Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-buddhist26oct26,0,5319580.story

On October 26, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported on "the $5-million Pao Fa Buddhist Temple, Orange County's first mega-temple. It's 41,000 square feet of prayer halls, 8-ton jade Buddhas, classrooms, a library, dining hall and 42-room monastery. And this morning, after nearly five years of construction, an expected crowd of 3,000 will get the first public peek inside during...

Source: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

On October 25, 2002 The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that "the Washington Buddhavanaram, one of the largest Southeast Asian Buddhist temples in the state, will shed its serene, semirural disposition and take on the personality of a carnival. It will all be for the Kathin ceremony, a religious ritual based on an ancient story seemingly incongruent with modern times. But the festival, in which worshippers offer new robes to monks, has survived 2,500 years and the migration of believers to become one of most...

Source: The Deseret News

On October 24, 2002 The Deseret News reported on "Wat Buddhikiram, the Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Utah. [It] looks like a garage, and the living room where three Buddhist monks are eating their second and final meal of the day is dimly lit and full of Cambodian Americans. The temple was on 2100 South until northern Utah's Cambodian Buddhist community, made up of about 100 families, scraped enough money together for a move to West Valley City in 1996. The newer temple, sans the dragon art and ornate stenciling, could just as...

Source: Albuquerque Journal

On October 24, 2002 the Albuquerque Journal reported that "an extremely rare and precious collection of sacred Buddhist relics is coming to New Mexico. The relics include the remains of the first Buddha who founded Buddhism about 2,500 years ago and those of a number of ancient Tibetan and Indian masters. The world tour is visiting U.S. cities to raise awareness about the Maitreya Project in India, said Paul Pulaski, a coordinator for the relic tour who lives in Albuquerque. The relics will be coming from Arizona. After...

Source: The Press Democrat. Ucilia Wang

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Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On October 22, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "the Waukesha School Board [WI] president is pushing a requirement for all students to study different religions in high school. In a memo to School Board members, William Domina said he wanted every student in the district to graduate with a basic knowledge of religions including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. 'Without this basic understanding, I am concerned that we have not provided our children with a full and complete education and that...

Source: Newsday

On October 21, 2002 Newsday reported on the "thousands of newcomers who live or worship in this spectacularly polyglot stretch of Flushing, which boasts Hindu and Buddhist temples, mosques, synagogues, Sikh gurdwaras as well as historic Catholic and Protestant churches dating, in a few cases, to the 17th century. In many ways, Bowne Street is a microcosm of the changing spiritual landscape of New York, which is being reordered by the powerful engines of immigration and globalization. If not quite a new Mecca or a Jerusalem, the New...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On October 20, 2002 The Columbus Dispatch reported on "Lim Buntheoun. Critics say that instead of fostering the harmony typical of temple life, this man of charisma and mystery has sown seeds of discord in the Cambodian community, alienating temple members by his actions and his refusal to quell speculation that he is heir to Cambodia's throne. Questions about his identity, his quest for more than $9 million to build a new temple in Madison County and his obsession with secrecy have sparked a debate among Cambodians from...

Source: Roanoke Times...

Source: The New York Times

On October 18, 2002 The New York Times reported on "the Catskill Mountains... [which] some call... the bhajan belt, applying a word derived from Sanskrit for devotional song to an area that stretches from the holistic enterprises of New Paltz to a yoga ranch in Woodbourne. The term fits, for as much as the region is defined by dairy farms, summer campers and a John Deere ruggedness, it is also home (or second home) to the influential stars of the new New Age -- people who dine with the Dalai Lama or turn up on the cover of...

Source: The Village Voice

On October 15, 2002 The Village Voice reported that "Flushing is no longer 'the valley of ashes' that Fitzgerald described. The former cultural void brims with residents from over 30 countries. An afternoon's stroll will expose you to cultures of Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. Heralded as the birthplace of religious freedom, Flushing teems with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jews, and Christians."

Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 14, 2002 Los Angeles Times reported that "the trial of the two police officers accused in the Donovan Jackson beating case won't start for weeks or even months. But in Inglewood, civic leaders are feverishly organizing for the day a verdict is reached... Worried that an unpopular outcome could prompt violence in a mostly minority city that has begun to lift itself out of a years-long economic slump, members of the Inglewood Peace...

Source: The Virginian-Pilot

On October 13, 2002 The Virginian-Pilot reported that "Larchmont has the highest concentration of foreign-born residents of any neighborhood in Hampton Roads, according to new figures from the 2000 census... it is a hodgepodge of religions: Christian and Muslim and Jewish and Hindu and Buddhist."

Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 12, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "the questions of when death begins and when donated organs may be used have raised a thicket of moral issues... The Catholic Church and Islamic groups see such acts as charity. Among Jews, a debate rages. Rabbis from opposing camps continue to vociferously debate when death begins-- at the cessation of neurological functions, known as brain death, or when the heart and respiratory systems fail. The definition is key to organ donations, because doctors using heart-lung...

Source: Morning Star

On October 10, 2002 Morning Star reported that "The spiritual skyline in Southeastern North Carolina will be broadened soon with the expansion of a Buddhist monastery. The grounds at 1610 Midway Road in Bolivia have been serving area Buddhists since 1987, mostly out of a small gray house.  Called Wat Carolina Buddhajakra Vanaram, the monastery started with a $17,000 donation to head monk Phra Kru from his sister in Oak Island shortly after his arrival in America in 1986. After years of more donations and an expanding congregation,...