I often find myself at the Saint Petersburg – the premier bookstore on Brighton Beach, the heart of the Russian-speaking Jewish world in America. And there, entirely unexpected among the books and novellas on the shelves, I find The Mystery of Zionist Protocol and The Secret World Government, the anti-Semitic writings by Oleg Platonov. more>

Eight Russian-Jewish talking heads from the media reflect on their community’s political traditions and legacies of back home. more>

The Forward Association, a nonprofit organization created 107 years ago, recently sold one of its newspapers, the Russian-language Forward to the Mitzvah Media Group, a media management group formed by some administrative members of Russian American Jews for Israel (RAJI). The Russian Forwardwill remain a nonprofit publication that serves as the voice of the Russian-Jewish community of North America. more>

New York Association for New Americans (NYANA) – the organization responsible for assisting hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees, including helping to settle many immigrants from the former Soviet Union and the Commonwealth of Independent States, has just appointed Ecuadorian Jose Valencia to its top job. more>

The elderly Vladmir Ruskin and his wife arrived in the United States from St. Petersburg in 1997 and settled in Queens, fully believing that they would spend their golden years living the American way. They received Social Security benefits that let them make ends meet. But, caught in the web of naturalization procedure, Ruskin’s citizenship was not approved within the requisite period to continue his benefits. Now, he can’t pay the bills, through no fault of his own. more>

State Assembly member Adele Cohen’s re-election campaign suddenly showed up some questionable editorial practices in an influential Russian-language newspaper. When the wrong news made the daily’s pages, advertisers threatened to pull away. Some succumbed under the pressure. more>

The "sensational news" about the possible sale of RTN-WMNB, an American Russian language TV company, to the Russian government's TV channel ORT (Russia's first TV channel) was on everybody's lips. I could not pretend that nothing was happening. more>

Writer Leah Moses talks to editors and journalists to get a gauge on the inner workings of the Russian-American press. more>

Displeased that the station advertised a forthcoming meeting with President Putin's opponents, the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Russian Consulate in New York, made repeated calls to the station expressing their discontent. But the pressure didn’t end there. more>

Two Russian-Jewish immigrants are going to challenge each other this year for the position of the male Democratic leader of the 46th New York State Assembly district. Some fear it will provoke a feud in our community. more>

Who are they? Are they criminals and potential terrorists, or honest and industrious people trying to find refuge in this nation of freedom? Do they benefit America or do they steal job opportunities from the legal citizens of this country? Russian Forward interviewed a range of people on this issue. more>

Medicaid already takes up a lion’s share of the New York State budget, and in the coming decade spending is predicted to double. Can medical services for its recipients be saved given the financial crunch? more>

The president of the new association, Gennady Ladyizhinzky, an investigator with the special organized crime task force, gave an exclusive interview to the newspaper The Russian Forward. more>

Novoe Russkoe Slovo, the oldest daily newspaper in America, and Narodnaya Volna, the oldest Russian radio station. has been sold to the Kiev-based Media International Group (MIG) . more>

There are 50,000 Russian immigrants living in Staten Island. Russian American Council of Staten Island, a community organization, will seek acknowledgment from the political establishment and fight any form of discrimination. more>

“Narodnaya Volna” [The People’s Radio Station], once the only listening option for Russian immigrants in the northeast, is faced with new competition. To fight back, the station increased its airtime and began diversifying its programming. Reporter Leah Moses sits down with the station’s owner for a glimpse inside the complex struggle to hang on to its opinionated audience. more>

On March 1, “Novaya Zhizn” [New Life] radio appeared on 620 AM, breaking the monopoly of “Narodnaya Volna” [The People’s Radio Station]. Months later, the two Russian-language stations are engaged in a competitive battle for advertisers, journalists and distinctive programming to lure listeners. An interview with the president and vice-president of New Life Broadcasting Company reveals their strategies to deliver the best news and programming to listeners. more>

From Washington we get unrealistic tax cuts and ballooning deficits, from the mayor we get reduced services, layoffs and tax increases. Where is the wisdom? more>

New Visions for Public Schools, an organization working with Mayor Bloomberg and the School’s Chancellor, Joel Klein, is opening small, progressive and potentially successful high schools in the city, which will gradually replace failing schools. more>

Every year the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) does a day of action in defense of the rights of immigrants. A diverse delegation representing New York state’s different ethnic communities heads for Albany, where it conducts, either in the capitol building or on the steps, large meetings to present their demands and meet with elected officials about problems. more>

Although the New York City charter accords much more power to the mayor than to city councilmembers, events of the last month have shown that Michael Bloomberg doesn’t always have the last word. more>

A group of Russian-speaking Brooklyn voters went to federal court charging the New York City Board of Elections with directly violating their civil rights. more>

A lot has changed in New York in three years, and sadly, not for the better. With the monstrous blow of September 11th, New York is undergoing the worst crisis in its history. Carefree extravagance has given way to alarm and cost-consciousness. Charity and nonprofit organizations have seen a rise in workload, but not in funds. more>

The New York Charter Commission proposed splitting off a part of Brighton Beach from the 47th City Council District. The community would no longer be able to vote in one voice or elect a Russian-speaking candidate. Some believe a conspiracy theory—that someone is preventing Jews from the former Soviet Union from accessing power. It’s leading to some interesting reactions—and actions—from the Russian-speaking community. more>

Among family and friends Lyudochka was always the leader. Wherever we were, whatever we were doing, if Lyudochka arrived, everything became warmer and happier, and any sorrows or bad moods disappeared. Our hearts ache unbearably to think that this will never be the case again. more>

The United States, the wealthiest country in the world, is full of socio-economic contrasts and contradictions. The high levels of poverty and recent corporate scandals highlight the problems with the American economic model. more>

A coalition of social advocates is suing New York to open the state food stamp program to all poor, documented immigrants. Two of the plaintiffs---73-year-old Brooklyn residents Yankel and Vera Teitelman, are immigrants from Ukraine and Holocaust survivors. The Teitelmans receive welfare, but live on food donated by charitable organizations, as do most of the plaintiffs named. more>

“I could never say ‘I’m Russian,’ or anything close to it. But now I can say with pride, in Hebrew, ‘I’m Israeli, and I live in America,’” said one of five Russian Jews, who moved to the United States from Israel and reflected on adjustment and belonging in all three places. more>

Despite the management’s and board of directors’ efforts, the tenants of the subsidized co-op Warbass in South Brooklyn, overwhelmingly rejected privatizing the co-op. Further, the tenants, Russian-speaking Social Security recipients and low-income American senior citizens worked to defeat the privatization measure, refused to even explore privatizing Warbass. more>

More than 100 activists, defending of the interests of welfare recipients, arrived in Washington in early February. Congress must revisit the 1996 “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act” by September. Some legislators were supportive…and some told them to “learn English.” more>