VIA Times – February 2015 Issue Vital News, Vibrant VIews for Asian Americans in Chicago & Midwest

By: Elsie Sy-Niebar   *Four against incumbent Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Feb. 24! *Rahm Emanuel, ‘Mayor for the Elite?’ Who gifted him his $30M political war chest? *Goodbye to Kababayans Aster Bhandari and Joe Sarmiento… *Year 2015 is the ...

By: Mayra Salazar   If you’re like most people, you protect what’s valuable to you. To protect your family financially, you buy health and life insurance. To protect your home, you get homeowner’s insurance, a security alarm, or perhaps a ...

By: Victoria G. Smith   Love is indivisible, gentle, forgiving, always giving. Like the magnanimous sea, it is immutable, incapable of dilution, although it branches off into different rivers. Love is omnipresent— able to be present to everyone it blesses, ...

By: Robert Gard   Two key pieces (expanded “DACA” without age limits and “DAPA”) of President Obama’s Executive Actions Program, announced on November 20, 2014, are scheduled to go into effect on February 18th and May 26th of this year, ...

By: Bob Boyer   Last January 20, I gave a talk on the Philippines to a classroom filled with about fifty people. They were participants in the LIR (Learning in Retirement) Program at the UW-Green Bay. I followed my usual ...

By: Mark Javier   Chicago municipal elections are once again in full swing, and there is a full menu of candidates running for city office. Each election season, I ponder about the Filipino community’s level of political engagement and whether ...

By: Lena Remigio   Dear Ate Lena, Ang aking mga Facebook friends ay talagang admirable people– super-duper accomplishments about themselves, their families, their friends, their jobs, their careers, etc. Ina-admire ko ang kanilang postings sa FB ng mga places they ...

By: Lou Maningas Cabalona   True friendships and great relationships are precious. The ones that last are priceless. And those that persist despite thousand-mile distances and time zones are truly a blessing. As I write this on the 2nd week of ...

By: Jan Paul C. Ferrer   Many of us find ourselves with a traditional IRA here, a rollover IRA there, four job changes (so far!) and three retirement plan account balances left in the plans of former employers. Over the years, ...