About 480,000 Americans die each year as a result of smoking, the US surgeon general revealed. However, new analysis by researchers from the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute, and other sources suggest that this figure is actually way bigger. Twenty-one causes of death that have been officially blamed on smoking accounted for 83…
In the last four years, the city of Cerritos issued a historic high of 708 business licenses. It also posted a record year in sales with nearly $3 billion, which helped generate close to $30 million in sales tax. This money goes into the city’s general fund, which helps provide programs and services for Cerritos…
As California’s weather gets warmer, fines for wasting water in unincorporated, standalone areas of Los Angeles County are expected to rise sharply. On Tuesday, Feb. 10 the Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval to a measure that would boost water-wasting fines from $100 to $100 for each offense. The increase would also bring the county…
Believed by family to be a hate crime The quiet North Carolina town of Chapel Hill was shaken Tuesday, Feb. 10 when a young Muslim family was found shot dead in their home, in what is being labeled by critics a “hate crime.” Officers were called to the scene, after getting reports of gunshots around…
Love in any form manifests itself into various ways and this narrative is about the myriad colors of passion. To see a battered woman. It is like nothing you can imagine. The split lips, a swollen face, misshapen—the colors of a spectacular sunset just before nightfall, in a twilight of every color, blue, yellow, purple…
More than 59,000 Nevada residents have signed up for coverage through Health Insurance Marketplaces since open enrollment began on Nov. 15, 2014. US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a news release Wednesday, Feb. 11, there are only four days left before the Feb. 15 deadline to sign up for coverage. “59,623…
Get vaccinated, Bay Area. Contra Costa County public health officials announced that BART riders commuting to San Francisco may have been exposed to the measles, after a passenger who traveled from Feb. 4-6 tested positive for the virus over the weekend. The unnamed infected rider traveled between Lafayette and San Francisco during the morning and…
THE search for truth and justice continues for the bloody clash between PNP-SAF and MILF forces in Mamasapano, Maguindanao that left 44 elite policemen and 19 Moro rebels dead on Jan. 25. As various investigations over the deadly encounter dig deeper, one of the main reasons cited for the botched police operation—for the arrest of…
“THE use of the air waves is not a right, but a privilege.” This was one of the things I learned as a student and later on as an Instructor at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication which has stayed with me all through the more than two decades practicing my profession…
As California’s weather gets warmer, fines for wasting water in unincorporated, standalone areas of Los Angeles County are expected to rise sharply. On Tuesday, Feb. 10 the Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval to a measure that would boost water-wasting fines from $100 to $100 for each offense. The increase would also bring the county…
The Immigration Marriage Fraud Amendments of 1986 (IMFA) requires an alien obtaining a green card through a marriage less than two years old to come back at the end of that two years with the petitioning spouse and show that they are still married or, if the marriage was terminated, to show that the marriage…
Get vaccinated, Bay Area. Contra Costa County public health officials announced that BART riders commuting to San Francisco may have been exposed to the measles, after a passenger who traveled from Feb. 4-6 tested positive for the virus over the weekend. The unnamed infected rider traveled between Lafayette and San Francisco during the morning and…
A San Fernando Valley resident has been charged for allegedly posing as an immigration attorney without a license. Jesus Luna Lozano, 52, has been charged with six criminal counts including: the unauthorized practice of law, three counts of violating the Immigration Consultant Act for failing to post proper bonds and notice; failure to provide a…
WITH the upcoming March 3 primary election, contenders for Los Angeles City Council are promising to take pay cuts if they are elected. City Council members earn more than $184,000 per year for their work, an amount that exceeds the $174,000 annual salary of most US Congress members. They also receive more than what councilmembers…
US West Coast ports resumed full operations Monday, Feb. 9, following a weekend suspension of the loading and unloading of ships due to a labor dispute between dockworkers and their employers. Last week, workers warned that operations could have shut down this week if they could not reach a new contract agreement with their employers….
LOS ANGELES — Ethnic minorities are the most targeted communities for scam artists, who offer fake services on everything from loan modifications to travel agencies. Many of these “businesses” are convincing and have tricked tens of thousands into buying into their products/services. Even worse, many of these ethnic communities are also too afraid to come…
FACEBOOK and LinkedIn have partnered to bring mentoring and support programs to colleges to encourage more women to study computer science and engineering. This will eventually lead women to fill technical positions in their companies, ones that have long been dominated by men, company executives say, as the Associated Press reported. “A lot of our…
LOS ANGELES — Ethnic minorities are the most targeted communities for scam artists, who offer fake services on everything from loan modifications to travel agencies. Many of these “businesses” are convincing and have tricked tens of thousands into buying into their products/services. Even worse, many of these ethnic communities are also too afraid to come…
WITH the upcoming March 3 primary election, contenders for Los Angeles City Council are promising to take pay cuts if they are elected. City Council members earn more than $184,000 per year for their work, an amount that exceeds the $174,000 annual salary of most US Congress members. They also receive more than what councilmembers…
A San Fernando Valley resident has been charged for allegedly posing as an immigration attorney without a license. Jesus Luna Lozano, 52, has been charged with six criminal counts including: the unauthorized practice of law, three counts of violating the Immigration Consultant Act for failing to post proper bonds and notice; failure to provide a…
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 one 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,…
THE Church sees the homily as an opportunity to address a “people hungry, sometime desperately so, for meaning in their lives.” The homily attends to feeding that particular hunger. In offering the gathered community a word of meaning, a scriptural interpretation of human existence, it empowers them to be active participants in the Liturgy of…
FOUR vital agencies of the Philippine government are currently headless after three of the commissioners retired and the other one recently resigned. This February, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. stepped out from his post. Francisco Duque III also retired as chief of the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Following their footsteps is Grace…
THE resurgence of measles in the past year has revived the debate over the need and the urgency for the government to use its police power and require parents to have their kids be vaccinated. Even as far back as 2008, the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine has been warning: “The United States is…
Client seeks to discharge $200k of taxes CLIENT is an investment & financial broker who advises people how to invest their retirement accounts. He is now 60 years old. During the heyday of the stock market boom before it’s collapse in 2007, client made a lot of money. Year after year, he was making between…
Affordable Care Act (ACA – ObamaCare) THE Individual Shared Responsibility provision of ObamaCare requires taxpayers to either: • Have qualifying health care coverage, • Qualify for an exemption, or • Make a payment. 1. Qualifying Health Coverage: • Qualifying coverage (minimum essential coverage) includes coverage from employers, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and Health Insurance Marketplace. •…
MARIA Nucci slipped and fell at a Target store in Palm Beach, Florida. She sued Target for personal injury, claiming, among other things, that she has become physically handicapped experiencing emotional pain and suffering, that she lost the ability to earn money, and that she will continue to suffer losses and impairment in the future….
MOST people are unaware that credit card companies will negotiate with you if they believe that it is in their best interests to do so. Many times you can negotiate a reduction of your interest rate, elimination of late charges and annual membership fees. If you are delinquent in payments, they may even agree to…
THE USCIS has announced that it will begin accepting applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) under the expanded guidelines the President announced last November, on February 18, 2015. Under “DACA II,” a person who arrived in the US while under the age of 16 on or before January 1, 2010 may apply for…
WEST Coast seaports could shut down as soon as next week if dockworkers and their employers cannot reach a new contract, according to Pacific Maritime Association officials intending to pressure an agreement between the unionized naval industry workers, after nine months of labor strife negotiations. Operators of port terminals and shipping lines do not want…
