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>

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>

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>

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the far-right Russian lawmaker, known for his populist style and offensive remarks about Jews, Israel and America, spoke in “Little Odessa” last month. It was a three-hour barrage of political fantasies, macho foreign policy, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitic remarks, often greeted with ovations. 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>