LOS ANGELES city officials this week said they would declare a state of emergency on the growing issue of homelessness. They also proposed spending $100 million to reduce the number of people living on city streets, the Associated Press reported. City Council President Herb Wesson, members of the council’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee, and LA…
A FILIPINO pilgrim was among more than 700 who died Thursday, Sept. 24, during a stampede at the annual Muslim hajj in Saudi Arabia, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed Friday, Sept. 25. “The Philippine consulate General in Jeddah has confirmed that one local Filipino pilgrim died in the stampede in Mecca,” Foreign Assistant…
LOS ANGELES city officials this week said they would declare a state of emergency on the growing issue of homelessness. They also proposed spending $100 million to reduce the number of people living on city streets, the Associated Press reported. City Council President Herb Wesson, members of the council’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee, and LA…
THE world’s first armless pilot and first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association has added another item to her ever-growing resume of accomplishments: the subject of a documentary depicting her life. “This was a very important documentary to inspire so many other people, and at the same time it helps me share my life…
Senior protects house from $100K judgment lien with Chapter 7 Chapter 20 NEVER heard of Chapter 20? That’s because in the Central District of California, most courts don’t allow Chapter 20, except in Riverside. Riverside bankruptcy court allows Chapter 20. What is Chapter 20? First, you do a Chapter 7 to discharge your debts. Then…
Q: AS a mobile technician, I travel to patients to obtain laboratory specimens. I drive the company vehicle, which I garage at my home, to do my job. I cannot use the vehicle to run personal errands while working. I cannot even use it to drop off my child at school. My employer pays me…
1. MAIL your payments to be received on time. The monthly due date is the date of receipt at the IRS Service Center, not the date of mailing. 2. Use certified mail with return receipt. 3. Do not skip one payment and double up on the next payment. One skipped payment causes the entire installment…
ARE you facing insurmountable debt problems? Are creditors threatening you with lawsuits, judgments or a wage garnishment? Are you afraid of losing what little you have and wonder how you are going to survive if you can’t even pay for life’s basic necessities like rent, mortgage, food, transportation, etc., let alone pay your bills? Making…
Like many big projects, writing a cookbook requires years of preparation, hard work and worry, culminating with that moment when you present your ‘baby’ to the world. I was excited to officially introduce my cookbook, The Age GRACEfully Cookbook to members of the press and culinary, health and wellness experts on a recent evening at…
Philadelphia—Pope Francis sits on the most exalted throne on earth with no army or kingdom, beyond a tight fist of land in the middle of Rome that is filled with immense wealth of history He was elected Pope because of his relationship with heaven. It is said that when they handed their ballots with his…
“To give to each his own, to cite the classic definition of justice, means that no human individual or group can consider itself absolute, permitted to bypass the dignity and the rights of other individuals or their social groupings.” – Pope Francis LIKE millions of Catholics, I find myself glued to the television this week,…
Being born to both educators, former college dean Teofilo B. Caliolio and retired school principal Leonila Castro, inevitably molded young Olivia’s mind to embrace the noblest profession and be different from the rest of her six siblings who opted to take up medicine (3 among them) and other equally prestigious courses with high-paying jobs. “Actually,…
A COUPLE came to my office for a consultation who was in tears and panic because their “American Dream” was crumbling around them. They are already permanent residents (green card holders), but just received a notice that the USCIS was intending to revoke their green cards! The reason? They had a fraudulent employment petition, based…
While the existing I-601A Provisional Waiver Program is limited to benefitting children and spouses of US citizens, a proposed rule will expand the categories of beneficiaries. The new rule, proposed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), will expand the waiver to benefit children and spouses of Lawful Permanent Residents (green card holders.)…
Pope Francis urges action on immigration, environment, defense of the poor and of families IN the first-ever papal address to both houses of Congress on Thursday, Sept. 24, Pope Francis brought to light important issues ranging from immigration to gun control to climate change, addressing the diverse crowd of political leaders and top lawmakers. Appearing at…
Actress, singer and TV host Toni Gonzaga admitted that she did not expect to win when she attended the 63rd Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS) Awards last Sunday night, September 20. Toni won her first Best Actress award for her role in Olivia Lamasan’s Starting Over Again. The actress said that she…
OF the nearly four dozen concerns that can cause a car’s Check Engine light to illuminate, none is so small it can reasonably be ignored. There are more than 40 reasons why the Check Engine light on a car’s dashboard could come on. Some are major and some are not, but because each can affect…
Is it safe to warm breast milk in a microwave oven? No, it is not safe to warm breast milk in a microwave oven. Collected breast milk should never be warmed in a microwave oven, because it destroys many important natural protective elements in breast milk that is beneficial to the infant. As a matter…
IT seems like a lifetime ago when on Sept. 21, 1972, former Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines. Forty-three years have passed, but the wretched moments of the martial law era have continued to linger on, especially for the people who had to endure it. From this period in Philippine history,…
WITH decreases in exports and agricultural production, the Philippine economy is headed for its slowest economic growth in four years, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Along with lackluster public spending, the Manila-based ADB has trimmed its 2015 growth projection for the Philippines from 6.4 percent to 6 percent, according to CNN. ADB moved…
A FILIPINO nurse working in Singapore was sentenced on Monday, Sept. 21, to four months in jail for insulting Singaporeans on Facebook and lying to police investigators afterward. Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, a former employee of government-run Tan Tock Seng Hospital, pleaded guilty to a three charges: one count of violating Singapore’s sedition act…
Pope Francis addresses President Obama, urges action on global issues, and celebrates Mass On his first day in the US, Pope Francis has begun his full agenda, bringing together political leaders and thousands of believers from around the nation. The Pope arrived in the afternoon on Tuesday, Sept. 22 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland,…
THE Department of State and the USCIS revised the procedures for determining visa availability for applicants waiting to file for adjustment of status. The revised procedure will be available beginning October 2015. In the past, an adjustment of status applicant cannot file for adjustment of status until their priority date is current. The priority date…
IN the face of the anarchy in the streets of Metro Manila, the paralysis that follows every heavy downpour, and the inability – nay, the unwillingness – of local officials to enforce such obvious rules as clearing major streets (like Taft Avenue) of vendors, desperate citizens have concocted various antidotes. What has often been proposed…
POPE Francis arrived in the United States on Tuesday, Sept. 22 for a six-day visit, exciting kababayans who wished they were in Manila when the Pontiff visited the Philippines last January. It is this excitement that compelled many Fil-Ams to travel to Washington DC, New York, or Philadelphia to see the Pope in person and…
IT seems only last night when the Maestro gave an exhibition. Inside the Griffith Hall at the Beverly Hills Country Club, there was compelled admiration and awe from the elite guests, which grew in every note that Maestro Dexter Grey touched. The Maestro gave an exhibition, a concert which cannot be reviewed. There was a…
THE California Republican Party voted on Sunday, Sept. 20 to soften its stance on immigration, responding to harsh rhetoric from current GOP presidential candidates. Republicans have been struggling to find a balance between appealing to California’s growing immigrant population and satisfying its base of white conservatives, the Los Angeles Times reported. The issue has escalated…
A FILIPINO-American teenager who was charged as an adult in the murder of an 8-year-old girl earlier this year in Santa Cruz, California, pleaded not guilty on Monday, Sept. 21. Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, 15, faces one count of murder with the special circumstance that he allegedly kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and tied up Madyson “Maddy” Middleton…
AMID ongoing territorial quarrels about the South China Sea, the Aquino administration requested $300 million in military aid from the United States, according to a report by the New York Times. However, Philippine Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. repudiated the report, citing a lack of explicit information on the claim. “Wala tayong tuwirang information…
Malacañang sources have revealed that a nasty shouting match transpired between President B.S. Aquino 3rd and Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad after the Supreme Court ordered the Ombudsman to have them investigated and possibly charged for their role in the manipulation and misuse of the constitutionally outlawed Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) amounting to P150 billion….
