What's Happening in San Jose Vietnamese Community & Interested News:

Nov. 30, 1999: Silicon Valley home sales jump. Median price nears $400,000. Santa Clara County homes continued to sell at a blistering pace last month, posting nearly a 30 percent increase from October of last year, in contrast to nationwide sales that slipped as much as 9.4 percent year-over-year, according to figures released Monday by two real estate trade groups. Prices were up locally, too. Data compiled by the California Association of Realtors showed that 29.9 percent more homes changed hands in Santa Clara County last month than during October 1998, while the median price of an existing single-family detached home here rose 11.4 percent, to $397,530. Also on Monday, Fannie Mae, the nation's largest source of home mortgage financing, announced that the limit for a so-called ``conforming'' home loan will increase to $252,700 beginning Jan. 1. The previous limit was $240,000 for a single-family ``conforming'' mortgage loan. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 29, 1999: Net firms help push average Super Bowl ad prices to $2 million. Michael Zapolin, chief executive and a co-founder of Computer.com, hopes just three new TV ads will eventually put his 5-month-old Internet company into the financial black. Until then, it will certainly push his e-business deeper into the red. Zapolin's Maynard, Mass.-based company, dedicated to educating and advising computer novices, is spending about $3 million for a Super Bowl package that includes one ad during the game and two in pregame shows. He's not alone. Some Internet companies are paying more to advertise on January's Super Bowl telecast than they have generated in revenue, helping push the average commercial price to a record of about $2 million.

As many as a dozen ``dot-com'' advertisers are expected to rub shoulders with Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi-Cola, Federal Express, Visa and other longtime Super Bowl advertisers on the Jan. 30, 2000 telecast on ABC. Industry insiders say price evidently has been no object as the average charge for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial has soared 25 percent from the old high of $1.6 million in the last NFL championship game telecast. Super Bowl ad prices are typically the most expensive on TV. But paying more for a 30-second commercial than you have generated in sales is a bold move even on a day when excess is the norm. Budowski said the chance to reach close to 100 million viewers so quickly, in hopes they will check out the Web site, makes it worthwhile. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 25, 1999: Happy Thanksgiving !

Nov. 23, 1999: New information for Vietnamese Restaurant and Food related industry on our Health Page. Beginning January 1, 2000 a new certification is required in California. Please click on our Health page for more information.

Nov. 19, 1999: Prime Minister Blair's wife pregnant. LONDON (Reuters) - Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is pregnant, the prime minister's office announced Thursday. Blair, 46, and Mrs Blair, 45, already have three children -- Euan, 15, Nicky, 14, and Kathryn 11. ``They are delighted at the news, which came as a total shock,'' a spokesman said. The new baby is due in May. Under her maiden name of Cherie Booth, the prime minister's wife is a senior barrister whose reported income of more than 200,000 pounds ($325,000) a year is well above that of her husband. Reported by SJMN.

Nov. 17, 1999: We add Map Direction for you to drive to where you wanted to go on our Home page.

Nov. 16, 1999: 1.7 million reasons to kiss a lawyer. And 1.7 million other people in Orange County and across California might want to kiss him, too. Because good ol' Barron just helped put hundreds of dollars back in our pockets. And it all started because Barron didn't want to pay a $300 fee for a 1986 Mazda. Allow me to explain. In 1994 Barron, a graduate of Orange High School, was in San Diego attending law school when his then-wife Elise moved down from Washington state to join him, bringing her 1986 Mazda RX-7 with her. But when she tried to register the Mazda at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, they told her that because it was an out-of-state vehicle she'd have to pay a $300 "smog impact fee" in addition to the $225 in regular fees. But finally last month an appeals court ruled that Barron was right: The smog fee was unconstitutional. And now it looks as if more than $500 million in illegally collected fees will be returned to the 1.7 million people who paid them, Barron included. (For information on obtaining a refund, call 877-SMOGFEE or see www.smogfee.com. Or contact your local DMV office.). Full story OC. Register.

Nov. 14, 1999: Event Pulls In $63,500 for Vietnam Flood Relief. By THUY-DOAN LE, Special to The Times More than 1,000 people on Saturday attended the largest local fund-raiser yet to benefit victims of the flooding in Vietnam, raising about $63,500 for the Red Cross Relief Fund. Proceeds from the event will be used to purchase food and clothing and help with other relief efforts in the central portion of  Vietnam, where the worst flooding in more than 30 years killed 500 and destroyed thousands of homes. In one province, Thua Thien-Hue, more than 300 have died. "Our goal is to raise as much money as possible and send it straight over to Vietnam for the food and clothes," event coordinator Michelle Tran said. "This is not a political or commercial event. It's simply charity." Full story LA. Times.

Nov. 12, 1999: CIA recruitment efforts flourishing. Despite spotty record for a decade, agency's applications go up and up. WANTED: Smart, clean-living college and graduate students fluent in non-Romance languages. Minority group members and Turkish and Iranian U.S. citizens are especially welcome. A taste for foreign intrigue is required. That's the Central Intelligence Agency's pitch for its biggest recruiting drive since the Cold War ended. And it's working even better than spy masters expected. Applications more than doubled to 39,000 in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

They're expected to double again next year, and the drive should continue up to four more years. Women and members of ethnic minorities -- particularly Asian- and Arab Americans -- are favored as CIA recruits, rather than Ivy League men, Tenet also wants more recruits with advanced degrees, foreign language proficiency and experience living and working abroad.

The agency is even reaching into high schools, offering qualified seniors college scholarships of up to $15,000 a year, plus summer jobs. In return, the teenagers work for the CIA upon graduation. There are training programs and internships for undergraduates and graduate students. Of every 100 qualified applicants, about 50 get  tentative job offers, Medeiros said. About 37 accept them. Of those, an average of 17 survive the CIA's background check, in-depth interviews and psychological testing. Full story SJMN.

How to apply for a CIA job. The CIA may be contacted through college career counselors or a letter, accompanied by a résumé and an unofficial transcript, to: Personnel Representative, Box 12727, Arlington, Va. 22209-8727. The CIA will start accepting applications over its Internet site (www.cia.gov) early next year. The site already features an extensive list of agency openings, instructions on how to apply, job descriptions and benefits. Undergraduates must have grade-point averages of at least 2.75; graduate students must have 3.0 GPAs. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

Nov. 11, 1999: Clinton sees no risk from Y2K problem. Local governments put final touch on systems, but glitches are possible. President Clinton said Wednesday that he foresees ``no major national breakdowns'' as a result of the year 2000 computer problem, but the administration's Y2K point person and officials in Silicon Valley emphasized that there are no guarantees and urged people to be prepared. One concern is small business.

About three in 10 don't plan to do anything to prepare for the date change, according to the Clinton administration report, preferring to wait to see what needs to be fixed on Jan. 1. Jim Tucker, director of economic development for the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, said it is difficult to get a read on how prepared small businesses in the region are for Y2K. But, he added, ``I would think that because this is Silicon Valley, you will probably find that more small businesses are prepared than not.''

Not everyone is so optimistic. Dat Nguyen, executive director of the Vietnamese American Council, a community-based agency that does some work with local businesses owned by Vietnamese, said most businesses it deals with haven't taken steps to prepare for the date change.  ``Nobody thinks it's a big deal so probably nobody is doing anything about it,'' Nguyen said. Full story SJMN.

UK hereditary lords end 700 years in parliament. LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of British peers slipped meekly into political oblivion on Thursday when they approved legislation stripping their 700-year-old hereditary right to sit in parliament's upper house.``I do sincerely believe most have the grace and the realism to accept this change is necessary,'' she said before the Lord Chancellor, in ermine-lined red robes, presided over the ceremonial closing of this parliamentary session. Just 92 hereditary peers have won a stay of execution under a compromise deal which allowed the outgoing lords to elect a token force of their colleagues to remain in the second chamber. They will stay on in the House of Lords with about 500 other life peers, appointed by governments over the last 40 years, whose position is unaffected. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 10, 1999: Split S.J. council approves restrictions for cardrooms. New rules create shorter hours, some limits on wagers. But in voting 8-3 to attempt to ``reduce the social cost of gambling in San Jose,'' as Mayor Ron Gonzales put it, the council delayed imposing the new restrictions for 21 months. The ordinance will give the city's two 40-table cardrooms, Garden City and Bay 101, the chance to seek further extensions beyond August 2001 if they can show the new rules would create ``undue hardship'' on them financially. Labor groups had lobbied against the new limits, saying they would threaten cardroom jobs.

But San Jose police supported the measure, warning that the clubs may be attracting organized crime and other undesirable elements. Council members Cindy Chavez, Frank Fiscalini and Charlotte Powers voted against the measure, saying it failed to solve problems associated with compulsive gambling while putting cardroom workers' jobs at risk. San Jose reaped the benefits of local gambling by adopting a 13 percent tax on the gross receipts of cardrooms in exchange for its pro-cardroom policies. Currently, those taxes amount to about $7.5 million a year. The council voted after a hearing that lasted more than three hours. The meeting room was packed with cardroom employees, who said the action threatened their jobs, and with a smaller number of Vietnamese community activists who said the limits would protect the families of addicted gamblers. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 9, 1999: 1 million kids in poverty. California report: Oakland-based advocacy grouphas some good news and bad news about the condition of California's   children. The group focused on children in that age group for this year's report because they're the ones hit hardest by stressful conditions, said Lois Salisbury, president of Children Now, a national organization based in Oakland. The report card has been compiled since 1989 and takes a look at children through the lenses of demographics, family economics, health, education and safety issues.

``In spite of the great economy, we're not seeing great improvements with kids and poverty,'' said Amy Dominguez-Arms, author of the report card and director of policy for Children Now. She added that there is also an increase in juvenile incarceration and reported cases of child abuse throughout the state. While children in the Bay Area, and Santa Clara County, fare better than those living in other California counties, families here struggle to find affordable housing and child care, she said. Statewide, the average monthly cost in 1998 for full-time care in a child care center was $467 for a preschooler and $651 for an infant. In Santa Clara County, that cost was $608 for a child and $901 for an infant.

In housing, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in 1998 was $987 -- 103 percent of the income of someone earning minimum wage. One peculiar highlight of the report card for Santa Clara County was the small number of infants and children receiving food through the federal Women Infant Children (WIC) nutrition program even though a high number qualify for the assistance. ``I'm not sure what the problem is, but it's improving,'' said Karen Khorasani, public health program manager for Santa Clara County's health department, which administers the WIC program.`We're not doing enough outreach and a lot of people don't realize they qualify.'' Full story SJMN.

Nov. 6, 1999: Floodwaters rise again in Vietnam as aid arrives. Continuous rain limits relief work in central region DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) -- Rescue workers raced against rising floodwaters Friday, working to evacuate people from areas where they could be washed away and getting food to well over 1 million people -- many of whom have not eaten for threedays or more. Rain continued to pelt seven central provinces which have been drenched for nearly a week, part of a tropical depression stalled over Vietnam. It brought the worst flooding in four decades -- and perhaps in a century -- and more rain was in the forecast.

The worst-hit area was the destitute Thua Thien Hue province, home to the ancient imperial capital Hue, where 234 of the 355 deaths nationwide have been and 200,000 homes were destroyed. Of the province's 1 million residents, 900,000 were believed to be displaced. VTV said Prime Minister Phan Van Khai  rdered the release of 8,400 tons of food from the national food reserves to the afflicted provinces, with 5,000 tons going to Thua Thien Hue. Khai also ordered 365 tons of instant noodles and 60,000 sets of clothing to the province.

Red Cross officials planned Friday to use a helicopter to take food and antibiotics to Hue's central hospital, which was expecting an influx of injured and sick while scurrying to find enough rice to feed staff and patients. Disaster officials put the early damage toll at $11.7 million, with schools, bridges, clinics, roads and food stockpiles all damaged. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 5, 1999: Underdog surges to runoff. S.F. mayor's race: Write-in candidate Tom Ammiano will face incumbent Willie Brown next month. Relying on an improbable, cheap, grass-roots write-in effort launched just three weeks ago, Supervisor Tom Ammiano has defeated two better-heeled rivals and won the right to compete against Willie Brown for the mayor's office in next month's runoff, election results showed Thursday. Even now, 11,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted, as do 7,000 provisional ballots -- ballots that were cast by voters at other than their assigned polling booths. Each of those has to be verified as legitimate. But the outstanding ballots are not expected to change the candidate rankings. As of Thursday's count, the votes broke down like this: Brown, 67,912; Ammiano, 44,539; Jordan, 29,987; former political consultant Clint Reilly, 21,867. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 4, 1999: South Bay speeders beware. CHP is packing radar on nearly all freeways. Silicon Valley drivers who like to rev it up, check your speedometer. And keep an eye out for traffic cops lurking ahead. They're packing a new tool: radar. Now, officers will be using radar on every major route in Santa Clara County -- highways 87, 101 and 237 and interstates 280 and 680, plus other expressways. Radar will not be used on I-880 and Highway 17 from Los Gatos to Milpitas until signs are posted. San Mateo County is not taking part in the campaign against speeders, though it could spread to other areas. Full story SJMN.

Nov. 3, 1999: Mayor to move soon on betting Hours, wager limits at S.J. cardrooms on council's table. Ten months into his first term, San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales will decide how tough he wants to be on the Bay 101 and Garden City cardrooms, businesses he long has said are detrimental to the city. Gonzales and the council next week are scheduled to decide whether to prohibit 24-hour gambling and whether to impose meaningful limits on the size of wagers -- moves that would put the city's two big cardrooms at a competitive disadvantage with other casinos at a time when legalized gambling throughout the state is expanding. Full story SJMN.

Local ELECTION' 99 RESULT. Reported by San Jose Mercury News.