PRESIDENT Barack Obama sent Congress his eighth and final budget of his presidency on Tuesday, Feb. 9. The proposal includes a spending record of $4.1 trillion on a number of initiatives, from a new war on cancer to combating global warming to fighting growing threats from Islamic State militants. “While it is important to take…
ABOUT 605,000 undocumented immigrants residing in California were granted driver’s license in 2015, the first year that the state has permitted them to do so, according to a news release from the state Department of Motor Vehicles. In October 2013, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation known as AB 60, which allows eligible undocumented immigrants…
LOS ANGELES — 17-year-old Cedrick Argueta was honored on Tuesday, Feb. 9 by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education for earning a perfect score on his Advanced Placement Calculus exam. Argueta, the son of a Filipina nurse and a Salvadoran maintenance worker, is one of 12 students in the world —…
SINCE it is practically “H-1B season” once again, this is an appropriate time to discuss the H-1B visa applications. The USCIS will start accepting new H-1B quota- based applications on April 1, 2016 for the fiscal year 2017. For these applications, the earliest start work date is October 1, 2016. Under Sec. 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b), an alien…
Seniors seek chapter 7 relief for $48k credit card debt Business owner with $1.0M labor lawsuits CLIENT is 65. He operates a service-oriented business with 3 outlets in strip malls. He has been in business for 8 years. Of the 3 outlets, two are losing money, while the third has some profit that subsidizes the loss…
THE use of unreasonable or excessive force by police are in the news now more than ever. Many thought after the Rodney King incident, this issue will never arise again. But several recent police encounters have become high profile because of the tragic endings to civilians – some became permanently injured, others lost their lives….
IMMIGRANTS sometimes find themselves in immigration removal proceedings (deportation) because they have obtained their green cards through fraud and or misrepresentation. A common example would be married children of US citizens who lie to the US Embassy about their marital status by stating that they are single in order to obtain permanent residency. Another common…
ON December 16, 2015, a female Australian lawful permanent resident was allowed to take her oath of allegiance and granted U.S. citizenship. Previously, by Decision dated June 25, 2015, her application for naturalization was denied by USCIS, after appearing for an interview on her eligibility thereon on February 11, 2015. The denial was based on…
PAY attention to your filing status because it determines your standard deduction, tax due, or refund. Here are 12 tips to help you choose your correct filing status: 1. There are five filing status options to choose from: single, married filing jointly, married filing separately, head of household and qualified widow/widower with dependent child. 2….
YOU already know that your home is in foreclosure. You’ve received that dreaded Notice of Default. You know that after 90 days, your home can be scheduled for a Trustee Sale. You don’t have a lot of time left. Your home with all its memories, hopes and dreams will be gone. What are you going…
AFTER a Filipina-Canadian living in Vancouver, BC learned her brother was gay, she found out that at least another half a dozen of their family members were also gay. Following that discovery, she eventually went on to create a documentary about acceptance and what the modern Filipino queer family could be like based on the…
YOU may already be getting your W-2, 1099 and other forms in time for the April 15th tax deadline. Tax season is also the time when many unscrupulous entities will try their best to scare, confuse, and intimidate you, just to steal away your hard earned money. As immigrants, we are usually targets of these…
Fil-Am actress Vanessa Hudgens, 27, announced the death of her father on Sunday, Jan. 31, just hours before she took the stage for her role in Fox’s “Grease: Live.” “I am so sad to say that last night my daddy, Greg passed away from stage 4 cancer,” Hudgens tweeted. “Thank you to everyone who kept him…
My first knowledge of the world and about life came to me through my senses. They were directed by my mother. She was the first person I saw, felt and depended on, on the day I was born. Everything made me wail desperately—hunger, light and anger. The memory of my mother and her teachings were,…
“ People love us — priests — despite our imperfections. They see us as representatives of Jesus Christ on earth; they esteem us for our noble works and our sacrifices. They see our lives as meaningful and edifying.” A PRIEST’S life can be filled with joy — that is, if a priest loves working with…
CONSUMING high doses of fiber through fruits and vegetables during adolescence may reduce a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer compared to those who eat less dietary fiber, a new study has found. Published on Monday, Feb. 1 in the journal Pediatrics, researchers based their findings on a long-term study of 44,000 women who were…
PRESIDENT Barack Obama is set to propose a $10-per-barrel oil tax as a means of funding a “21st century clean transportation system,” the White House announced Thursday, Feb. 4. The new tax could bring in up to $32 billion in federal revenue each year, which would be used to fund various transportation and infrastructure projects,…
SAN Fernando Valley residents have been impacted for nearly three months by a natural gas leak in Aliso Canyon, and a government gas company is being held responsible. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD), which regulates Southern California’s air quality, sued Southern California Gas Co. on Jan. 26, accusing the company of negligence…
IT turns out that consuming seafood at least once per week can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, a new study has found. Although seafood is known to contain mercury, scientists delved into the question of whether or not that nullifies the benefit it has on staving off Alzheimer’s. “Our hypothesis was that seafood consumption would be…
TOYOTA Motor Credit Corp. will pay $21.9 million to black and Asian Pacific Islander borrowers in a settlement over allegations of discriminatory lending, the US Department of Justice and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday, Feb. 2. In a probe, government investigators found that dealers marked up interest rates on loans for minority buyers from…
425,000 enroll in Covered California THE White House announced that nearly 13 million Americans have signed up for the Affordable Care Act for 2016, before open enrollment deadline on Jan. 31. The numbers of enrollment for federal insurance marketplaces yielded a modest gain of about 1 million customers for 2016, reported The Washington Post. Sign-ups…
After having defied all odds, they finally tied the knot! Destiny concluded Pauleen Luna and Vic Sotto’s 5-year relationship and certainty capped their poignant reverie with a “forever” that commenced after they exchanged vows in a solemn matrimonial service officiated by Rev. Fr. Jeffrey Quintela last Saturday, January 30, 2016 at St. James the Great…
MY last article dealt with the fact that many Pilipinos have misconceptions or are misinformed about family law here in the United States, specifically, in the State of California. They tend to not know their rights or the parameter of rights that deal with the area of family law. These areas include divorces, custody, child/spousal…
IT is the season to be jolly, but about 18.5 percent (1 in 5) or 43.8 million adults in the United States experience some type of mental illness during this time of the year or in a given year. 10 million (4.2 percent) have the serious form of an illness, which adversely affects their life….
SLEEP apnea (AP-ne-ah) is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They may occur 30 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking…
I AM frequently asked the question: “Is it a good business opportunity to open a senior care home?” First, let us define what a Senior Care Home is and how is it different from an Assisted Living Facility or a Residential Care Home Facility for the Elderly (RCFE). A care home is a regular house…
DEAR Atty. Gurfinkel: I received my green card through my employer’s petition, but the priority date on my petition retrogressed (went backwards) before I was able to bring my family from the Philippines. I have now been waiting several years, and the priority date is moving forward so slowly. Is there any other, or faster,…
THE power to give, take away, and deport. The United States does not welcome you with open arms. It allows non-citizens entry into the United States, under certain conditions. When these conditions are broken, you can expect nothing but the full force of the United States government through the Department of Homeland Security to bear…
THOUGH their wedding was simple and not as grand as other celebrities, Pauleen Luna and Vic Sotto’s celebration was still, nonetheless, star-studded. Aside from the fact that the two are co-hosts “Eat Bulaga, the longest running afternoon TV show in the Philippines, both have friends and family in showbiz. Officiated by Father Jeffrey Quintela, the…
President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd spent about P50 billion of taxpayers’ money on his campaign to get the insane Bangsamoro Basic Law enacted into law, documents as well as sources in government disclosed. The money was spent on efforts to convince the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to agree to the BBL, generate support from…
