Cross-posted from AAA-Fund:

The votes are now in, and we are proud to announce AAA-Fund’s 2009 Blogathon winners!

Before going further, we congratulate all of our finalists for their insight and eloquence:  Cameron Feng, Jenny Jiang, Rose Wei, Micah Weinberg.

By now, most of us have heard the tragic news that Annie Le, a young, promising PhD student in pharmacology at Yale University, was apparently murdered just days before her wedding.  On September 25, a memorial service was held for Ms.

Last month, Organizing for America launched the Health Reform Video Challenge - a contest to make the best thirty second ad for heatlh care reform.  The deadline for submission is October 18, less than two weeks away, and the winning ad will be aired nationally.  Anyone can participate - just go to http://my.barackobama.com/VideoChallenge for details and how to enter.

Magistrate Judge Ed Chen testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee recently.  Judge Chen was recently nominated by Pres. Obama to a federal district bench in the Northern District of California, which includes the Bay Area.  Amazingly enough, the Bay Area has never had an Asian American federal judge, despite its historically large APA population.  As you can see in the YouTube clip, Judge Chen is likely to become the first, judging from the largely softball questions from both Republicans and Democrats on the Committee.

After several weeks of rumors, President Obama officially nominated federal district Judge Denny Chin of the Southern District of New York to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. If confirmed, Judge Chin will be the ONLY federal appellate judge of APA descent; Judge Wallace Tashima of the Ninth Circuit has taken senior status and is thus no longer considered an active judge.