency. “It’s common sense….
by Anna Gorman and Ana B. Ibarra Staff members at immigration detention centers in California delayed medical appointments for patients complaining of shortness of breath. They inadequately supervised suicidal youths. And in one case, they failed to refer a patient with dangerously low blood pressure to a physician. These and other health and safety problems…
With the highest poverty rate in the nation, low-income Californians need the protection offered by SB 616 SACRAMENTO – Low-income Californians would finally get the protection they need from debt collectors who are attempting to zero-out their checking accounts with a bill introduced Friday, February 22, by Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont). SB 616 prevents collectors…
THE news of President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration has now reached a legal challenge in the form of a lawsuit on Monday, Feb. 18 led by the attorneys general of 16 states including California. The states claim that the president’s efforts in redirecting federal dollars for the $5.7 billion-wall at the United States-Mexico border…
AFTER multiple crashes due to extreme snowy and icy conditions at the California-Nevada stateline on Monday, Feb. 18, Caltrans has reopened the I-15 freeway after a four-hour closure that caused heavy delays in both directions. The closures took place at Sloan Road and Rose Parkway just southwest of Las Vegas Monday morning from about 6…
by Harriet Blair Rowan A rash of recent measles outbreaks in New York, Texas and Washington state shines a light on California’s largely successful effort in recent years to suppress the disease — though some of the shine might be fading. A serious measles outbreak that started at Disneyland in December 2014 and carried over…
SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday, February 11, announced that he has signed a General Order rescinding previous authorization for California National Guard operations at the U.S.-Mexico border that allowed California National Guard personnel to perform duties traditionally undertaken by the federal government there. “The border ‘emergency’ is a manufactured crisis. And California will…
A FILIPINA doctor has been named the chief of staff at Dignity Health-Glendale Memorial Hospital in Glendale, California, becoming the first person of Filipino descent to hold that position and the fourth female in the hospital’s history. Dr. Brigeli Westerband, who has been an emergency room physician at the hospital for the past 20 years,…
Twenty-five years ago this week, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake rattled Southern California and left behind an aftermath of collapsed freeways, widespread power outages, leveled buildings, and thousands of heavily affected people. The 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit the Los Angeles County’s San Fernando Valley region early January 17, 1994 at 4:30 a.m., killing more than 60…
California needs at least 200k new residential construction workers OAKLAND, Calif. — According to California’s Housing and Community Development Department (HCD), the golden state must dramatically increase the productive capacity of its residential construction sector in order to create enough new housing to improve affordability. However, new research entitled “Rebuilding California: the Golden State’s Housing…
by Samantha Young and Ana B. Ibarra Kaiser Health News SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday unveiled his first state budget, one that leads California down a very different health care path than the one Washington has forged. The progressive blueprint embraces a state health insurance mandate, beefed-up insurance subsidies, coverage for undocumented immigrants…
CA Gov. Gavin Newsom sworn into office, puts forth statewide single-payer healthcare plan, reinvention plan for DMV As California Gov. Gavin Newsom was inaugurated this week, a coalition of 40 advocacy groups is urging the new governor to “prioritize” the concerns of the vast Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community. In a…
by Samantha Young WASHINGTON, D.C. — Each of the seven California Democrats who flipped Republican congressional seats in the midterm election campaigned for more government-funded health care — with most of them calling for a complete government takeover. So when they join the Golden State’s delegation this week, they will make it the largest state…
California’s House representatives join 116th US Congress’ most diverse class The 116th United States Congress and its freshman class convened on Thursday, Jan. 3, and its ethnic and gender makeup continues to shine a light on the impact of diverse representation in the government. The 2018 midterm election results ushered in the historically diverse crop…
Women in leadership, tighter gun control, climbing minimum wage among new policy changes FOLLOWING the fireworks, toasts, and New Year greetings that took place during the midnight transition into the new year, California woke up with hundreds of new policies that could mean big things for its nearly 40 million Californians. From putting more women…
FOLLOWING a rather tumultuous year of voter registration errors, still long lines, and the recent issues with its Real ID protocol, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) looks ahead with a new leader picked by California Governor Jerry Brown. Chief Deputy Director Bill Davidson — who has worked at the department for 16 years…
by Anna B. Ibarra SACRAMENTO, Calif. — What do hip-hop dancing and health insurance have in common? For one, you sure do hope that the break dancer busting backflips is covered. Beyond that, Covered California, the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange, is betting that one will bring attention to the other. So, on a stage…
Appellate attorney Audra Ibarra becomes the first Filipina to serve as a Bay Area superior court judge After the historic 2018 midterm election in which a record number of women and people of color were elected to office across the country, the California superior courts just got a little more diverse as well. Before he…
The Pangasinan Presidents Club (PPC) USA, club of past presidents of towns and cities organizations from Pangasinan, held its second Induction & Inaugural Ball and Holiday Celebration last Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the Best Western/Grosvenor Hotel in South San Francisco, California. Jose S. Esteves, former mayor of Milpitas, California, inducted the incoming executive officers,…
A California commission’s proposal to tax text messages met with strong pushback This week, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) filed a proposal for a statewide “texting tax” that, if passed, would go into effect next month. The new surcharge — which is currently presented as less than 7 percent — would not tax per-text…
by Barbara Feder Ostrov | California Healthline MORE than half of California’s nursing homes are asking to be exempted from new state regulations that would require them to spend more time directly caring for their patients. The state’s new staffing requirements for nursing homes, quietly passed in last year’s budget bill, seem universally unpopular. Patient advocates…
The Fil-Am Regents scholar was the youngest of the 12 victims Family, friends and classmates of Borderline Bar shooting victim Alaina Housley mourned her passing on Wednesday, Nov. 28 in a memorial service at Pepperdine University, where the 18-year-old was in her first year. As previously reported in the Asian Journal, Housley — whose mother…
by Harriet Blair Rowan California’s Department of Public Health says the flu killed 329 people under age 65 in the last flu season, from October 2017 to August 2018. But that is likely only a small fraction of the total deaths in the nation’s most populous state because the department didn’t count the hundreds of…
Filipino-American Democrat TJ Cox has defeated three-term Republican incumbent David Valadao to represent California’s 21st Congressional District, giving Democrats its 40th House seat gain this election cycle. Three weeks following the November 6 midterm elections, the 21st district remained one of the last undecided races in the country, with votes coming in favor for Cox…
