Atlanta-a network of baptist churches with headquarters in Georgia, the Ministry of Homeland Security is suing for its decision to scrap a policy of bidding era that limits immigration liability near so-called “sensitive locations” resembling churches, schools and hospitals.

The lawsuit of the decision-based cooperative baptist against the Trump government was originally submitted by a bunch of Quäker communities at the tip of the last month before the Federal Court of Maryland. The CBF joined the suit originally of this week.

The rollback from the “sensitive locations” policy took place immediately after the inauguration of President Donald Trump as a part of a comprehensive revision of immigration policy as a way to keep the legal and illegal immigration alike. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in American schools and churches to avoid arrests.” DHS said in a proof on the time.

The fair game for schools and churches for immigration and customs authority triggered comprehensive concern with the lawyers-in-IK and in Metro Atlanta. Where an immigrant from Honduras was arrested in Tucker outside of his church. The grievance of the cooperative Baptist scholarship and the Quaker Group appears to be the primary of religion organizations to query the political reversal in court.

According to Rev. Paul Baxley, Executive Coordinator at The CBF, the choice to enable ice arrest in churches has emerged a direct frightening effect.

“Pastors heard from immigrants and refugees from different parts of the world that they were now afraid to come to church,” he said.

The lawsuit argues that the abolition of the municipal books affects the guarantee of spiritual freedom from participation in services.

“We see the revocation of the sensitive locations as a deep violation of the religious freedom of our communities,” said Baxley.

Fear has also kept that immigrants will reap the benefits of social services, starting from food distributions to English lessons. For many newcomers in need of protection within the United States, churches are an important a part of the social security network.

“Participation in ESL classes dramatically decreased in some places,” said Baxley and described English as second speakers.

“The Tucker arrest concentrated, which have already been expressed, concentrated not only among cooperative baptists in Metro Atlanta, but everywhere in our community,” he added. “We were no longer just involved in speculation.”

The cooperative baptist scholarship, which was launched in 1991 as a split group of the Southern Baptists, comprises around 1,400 churches, most of them within the southeast of the United States. Former President Jimmy Carter helped organizing the creation of the denomination.

“If you look at our 35-year history, as part of our mission we have a constant commitment to the Ministry with immigrants and refugees. For us, this is deeply rooted in our understanding of writing. Scripture teaches us that we should show foreign hospitality, ”said Baxley.

Jesus said, 'I used to be a stranger and also you greeted me, “said Baxley.” So when persons are afraid to get to the church to be committed to God, it is a reluctance to live out the flexibility of our community to live out their calling. “

According to the scholarship, your participation within the lawsuit against DHS is just not a partisan law and doesn’t take any attitude of other political inquiries to immigration.

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Originally published: February 8, 2025 at 12:08 p.m. PST

Lunar New Year is upon us and the way fitting that it’s the Year of the Snake as all types of parallels come to mind.

Maybe we should always all distract ourselves by searching for the Peking duck. Turns out we’ve got a couple of options in our midst, not least Chef Chu's in Los Altos, famous for its Beijing-style grilled duck cooked in a Chinese forged iron oven and served with steamed lotus buns.

San Jose's newest Taiwanese restaurant, Flaming Ox, is hosting a red envelope raffle from January twenty ninth to February twenty ninth. 12. Guests can receive a red envelope in two ways: Order Flaming Ox's limited-edition Chinese New Year combo meal of a chilly appetizer, noodle appetizer and drink for $24 or purchase two glasses of Flaming Ox's signature Chili Crisp ($8 per jar). . Red envelopes could be redeemed for a free drink, $5 off an appetizer, or a free entree, depending on the reward included. Flaming Ox's specialties include beef noodle soup, rice bowls and popcorn chicken.

Celebrity chef Kathy Fang and Smitten Ice Cream at Santana Row have teamed as much as have fun Chinese New Year with an exclusive latest flavor: Vanilla Black Sesame Mochi. It has a vanilla base swirled with sweet black sesame seeds, covered in chewy mochi. This limited-edition ice cream shall be available in scoops and pints at Smitten locations in San Francisco and San Jose from January eleventh through February twentieth.

Chinese New Year wines include Iron Horse's Year of the Snake sparkling cuvée, perfect for starting the New Year with wisdom, grace and charm. Donum in Carneros offers an exclusive Zodiac Vertical 2020-2022 with Pinot Noir, inspired by artist Ai Weiwei's exhibition “Circle of Animal Zodiac Heads” on the winery. These symbols also adorn Donum's wine labels.

We have fun the snake

Shop, dine and watch lion dances, ribbon dances and other entertainment on the Westfield Valley Fair Lunar New Year Celebration on Sunday, February 2, 12-4 p.m. on the Grand Court near Gucci.

The San Jose Vietnamese New Year Tet Festival shall be held on Friday, February 7, from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, February 8-9, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on the Eastridge Center.

Palo Alto's Chinese community will have fun with a New Year's Mass in Mitchell Park on Sunday, January 26, from 11:30 a.m. to three:30 p.m. There can even be a New Year's Day event at Gamble Garden on February 2nd at 10 a.m. – lunchtime with tours, activities and a lion dance.

Originally published: January 19, 2025 at 7:31 am PST

It was just after 5 p.m. in San Francisco's Outer Richmond when a door burst open on forty first Avenue and an individual in pajamas ran out.

With a leash in a single hand and a handbag and an empty ice cream cone in the opposite, they pulled their dog behind them and ran up the hill toward a well-known sound: Mister Softee's ice cream truck.

The line was already six people long.

But with the newly updated Mister Softee NorCal AppTo get to the ice cream truck, you don't necessarily need to run around in your pajamas: with a touch of the screen, the trucks can now be recognized from miles away.

Between noon and eight p.m., seven days every week, the app shows the live locations of all 14 ice cream trucks within the Bay Area.

“We had over 50,000 downloads,” said Felix Tarnarider, the operator of the local Mister Softee trucks.

The app has just one function, however it does it perfectly: It guides hungry customers to the closest ice cream truck from San Francisco to San Jose, from San Jose to Martinez, and even reaches customers as far east as Tracy.

Mister Softee has never been more popular within the Bay Area.

“We started in Northern California almost eight years ago,” Tarnarider said. “We only had one truck.”

It was 2016 when he quit his job in technology and decided to pursue his dream: bringing Mister Softee to the West Coast.

He had grown up in Brooklyn and remembered running out the door each time he heard the ice cream truck nearby. When he moved to the Bay Area, he couldn't consider they were so hard to search out.

“It was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to do something about it,” he said. “And whatever I felt in my gut was right: People wanted Mister Softee out here.”

He purchased a license for a single Mister Softee truck and drove it himself.

Business was slow at first. Start-up costs were high. But he learned to plan his routes efficiently and started to earn a living.

He soon hired more drivers and eventually left the truck business himself to administer the whole operation with 14 trucks from an office.

Today, demand is bigger than supply.

“We still don’t reach everyone who wants us,” he said.

Tarnarider noted that there aren't many ice cream vendors within the Bay Area that provide soft serve ice cream.

“I don't think that's part of the culture here,” he said. “But the ice cream parlors are part of the culture. They are niche products, very good and also quite expensive.”

Despite rising ice cream costs and increased fuel prices, Tarnarider has managed to maintain Mister Softee prices unchanged at $4 per cone, $4.50 for a cone with sprinkles and $5 for a double cone.

“We stand out from the crowd,” he said.

In the early Nineteen Twenties, ice cream trucks first began operating in Ohio, transporting Good Humor bars door to door. According to AAA MagazineAnother boom occurred at the top of World War II, when wartime milk rationing was lifted, which made Good Humor enormously successful.

But within the Nineteen Seventies, the corporate suffered a serious blow when town of New York implemented stricter health inspections and the corporate was caught falsifying food safety records, resulting in the top of its ice cream trucks.

Founded in 1956, Mister Softee capitalized on the decline of Good Humor and continued to franchise ice cream trucks across the country.

Today, Mister Softee operates 625 ice cream trucks in 18 states, making it the biggest ice cream truck franchisor within the United States.

And while ice cream consumption within the United States has steadily declined over the past 30 years, According to the US Department of AgricultureTarnarider didn't feel the results.

He is about to bring his fifteenth ice cream truck on the road.

And because of its successful app, it's never been easier for patrons to search out one.

“That's the best part now, the interaction with customers,” Tarnarider said. “Our customers love us.”

Originally published: July 19, 2024 at 6:30 am