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New documentary details over the 30-year legal battle DC’s family services faced

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

A D.C. agency shares how it turned trouble into triumph in a new documentary film called “Resilience: DC Child and Family Services Agency’s 32 Years of Reform.”The documentary is based on the 1989 class action lawsuit LaShawn v. Bowser after a four-year-old in the agency was placed in emergency care for more than two years.Robert Matthews, director of the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, talked about the lawsuit filed on behalf of foster children in the District’s care. He said some social workers didn’t have the training to ensure children were viable, and staff couldn’t really ascertain where children were placed.They didn’t have “an adequate placement array,” Matthews said, adding that the agency didn’t have an appropriate number of beds for children coming into foster care.Robert Matthews (Courtesy D.C. Child and Family Services Agency)As a result of the lawsuit, a federal judge appointed a court monitor. And over...

Virginia State University to be first HBCU to host presidential debate

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

Virginia State University announced that it was selected to be one of the 2024 presidential debates, making it the first historically Black college or university in the U.S. to receive that honor.“We are honored and grateful to have been chosen as a host for a 2024 Presidential Debate,” said VSU President Dr. Makola M. Abdullah. “This is a historic moment for our university and for HBCUs nationwide.”According to a news release, the debate is scheduled for Oct. 1, 2024, at the VSU Multipurpose Center. It will be the second of three official presidential debates in the general election.The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates said the first of three presidential debates will begin on Sept. 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos. The final debate will be at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City on Oct. 9.A 2024 vice presidential debate has also been scheduled for Sept. 25 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.Eldon Burton, the university&...

Beijing police investigate major Chinese shadow bank Zhongzhi after it says it’s insolvent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Police are investigating suspected crimes of a Chinese wealth company owned by Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, according to the Beijing Public Security Bureau, days after the firm told investors it was insolvent.In a statement published on the social media platform WeChat over the weekend, the police said they had taken “criminal enforcement measures” against several suspects to investigate and had urged affected investors to lodge a complaint. “Investors are requested to actively cooperate with the police in investigating and collecting evidence and safeguard their rights and interests through legal channels,” the statement said. Authorities did not specify what crimes they were investigating. In the past, defaults or other troubles in the financial sector have prompted protests by aggrieved investors. Zhongzhi, which is based in Beijing, did not immediately respond to an email for comment and phone calls to a number listed for the company did not connect.The investigat...

2 DC finance whiz kids honored for their money sense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

Lavinia and Hatcher Pitts. have become experts in saving for big ticket items. (Courtesy Pitts family) Lavinia and Hatcher Pitts. have become experts in saving for big ticket items. (Courtesy Pitts family) Last Christmas, 13-year-old Lavinia Pitts, and her twin brother, Hatcher, received access to a money management app from their parents.Their mother, Mary Pitts, kept forgetting to give them their weekly $12 allowance. The family got the app because it was an easy way to shell out weekly spending cash while giving their children some hands-on money management skills, Pitts said.Lavinia and Hatcher took to it so well that the teens were recently awarded the “Best of the Best” recognition from the BusyK...

Police searching for driver in deadly Aurora crash

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Police in Aurora are searching for a driver involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed one person Sunday morning in the area of South Havana Street and East Iliff Avenue.The crash was first reported just after 7 a.m. Two vehicles were involved.When police arrived on the scene, they found a 28-year-old man who had died in the crash.The crash closed both streets in all directions. The southbound lanes of Havana Street were reopened just after 1 p.m., according to police.According to a release from the Aurora Police Department, a preliminary investigation found that a Honda Accord was traveling south on Havana Street when it was struck in the driver's side door by a Hyundai Elantra. Driver says she’s ‘very lucky’ after pole smashes her windshield on I-25 Investigators believe the driver of the Hyundai had run a red light right before the crash. The driver did not stay following the crash.Police did not specify details about the driver but referred to the person as "...

Elon Musk row: UK’s Rishi Sunak says antisemitism ‘wrong in all its forms’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said antisemitism is “wrong in all its forms” after X owner Elon Musk was criticized for sharing a conspiracy theory-laden post on the social media platform.The U.K. prime minister — who recently shared a platform with the tech billionaire at the U.K.’s AI summit — declined to directly take aim at Musk in an interview Sunday night. But he put distance between himself and the X owner’s social media activity, which drew condemnation from the White House earlier this month.Musk sparked controversy when he wrote that a post on the platform formerly known as Twitter “said the actual truth.” He was replying to a user who posted an antisemitic claim that Jewish communities have been “pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”Pressed on those remarks, Sunak told Bloomberg TV: “I don’t tend to get in the business of scrutinizing what every...

Geert Wilders’ coalition scout resigns over fraud scandal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

Dutch Senator Gom van Strien on Monday resigned from his role seeking to identify potential coalition partners for far-right election-winner Geert Wilders, after accusations of fraud resurfaced in Dutch media.“This weekend, articles appeared in the media about activities in my past, in which my integrity is questioned,” van Strien said, according to NRC.In the Netherlands, the leader of the party that wins the largest share of the vote in an election chooses a senior official to scout out possible governing coalition options. Wilders had appointed van Strien, who is also a member of his far-right Freedom Party, as his point man.“In my view, both the unrest that has arisen about this and the preparation of a response to it do not relate to my current work as a scout,” van Strien said. “That is why I have informed Geert Wilders and the speaker of the House of Representatives that I will resign from my duties as scout with immediate effect.”Van Strien...

Biden will convene his new supply chain council and announce 30 steps to strengthen US logistics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Monday will convene the first meeting of his supply chain resilience council, using the event to announce 30 actions to improve access to medicine and needed economic data and other programs tied to the production and shipment of goods.“We’re determined to keep working to bring down prices for American consumers and ensure the resilience of our supply chains for the future,” said Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council and a co-chair of the new supply chain council.The announcement comes after supply chain problems fueled higher inflation as the United States recovered from the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. While consumer prices are down from last year’s peaks, polling shows that inflation remains a political challenge for Biden going into the 2024 presidential election.Among the 30 new actions, Biden, a Democrat, will use the Defense Production Act to have the Health and Hu...

Drying Out, Busy Breeze

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

Back to work, back to school and back to some drier air on this Monday morning as overnight rain has tapered off. It’s a mild start for the time of year too with temps in the 40s and 50s to kick off the day. While it’s mild this morning, temps don’t go far today as they steady in the mid 40s to low 50s through early afternoon. Then they’ll fade quickly this evening. The breeze is active today, gusting 20-30mph, but will help dry us out too. Colder air pours back in for your Tuesday and Wednesday as the breeze remains busy, gusting 20-30mph. Both days look dry, aside from a spot flurry in the air on Tuesday. Thursday and Friday see temps moderating back into the 40s to low 50s with the next chance for showers coming late Friday into Friday night. Next weekend looks pretty seasonable with mainly dry air, although showers could start up again by Sunday night, and likely continuing into next Monday.

No injuries in 3-alarm Scituate fire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:14 GMT

Firefighters responded to a three-alarm fire in Scituate Monday morning.Heavy fire was reported at a large, centuries-old family home on Clapp Road before 5 a.m., with wind conditions contributing to the spread of flames from the bottom to the top of the building and making it more difficult for firefighters to known down.Extensive damage was reported in the basement and attic of the structure.The single occupant of the home evacuated without assistance and with no reported injuries.The fire is under investigation, but no foul play is suspected.