A 17-year-old Fil-Am, Christian Rasner, is in critical condition after a brutal beating from two unidentified men in a shopping center parking lot on Wednesday, March 11. The beating took place in the parking lot of the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in San Jose, Calif. The suspects’ whereabouts and identities are still unknown. Rasner is…
House Republicans on Tuesday, March 17 unveiled a $3.8 trillion budget plan for next year which effectively breaks tight budget limits on military spending, but promises bigger cuts to social programs, such as food stamps and Medicaid. The spending plan by Budget Committee Chairman Tom Rice (R-GA) pads both the Pentagon and State Department accounts…
A FILIPINO couple from Las Vegas was sentenced last week on one felony count of a pattern of mortgage lending fraud, Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt announced Monday, March 16. Alex Soria, 69, and Sonia Rodis, 55, were each sentenced in a mortgage assistance scam that misrepresented to homeowners a fraudulent mortgage elimination program…
A UNION-backed group is seeking to hold McDonald’s Corporation accountable under federal rules for worker-safety violations at its franchised restaurants, expanding a continuing labor effort to reduce historical protections for companies operating under franchise arrangements. The group, Fast Food Forward, backed by the Service Employees International Union, announced Monday a series of complaints it has…
LOS ANGELES—Who said downtown LA only gets crowded when the Lakers are playing? Last Wednesday, the only game in town was when boxing superstars Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao were in this city. Like a heady bouillabaisse, there is more to the who did it, to whom. It is more than trading blows, where…
IT’S Lent, a season of repentance, a longing to go to Confession to prepare for Easter. So, during this penitential season, a Facebook friend sent me a message to ask me what would it take to have a good Confession. I responded back by suggesting to him to make a good examination of conscience. I…
Ready For Fight Of The Century LEADING up to the May 2 bout, both Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have agreed to undergo rigorous drug testing. US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) Chief Executive Travis Tygart announced that his agency will be authorized to conduct unannounced in- and out-of-competition blood and/or urine tests on Pacquiao and…
THE death toll from West Africa’s Ebola outbreak has passed 10,000, according to an updated tally released by the World Health Organization on Thursday, March 12. Since reports first emerged in March 2014, the deadly hemorrhagic fever has spread throughout the region, killing thousands including doctors and volunteers from different countries, including the US, who…
IS President Benigno Aquino III liable for the Jan. 25 botched Mamasapano operation that claimed the lives of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) policemen and 18 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) troopers? The submission of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Board of Inquiry (BOI) report would probably prompt the President to explain himself further. Moreover,…
ONLY a month left before the deadline for filing taxes! While many kababayans may have already filed their tax returns, others tend to procastinate, or worse, have not been fulfilling this obligation dutifully and honestly. Unfortunately, you MAY be among those who can be easy targets for this tax scam. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)…
One seeks to discharge $20K and another $30K WE all go through different stages in life. When you are in your twenties, your whole life is ahead of you. You may be starting a family or starting your career or profession. You’re buying your starter home. If you have children, your whole life is centered…
When employees are entitled to additional pay Q: I AM a full-time employee at a company that pays us on a piece-rate basis for every task that we finish. For an eight-hour shift, we are told we are entitled to two paid 15-minute rest periods. What does this mean for a pieceworker like me? A:…
IF YOU own anything, it would be in your interest to get an Estate Planning Law Firm. Most of the time, many people either think they don’t need an Estate Planning Law Firm, or in the alternative, believe that nothing will happen to them and they would be wasting their money to get an Estate…
FACING difficult financial times can be a frightening thing for a lot of people. When bill collectors are hounding you, at some point, you realize that something must be done but you just don’t know where to begin or where to go for help. Often, options can also be confusing unless you get the right…
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….
The Filipina owner and a top administrator of a now-closed senior care facility in Castro Valley were charged Monday, March 9, with 14 counts of felony elder abuse, officials said. Herminigilda Manuel, 58, the owner of the failed Valley Springs Manor facility, and administrator Edgar Babael, 46, allegedly abandoned residents at the home several days…
TWO years after the anniversary of super-Typhoon Haiyan, the city of Tacloban in the Leyte islands is slowly rebuilding. Despite a fading news coverage, the people have seen an outpouring of support from other nations, non-profits, volunteer-based organizations, and government leaders, who continue to raise funds through benefit events for the city’s restoration. “It is…
PRESIDENT Barack Obama will not accept action by Congress that “locks in” spending caps enacted in 2011, said White House budget director Shaun Donovan on Thursday, March 12, as Republicans were preparing to release their budget plans. Lawmakers for both parties have said they want to ease the “sequester” spending constraints, but Republican budget proposals…
HUNDREDS of teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will receive layoff notices this month, under a new budget plan approved by the Board of Education on Tuesday, March 10. The vote does not necessarily mean the teachers will lose their jobs, but it allows LA Unified the option of “releasing” them if…
The maker of Children’s Tylenol pleaded guilty Tuesday, March 10, to a federal criminal charge of selling over-the-counter liquid medicine contaminated with metal particles. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that manufactures Infants’ and Children’s Tylenol and Children’s Motrin, acknowledged it failed to take corrective action after discovering the adulterated bottles, The…
With less than two months until the highly anticipated showdown between Manny Pacquiao Floyd Mayweather Jr., the two fighters came together at the only news conference to take place before the big day in May. “The fight is on and we’re very excited,” Pacquiao said at the conference held Wednesday, March 11, in Los Angeles….
Just when you thought you’ve had enough of those mediocre stage entertainers and (trying hard) copycats with the notion that there’s really a deliberate shortage of local-based talents and that the limited entertainment scene is saturated with so-so performers, then think again… for you must haven’t heard of one of the most raved and in-demand…
HUNDREDS of teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will receive layoff notices this month, under a new budget plan approved by the Board of Education on Tuesday, March 10. The vote does not necessarily mean the teachers will lose their jobs, but it allows LA Unified the option of “releasing” them if…
TWO years after the anniversary of super-Typhoon Haiyan, the city of Tacloban in the Leyte islands is slowly rebuilding. Despite a fading news coverage, the people have seen an outpouring of support from other nations, non-profits, volunteer-based organizations, and government leaders, who continue to raise funds through benefit events for the city’s restoration. “It is…
Most couples that want out of a marriage in California usually file for Divorce. There are circumstances though that allow a couple to have their marriage “voided” rather than “dissolved.” There is a big difference between the two concepts. With a voided marriage, it restores the couple to status of unmarried person as if they…
The Filipina owner and a top administrator of a now-closed senior care facility in Castro Valley were charged Monday, March 9, with 14 counts of felony elder abuse, officials said. Herminigilda Manuel, 58, the owner of the failed Valley Springs Manor facility, and administrator Edgar Babael, 46, allegedly abandoned residents at the home several days…
In a new report, an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice concluded that the Ferguson, Mo. police department and the city’s municipal court engaged in a “pattern and practice” of discrimination against African-Americans throughout the city, targeting them disproportionately for traffic stops, use of force, and jail sentences. The probe is the result of…
One of the powerful attributes that we admire (or even marvel at) among many elderly, age 80, 90, and older, is the “youthfulness” of their mind. Unfortunately, not every one of them is gifted with senior brain power or brain youth when they reach 70 or older, and some have significant physiological “cerebral handicaps” even…
The April 2015 Visa Bulletin provides more great news for Filipinos, as the priority dates in the various family and employment categories continue to move forward. In fact, the priority date for workers has moved forward to October 1, 2014. Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the…
On November 20, 2014, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson announced a new guidance on prosecutorial discretion entitled Policies for the Apprehension, Detention and Removal of Undocumented Immigrants (“Johnson Memo”) which became effective on January 5, 2015. The Johnson Memo instructs that “in the immigration context, prosecutorial discretion should apply not only to…
