Fil-Am Steven Raga Wins Queens, NY Primary for State Assembly

Steven Raga

Community leader Steven Raga won the Democratic primary elections for the New York State Assembly, the closest a Filipino American has ever reached in a race for a State-wide office. If elected, he will be the first FilAm to be elected to the New York State and the first to hold political office in Albany (See Inquirer.net)

First Fil-Am Councilor of Duarte, California Dies at 49

Mayor Pro Tem Tzeitel Paras-Caracci, the first Filipino American to be elected to the Duarte City Council in California, died on June 25th at age 49 following a nearly three-year battle against lung cancer. She served as the City of Duarte’s mayor in 2006, 2011, 2015, and 2019 (See the FilAm.net for story). 

Pangasinan School's Mangrove Project Makes It Among 'World's Best'

From just a small project 10 years ago, Bonuan Boquig National High School’s environmental initiative of planting mangroves in Dagupan City, Pangasinan province, has brought the school to the shortlist of the World’s Best School Prizes, awarded by international educational group T4 Education (See INQUIRER.net for story).

PH Pole Vault Star Obiena Clinches Gold in Sweden Meet

EJ Obiena

Filipino pole vault star soared past 5.92 meters – a centimeter off his Asian record – to clinch the top prize and best 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics gold medalist Thiago Braz of Brazil (See Rappler for story).

PH Peso Falls to 14-Year Low: 54 Pesos to 1 US dollar

The Philippine currency fell by another peso against the US dollar in just six trading days, closing at 54.065 against the greenback on Monday as markets absorbed more deeply the “jumbo” rate hike that the US Federal Reserve made last week (See INQUIRER. net for story).

Unknown Tree Species Discovered in PH

Filipino scientist Edwino S. Fernando, a professor at UPLB, and Australian scientist Peter G. Wilson of the Australian Institute of Botanical Science, confirmed the discovery of a new species of Tristaniopsis in the Myrtaceaefamily, whose other species include makopa, guava, and eucalyptus, among others. They published their discovery in the Telopea: Journal of Plant Systematics (See Esquiremag.ph for story)

UP Student’s Experiment to Run in Int’l Space Station

William Kevin Abran

William Kevin Abran, an incoming third-year applied physics student in UP Los Baños, is set to make a mark on the International Space Station. His experiment looks at the long-term stability of dumbbell-shaped objects in microgravity, which only has two main moments of inertia. If the dumbbell shape is proven to be stable, then it could potentially be applied when designing spacecraft and other materials (See Scoutmag.ph for story).

Fil-Am Pop Star Olivia Rodrigo Slams US Supreme Court Conservatives for Abortion Ruling

Olivia Rodrigo (Source: Inquirer.net)

Filipino American pop star Olivia Rodrigo and UK musician Lily Allen sang Allen’s 2009 song “F— You’ at the Glastonbury festival, dedicating it to the conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices who overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which protected a woman’s choice to have an abortion (See INQUIRER.net for story).