Florida 12-year-old wins Scripps Spelling Bee in thrilling tie-breaker

Hello and good morning! It’s Monday, June 3. Here’s some of what you need to know in our community today:

35 years since Tiananmen Square Massacre

On the night of June 3 in 1989, the Chinese government declared martial law and deployed troops to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square to repress student-led pro-democracy protests. A violent crackdown involving tanks on the following day resulted in the deaths of hundreds to thousands.

News

Florida 12-year-old wins Scripps Spelling Bee in thrilling tie-breaker

Bruhat Soma, a seventh-grader from Tampa, emerged victorious in this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday. Bruhat correctly spelled 29 words in 90 seconds during a lightning-round tiebreaker against runner-up Faizan Zaki, who spelled 20 words correctly.

• Bruhat, who practiced for the spell-off every day for six months, won a trophy and over $50,000 in cash and prizes. He is the 28th Indian American to win the prestigious title in the past 35 years.

• Bruhat’s winning word was “abseil.” He said after the match: “I always want to win. And this was, like, my main goal. It didn’t matter if I won all those other bees. This is what I was aiming for. So I’m just really happy that I won this.”

Game Time

Education

What Asian Americans think about college admissions

A recent AAPI Data/Associated Press-NORC survey shows most Asian American adults (79%) support using SAT scores and high school grades in college admissions, while only 18% believe race or ethnicity should be considered. 

• The majority also believe it's unfair for colleges to factor in athletic ability (42%), alumni ties (69%), financial status (48%) or parents' education levels (54%).

• When it comes to quality education, a majority (71%) believe in teaching the history of slavery, racism and segregation, along with the history of AAPI communities. A strong majority (85%) also think skills development, critical thinking and the free exchange of different ideas should be the main purposes of college education, while 51% believe advancing equity and inclusion should be a main priority.

News

Filipino Nobel laureate accused of antisemitic trope

Journalist Maria Ressa, the first Nobel Prize recipient from the Philippines, said she was “attacked online and called antisemitic by money and power because they want money and power” for accepting Harvard University’s invitation to give the keynote at their commencement ceremony on May 23. She also said “the other side” was attacking her for sharing a stage with Hillary Clinton, who has publicly criticized pro-Palestine protesters.

• Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi subsequently approached Ressa to ask for clarification on her “money and power” remark, which he found to be antisemitic. Ressa later claimed that her “misinterpreted” comment was about “how Big Tech and people in power seek to divide us.”

• Rep. Elise M. Stefanik (R-New York) previously accused Ressa of being antisemitic over an editorial published by the latter’s media company, Rappler, that compared Israel’s actions to Hitler’s.

News

Filipino student banned from dorm over anti-Israel protest

A Filipino international student at the University of Pennsylvania was suspended and denied access to her dorm last week after participating in an anti-Israel protest encampment with fellow students.

• The student, Eliana Atienza, daughter of Filipino TV host Kim Atienza, told GMA News Online that she and five others were “banned from campus” over the encampment, which lasted for 17 days and resulted in the arrest of 32 people. She said they were protesting against the “genocide in Gaza.”

Crime

“Bad Breath Rapist” arrested after 16-year chase

Tuen Kit Lee, a 55-year-old Massachusetts fugitive colloquially known as the “Bad Breath Rapist,” was arrested on Tuesday in Danville, California, after 16 years on the run. 

• Convicted of kidnapping and raping a young woman at knifepoint at her home in Quincy in 2005, Lee fled before the end of his 2007 trial. The media dubbed Lee as the “Bad Breath Rapist” because his victim identified him by his foul breath odor.

• Investigators connected social media images believed to be of Lee to a home in Diablo, California, confirming his identity through fingerprints. Lee is now held in the East Bay, awaiting extradition to Massachusetts.

News

UF students allegedly shipped meth, whooping cough toxins to China

A University of Florida research employee and students, including Nongnong “Leticia” Zheng, were implicated in a multimillion-dollar scheme to illegally buy and export biochemical samples to China, following an investigation by the Justice Department.

• From 2016 to 2023, the illegal operation exported toxins, including proteins that cause whooping cough, and drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine. The ringleader, identified as 51-year-old Pen “Ben” Yu, provided Zheng with a credit card to place fraudulent biomedical orders and compensate her. The research employee would then receive these orders and hand them to Yu, who shipped them to China.

• Yu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The research employee and students have not yet been formally charged or arrested. However, Zheng was banned from the UF campus for three years.

World

HK democracy activists convicted in landmark national security case

Fourteen prominent Hong Kong activists were found guilty of “conspiracy to commit subversion” on Thursday for organizing an unofficial primary election in 2020. The activists, who are now awaiting sentencing that could range from unspecified restrictions to life imprisonment, were among 47 defendants arrested on Jan. 6, 2021, in the case that would be known as “Hong Kong 47.”

• Authorities alleged that their intention was to win a majority in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, which would allow them to veto government budgets indiscriminately. This would create a constitutional crisis and force the city’s leader to resign.

• The trial underscores the sweeping changes brought by Beijing's national security law, which has drastically curtailed political freedoms in Hong Kong. It follows the 2019 pro-democracy protests.

Crime

Member of burglary ring targeting Asians sentenced

James Hurt, a 48-year-old New York man, was sentenced on Thursday in Newark federal court to 33 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Hurt pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property in September 2023.

• Hurt and his group operated a multi-state burglary ring in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware between December 2016 and March 2019, stealing money and valuable items from the residences of Asian business owners. In one incident, the group allegedly stole approximately $350,000 in property from a home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.

• The group was arrested after officers traced them using a dropped cell phone. Eight group members were charged in May 2021 and told investigators they targeted Asian business owners “because it was believed that the victims kept large sums of currency and jewelry in their residences.”

News

His bride was actually his groom?

A 26-year-old Indonesian man, AK, was tricked into marrying another man, ESH, who reportedly posed as a woman in order to steal from him. ESH’s scheme was only uncovered 12 days after their wedding in April and a year after they met, at which point he confessed to the police.

• AK met ESH, who used the alias “Adinda Kanza”, on Instagram. ESH concealed his identity by consistently wearing makeup and traditional Muslim women's clothing, including a niqab that covered his face but not his eyes. ESH also claimed to live alone, falsely stating that his mother had passed away and his father had left him.

• ESH’s unusual behavior, such as avoiding social interaction and making excuses whenever AK sought intimacy, prompted AK’s parents to investigate, leading them to discover his identity and his still-living parents. A member of ESH’s family told local outlet DetikJabar that they only learned about what had happened through the news. The two parties eventually decided to settle the matter out of court after AK’s father felt sympathy for ESH’s elderly parents.

More News

• In case you missed it: In a speech last month at an event marking AANHPI Heritage Month, President Joe Biden slammed his predecessor Donald Trump — who on Thursday became the first US president to be convicted of a crime — over his anti-Asian and immigrant rhetoric. “We’ll never forget about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic,” Biden said.

• Korean webtoons garner international TV interest: Naver Webtoon's "Take Me, I'm Yours" and Kakao Webtoon's "Aqua Man" will both be adapted into Japanese dramas, while "Nth Romance," also from Kakao Webtoon, will be remade for Taiwanese audiences. Industry experts attribute the international interest in Korean webtoons to their relatable storylines and universal themes.

• More Asian American cops needed: The Asian American Law Enforcement Association (AALEA) is encouraging more Asian Americans to join law enforcement to foster stronger bonds within their growing communities in Illinois. Despite facing hurdles in career progression within the department, AALEA's membership has grown from 250 to 600 since 2019, partly driven by increased engagement in response to COVID-19-related hate crimes. 

• McDonald’s bridges grandkid-grandparent language gap: McDonald's debuted their AI-powered Sweet Connections campaign to help Asian American Gen Zers and their non-English-speaking grandparents overcome language barriers and strengthen intergenerational connections. Users can record video messages on the site, which then translates them into their grandparents’ native languages (including Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Japanese and Korean) using voice cloning and lip sync tech.

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Until Tomorrow,

Alan Van