Benjamin Banneker High School alum Yasmine Arrington Brooks said it was a milestone for the organization since it was its largest class of scholars.

“Since its founding in 2012, has invested more than $700,000 to support over 120 students, providing scholarships, mentoring, mental health resources, emergency assistance, technology, and career development – helping young people impacted by parental incarceration,” according to the organization.

“Part of my story is that my dad has been in and out of jail and prison my whole life,” said Brooks.

The students will receive financial assistance to help offset the cost of their education.

“$1,750 a semester,” Brooks said.

Lola Washington, a college freshman and D.C. native, is a recipient.

Her dad went to prison when she was a toddler.

“I hope that I’ll just have more of a support system that I can lean on in college, people who have experienced the same challenges I did growing up,” she said.

“It’s a source of encouragement,” Brooks said.

Click to apply for the next cohort of students.

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In Alexandria, Virginia, a fitness studio is using special equipment that incorporates artificial intelligence to deliver fitness results.

Victoria Azor and co-founder Brian Bell use ARX at their fitness studio . ARX stands for Adaptive Resistance Exercise. A sign outside touts the gym’s as “AI-powered strength training.

Started in Austin, ARX automatically adjusts resistance in real time by matching a user’s effort.

“Artificial intelligence refers to computer systems that can perform complex tasks normally done by human-reasoning, decision making, creating, etc. There is no single, simple definition of artificial intelligence because AI tools are capable of a wide range of tasks and outputs,”

The ARX machines basically pool data about a user’s personal capabilities rapidly, including how much weight they are able to resist, which is helpful for the trainer at the end of each session.

“When people are so afraid that we’re all getting replaced by machines, I don’t view it this way. For me, this gave me the tool to get as strong myself and get my clients strong. I’m working with the machine; I’m working with the technology,” Azor said. “In the very beginning, when this technology was first getting developed, they worked with ARX to help NASA to help astronauts,” she said.

The equipment is also being used to help those who are in need of rehabilitation services, following injuries, and those who are in need of weight training for longevity.

“Personally, my father, who turns 88 this month, he has Parkinson’s. I’ve brought him in here … so he can really get that resistance training that you can’t get any other way,” Bell said.

�鶹���� found only two other locations in Northern Virginia using ARX machines. Due to their effectiveness, Azor recommended using them only once or twice a week for about 30 minutes.

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On Sunday, fans got one more reason to be excited after FIFA announced that they have lifted a one-game suspension for forward Folarin Balogun, who received a red card for stepping on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović, of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday.

“He’s been our best player this World Cup, so it’s really super beneficial to have that striker presence back,” said Everett Aden.

The FIFA announcement also followed President Donald Trump’s intervention on behalf of Balogun.

Balogun will play in Monday night’s match against Belgium, which begins at 8 p.m.

“I really think we have a good chance to win,” Aden said.

The FIFA fan zone on the National Mall will open at 2 p.m. to accommodate fans who want to watch the game.

“It’s really awesome that D.C. has this fan zone. It’s great for the culture,” Michael Yang said. “You get to meet a lot of different fans from all over.”

Aden and Yang said that they have been enjoying the World Cup.

“Every World Cup that I watch, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is the best one yet.’ But this one has been super explosive. All the good players are playing super well, playing to the standards they’ve set for themselves,” Aden said. “It’s been really fun to watch.”

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Fairfax County, Virginia, first responders said they had to move quickly Sunday after a car went into a pond in Chantilly.

The rescuers, including Fairfax Police Battalion Chief Randy Bittinger, formed a human chain to pull a woman from the car as the vehicle continued to sink.

“Just so thankful that we were all able to work together. And it was truly a thing. We were at the right place at the right time,” Bittinger said.

Officer Mohammed Suleiman said he happened to have a sharp object that pierced the glass on the driver’s side and cut the seat belt.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world, just having that driver out, and after being there trying to get her out,” Suleiman said.

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The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that tracks how the federal government can be more effective, recently surveyed Americans to get their opinions on government spending and changes made by federal officials.

“The Partnership for Public Service finds that 52% of the public oppose the administration’s changes to the federal government compared with only 39% who are in support. Far more people say the changes have made their lives or communities worse (51%) than say they have made things better (28%),” the organization .

People cited several factors for their negative perception when the survey was conducted between March 31 and April 5.

“At the time of the survey, there was also a partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, so TSA lines were a concern,” said Paul Hitlin, senior manager at the Partnership for Public Service. “It’s a wide range of areas where people were noticing impacts on their lives or the people around them.”

Government spending was also an area of concern.

“Last year, 61% of the country said the government was wasteful,” Hitlin said. “This year, 75% said it’s wasteful. So there could be a lot of reasons for that. But what we do know is that the Trump administration does not seem to be convincing people that they’ve actually made the government more efficient.”

While the Americans surveyed expressed concerns, some supporters say they are remaining optimistic.

“Seventy-five percent of the people who support the Trump administration’s changes say they believe that the American taxpayer is going to see some savings, whether it’s a refund or a tax cut,” Hitlin said.

The margin of error among the 1,000 Americans polled was +/- 3.1 percentage points.

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The NFL franchise the move will help “meet greater demand for suites while expanding the franchise’s footprint in the state of Maryland.”

The change is expected early next year.

Alexander City High School’s Assistant Director of Athletics, and Commanders fan, Felix Trammell says it’s a sign the team is going in the right direction, despite a season with ups and downs.

“It shows that there is money actually coming into the franchise again,” Trammell said. “I think (with) the end of the Snyder regime with all the allegations, and the name change, businesses stepped away and now businesses are coming back.”

The new offices will be on the fourth floor of the building located on the 4600 block of River Road in Riverdale Park, just outside of College Park. The Commanders will be next to other tenants like Capital One and Adobe.

The move comes months after Josh Harris, and his ownership group, acquired the team. The Commanders in August of this year.

“Good organizations start with solid money in their front offices,” Trammell said.

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More than 3,000 square miles of the Chesapeake’s watershed — or a land area containing streams and rivers that all drain into a larger body of water — is covered by surfaces that prevent water from being absorbed into the ground, such as buildings, parking lots and driveways.

According to a Chesapeake Bay Program , this type of surface makes up nearly 5% of the Bay watershed’s entire land area, which totals more than 40.5 million acres.

“Paved or hardened surfaces do not allow water to pass through, meaning that water flows over the surface, picking up pollutants as it goes,” the news release said. “Stormwater runoff is one of the fastest growing sources of pollution impacting the Chesapeake Bay.”

The watershed spans more than 64,000 square miles across six states — Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, New York and Pennsylvania — plus the entirety of D.C. More than 18 million people .

This data comes from a led by the Chesapeake Conservancy, University of Vermont and the U.S. Geological Survey, which analyzed land use and land cover data in part to understand the loss of tree canopy — layers of leaves and branches that cover the ground when viewed from above — across the region.

According to the news release, development is “one of the biggest threats to forest conservation.”

The study found that between 2013-14 and 2017-18, Maryland showed the greatest net loss of tree canopy across the watershed region at more than 4,500 acres, despite also reporting the most cumulative community tree planting.

Ann Jurczyk, the Virginia director of advocacy and outreach for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said climate change leads to extreme heat and more intense flooding — and one way to protect residents of the watershed area from such events is to invest in tree canopy.

“Extreme heat and more intense flooding are directly related to changes in climate. Tree canopy — particularly over asphalt — can help cool our streets and reduce flooding in a cost-effective way,” said Jurczyk in the news release.

She added that the Chesapeake Bay Program data can help nearby areas “review and potentially change their programs to preserve existing canopy and fill canopy gaps in an equitable manner.”

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Prince George’s County police said it received word of a fight between two students in front of Accokeek Academy around 8:45 a.m. Friday.

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It happened soon after the students got off a bus outside the school, leading to an immediate lockdown that lasted about an hour.

A police spokesperson said one of the students involved pulled a knife during the fight and stabbed the other. The injured student is expected to recover; no other students or staff were hurt.

“The safety of our students is our top priority,” Principal Dr. Judy Adams said . “Like all of you, I am shocked and saddened by this incident.”

The students involved will be disciplined in accordance with the school district’s policies. Adams said a large police presence remained on scene following the stabbing, and that an investigation continues.

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Twenty-nine-year-old Mohamed Jalloh, who is from Sierra Leone, is the founder and owner of the company. He told �鶹���� that the name has a special meaning.

“Jaliyaa is a form of storytelling, it’s how the Mali empire passed down their history through generations,” Jalloh said.

Jaliyaa made its big debut at D.C. Startup Week, with a soft launch. The upcoming store will be located on the 1400 block of H Street in Northeast.

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“It feels good to be able to bring a Black-owned coffee shop to D.C.,” Jalloh said. “In D.C., Black-owned coffee shops are not represented enough.”

His coffee beans are being imported from countries in Africa, like Ethiopia and Tanzania, and he’ll use proceeds from his business to help support charities locally and abroad.

“We’re going to be giving 5% of our proceeds toward fighting food hunger, to countries that our coffee comes from, as well as in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

His goal is to one day be available in many locations.

“We want our coffee to be served around the world, we want our coffee to be in the grocery stores,” he said.

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The department announced the changes in a press release five days in advance.

“We’re concerned that people don’t know what’s going on, that some people might be late for work, they might be late to pick up their kids, they might miss a doctor’s appointment,” Ronit Dancis, a board member with the Action Committee for Transit, told �鶹����.

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In a letter to Transportation Director Christopher Conklin, Paul Goldman, the president of Action Committee for Transit, said that on the evening of Sept. 11, the day the changes went into effect, “there were no signs at any bus stops or stations announcing the route changes.”

While there were posters inside buses that said routes were changing, Goldman said, no specifics were given.

“We are concerned that the information about the proposed route changes was disseminated in a way that put the burden on riders to find out whether and how their route changed,” Goldman added.

According to the Department of Transportation, the route changes include the following:

• 21 routes have time changes: 4, 5, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 26, 34, 37, 38, 43, 46, 48, 55, 59, 61, 63, 79, 83 and 100.
• Three routes have slight route changes with no bus stop or time changes: 27, 45, 90.
• 11 routes have decreased frequency due to ridership, and seven routes have increased frequency due to ridership.
• 13 routes have time changes, but no changes in frequency.
• Two routes have timing changes for accuracy and frequency: 63, 83.
• Three routes have a change in hours of operation: 4, 59, 79.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation told �鶹���� in a statement that “we have not removed or added any bus routes. Slight time adjustments were made to raise reliability.”

The department added that the new schedules are online “and have been widely publicized though press releases, social media and postings at transit centers.”

That said, “We want to ensure that our information is reached easily by all of our users,” the department said. “We are open to this feedback and will be looking into additional ways of getting information out to riders.”

The department added: “Ridership data and on-time performance are monitored regularly, and changes are routinely made three times a year. Overall, service levels will remain within 1 percent of where we were. Most of our over 80 bus routes will not experience changes.

We plan to increase bus service this January by about 4%, with the hiring of additional bus operators this fall. All service changes within the last two years, during the pandemic, have been based on bus operator availability.

We are hopeful that our transition to pre-pandemic service levels will continue. We are still transitioning, and receiving feedback from our transportation advocates is critical to our success.”

Goldman’s letter said that putting information online wasn’t in line with the county’s “commitment to equity.”

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The family of a 9-year-old student who suffered deadly injuries outside a D.C. public charter school last year is suing the school and its security company.

Kaidyn Green, 9, was hit by a car outside the KIPP DC Honor Academy, on Wheeler Road in Southeast, on Dec. 10, 2021. He was in Children’s National Hospital until February of this year and was rendered a quadriplegic; he was later discharged from a rehab facility but died June 2.

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The lawsuit, filed against KIPP and LGC Security, as well as the driver and the owner of the car, says Kaidyn’s mother arranged with the school to pick him up early, at about 1:30 p.m. She was told to wait in the front office, and Kaidyn would be brought to her – the usual procedure, the lawsuit said.

But the suit claims that’s not what happened. Green was told his mother was waiting for him, but wasn’t taken to the office, the family says: Instead, he was “released from his 4th grade classroom, then left unattended and unsupervised by employees.”

Green didn’t know his mother was in the office, the suit says; he went out the back door – the usual spot for kids to exit at the end of the day – then “walked unnoticed in excess of 143 yards around the outside perimeter” of the school’s property to the front.

When he saw his mother’s car parked in front of the school, he looked both ways and tried to cross the street, but was hit by the car, the lawsuit said.

“All people coming in or out of the school should come through the rear; the front entrance should be closed permanently,” said Keith Watters, who is representing the Green family. “Because the rear takes you away from Wheeler Road and all that thunderous traffic going back and forth. They have the protocols for pickups and monitoring, they just have to enforce those protocols.”

The lawsuit details three instances in which pedestrians were hit by cars in the immediate area, including two in the preceding two months.

“Our community continues to mourn Kaidyn’s passing and our thoughts are with his family and the classmates that knew him so well. Given the pending legal matter, we’re unable to say more at this time,” a KIPP DC spokesperson said.

The suit is seeking a total of $50 million.

The D.C. police said the driver has not been charged, and that the case is still under investigation.

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The search is known as the , and its website asks that people “help revitalize the effort to collect, document and preserve the diversity of Maryland’s continually evolving cuisine.”

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“This will include the convergence of Native American, African American, British, German and Jewish traditions with more recent contributions made by immigrants from southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, and likely even further afield,” according to the website.

The chair of the committee is Joyce M. White, who serves on the Board of Trustees for the Hammond-Harwood House Museum, and is an independent food historian.

Organizers said the Great Maryland Recipe Hunt seeks recipes that are commonly made by Maryland families, whether the family’s ties to Maryland date back centuries or even just a few years.

“The recipe hunt will help preserve Maryland’s foodways for generations to come and help foster regional identity. Then, hunt findings will be interpreted in resources that will be made available to the public reflecting Maryland’s ever-increasing diversity and dynamic change over time,” according to the website.

To submit your recipe to the Great Maryland Recipe Hunt go to .

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The Hyattsville Police Department that there have been 71 carjackings “within the incorporated municipal jurisdictions of our county this year,” a 45% increase over last year. That includes another one in the predawn hours of Friday on Hamilton Street. That one didn’t result in any injuries, a police spokesperson said.

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In D.C., there have been so far this year. This time last year, there were 256.

Hyattsville Police Chief Jarod Towers recommends parking your car in well-lit areas and checking your surroundings before exiting your vehicle.

“Always lock your doors,” Towers advised. “We’ve seen instances where suspects have just got in the car and sat in the car with you, and then demanded that you drive them somewhere, take them to an ATM machine. There’s a whole lot of risk, when someone gets in the car with you,” Towers said.

On the top of his list of things not to do? “Fight back.”

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“In September 2021, the OIGE initiated an investigation after receiving a series of complaints, submitted by parents of Prince George’s County Public School (PGCPS) students, county residents and elected officials,” according to background information in the report.

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“The complaints alleged that the Prince George’s County Board of Education’s Ethics Advisory Panel (EAP) used taxpayer funds to conduct an improper investigation of several Elected Board members,” the report stated.

The inspector general’s report says the EAP spent more than $100,000 to investigate several school board members last year. The findings from those investigations resulted in a flawed report.

“Throughout the OIGE interview process, it was discovered that information contained in the EAP’s report was improperly referenced or factually inaccurate,” the OIGE reported in its findings on Friday.

“Our investigation substantiated that the Chair of the PGBOE, the Acting General Counsel, and the Chair of the PGBOE Ethics Advisory Panel violated PGCPS Board Policy 0107,” the OIGE report said. “These violations indicated an apparent misunderstanding or disregard for board policies, which allowed the EAP’s ‘investigation’ to expand without the appropriate oversight.”

The inspector general’s office is now making several recommendations to the Prince George’s County School Board.

“The Board should review Board Policy 3323 and governing procedures to ensure competition in procurement is preferred in making certain they obtain fair prices for services. Contracts should be competitively procured to ensure transparency and are the best value for the board,” the inspector general’s office said.

A full list of recommendations can be seen online .

Earlier this summer, County Executive Angela Alsobrooks asked Chair Juanita Miller to step down, but Miller has repeatedly refused. Alsobrooks has no legal authority to fire the board chair.

Miller did not respond to �鶹����’s request for a comment.

In May, the county .

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“I would say if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” said Bryan Lewis, CEO of Intellicheck, a company providing identity validation and fraud detection services.

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Lewis said the number of identity theft cases in the area that the Federal Trade Commission has collected has risen dramatically since the start of the pandemic.

“In Maryland it’s up 188%, in Virginia it’s up 194%,” Lewis said.

Lewis said a lot of recent identity theft cases come from scammers subtly impersonating legitimate institutions such as banks, government agencies or credit card issuers. He also said scammers want their victims to feel pressured, so they’ll use tactics that will make people feel rushed. Lewis recommends that people take their time.

As inflation continues to plague the economy, many are looking for deals, and that’s what could cost them, according to Lewis. Scammers are looking to prey on vulnerable consumers who are looking to save some cash, Lewis said.

“Credit card rates, rental rates, student loan rates — and they’re going to have people say ‘wow, I need to jump on that,’” he said.

Lewis said lots of scammers will directly reach out to consumers. He said its important to verify the sender, which can clue consumers into whether they are dealing with a scammer or a legitimate seller.

He advises consumers to “look and see that the address that the email came from is real, or the website you’re directed to is real.”

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