Underdog candidate makes history with Ohio State Senate win

Tina Maharath is the first Lao American state senator in the United States.



Another close race, another historic election win. On Tuesday in Ohio, Democratic candidate Tina Maharath was officially declared the winner over state Rep. Anne Gonzalez in the State Senate race for District 3.

Democratic underdog Tina Maharath wins Ohio Senate seat

Maharath's victory not only makes her Ohio's first Asian American state senator and first Asian American woman in the general assembly, she is the first Lao American state senator in the United States.

She was, by most accounts, a political underdog. Maharath, a 27-year-old financial analyst with no prior campaign experience, was up against a veteran Republican lawmaker for a GOP-held Senate seat. But after all the provisional and absentee ballots were counted, Maharath edged out Gonzalez by just 705 votes.

How to Ruin a Bon Jovi Concert

"You don't belong in this country."



One of the hard truths about being Asian in America is regularly being made to feel like we don't belong in our own country. In Ohio, a Columbus woman went to a Bon Jovi concert to celebrate her birthday. Toward the end of the show, another concertgoer turned to her and said, "You don't belong in this country."

Karina Brown, an administrator at Columbus State Community College, attended the Bon Jovi show at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus on March 18. It was supposed to be a fun way to celebrate her 45th birthday. Instead, probably somewhere around "Livin' on a Prayer," she gets a reality check from a racist Bon Jovi fan.

But perhaps more alarming than the remark itself, was how several people she told about the incident tried to justify it, or told her she was exaggerating its impact. After one too many people tried to convince her what happened was "okay," she decided to report her story to Documenting Hate, an online database that aims to track and spread awareness of discrimination across the country.

Family sues school over bullied teen's suicide

Lawsuit alleges officials ignored ongoing bullying that led to Emilie Olsen's suicide



The family of a 13-year-old Ohio Chinese American girl says she was continually assaulted, bullied and harassed online by white students before she took her own life, according to a new lawsuit.

Family of girl who killed herself sues school

The family of Emilie Olsen has filed a federal wrongful lawsuit against he Fairfield City School District, claiming that school officials knew about the constant bullying, but did not do enough to stop it.

"Emilie and her parents tried to end the bullying and repeatedly pleaded with certain defendants to help," according to the lawsuit. "Defendants failed to stop the bullying, and it continued."

Community demands action in Cincinnati bullying incidents

Parents call on school board to address bullying on Asian American student.



On Thursday night in Cincinnati, over 150 angry community members gathered at a Fairfield Board of Education meeting to demand answers regarding ongoing bullying at a local middle school. Parents are protesting school officials inaction after a student took her own life last year, as well as another recent allegation of bullying against an Asian American student at the same school.

150 people show up at Fairfield board meeting to protest bullying

The school district has been under fire for its handling of bullying ever since Emilie Olsen, a student at Fairfield Middle School, took her own life last December. Her family contended that bullying had a hand in her death. Since then, parents say that another Asian American student has been bullied at the school -- by the same student who allegedly bullied Olsen.

One parent said this eighth grade daughter, who is Asian American, was recently the target of bullying by a while male student. The bullying resulted in a physical altercation in which the Asian American student was tripped and suffered a mild concussion and short term memory loss.

Racial bullying may have pushed teen to suicide

13-year-old Emilie Grace Olsen fatally shot herself in her bedroom.



Tragic news out of southwest Ohio, where a 13-year-old girl was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. Her parents believe relentless racial bullying may have pushed her to take her own life.

Fairfield Twp. parents trying to sort out daughter's untimely death

Seventh grader Emilie Grace Olsen fatally shot herself in her bedroom Thursday. Her parents say that Emilie, who was adopted from China, was the target of racial bullying by her classmates at Fairfield Middle School. Starting in the fifth grade, Emilie was bullied with a range of verbal insults, cyber abuse and physical attacks.

However, school officials claim there is no evidence Emilie was being bullied. Her father disagrees:

Is this man the Desi Walter White?

Cops discover sophisticated meth lab in million-dollar lakefront home


Not an actual photo of the suspected meth lab
Asians behaving badly... meth lab edition! This is some Breaking Bad-esque news out of Ohio, where authorities busted a methamphetamine lab last week being operated out of a man's lavish lakefront home.

51-year-old Madhu Dutta, who lives alone (and apparently makes drugs) in a million-dollar home in Sheffield Lake, is charged with possession of precursors or chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamine, manufacture of methamphetamine and permitting drug abuse in real estate.

He also apparently has a pretty good grasp of chemistry. According to the lorain County Drug Task Force, Dutta's setup -- a "thionyl method" methamphetamine lab -- is unique and the first of its type in the state.