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Senate committee holds briefing on Maryland’s public education system, updates on Blueprint plan

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.Members of the Senate Education, Energy and Environment Committee received a lesson Wednesday on Maryland’s education structure and the latest developments on the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform plan.Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City), who chair’s the committee’s education subcommittee, received credit for organizing the briefing she called “governance 101” to review the state’s education structure and assess some laws passed in the last few years.Most of the talking was done by Stacy Goodman, who works for the state Department of Legislative Services and is counsel for the EEE committee.Goodman summarized that the state’s public school system has nearly 890,000 students, 62,593 teachers and almost 3,600 principals and assistant principals.She highlighted responsibilities of the 14-member State Board of Educatio...

‘Chic picnic’ Dîner en Blanc returns to DC

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

The last time the event came to D.C. was in 2021, when it was held on lower Pennsylvania Avenue NW. (Courtesy Eric Vitale) The last time the event came to D.C. was in 2021, when it was held on lower Pennsylvania Avenue NW. (Courtesy Eric Vitale) If you are looking for an excuse to wear your best white clothes after Labor Day, you’re in luck.Dîner en Blanc is returning to the District on Sept. 9.The event, described as a “chic picnic” with an all-white dress code, is held annually in various cities worldwide — at secret locations, which are only shared with ticket-holding guests shortly before they begins.This year’s D.C. festivity will run from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at an undisclosed outdoor ve...

Audit: Maryland corrections department failed to follow overtime policies

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn Scruggs. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.State corrections officials failed to ensure compliance with overtime policies and in some cases could not provide documentation for hours worked.The findings are part of a 27-page review of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services released by the Office of Legislative Audits. The review covers the period of April 1, 2018 to June 21, 2022.All the findings in the report occurred during Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s second term.Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Carolyn J. Scruggs acknowledged the findings.“We appreciate the constructive findings and recommendations that were made as the result of this audit,” Scruggs wrote in a letter included in the audit report.In her...

Soaring labor costs at Southwest Airlines overshadow record revenue as summer travel revs up

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Southwest Airlines said second-quarter earnings dropped 10% to $683 million as labor costs soared, offsetting record revenue at the start of the peak summer travel season.The airline also warned Thursday that a key revenue ratio will drop and non-fuel costs will rise in the third quarter.The shares fell more than 8% at the opening bell on Wall Street.Southwest said that revenue for every seat flown one mile — a closely watched ratio in the airline business — fell 8.3% in the second quarter and will drop by between 3% and 7% in the third quarter, compared with the same periods last year. That outlook “will amplify concerns around slowing domestic air travel demand,” said Cowen airline analyst Helane Becker.A report earlier this week from Alaska Airlines fanned worries that demand for air travel — especially within the United States — might finally be cooling after recovering strongly from the pandemic. Southwest and Alaska both operate mostly domestic flights, and they ...

July has been so blistering hot, scientists already calculate that it’s the warmest month on record

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — July has been so hot thus far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat through.The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July’s heat is beyond record-smashing. They said Earth’s temperature has been temporarily passing over a key warming threshold: the internationally accepted goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).Temperatures were 1.5 degrees warmer than pre-industrial times for a record 16 days this month, but the Paris climate accord aims to keep the 20- or 30-year global temperature average to 1.5 degrees. A few days of temporarily beating that threshold have happened before, but never in July.July has been so off-the-charts hot with heat waves blistering three continents – North America, Europe and Asia –...

UN weather agency says July is on track to be hottest month on record

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — UN weather agency says July is on track to be hottest month on record.Source

First Financial: Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — RENTON, Wash. (AP) — First Financial Northwest Inc. (FFNW) on Thursday reported net income of $1.5 million in its second quarter.The bank, based in Renton, Washington, said it had earnings of 16 cents per share.The bank posted revenue of $20.5 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $11.1 million, which fell short of Street forecasts._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FFNW at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FFNWSource

Bronny James, hijo de Lebron James, se recupera de un paro cardíaco que sufrió mientras jugaba baloncesto. Esto es lo que podría ocurrir después

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

(CNN) — En medio de una avalancha de apoyo por parte de aficionados, amigos y compañeros deportistas, expertos afirman que Bronny James y sus médicos pueden centrarse ahora en su camino específico hacia la recuperación después de que el hijo mayor de la estrella de la NBA LeBron James sufriera un paro cardíaco durante un entrenamiento de baloncesto este lunes en la Universidad del Sur de California (USC).Bronny, de 18 años, alumno de primer año del equipo de baloncesto de la USC, fue hospitalizado tras el incidente, y ahora se encuentra estable y fuera de cuidados intensivos.Hasta que no se sepa más sobre la causa del incidente y el estado de salud específico de James, los expertos dicen que es difícil trazar con exactitud cómo será su recuperación, pero el hecho de que fuera tratado inmediatamente y ya esté fuera de la unidad de cuidados intensivos es un buen augurio para su recuperación, según el Dr. Jonathan Drezner, quien se especializa en cardiología deportiva en el Centr...

DeSantis is defending new slavery teachings. Civil rights leaders see a pattern of ‘policy violence’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Civil rights activists cheered when Ron DeSantis pardoned four Black men wrongfully convicted of rape as one of his first actions as Florida’s governor. But four years later, as DeSantis eyes the presidency, their hope that the Republican would be an ally on racial justice has long faded.Instead, African American leaders decry what they call a pattern of “policy violence” against people of color executed by the DeSantis administration that reached a low point after the recent release of an “anti-woke” public school curriculum on Black history. Specifically, Florida’s teachers are now required to instruct middle-school students that enslaved people “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”DeSantis has repeatedly defended the new language while insisting that his critics, who include Vice President Kamala Harris and at least one high-profile Republican congressman, are intentionally misinterpreting on...

Woman missing, presumed dead after yacht catches fire in Monroe County

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:18:32 GMT

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) — A woman has gone missing and was presumed dead by the local sheriff’s office after a yacht caught fire at a marina on Stock Island, an unincorporated community just before Key West. The 70-foot Viking yacht was fully engulfed in flames when Monroe County Fire Rescue crews arrived at the scene at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. The firefighters battled the intense blaze for approximately three hours in an attempt to contain and extinguish it.Officials said in the aftermath of the blaze, 51-year-old Linda Vella from St. Petersburg went missing. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the woman is presumed dead following the incident. Emergency response teams, including the Sheriff’s Office Dive Team and TowBoat U.S. crews, are still working to locate Linda. The fire also resulted in injuries to her husband, 58-year-old Michael Kenneth Robson and 21-year-old son Anthony Joseph Vella. They were both airlifted to a hospital i...