JAMES POLLARD

Associated Press/Report for America
Way West Grill & Pizzeria owner Jake Vincent describes the amount of loss his restaurant and staff have suffered after being without power since Monday on Galveston Island on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Vincent estimates it will take three days reopen once power is restored, although he has no idea when that will happen. Vincent worries for his staff, most of whom are family members. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)
In beachy Galveston, locals buckle down without power after Beryl’s blow during peak tourist season
Electricity will likely be out another week for hundreds of thousands of people in the Houston after Hurricane Beryl tore down trees and power lines. In nearby Galveston, the enduring outages are disrupting peak tourist season.
 
Meals on Wheels employees take advantage of an assembly line to prepare bags of food for clients, Friday, July 12, 2024, in Houston. Staff deliver hot meals as well as shelf stable items to clients daily, many of whom are still without power after Hurricane Beryl. (AP Photo/Annie Mulligan)
Houston community groups strain to keep feeding and cooling a city battered by repeat storms
In the wake of Hurricane Beryl, fresh food and cool air are coming from Houston community groups that have honed their disaster services in a city frequently battered by extreme weather.
 
The Florida A&M University campus is seen in Tallahassee, Fla., Thursday, June 6, 2024. $237 million donation to FAMU was promised by Gregory Gerami, a 30-year-old who called himself Texas’ “youngest African American industrial hemp producer,” but everything was not what it seemed and the donation is now in limbo. Gerami maintains that everything will work out, but FAMU is not the only small university that has engaged with his major donation proposals only to see them go nowhere. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
Here’s what to know about a stalled $237M donation to Florida A&M
It would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black college or university: $237 million — far beyond Florida A&M University’s endowment. The money was promised by Gregory Gerami.
 
This image made from video provided by WCTV shows Gregory Gerami, a 30-year-old who called himself Texas' "youngest African American industrial hemp producer," third from left, and Florida A&M University president Larry Robinson pose with a ceremonial check while being surrounded by other university officials during a commencement ceremony on May 4, 2024 in Tallahassee, Fla. The $237 million donation was promised by Gerami, but everything was not what it seemed and the donation is now in limbo. Gerami maintains that everything will work out, but FAMU is not the only small university that has engaged with his major donation proposals only to see them go nowhere. (WCTV via AP)
Florida A&M, a dubious donor and $237M: The transformative HBCU gift that wasn’t what it seemed
It would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black college or university: $237 million — far beyond Florida A&M University’s endowment.
 
FILE — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman participates in a discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit, Nov. 16, 2023, in San Francisco. The Giving Pledge announced Tuesday, May 28, 2024 that Altman has joined its list of wealthy philanthropists committed to donating over half their fortunes. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pledges to donate most of his wealth
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is joining a high-profile list of more than 240 wealthy philanthropists committed to donating over half their fortunes.
 
This undated combination of images provided by Comic Relief's Red Nose Day shows social media users taking selfies with the campaign's filters. (Comic Relief's Red Nose Day via AP)
Red Nose Day 2024 fights child poverty with the ‘whimsy’ of a candy castle, monster truck and Legos
Red Nose Day has raised $370 million since 2015 to fund anti-poverty efforts. This year, Comic Relief US wants to draw donations for its campaign by encouraging childlike wonder.
 
An option to donate to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital appears on the Domino's app in a photo taken in New York on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. Domino's is the latest and largest example of philanthropic allies new and old finding success through "checkout charity." (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
All that ‘checkout charity’ adds up. Domino’s plans $174 million from it for St. Jude hospital
The world’s top-selling pizza chain is betting big on the generosity of its customers. And they are not alone. Domino’s recently pledged $174 million over the next ten years to benefit St.
 
Debt Gala co-founders, from left, Molly Gaebe, Tom Costello and Amanda Corday, appear at the Debt Gala in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Sunday, May 5, 2024. Some 200 attendees sought to help alleviate medical debt at the second annual benefit, one of several alternative fundraisers that have popped up around the star-studded Met Gala. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
Inspired by the Met, ‘sleeping baddies’ tackle medical debt at the Debt Gala’s pajama party
The Met Gala has inspired pajama-clad New Yorkers to fundraise for medical debt relief at an alternative benefit called the Debt Gala. Some 200 attendees dressed for its “Sleeping Baddies” theme to raise money for medical bill relief on Sunday.
 
Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen, left, listens as Actor Danai Gurira, center, addresses attendees of the Global Citizen Now conference, Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in New York. Fran Katsoudas is right. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Global Citizen NOW urges investment in Sub-Saharan Africa and youth outreach
Global Citizen NOW says it wants 2024 conference attendees to invest long-term in the African continent’s fast-growing youth population and increase outreach to young changemakers.
 
Ron Waddell, Founder and Executive Director of Legendary Legacies, right, talks with Gary Goyette at the nonprofit organization, Friday, April 19, 2024, in Worcester, Mass. Waddell credits Blue Cross Blue Shield volunteers for truly investing in their employee service opportunities, which are increasing across the corporate realm. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
How to design a volunteering program in your workplace
More workplaces are bolstering their volunteer programs, especially as employee demands grow for socially responsible employers and engagement.
 
Ron Waddell, Founder and Executive Director of Legendary Legacies, second from left, poses with men benefitting from his nonprofit organization, Friday, April 19, 2024, in Worcester, Mass. Waddell credits Blue Cross Blue Shield volunteers for truly investing in their employee service opportunities, which are increasing across the corporate realm. From left are Antoine Williams, Waddell, Jonathan Maldonado and Gary Goyette. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Seeking engagement and purpose, corporate employees turn to workplace volunteering
Employees increasingly find that robust workplace volunteer programs meet their desires for in-person connections, professional growth and altruistically inclined employers — career objectives that might be missing in conventional corporate atmospheres.
 
Pro-Palestinian protesters camp out in tents at Columbia University on Saturday, April 27, 2024 in New York.(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Anti-war protesters dig in as some schools close encampments after reports of antisemitic activity
Student anti-war protesters at U.S. college campuses are digging in and vowing to keep their demonstrations going, some universities moved to shut down encampments after reports of antisemitic activity among the protesters.
 
Pro-Palestinian demonstration encampment is seen at the Columbia University, Friday, April 26, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Columbia protesters say they’re at an impasse with administrators and will continue anti-war camp
Columbia University students who inspired pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country say they have reached an impasse with administrators and intend to continue their encampment until their demands are met.
 
GoFundMe Chief Executive Officer Tim Cadogan poses for a photo in Altadena, Calif. on Friday, April 19, 2024. Mexican fundraisers can now solicit donations on GoFundMe, the company announced Tuesday, under an expansion that the crowdfunding giant hopes is the first of additional entrances into untapped Latin American markets. Mexico marks the 20th country serviced by GoFundMe. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
GoFundMe expands into Mexico as part of for-profit crowdfunding platform’s international growth
GoFundMe is expanding into Mexico, the company announced Tuesday. That marks 20 countries now serviced by the crowdfunding giant.
 
A container ship rests against the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Baltimore, Md. After days of searching through murky water for the workers missing after the bridge collapsed, officials are turning their attention Thursday to what promises to be a massive salvage operation. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
What we know about the Baltimore bridge collapse
Authorities are gathering evidence about what led to this week’s bridge collapse in Baltimore. So far, we know that a massive cargo ship lost power and issued a mayday call moments before it struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge early Tuesday, causing the span to crumble into the Patapsco River.
 
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Director Robert Boyles holds a jar of toxic waste outside the USS Yorktown at a press conference in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Officials are preparing to remove over 1.2 million gallons of hazardous liquids from the World War II-era aircraft carrier. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
South Carolina to remove toxic waste from historic World War II aircraft carrier
South Carolina officials are preparing to remove over 1.2 million gallons of toxic waste from a World War II aircraft carrier in Charleston Harbor. It’s part of an $18 million effort to prevent leakage from the USS Yorktown.
 
FILE - Lisa Moeller takes a photo of the NCAA bracket for the NCAA college basketball tournament on the side of the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis, March 17, 2021. College hoops fans might want to think again before pinning their hopes of a perfect March Madness bracket on artificial intelligence. While the advancement of artificial intelligence into everyday life has made “AI” one of the buzziest phrases of the past year, its application in bracketology circles is not so new. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
‘Art and science:' How bracketologists are using artificial intelligence this March Madness
It is time to fill out those NCAA Tournament brackets with the arrival of March Madness. Duke statistics Professor Ezra Miller says an informed fan has perhaps a 1 in 2 billion chance at picking a perfect ballot.
 
Wood pellet producer Enviva files for bankruptcy and plans to restructure
The largest industrial wood pellet supplier in the world has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maryland-based Enviva said in its filing that it has some $2.6 billion in debt and plans to cut about half of it by restructuring its agreements with creditors.
 
This undated photo shows North Carolina state House primary winner and East Carolina University student Wyatt Gable. Gable defeated a 10-term North Carolina state House member in a primary election this week, March 5, 2024, while another incumbent currently trails in a very close race with his intraparty opponent. The 21-year-old Gable, a student at East Carolina University, defeated Rep. George Cleveland of Onslow County.(The Daily News via AP)
This 21-year-old Republican beat a 10-term incumbent. What’s next for Wyatt Gable?
A 21-year-old junior in college is moving on to the general election after narrowly beating an 84-year-old lawmaker this week in the Republican primary for a North Carolina House seat.
 
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump greets members of the National Guard on the U.S.-Mexico border, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Recent statements by Trump have fueled Democrats' sense that there's an opening among voters with strong military ties, and progressive veterans' organizations are working to bridge the gap with what has long been a reliably red constituency. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Democrats make play for veteran and military support as Trump homes in on GOP nomination
Recent statements by Donald Trump have fueled Democrats’ sense that there’s an opening among voters with strong military ties, and progressive veterans’ organizations are working to bridge the gap with what has long been a reliably red constituency.
 
FILE - This combo photo of undated selfie, courtesy of the Dime Doe family, shows Dime Doe, a Black transgender woman. On Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, Daqua Lameek Ritter was found guilty of shooting Doe three times on Aug. 4, 2019, because of her gender identity in the first federal trial based on a bias-motivated crime of that sort. To prove Ritter's rationale, the Department of Justice relied heavily on evidence that Ritter feared public knowledge of their clandestine relationship would lead to humiliation as a “homosexual” in his rural South Carolina community. (Dime Doe Family via AP, File)
Deleted texts helped convince jurors man killed trans woman because of gender ID, foreperson says
A member of the jury that convicted a South Carolina man of a hate crime based on gender identity has opened up about the historic case.
 
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, in Rock Hill, S.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Ahead of South Carolina primary, Trump says he strongly supports IVF after Alabama court ruling
Former President Donald Trump says he would “strongly support the availability” of in vitro fertilization for couples and women who are trying to have a baby.
 
In combo of undated selfie images provided courtesy of the Dime Doe family, show Dime Doe, a Black transgender woman. Doe's August 2019 death is now the subject of a first-of-its-kind federal hate crimes trial that began this week in Columbia, S.C. (Courtesy Dime Doe Family via AP)
Man guilty in Black transgender woman’s killing in 1st federal hate crime trial over gender identity
After deliberating for roughly four hours, jurors convicted Daqua Lameek Ritter of a hate crime for the murder of Dime Doe in 2019. Ritter was also found guilty of using a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting and obstructing justice. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. Ritter face
 
The Matthew J. Perry, Jr. Courthouse in Columbia, S.C., is seen on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024. The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity is set to begin at the courthouse Tuesday, Feb. 20, where Daqua Lameek Ritter faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman and then fled to New York. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
First federal trial for a hate crime based on gender identity starts over trans woman’s killing
The first federal trial over a hate crime based on gender identity began Tuesday in South Carolina, where a man faces charges that he killed a Black transgender woman by shooting her three times in the head. The U.S.
 
Chase Glenn, executive director of Alliance for Full Acceptance, stands outside the South Carolina Statehouse before a rally against a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. LGBTQ+ advocates like Glenn say that Republican presidential candidates' rhetoric around transgender-related issues is jeopardizing the safety of an already vulnerable community. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
GOP candidates elevate anti-transgender messaging as a rallying call to Christian conservatives
Donald Trump has mocked transgender people during his campaign, using language about gender identity that LGBTQ+ advocates say is wrong and harmful.
 
This combo photo shows Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, left, in Greenwood, S.C., and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Conway, S.C., both on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. The race for the Republican nomination got personal Saturday when Trump questioned the absence of Haley’s husband on the campaign trail. (AP Photo, File)
Haley tells Trump to ‘say it to my face’ after he questions her military husband’s whereabouts
The race for the Republican nomination got personal Saturday when Donald Trump questioned the absence of Nikki Haley’s husband on the campaign trail.
 
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event in Newberry, S.C., Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
Haley challenges Trump on her home turf in South Carolina as the Republican primary looms
With two weeks to go before the South Carolina Republican primary, Nikki Haley is trying to challenge Donald Trump on her home turf while the former president tries to quash his last major rival’s narrow path to the nomination.
 
FILE - Taylor Swift arrives at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. Some conservatives on cable news or on social media have speculated that Taylor Swift is part of an elaborate plot to help Democrats win the November election. However, on the campaign trail, many voters just see that talk as noise to tune out. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Conspiracy theories swirl around Taylor Swift. These Republican voters say they don’t care
Some conservatives on cable news or on social media have speculated that Taylor Swift is part of an elaborate plot to help Democrats win the November election. But many voters just see that talk as noise to tune out.
 
Protesters gather outside the state house in opposition to a proposed abortion ban debated, Aug. 30, 2022 by the South Carolina House of Representatives in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
South Carolina woman seeks clarity on abortion ban in lawsuit backed by Planned Parenthood
A South Carolina woman who traveled elsewhere for an abortion just days after reaching six weeks of pregnancy wants a court to affirm that the state’s ban on the procedure should not take effect until later in a pregnancy.
 
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley shakes hands with a supporter before a campaign event on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Artie Walker Jr.)
Haley insists she’s staying in the GOP race. Here’s how that could cause problems for Trump
Nikki Haley’s path to the Republican presidential nomination is rapidly shrinking. But Haley vows to stay in the race indefinitely.
 
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