NextShark

A monthlong exhibition at Monterey Park’s Bruggemeyer Library is using America’s 250th anniversary to highlight Asian American military service across nearly two centuries of U.S. history. “Duty, Honor, Country, Courage,” which opened on July 3 in the Library Friends Room, features veterans’ stories spanning from the Civil War to the present.

More than 20 years after “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle” launched a studio comedy franchise led by two Asian American actors, a fourth film is moving ahead at the screenplay stage with its core creative team returning. While attending the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, producer Greg Shapiro told Variety that the franchise’s actors and writers are coming back.

A federal search warrant unsealed this week reveals two previously unreported attacks near California’s Oceanside Pier more than a year ago, in which three men allegedly assaulted and seriously injured an Asian American man and two Camp Pendleton Marines while shouting racial slurs. The attacks occurred on June 7, 2025, but the case did not become public until the warrant’s unsealing.

Elon Musk has declared that Americans who do not love their country are traitors who should be exiled, escalating a Fourth of July exchange on his social media platform. The exchange began when Spencer Pratt, the reality television personality eliminated from the Los Angeles mayoral race, posted “It’s OK to love America” on X. Pratt built his campaign on Trump-style messaging and public frustration over the response to last year’s wildfires, which destroyed his family’s Palisades home.

The Trump administration is suing 99 Ranch Market’s parent company, alleging that it systematically fired, underpaid and denied promotions to employees because they are not Chinese. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed the lawsuit June 30 against Tawa Supermarket, Inc., which operates as 99 Ranch, claiming that it began targeting non-Chinese managers for termination shortly after a 2016 leadership change.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested more than 10,000 people over five days at the end of June, roughly doubling its daily arrest pace under a new target, according to reports. Agency leaders directed top ICE officials to increase arrests after White House officials pushed for higher numbers, according to The New York Times, citing documents and sources knowledgeable with the matter. Officers were reportedly told to work seven days a week, with 80% assigned to arrest operations.

Pastor Jin Mingri, the founder of Beijing’s underground Zion Church, has been released after nine months in detention and reunited with family in Los Angeles, less than two months after President Donald Trump raised his case directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Jin, who also goes by Ezra, arrived in Los Angeles on July 3, his first reunion with family since 2020.

The Supreme Court’s rejection of President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship has not closed off Republican efforts to restrict it as a concurring opinion and other rulings offer new openings. Last week, we reported that six justices agreed that Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order was unlawful. However, Justice Brett Kavanaugh broke from the majority’s constitutional reasoning, arguing that Congress could change the citizenship law instead of amending the Constitution.

Bruce Lee became the first Chinese American to receive an annual statewide commemorative day in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2455 on Tuesday, designating May 17 as Bruce Lee Day. The measure recognizes the San Francisco-born martial arts icon’s lasting influence on film, martial arts and American culture while marking a milestone in the state’s official recognition of Asian American history. The observance will be held each year beginning in 2027.

With the U.S. marking its 250th anniversary this Independence Day, nearly half of Americans do not know what the milestone commemorates, according to a new national survey. The Cato Institute poll found that 46% of respondents failed to identify the anniversary as the adoption of the Declaration of Independence while just 53% answered correctly.