From League of California Cities

Los Angeles — Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) received the League of California Cities’ 2014 Legislator of the Year award, which was announced today at the League’s 2014 Annual Conference and Expo in Los Angeles.

Lou Correa. Photo from Nguoi Viet.

The top honor award was given to the Senator in appreciation for his long-term support for local control and his diligent hard work on behalf of cities. This year the Senator authored SB 1262, a measure that would have created the first statewide regulatory structure for medical marijuana dispensaries. The cities of California remain grateful for his efforts to advocate for regulations that would have retained local governments’ authority to include or ban dispensaries from their jurisdictions.

In presenting the award to Sen. Correa, League President and San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros commended him for this groundbreaking bill. Despite the fact that it failed to move forward at the end of session, SB 1262 has provided a foundation for the future.

“The League is happy to recognize Senator Correa for his long-standing concern for local government and his hard work this year to advance a regulatory reform measure for medical marijuana, which preserved local authority while also being sensitive to patient’s needs,” said Cisneros. “While more work needs to be done, the policies developed and advanced in this legislation will broaden the legislative conversation going forward.”

Sen. Correa accepted the award by acknowledging how his tenure in local government influenced his perspective as a legislator. “Having previously served in local government, I am keenly aware of how policy decisions affect local government and have made it a top priority to preserve and protect local control and authority throughout my tenure. It’s an honor to represent the needs of cities in the state Legislature and I thank the League of California Cities for this recognition.”

The League’s Orange County Division President Scott Nelson, mayor of Placentia, thanked the Senator on behalf of the cities of Orange County. “Sen. Lou Correa has proven over his tenure that he is a strong ally of cities and local control. He has always worked for all the cities in California and the cities he represents in Orange County. We congratulate him on receiving this prestigious award.”
Now ending his 14th and final year in the Legislature, Sen. Correa has consistently shown his outstanding leadership skills and his thoughtful and pragmatic approach to legislation. The League salutes Sen. Lou Correa for his stalwart support of cities and his full dedication this year to advance legislation to enact a comprehensive medical marijuana policy for California.

Founded in 1898, the League of California Cities is an association of California city officials who work together to enhance their knowledge and skills, exchange information, and combine resources so that they may influence policy decisions that affect cities. The League’s mission is to restore and protect local control for cities through education and advocacy to enhance the quality of life for all Californians.

By LIBBY KANE, Business Insider

Money can’t buy love, if you ask The Beatles.

A banker carries 100 dollar bills. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

And it can’t buy happiness. (Although, according to psychology research, how you choose to spend it can do a certain amount in that area.)

Those can’t be the only things without a price tag, can they?

Admittedly, you could argue that money simply can’t buy anything that isn’t for sale or that money can facilitate the acquisition of nearly anything, for sale or not.

But when a Quora user asked the community “What’s the thing that money cannot buy?” users came up with a few more priceless desirables. Here are our favorites:

1. A healthy sense of self-worth
One Quora user describes how, after watching a TV show where the lead character bought a house, which was quickly followed by a marriage proposal, she also got a mortgage. “I thought I could buy the marriage proposal, too,” she writes. “Instead of doing the internal work required, I thought my self-worth would come from the house. It bankrupted me.” —Claudia Altucher

2. More time
In that it can help you outsource your tasks to spend your time how you prefer, money can buy you time. “However, none of us knows how long we have on this earth, so in that sense it cannot buy you more time to live.” —Krystle Hannigan

3. Skill
“You can take classes in any art from the best teachers and coaches available, but only effort, sweat, and willpower can buy skill. Money can give you the freedom and time to practice things, and get you better gear and instruction, and buy you the tools that help facilitate skill but skill is only between you and the art. Money may or may not open the door, but only your effort and will can walk you through that door.” —Josh Vogel

4. Real respect
“People might act as if they respect you, but what they respect is the power of money and not you as a person. Respect is earned through your actions.” —Krystle Hannigan

5. Work-life balance
“You can earn millions or zillions of dollars, but that money cannot buy you work-life balance. You yourself have to manage it.” —Arti Agarwal

Read the full article HERE.

Việt Nam

Công an Tây Ninh bắt giữ hai người Trung Quốc mang lậu 18.2 tỉ đồng Việt Nam qua biên giới với Cambodia.

Trung Quốc đưa hơn 200 du khách từ cảng Tam Á ra thăm quần đảo Hoàng Sa, thuộc chủ quyền của Việt Nam.

Sau các tỉnh Hà Tĩnh, Lạng Sơn, Lào Cai, virus cúm H5N6 tiếp tục xuất hiện ở hai tỉnh Quảng Trị và Quảng Ngãi.

Nhiều người dân Sài Gòn cảm thấy bất an khi hầu hết các công viên trở thành nơi các con nghiện tụ tập để chích ma túy.

Cộng Đồng/Địa Phương

Một kỹ sư kỳ cựu của hãng Boeing cư ngụ tại Laguna Hills bị cơ quan FBI bắt về tội lưu trữ nhiều hình ảnh khiêu dâm trẻ em trên máy vi tính ở nhà.

Dân cư Long Beach, trong tháng Tám vừa qua, sử dụng nước ở mức thấp nhất kể từ năm 1958 đến nay, theo tường trình từ cơ quan nước của thành phố này.

Dữ kiện mới nhất về California cho thấy một bức tranh ảm đạm cho đảng Cộng Hòa ở tiểu bang, nơi họ không được giới trẻ, Châu Mỹ La Tinh và cử tri ôn hòa ủng hộ.

Hãng xe buýt vé rẻ FlyAway chở người đến phi trường quốc tế Los Angeles (LAX) đang tung ra một lộ trình mới đến Hollywood , chỉ hơn một tháng sau khi mở lộ trình đến Santa Monica.

Hoa Kỳ

Vịnh Maine nổi tiếng về tôm hùm đang có nhiệt độ nước biển ấm lên dần nhanh hơn 99% các vùng biển khác trên thế giới.

Một thiếu nữ 20 tuổi ở Massachusetts lái chiếc xe mang bảng số vẽ bằng tay trên giấy bìa cứng, bị cảnh sát nhìn thấy nghi ngờ rượt theo bắt và truy tố.

Cuốn sách do Tổng Thống George W. Bush biên soạn sẽ  phát hành tháng 11 mang tự đề: “41; Chân dung bố tôi”, ông Bush bố là Tổng Thống Hoa Kỳ thứ 41.

Người Mỹ thứ ba mắc chứng bệnh Ebola là nữ bác sĩ thuộc một giáo hội truyền giáo ở Boston, hiện vẫn còn ở Liberia và chưa biết có trở về chữa trị tại Atlanta hay không.

Quốc Tế

Thủ tướng Shinzo Abe hôm Thứ Tư loan báo 5 nữ bộ trưởng mới, kỷ lục về số phụ nữ trong nội các Nhật Bản từ trước đến nay.

Pakistan loan báo tiêu diệt 910 loạn quân và mất 82 binh sĩ trong chiến dịch khởi đầu từ tháng 6 trong vùng lãnh thổ tự trị của các bộ tộc gần biên giới Afghanistan.

Hội đồng tôn giáo tối cao Ai Cập đề nghị cấm màn trình diễn múa bụng trên TV, với lý do mất đạo đưc và tạo nên cái cớ để Ai Cập bị phê phán là nước chống Hồi Giáo.

Tuần vừa qua thỏa hiệp mới về  thanh tra nguyên tử ở Iran đã bị  ngưng trệ khiến cho các thanh tra Liên Hiệp Quốc phàn nàn rằng chưa có tiến bộ gì  hơn một thập niên trước.

By An Nguyen, RFA

Bloggers across Vietnam launched an online campaign Tuesday demanding that their authoritarian government keep the people closely informed about national and foreign policies, including its dealings with giant neighbor China whose territorial disputes with Hanoi have led to riots and a sharp deterioration in bilateral relations.

Vietnamese bloggers display signs demanding government transparency in a “We Want to Know” campaign, Sept. 2, 2014. Photo courtesy of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers.

Vietnamese activists have become increasingly vocal over what they call China’s aggression in the disputed South China Sea and Hanoi’s reluctance to take a stronger stand against its northern neighbor.

The “We Want to Know” campaign was launched by a Vietnamese bloggers’ group early Tuesday and quickly spread on the Internet through Facebook and other social media sites across the one-party communist state, Haiphong-based blogger Pham Thanh Nghien told RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“At 12:00 a.m. last night, Vietnam time, the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers began the campaign ‘We Want to Know,’” said Nghien, who was freed from prison in September 2012 after her online writings earned her a four-year term behind bars.

“Our network believes that free access to information helps people exercise their rights as citizens of the country,” she said.

“Today, I say ‘I want to know’—and I have the right to know—because society cannot develop if people don’t know about the policies that govern their lives, especially policies that affect the survival of their country.”

‘Aggressive moves’

Although the campaign asserts the right of Vietnamese citizens to access information “in all fields”—including education, the environment, and health—the focus of the bloggers was on Hanoi’s actions in its long-running row with China on overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“The people of Vietnam often are caught unprepared by China’s aggressive moves, and confounded by information released by the Chinese government,” the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers said in an online statement outlining the objectives of the “We Want to Know” campaign.

“Meanwhile, the Vietnamese regime represses anyone who wishes transparency, and tries to shed light upon this existing ‘black hole’ and seeks the truth of what has happened and is happening,” the group said.

Of particular concern was China’s deployment in May this year of an oil rig, HD-981, to waters off the Vietnamese coast claimed by both countries, which prompted a storm of anti-China protests in Vietnam.

Hanoi initially allowed the protests in a rare move widely seen as a way to amplify state anger against Beijing, but the government backpedaled after protests turned bloody, with riots targeting Chinese business interests. Beijing says four Chinese citizens were killed in the unrest.

When China—to support its claim over disputed territory—released the contents of a 1958 diplomatic note signed by then Vietnamese prime minister Pham Van Dong, apparently acknowledging Chinese sovereignty over the disputed area, the Vietnamese people were “astounded,” the statement by the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers said.

Beijing withdrew the rig in July, citing bad weather and the completion of exploratory work.

Read the full story HERE.

By Jennifer Merin, Womens Enews

Topping the September calendar is the fascinating political documentary “Last Days in Vietnam,” by filmmaker Rory Kennedy, best known for “Ethel” (2012), the moving portrait of her mother, and the searing expose “Ghosts of Abu Gharib” (2007).

Rory Kennedy’s documentary “Last Days in Vietnam.” Credit: Courtesy of Hugh Doyle

This new film of hers is set during the military evacuation of Saigon in 1975, as North Vietnamese troops advanced on the city. It spotlights U.S. diplomats and soldiers who defied White House orders to evacuate only U.S. citizens and risked being charged with treason in order to airlift their South Vietnamese comrades to safety and freedom. The well-connected Kennedy, the youngest of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy’s 11 children, intersperses insightful interviews and revealing archival footage to shed light on some shining examples of heroism during a dark chapter of U.S. history. This must-see opens Sept. 5.

Another top hit early this month is “Rocks in My Pockets,” which opens today, Sept. 3. In it feminist filmmaker Signe Baumane offers a brilliant and soul-searching animated autobiographical investigation of how her family’s genetics and history, beginning with her grandmother’s experiences in Latvia and carrying through to her own arrival in New York City, underlie her ongoing suicidal tendencies. The film presents a deeply emotional and disturbing subject in a most entertaining and enlightening way, thanks to Baumane’s uniquely clever and stylish animation and her beautifully nuanced and witty narration. Baumane is a first-rate cinema auteur. This very humane animation is destined to become a classic. Go see it.

Now, on to other movies opening soon.

Opening Sept. 5
“Innocence” is an allegorical horror tale about Beckett (Sophie Curtis), a teenager who’s not only coping with grief over her mother’s death, but also battling vampire demons at her new school. Director Hilary Brougher co-scripted with Tristine Skyler based on Jane Mendelsohn’s popular young adult novel. Stylishly shot, well performed and engaging but a bit plot heavy.

“God Help the Girl” is another coming-of-age fantasy; this one set in Scotland and set to music. Teenage Eve (Emily Browning) is a lonely outcast who feels she doesn’t fit in anywhere except when she’s singing. She spends the summer shaping herself and two similarly disengaged school chums into a pop band that bursts into song whenever, but without generating much excitement or toe-tapping. The cast is talented but the film is a big snooze owing to its simplistic story, wimpy characters and sappy music. The title should be “God Help the Film.”

Read the full article HERE.