Typical! An American may yet help save the Irish language which is danger of certain death in Ireland. Des Bishop is a well known stand-up comedian, which gives him a platform to reach out to those teenagers and 20-somethings, so many of whom detest the thought of Irish.

Her features are unmistakably Irish, but Nassau County, L.I. District Attorney Kathleen Rice, 44, first visited

After receiving the call from God when he was just 16, Christopher Heanue, the youngest child of Irish immigrants based in New York took his first class at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome on Monday, October 12 on the long road to becoming a priest.

Francis White was murdered in Queens in 1996, and the family he left behind in Ireland has never forgotten. White's killer has just been denied parole due to the intervention of his brother Breen, who traveled to New York to make sure justice is still served.

New York local politics will get a major Irish boost on Tuesday when Deirdre Feerick, a second-generation Irish American, squares off against two other Irish-American candidates in the September 15 Democratic primary election in Queens to succeed well known Council Member Eric Gioia who has endorsed her.

Based on family names and individual stories, there are many hundreds of American dead with Irish heritage, including Americans who through parents or grandparents had become Irish citizens. 

This is a tribute to several of these brave Irish men and women.

Stella O'Leary: Recently in The Irish Times, writer Niall Stanage declared the demise of the Irish vote in America. Stanage, from a Unionist background, may be working with an image of an earlier time, when all Irish American political needs were met by political dynasties, the Kennedys, the O'Neills, the Dodds, and in Chicago, the Daleys.

With her glowing wig of black curls and bright smile, Mitsi Fink looks like she’s 18 when she points her toes to dance at the Long Island Feis on Sunday. She has danced for seven years and is in four competitions at the Long Island Feis. But Mitsi only took up step-dancing when she was 25 years old. She’s one of the few adult dancers at the feis and is competing with people much younger than her.

Irish star Pierce Brosnan was a huge hit with fans in New York today as he took time out to pose for photographs and sign autographs. There was tight security in the Irish stronghold of Maspeth in Queens as scenes from 'Remember Me' were filmed in Mount Olivet cemetery. However, Brosnan waved away security and came out to visit with the fans who had gathered there

Cahir O’Doherty talks to Simon Doonan, best-selling author and producer of "Absolutely Fabulous," about his desire to escape working class England in pursuit of the American Dream.

Dublin lightweight Steve Ormond (4-0, 1 KO) will return to the ring on July 18 at the Plattduetsche Park Restaurant, Franklin Square, Long Island in a six round contest on an outdoor Ring Promotions card against Puerto Rican Israel Suarez (1-1).

Gary McGurk, the County Tyrone man living in the U.S. since he was ten and now accused of murdering his NYPD criminologist girlfriend in April, told detectives he once considered joining the priesthood.

Irish mom Kathleen Meehan has spent the past 12 months sitting by her phone in Queens waiting for her oldest child, Cathy, 49, to call her. She left the country a year ago, and hasn’t been heard from since.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese and Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen led a string of tributes to the memory of the three young doctors, all friends and one a former Riverdance star, who are missing feared dead in the Air France trans-Atlantic disaster. McAleese said, “My thoughts and prayers, and the thoughts of everyone, are with the Irish families and the families of everyone on board at this very difficult time.”

The late Natasha Richardson has left the bulk of her estate to her husband, Irish actor Liam Neeson.   The English actress and daughter of

Tom Deignan reviews a selection of recently published non-fiction books of Irish and Irish-American interest.

Aiden McGurk, the father of Queens murder accused Gary McGurk, was one of the two infamous "Sleeping Bombers" who were caught red-handed in the Irish Republic in 1981 while trying to ambush the British Army.

Gary McGurk, the 23-year-old Irishman charged with a grusome murder in Queens, today pleaded not guilty to the horrific murder of his former girlfriend, Michelle Lee.

THERE was standing room only at Rory Dolan’s Irish restaurant in Yonkers on Wednesday, May 6, at an immigration meeting hosted by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. “There’s nothing going on in Ireland anymore. There are no jobs,” said Alan, 25, a native of Co. Limerick who has been working in New York for the past four months. “They say things are bad here, but I’ve still managed to find construction work. Not a hope of that in Ireland. There will be plenty more Irish coming over here very soon because it’s so bad. I hope ILIR is able to do something for them, and me.”

For the flower industry, “Mother’s Day is the mother of them all,” says Jim McCann, CEO and founder of 1-800-Flowers. It's bigger than Valentine's Day OR Christmas and the company will alone sell well over 1 million Mother’s Day orders this year. “I deliver each of them personally,” joked Irish-American McCann. “I get pretty tired.”

In his first public speaking appearance since losing his wife Natasha Richardson in a tragic skiing accident, Irish actor Liam Neeson last night quoted poet Paul Muldoon on how art helps the heart heal.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin will launch The Senior Help Line USA at the New York Irish Center in Long Island City, Queens on Thursday.

An Irish restaurant in New York is to get a remake courtesy of foul-mouth chef, Gordon Ramsey, for his show, "Kitchen Nightmares."

A Co. Westmeath man is teaching free martial arts classes to people who are unemployed at his New Jersey academy.

For some New Yorkers, being Irish and Jewish often means balancing two different faiths and two different cultures.

Thousands of Irish immigrants, mostly undocumented, cannot obtain health insurance, meaning a visit to the doctor, dentist or hospital can cost them hundreds of dollars. But there is some help.

The Irish undocumented have warmly welcomed the news that the Obama administration will address the issue of immigration reform in the next couple of months. Many of them have been living in the U.S. for many years and haven’t been home in a very long time.

Feature: Scrum-half Peter Stringer and jockey Ruby Walsh delivered huge performances this week, and Cathal Dervan made his first visit to the Cheltenham Racing Festival in England.

Thinking about brushing up on your Irish Studies? Check out our pick of some of the best Irish Studies programs throughout the U.S. and Canada

Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island is set to become home to a new Irish studies program this coming

Hello my single readers, Thank you all so much for the beautiful mail you've been sending in to me. I truly appreciate all the kind words you've said to me. I'm really glad that you enjoy reading my column.

How one Coca-Cola ad gave one Irish America magazine reader a very pleasant surprise.

Irish-American Queens native Amy Ryan has at least three movies coming out in 2009, with another prestigious project about to begin shooting. Look for

It’s often said that the Irish are adept story tellers. Little wonder then that the Irish in America have proven themselves to be among the most accomplished journalists in the country.

Poor tickets sales due to the recession have forced Irish Ropes Promotions to cancel their St. Patrick’s Eve Erin Go Brawl II show at the

Am I Eligible? "MY fianc obtained U.S. citizenship and returned to Ireland to live.

Visa Lottery Instructions LEGAL residents of the U.S. - and we emphasize legal - and all others living abroad should take note that the entry period for the annual DV-1 diversity visa lottery, also known as the Schumer visa program, especially in Irish circles, began on Wednesday, October 3, concluding at noon on Sunday, December 2.

A COUPLE of recent letters arrived from long-time permanent residents asking about U.S. citizenship, and help in dealing with the process.

THE annual DV green card lottery (DV-2010) begins this week on October 2, and concludes on December 1 at noon. As in previous years, applications can only be lodged electronically through the State Department's DV website at www.dvlottery.

If it's cultural stimulation that you are looking for as March and St. Patrick's Day approaches, the choices abound. Here is a tour of the horizon for upcoming shows with a trad bent.

Award winning film director Terry George and celebrated Irish singer Susan McKeown have been selected as the grand marshals for this year's inclusive Sunnyside Woodside St. Patrick's Day Parade in Queens on March 1 at 1:30 p.m.

For almost five decades now, legendary newspaperman Jimmy Breslin has dispensed wisdom, wit and justice with his hard-hitting columns. But Breslin has also published a dozen books now, and his novels have inspired a generation of Irish American writers.

His 1973 novel "World Without End, Amen" chronicled the civil rights movements in both America and Northern Ireland, while his 1986 classic "Table Money" is a harsh, brilliant look at life among Queens Irish union men.

Less than two months after losing so many residents to the World Trade Center attacks, the Rockaway section of Queens, New York, suffered another devastating blow: a plane bound for the Dominican Republic fell from the sky, killing over 200 passengers on board, as well as six members of the community of Belle Harbor. The loss of life, for Rockaway residents, could have been far worse. But it was yet another blow to this resilient community which, as Kevin Boyle's excellent new book indicates, has been taking hard knocks for over a century.

Acclaimed novelist Alice McDermott returns to the writing scene with her first book since the celebrated "Charming Billy" won the National Book Award in 1998.

This time around, in "Child of My Heart," McDermott's young protagonist (and narrator) is a 15-year-old brainy beauty named Theresa. Set over the course of a Long Island summer in the early 1960s, "Child of My Heart" reveals that Theresa's parents relocated from Queens to the 'burbs not to get away from the big bad city but because they hope Theresa will marry above her station.

Mary Anne Kelly's fictional Irish-Polish housewife Claire Breslinski returns in Kelly's new novel of Queens, New York "The Cordelia Squad." Claire has divorced her cheating husband and moved back to Queens. "She'd cried for months, really," Kelly writes.

At Wimbledon in 1981, John McEnroe was already an established star, famous for his anger at umpires. In the first round, one ump said to McEnroe: "I'm Scottish, so we are not going to have any problems, are we?" In his new autobiography, "You Cannot Be Serious," McEnroe writes, "I guess since my name started with "Mc", he thought we were soul brothers! I'm Irish", I told him curtly. McEnroe's autobiography (written with James Kaplan) is a detailed look largely at his epic battles on the court with the likes of Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg.

Alice Carey rose from Irish immigrant poverty in Queens to Hollywood glamour (her mother worked as a maid for famed producer Jean Dalrymple). Carey's book "I'll Know It When I See It: A Daughter's Search for Home in Ireland" is schmaltzy at times, but her life is certainly packed with interesting material. Aside from meeting up with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Carey later became a teacher and performer, and she poignantly explores the impact of AIDS on her circle of New York friends.

Long Island Congressman Peter King delivers a delicious novel of cutthroat politics on both sides of the Atlantic. Congressman Sean Cross (a King stand-in) is up for re-election in 2006. At the same time, Frank McGrath, an IRA informer who had been in the British witness protection program, is found dead with a bullet in the head, and both kneecaps blown off in Sunnyside, Queens.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jimmy Breslin is at it again, telling some of his favorite mob stories in "The Good Rat." The center of the book is Burton Kaplan, the titular rodent and star witness in the recent trial of the New York Police Department's so-called "Mafia cops." Using Burton Kaplan as a way into New York's mob, Breslin takes us on a broader tour of the underworld.

A drunken car thief took the life of an Irish American teenager whose family is prominent in local Irish cultural circles, and another young man in Middle Village, Queens last weekend. Robert Ogle, 16, was struck and killed instantly by 27-year-old Kenneth Guyear, who was driving a silver Kia that he had earlier stolen from outside a deli in the neighborhood. Robert's father, Brendan Ogle is a well known Irish fiddler and a former step dancer and Brendan's brother Monsignor Ogle is a former Irish dance teacher who has been described as one of the finest dancers of his generation.