Times Ledger – State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said there are rumors swirling around that his district may be torn apart when the state Legislature redraws political lines next year.
An Asian coalition wants Avella’s district to encompass only Bayside, Bay Terrace, Oakland Gardens, Auburndale ...
New York Daily News – Redistricting – the redrawing of political district lines – takes place every 10 years, after new Census data are released.
Elected officials and political insiders pay close attention to this arcane process of map-drawing, because they understand well that new district line...
Capital Tonight – A coalition of government watchdog and voting rights groups signed onto a letter endorsing June primary in order for the state to comply with the federal MOVE Act.
In the Oct. 31 letter to U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe, the groups write that the June primary, opposed by ...
DNA Info – The officials of the Obama administration met with hundreds of local parents, teachers, students and community leaders at a bullying prevention summit Saturday to address the safety of Asian American, Pacific Islander and Muslim American students.
These students are more likely to be t...
Education Week – Acknowledging that they are not meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of students learning to speak English, the nation’s two largest school systems this month announced plans to improve instruction and services for English-language learners.
Pressed by federal and state off...
San Francisco’s mayoral election was supposed to be a showcase of Asian American political empowerment never before seen in the continental U.S.
A bevy of Asian American politicians to choose from may be old hat in a place like Honolulu, where the Asian Pacific Islander population is at more than 5...
Newark Independent Examiner — As the focus around the state heats up with legislative elections approaching in a couple weeks, there is an underground focus on congressional redistricting that will likely take the place of the legislative elections amongst conversation in the state. Legislative re...
Huffington Post — Participation in the democratic process takes many forms, but perhaps none is accorded as much importance as voting. For the many new Americans in our country, one significant barrier to exercising this important democratic right was reduced last week when the Census Bureau issue...
Combating Sex Trafficking in New York City: Examining Law Enforcement Efforts — Testimony of Ivy O. Suriyopas, Staff Attorney, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) before New York City Council.
My name is Ivy Suriyopas, and I am a staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Def...
IndiaWest — California’s Los Angeles County, Cook County in Illinois and Queens
County in New York have been ordered to provide voting assistance to Indian Americans.
Also, Hamtramck, a city of about 22,400 residents in Wayne County, Michigan, will be required to provide voting help for its resi...
While watching this week’s Western Republican Debate in Las Vegas via CNN, I kept looking for Asian American faces, if not content.
After all, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing minority group in Nevada, rising 116 percent since the 2000 Census to more than 242,000 people...
Huffington Post — Shortly after Mayor Michael Bloomberg assumed control of the New York City school system, he presented his programs as a national leader in “educational reform.” But there has been evidence in the New York public schools in the recent past of cheating on standardized tests by tea...
Crains New York – The war rages on in Sunset Park. Residents and local groups are appealing a court ruling that gave the city the green light to move forward with its 2009 rezoning of the Brooklyn neighborhood.
Last month, the New York State Supreme Court appellate division ruled against the grou...
Brooklyn Eagle – Lawyers representing community groups in Sunset Park opposed to a recent rezoning law have announced that they are bringing their case to New York state’s highest court.
In September, the Appellate Division First Department upheld New York City’s planning department’s environment...
On behalf of low-income Asian and Latino immigrants and churches in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and South Brooklyn Legal Services (SBLS) are appealing the September decision by the Appellate Court that upholds New York City’s planning departm...
Sometimes I think the biggest barrier to democracy is the franchise itself, voting.
I mean everything from the physical act of casting a ballot (whether it be using a black marker, an old fashioned voting machine, or the infamous pinpricking of chads), all the way to the reading of the directions a...
Associated Press – New York City schools will provide more help to immigrants and other English language learners and their families under a plan approved by the state Wednesday.
State Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. says the city plan will provide more options, support and services, incl...
Wall Street Journal — More than a year after the state Education Department warned New York City that it was short-changing students whose first language isn’t English, officials announced Wednesday that the city has agreed to improve instruction.
The state warned city officials in March 2010 tha...
New Jersey Star Ledger — Talk of racial and ethnic representation dominated testimony at the congressional redistricting commission’s second public hearing Tuesday in Newark.
Commissioners heard testimony from eight people who mostly advocating keeping “communities of interest” together, both racia...
Asian American and other minority students who are non-native English speakers have been increasingly overlooked by the New York City public school system, and on Wednesday, October 12, 2011, the State Department of Education intervened by issuing an unprecedented “Corrective Action Plan” requirin...