Domestic Glance
A former California correctional officer convicted of dozens of sexual abuse charges at a women’s prison was sentenced to 224 years in prison on Thursday.
Gregory Rodriguez, 57, worked as a guard at the Central California women’s facility (CCWF), the state’s largest women’s prison, and was found guilty in January of over 60 charges of abusing nine women in his custody, including rape and battery.
Rodriguez’s case became a huge scandal for the state, exposing a longstanding crisis of sexual misconduct and abuse behind bars. The officer was found to have targeted incarcerated women over the span of nearly a decade before he retired in 2022 while under investigation.
A Guardian investigation published in 2023 revealed the prison received a report of Rodriguez’s abuse in 2014, but did not terminate him and instead punished the victim. That survivor spoke of being sent to solitary confinement while authorities investigated claims of her abuse.
Ex-guard at California women’s prison sentenced to 224 years for sexual abuse
Danielle Spencer, who played little sister Dee on 'What's Happening!!,' dies at 60
Spencer, who became a veterinarian later in life, died Monday at a hospital in Richmond, Va., after a years-long battle with cancer, family spokesperson Sandra Jones said.
As Dee, Spencer was the smahttps://www.npr.org/2025/08/12/nx-s1-5500593/danielle-spencer-who-played-little-sister-dee-on-whats-happening-dies-at-60rter, more serious younger sister who offered a steady stream of deadpan roasts of big brother Roger "Raj" Thomas and his friends Dwayne Nelson and Freddie "Rerun" Stubbs.
"Ooh, I'm gonna tell mama," would become Dee's catchphrase.
The show, set in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts and among the first on television to focus on the lives of Black teenagers, was based on the movie Cooley High and ran on ABC from 1976 to 1979. It had a long legacy thanks to its memorable characters, including the geeky Raj, the catchphrase-spouting Dwayne, the red-bereted dancing phenom Rerun, and Dee with her eye-rolls and icy stare.
Train carrying possible hazardous materials derails in Texas, officials say
The incident occurred at around 2 p.m. local time over a railroad bridge on Coalville Road, about two miles east of Gordon, a small city roughly 71 miles west of Fort Worth. The derailment involved about 35 Union Pacific Railroad train cars, the company told USA TODAY.
Emergency crews, including Union Pacific hazmat personnel and the Palo Pinto Fire Department, were at the scene, according to Palo Pinto County emergency services. Officials confirmed that there were no hazardous material leaks in the area, and Union Pacific noted that cleanup efforts were underway.
Consent decrees force schools to desegregate. The Trump administration is striking them down
The Plaquemines parish desegregation order, one of more than 130 such orders nationwide, was in place to ensure that the school district, which initially refused to integrate, followed the law. Many consent decrees of the era are still in existence because school districts are not in compliance with the law.
These orders “provide students with really important protections against discrimination”, said Shaheena Simons, who was the chief of the educational opportunities section of the civil rights division at the justice department for nearly a decade. “They require school districts to continue to actively work to eliminate all the remaining vestiges of the state-mandated segregation system.
Ohio requires buses for private school kids. Public school students have to find their own ride
For about 2,000 students attending high school in Dayton, Ohio, there won’t be a bus in sight when they walk out the door for the beginning of the school year this week.
Ruben Castillo, an 11th grade student at Meadowdale Career Technology Center, is one of them.
Ohio law means that public school districts such as Dayton’s are responsible for transporting students who attend private and charter schools. When they fail to do so, they risk fines of millions of dollars.
A shortage of drivers and buses combined with the threat of fines, means that public school districts in Dayton and around Ohio find themselves relegating their own students to the back of the transportation line.
3 killed in shooting at Austin Target store
Three people were killed in a shooting at a Target in north Austin, Texas, Monday afternoon, police said.
Police were called to the Target located at 8601 Research Boulevard at 2:15 p.m., said Chief Lisa Davis. They arrived on scene within minutes and found three people shot in the Target parking lot.
The suspect hijacked a car and took off, Davis said. He crashed that car, she said, then hijacked another vehicle.
He was finally detained in south Austin after being tased. The suspect was described by Davis as a 32-year-old man with a history of mental health issues, but his name was not released.
Police said two people were pronounced dead at the scene, and another was transported to a local hospital where they died. A fourth person was treated for unrelated injuries, authohttps://thehill.com/homenews/5447042-3-killed-in-shooting-at-austin-target-store/rities said.
'Sounded like thunder': Explosion at US Steel plant in Pennsylvania leaves 2 dead
Officials confirmed a second fatality in the steel plant explosion on the outskirts of Pitsburgh on Monday that sent 10 people to the hospital.
Allegheny County Emergency Services and the Allegheny County Police Department responded to the blasts at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works plant in Clairton and confirmed the first fatality that afternoon in a social media statement. A large initial explosion was followed by secondary ones, officials said.
In a separate social media post Monday evening, Allegheny County Emergency Services said the second fatality was a person who had previously been considered missing.
"Officials can confirm there has been a second fatality in connection with this incident," the agency said. "This was the last of the two individuals that was initially unaccounted for."
More Articles...
- The Tennessee execution that ‘went horribly wrong’: how Byron Black’s killing unfolded
- American Nazis: The Aryan Freedom Network is riding high in Trump era
- Two killed and six wounded in mass shooting at LA music festival afterparty
- More than 40 arrested at protest against Gaza war at Trump hotel in New York
Page 5 of 221
