These preventable cancers continue to disproportionately affect Asian Americans
Read and share the stories of Issue #229 today, June 29, 2026.
Today’s stories open with a new report showing Asian Americans still carry a disproportionate cancer burden while national death rates fall. From there, we cover a House hearing where a witness floated denaturalizing Chinese Americans, a Beijing law reaching across borders and a 100-year sentence for a Korean American ex-Marine. We also track a lawmaker’s questions about the president’s health, fresh financial trouble at the Los Angeles Times, the world’s first Chinese queer museum in San Francisco, the Filipino fighter who finally arrives in “Street Fighter” after 39 years and a new series spotlighting Asian Americans who shaped the country.
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Asian Americans still face disproportionate cancer burden, report finds
The nation has cut its cancer death rate by more than a third since 1991. However, a new report from the American Association for Cancer Research shows Asian Americans have not shared equally in that progress.
The report points to infections behind much of the gap and to a data problem that may be hiding who is most at risk. What gets lost when millions are counted as one?
What else we’re tracking
Rep. Khanna grills GOP witness over his call to denaturalize Chinese Americans
Rep. Ro Khanna confronted a witness at a House hearing on Chinese Communist Party espionage over past posts calling for the denaturalization of Chinese Americans. Interestingly, the exchange came as the Supreme Court weighs birthright citizenship.
Beijing to enforce new ethnic unity law with overseas reach
On July 1, Beijing will begin enforcing a new ethnic unity law that reaches beyond its borders, letting authorities pursue people abroad for acts it deems separatist or divisive. But Taiwan officials, U.N. experts and advocates warn one clause could become a tool for repression.
Korean American ex-Marine gets 100 years in Texas ICE detention center attack
A Korean American former Marine reservist was sentenced to a century in federal prison for leading an armed attack on a Texas immigration detention center that prosecutors called domestic terrorism. Seven co-defendants also received decades-long sentences. His attorney plans to appeal, disputing the terrorism label.
Rep. Lieu suggests Trump’s ‘erratic behavior’ due to terminal illness
Rep. Ted Lieu questioned President Donald Trump’s health after the White House scrapped a bill signing, pointing to a report that an unapproved drug reserved for the gravely ill went to a high-profile 79-year-old. The White House, however, denied Trump was the patient.
LA Times reportedly misses payments to vendors as MAGA owner eyes IPO
The Los Angeles Times reportedly missed payments to vendors and contractors for months as owner Patrick Soon-Shiong pursues a $500 million public offering. A finance executive’s disputed exit and a new anchor left unpaid deepen questions about the paper’s footing.
San Francisco’s Chinatown opens world’s 1st Chinese queer museum
San Francisco’s Chinatown hosts what organizers call the world’s first museum devoted to Chinese and Chinese American LGBTQ+ stories. Its founder left China in 2022 and built it through a crowdfunding campaign that drew thousands.
‘Street Fighter’ finally gets its 1st Filipino fighter after 39 years, and the details matter
After 39 years and one of gaming’s most international rosters, “Street Fighter” is adding its first playable Filipino character on Aug. 3. Fans say her design draws so deeply on Filipino martial arts, language and symbols that they keep uncovering details no one announced.
TAAF, Wong Fu Productions launch series on Asian Americans who helped shape the nation
As the U.S. nears its 250th anniversary, The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) and Wong Fu Productions launched a series on Asian Americans who shaped the country, from a YouTube co-founder to a co-inventor of USB. A new fund will back creators telling overlooked stories.
Why read Issue #229?
A lot of this issue is about power … specifically who has the power to decide who belongs. Sort people into a big enough category and the real differences vanish, which is its own kind of harm when those differences determine who gets critical attention. Then we have citizenship and identity, which start to look like things other people grant or revoke, sometimes from the other side of the world. The stories pushing the other way are about something simpler, and it’s the refusal to be defined by anyone else’s terms.
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The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.