LOS ANGELES: While challenging remarks that were made on air from Al Rantel, a Los Angeles conservative talk show host, regarding an issue at the San Francisco airport because a man was wearing a turban, Navraj Singh was approached by local Republicans and encouraged to run for the seat of Congress in the 27th District.

LOS ANGELES: The Golden Sails Hotel at the East Pacific Coast will host the 22nd Annual India Heritage Awards function on Sunday, May 4. Applications for scholarship awards are now being accepted from Southern California High School and Middle/Junior High School students graduating this year.

LOS ANGELES: A new Executive Committee has been elected for the San Fernando based Indian Association of Los Angeles. At the function, special thanks were expressed for founder Inder Singh and Kumar Jawa for their dedication and support to the organization.

LOS ANGELES: Nine cyclists, eight of them Tibetan, and a two-member support crew carried the Tibetan Freedom Torch from San Francisco to the Los Angeles Chinese Consulate in a seven-day, 500-mile, media blitz bike relay down California's scenic Highway 1 from April 9 to 15.

SAN FRANCISCO: The annual conference of Asian Pacific Americans in Higher Education (APAHE) will be held at Kabuki Hotel in San Francisco's Japantown from April 23-25. "APAHE: Flexing Our Political Muscle" is a national gathering of leading educators, elected officials

DENVER: John Gaston, a 25-year employee of global full-service engineering, construction and operations firm CH2M HILL, has been selected by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) to receive the Abel Wolman Award of Excellence.

CHICAGO: The spirit of Mahatma Gandhi keeps living amid lingering doubts that India has forgotten him. At 70 years of age and 60 years after the passing away of Bapu, the life and letters of Anna Hazare not merely reinforce the belief of Indians in Truth and Ahimsa, but have also transformed the lives of those who came in contact with him.

CHICAGO: One need not have the power of extra sensory perception to gauge the minds of 130 plus niche travel agents gathered last week at Holiday Inn hotel in Chicagoland to attend a mega travel presentation by Sky Bird Travel & Tours.

CHICAGO: The Diamond Way Buddhist Center Chicago will host Lama Ole Nydahl at The Gleacher Center in Downtown Chicago on June 9 at 8 pm Lama Ole will give a public lecture entitled "Buddhism - The Art of The Moment," followed by a Q & A session and a short meditation.