Daily Dose: 02/28/08

February 28, 2008

> AsianWeek Market Report
> The Cow Palace May Be History
> Family Members Found Dead in Yorba Linda
> Schwarzenegger Announces 2007 Judicial Applicant Data
> S.F. Bay Area Asian Americans Targeted for Voter Registration
> Retired Priest Sentenced for Bilking Two Churches
> Bringing Baseball to Cambodia
> APAICS Selects Wendy Ho as Fellow
> Vietnamese American Gangs Stir Worry in Dorchester
> The Earning Power of Asian Americans
> Chinese Table Tennis Star Uses Her Paddle for the U.S.
> Former Japanese American Internees to Get Honorary Degrees
> Korean-Born American is Rising Star at FOX News Channel
> Wolverine Cast Expands Again: Daniel Henney Joins as Agent Zero
> Kimchi Goes to Space With First Korean Astronaut
> Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu Master to be Honored
> Yao Injured: China, U.S. Both Lose Out
> Cambodia Leader Cries for Victims

AsianWeek Market Report

Asian Stock Indexes

1. NIKKEI_225 (Japan): 13,925.51 -105.79 (-0.76%)
2. HANG SENG (China): 24,591.69 107.85 (0.44%)
3. KRX_100 (Korea): 3,541.07 23.90 (0.68%)
4. HOCHIMNH (Vietnam): 678.12 -8.37 (-1.22%)
5. SE OF THAI (Thailand): 842.12 10.08 (1.21%)

AsianWeek’s Top 5 Asian American Companies

1. Yahoo = [NASDAQ] YHOO 28.19 -0.18 (-0.63%)
2. Citigroup = [NYSE] C 25.01 -0.71 (-2.76%)
3. Amkor Technology Inc. = [NASDAQ] AMKR 12.27 -0.11 (-0.89%)
4. Tang Industries
5. ViewSonic Corporation

BAY:

The Cow Palace May Be History

Though it is a Bay Area historic venue for concerts and events, the Cow Palace may soon be torn down to make way for redevelopment.

State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill to let Daly City purchase the Cow Palace property, which is owned by the state.

Ultimately, say Yee and Daly City officials, the 68-acre property will be used to build a grocery store, bank, housing and other projects that will benefit people in the underserved areas that border the Cow Palace.

Opponents have gathered forces to try to preserve what they say is a Bay Area treasure. If anything, they argue, the Cow Palace — built in 1941 with funding from the Works Progress Administration — should receive special status as an officially designated landmark.

Some outraged residents started the Web site savethecowpalace.com to preserve the structure.

— SFgate.com

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Family Members Found Dead in Yorba Linda

A Yorba Linda man killed his wife and three of his children before turning the shotgun on himself in a small condominium across the street from the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, police said.

A 14-year-old stepson of the man was also shot but was expected to survive.

Police said they did not know the motive for the attacks. Before he underwent surgery, the stepson was not able to explain what started the rampage.

“We believe this was a domestic violence situation and a murder-suicide,” Lt. Jack Conklin of the Brea Police Department said outside the home. Brea police, which patrols Yorba Linda, are investigating the killings.

The gunman was identified as Orland Cho, 41. Also killed were his wife, Maricel, 39; daughters Nicole, 9, and Kathleen, 8; and son Christopher, 5. The stepson was identified as Ian Mercado.

— Los Angeles Times

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Schwarzenegger Announces 2007 Judicial Applicant Data

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently released the 2007 applicant pool data for judicial appointments, which shows that 31% of applicants were minorities, up 2% from 2006.

In addition, for the first time, the governor released judicial appointment data for 2007 and the cumulative judicial appointment data for his administration.

“I am incredibly proud of my administration’s efforts to bring together talented people from a wide variety of backgrounds to serve the people of California,” Schwarzenegger said. “Creating a more diverse bench starts with having more diverse applicants, and as the numbers show, we are getting there.”

For 2007, 7.25% of total judicial applicants and 6.82% of judicial appointments were identified as Asian.

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S.F. Bay Area Asian Americans Targeted for Voter Registration

HAYWARD, Calif. — The Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association announced a three-month program aimed at helping Asian Americans register as permanent absentee voters and increasing the number of voters in Santa Clara and Alameda counties by 14%.

Among minorities in the United States, African Americans have the highest voting rates, and Asian Americans have the lowest.

The group plans to mail out permanent absentee voter applications to 58,000 registered Asian American voters, who seldom vote, hoping at least 8,000 will sign up. The group will also call and go door-to-door to push Asian Americans to vote.

Organizers said the initiative will have been a success if it gets a response from 15% of the 58,000 targets.

— Sing Tao Daily

NATION:

Retired Priest Sentenced for Bilking Two Churches

RICHMOND, Va. — Retired Roman Catholic priest, Rodney L. Rodis, 51, was recently sentenced to more than five years in prison for bilking two churches out of hundreds of thousands of dollars while he led a double life as a husband and father.

He was also ordered to pay back almost $600,000.

According to court documents, from September 2002 to August 2006, Rodis embezzled an estimated $600,000 to $700,000 from St. Jude Catholic Church and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, both in central Virginia, by instructing parishioners to mail contributions to a post office box that he controlled. He then transferred the money to a personal bank account.

He used the money, the authorities said, to support his wife and three daughters and to help relatives in his native Philippines and to buy property there.

— The New York Times

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Bringing Baseball to Cambodia

DOTHAN, Ala. — Joe Cook, a Cambodian refugee who survived the Khmer Rouge genocide to escape to the United States, has spent the last five years bringing baseball to Cambodia.

Arriving in Chattanooga as a 12-year-old, Cook was introduced to a number of things he had never seen before, including baseball. He never forgot the transformative power the game had on his life.

Recently, thanks to Cook, Cambodia fielded a national baseball team for the first time in the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand. It was a milestone even though Cambodia’s first four hitters struck out without touching the ball, and it took four games for the team to get its first hit.

“We didn’t win a damn game. But winning is nothing,” Cook said. “The biggest deal is we showed up. We had the guts to be there. We’re satisfied with that.”

— Los Angeles Times

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APAICS Selects Wendy Ho as Fellow

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies recently awarded the 2007-2008 Anheuser-Busch Frank Horton Fellowship to Wendy Ho.

With the support of the Anheuser-Busch Frank Horton Fellowship, Ho was placed in Congressman Mike Honda’s office (CA-15).

“The Anheuser-Busch Frank Horton Fellowship has allowed me to combine my passion for APA issues with public policy,” Ho said. “I’ve been granted the opportunity to do work that not only excites me, but work that I personally have a stake in.”

Ho, originally from San Jose, Calif., earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science-international relations and Japanese studies from U.C. San Diego. She then spent two years teaching English in Japan on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Ho then pursued her Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University.

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Vietnamese American Gangs Stir Worry in Dorchester

DORCHESTER, Mass. — Last spring, nearly two-dozen Vietnamese American teenagers savagely beat two others, a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.

The aftermath of the attack has shaken the community, stoking anger at the Police Department for the lack of arrests and building unease over the realization that violent gangs have become more common in the Vietnamese American community.

The video has forced the proud immigrant community, fearful of being stigmatized, to confront a burgeoning problem within its neighborhood.

Vietnamese American gangs are luring children as young as 11 years old with drugs, then teaching them to deal them, rob others and beat their opposition

The video was posted as a warning to rival gangs and to members thinking of cutting ties.

Police have not recorded any shootings among the gangs, and no arrests have been made, although the faces of the attackers are visible.

— Boston Globe

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The Earning Power of Asian Americans

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey in 2005, the latest year for which this data is available, the wage gap between white men and other groups of people persists more than 40 years after job discrimination was outlawed in the U.S.

The one exception is Asian American men, whose median wages were just 1% less than those of white men who worked full-time, year round.

Black men, by contrast, earned 74% of the wages of white males; Hispanic men earned 58%.

Women, overall, are substantially lagging behind men in pay. Full-time female employees earned 77% of all men’s median wages. Breaking it down in terms of race, Asian American women earned 78% of the median annual pay of white men; white women earned 73%; black women, 63%; and Hispanic women, 52%.

— Wall Street Journal

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Chinese Table Tennis Star Uses Her Paddle for the U.S.

Wang Chen is one of two American table tennis players ranked high enough in the world to automatically qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

Wang moved to New York in 2001 because “I wanted to change my life. In New York, I learned how to do everything. I think I grew up here.”

There is such a dearth of American players of Wang’s caliber that she must practice with European teams or lure players from China to Manhattan.

Twice passed over for the Chinese Olympic team, Wang retired from the sport that she was chosen for in first grade.

In 2007, she gave up coaching and managing the Wang Chen Table Tennis Club to devote herself to making the Olympic team.

No American has advanced past the Round of 32 at the Olympics since 1988.

— The New York Times

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Former Japanese American Internees to Get Honorary Degrees

Hundreds of Japanese Americans who were held in internment camps during World War II will receive honorary baccalaureate degrees from the University of Washington.

Of the thousands of Japanese Americans incarcerated, 440 were students at UW. University regents voted to acknowledge the suffering of those students by awarding them honorary degrees.

The decision was made partly because of a series of articles that ran in the university’s alumni magazine, which detailed stories of a handful of students who were forced to leave the university during the war.

Tetsuden Kashima, UW professor who petitioned the regents to approve the measure, isn’t sure how many of the students are still alive.

Nevertheless, a ceremony is planned for May.

UW regents also voted to award an honorary doctorate of humane letters to the Dalai Lama, who will visit the campus in April.

— Seattle Post-Intelligencer

COMMERCE:

Korean-Born American is Rising Star at FOX News Channel

Korean-born and Oklahoma University alum, Inwook Song, has successfully completed a highly selective year-long apprentice program at the FOX News Channel and has been promoted to production assistant for Studio B With Shepard Smith. On Feb. 27, he will graduate in New York.

The FOX News Apprentice Program, now in its fourth year, was created by Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes to attract and develop minority employees. At an upcoming graduation ceremony in New York City, Ailes will personally recognize Song and each of the graduating apprentices: Tracey Jordan, Eboni Gatlin, Chelsea Washington and Cameron Holland.

As part of the merit-based program, the apprentices trained for one year in various departments at FOX News, ranging from technical production to on-air booking. Upon graduation, all apprentices are offered full-time staff positions in their respective fields.

ARTS:

Wolverine Cast Expands Again: Daniel Henney Joins as Agent Zero

Variety has confirmed that Korean American actor Daniel Henney will appear in Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Henney will portray Agent Zero, a member of the Weapon X program and an expert tracker with lethal marksman skills.

The Korean film and TV actor is probably best known for being in the 2005 TV drama/comedy My Lovely Sam Soon and the 2006 film Seducing Mr. Perfect.

Hugh Jackman stars as the titular character, while Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Taylor Kitsch, will.i.am, Lynn Collins and Ryan Reynolds have already boarded the project, which is shooting in New Zealand, Australia and New Orleans. Gavin Hood directs from a David Benioff screenplay, which chronicles the origins of the talon-sprouting protagonist.

GLOBAL:

Kimchi Goes to Space With First Korean Astronaut

SEOUL, South Korea — Ko San, a 30-year-old computer science engineer who beat 36,000 contestants to become the first South Korean space traveler, will blast off April 8 on board a Russian-made Soyuz rocket. He will stay in the International Space Station for 10 days conducting scientific experiments.

Ko’s trip will be an occasion for national celebration. When the South Korean government decided to finance Ko’s trip, they wanted him well-prepared for his journey — which means he must take kimchi with him.

After millions of dollars and years of research, South Korean scientists successfully engineered kimchi for space travel.

The other Korean space foods include instant ramen, hot pepper paste, fermented soybean soup and sticky rice.

But kimchi — a must-have side dish at every Korean meal — was the toughest to turn into space food.

— The International Herald Tribune

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Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu Master to be Honored

FOSHAN, China — Bruce Lee is the master of martial arts, but his Master Ip Man was a pioneer in the wing chun kung fu style that influenced Lee. Hong Kong filmmakers will recognize Ip by bringing his story to the big screen.

Action stars Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung have prepared to shoot one of two planned movies about Ip. They joined Ip’s sons in paying tribute to Ip at the city of Foshan, four hours northwest of Hong Kong.

Yen, a veteran action star whose credits include Blade II, Hero and Shanghai Knights, said his role as Ip would be his most challenging ever.

Born in Foshan in 1893, Ip arrived in Hong Kong in the 1940s to escape the Communist takeover of the mainland. In Hong Kong, he trained hundreds of students before passing away in 1972.

— Associated Press

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Yao Injured: China, U.S. Both Lose Out

HONG KONG — Beijing is facing a new Olympic threat: Yao Ming’s left foot.

Yao, the 27-year-old, 7 ft. 6 in. superstar center, announced that a stress fracture in his foot would prevent him from finishing the season with the National Basketball Association’s Houston Rockets.

While doctors say he requires only about four months of recovery, Yao’s ability to perform in China’s Olympics this August is questionable. The Chinese national basketball team doesn’t expect to win, but hopes were high that Yao, China’s most famous athlete, would be the public face of Beijing’s Olympics.

Corporate sponsors of Yao have paid as much as $10 million per year to feature him as a pitchman.

Yao’s injury is a risk for the NBA, which counts China as its second-biggest market. A match between Yao and rising star Yi Jianlian drew 200 million viewers in China last year.

— Wall Street Journal

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Cambodia Leader Cries for Victims

The chief interrogator of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge has wept while visiting a prison he commanded where at least 14,000 people were killed.

Kaing Geuk Eav, also known as “Duch,” cried during the visit to Tuol Sleng (S-21) prison, a day after he wept while visiting a mass grave at Choeung Ek.

The visits were led by judges from a U.N.-backed tribunal, which has charged Duch with crimes against humanity. The Khmer Rouge is blamed for more than one million deaths in the 1970s. Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge officials to be charged by the tribunal, but a date for the trial has yet to be set.

Tuol Sleng is now a genocide museum and is normally one of the busiest tourist attractions in Phnom Penh.

Daily Dose: 02/28/08

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