‘Best fried chicken chain’ Jollibee opens flagship NYC location in Times Square
Expansion plans include locations in Grand Central, Brooklyn; First Philadelphia store to open next month JOLLIBEE, the Filipino fast food brand aiming to become one of the world’s top-five restaurant chains, is taking America by storm with the opening of its new flagship restaurant in the heart of New York City’s Times Square. “Just being…
Star Magic’s 30th anniversary concert ‘Beyond the Stars’ completes a coast-to-coast US tour with a SoCal extravaganza
Star Magic’s 30th Anniversary Concert “Beyond the Stars” culminated their three-city concert tour at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills on Monday, August 14, marking the return of Star Magicon the live concert stages in the U.S. after two years. With 20 of Star Magic’s brightest talents from the Philippines, “Beyond the Stars” showcased what Filipino…
LA County logs nearly 8,000 new COVID cases
LOS Angeles County logged nearly 8,000 additional cases of the coronavirus over a three-day period, the Department of Public Health reported on Monday, August 22. Data from Public Health showed that 7,924 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county, bringing the total to 3,383,792 cases to date. The breakdown includes 3,701 from Saturday,…
Public health agencies adapt covid lessons to curb overdoses, stds, and gun violence
by Katheryn Houghton LIVINGSTON, Mont. — Shannan Piccolo walked into a hotel with a tote bag full of Narcan and a speech about how easy it is to use the medicine that can reverse opioid overdoses. “Hopefully your business would never have to respond to an overdose, but we’d rather have you have some Narcan…
Fil-Am former congressman TJ Cox arrested, charged with 28 counts of fraud
FORMER United States Representative Terence John “T.J.” Cox was charged with a swath of financial crimes tied to his congressional campaign, according to an indictment that was unsealed on Tuesday, Aug. 16 by a grand jury in California. The 28 charges include “15 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of money laundering, one count of…
Fil-Am man sentenced to 45 days in jail for role in Jan. 6 riot
THE Filipino American man who was famously photographed carrying a walis tambo (broom) during the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol has been sentenced to 45 days in jail. Kene Brian Lazo of Norfolk, Virginia was sentenced by a federal judge on Thursday, August 18 to 45 days in jail after being arrested…
LA mayoral candidate Rick Caruso hosts a celebration of Jo Koy’s ‘Easter Sunday’
IN a bid to court the Filipino American vote, Los Angeles mayoral candidate and real estate billionaire Rick Caruso recently hosted a special community event in celebration of the first major Fil-Am Hollywood studio film “Easter Sunday,” starring stand-up comic Jo Koy. The event, dubbed “A Celebration of Filipino Americana,” had Jo Koy and the…
Actors Princess Punzalan, Alberto Isaac to appear in season 2 of FOX’s ‘The Cleaning Lady’
Filipino American actor Alberto Isaac and award-winning Filipino actress Princess Punzalan to appear as Thony’s in-laws SEASON 2 of FOX’s primetime drama series “The Cleaning Lady,” premiering on September 19 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, announces its new guest stars, Princess Punzalan and Alberto Isaac, to play Thony’s in-laws. “The Cleaning Lady” is the groundbreaking FOX series and…
West Covina pays tribute to frontliners at the Fil-Am Bayani Day on Aug. 27
THE U.S. Philippines Business Association (UPBA), with the support of the City of West Covina, is proudly organizing the first-ever Filipino American Frontliners Heroes Day (“Bayani Day”) on Saturday, August 27 from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the West Covina Civic Center. The event is open to the public, with no admission fee. Surprise…
[COLUMN] FVR, a very endearing Philippine president
BECAUSE the late 12th Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos is one of the most admired presidents of our Motherland — who restored democracy and who recently passed away at age 94 — let me show some vignettes of my close interactions with him through the years before, during and after his presidency. After all, he…
Biden administration says landmark Inflation Reduction Act will benefit AAPI families
AHEAD of the contentious midterm elections, United States President Joe Biden secured a major victory for his administration by signing the Inflation Reduction Act, the long-awaited bill that, among other things, caps prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients. “The American people won, and the special interests lost,” Biden said, referencing Big Pharma companies that lobbied…
Los Angeles County to begin administering second doses of moneypox vaccine
THE U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to allow the JYNNEOS vaccine to be given between layers of the skin (intradermally) for people 18 years of age and older at high risk for monkeypox infection. The recent EUA also allows the vaccine to be given beneath the skin…
MUSA Advocacy: Fashion for a cause
SAN DIEGO – The Aklan Association of San Diego County (AASD) will proudly present the “2022 MUSA Fashion Show – A Fashion Show for All Generations” on Sunday, August 28, 2022, at the Anchors Catering and Conference Center in 2375 Recreation Way, San Diego, CA 92136 from 1 p.m to 5 p.m. Admission fee is…
Postcards go out to registered voters in San Diego
THE Registrar of Voters has mailed over 1.9 million postcards to registered voters in San Diego County listing voting options for the Nov. 8, 2022, Statewide General Election. Every active registered voter will automatically receive a ballot in the mail and will have three options for returning that ballot: by mail, to one of the…
Sen. Cortez Masto visits AAPI small businesses in Las Vegas’ Chinatown
SENATOR Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) recently joined Asian American and Pacific Islander community leaders on a tour of Las Vegas-area businesses. Cortez Masto joined Clark County Planning Commissioner Duy Nguyen and small business owners Nelson Huynh of District One and Hang Wong of Matcha Maiko on the tour and to talk about issues facing their respective businesses….
[COLUMN] Journalist Janet Nepales’ head-turning book on ‘FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World’
“Creative people are critical: they don’t stop with the given and the (supposedly) “obvious.” They are imaginative. They make a habit of thinking in more open and simple ways, keeping their minds two steps ahead of things as they are. They are inventive. They consciously seek to devise new ways of thinking. And creative people…
[COLUMN] Time spent by employees on required bag checks must be paid
Amanda Frlekin and others worked for Apple Inc. as retail store employees in California. Apple imposed mandatory searches of employees’ bags, packages, purses, backpacks, briefcases, and personal Apple technology devices. Apple employees are required to clock out before submitting to the exit search. Failure to comply with this policy may lead to disciplinary action, up…
[COLUMN] On stepping outside of our boundaries
IT was eight o’clock on a quiet night in the municipality of Izalco in Sonsonate, El Salvador. The parish priest, Padre Napo, and his vicar, Padre Jorge, invited me to come to a meeting with members of their parish pastoral council. I didn’t know what to expect from this encounter. All I knew was that…
[COLUMN] Severe financial distress? Bankruptcy can help
AT 90 years old, this senior was my oldest client. Everything came crashing down on him during his golden years, unfortunately. He had a business, which looked like it never made money but he kept on doing the business just because it gave him something to do every day. So, he had $34,000 in credit…
[COLUMN] Can I get a green card if I had a previous marriage petition denied based on fraud?
Dear Attorney Tan, I recently married a US Citizen, who is my second husband. He has filed an immigrant visa petition and green card application for me. My husband recently received from USCIS a Notice of Intent to Deny the petition that he filed on my behalf. The Notice indicated that the immigrant visa petition…
[COLUMN] How important is it to have a living trust?
THINKING about one’s demise is not something people want to spend time thinking about. However reality is that we all have to face this one day. It is just a matter of whether you depart this world prepared or unprepared. If you pass away with at least $184,500 in gross assets and you do not…
NYC Fil-Ams celebrate all things Ube
WHILE Filipinos in the diaspora have their distinct ube memory – from the fish-shaped halaya with flecks of Star margarine or the jars of ube jam pasalubong from Baguio City, or ube in pastillas or otap – it was only about a decade ago when food lovers around the world began taking notice. Ube, a tuber indigenous to the Philippines has been touted as the next big thing…
[COLUMN] Ruffa Gutierrez doesn’t pay attention to bashers
BEAUTY queen and actress Ruffa Gutierrez has a surefire way to keep her sanity despite the constant barrage of criticism leveled at celebrities: pay no attention to bashers. The former Miss World Second Princess said as much in an article in the Philippine Star recently. “I’ve been in the industry for 36 years and all…