Teen was offered over $1 million in scholarships when she applied to colleges
(CNN)After applying to more than 20 colleges, one high school senior from Philadelphia has been offered a total of over $1 million in scholarship money.
Shanya Robinson-Owens, 17, applied to somewhere between 25 to 30 different colleges, hoping to find the school best suited for her. As her acceptance letters came rolling in, her family quickly realized she was being offered just over $1 million in scholarship money.
The senior at the George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science didn’t have many expectations when applying to colleges and was shocked to discover just how much money she had been offered.
“I didn’t expect to get this, I knew about the scholarships, but I didn’t expect it to be this much, at all,” she said.
As Robinson-Owens began her application process, her family began counting all her scholarship packages. They created the hashtag #KeepingUpWithNya to track her progress on social media.
The high schooler is still in the process of touring college campuses and hasn’t made any decisions on where she’ll end up. She told CNN that she wants to evaluate her options carefully, not simply pick the school that offers her the most handsome scholarship package.”I don’t want to base it off money and then I don’t like the school and not finish,” said Robinson-Owens.
Among the colleges that have made offers are Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, La Salle University in Philadelphia, Temple University in Philadelphia, Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri and Cabrini University in Radnor, Pennsylvania.
Once she makes her final decision, Robinson-Owens hopes to study psychology, as some of her favorite subjects in school have been chemistry and physics. The high schooler also enjoys journalism, she’s contributed to her school’s news website and podcast. She’s also a part of her school’s yearbook committee.
Robinson-Owens will be graduating from high school in June and will start her college career in the fall.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/06/us/teen-one-million-in-scholarships-trnd/index.html
Photo Credit: cnn.com
One person killed in shooting at George Floyd memorial site in Minneapolis
(CNN) – One person was shot to death Saturday night in Minneapolis at the same intersection where George Floyd died last year — an area that has since become a memorial site.
“The victim and the suspect had a verbal disagreement, and the suspect shot the victim,” Minneapolis Police Department spokesman John Elder said.
Police responded to the area of 38th Street East and Chicago Avenue, Elder said, after determining shots had been fired using an automatic sound detecting system called ShotSpotter.
When they arrived at the memorial site, “officers were met with some interference at the scene,” Elder said,but did not provide further clarification.
They were then told that the victim had already been taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The victim’s name has not been released.
The shooter has not been identified or apprehended, Elder said, and police are asking for the public’s help in locating the getaway vehicle, described as a light-colored Suburban with gunshot damage.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Minnesota,” Elder said. “
All tips are anonymous and anyone providing information leading to an arrest and conviction is eligible for a financial award.”
An investigation is ongoing, he added.
Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died on May 25, 2020, after pleading he couldn’t breathe as a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes.
In September, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted to approve the renaming of the 38th Street and Chicago Avenue intersection after Floyd.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/06/us/george-floyd-memorial-site-shooting/index.html
Photo Credit: nypost.com
A mother says her 13-year-old son was bullied, forced to drink urine at sleepover
PLANO, Texas (KTVT/Meredith) — The mother of a 13-year-old boy said the bullying at her son’s school had been going on over the past year, but everything came to a head at a sleepover last month.
Summer Smith posted a now viral video of her son, SeMarion Humphrey, to Facebook, accusing his classmates of forcing him to drink urine.
She said the sleepover was orchestrated by the kids to purposefully bully him, with one of them befriending him the month before just to get him to come.
It was also that night she said he was shot with BB guns, hit in his sleep and called racial slurs.
She said Humphrey has been harassed, degraded and physically and mentally tortured by his schoolmates.
But despite reporting the incidents, she said she didn’t receive help from staff.
“When you say there’s nothing you can do, what do you mean exactly?” Smith said. “Because it seems to me that there’s plenty you can do. Where it was pre mediated and obvious that SeMarion was only invited for their pure entertainment.”
Police have said they will conduct a full investigation to identify any criminal offenses.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/a-mother-says-her-13-year-old-son-was-bullied-forced-to-drink-urine-at/article_666d4f9f-a3b8-5e17-9622-2e45fdca4da7.html?block_id=985917
Photo Credit: revolt.tv
Some move to change ‘breast’ milk to ‘chest’ or ‘human’ milk in effort to be more inclusive
CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — There is a new push by some health care professionals to change the term “breast milk” to “chest milk.”
In the United Kingdom, one hospital made international headlines for changing the term “breast milk” to “human milk.” It’s an effort to be more inclusive to transgender and non-binary parents.
But not all organizations or hospitals are following suit. Dr. Cecilia Banga specializes in delivering babies and prenatal care.
“This [term] is not really a pervasive topic of discussion here in the United States,” said Banga. She says breast tissue itself is not specific to one gender.
“I think it’s important to note that regardless of the origin. It’s very important for infants to get milk that comes from humans. Depending on what we want to call it, breast milk, chest milk, human milk. That depends on the patient and what they are comfortable with. It doesn’t change the fact that the milk is coming from humans and that it’s coming from the breast,” said Banga.
The North Carolina doctor says that despite the term, milk itself is an essential necessity to babies’ health. “Breast milk is a huge first step towards a baby developing a strong immune system because it is chock full of multiple nutrients,” said Banga.
Regardless of the term, both experts say it’s a person’s choice to decide what they want to call it and gender inclusion does not mean exclusion for any other patients.
They recommend patients tell their doctor or lactation expert which pronouns they prefer and the terms they are most comfortable with as they go through the process.
via: https://pix11.com/news/some-move-to-change-breast-milk-to-chest-or-human-milk-in-effort-to-be-more-inclusive/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
California bill would ban ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ departments in stores
Big stores in California would have to get rid of separate “boys” and “girls” departments for toys and clothes under a new bill.
The proposal would require stores with 500 or more employees to maintain “undivided areas of its sales floor” for childcare items, kids clothes and toys, “regardless of whether an item has traditionally been marketed for either girls or for boys,” according to the legislation.
The bill, which refers to “unjustified differences in similar products that are traditionally marketed either for girls or for boys,” would also ban signs indicating specific items are for girls or boys.
Online, any California-based businesses selling childcare items, children’s clothing or toys, would have to “dedicate a section of the internet website to the sale of those items and articles that is titled, at the discretion of the retailer, ‘kids,’ ‘unisex,’ or ‘gender neutral.’”, the bill states.
Stores would face $1,000 fines for failing to comply.
The bill, co-authored by Democrat, Evan Low, who chairs the California Legislative LGBT Caucus, and Cristina Garcia, who chairs the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, was first introduced last year but scrapped as the pandemic came to the forefront.
Low told the Sacramento Bee he was inspired by Target Corp.’s move to do away with gendered signs in 2015.
“As much as I’d like to think of this as watershed legislation, this is something the industry is already doing. We’re just trying to play catch up,” he said.
He also cited a staffer’s 9-year-old daughter, who complained the science toys were in the “boys” section of a store.
“That was the impetus of this, which is how do we make a safe space today for children in society.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/california-bill-would-ban-boys-girls-departments-in-stores/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Utah mom arrested for driving with her two kids while on video call
A Utah mother was arrested Wednesday for allegedly making a video call while driving with her two young daughters in the backseat, authorities said.
Gabriella Ann McKenzie, 19, was stopped by a detective after he saw her driving erratically in Eagle Mountain just after 6:30 p.m., according to the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
The detective pulled up next to McKenzie and saw she was on a video call with someone.
A deputy arrived at the scene for back up, and they asked her to get her children — ages 2 and eight months — out of the car so they could search it, the sheriff’s office said.
McKenzie refused but ended up taking her kids out of the car as well as a brown bag she hid in her waistband, according to officials.
The officers handcuffed her and confiscated the brown bag, which contained cocaine.
They also found marijuana, a bottle of liquor and other drug paraphernalia, the sheriff’s office said.
McKenzie’s parents later arrived at the scene and took her daughters and car.
The young mother was booked into jail on charges of child endangerment, possession of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, among others.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/04/utah-mom-arrested-for-driving-with-her-two-kids-while-on-video-call/
Photo Credit: Utah County Sheriff’s Office
NY lawmaker wants sex ed for kindergartners and kids as young as 11 would get lectures on vaginal, oral and anal sex
Get ready for the latest woke wave in education: comprehensive sex ed for kids as young as 5 — thanks to a new bill in the state Senate.
Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Samra G. Brouk, a freshman Democrat from Rochester, would tie New York’s health curriculum to standards written by a left-wing interest group that advocates “Sex Ed for Social Change” — and would make those lessons mandatory statewide.
Under that group’s current standards, public and charter schools would have to teach 5-year-olds about “gender identity” and instruct 8-year-olds on hormone blockers to prevent puberty in transgender-identifying preteens.
Kids as young as 11 would get lectures on “vaginal, oral, and anal sex”; study “queer, two-spirit, asexual, pansexual” and other gender identities; and receive explicit instruction on the use of external and internal condoms, dental dams and other contraceptives.
Brouk told The Post, “I am greatly concerned about the unacceptably high incidence of relationship violence, sexual harassment and assault, and online bullying in our society today. We must equip the next generation with the skills and education they will need to thrive.”
But her proposal would legally link New York’s schools to the shifting recommendations of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
“We would be outsourcing our curriculum to this outside organization,” said Assemblyman Michael Reilly (R-SI), a member of the education committee. “That’s a concern.”
Some parents are also worried.
“The state constitution guarantees a basic education, but nowhere does it say ‘we have to prepare our kids to change their sex if they want to,’” said Sam Pirozzolo of the New York City Parents Union. “We have schools where 95% of kids can’t read or do math at grade level, and now they want to bring in these complicated social justice issues? That’s BS.”
Even parents who approve of sex ed in school are queasy about the envelope-pushing topics the law would require.
“It’s inappropriate,” said Ken Jewell, a Manhattan family law attorney whose two children attend New York City public elementary schools. “These are things kids that age are not capable of comprehending yet.”
Jewell favors early-grade instruction on personal space and pedophilia protection, but think’s Brouk’s measure “goes too far.”
“As a dad I want my kid armed enough to know if something is wrong,” he said. “But I don’t want to put knowledge in their heads that takes away the innocence of childhood.”
A recent study by Montclair State University professors boosted early sex education as a way of preventing child sex abuse and, later, partner violence.
“I am in love with the SEICUS standards,” declared child psychologist Dr. Kelly Rabenstein Donohoe. “They discuss all aspects of human sexual development and relationships, and promote better communication about uncomfortable topics. This knowledge both protects kids and prepares them.”
New York is one of 22 states that lacks a statewide sex-ed requirement. State law leaves the topic to local school districts to decide — other than HIV/AIDS instruction, which is required for grades K-12 using lesson plans “consistent with community values.”
In New York City public schools, that means lower-grade instruction on viruses and the immune system, with no mention of sexual contact until fourth grade. Middle and high schoolers receive sexual health education in city schools starting in sixth grade.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/06/ny-lawmaker-wants-sex-ed-for-kindergartners/
Photo Credit: nysenate.gov
Amanda Gorman, inaugural poet, ‘tailed’ by security guard on her walk home because she looked “suspicious”
(CNN)Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first youth poet laureate, said she was “tailed” and told “you look suspicious” by a security guard as she walked home Friday night.”
A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight. He demanded if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious.’ I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology,” Gorman wrote in a post on her verified Instagram account.
“This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat,” she added.
In a later tweet, the 22-year-old said, “In a sense he was right. I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance. Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be. A threat and proud.”
America’s youngest inaugural poet earned national acclaim on January 21 when she recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” as President Joe Biden took the oath of office.It was mere days since a mob of armed Trump supporters wielding knives, bombs, and pepper spray stormed the Capitol.
The encounter with the security guard Gorman describes is reminiscent of police violence and aggression against Black Americans, whose deaths have sparked national movements, including #BlackLivesMatter.
Black men are approximately 2.5 times more likely to die at the hands of police over a lifetime as compared to White men, according to research by the National Academy of Sciences.
Based on the 2019 study, Black women are about 1.4 times more likely to be killed by police compared with White women, according to the researchers.
In March 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot and killed by police officers inside her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky during a flawed forced entry raid.
Her death sparked a national rallying cry for racial justice and an overhaul of the policing system, including the campaign #SayHerName.
“#SayHerName is grounded in the sad reality that Black women and girls who are targeted, brutalized, and killed by police are all too often excluded from mainstream narratives around police violence,” the campaign’s webpage reads.
“You’re not safe anywhere. Not even safe in your own home,” #SayHerName founder and attorney Kimberlé Crenshaw told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/06/us/amanda-gorman-followed-security-guard-trnd/index.html
Photo Credit: cnn.com
Texas school under fire for ‘chivalry day’ that had girls obey boys
A Texas school is under fire after it organized a “Rules of Chivalry Day” and encouraged female students to “obey” any “reasonable” demands made of them by male classmates.
According to a copy of the assignment rules posted by a Dallas Morning News reporter, the unorthodox lesson was meant to mimic medieval notions of chivalry to demonstrate how “courtly love carries over into the modern day.”
Female students were encouraged to “address all men with a lowered head and curtsy” and encouraged “not to whine or complain” for the duration of the assignment.
In order to win points during the exercise at Shallowater High School in Lubbock, female students were told not to “show intellectual superiority if it would offend the men around them,” according to the tweet.
Male students were also reportedly given advisories — including referring to girls as “milady” and showing “courtly courtesy as they assist ladies who may have dropped an article by picking it up for them,” according to a subsequent tweet.
Boys were also told not to use vulgarity or complain and to rise when females entered or exited a room.
Twitter reactions varied — with some speculating that the assignments were supposed to demonstrate regressive gender roles of the period.
But most respondents found the material unacceptable no matter the intent.
The school eventually canceled the concept outright.
“This assignment has been reviewed, and despite its historical context, it does not reflect our district and community values,” wrote Dr. Anita Herbert, superintendent of the local district, according to Fox News. “The matter has been addressed with the teacher, and the assignment was removed.”
via: https://nypost.com/2021/03/05/texas-school-under-fire-for-chivalry-day-that-had-girls-obey-boys/
Photo Credit: Google Maps
EMS worker bitten by patient while responding to call
SHEEPSHEAD BAY, Brooklyn — An FDNY EMS paramedic was bitten in the face responding to a call Friday in Brooklyn, according to officials.
An FDNY official said it happened on Friday at about 1:40 a.m. The paramedic responded to 2856 Haring Street for a report of someone feeling ill.
While the paramedic was trying to move the patient onto a stretcher to take them to the hospital, she was bitten in the face by the patient, a union official said.
Anthony Almojera, an FDNY EMS union officer, shared the account on social media seeking to amplify the dangers EMS workers go though. (She gave Almojera permission to share the photos with PIX11.)
After the attack, two people were taken to local hospitals, an FDNY spokesperson said — a patient and the paramedic.
The union called the attack vicious and said the paramedic suffered “extensive injuries and possible permanent facial scars.”
“How much longer will our women and men be sent out on calls without having the proper tools to assist them? This past week alone, over a dozen FDNY EMS Local 2507 members were assaulted, one even sustained a broken nose, another crew had a knife pulled on them and countless others suffered other injuries,” said FDNY EMS Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay.
“When will our public officials come to our defense and offer EMS personnel protections? We need better training, better equipment, better care of our women and men for the long term effects from these assaults.
“The injuries sustained by our Paramedic are horrific. No one should be attacked when they are at work, and certainly not EMTs and Paramedics who respond to every incident with one mission – to save lives,” said Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro.
A source said two other EMS workers were bitten in recent weeks in addition to Friday’s attack.
via: https://pix11.com/news/local-news/brooklyn/ems-worker-bitten-by-patient-while-responding-to-call/
Photo Credit: Anthony Almojera