• Associated Press

    States fail to track abuses in foster care facilities housing thousands of children, US says

    Many states are failing to track how frequently children in foster care facilities are abused, sexually assaulted or improperly restrained, leaving them vulnerable to mistreatment, the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said in a report Wednesday. The findings come just two weeks after a Senate committee investigation revealed children are subjected to abuse in foster care facilities around the country that are operated by a handful of large, for-profit companies and financed by taxpayers. States that are responsible for the nearly 50,000 children in these facilities are not doing enough to piece together which facilities or companies are problematic, according to the latest federal report.

  • Associated Press

    Baby cousin with cancer inspires girls to sew hospital gowns for sick kids across U.S. and Africa

    Fighting brain cancer, little Giada Demma was lying in her pediatric hospital bed, her tiny body virtually swimming in a drab green hospital gown. Inspired by that moment, Giuliana Demma, 13, and her 11-year-old sister Audrina have sewn and donated more than 1,800 brightly colored, playfully patterned gowns to hospitalized children in 36 states.

  • The Canadian Press

    Long-vacant storefront that once housed part of the Stonewall Inn reclaims place in LGBTQ+ history

    NEW YORK (AP) — It was half of the Stonewall Inn, the gay dive bar where a 1969 police raid became a landmark moment for the LGBTQ+ rights movement.