Domestic Glance
D.C. National Guard members patrolling Washington as part of the Trump administration's plan to ramp up policing may soon be carrying weapons, a Guard spokesperson said Sunday.
The Army had said last week that Guard members would not be carrying weapons and would not be making arrests.
But on Sunday, Army Senior Master Sgt. Craig Clapper told NPR in a statement that "Guard members may be armed consistent with their mission and training."
"Their presence is focused on supporting civil authorities and ensuring the safety of the community they serve," Clapper added. "The DC National Guard remains committed to assisting the District of Columbia and serving its residents and visitors whenever called upon."
National Guard says members patrolling D.C. 'may be armed'
ESPN will not air Spike Lee’s docuseries on quarterback Colin Kaepernick
Director Spike Lee’s multi-part documentary series for ESPN Films about former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who sparked a national debate when he protested racial injustice nearly a decade ago, will not be released, the filmmaker and ESPN said.
“ESPN, Colin Kaepernick and Spike Lee have collectively decided to no longer proceed with this project as a result of certain creative differences,” ESPN said in a statement to Reuters on Saturday. “Despite not reaching finality, we appreciate all the hard work and collaboration that went into this film.”https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/16/espn-spike-lee-colin-kaepernick-docuseries
Lee told Reuters on Friday that the series was not going to be released.
“It’s not coming out. That’s all I can say,” Lee said on the red carpet ahead of the Harold and Carole Pump Foundation dinner, a fundraiser for cancer research and treatment, in Beverly Hills, California.
Washington DC and White House agree to scale back Trump ‘takeover’ of city police
White House officials and attorneys for Washington DC have agreed to scale back the Trump administration’s takeover of the city’s police department.
Under an agreement announced early Friday evening, the US capital city’s Metropolitan police department will remain under the control of its chief, Pamela Smith, instead of Terry Cole, the top administrator for the Drug and Enforcement Administration (DEA), according to reports
A revised directive Bondi issued late on Friday referred to Cole instead as her “designee” for purposes of directing the DC mayor “to provide such services of the Metropolitan Police Department as the attorney general deems necessary and appropriate”.
Those services, according to Bondi’s two-page order, would include assisting federal immigration enforcement, contrary to DC “sanctuary city” policies constraining metropolitan police department action on immigration.
More...Ex-guard at California women’s prison sentenced to 224 years for sexual abuse
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.
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
In late April, the Department of Justice announced that it was ending a decades-long consent decree in Plaquemines parish, Louisiana, in a school district that has been under a desegregation order since the Johnson administration in the 1960s.
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.
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.
Some experts, including former justice department employees, say the change in direction for the department could be worrying.
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.
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.
That means that students have protections in terms of what schools they’re assigned to, in terms of the facilities and equipment in the schools that they attend. They have protection from discrimination in terms of barriers to accessing advanced programs, gifted programs. And it means that a court is there to protect them and to enforce their rights when they’re violated and to ensure that school districts are continuing to actively desegregate.”
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