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Georgia tribunal rejects recommendation to fire teacher over controversial book

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) — A trio of retired educators has rejected a suburban Atlanta school district’s recommendation to fire a teacher who was removed from the classroom after she was accused of improperly reading a book on gender fluidity to her fifth-grade class.Monday’s move paves the way for Due West Elementary teacher Katie Rinderle to keep her job. But the Cobb County School Board has the final decision, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.The panel reached a decision after a two-day hearing last week about whether Rinderle should be fired for reading the picture book “My Shadow is Purple” by Scott Stuart. The case has drawn wide attention as a test of what public school teachers can teach in class, how much a school system can control teachers and whether parents can veto instruction they dislike. It comes amid a nationwide conservative backlash to books and teaching about LGBTQ+ subjects in school.Officials in Cobb County, Georgia’s second-largest school distr...

Death toll rises to 11 in powerful explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital; 11 still missing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

SAN CRISTOBAL, Dominican Republic (AP) — The death toll from a powerful explosion near the Dominican Republic’s capital rose to 11 on Tuesday, with dozens injured. Firefighters were searching through smoldering rubble as people gathered outside hospitals, looking for missing loved ones.President Luis Abinader visited San Cristobal, located just west of Sango Domingo, to meet with those affected, saying an additional 11 people were missing and that authorities were still trying to extinguish the fire amid collapsed buildings and charred vehicles.“We’re doing everything humanly possible … to investigate the situation of the 11 missing,” he said. “The search for survivors has been very difficult.”Monday’s explosion also left more than 50 people injured as the blast tore through a bustling commercial center in San Cristobal, authorities said. At least 36 of the injured remained hospitalized, said Joel Santos, minister of the presidency. Health Minister Daniel Rivera sa...

Museum to honor Navajo Code Talkers is about $40 million shy of reality

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A museum in New Mexico to honor the Navajo Code Talkers is about $40 million shy of becoming a reality, according to organizers.The state put $6.4 million in capital outlay funds toward the project this year, but the museum’s organizers face a significant financial climb before doors can open, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Tuesday.“Our capacity is severely limited,” said Regan Hawthorne, CEO of the Navajo Code Talkers Museum. “We’re still fledgling. We’re still gaining momentum in finding our identity.”Hawthorne’s late father, Roy Hawthorne, was a Marine who served as a Code Talker on South Pacific islands from 1942 to 1945.The complex, unbreakable code was developed by an original group of 29 Navajo Marines in 1942. They used it in combat communications in Pacific campaigns during World War II and helped U.S. forces gain ground and victories.Only three of the original Navajo Code Talkers are still alive. There is a group of 29 that are referred to as the o...

Former Montreal school teacher sentenced to eight years for abusing young girls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

MONTREAL — A former Montreal primary school teacher who used his position as an educator and basketball coach to lure and sexually abuse five young girls has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Quebec court Judge Mélanie Hébert told a Montreal courtroom Tuesday that Dominic Blanchette’s crimes were aggravated by the fact that he was in a position of authority and trust with his victims, three of whom were 10 when the abuse began. “The fact that his offences occurred repeatedly, over a total period of a little less than five years and involved five different victims, demonstrates that Mr. Blanchette’s actions were not isolated or the result of a simple lack of judgment in a particular situation,” Hébert said as she read her sentence.Hébert said that Blanchette, who turned 29 Tuesday, could not have been ignorant of the consequences of the abuse he committed between September 2017 and May 2022. “By repeating the same acts, on multiple occasions, with five ...

Guatemala’s veterans about face to support Sandra Torres for president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s largest military veteran organization endorsed presidential candidate Sandra Torres Tuesday after battling her during her first two bids for the presidency, showing just how far her progressive opponent’s surprise place in the runoff has shaken the country’s politics.Torres and her hosts at the Guatemalan Military Veterans Association painted her opponent Bernardo Arévalo as a threat to the country’s democracy and families.As she did during their first debate the previous night, Torres criticized Arévalo for not really knowing his country because he was born in Uruguay when his father, former President Juan José Arévalo, was in exile after the CIA-backed overthrow of his successor Jacobo Arbenz.“Today more than ever Guatemala is in danger,” Torres said, warning that Arévalo would dissolve the army, legalize same-sex marriage and expropriate private property. “We don’t want communism in Guatemala.”Arévalo, a lawmaker, academic and former diplomat, ha...

22 victims identified in child porn case involving Mississauga camp counsellor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

Peel Regional Police say 22 child victims have been identified in an ongoing child pornography investigation involving a former camp counsellor in Mississauga, including an incident where the accused allegedly filmed a 6-year-old while they were in the washroom.Investigators arrested 26-year-old Alexander Clarke on August 3, alleging the accused committed various acts while working as a counsellor at MC Day Camp in Mississauga.Clarke had been a camp counsellor volunteer from June 2018 until his arrest. The 26-year-old was initially taken into custody on charges including voyeurism, possession of child pornography, making child pornography and making available child pornography.On Tuesday, police upgraded charges to include seven counts of sexual assault and sexual interference, 11 counts of making child pornography, one count of possessing child pornography and one count of forcible confinement.Const. Donna Carlson said 22 young victims were identified through the investigation. The...

‘Building stronger communities:’ Mayor Johnson celebrates CPS Safe Passage workers at rally

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

CHICAGO — As students from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) prepare to head back to class, Mayor Brandon Johnson is putting the spotlight on the workers who help them get there safely.On Tuesday, a rally was held for the district's nearly 1,200 Safe Passage workers.The workers are employed by community-based organizations that operate in the areas that they serve. They are trained and serve as the eyes and ears in the neighborhoods to keep tabs on any potential violence. Annual Ducky Derby raises nearly $600K for Special Olympics Illinois “By establishing bonds with our students and ensuring their safety on their way to school and back, the Safe Passage workers are building stronger communities one student at a time,” Mayor Johnson said.Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez says that he believes the program is the first step in getting kids to school on time and securely. Christkindlmarket sets schedule for 3 Chicagoland locations for 2023 "You are doing God's work. You're makin...

Top 40: Bolingbrook man prepares for 40th consecutive Chicago triathlon

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

In four weeks, thousands of athletes from around the world will come to Chicago to compete in the Lifetime Chicago Triathlon. WGN’s Mike Lowe is participating again and raising money raise money for It Takes a Village Chicago, a non-profit that builds weight rooms for youth in underserved communities and underfunded schools. You can donate here. BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — This week, in Bolingbrook, we’re catching up with Jeff Sabbath, a triathlete who has competed in every Chicago Triathlon since the founding of the event back in 1983.This year will be his 40th consecutive.  “When you start out you don’t think ‘I’m going to do 40 years of this,’” Sabbath said.  “I was pretty consumed with it and did a lot of races.”It all started in 1982 when, as a 23-year-old, he watched an episode of ABC’s Wide World of Sports.“It was a famous one when Julie Moss started faltering less than a mile from the finish,” Sabbath said. “(She) was crawling, and they’re covering the dramatic footage of ...

'The honor of my life:' Chicago's top doc speaks out after sudden firing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago’s former top doc is speaking out.As commissioner of the Chicago’s Department of Public Health, Dr Allison Arwady helped citizens navigate the many unknowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, regularly facing the community and media to provide guidance and answers. And while she doesn’t have all the answers when it comes to her sudden firing from the post she loved, she says she’ll always be a champion for public health and patients.“When I look back, I’m not thinking about the way it ended,” she said.She was always on call. The internal medicine specialist who chose public health over private practice showed her competence and commitment during the rigors of Covid.“It’s been really the honor of my life to be able to lead my team through this,” she said. “But it is a lot of the work that doesn’t get talked about as much that in many ways I am most proud of.” Mayor Johnson fires Dr. Allison Arwady as Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner That work includes pr...

Entire Minnesota police force resigns over pay concerns

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:12:06 GMT

(The Hill) – A small city in southeast Minnesota is without a police force after its chief and officers resigned over low pay.Goodhue — population 1,250, according to the 2020 census — accepted the resignation of its police chief, only full-time officer, and five part-time officers at a city council meeting on Monday that was originally intended to discuss pay raises.Mayor Ellen Anderson Buck said the Goodhue County Sheriff Department will patrol the city when the officers’ contracts expire later this month. Odds of a ‘strong’ El Niño grow again: Will you feel it locally? “We need to pursue other options. So, at this point, there is no reason to really talk about pay increases since we no longer have a police force,” she said at the meeting Monday evening. “We will have police coverage in the City of Goodhue. That is not an issue.”The county sheriff will also take over active criminal cases, she said.The council was adamant on its intent to eventually re-form the department, which...